Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition
Today marks the release of Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) 4th Edition. For the uninitiated, DnD is currently the most popular role-playing game (RPG) system available. Pencil-and-paper role playing began in the 70s and exploded into mainstream popularity in the 90s. It is a game where people gather around a table and forge their own adventures. There would be a storyteller (called Dungeon Master) and a few players. The Dungeon Master is the creator of the adventure and the players are the participants in the story. All of the ‘adventure’ actually occurs in one’s imagination.
I remember playing pencil-and-paper role playing game with my cousins back in the 90s. I was always awed by the polyhedral dice that my cousin own and had always wished that I had a set of my own. However, they were expensive (at least to me that time) and I couldn’t afford them.
I don’t really remember what rule system that my cousin used, but the adventures that we had was sure fun. Being a young child, my imagination was very well alive (most of our imagination died when we enter adulthood). There are many unexplored dungeons, unvisited towns, unmet people and unseen things. My cousin would build a world where magic and monsters are common and me, being an adventurer in that world, would try to forge a legend of my own. I would hack monsters down, discover magical items and meet beautiful princesses.
Sometimes, there would be fights between my cousins. Being too engrossed in the game, it is very easy to get emotionally attached. The Dungeon Master, my cousin W, was the elder brother of J, a player like me in the game. Both of them would fight whenever J felt that W was picking on him by steering the story against his advantage. It is quite funny as even though the fight usually ends up in tears, we would always plead W to play again whenever we met. It was truly addictive, as it provides an outlet for our fantasy to come true.
Being 21 this year, I think I have lost some of my creative imagination. I was thinking of restarting RPG but I cannot seem to find people who plays them anymore. I never really had a proper group that I get to play with throughout my entire life, apart from my cousins. Now that I got the money to buy the relevant books required, I cannot seem to find players. Lol, life sure is funny.
Anyway, if there are any DnD players out there, perhaps we can meet up when I’m in Malaysia to have a game or two. I’m a total newbie that really wants to play. All the sweet memories that I had, I wish that it will come back to me once again. Do leave a comment here to let me know if you play RPG.
p/s: Pat, remember the other meaning of RPG? :P Come to think of it, sure had fun teasing you back then. Hahahah… But I think it is really inappropriate to utter it now that we’re adults….. *sigh, being kids is still the best…..
hey zi dong!!!
i played that before. i dunno the name of the game but the dice seriously look familiar!!! my cousins used to own it. so thats how my brothers and i got to know and evetually play with cousins. it was seriously fun!! go and buy back and we ajak more people to play.
p/s:so you will be the ’story teller’???? =)
Lol, I wish I could be the story teller, but really, I haven’t played it in such a long time…. It’s best to get an experience player to be Dungeon Master, and we can play together. :) By the way, did you guys used books last time? Those books are really thick, if you remember.
yaya… to think of it.. yes there is. i think the books are for some references. we get to choose our characters from there as well rite…. and for some references while playing. so i guess…..we cant really play huh….
We can actually. I am willing to buy the books, if you can get an experienced Dungeon Master. The books are a bit expensive, but not a big deal. Most importantly, must find a group that knows how to play. :)
this looks good, man! but i have no experience playing it. perhaps i’ll just sit by the sidelines and watch you guys play it the first few turns. then once i have an idea of the game, then maybe you can include me in. well, since we don’t have a GM experienced enough, I’ll just settle with the computer as my GM. LOL. =)