One of my biggest regrets — all right, probably not biggest, but one I find myself thinking about occasionally — is not getting more into Dungeons & Dragons when I was younger.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I was interested — at various points I have owned Player's Handbooks, Monster Manuals and Dungeon Master's Guides for at least three generations of the game — but outside of a few isolated opportunities, I never really had much of a chance to play it. And I understand that these days, at least partly due to Fifth Edition and/or Wizards of the Coast's possible mismanagement of the franchise, interest in the system is, on the whole, waning.
That's not to say there are no people playing tabletop role-playing games out there, of course. And I'm sure someone, even now, is preparing to type an epic comment telling me how much better their roleplaying system of choice is. I'm sure it is. But I will always have a particular soft spot for Dungeons & Dragons.
Why? The video games, of course. I must confess, I haven't played many of them, and even less of them to completion — I think Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and its first expansion Shadows of Undrentide are the only ones I've actually beaten — but I like the ruleset(s), I understand the ruleset(s) and I often find myself wondering what it would have been like to get involved in a lengthy campaign.
I played a little bit at university as part of the Games Society. I had a thief character named Singol Nithryan, and he was constantly robbing my friend Tim, whose arrogant arse of a fighter was constantly asking for it with his behaviour. I don't remember a ton about the adventures we went on, but I do recall it being a lot of fun sitting there in the Student Union coffee bar while the Society took it over for a few hours, losing ourselves in our imaginations and the rolls of a bagful of dice.
"It's never too late," of course, and there are probably online groups and solutions also. But as an autistic adult with fairly severe social anxiety, self-esteem and body image issues, the prospect of finding a suitable group is a fairly daunting one. I don't even know where to begin, to be perfectly honest.
I'll tell you what I miss, and that is Neverwinter Connections, a website designed for aspiring roleplayers to get together with fellow enthusiasts of Neverwinter Nights and make use of that game's astoundingly good (and never since recreated) multiplayer mode, in which one player could take on the role of the Dungeon Master, controlling NPCs and monsters rather than leaving it all up to the game's AI. I have exceedingly fond memories of playing the sorcerer Jay Wrekin (and his pixie familiar Sianie, whom I was delighted to discover it was possible to "possess" and speak as during multiplayer) with several thoroughly lovely people that I miss quite a bit.
Ah well. One day I might get the chance to roll a THAC0 again. Yes, I know they don't do THAC0 any more (I don't think?), but Second Edition will always be special.
Want to read my thoughts on various video games, visual novels and other popular culture things? Stop by MoeGamer.net, my site for all things fun where I am generally a lot more cheerful. And if you fancy watching some vids on classic games, drop by my YouTube channel.
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