Sunday, June 22, 2008

Imagine My Surprise...

...when I checked my stats yesterday and discovered that my post about Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition was the top post...so now I have to wonder how many of you actually do play D&D but won't admit it for fear of appearing geeky.

So for all you closet gamers out there, I suppose I will post something that only you will understand...the rest of you, please bear with me, it is only a temporary lapse in judgement...we hope...

Friday night I finished my two-year stint as DM (Dungeon Master for you rpg-illiterates out there). We finished the Shackled City Adventure Path, ate tons of Doritos and funky caramel corn with walnuts and those nasty red Cheetos that burn your hands if you hold them too long, and drank enough Coca-Cola to put a space shuttle in orbit. We also laughed a lot and had a darn good time. And I didn't kill anyone. Really.

Next week, I step down from the DM chair, which, for the past two years, I have occupied for all but the two sessions before this last one, where we gave 4th edition a whirl, and The Chief will take over. Ah, I mourn the loss of the ultimate power of life and death over my players! I mourn the loss of the power of evil DM laughter when they do something particularly stupid. I mourn the loss of rolling my dice behind the screen and cackling with glee so the players get nervous. I mourn the loss of being the Master of All Secrets and Spinner of Yarns. I mourn the loss of having an audience for all my funny voices and characterizations. And I most assuredly mourn the loss of the Comfy Chair, which the DM gets to sit in.

Yes, I mourn the loss of power and all the perks that go with it...but I am rather looking forward to going back to my position as the player who forces the DM to think outside the box...*rubs hands together with glee*.

Writing Prompt: Since today's post is about power, or lack thereof, this seems appropriate: If you don't have power, you cannot...

2 comments:

Coco said...

Well, just to clarify, I'm not one of the closet gamers ;). The only thing I relate to D&D is my boyfriend in highschool. He was a punker, and would have his punker friends over to play in his basement bedroom. I wasn't allowed to participate (or even watch) which made me very jealous. I'm glad you enjoy it - that is so awesome to have something you love to do so much. The way you describe it sounds like fun, although I haven't the slightest clue as to whether you're talking about a video game version, board game...or ???? It's always been shrouded in mystery to me! :) ~coco

Jazz said...

Coco--
It is pretty fun. Basically, we sit around the table and if I'm the DM, I tell the group a sort of a story, complete with characters and funny voices, but the players are characters, too, and they get to do things that affect the story. So I'll set up a situation for them, and then say, "What do you do?" (Example--You're sitting in the tavern relaxing after your latest exploit when suddenly a frantic looking young man bursts in and yells, "The goblins have taken my daughter!" What do you do?) And then the group thinks about what they're going to do, and tries to do it...using dice and rules and such. It's a very social sort of thing, and people get rather attached to the characters they're playing. When they get into fights with monsters, I set up a map on the table and we use little plastic figures to show where the characters are and where the monsters are, and then we run through the combat move by move until they've slaughtered all the bad guys. So it's good for letting off steam, too!