I remember Spring 1986: holding court from atop the playground monkey bars, my encyclopedic knowledge of the AD&D (1st edition) DM’s Guide and Player’s Handbook commanding the attention of my friends. All of us deeply in love with what would soon become the world’s greatest roleplaying game. At this point, most of us had only been playing for little more than 18 months, but that didn’t stop us from talking about it non-stop.
My sister would tell, me years later, how impossible it was to hang out with me and my friends back then as we would always just start talking about D&D, and to her it was a deeply geeky cryptic code that she could never parse. It perplexed her, and she felt like she was missing out on something really fun because we were always laughing so much. And then as the years went by, it got even worse as we added more and more rpg and tabletop combat systems to our repertoire.
Then it all stopped. At least for me. Life, college, different friends, a different part of the world. And for a long time, I had no one to talk D&D with. I completely missed 3rd and 4th edition. I’d think about old adventures from time to time. And as I write this, it occurs to me that I’ve never stopped dreaming up fantasy worlds, nor the characters that inhabit them. I was just missing someone with whom I could once again start talking about it.
When my son turned 10, I started to host some D&D parties for him and his friends. The timing was good, as 5th edition had been out for about 6 months. There were lots of things in it that were new to me, but lots that was a familiar and comfortable as my favourite pair of old blue jeans. I made up their characters, and helped them through the basics of how to play (even if I still didn’t have all the nuances of the new system figured out yet.
It was a modest start, but I loved how much Jack seemed to enjoy it. We soon began to play it on summer holidays, meeting up with my own childhood rpg friends, who also now have rpg kids, and playing marathon sessions. I had found my way back into one of the greatest pleasures in life.
Jack then went on to find a group at school that started to play. Kids today no longer have to hide in basements and keep it a secret that they play -- lest the cool kids find out and bully them for it. Back in the day, you didn’t tell girls that you played D&D if you wanted any chance of dating. Now, Jack plays in one campaign where at a table of six players, he’s the only boy. I envy how good he has it. There has never been a better time to play D&D.
Sure enough, my son and I started to exchange that same deeply geeky cryptic code of D&D. All the time: in the car, while out hiking, while doing the dishes. My wife looks at us the same perplexed look that my sister used to all those years ago.
But here’s the thing: It’s not me sitting atop the monkey bars holding court. My old brain, as hard as it tries, can’t keep up with Jack’s. He’s the one with the encyclopedic knowledge of 5e.
One of the misconceptions I get when I tell people I’m doing a D&D podcast with my son is that I’m in the teacher role. I don’t feel that way at all. This podcast is a partnership. Sure, I might bring some old school wisdom to share at the table, but I also come to learn -- and laugh.
I hope you will too.
Check out our first episode, where we, well, talk about D&D...including a controvesial Strength-based Warlock build: The Starlock!