Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

NerdFest 2021 – The Allure of the Game

While I was growing up, one of my favorite things to do was to play board and table top games. I spent a lot of time with my friends playing Dungeons and Dragons, Monopoly, Axis and Allies, and any new game that we could get our hands on. Most of the games had not been updated for years, and it caused us to think of ways that we could create our own games to see what other worlds we could create or how we could adapt the games we already loved to make them more exciting. Some of them got a little too complicated while others were a little too simple, but every once in awhile we hit that sweet spot and created a game that we all really loved, and it became our new favorite.

As years went by, my friends moved to other parts of the country or got to busy to play a game. Soon all of these games got put away into a closet and collected dust. I am actually not quite sure what happened to all of them after I moved away to college because my parents eventually moved into a new house and I don’t know if the games made the move or not. At the time, I didn’t care much because the idea of playing a game seemed childish and I was too busy with my life.

When I moved overseas, I was looking for that way to connect with people again. There was always the option of heading out to the bars, and that can be fun for awhile, but after working in bars for so long, I knew that this could get old after a little while. I was lucky enough to get hooked up with a Dungeons and Dragons group in Korea, and it got me interested in the game again. A lot about it had changed since my days of hacking and slashing my way through dungeons in search of riches. The Wizards of the Coast had bought the rights to the game, and added to the story aspect of the game. It changed how the game was played, made it simpler and yet more of a sandbox that allowed creative minds to play off of each other to create wonderful story moments. Being an English teacher and a writer, I instantly got sucked back into this world of table top games.

Then Covid happened.

I know that there are a lot of people out there that here that statement and divide their lives to before this event and after it. The pandemic has changed many people’s lives and the way that they look at the world. Many people can look at this in a bad way, and there are times where I fall into this category. But not everything that has happened during this world wide event has been all bad. I went on the search for things that my wife and I could do while being confined in our house that would not drive us crazy, and this brought me back to a love that I had in my childhood with board games. I also did not realize how much the hobby had changed over the years and how much it is now directed towards an adult audience. There are so many games out there with amazing puzzles to unlock your imagination, and tickle your strategic ingenuity. It was hard to decide which games I should get into first because there were so many out there, but I did some research, and with the help of my new favorite YouTube channel, Shut Up and Sit Down, I was able to find a couple that I would love as well as my wife.

It helped us get through that tough time this year, and we still pull out a couple of these games from time to time to play. But there was another benefit to them that I did not expect as much.

It introduced me to a whole new group of people who shared the same interest. These board games have not only become a way to challenge myself intellectually, but also to visit and hang out with people on a regular basis. It is a trend that I hope continues because I am loving the games that I am playing, whether it is a simple card game or a complex role playing game. They all tell stories and I get to be a part of those stories that are being told. And most importantly I get to also create stories with other people as well.

Until the next NerdFest, thanks for coming along.

Nerdfest 2021 – The Start of the End

I belong to a Dungeons and Dragons group.

Years ago, this would be something that people would just not admit to other people. It would be something that they would keep quiet because there was this stigma associated with it that they person was not living in reality, or was exceptionally nerdy. People would stop associating with others who played this game would gather in the woods to roll dice, conduct Satanic rituals, and throw play fireballs at each other. The people who played this game were thought of as not having one foot in reality.

In recent years with the arrival of the newest edition, 5e, and the inclusion of the game in shows like Stranger Things, the bad image associated around this game has dissipated a little bit, and people don’t look at you as weirdly when you tell them that you like to play this game. They still think of you as a nerd, but all of the throwing fake fireballs, and committing acts humanity are no longer associated with it. I can handle being called a nerd, and I admit to playing the game more easily now. In fact, I enjoy the game so much that I will spend time talking about it with people who show even the slightest interest in it.

The reason for this enjoyment is partly because of the group that I am playing with at this time. They are a great group of people who know each others’ strengths and how to use those to create a single story that builds in intensity and hilarity. The current campaign I am playing is definitely episodic, and has a lose story arc with it, but some of the most epic moments I have ever experienced in a story has come from it, and a lot of it comes from us playing together. Leaving this group behind is going to be one of the hardest things I am going to have to do when I move to Jordan next year, and I hope I am going to be able to find another group of people to play with next year. It has become something that I have looked forward to doing no matter where I live in the world.

With that being said, the group is breaking up. Being in international teaching, people moving on to new locations is something that I have become accustomed to seeing every year, and after a year of being locked up, there are a lot of international school teachers looking for a change of scenery this year. Four out of the group of six is doing this. One of those rare moments in life where you find that perfect connection with group is falling apart. In order to hold on to that magic for just a little longer, we decided to have a getaway weekend where we found a big AirB+B with a large table so we could do a marathon session. We would call it NerdFest 2021 and we would go down to Pattaya and play a bunch of games.

People who are aware of the culture of Pattaya would think that we had gone down there to do other things, but in all honesty, we went to play games, and enjoy each others’ company. It was the perfect way to say goodbye to this group. Yes, we would get together at another time later on before we made the final move, but this would be the special session that we could take with us to our new locations. It marked the beginning of the end of this final campaign for this group, and it had a bittersweet feeling to it. It was fun to get together to laugh and enjoy the story we have created together, but at the same time we knew that it was coming to a close.

But I guess that is what happens with all great things. They can only occupy a small place in time and space, and then they need to move on. It is just the random luck of this world that we were all able to come together to create this moment. I will be sad when it finally ends, but while it still goes on, I want to hold on to it and experience it as much as I can, so when it finally does have to come to a close, I have created the best memories I could. That was what this weekend was about, letting the story be told in its fullest, and I am glad that I got to experience it.