Post by Senkusha on Dec 17, 2023 7:26:28 GMT -5
This is one of my favorite hobbies that began in my High School Days. I know, probably most people associate Dungeons & Dragons with the term role playing, but my first game was actually a Star Wars game, and I loved it. I got to build my own ship, and a pilot with it, and while it was a short-lived game, I remember having lots of fun with this group of kids.
Years later, I purchased my first role playing game, RoleMaster (RMSS), and back in the early 2000's, mailing lists were still around. Luckily, Iron Crown Entertainment had one of these lists active where gamers could meet one another, and since I was new to the area of Cincinnati, I quickly found a Game Master in my local area. We'd meet every Saturday at his work, where he had access to a big conference room and we would play our Middle Earth adventures. I remember one of my characters was a chaotic little fairy with Essence Magic (the powers of Nature and the Elements) -- I would describe her as a temperamental Tinkerbell! After a few months of this though, he moved on from that company, so we'd play at his house, my spouse, his sister and him would all sit in his basement recreation room and play for hours -- taking a break to make a lunch, and a dinner -- We all joined Weight Watchers at the time too so we could support one another.
Those were fond times, and because of a book and some ten-sided dice, I forged a group of close friends, who were truly friends. We had each other's backs, *and we were in our twenties and thirties*! Honestly, I must admit, I think many of my closest friendships, the strongest, the people I knew I could count on, were my role playing buddies. Had I not moved away to other geographical areas, and made a better attempt to keep in touch, I'd probably still have many of these friends in my life.
For years I ran a website that featured one role playing game prominently, Big Eyes Small Mouth, an anime adventure role playing game, which I love because it's fairly simple, and it's encouraged to use your imagination to determine the how of why something works, rather than a rule in a book. There were a number of games that I participated in on that site, others I didn't (have the time for), but that community was fairly tight-knitted.
I miss that kind of community, those types of relationships in my life. Maybe that's why I'm trying to run my current website. Maybe I'm just feeling a bit nostalgic, maybe I want to spread the word about all the awesome types of role playing systems and games that are available. But probably, more likely, I'm looking for like minded people, who also enjoy the crazy adventures of getting sent on a mission to save the world just because somebody wanted a beer.