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Just so we’re clear, this post isn’t actually about Dragons. It’s just what I wanted to call the post and I let my brain do it even though it doesn’t make sense. What this post is about is actually Dungeons and Dragons. No, wait, it’s really about feeling old and never growing up ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

So maybe I should start over.

Last night I went for my second D&D session (an adventure in Punjar City, with my first real D&D character — a half-elf Warlord) at The Counting House pub. Honestly, I’ve wanted to try D&D for years. I had friends who played in high school, but I never *really* played. I know a lot about it in general from playing related computer games (I shudder to think how many hours I spent playing Baldur’s Gate and Daggerfall and things like that…not to mention the very ancient Eye of the Beholder back in college which my boyfriend-now-husband and I were addicted to…along with Civilization). Playing it for real is different. Of course, playing a 4th edition game is also very different from what my friends back in high school played (which would have been either first edition or the edition before they started numbering the editions…if that makes sense).

So, you might ask, why are you playing D&D now?

It’s research. Really. For a book (which I am unable to tell you anything else about at this time because stuff isn’t finalized yet but I will say that it has a great female lead character that I like very much). But besides being research, it’s also a great excuse to try D&D out. Not that I needed an excuse, exactly. Ahem. I am a grown-up, right? It’s just that D&D can seem a little intimidating to get into, especially for girls (women, whatever). Let’s be honest…mostly guys play it. There are women who do (I’ve met them! And they are generally, as a breed, incredibly awesome and cool and just the kind of women I like to hang out with), but the majority of people who play are guys. And it seems rather mysterious, with all the rule books and plus one this and that and the language that only D&D players seem to know (which is not the same as Klingon, but sometimes seems rather close).

But, since I had this “research” excuse, I finally did it.

I am proud to report that I have not died yet. My half-elf warlord is adventuring within Punjar City (Throughout the Known World, no city is more notorious. A sandy collection of spiderwebbed tenements, chaotic alleys, crumbling walls and rat-ridden bazaars, Punjar is also a city of chance and wealth, where fortunes are won in a night, and lost before dawn.) along with a motley collection of other adventurers. My worst fear was that I would slow down the game for the other people since I am never sure when to use what die to roll (a D6? a D20? a D8?) or what type of attack I should try or that they would, quite simply, think I was just an idiot. But they’ve all been really nice and very patient with me.

I have to say that really playing D&D is different than I thought it would be, but also the same. Which, yes, makes no sense. I’m enjoying it (more the second session than the first), especially being able to just role play and come up with silly things on the fly. I love that kind of stuff. I think as I get more comfortable with the mechanics of it, I’ll enjoy that even more. There’s a bit more technical-ish-ness to it than I thought there would be (though I think that’s partly due to my only hazy memories of real games being back before there were so many rules). That’s the bit that makes me feel old. As you talk to a lot of people playing, they often say the same thing: “Oh, I haven’t played since high school! Just thought I’d get back into it again.” At which point I remember exactly how long ago high school was for me. My brain can never quite wrap around that.

But it’s also making me feel young again (okay, let’s be completely honest…in my brain, I never feel old. I am probably forever a teen in there) in that I’m getting to do something kind of similar to what I do when I’m writing (erm…you know, making stuff up as I go) but I get to do it WITH OTHER PEOPLE. Now that’s fun.

Hmmmm. Okay, looking back I can see that this post didn’t really have much of a point at all.

Alrighty then. How about this: if there’s something you’ve thought about trying and you haven’t done it, for whatever reasons that sound good to you that day…just do it. What’s stopping you? You only live once. Life is too short not to try things.