In some respects I’m a bit old fashioned. One of the things this includes is my favourite pastime – playing table top role-playing games. Never understood the fun of sitting over alcohol in a pub too loud to hear your own thoughts let alone have a conversation. Board games and traditional role playing games combine social interaction with creativity and in the case of the later storytelling.
Being the hero in an epic adventure is a powerful experience, and you get to take your real life friends with you. You all become the hero’s (or villains in some cases). Have you ever watched a movie or read a book and thought that something a character did was stupid, didn’t make sense, and you’d do it so much better. This is exactly what you get to do in these games.
I am so grateful to have a great group of friends and an amazing storyteller as a Game Master. RPG groups often fall apart once people “grow-up”, leave their home towns after playing RPGs in high school, or if they played at uni – move to where their work takes them. It’s hard to find a new group as an adult – less free time, and some people start seeing it as childish and “below them”.
The funny thing is that in many ways, the game becomes even better with older players. Most people will be more cultured, better read, and with more experience in various aspects of life. This adds that special flavour – quirky references that have everyone laughing, things we maybe wouldn’t have known 10 years ago. I think we also often focus more on the story and just having a great time, rather than scoring points and advancing levels just for the sake of these achievements of their own.
Currently we have two campaigns going in our small group – one set in Eonika (the world of my fantasy stories) and the other in Vampire: the Masquerade. Very different Game Master styles, though both are systems focused on storytelling.