How I Got Sucked Into the World Of D&D
Let me preface this by saying I am in no way a tabletop expert. In fact, I would be considered a relative n00b (remember 2007?). I had always been intrigued with the concept. I grew up loving stories of all kinds. I loved telling them. I loved reading them. I consumed content at such an astronomical rate that my parents were sure they weren't going to be able to afford to keep up.
Lo and behold they made it and so did I, although I still crave the next story. Sometimes the medium changes. While my kindle collection continues to grow, there were so many options available - websites, blogs, articles, videos, Netflix, Facebook, movies, music - all ready to tell the next story.
So fall of 2017 rolls around. I've been doing things that a normal 31-year-old professional would do. I consumed alcohol at a rate that rivaled my ability to consume a story. I sated my want for story-telling by participating in bar trivia multiple nights a week, both as a host and as a player. I was part of a young professionals choir. But the nights playing Witcher III or Skyrim had gotten a bit redundant and were becoming fewer and far between with a new girlfriend in the picture (not that I'm complaining).
And I was presented with a new opportunity. "Do I play D&D?" was the question posed to me by a member of our choir, who eventually became my DM. Now I had never played. I was really not even familiar with the mechanics of playing. I knew the most famous part of the game was an icosahedron that you had to roll at times. But I knew that the game revolved around telling a story and that each player had some modicum of control over that story. My first real exposure to any component of it was while watching Community (more on that later).
So here we are, assigning starting stats, choosing character races and classes, trying to read the character sheet (if you've never looked at that thing, it is intimidating when you haven't ever played this game). Naturally, I had no real idea how to choose a functional character, but in the end I wound up with a Blue Dragonborn fighter class who's charisma was his highest attribute named after a character that Alison Brie portrayed. Like I said, I had no idea what I was doing.
Getting going was clunky, as I didn't know how much I could interject or "guide" the story or my character without stepping on the DM's toes. Thankfully Kyle has been very patient and helped us find out groove. By the end of our first adventure I had rolled a natural 20 (on a ridiculous ability check) and successfully helped us what was almost certainly a terrible trap.
But I still was not used to getting through what are definitely some of the tedious moments of the game - arguing over strategies, trying to figure out where to go, trying to figure out how your character is going to interact with the rest of the group. So in order to help see how others deal with this, it was suggested I take a look at Critical Role. Nearly 90 episodes later and 9 months of playing and I can honestly say it is hard to get enough. Which is why I made this site. I wanted to chronicle our story. The story of our little group, as we traverse and tackle the dangers of our own slice of D&D.