The Most Important Thing About D&D

My RPG buddies and I were in Cayucos last weekend and we got into a discussion about the placement of Dungeons & Dragons in modern society. We talked a bit about how RPG players are considered nerds and such and we pondered if it would ever change. I started comparing D&D players to Scientists, in that Scientists used to be ridiculed and labeled heathens kind of how RPGers have in the past couple of decades, and all for exploring something that is considered different. Though Scientists were on to something a lot more practical for modern society than D&D players are, I sensed a similarity in the experience of being an outcast.

It should go without saying that Science and D&D are very different, but the line of thinking above lead me to conclude that RPG haters might be missing out on something important that could be coming out of the creation of D&D and other RPGs that followed.

My own conclusion was this: the most important thing about D&D is that it created a structured way of telling a story that was/is interactive, in a way that was not present before it came about.


People could start relating this type of interactivity to the internet I suppose. Table top gaming retains an analogue performance that I feel the internet lacks.

If anyone stumbling upon this blog is interested, feel free to leave comment! :)

(below is a picture from my friend's beach house we were at where we had this discussion)

Tiles and Miniatures - prep for the neighbor's final game

Below are some images of dungeon tiles and miniatures I have readied for my neighbor's kid's last game (I'm moving to LA so our 2 year D&D campaign is coming to an end). I made the tiles by printing out sheets from the back of the 4th Edition D&D DMG and pasting them on top of foam core.

Draft 1: Maker's Conundrum

How will it begin...

Well, the difficulty is that the beginning is always forgotten. Or perhaps the beginning isn't ever perceived, since in the beginning there is nothing to relate to. No one ever remembers the moment when they were born, they just gradually begin to perceive that they exist - after much accordance with their surroundings and much agreement upon the terms of existence. It is a peculiar way to become a part of things.

For Robert J. Pelgreen existence here began on hilltop. He was staring at planes contemplating choices, then slowly he became aware of where he was. In remembrance, he assumes there was a sky, green grassy hills and some birds flying above the farm fields of a nearby village, but it was honestly a blur and it didn't feel like the very beginning - just where he began to remember some things. He thought of the memory as the feeling you might have if you and your mirror image had just traded places, only to stare at each other again once you did. He remembers heaving and puking. He remembers looking out at the planes and viewing the world as if existence was in duet with his personal desires, where neither source could usurp the other, but instead just became something all its own.

He didn't remember traveling to the nearby village, he always assumed he just walked there from the hill, he remembered feeling like he had walked too. He couldn't figure out which hill in the valley it was, where he began. The first thing he came upon in the village was his own reflection in a glass window. All too clearly he could see his own brown eyes, his short brown hair and some stubble on his face. He was in his mid twenties.

The Shambles

The Shambles, an area found in the Barony of Salkbrow....

Walking down the roads at night, in the Shambles, you hear strange noises. Elves and men who live in the district are still up in the late night. Coughing from a lit window is heard. You look to see a man peering out of his window suspiciously as you walk by on the road. Further down the road in an alleyway you spot two elves ganging up on another elf who is getting jumped by them in the shadows.

While most of the buildings throughout the Barony are made of twisted pine that was controlled as it grew, to make the building look intricate, the buildings here lack the same attention. Much of the same pine tree growth system is used, however a lot of stones have been thrown in to fill out areas of structures, to fill out the building. Growing trees either took too long or could not be afforded here. Lots of weeds are overgrown into the buildings and road sides, the weeds being what gave the area its name. The area's property is more affordable for lower income patrons because it is closer to the grave yard in town.

Tonight's Drawings: Experiments

Dog Morphing into Horse Inside Collapsing Stone Portal

The Trickle Dark

In the trickle dark, the neitherfog lingers upon the floors amidst the rooted trees. Boot prints, that are small, carry over the trickle and through the dark to the beyondest places. Breeze blows the long thin branches, breaking sunbeams in and out; brief moments for frog eyes in the trickle. Remains of quiet and peace with the trees is all there ever is.

In the night the trickle dark breaks starbeams in with black and purple sky, little creatures make noise til the edges of the night.