This week marks a tragic time in my life. Gary Gygax, the co-father of Dungeons and Dragons passed away. Before he passed, he asked that we all remember him as “…the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.” So this post is in honor of him.
I remember my first taste of D&D came in the form of a Saturday morning cartoon Gary had created. I was fascinated with the possibility of being drawn into another universe (through a roller coaster, no less) and given powers you had no idea how to control. My Mother still tells me about how I’d go around and put on little plays for them involving the acrobat and the thief (the only two female characters, plus Uni the Unicorn ROFL).
Fast forward to high school where I picked up my first Dragonlance novel: The Dragons of Autumn Twilight. In the 1st of the chronicles trilogy I was sucked in. It had less intensity and obsessive seriousness than the Epic fantasies I’d been reading up until that time. What can I say? I’m a sucker for a good page turner. My imagination started sparking. The Epics I’d read until that time were so exhausting to read (BUT enjoyable!) my mind never considered writing one. With the Chronicles trilogy, however, my imagination had been ignited. I’d hoped to continue following that path of love with all the other books in the Dragonlance universe. While a few were absolutely awesome, most were inconsistent and uninspiring. My frustration increased with each book until one day my Mom yelled at me to write a book then, dammit, if I was going to keep throwing them against the wall. *wall thumper: a book so bad you throw it against the wall in anger and/or frustration*
I went on to write really bad fiction…more like fan fic, really. Really BAD fan fic. LOL. But I also started playing D&D. When a Dungeon Master (the tale spinner) suddenly decided he didn’t want to play anymore, I was shoved to the DM spot. (I think I’d talked smack at the time…not a good move) Let me tell you, there is nothing more terrifying in the world than being the DM for six guys who could flay you for breakfast with their wit. I thought I was out of my league. So they gave me two days to prep. LOL. No one offered suggestions and I, in my infinite teenage wisdom, refused to ask.
So I set it all up. Man, it was tough. Maps, scenerios, character cards for non-playable, yet key, characters, and a storyarc. Who knew DM-ing was so tough! My first night I still remember with embarrassment. Mostly b/c I should have known they’d go on their own and do whatever they wanted. Hadn’t I been playing with them for over a year? I had one week to prep for the next round. This time they wouldn’t get me. I had a story dammit and no willful character was going to stomp all over me.
The next round was a little rougher but they were starting to relax and enjoy themselves. Weeks followed. Sometimes we had so much fun we’d meet on Sundays too. Finally a month and half long storyarc was done and I was exhausted. We’d battled epic monsters and demons and the foundations of the world had been shaken. I’d tracked every one of my NPS characters, some living and some sacrificed for the greater good of the story. Man I remember how it tore me apart.
The guys were laughing and joking about how much fun they’d had. I was packing up the DM stuff I’d been loaned by the previous one and my mind had blanked. It was like I was closing off a chapter of my imagination. Crazy stuff. One I would become familiar with later in life. I was exhausted, mentally just numb. This is the part that I most remember. One of the guys said, “Damn that was an intense storyline! Awesome work for your first time. When does the next one start up?” I’d laughed (hysterically, I think) and said I wasn’t sure. Later that night I got a call from the former DM congratulating me on my storyarc. I asked him how he’d kept it up for so long and he laughed and said something I’ll never forget and keep to my heart even now. “It’s the story you’ve got to love. You have to want it told bad enough that you’ll face anything, any obstacle to get it done.” I wrote those words down. He went on to tell me that he’d lost the love of the story and it killed him to try and play a game without one in his heart.
Fast forward to *cough* years later. I still hold those words to my heart and I fear I’m addicted to storytelling. Thank you Gary, for introducing me to a world where I first let my imagination soar. You will be missed. Thank you for letting me reminisce about how I got into writing.
Much love,
Dawn Montgomery aka Angel
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Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi , Erotic Romance