When I was in the seventh grade, an extraordinary thing happened to me. Among the typical boyhood rites of passage, I was introduced to Role Playing Games.
As a class project, we were paired off, and assigned a book. My assigned partner, Tim, was a quiet sort of fellow, always reading to himself, or furiously scribbling in his notebook. Our book, Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls. A tale of love and loss, so poignant, it's effects me to this day. Thinking back to Billy, Old Dan, and Little Ann, brings tears to my eyes, tears and memories of a childhood, once long forgotten.
Our assignment was to write a short review of the book, and to give a presentation, with visual aids, to the class. Tim had loved the book as much as I did, so we quickly moved through the reading portion of the assignment, and wrote our report together over the phone.
With our parents help, we arraigned a time to get together and draw a few posters. We chose a few scenes to illustrate, that we thought were key to the story, and set about or work. I was tasked with a picture of Old Dan's grave, and grew bored coloring in such a large area. In my infinite, twelve year old wisdom, I thought it's be funny to write the letters F,U,C, and K into the barren area, of course, to be filled in the rest of the way later. We had a good laugh, and continued our work.
If you or your kids have ever done something similar, I don't have to tell you, the plan to cover my 'crime', did not work, no matter how much we colored around, over, or behind, yes behind. We colored the back of the poster hoping it would help conceal the language most foul, from our parents and teacher.
In the flurry of digging through pockets and book-bags for art supplies powerful enough to cut through my, no longer funny curse, Tim produced, and cast aside several dice, some of which held shapes I had not previously saw before. All interest, for me at least, in the project faded to static, as I badgered Tim for answers regarding the oddly shaped dice.It took some doing, but eventually Tim confessed to me that the dice were for a game he played called Dungeons & Dragons, and it was kind of a big deal. He told me a little about each die, and the things it might be used for in the game, and a bit about the basic setting. I was hooked. Although, at the time, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that there was no board or pieces, Tim offered to give me a quick run through of his newest game, Marvel Superheros, if we could salvage the poster with some time to spare.
History was made that evening as I rolled up a basic character, and imagined my way into greatness. Marvel Superheros and it's incredibly complex resolution chart eventually gave way to AD&D Second Edition, which eventually gave way to Vampire: The Masquerade, but that's a whole other story.
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