Growing up D&D

          Recently, Daddy was featured on the Raised on DnD podcast with Neil Cardarelli. A gamer for forty years, Daddy raised all three of us to play (my personal favorite was DragonQuest 😊), hosted a D&D club at school, and invented his own game, Skill Master, where players use a deck of cards instead of dice. On the podcast, he wondered if any of the time we spent role-playing had influenced me as a writer.

          The answer is a solid yes.

          To begin with, those games are the perfect excuse to let your imagination run wild. There are monsters and weapons and magical spells and dragons. There’s a story that must be followed, a quest that must be completed, and each player gets to participate in that quest—making decisions, interacting with each other, and battling ogres, trolls, demons, and , yes, dragons. I think it was through that interaction with the DM and the other players that I learned a lot about how characters in a story work. Sometimes characters get along and work well together, reading each other’s minds almost, like Wil and Scott in my Secret Keeper series. They understand each other, know each other’s secrets, and have each other’s backs. And then there’s the relationship between Wil and Andrew. They began as enemies but eventually became friends when they realized they weren’t so terribly different. Still, their friendship was often fraught with tension, which allowed for conflict to happen. Role-playing in these games as a child really gave me exposure to the various functions of characters and showed me the plus-side of teamwork as well as the benefits and dangers of going it alone. Wil, for example, gets into a lot of trouble while Scott discovers a destiny he could never have imagined, and Andrew ends up learning quite a bit about himself, the good and the bad.

          Playing these games also taught me one of my absolute favorite things, and that is character creation. The joy and excitement that I felt when Daddy handed me a new character sheet still finds me today when I begin work on a new story. Character development is a must for any writer, but there is so much more to it than just naming the character and deciding what role he or she will play in the story. I do love coming up with names for my characters, although truth-be-told, some characters come to me already named, like Wil, Scott, and Andrew. Other characters, such as Cassia and Giselle, require some research. Scents are important in my Secret Keeper storyline, so I settled on the name Cassia (actually, I let my sister Kathy pick the name from a list, and she liked this one best) because it means “cinnamon,” and I was able to work that into her characterization. Likewise, the name Giselle means “hostage,” and since it’s her job to gather (read—kidnap) Secret Keepers, it was easy to make her character work in that capacity. Of course, there is so much more to the development of characters, and I do use a set of questions to help me flesh them out as fully as possible: level of education, family, love interests, hobbies, job or career, future goals, preferred music, muffins or cinnamon rolls, etc. This I learned to do from gaming. Rolling for dexterity, endurance, physical strength, magical aptitude, and willpower; selecting weapons, armor, and/or shields; and picking from a variety of races, such as elves, dwarves, mages, humans, and the like really helped me focus on who my adventurer was. And don’t even get me started on the skill sets and magical spells that could be used! Healing, navigating, spying, thieving, College of Illusions, College of Air Magic, College of Earth Magic (hello, Hands of Earth!)—did I mention DragonQuest was my jam?

          Because role-playing involves a high level of creativity and imagination, and because I was already a dreamer, these games and I were a perfect fit. They literally opened up all new possibilities for me. I saw that every idea was plausible, every character had purpose, every storyline had several possible outcomes. Not to mention dragons were always a possibility, and who doesn’t love dragons? Characterizing these awesome beasts isn’t the easiest thing in the world; after all, Tolkien kind of mastered the nastiness with Smaug (and that’s still my favorite part of book and film—shhh!). But I did have a lot of fun with mine, and writing rhymes for my Faerie dragon Dilly was definitely an exercise for the brain.

          Finally, I learned that even the best adventure must come to an end. There comes a time when the villagers have been saved (or eaten), the sacred item retrieved (or lost), and the reward paid out (or invested into rebuilding the destroyed town). It isn’t always easy to say farewell to the adventurers (either over ale or a tombstone), but it must be said nevertheless. Hopefully, the characters have grown a little more skilled, a little richer, and a little wiser for the next chapter (i.e.—adventure) of their lives. The Lost Guardian, which wraps up my series, has finally brought to a close the adventures of Wil, Scott, and Andrew that began in The Secret Keeper. The DM has finally fallen silent, eleven years after sitting at the table (computer) for the first time.

          So, yes, Daddy. You have been one of the greatest influences on me as a writer. From the bedtime stories you used to tell me to the awesome adventures we had at the table chasing down orcs and banshees, you helped stoke my imagination. Any idea is usable, any quest possible, and all are welcome. Not only did you teach me to appreciate dragons, unicorns, and the world of fantasy, you made me a believer. And for that, I will always be grateful.