User blog:ATK1734/How D&D changed my life

When thinking about what my inagural blog post would be, I find myself back in my college senior days: looking at the thing as an essay/journal entry to express thought and opinion. So, I present possibly the dorkiest titled post that could have easily have been created by any grade school nitwit. Though the title of this blog post may sound a tad overdramatic, I find that it truly encapsulates how I feel about this game.

Game...truly mindboggling to remember that such epic tales and adventures can be weaved over several periods of 3-4 hours a night by playing a game.

But nevertheless, Dungeons and Dragons has helped me in ways I could have never imagined.

I first played when I was a freshman in College; where I came from in rural Virginia often didn't permit for something so nerdy as D&D. So naturally, I went into my first offer to play with a preconcieved notion of an overabundance of nerds and strangeness that I couldn't hope to comprehend. Thankfully, I was wrong.

Our DM was very welcoming to first time players and was very patient with all of my questions and mistakes. As a bit of a shy kid, I naturally decided to play a character a little close to the chest and ended up creating a 15-year-old Merfolk Cleric, named Hayanth. Needless to say that after several sessions and some VERY close and intense battles, I began to understand that D&D is not a tabletop game that you can flip over when you don't get what you want...it's a story, whose outcome is decided by diplomacy, smarts, and guts (and by no small means: those dice rolls).

I fancy myself a writer, both for profession (though I've yet to find footing in this field) and pleasure. And storytelling has always been one of my favorite things to do to pass time. So when D&D came into my life, it was an opportunity to explore, not only as a gamer, but as a storyteller. I discovered the importance of diversity and branching out to find that extra level of yourself hidden deep down. It is a skill that I have honed over many years and many campaigns.

Aside from writing, D&D has helped me evolve as a person as well. Over the years, I've played many characters: ranging from the meek Hayanth, to a bold but dark Half-Elven Paladin named Hathonier. I've discovered avenues of my personality that I don't think I could have found any other way; and I owe it to my friends, a wellspring of imagination and patience, and the unbelievable creativity of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

I have fond memories and a plethora of new characters I'm itching to try out. I know for a fact that I'll be playing this game for many, many, MANY years to come.