I'm writing a source book for the homebrew world that my friends and podcast play on and it got me thinking about how so many other DM's from here got into it.
I read so many posts on the D&D subreddits and find them so inspirational, so I thought I'd share the opening segment of my book, *Seliphgurd and the Serious Situations One Might Find There*, which is a heartfelt introduction and touches on my personal journey with this beautiful game and what it means to me.
So what I'd like to discuss with all of you is how did you get into D&D and what does it mean to you?
Since I've used the 'Offering Advice' flair, I'm also happy to offer advice on how to write a source book for your homebrew world, since mine has almost completed its first draft.
Preface
The Power of Those Around You
Ever since I was but a wee lad, I was always spending more time in my own imagination than on what was going on around me. Oh, the trouble I was always in at school. I grew up constantly moving between the city and the country, and so it was a Gameboy and my imagination that kept me sane on those long car rides. Sometimes I would read. I loved the book, Eldest, by Christopher Paolini. The way that Eragon would struggle against both personal villains and the armies of the empire just screamed like a perfect story to a younger me. Even when I immersed myself in the lore of a video game, I was always thinking about what could be changed to improve it and ended up imagining my own version of the game. Even better than that, I would crave the time that I would get to sit down with my friends and talk about the games we played. We would obsess over the ways we could make the perfect game. ‘If only they had made this tiny change!’ we would say so often as children. Even by the time I graduated high school, I was still always wondering about the small changes to stories and games that would just perfect them. Even more than that, I still lived for the nights that my friends and I would ‘nerd out’ and talk about video games and books, because to me, at the end of it all, it was the people that shared the experiences with me that made these books and games so worth it.
It was in my first year of teaching that my wife peer pressured me into playing Dungeons & Dragons. ‘Too nerdy’ and ‘too far down the rabbit hole’ I would say. So, in secret, she bought the Lost Mine of Phandelver starter set as a present for my birthday, knowing that we were going camping with all my nerdy friends. So, lo and behold, the birthday morning comes around and my wife presents the smuggled contraband. We unwrap the starter set, put a few drinks in us as young teachers do, and start figuring out how to play. We were awful. It did not go well. I played as the DM with my own character, which worked well since I had no idea what was going to happen. I was just reading straight from the book, so everything was as much a surprise to me as it was to everyone else at the table. Things were going smoothly until the wizard decided to cast Burning Hands at the barkeep for not immediately handing over his gold. It was in that moment I knew that I had a long way to as a DM. Burning Hands at the barkeep wasn’t in the manual I was reading from, and so the game ground to a halt since I didn’t know what was meant to happen next. So, the game was shelved for a few more months. We had our laughs about it and then went, I think, kayaking.
Several months later with new friends over for dinner, I discovered that they had always wanted to try Dungeons & Dragons. So out came the starter set again, but this time, there was a new rule. ‘You are not allowed to cast Burning Hands at the barkeep’. And with reckless abandon, little did I know that the world of Seliphgurd had been born. The campaign ended up going on for three years. Through working on my improvisation and wanting to add my own flair to little things, I slowly built up the world one little town at a time. By the end of the campaign, the party, which ended up with a total of seven players, fought the Warden of Death and saved the world. In many places, they shared the names of the original source material, but their lore had become my own. The names were then changed to better reflect my work and lore, and by the time this was all said and done, the world of Seliphgurd was nearing completion. Every one-shot adventure, every session, every character made, every backstory, all contributed to the lore and the building of the world.
In my obsession, I was running four different campaigns at the same time. These campaigns took place simultaneously, just in different locations, and the choices they made affected the other parties. My magnum opus was linking these campaigns together against their universal villain. The crescendo of the campaign was unlike anything else. It was like a high when all these different players came together and enjoyed themselves purely on the sandbox I had created and let them perfect together. It was at this climax that I realised that Dungeons & Dragons had become the vehicle of my childhood obsession. Always wanting things to be just the way my friends and I wanted, getting to talk about and create things with my friends and those dearest to me, spending late nights theory crafting about what comes next. This game, that started so meekly with a starter set, allowed me to explore friendships and skills that I would never have had the opportunity to do with this silly maths game disguised as fun.
What I have created is a world created by me, but shaped by those dearest. This fictional place has become the home ground for so many friendships that will now last a lifetime. And now, to you, the reader I give you this; the power of those around you. It is immeasurable. It can create worlds, topple regimes, and defeat gods. It brings you closer in a way that nothing else can. The power of those around you is what gives us meaning, not only in game, but in life. And so, I now pass on this world, lovingly crafted by dozens of people, onto you. All in the hopes that it will shape your life for the better, as it did mine. I only ask that you respect one rule; you are not allowed to cast Burning Hands at the barkeep.
Big Rig
Dungeon Master of KBOLT and Kobolds
23
Vilitch when I clicked on him just now: "Think I'm a villain? Go play Settra."
in
r/totalwar
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Sep 22 '22
If you have to ask, you're streets behind.