Where’s my nerds at?

My role-playing ones, specifically, because I’m itching for some D&D!

Haven’t played in years…since 1985 or so. Was big on it in early high school. We played more than D&D, too, branching out into Marvel Superheroes, James Bond and a few others I can’t remember. D&D was the King, though, and the one that holds the most interest for me these days.

Back then, we used to compete over who could steal the best stuff from our local hobby shop in Mt. Vernon as it was all too expensive for us. It was a small store on West 1st Street, mainly full of models of ships and cars and stuff, but there was one shelf that held all of the D&D books. Our MO was always the same: send the old guy into the back to see if our “special order” had arrived, stuff what we could into our backpacks without leaving the shelf obviously barren before he returned, and buy a 20-sided die or something like it before leaving. Later, we’d add up the “cost” of our booty and whomever’s was worth more won. Every now and then, I’d feel guilty and buy a cheap snap-together model that I’d never get around to snapping together – my idea of penance.

For the past couple of months, my cousin Juan has been teasing me that he’s putting together a campaign but I’m getting impatient so I borrowed his Dungeon Master’s Guide this weekend so I could start putting together my own. Part of my logic is that constructing a campaign is not unlike writing a story and that it might be a good way to flesh out my Mateo de Orikeno story that’s hit that wall called lack of time, especially since I read through the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and found a couple of great areas I could set my story. (It’s similar to how writing an earlier idea for a novel out as a screenplay helped me to get that story out of my system, if not actually finished. And, ultimately, got me into the slams at the Nuyorican! But that’s another story.)

Slipped at one point, explaining to Salomé what a “SLAM”-master does in the game! I meant Dungeon Master, of course, but when you think about it, there’s not really that much difference. Both create the setting in which the players act out their roles – some choosing characters similar to themselves while others pretend to be someone completely different – and guide the action through to the end, striving for a balance of excitement and fairplay. If only you could kill off a “character” in slam, though…

So I need a few interested friends – four, ideally, so I don’t have to press Salomé into service – to step up to the plate for a semi-monthly (that’s twice a month, jerky!) campaign. Straightforward role-playing, 3rd level party, using the Forgotten Realms setting, to start sometime in January. No dressing up or anything extreme like that! Drop me a note in the guestbook if you’re proud of your nerdhood, or via email if you’re in the closet.

In other news: The Fantasy Football playoffs began this past weekend without me for the third year in a row in my Exit42 leagues. In Yahoo!, however, Clinton Portis guaranteed my Midnight Rockers a playoff spot with a final week blowout of my buddy, Danny, as I walloped his Miami Jets 118-51 in my best game of the season.

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.