Dungeons and Day Dreams

 Before Christmas, I was really low in spirits. Getting rejection letter after rejection letter and knowing my savings were only going down was hurting. During my Christmas shopping, I passed a games shop that had a sign out front: Try out Dungeons and Dragons! I wouldn't say I’m a stranger to role-playing games, I’ve seen TV episodes featuring the famous game, I've heard stories on the internet, but I’d never played a traditional Pen and Paper RPG before. So I thought I’d give It a shot. I arrived a few minutes late on the Sunday they were demo-ing it, so I was a last minute addition to the group. The guy in charge quickly printed me a character sheet, I was an Orc Warlord. Sounds nice.

The group dynamic was a lot of fun and the dice-rolls are what actually keep things interesting. One of the other players, a Halfling, slipped on the ice at the top of the turret, but due to his acrobatics skill and a nice d20 roll, he landed on the very edge of the wall and managed to fire an arrow straight into a Kobold’s face. It's about taking random chance and making a story out of it. Improvisation at its finest. The one-shot lasted two hours and I really enjoyed it, so I made the decision to join the next campaign that runs on Wednesdays.

I still don’t understand the entirety of the rules, but I am having a blast. There has yet to be a single session where there was no laughter amongst us. I started with a group of strangers, but by the end, I’m sure they will be veteran comrades, friends.

A lot of people will hear Dungeons and Dragons and think “Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrd!” but  that is truly an insecurity. Enjoying things isn't being nerdy, its having fun. D&D is just like any other game, except a lot of it takes place in your imagination and on paper. It is still a game though, like chess, monopoly, bowling, football. Heck, I’d go as far as to say that those Fantasy Football team games aren't in a traditional sense, different at all. Just for different people.  So I enjoyed the Role-playing game known as D&D, I will continue to go to them and I will kill a dragon. Eventually. (My group has already killed a dungeon, turns out that Sulphur is explosively flammable, even in fantasy.)

Now onto the subject of day-dreams, or more precisely, my goals. I want to move out of my hometown, even though I've finally met a few social groups that I have fit myself into. Ideally, I want to move to London and find a job that I not only enjoy, but one that pays enough to pay rent. Therefore, I have been applying for jobs in London. I have already received two rejections and am waiting for a reply for three more.

It’s weird, I really hate the busy, busy, busy bustling and noise of cities, but it is for that reason that I want to live in one for a while. I don’t like being intimidated by such large cities, I want to feel the heartbeat of the city. I don’t mind travelling through London, but to actually live there… it’s an experience I feel I need. So who knows, maybe one day.

For now, I guess I’ll just stumble though life some more until I find a new dream worth pursuing. It used to be acting, but I find myself shying away from opportunities. There are various reasons I could attribute for this change of heart, even though I do miss performing, but for now, it’s not really an option I can pursue.