My Interests
I'm an avid reader and although I'm not as eclectic as some when it comes to reading, I have started to branch out from my first love, fantasy. Since we have to start somewhere, we'll start there.
I grew up reading everything. I remember when I was in 1st or 2nd grade there was a reading contest at the public library. During the summer, every book that was read earned the sticker of a US President. That summer I read so many books that I received every president's sticker (with the book that earned that sticker listed beneath it) and a list was typed and affixed to the back of the sticker poster. All told I believe I had read about 150 books.
In sixth grade I stumbled across a book called The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander.
I fell in love immediately! Taran was just a boy- like me!- and he was just as awkward as I was. I fell in love with Gurgi and Eilonwy and cried at the end of the chronicles, like many other young readers, I'm sure.
After the Prydain Chronicles, I was hopelessly lost in a fantasy haze. I searched out any book I could find, which eventually lead me to Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickaman?s Dragonlance trilogy.
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There is no way to aptly describe how much that series moved me at such a young age. Each character was imbued with so much personality, so much realism, that it was literally as if I knew the characters. Each character had flaws that were my own and strengths that I felt could grow in me
Books are like that, but no other genre has given me the rush of emotions that fantasy has. Throughout the years I have read many different genres, but no characters have ever found a place in my heart like the characters of the worlds of fantasy.
My friends and I inevitably became interested in Dungeons and Dragons. At the time, we never really knew about the negative stigma that had been attached to it. In fact, we had no idea that those that played were labled "nerds." I suppose we could have been a part of that clique, but I remember being fairly popular in spite of playing.
Our games were like most others, I think. The games would start out with the best of intentions, but without a mature hand to guide almost always detoriorated into a hilarious arguing match. Needless to say, we needed better. We needed something solid.
One day, while browsing the local bookstore in our small hometown, we happened upon an interesting fellow. I have no idea how we broached the topic, but the next Saturday, three of us were at this 32-year-old's house rolling up our first characters. My adolescence changed after that. Looking back, I realize we were very lucky. He was a good guy, but we were pretty foolish to trust him so blindly by going to his house. At 14, noone and nothing can hurt you, I guess.
His name was Krys Stromstead and he was a magician to me. Krys was single, 32-year-old ex-sailor that worked two jobs to make ends meet. During the week he was no one special; no one out of the ordinary to any of us. Before this, I'm sure we had seen him a thousand times and never knew what secret Krys hid. But after our first night at his house rolling up characters and embarking on our first adventure, he had forever changed to us; was elevated in our eyes. Krys had devoted hours upon hours creating his worlds. He had about eight maps carefully drawn out to depict the zones of his world, Kaldorain. Not only that, Krys had modified just about everything about Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, to include the rules of rolling characters. We were in heaven.
I can remember so many of our adventures at Krys' house. I remember many of my characters' names- most have stayed with me to this day, reincarnated in almost every computer-based roleplaying game I play. Game days were Saturday or Sunday, depending on his schedule. Generally we would go to his house around 10am and the games usually started around 11 or 12. I was (am?) such an impatient person, I remember wishing we would start sooner, knowing that it would end so fast! Games lasted for about 12-14 hours, or until Krys couldn't keep his eyes open. Poor guy. I know now that it must have been terribly hard to have such a crazy work schedule and have kids from age 12-18 in your house. I think that's why I appreciate his gift so much now.
I stopped playing one day at age 18 because it was so addictive. I couldn't make time with any friends that weren't with me on game days and it was wearing on me. I missed it so much, but I think I knew I was outgrowing it. I'll never have days like those and I owe them to the presence of so many people... Mike and Jeff...Craig...James...the Miller brothers...the "adults"...of course, Mike and Terry...and Krys.
I am much older now, so would I let my child play Dungeons and Dragons? I won't give the answer I suppose you think I will simply because I had such a fantastic experience. There are so many reasons why I would be hesitant to allow my child to dabble in this hobby. Mostly, I believe I would allow him or her the chance to play. I think like everything it would have to be monitored. I honestly believe that most, if not all, of us learned some very valuable lessons about ourselves and the world from that game. Like everything, it is only as good as what you get out of it.
