Let's Play Pretend

Here I go touting the joys of make-believe again.

When I was a kid, I loved playing make-believe with my friends. Whether it was playing Power Rangers at recess, pet shop with my brother and our beanie babies, or being Raja when my older friends played Disney Princess because I was the littlest and just wanted to be included. As I got older, and we were deemed too old to play pretend, sometimes I would try to recapture that feeling in AOL Buffy RPG chat rooms, which was a thrill of its own, but never quite the same.

This weekend I played a game of D&D with my friends for the first time in a long time and I was once again reminded of the magic of playing make-believe as adults. (Or honestly playing, full stop; it’s why I play video games with my friends, too.) It had been a while since I played, and I missed the laughter and chaos that we get up to when we pick silly characters and let the dice decide our fate. I also love how different a game goes from the way you planned it; this weekend, we set out to do a train heist, and I set out to make a vigilante nurse, but the vibes ended up being less Murder on the Orient Express or Knives Out (though a very impressive Benoit Blanc accent did make an appearance) and more Adventures in Babysitting, but in all the best ways. As we ate fantasy snowcones on our way to set an outlaw free on this runaway train, after teaching a robot that “hat is style,” learning about moon school, and trying to keep our bubblegum necromancer from taking the bones of people who were still currently using them, I couldn’t help but think of how hilarious these situations sound out of context (and, frankly, in context.)

And so this week, I thought I would provide a short list of things that either my characters or my D&D parties have done during various sessions of D&D that make me laugh, and hopefully will entertain you, even without the context.

These are in no particular order, and happened over many years, with different people, different characters, different campaigns and one-shots. Just little moments that stick out in my memory.

I/we...

...threw a chicken at a hag

...cast Thunderclap in a skirmish after successfully sneaking past a dozen guards (who were then alerted)

...got turned into a statue (forever; RIP)

...filled an orphanage with kids we kept finding

...adopted a kobold cultist we almost definitely were supposed to kill

...tried the “three halflings in a trenchcoat” trick

...took a giant spider leg as a souvenir

...voluntarily became part werewolf

...played tic-tac-toe with a tavern ghost

And my personal favorite:

...gave a hoard of zombies to a dragon

Not to mention other general shenanigans like being a pirate princess, or having an “oops all bards” wedding band one-shot, and the Breakfast Club inspired one. Believe me when I tell you this is a VERY SMALL sampling of hilarious things that have happened while playing D&D in my life. And one-shots can get even more out of hand because the stakes are lower and our characters typically don’t have to deal with consequences or fall-out the way campaign characters might. Of course, things aren’t always so ridiculous. Sometimes they’re earnest or deep or meaningful; I play this game most often with people who are storytellers at heart, we’re not going to leave juicy character development or an exciting plot twist on the table. I’ve fought, died, gotten engaged, mourned, loved, and laughed at the table with friends, and even the occasional stranger. (Though you’re only strangers until you murder imps together; a very bonding experience.) And every time I play, I’m reminded at how grateful I am that this game is part of my life, even if I don’t get to play as frequently as I’d like.

I know I talk about this a lot, so I hope you’ll forgive me yet another week where I gush about how much I love D&D and my friends, but it’s top of mind. I spent my 39th birthday weekend playing video games, putting together a Wicked LEGO set, and playing make-believe with my friends, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Whoever said adulthood was boring wasn’t doing it right, in my humble opinion.

Here’s the thing: the world is bad. So many awful things are happening and there’s so little we can control or do to help, though we continue to make our best efforts. But in our games, we control so much. Our actions matter, our choices have tangible and obvious outcomes, and we can be the ones to save the day. It might sound silly that a tabletop game could mean so much, but on top of the general healing properties of joy, to me it’s also an empowering way to keep my fighting spirit alive, to keep the spark of rebellion lit inside me.

I hope you find something that brings you joy and refills your tank, and that you do it shamelessly and with an open heart.

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