No Bag of Holding but Still Lotsa Fun
When I was around twelve I remember the first gaming store opened at Village Square, our local outdoor shopping center. I thought it was one of the coolest shops ever with all of its pewter figures of various dragons, wizards, trolls, etc...; multi-color, multi-sided, translucent dice; assorted role playing and board games; and those amazing covers of the dungeon master guides. They also had a whole backroom dedicated to playing RPGs (role playing games).
Most of my friends during that time thought the store was pretty lame and even now I remember how the owners and employees looked like some of the characters from Revenge of the Nerds, so I guess I could understand their impressions. But one of the employees, who was probably seven years my senior, saw my interest and invited me to participate in some of their role playing adventures (campaigns), which took place on weekend nights.
During that period I played a lot of Tunnels and Trolls, a little Dugeons and Dragons, and some WWII game, which I can't quite remember the name. What I do recall is that I had a great fun and even though the games were a big part of it, I look back now and can't help but feel that being accepted by these older guys was also a considerable part of the attraction.
So a couple of weeks ago when I stopped by my local comic store and they were playing a game called Heroscape, it reminded me of those weekend nights gaming into the wee hours twenty-eight years ago. I decided at my next opportunity I'd attempt to relive a little of those glory days.
This past Saturday I got my first opportunity, and although Heroscape is nowhere near as intricate as those RPG's I played wayback when, it was still thrilling to just dedicate a couple hours moving characters, making attack and defending rolls, and just experiencing the feel of having a D20 back in my hand. Now where'd I put that bag of holding.