Dungeons and Dragons: Passing the Torch
I got to be a witness to a sweet and rather manly nonchalant passing of the torch recently. The First Reader started playing Dungeons & Dragons in 1977, and he was gruffly instructing the Little Man in how to get started. This turned into him digging out his old books, magazines, character sheets, minis, and dice... and handing them off to the lad. Suitably awed, the Little Man took his new bag of treasures off, saying that he was going to create a character. The torch had been passed, after forty years. Who knows what the next forty will bring?
I have never played, although I would have liked to at one point. Now I'm too busy, too little time, not enough patience. But the boy child has been bonding with the First Reader over electronics and games, and this seems a natural progression for the two of them. The First Reader had been asked that afternoon 'what do I need to get started playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends?'
"What rules do you want to play by?"
"What rules?"
"There are a lot of versions."
"Oh."
I hopped on Amazon and tried to be helpful, but when the First Reader picked up his game case and opened it up, it became obvious I didn't need to buy anything. They talked about what takes place in a game, and what kinds of games you can play within the realm of RPGs. The First Reader handed the boy a book and explained the concept of the game. I watched his eyes light up. "Fallout!" he said when he got the connection between the book of rules for post-nuclear war game, the Gamma World. His favorite computer game world and now a book almost older than his mother? With the same plot? Revelations!
The Game the Little Man wants to play.
Cheat Sheets for creating characters
He now has vol I-III courtesy of the First Reader. He was rather impressed with the illustrations.
The Dungeon that Killed Nearly Everyone
As the First Reader was going through old notes and sheets, he stopped at this one and a smile crept onto his face. "That's the dungeon that killed nearly all the party." I rescued it from the trash heap. Some memories are worth saving.
The First Reader: ca 1980
The Little Man, ca 2018, with the DnD case passed on to his care.