All I Ever Needed To Know In Life I Learned From Playing Dungeon’s and Dragon’s

I always like coming across stories from people claiming that Dungeon’s and Dragon’s ruined their life, or made them evil, or drove them away from God, or enticed them into having unhealthy fantasies about their teachers, pastors, person next door…whatever. The general claim by many is that Dungeon’s and Dragon’s is intrinsically evil and should be avoided at all costs. Well, to quote a famous phrase from one Col. Sherman T. Potter, “Horse Hockey!!!” (If you watched M*A*S*H, you’ll understand…)

People, let’s face it… You would be hard pressed to come up with much on this planet that is designed to be evil. For example, take an iron skillet. You can feed your family by using this device and a little bit of Crisco. Or, you can knock someone senseless… (Marion showed you how in “Raiders of the Lost Ark!”) You can use a truck to haul firewood to your home to heat your house in the winter, or, you can go run someone down in a fit of rage because you missed your favorite episode of American Dad! Popcorn… How evil is popcorn?!?!? Well, ask the family of someone who choked to death while eating popcorn at the Saturday Afternoon matinee and maybe they will think it was evil… Um… Mathematics!!! Nothing wrong with that, right?? Well, look at John Nash and maybe you might think differently… Or nuclear scientists who used math to create atomics…? The simple point is, people can take pretty much anything and use it in some very wrong ways. The Bible, The Koran, The Book of Mormon… Ill used by many all over the world, but that is another long topic. For those people out there who think that Dungeon’s and Dragon’s ruined their life, I would have to question if you ever really had one to begin with, but that is just my not so humble opinion.

I will tell you now that Dungeon’s and Dragon’s made me the individual I am today, and for the most part, I like who I am. This game challenged my ability to think, to be creative, and to explore situations and topics that I would have never been able to explore in “the real world.” [Disclaimer: The events listed below contain adult themes and situations, or out right felonious acts of violence and debauchery. Reader’s beware…]

I lived and learned vicariously through my characters that: Unprotected sex can cause you serious harm, some of it so serious you may need a limited wish spell to cure the malady; Drinking and driving, uh, er, riding can cause serious bodily harm and/or an untimely death…your own or the person you happen to run down…which can still lead to your own death when the whole village comes after you for killing one of their own and hangs you in a tree; Drugs… The most common experience with drugs is that YOU DIE! You either get stupid and get killed, get some bad drugs and die, someone kills you for your drugs, you get killed trying to get drugs, or you get drugs and get stupid and start drinking and then it all goes down hill from there; A lack of education doesn’t get you far in life; When you go and cut the head off of the big bad ugly dude that has been raping goats, killing local farmers, and insulting their women.....his bigger, badder, uglier brothers might come and kill off your entire family to get back at you; Being mean to other people only lasts for so long before they get enough of it and hit you over the head when you aren’t looking; That power is GREAT…right up to the moment you are killed because you have too much power; That a pissed off wife that you have cheated on in AD&D can make Lorena Bobbit look like an amateur; That money will NOT buy everything in the world and usually what it will buy isn’t what is going to really make you happy in the long run; That you can NOT handle every adventure without the help of your party; That for every choice you make, there is a consequence…sometimes a bad one for a good choice, sometimes a good one for a bad choice, but usually, good=good and bad=bad and don’t forget that just because you personally are not impacted by a choice that the others around you won’t get blasted…

Maybe the greatest lesson I ever learned while playing Dungeon’s and Dragon’s is that camaraderie is a wonderful blessing not only inside of the game, but outside in the real world. I was introduced to some wonderful people a long, long time ago drawn together by a fascination about this new game called Dungeon’s and Dragon’s… We came from different walks of life; there was a scholar, a cheerleader, a musician, a “Joe Schmoe”, a geek, a couple of other odds and ends, and a football player/honor roll student/should have applied himself much harder/computer loving/didn’t fit into anywhere type dude. Under most circumstances, the type of people that usually wouldn’t have ever gotten together, much less became friends. But thanks to this wonderful game, we did. And to this day, the friendships endure.

Even to this day, when we have the rare chance to get together, we all fondly remember the days of old, the dim lighting in the basement, the rattle of the dice, and all of the wonderful countries and worlds we “grew up” together in while learning a lot of important life lessons in the safety of a pencil, some paper, and our imaginations.

I am an only child in the fact that my sister died in infancy many years before I was born. But when playing with my friends, I had several brothers and sisters at my side. And in the real world, I come to count one of my old companions as a true brother and I will cherish our relationship for the rest of my life. Does any of this sound evil? Naw... Didn't think so... Maybe that has something to do with PERSPECTIVE... Oh well... Just my two cents worth...

In Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” series, there is one saying that always conjures up great memories for me: ‘Dovie’andi se tovya sagain…’ ‘Time to roll the dice.’ Now where did I put my dice bag???