Dungeons & Dragons and Me

Image: cartoonscrapbook.com 

Dungeons & Dragons - this may bring several images to mind. For some it may be fire and brimstone while others might think of hex maps, figures and 20-sided dice. For me, my first memories are of a cartoon.

When I was a kid in the 80's one of my favorite cartoons was Dungeons & Dragons. It was a lot of fun for a kid and I knew that it was inspired by a game. I always wanted to play it but I never knew anyone who was into D&D.

I didn't get a chance to play until I was in college. My roommate's boyfriend DM'ed a campaign for us. My roommate and I were best friends at the time and the boyfriend was surprised that our characters hated each other. We knew how to role play!

From Dungeons & Dragons, I learned more table top roleplaying games. I also got into live action rpg's which are a ton of fun. Instead of dice, the live action games I played in college used 'rock, paper, scissors'. In college, it was a lot of Vampire: The Masquerade and other games by White Wolf. I like V:TM a lot but Changeling is my favorite.

After college, I didn't play any table top RPG's until after we moved to NC. The first friends we made

down here were also very into table top RPG's and introduced us to Hero Games. I love the Hero Games system in large part because of the disadvantages. Your character has to pick several disadvantages that you have to work into your character - you have to use them.

Over the next few years, I did also play in some other games including D&D. The last time I played Dungeons & Dragons itself was a one-shot one of my Browncoat friends was running. That was over 6 years ago because I was pregnant with Emily.

Our Hero Games friends moved away but after Emily was born, I made a friend who lived right down the road. Her husband at the time ran a Hero Games campaign for us. My friend had one of the best disadvantages I've ever seen - her character was blind! It was a lot of fun.

They moved as well and we lost contact for a few years. Beyond LARPing once down in GA with my cousin and his wife's group, I haven't been able to play any table top games. Illness, small child and lack of a car are some of the reasons I haven't been able to find a group. Though I miss it a lot.

Emily is now six and she is reading, though definitely at a beginner level. We introduced Settlers of Catan to her because it doesn't require a lot of reading and she loved it. So I got the idea a while ago that I would try and run a game with her and Todd.

I picked Dungeons and Dragons because there is a starter pack that I got off Amazon. I'm an experienced role player but I've never run a game before. So D&D is a good place to start! Tomorrow I run our first game with an adventure from the starter pack.

In a way, I've come full circle and I'm excited to introduce Emily to the fun! Dungeons and Dragons started it all for me and now that's where she'll be starting as well!

Child Molestation

I want to say up front that I'm totally against child molestation. Because it's one of those things that is just plain wrong and I think that's something just about everyone can agree on. 

When I was in college, I did a lot of LARPing. LARP stands for Live Action Role Play. Most of the time I played Vampire: The Masquerade, but I did play in a Changling game for a while. There wasn't a lot of players but one was this shy guy who seemed really nice.

I considered him a friend until his room was raided and gigs of child porn was found on his computer. That made me feel icky by association. I'm not sure what happened to him, but I hope he got help.

The news broke yesterday that Stephen Collins who was the dad in 7th Heaven admitted to be a child molester. I feel extremely icky because I just met the man at Dragon Con a couple months ago. He was super nice and I was happy to meet him at that point because I love 7th Heaven. I don't think I'll ever be able to watch that show the same way again.

Like with my friend from college, I hope he gets help. But I hope his victims are able to get help as well. It's an awful, awful thing to do to a child.

2014 Browncoat Ball Website is Live!

Me at the 2010 Ball

One of the things I’m looking forward to most in 2014 is the Browncoat Ball. I had the pleasure of being on the planning committee for the Ball in 2010 that took place in Charlotte. This year the Ball is going to be in Greenville, SC and I’m on the planning committee again.

The Browncoat Ball is a unique experience were fans of the show Firefly and the movie Serenity get together. The Ball moves from city to city and every year there is something different. The things that stay the same are there is always a dance, which is the Ball itself, and there are chances to do fun things in the host city.

This year Greenville is hosting the first murder mystery with the Ball. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. My first big event that I did with the Greenville Browncoats was a Firefly LARP back in 2007. It was a weekend where I made a lot of friendships and just had a great time.

The website for the 2014 Browncoat Ball launched yesterday! Check it out and consider coming to the shiniest shindig of the year!