![]() ![]() It had been almost four decades - and the game, now playing on its fifth edition of the rules - was vastly more complex and far reaching than the primitive version we used as kids, but the principles remained the same: you got to use your creativity to inhabit another world. ![]() A few years ago, however, a good friend invited me to play with a crew of his friends. It was a mind-blowing revelation.įrom that point, my friends and I played religiously for a few years, every Friday after school, until we grew old enough that parties and girls became more of a consideration in our lives. Despite the fantasy elements, it was an emulation of life that seemed to me limitless, at least as compared to the paltry results of other board games. There wasn't a single right answer, and whatever you came up with changed the dynamics of everything else. In "Monopoly" (which I always hated), you bought properties on an expensive boardwalk, trying to bankrupt the other players - capitalism in its most vile and naked form. In "Clue," you roamed around a giant mansion and interrogated people in order to determine the murderer. Free will? I had never played a game before where the outcome wasn't pre-ordained. What, he asked me, did I want to do?Īt first, I couldn't really wrap my head around what he was asking me. ![]() My thief woke up in a dark room somewhere deep underground, in a room empty except for a piece of rope, a bag of mysterious powder, and a walking stick. With his help, I created a basic character, just as a proof of concept, and he gave me a simple set up. He wanted me to try this game he had just played, involving elves and orcs, and swords and magic and all the stuff we normally got really excited about. He was excitedly brandishing a couple of books and some dice, even as he was trying to catch his breath from running all the way over to my place. It was sometime in 1979, I believe, when a good friend of mine came bounding up the stairs of my parents' house to the living room one evening, where I was hanging out, watching TV. ![]()
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