REPOST: My TTRPG Journey
Recently watched this video, and felt inspired to write about my own TTRPG journey.
I first discovered DND and TTRPGs during spring break 2016, while attending high school. I was introduced to 5e by my school’s local club and I was immediately enamored. I spent the next 3 days of spring break reading up on the rules and creating a character. Unfortunately, my parents grew up during the satanic panic, and after a heated disagreement, I was barred from partaking in the hobby.
Luckily that awakened urge was still there and I began looking to TTRPGs that ‘weren’t’ DND. I would go behind my parent’s backs (not proud of this) and watch Critical Role, Questing Beast, and buy PDFs to get my DND fix. Eventually, I shipped off to the Air Force and graduated into tech school. Where I went TTRPG crazy I bought everything Questing Beast reviewed that I could get my hands on as well as the 5e collector’s edition books. I then tried playing 5e but found it to be too complicated. So I ran my first DND game in Yoon Suin’s Mountains of the Moon using a combination of “Do Not Let Us Die In The Dark Night Of This Cold Winter” and “Knave’.
It was a blast it was Christmas break so me and my friends Katie, Porter, Cisco, and 2 or 3 others played 5 hours a day for 12 days straight. Eventually, everyone went back to their studies but I couldn’t. I ended up trying to write my own setting and began obsessively watching Critical Role videos. This resulted in me failing out of the job course to which I was assigned. I was then placed into meteorology and got serious about my studies. At the time, I was also convinced by my parents that the books were demonic and caused me to fail (In truth it’s cause I didn’t take my studies seriously, that’s why I failed). So I tossed out my expensive books and dice and buckled down for a year. Unfortunately, I got 1 too many 79% on the course’s weekly tests and flunked out of that course.
I was honorably discharged and moved to Idaho to live with my family while I figured out what I was going to do with my life. I joined a Charismatic Church and got a job at a coffee shop. Things were looking up but the tug to play with RPGs was still there. So I began buying OSR books again but I was still convinced that DND was evil and that it was the reason I failed (somthing I struggle to forgive myself for). So I bought Christian RPGs like ‘Holy Lands’ and ‘Dragon Raid’.
I was content with this until I realized they were unplayable. That they wouldn’t give me the game I had experienced during Christmas break. So I put down the hobby for a while (except for watching actual plays). Eventually, I joined YWAM an unhealthy missionary organization (it’s got a lot of cult-like elements) where I was once again convinced of the evils of TTRPGS. Again threw away my books and very expensive dice. It took a year for me to wake up after I returned to Idaho from my 6-month mission in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. I became incredibly disgusted and disillusioned with my faith but God was gracious and has held on to me. For which Im thankful; I found a church with some elders who played DND and I began researching the satanic panic itself.
Partly to determine why I believed what I did about DND and why my parents believed what they did about DND. I discovered that I already knew DND was no different than pretending to be a superhero. I was not invoking demons or casting actual spells. So I wrote a paper for college on everything I discovered, partly in an attempt to convince my parents of what I had learned. They, unfortunately, weren’t convinced but we reached an agreement where I could play DND outside of their house. This freed me from the notions I had about the game.
I began to get involved in TTRPG spaces and I ended up running a 5e campaign and discovered the problems I had with it back in the Airforce. The combat took too long, my players felt too powerful at early leaves, everyone used DND Beyond, everyone was constantly on their phones, and I was treated as if my players were doing me a favor by playing. Then OGL debacle happened. Disgusted with WOTC, I put my foot down telling my players we needed to switch systems, and that I would buy them the books for the new system I had chosen (I had settled on C&C as it was the closest to 5e but still scratched that old-school itch). THEY WOULDN’T HAVE IT.
“Does it use DND Beyond” they cried. “We’re already invested in this” they complained. So I told them the next session will then be our last, and I’ll do my best to make it epic. I spent the next week writing up an adventure about a witch who had imprisoned the daughter of a friendly NPC in a brothel. Only to be told an hour before the session was to begin that no one would be showing up. “If we can’t play DND going forward then we won’t play at all” they said in a last-ditch effort to get me to back down.
This sucked. So I began diving into the OSR. I joined OSR Twitter and quickly got blocked by Pundit and Ryan David. I began running Five Torches Deep in Yoon Suin and I started watching JP Coovert and got the idea to start creating my own zines. I bought the C&C books and began getting ready to run a Yoon Suin-themed C&C game. Then the ShadowDark Kickstarter dropped. I bit my nails for 30 days before deciding, “Hey there’s a market here if I want to get in the publishing DND content space nows the time”.
So I backed the project and began writing The Peacockatrices Trail (see here). I eventually found my way onto The Basic Expert’s Guilded server and became acquainted with the people there. They got me interested in trying out other systems and I started playing in an OSE Castle Amber Game, and a Aztec B/X playtest.
I switched to OSE and began writing the materials needed for my ideal Yoon Suin game. As I was beginning to become overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work required in developing a city supplement. I discovered the BROsr. Their ideas about patron-level play really seemed to be the answer I was looking for in relation to how I could decrease the workload on my shoulders. So I turned my planned game into a Braunstein and now we’re caught up to the present. Summer Classes are ending I am being interviewed on Ryan Howards’ stream, and Im preparing to start my ideal Yoon Suin game: Broriental Adventures-Yoon Suin. Things are looking up. :D
Luckily that awakened urge was still there and I began looking to TTRPGs that ‘weren’t’ DND. I would go behind my parent’s backs (not proud of this) and watch Critical Role, Questing Beast, and buy PDFs to get my DND fix. Eventually, I shipped off to the Air Force and graduated into tech school. Where I went TTRPG crazy I bought everything Questing Beast reviewed that I could get my hands on as well as the 5e collector’s edition books. I then tried playing 5e but found it to be too complicated. So I ran my first DND game in Yoon Suin’s Mountains of the Moon using a combination of “Do Not Let Us Die In The Dark Night Of This Cold Winter” and “Knave’.
It was a blast it was Christmas break so me and my friends Katie, Porter, Cisco, and 2 or 3 others played 5 hours a day for 12 days straight. Eventually, everyone went back to their studies but I couldn’t. I ended up trying to write my own setting and began obsessively watching Critical Role videos. This resulted in me failing out of the job course to which I was assigned. I was then placed into meteorology and got serious about my studies. At the time, I was also convinced by my parents that the books were demonic and caused me to fail (In truth it’s cause I didn’t take my studies seriously, that’s why I failed). So I tossed out my expensive books and dice and buckled down for a year. Unfortunately, I got 1 too many 79% on the course’s weekly tests and flunked out of that course.
I was honorably discharged and moved to Idaho to live with my family while I figured out what I was going to do with my life. I joined a Charismatic Church and got a job at a coffee shop. Things were looking up but the tug to play with RPGs was still there. So I began buying OSR books again but I was still convinced that DND was evil and that it was the reason I failed (somthing I struggle to forgive myself for). So I bought Christian RPGs like ‘Holy Lands’ and ‘Dragon Raid’.
I was content with this until I realized they were unplayable. That they wouldn’t give me the game I had experienced during Christmas break. So I put down the hobby for a while (except for watching actual plays). Eventually, I joined YWAM an unhealthy missionary organization (it’s got a lot of cult-like elements) where I was once again convinced of the evils of TTRPGS. Again threw away my books and very expensive dice. It took a year for me to wake up after I returned to Idaho from my 6-month mission in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. I became incredibly disgusted and disillusioned with my faith but God was gracious and has held on to me. For which Im thankful; I found a church with some elders who played DND and I began researching the satanic panic itself.
Partly to determine why I believed what I did about DND and why my parents believed what they did about DND. I discovered that I already knew DND was no different than pretending to be a superhero. I was not invoking demons or casting actual spells. So I wrote a paper for college on everything I discovered, partly in an attempt to convince my parents of what I had learned. They, unfortunately, weren’t convinced but we reached an agreement where I could play DND outside of their house. This freed me from the notions I had about the game.
I began to get involved in TTRPG spaces and I ended up running a 5e campaign and discovered the problems I had with it back in the Airforce. The combat took too long, my players felt too powerful at early leaves, everyone used DND Beyond, everyone was constantly on their phones, and I was treated as if my players were doing me a favor by playing. Then OGL debacle happened. Disgusted with WOTC, I put my foot down telling my players we needed to switch systems, and that I would buy them the books for the new system I had chosen (I had settled on C&C as it was the closest to 5e but still scratched that old-school itch). THEY WOULDN’T HAVE IT.
“Does it use DND Beyond” they cried. “We’re already invested in this” they complained. So I told them the next session will then be our last, and I’ll do my best to make it epic. I spent the next week writing up an adventure about a witch who had imprisoned the daughter of a friendly NPC in a brothel. Only to be told an hour before the session was to begin that no one would be showing up. “If we can’t play DND going forward then we won’t play at all” they said in a last-ditch effort to get me to back down.
This sucked. So I began diving into the OSR. I joined OSR Twitter and quickly got blocked by Pundit and Ryan David. I began running Five Torches Deep in Yoon Suin and I started watching JP Coovert and got the idea to start creating my own zines. I bought the C&C books and began getting ready to run a Yoon Suin-themed C&C game. Then the ShadowDark Kickstarter dropped. I bit my nails for 30 days before deciding, “Hey there’s a market here if I want to get in the publishing DND content space nows the time”.
So I backed the project and began writing The Peacockatrices Trail (see here). I eventually found my way onto The Basic Expert’s Guilded server and became acquainted with the people there. They got me interested in trying out other systems and I started playing in an OSE Castle Amber Game, and a Aztec B/X playtest.
I switched to OSE and began writing the materials needed for my ideal Yoon Suin game. As I was beginning to become overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work required in developing a city supplement. I discovered the BROsr. Their ideas about patron-level play really seemed to be the answer I was looking for in relation to how I could decrease the workload on my shoulders. So I turned my planned game into a Braunstein and now we’re caught up to the present. Summer Classes are ending I am being interviewed on Ryan Howards’ stream, and Im preparing to start my ideal Yoon Suin game: Broriental Adventures-Yoon Suin. Things are looking up. :D
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