When my friend in the ward asked if I wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons with him, I told him a whole hearted “No way.” For some reason that was a line I’d drawn in the sand, despite flying the Nerd flag for most of my life. I think part of me was afraid that I’d like it too much. He kept asking until he eventually just planned a session and invited some men from the ward over. A few of them had played before, but most hadn’t. It took us a while to start to figure things out—The rules, the puzzles, just really how to play, how to understand what was happening in D&D Beyond, but we started having fun right from the start.
And now I sit with them, looking forward to it each time: A Rogue that is completely unpredictable in every way who sold his from the ground up business, a gnome who asks the right question at the right time that also knows how to fly planes, a DM that’s a Vice President, that one Paladin that was definitely somehow evil who does... well he recently switched jobs so I don't know what he does anymore.
Can I regale you about the time the rogue decided to free some giant weasels from a fire? Because they deserved to live, I guess. Nobody else thought so by the way they were snarling at us. The guy decides to jump over the fence (which he does with flying colors), then to do a flip over the weasels to open the gate on the other side with his sword. His roll isn’t so good the next time, and he falls in the flames catching his cloak on fire. He still managed to get the gate open, being on fire and all. I mean, that’s commitment, especially when I’m the one that set that imaginary fire… I mean, those things would for sure have attacked me. Wizards are squishy, too.
When people
ask me about DnD, I like to tell them “Imagine sitting around a table and
laughing with your friends for a few hours.” That’s what we did, once every other
month or so. And guess what happened? We became friends. Not just the friends
that say “Hi” in the hallway at church, but the friends that actually know each
other.
I can’t tell you how many wards I’ve been in where I’ve heard men (and women) say “I just don’t have any friends in the ward.” Now, I know this isn’t everyone’s situation, but in a church where mom’s often stay home with kids and father’s go off to work, it’s sometimes hard for men to find time to make friends. But for my quorum, this little group found them because one guy wanted to do something fun. Thanks to him, I’ve crossed that line in the sand, then gone back and blew it up with a fireball because that's what good Wizards do.
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