orichalcum

Reading various obituaries of E. Gary Gygax, I was struck both by how many of them focused on the author's own affectionate recollections of D&D and, at the same time, the author's contention that they had never actually played a good D&D game and that D&D was mostly fun for learning the rules and thinking about the world, rather than playing in it.

How sad, I thought. Thousands, maybe millions of people who clearly really wanted to like D&D, but for whatever reason never had a good experience actually doing it. So I started remembering my own successful D&D games, the gifts that Gary indirectly and unwittingly gave to me, and what I have loved about them.

Five Brief Moments of Creative Joy I got from D&D, in chronological order:

(These are all based on my recollection; they may not match precisely what happened or the memories of the GM or other players.)

1. ( Escape from the Thieflord's Palace: )

2. ( 10-year-old traumatized Arabian street urchin: )
3. ( Daddy, can we fight the pirates? )
4. ( You killed my brother! I read it in the chapbooks! )

5. ( An Awkward Dinner: )

What made these so glorious? Immersion, first and foremost - I can see every single one of these scenes inside my head. Players who always operated by the "yes-and" principle. Witty banter. A great group of friends and GMs. Was it fostered by the rules and structure of D&D? Absolutely. Lord Vorten's victory over the werewolf was only really exciting because cerebralpaladin actually rolled a 20. I escaped from the Thieflord's Palace by making more than 12 Constitution checks successfully during my run (that character is a mage with a Str of 14 and a Con of 16, naturally rolled.) But really, what it came down to was the willingness of others to share with me in making a world and a moment - and it's that spirit of cooperative creation that Gygax cherished most and that I thank him for.

What are your favorite moments?

Remember the Democratic physicist running for Congress endorsed by dozens of Nobel Laureates, who I blogged about a while ago? His name is Bill Foster, and last night he won a special election here in Illinois to become a new U.S. Representative for IL-14. What's significant about this besides a really smart scientist getting elected? He got elected to Denny Hastert's old seat, the former Republican Speaker who resigned so he could avoid lobbying restrictions. This was a heavily Republican district, one which should have been easy for the Republican Party. John McCain came out to campaign for him, and the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee spent 20% of their entire budget trying to get his opponent, Jim Oberweis (whose family's dairy products we drink, oddly enough) elected. Meanwhile, Obama cut an ad for Foster and sent him lots of volunteers.

If the Republican Party can't hang on to Hastert's seat, a district which Bush won by 12 points, they're in trouble come November.

Also, it's +1 superdelegate for Obama, presumably. For the number-crunchers out there, that means that last night he made up the probable difference (4 delegates) that Clinton gained on March 4th, and actually gained another 4 delegates from the final official vote count in CA. :)

Yay physics and math!