Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

Well, this is being posted on Saturday morning thanks to the magic of the internet. I'm actually writing it on Thursday night after a grueling long work day. I had to get up ad 4:45 and drive two and a half hours for a meeting I really didn't need then drive two and half hours home. Suffice to say, it would be super nice if this whole writing thing worked out.



This week has been really amazing for me. I've stuck to my writing schedule and actually stayed ahead of my self imposed deadline. You guys have had some incredibly positive things to say about my entries so far, and I just want you to know how much it has truly been appreciated.


What I plan on doing from here on out is my normal 5 entries throughout the week and then on Saturday, and possibly Sunday as well, just giving a sort of 'state of the union' update. Talking about my week a bit and letting everyone know how the writing is going from my side of the keyboard. Also, if I have any interesting links or videos or anything else I can think of, these posts would include that information.



For instance:
Here's and interesting blog from Wil Wheaton (some of you may know him as Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation) that he posted on Wednesday evening. The topic is about writing, so naturally it appealed to me.


That's it for my first full weak writing The Madness Spiral. Hopefully next week will go as smoothly. I hope everyone reading this has a great weekend, and again, thank you for taking to time out your busy lives to get an inside look at mine.


-Christopher

But They're Evil!

I remember wandering the halls of my high school carrying more nerd gear than school books. I almost always had my Player’s Handbook with me, at least one novel (most likely Dragon Lance or Forgotten Realms), and assorted characters I had made in any downtime I had. Not to mention I usually had dice, extra pencils, and blank character sheets in case inspiration struck while in the middle of discussing “Watership Down” or some such. Who cares about talking rabbits when you can make a pirate wizard? Not me, that’s for sure. As you can imagine, I was not the most popular kid in school, but I still had a great group of core friends and I did okay with girls even though I talked more of d20s and orcs than keggers on the weekend. No matter how rough my day or week of school went, I always knew I had a fellow nerd just a phone call or short car ride away that would enjoy a brief respite from the average social pressures with me. I never drank in school or smoked marijuana like so many in my class. My drug was fantasy. I could get high on drawing out maps and creating a world for others to explore. I got a buzz from throwing a handful of dice hoping for the best result.

My parents, initially, were not too hip to the idea of me playing Dnd especially considering the aforementioned controversy. Eventually though, they accepted it knowing that it didn’t have any psychological affect on me and I wasn’t trying to cast “spells” on anyone. They knew I was a good kid and the guys I played with were all good kids too, if slightly nerdy and irritating. I think a big part of their acceptance stemmed from a change in my activities at home. Before I discovered Dnd and roleplaying I was either on our Nintendo or watching some garbage on television. After, I almost always had my head stuck in a book, reading fantastical tales of dragons and adventure. I think they understood that there was a fundamental change going on other than the standard adolescence and they let me form myself into the person I am today. They were there to advise and guide not to demand and forbid. My whole family was very accepting of my impending super-nerdom, and that was always appreciated.

As the turn of the century crept up, Dnd started to take more of a backseat to other things that were going on. I had choir, Boyscouts, church activities, and I had also started to work. There just wasn’t much time left in the week to imagine with my friends. In the summer of 2000, Dungeons and Dragons released a brand new system: 3^rd edition. Immediately I went out and purchased the new books with my minimum wage earnings. The new system was great, but it was a colossal change from the 2^nd edition that I knew and loved and I was never quite able to come to terms with it. I played it a handful of times, but my books were used more by my brother and his friends than myself and mine.

In the summer of 2008 Dungeons and Dragons 4^th Edition was released. I had been itching to get back into playing. Things were different now. I had been married since August of 2006, we had a son in November of 2007, and I had more responsibilities than I had ever had in the past. Well, after researching the new system and finding it mostly to my liking, I budgeted for and then purchased the new Player’s Handbook. What a change! They completely gutted the whole system and built it back up from scratch; and I absolutely loved it. It is great for experienced players and has a wealth of adaptability and detail. It’s also a really great system for getting new people involved without burying them in the rules. They also brought in a more visual element using gridded maps and miniatures to represent characters on the battlefield. Overall, I truly believe that this is the best incarnation of Dungeons and Dragons that there has been, and I honestly cannot see how they can change it to make it better.

What’s truly amazing is that throughout my nerd pilgrimage others have tagged along and become irreplaceable at my side. First and foremost is my brother, who would play roleplaying games with me before we knew what they were. He was always begging to play with my friends and me and sometimes we’d let him; as long as he played the healer. He always took it in stride and learned and adapted and has become a hell of a player and a great Dungeon Master in his own right. I can’t imagine playing a game without him. Secondly, my wife, who has put up with all of this nonsense since we met and has still loved me regardless. As a matter of fact, since 4^th came out, she’s become a regular fixture around out gaming table. Thanks to them and to Michael and Curtis for creating in me a desire for the fantastic and to everyone else I’ve played with over the years for keeping my mind occupied and keeping my imagination alive.

It's about to get Nerdy in Here!

This is the book Michael had.

         I remember riding in the back seat of my best friend’s mother’s car in the summer of 1995. It was an extraordinary large car. I can’t quite remember the make and model, but I’m pretty sure it was made in the mid 80s and required a commercial driver’s license. She was taking us to the mall to hang out and run around like a couple of hooligan kids; which actually meant going to Walden Books and the arcade to waste our allowance. I retain such clarity of this day that it astounds me. It was a warm day and the sun was shining brightly. I can still smell that old beige car and still feel its vinyl seats on my skin. My best friend, Michael, had recently convinced his mother to purchase him a book at the local hole in the wall comic book store. No, it wasn’t your standard super-heroic crime-fighter; it was TSR’s Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook. Michael handed me the book to flip through as his mom was driving us around and, from that point forward, I was hooked. I had never in my life seen such a book. Questions immediately started flowing from my brain as if the flood gates had been lifted. “A game with no board?” “How does it work?”

At this point in my life, I was 12 years old, rapidly approaching 13. I had two tried and true friends, Curtis and Michael. We were somewhat like the three musketeers with less musketeering and much more playing with G.I. Joes and watching cheesy action movies. My only experience with Dungeons and Dragons was the cartoon which aired between 1983 and 1986 but was also shown in syndication for several years later. My dad never was comfortable with me watching the show as a child (either that or he thought it was terrible) so I never saw much of it. I played pretend like all boys do growing up, but I never set up hard and fast rules for anything. 

If you’re not familiar with Dungeons and Dragons you may have heard some misrepresentations about the games. The media latched on to two big incidents and used the game as a scapegoat. These incidents involved James Dallas Egbert, III and Chris Pritchard. These tarnished the Dungeons and Dragons brand for years and I'm sure there are still some people out there who remember the negative press the game received then and still believe all of the hype. At 12 years old I had no idea who either of these men were. 

All I knew is that Robin Hood was cool and King Arthur and his Knights were brave and Merlin was wise. I think that most history minded kids know those things. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever believe that I could become one of them or someone like them even if it was only on paper and for a few hours a week. Dungeons and Dragons (which I will now refer to as it’s more common term: DnD) is a game of imagination and rules. There’s really not much else to it. I had a very active imagination as a child and my control freak and borderline OCD tendencies seemed to embrace all of the different rules; and, man, were they complicated back then. Basically, one person decides to be the Dungeon Master (I know, nerd alert) which is the person who creates the situations that the players have to react to. Everyone else makes a character based on what skills they want to have. Easy enough, right?

Since that summer day 15 years ago I have had a fascination and sometimes a borderline obsession with things medieval and fantasy related. Where most 12 and 13 year old boys are playing sports and thinking about cars I spent my time flipping the pages of my own recently purchased Player’s Handbook trying to commit every picture and every rule to memory so that I could get the most enjoyment possible out of my games. It’s about escapism for me. It’s escaping the social awkwardness that a pubescent boy exhibits. It’s escaping the confines of society and the “rules” of growing up in a traditional public school system. It’s about escaping the confines of whatever keeps you from being what you want to be. I went from being a goofy acne covered tween, to a sword wielding warrior with a roll of the dice.