At least once each semester, I try something new. Learn a new skill, volunteer, blog here, find a new hobby, or start a creative project. I do this to avoid getting stuck in a routine and also because I tend to become a bit of a hermit every now and then.
This semester, it’s role-playing. The tabletop kind, you know, with dice and pens and papers.
I have always been a bit sceptical of these games, or rather the people who play them. Despite being a lifelong gamer, convention goer, and being really excited by a lot of things many would call ”geeky”, I’m still prejudiced. We all are in one way or another.
But after watching a few live streams of people playing various tabletop games, I decided to give it a shot.
Whenever I try something new with new people, I’m careful about meeting up. The best way to do it is to meet in public and to always make it a group meet up. Never meet one or a few people in a private location. Never.
As you may have guessed, I found this group of players online. There’s a group that runs several games/editions on Brisbane’s northside, so that’s were I started.
The first time I met them, we played regular board games. The kind you’d play with your family. It went well, despite me not being very good with small talk.
The second time, I finally played my first session of Dungeons and Dragons (2nd ed). Somehow, my character ended up being a human male rogue age 17, he specialises in stealth and serves as a guide for the rest of this party as they travel across a highly dangerous island. Being put into a leadership position on one’s first session is a bit daunting, especially when one struggles to tell the dice apart.
I know it will take a while to get a hang of it, but I’ll give it a few more sessions before I decide if I like it or not. So far, we haven’t encountered any dungeons but we did get to ”see” a dragon.
Since I go out of my way to try new things on a fairly regular basis, I thought I’d turn this into a series of blog posts. No matter if it’s a new hobby, product, or just a new coffee place. If it’s interesting enough to share, I’ll share it. It will hopefully highlight a few things in Brisbane that you might not have heard of and maybe introduce you to something you’ll like.
– Ida
