To boldly roll.

I’m embarking on a new journey today. One that will involve danger, intrigue, and a whole lot of trust.

I’m starting a new Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

That may not sound like a big deal to you but to me, it is. And here’s why.

I’d wanted to play D&D since I was little but always felt intimidated. Not only did I keep my geek flag hidden back then, I wasn’t aware of anyone who played so I couldn’t even get my foot in the door. It wasn’t until I started dating someone in my twenties who’d played his entire life that I got my chance.

But not with him. See, his D&D group was “boys only.” Lame, right? Those guys had a very tight-knit group for years though so I couldn’t blame them too much. But I still wanted to play. So what was a girl to do? Create a “girls only” league with the boys’ girlfriends. To be fair, we also had one guy in the group. He really wanted to play and we were “more the merrier” type of people.

But my D&D career ended before I had a chance to make a saving throw. I was dumped by my boyfriend and immediately after, my group stopped talking to me. And I’ll be honest, the latter might have hurt more than the former.

I was friends with these folks for almost three years before we started our gaming group but the D&D portion of our friendship was different. We had already gotten to know each other better at regular game nights but once D&D entered the equation a new chapter was opened. I was thrilled to learn the game along with them and discover what their characters were all about. We’d only played a handful of times but they were good times, and times I expected to continue.

When it didn’t, I was hurt. I expected, perhaps foolishly, that my relationship with these people existed outside of the relationship I had with my ex. The breakup was his choice, I hadn’t done anything evil to him, but they made the choice to break off contact with me anyway and with that, my short D&D career was over.

That was six years ago.

I’ve had opportunities to join other D&D games over the years but never felt quite comfortable jumping back in. I had been so happy with my group, learning together, being ourselves, that I couldn’t bring myself to say yes and get hurt like that again. I’ve certainly had the same experience with romantic relationships in my life but always told myself I’d never know unless I tried. For some reason, D&D was different.

These days I work in an office with several geeks. We commiserate over the latest geek drama and share in the joy of exciting announcements, so when the invitation arrived in my inbox to join several of them in a new campaign, my heart stopped.

And then I said, “Fuck it. I wanna kill some goblins.”

I’m just a few minutes away from meeting with my co-workers now to get ourselves situated for our new campaign. I’m gonna need a refresher course since I have a terrible memory but I couldn’t be more excited to begin.

And yes, my dice do match my hair. Deal with it.

18 Responses to “To boldly roll.”

  1. Greg ED says:

    Awesome. Have a blast, and smite mofos with great vengeance and furious anger.

  2. Brendan says:

    Congratulations! Been playing for years, and I must say it's probably my favourite geek thing ever. Hope you have fun!

  3. DefconDan says:

    Man would be nice to play again….

  4. "Fuck it. I wanna kill some goblins."

    This totally belongs on a t-shirt. :)

    May your dice be kind.

  5. Had a friend who was DM for us in college who had a crazy idea. He combined DnD and the company's other Sci-fi RPG, Star Frontiers, throwing our Star Frontiers characters into a DnD scenarior (Keep on the Borderlands, I think…). Shields and ray guns vs sorcerers and goblins. Most fun I've ever had playing DnD :)

  6. gnolyn says:

    Glad you decided to play again. I hope the experience was much better than the last.

    I've only recently introduced my son (he's 7) to the wonderful worlds of D&D, and he's hooked. His dice are red too. I'm hoping my daughter will want to join us in a couple of years. She loves superheroes and games, so we'll see if she likes PnP games as much.

  7. I haven't played D&D in years I played with my brother and his friends when I was way young from like 5 to 13 or something like that some good memories good luck to you and your roll of the die.

  8. Raf says:

    Kinda of a little jealous. I haven't been able to find a decent D & D group since my old buddies and I stopped hanging out. It's hard finding a group you can let go and roll some dice with. Enjoy!!!

  9. Congratulations! D&D has been the source of some of my best relationships and favorite stories. I hope you have a great time!

  10. Jill says:

    Thank you all SO much for the awesome, supportive comments.

    Andrew, I believe I own that book. Bought it when I first decided to play and it does a pretty good job at breaking all the rules down.

  11. Andrew says:

    Hooray for more girls playing D&D!

    I recently came across a book that I actually bought in case I were to come across a girl (or had a daughter) who was interested in D&D but was perhaps intimidated to play or just unsure what went into playing the game altogether.
    You clearly have no lack of enthusiasm, but I thought I'd recommend it here, that some of your readers might benefit.

    It's called "Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress: A Girl's Guide to the D&D Game" by Shelly Mazzanoble.

    It's pink, but it doesn't seem pandering. It's clearly written by a girl who really loves D&D (NOT by a group of men who want more women to play D&D). I don't know. It seems really good. At the very least, I thought it was very funny and I can tell it serves as a really excellent condensed rules guide.

    Anyway, there you go. : )

  12. Matt Goldey says:

    I'm a little envious. I don't personally know anyone that plays. I played a little bit (D&D Encounters) at a comic/gaming shop, but it was noisy with 2-3 other D&D games and MTG games going on all around and the DMs weren't really all that into it.

  13. Starman says:

    Roll strongly. Roll well.

  14. T-Dogg says:

    Oh, I hope it's excellent! I've always wanted to play, too, but have never found anyone I know who wants to play with me. :(

  15. Chris says:

    Well your always welcomed in my group we play just about every week and we even have a site for those who wanna follow our adventures. We are based in long Island,NY and play D&D ver. 3.5 Our group is very diverse to say the least and 9 times out of 10 before we even start playing we are discussing comics
    Web Site: http://www.danddweekly.com/index2
    and our youtube videos http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf5xAFd2iFgPbLHPrCJay9mtaX_pbhjSp

  16. Adrian Z says:

    Welcome to the Dnd club. Can't wait to hear how your first session goes.

  17. Val Kendal says:

    last two sentences – priceless :)

  18. RJ says:

    GOOD FOR YOU. May all your hits be crits!

    Interestingly enough, my wife has the same reaction after not playing D&D for a while.

    "I really need to kill something. When are we gaming next?"