I recently started playing Dungeons & Dragons again. It had been years since I had a regular gaming group to meet. My wife (who has NEVER played any table top role playing games) and I were invited by the spouse of her co-worker. 6 of us ( 3 couples) now get together a couple times a month. We take turns bringing dinner, snacks, and desert. We share creative problem solving, witty banter, a light meal, and a couple beers, while rolling funny shaped dice on a big dry erase tablecloth. Not a bad way to spend an evening.
We coughed up the money for a current Players Handbook; it retails for about $50 today. That’s a lot of money for a damn game book, but not crazy money. When I thought about it, my original edition was $10 in 1978. The inflation index prices it up just about perfectly.
It started me thinking about the way we play now, contrasted with my adolescence. If you’ve ever watched Stranger Things on Netflix, you can probably imagine my experience. Regarding the actual game, it is very similar. It takes place in a fantasy world – something like medieval Europe, but with monsters and magic. Dice rolls and probability tables determine your success or failure. And every so often, you pause the game to go back to real life.
While the basics are the same, the experience is entirely different. As a kid, it was all about competing. It’s what they call a dungeon crawl. The tagline of Steve Jackson’s parody card game “Munchkin” sums it up better than I ever could:
“Kill the monsters. Steal the treasure. Stab your buddy.”
Contrast that with the experience we have now:
“Get together with people over an evening . Talk about the highs and lows of work, family, and life in general. Add your own ideas to a fun story that one of your friends made up.”
See that? Both describe the game. Neither are right or wrong. As a 12 year old, it was a perfect activity. As a 50 (something…) year old, it’s STILL a perfect activity. It’s really the same activity. But really, it isn’t. And that is a “natural 20.”
-Toph
