And the room is growing smaller...
Yeah. It's a random title from song lyrics... Yet it is somehow fitting for today's entry...
Gary Gygax died on Tuesday, and Wil Wheaton shared a great story in his honor. His story triggered a long forgotten memory that I thought I'd share as well. It's nowhere near as good as Wil's, but read on if you're interested.
When I was 13 or 14, my family moved into the apartment complex where I met one of my best friends all through school. Unfortunately, we lost contact long ago, and this story is not really about him. It's about another friend, though one I only knew briefly.
It had to have been around 1982 or 1983 when we moved into the apartments. Up until then, my family always lived in rental houses. Though the apartments were only a mile or two from our previous house, and I retained many of my previous friends, I made many new friends as well. One of those friends was nicknamed "Bones." For the life of me, no matter hard I try I can't remember his real name. I think it speaks to my early geek status that my friends held Star Trek inspire nicknames.
As I mentioned, I didn't know Bones long. Shortly after we moved into the apartments, Bones' family moved away. But in those months that he did live there, we had some adventures together. While "the first time I ever got drunk" fits the bill as an adventure, this entry isn't about that experience.
Bones was the only child of a single father who worked way too much, which meant that a) his father felt guilty and gave him a much higher than average allowance for the early 80's, and b) his father didn't mind that he spent that allowance on Dungeons and Dragons, while all the other parents where freaking out about how "satanic" it was.
And so it came that in the summer 1984 or so I was introduced to D&D by Bones. He had heard about it from all the older kids in the apartment complex, but none of them would let us younger kids play. So Bones bought all the manuals and a starter game and read everything by the time my family moved in. Wizards and Warriors had already completed its run on CBS by then and I hadn't even heard of D&D until I met Bones. But once he mentioned this game and we started hearing about the "satanic" connections, being the rebellious teenager that I was, I knew I had to play. So we gathered several of the other kids who weren't allowed to play D&D with the older kids, and we started a campaign in secret. A lot of the parents were pretty freaked out about their kids getting involved in D&D, so it remained secret and therefore a pretty small group, just four or five of us.
I don't remember much about the campaign, or even the group. I remember Bones was the Dungeon Master, as his generous allowance gave him enough money to buy materials. I remember my best friend all through school was part of the group. I remember we wanted a mixed party, and while everyone wanted to be a fighter, we drew straws for flipped coins or something. I picked last, and was "stuck" being a rogue. We played at least a little while every day after school, and also on weekends. I grew to love the game and my character, and then Bones moved away because his dad got a new job somewhere else. He took all the character sheets with him (because we all feared our parents finding them) and the game died. I've played D&D here and there since then, always playing a rogue, but never as seriously as when we played for the two or three months that I knew Bones.
I haven't thought about Bones in years. Thank you for introducing me to Dungeons and Dragons. And thank you, Gary Gygax, for giving me such a wonderful memory. And thank you, Wil, for triggering a memory that would have remained hidden away forever.
Gary Gygax died on Tuesday, and Wil Wheaton shared a great story in his honor. His story triggered a long forgotten memory that I thought I'd share as well. It's nowhere near as good as Wil's, but read on if you're interested.
When I was 13 or 14, my family moved into the apartment complex where I met one of my best friends all through school. Unfortunately, we lost contact long ago, and this story is not really about him. It's about another friend, though one I only knew briefly.
It had to have been around 1982 or 1983 when we moved into the apartments. Up until then, my family always lived in rental houses. Though the apartments were only a mile or two from our previous house, and I retained many of my previous friends, I made many new friends as well. One of those friends was nicknamed "Bones." For the life of me, no matter hard I try I can't remember his real name. I think it speaks to my early geek status that my friends held Star Trek inspire nicknames.
As I mentioned, I didn't know Bones long. Shortly after we moved into the apartments, Bones' family moved away. But in those months that he did live there, we had some adventures together. While "the first time I ever got drunk" fits the bill as an adventure, this entry isn't about that experience.
Bones was the only child of a single father who worked way too much, which meant that a) his father felt guilty and gave him a much higher than average allowance for the early 80's, and b) his father didn't mind that he spent that allowance on Dungeons and Dragons, while all the other parents where freaking out about how "satanic" it was.
And so it came that in the summer 1984 or so I was introduced to D&D by Bones. He had heard about it from all the older kids in the apartment complex, but none of them would let us younger kids play. So Bones bought all the manuals and a starter game and read everything by the time my family moved in. Wizards and Warriors had already completed its run on CBS by then and I hadn't even heard of D&D until I met Bones. But once he mentioned this game and we started hearing about the "satanic" connections, being the rebellious teenager that I was, I knew I had to play. So we gathered several of the other kids who weren't allowed to play D&D with the older kids, and we started a campaign in secret. A lot of the parents were pretty freaked out about their kids getting involved in D&D, so it remained secret and therefore a pretty small group, just four or five of us.
I don't remember much about the campaign, or even the group. I remember Bones was the Dungeon Master, as his generous allowance gave him enough money to buy materials. I remember my best friend all through school was part of the group. I remember we wanted a mixed party, and while everyone wanted to be a fighter, we drew straws for flipped coins or something. I picked last, and was "stuck" being a rogue. We played at least a little while every day after school, and also on weekends. I grew to love the game and my character, and then Bones moved away because his dad got a new job somewhere else. He took all the character sheets with him (because we all feared our parents finding them) and the game died. I've played D&D here and there since then, always playing a rogue, but never as seriously as when we played for the two or three months that I knew Bones.
I haven't thought about Bones in years. Thank you for introducing me to Dungeons and Dragons. And thank you, Gary Gygax, for giving me such a wonderful memory. And thank you, Wil, for triggering a memory that would have remained hidden away forever.
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