A newbie's perspective

Hello all! I'm Brandy, Karl's wife and first time D&D player. Karl asked me to make appearances now and again once I finally started gaming with him. Now, if you asked me if I'd ever game with him to begin with before our wedding night, the answer would be very close to "when hell freezes over". And no, it's not because of the often negative stigma and/or labels that go with gaming...after all one of my hobbies is renaissance festivals and I've always been a nerd. What is it that has kept me from gaming when it occurs in my home almost weekly then?! It's the time investment. Gaming take a lot of time! These guys and gal invest on average four to seven hours each gaming session. That's without any of the prep work involved in gaming. That's simply active play. For me to sit relatively still and focus on something in increments greater than two hours is next to impossible. I very well may be a fidgety mess by the end of the gaming session.

My short attention span aside, I am joining in this adventure with as much of an open mind as I can. I "vowed" to play in at least one game (which has been modified to at least two to three sessions of Karl's current campaign) on my wedding night. Yes, vowed. It's a long story involving an epic and hilarious best man speech with vow addendums. I was so tickled and touched that the best man felt so strongly about D&D that he'd include it in his speech to us. How could I resist after that? Made for great photos, a la Penny on Big Bang Theory. (And he's told you his groom's cake was a D&D battle complete with Reaper minis, right?!)

Karl and I started talking character choices for me as soon as we returned from our honeymoon. I think he was a bit excited about the whole thing. We decided I should be a bard-esque type and then the campaign was delayed for various reasons. It wasn't til this week that we started back up with the character development.

Every night this week, we've set out to clearly define a few items at a time about my character. As I know very, very little about character development other than what he's written on this blog and seeing the labor he puts into carefully developing his own characters, this had been a rather lengthy process as well. He's had to explain things as if I were three and give me lists of things to read. Tonight, we finally have a character! But without a name. Yeah, we game tomorrow morning, and I'm nameless!

The process has been a bit overwhelming and often puzzling. He's gamed for years and years and what seems simple common knowledge, well, just isn't for me. The extremely large book after book of information doesn't help the overwhelming feeling either. I have been assured, though, that they will all be willing to help me do this thing and questions are encouraged. Their motivation to help me? Perpetuation of the game through added players.

After all, there is no D&D if there is no one to play it.

Wish me luck.

(Admin Note: Please feel free to visit my wife's blog at http://secondchancehappiness.blogspot.com. She chronicles the months and projects leading up to our wedding, as well as married life.)