Gaming: D&D Pt. 03

Parvani's parents could have sent her to any university in the country. But they much preferred to have her staying at home.

My Dad was supporting our family on a single salary; he couldn't afford to cover my tuition, much less the cost of residence at an out-of-town school. There was no issue about me continuing to live at home, though, so room and board were covered. I had been working part-time for years, and had a bit of money tucked away. Somehow, I also pulled off an academic miracle in my final year of high school, and earned an entrance scholarship to university.

That meant that Parvani and I went to the same university. I saw her several times a week. We rode the bus together when our schedules coincided, and we met for lunch when we could.

Nate, on the other hand, went to college for applied arts and design. But I still saw him a few times a week, too - by now he was probably my best friend. We had a small social circle, and we were also trying to put a new gaming group together.

Most of the people we invited were friends of Nate, or people I was meeting in first year (I couldn't think of anyone from my old high school who would be interested - or that I would want to invite).

We should have installed a revolving door.

There were losers, misfits so lacking in basic social skills that we were glad to see the back of them - and we never called them again.

There were a few nice people, whose busy schedules just wouldn't permit them to join us regularly. And we soon learned that intermittent players quickly lost interest, when it took half an hour to bring them up to date on what they had missed.

We met some oddballs, including one guy who wanted to name his character Buffing Buffy Buffington - and another who wanted to call his wizard 'Tim'. Now, I love Monty Python, too, but it's no secret that Python jokes can completely derail a D&D game.

By Christmas, we had played with 14 different people.

I did learn a few things, which Nate and I discussed at his house.

- "I've been over here quite a bit." I said. "I can finally tell the difference between Close to the Edge and Going for the One."

Mostly, though we talked about girls, or D&D - or both at the same time.

- "Most guys are min/maxers. Powergamers." I said. "They just want the highest stats, the best gear, and a kickass magical weapon."

- "I'm not disagreeing." said Nate.

- "Girls, on the other hand, are more likely to go for the style, or the look of it. They're less likely to metagame, too."

Although it may sound like D&D was all we did, I did have a fairly busy social life.

I met a girl named Helen at my part-time job. On our third date, I finally found the courage to kiss her. We had a torrid necking session on our fourth date, but she wouldn't let me touch her anywhere below the neck.

On our sixth date, we were necking on the couch in my basement. She finally let one of my hands travel south of her collarbone, and caress her breast, through her sweater and bra. But when I tried to reach under her sweater, she grabbed my hand, and held it.

Helen and I did have a serious talk after that. She was saving her virginity for her wedding night. I wasn't going to mock her for her attitude, but I certainly didn't share it. I wasn't sure that I wanted Helen to be my first, anyway, but I was tired of being a virgin as I turned 19.

She was quite angry that I would break off with her for so shallow a reason. Helen went out of her way to let me know that she had a new boyfriend, only a few weeks later.

I joined the cross-country running team at university. I didn't have time for meets and competition - even if I had qualified - but I trained with them, and met a few nice people.

Parvani joined the Debating Society. I went to one of their matches, to support her. I didn't really understand it, though. It was all a little too formal, and a few of the debaters were pompous little shits who gave me a near-irresistible urge to kick them in the seat of the pants.

It was after Christmas that our D&D games started to pick up.

Derek was a friend of Nate's. He was into music and art, and more than capable of an intelligent conversation. Derek also had an excellent sense of humour. He created a samurai warrior, and role-played him to the hilt. He would never run from combat, or abandon a companion. He would also challenge anyone who insulted him or another member of our group.

He got killed a lot.

When his first character, Yoritomo, was killed in battle, he started Tadasaki, who lost a duel against a much stronger opponent. That didn't bother Derek: he started Norimoto, who vowed to train and fight until he could avenge his fallen cousin (the second character).

Alan was a guy Nate met at college, and then took on as a sort of reclamation project. I didn't care for him, at first, but Nate insisted that we give him a tryout.

- "His home life is brutal, Ian. I can't tell you all the details, but trust me - the guy needs something positive in his life."

It didn't bother me that Alan and Nate smoked weed together. But I did find him hard to get along with. Alan created Grog, a barbarian warrior. He got into role-playing, to a degree; he would burp, and fart, and scratch his balls. He also said 'Aargh' a lot.

I brought in another player. I met Tanya running cross country, at university. She didn't qualify for the competitions - she just liked to run. Tanya was about 5' 5", with long auburn hair.

At first, I found her difficult to approach. She had this perpetual smirk, an almost-smile. Tanya was also very sarcastic. She was clearly intelligent, though. When I spotted her reading a novel by Ursula K Leguin, I took a chance and started talking to her.

We talked about science fiction and fantasy, and discovered some common ground. A week later, it was Tanya who brought up the subject of books and movies. I took the plunge and mentioned Dungeons and Dragons.

- "Isn't that for nerds?" she asked.

- "Guess I'm a nerd, then." I said.

- "Really?"

Tanya was intrigued enough to try it once. She liked Nate and Derek right away - especially when they lit up a joint before the game.

We all liked the way she played. And Tanya could handle herself.

The other player that day was Aaron, another guy invited by Nate. It was his third game with us. Aaron was a bit immature, and the weed didn't help matters any.

We had been protecting a girl that we had rescued from a bandit raid. It turned out, though, that she was a princess, hiding from enemies of her family. We only found this out when the evil villain (our current nemesis) kidnapped her, and demanded a ransom.

- "So we have to rescue the Princess?" asked Derek.

- "And then bang her." said Aaron.

- "Aaron ..." I said. This was more inappropriate than usual, even for him.

I was the DM - not the teacher, in charge of classroom discipline. Besides, Aaron was Nate's friend - I couldn't just kick him out.

- "What?" said Aaron. "Who gets to bang the Princess? Is it the guy with the highest charisma? Or the one who kills the dragon?"

- "Aaron - do you have to be so crude?" I tried shifting my eyes, so that he would see Tanya. She didn't look particularly impressed.

- "She can bang the Princess, too." said Aaron. "I'm all in favour of that. Two chicks is hot!"

Tanya picked up the dice, and rolled them.

- "What's that for?" I asked her.

- "I stab the asshole in the back." she said. "Him." she added, indicating Aaron.

- "What? You can't do that!" roared Aaron.

- "I just did." said Tanya.

- "We're on the same side!" he protested.

- "I don't think so." she said. "We're supposed to be heroes. Why would we have an asshole with us? Besides -" Tanya looked to me - "isn't this Princess on our side, too?"

- "She certainly is." I said.

- "So dickwad here shouldn't be talking about banging her. Right?"

- "I was kidding!" whined Aaron. "I'm sorry!"

- "How sorry?" asked Tanya. I was really impressed. She just stared Aaron down.

- "I'm sorry." he repeated.

Tanya turned to me. "How does this work? Can I un-stab him?"

- "If you want." I said. Part of me hoped that she would finish him off. Instead, Tanya gave Aaron a prolonged smirk.

- "Alright. I won't kill you - this time." she said.

We rescued the Princess - Derek's samurai died in the battle - and overcame the villain, who fled at the last moment.

After the game, Aaron left quietly.

Tanya just laughed about it afterwards.

- "It's cool. But I'm not sure I want to play if he's coming back."

- "He's not." I said. "At least, that's my vote."

Nate and Derek made it unanimous. Tanya was intrigued just enough to try D&D again. For the first four games she played with us, she wouldn't commit.

- "Maybe." she would say, when we invited her to our next session.

We stopped asking her, and just told her when and where the next game would be. And Tanya showed up.

She wanted her character to be a Welsh witch named Rhiannon - after the song by Fleetwood Mac. The player's guide didn't have anything about witches, so I modified the druid character, and Tanya was good to go.

Nate was trying out a wizard, named Emrys. That left the usual hole in our lineup, so I created another cleric, named Murrough. I tried to make him a little rougher around the edges, but basically he was Caduceus 2.0.

***

Parvani called me on a Thursday evening.

- "Hey - am I disturbing you?" she asked.

- "No. I was just going to do some reading. What's up?"

- "Umm ... I need a small favour. Can I hang out at your place for an hour or two?"

- "Of course. What's going on?"

- "I'll explain when I get there." she said.

- "Ok - I'll put the kettle on."

Parvani arrived ten minutes later. She smiled sheepishly. I served her a cup of tea, and we went down into the basement. Dad liked to keep the living room spotless - for guests - so Cherie and I were 'encouraged' not to use it unless absolutely necessary. Our friends didn't fit the definition of 'guests'.

- "Sorry to impose on you on you like this." she said.

- "Don't be silly. It's no imposition." I said. "Something happen?"

- "Simran has a boyfriend." she said.

I have to admit, my heart gave a little lurch. I didn't like the idea of Simran dating anybody. I had no right to be jealous, of course - but there it was.

"Dad found out that she'd been seeing this guy for a few weeks, and he went ballistic. He insisted that he had to meet the guy - so that's what's going on now. At the last minute, he decided that he didn't want me there, so I was told to make myself scarce."

- "Uh-oh." I had been subjected to the Mr. D. Inquisition before being allowed to take Parvani to see the Lord of the Rings movie. I could only imagine what this poor bastard was walking into. "There might be blood to clean up, afterwards?" I guessed.

- "No." she laughed. "He won't actually forbid her to see this guy, or anything like that. I hope."

- "Why kick you out, though?"

- "I don't know. Maybe he's afraid that I'll learn something that I can use later. Or that I won't be as afraid when it's my turn, if I see Simran stand up to him."

I could easily picture Simran handling her father. She was so capable, so confident ... and she had that powerful dignity. Ok - I had to stop thinking about her like this.

- "Have you met the boyfriend?" I asked Parvani.

- "All I know is that his name's Arjun, he's Indian, majoring in Accounting, and he already has a job offer from one of the major firms downtown."

In other words - perfect. I had only just heard of the guy, and already I disliked him. But Parvani's father was going to love him.

- "What's all this?" asked Parvani.

I had left a few copies of The Dragon lying on a table in our rec room. It was a magazine devoted to fantasy and role-playing games. I was looking for ideas to plan our next adventure.

Next to it, though, I had left out two of Nate's drawings: the one of Deuce, my cleric, and the second showing our whole party.

- "Wow." she said. "These are really good."

- "Yeah, they are." I agreed. "Nate drew those."

- "Ian," said Parvani, "why have you never invited me to play D&D?"

It was a fair question. It was also a question that I had asked myself - frequently - over the last year.

"Is it because you wanted to keep your friendships separate?" she asked. "You didn't want me to meet Nate, and your other friends?"

Damn ... that was a little too perceptive. Part of the truth was simpler: I didn't want Parvani around while I had hopes of going out with Deborah or Danny. It would have cramped what little style I had, for one.

And from time to time I suspected that Parvani might have a little bit of a crush on me. I didn't want her to have to watch as I tried to get closer to ... prettier girls. Parvani wasn't bad-looking, but with the baby fat, the braces and those damned glasses, she just couldn't compete with the likes of Danny and Deborah.

There was no way I was going to tell her that. But I could tell the rest of the truth.

- "I'm sorry, Par. I know you would like the game - and I should have invited you. It's just ... the people I play with like to drink, or smoke, while we play. I didn't think that you'd want to be ... around that kind of environment."

- "You mean drugs?" she said. "I didn't know you smoked, Ian."

- "I don't, really. Well, I tried it - twice. It just didn't do much for me." I said.

- "So you were afraid I'd puke on your car again?"

- "No. I wouldn't let you anywhere near the car."

- "Ha!"

We sat in silence for a moment.

- "My Dad is over-protective, Ian." she said. "You don't have to shelter me, too."

- "It wouldn't bother you if people drank and smoked?"

- "I'm pretty sure it wouldn't." she said.

- "Then I should have invited you a long time ago." I said. "I'm sorry, Par. I shouldn't have left you out."

- "Does that mean you're inviting me now?" she said, with a smile.

- "Next Saturday." I said.

***

Parvani and I walked over to Nate's together. I had already briefed her extensively about how we played, and what to expect. But she was better prepared than I had anticipated: Par had gone and bought herself a brand-new Player's Guide, and a small velvet bag full of dice.

Nate, Derek and Tanya loved Parvani from the first (Alan wasn't there, which may have been ideal). Par could barely suppress her enthousiasm. She loved meeting all of the other players' characters, and then creating her own.

- "Can I play a faerie?" she asked (she corrected me on the spelling). "I know they're not in the book, but ... I was hoping to be one of the Little People."

She already had her name picked out: Nimue.

Nate loved it, because his character's name also came from Arthurian legend. They were soon chattering happily about books by Mary Stewart.

Parvani didn't even blink when Derek lit up a joint. Nate offered it to her, and Parvani shocked me by accepting it - only to pass it directly to Tanya. Par gave me a shy grin.

Nate put another record on. I recognized the opening strains.

- "Foxtrot?" I guessed, naming an album by Genesis.

- "Nursery Crime." he said. "You're getting closer, though."

Our musical tastes were changing quite a bit, influenced by our new friends. Tanya liked the Talking Heads, and the Pretenders. Derek preferred XTC, the Jam, and the Stranglers. He had also introduced us to the debut album of an Irish band called U2.

But they both deferred to Nate when it came to music to play D&D by. Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, or acoustic/atmospheric bands like Shadowfax or Tangerine Dream were staples.

- "What kind of music do you like, Parvani?" asked Nate.

- "Umm ... I like singers ... like Carole King. Or James Taylor."

- "That's cool." said Tanya. She was being nice. I could have sworn that she had made gagging noises when someone mentioned James Taylor.

Once we got Parvani's character straightened out, we started the adventure. A pair of giants were terrorizing the lands of the Count de Malvoisin. He hired us to eliminate the threat to his people, and their herds.

Nate and Tanya began to discuss which spells they would need to fight giants. That's when Parvani chipped in.

- "Umm ... do we have to fight them?" she asked.

- "Well, we could run away," said Tanya, 'but then we won't get paid."

- "No - I mean ... what if we talked to them? Maybe we could persuade them to leave. Or maybe there's a reason why they're attacking the Count's lands."

The other three were nonplussed for a moment.

- "That's actually a really cool idea." said Nate. "We usually just barge in and attack - but we might be able to solve this without getting Derek killed again."

- "Thanks." said Derek.

- "Even if we do have to fight, we could find out more about these giants before we face them in combat." said Tanya.

Now, I'm no genius. My original idea was to have our party fight the giants, and only then find out that they were in the employ of an evil wizard - the 'Big Boss' we would confront at the end.

I quickly changed my plot, without telling anyone.

When the group approached the giants, they were met by a display of tree-smashing, chest thumping, and rock hurling - but nothing aimed directly at them. It was all posturing, and our guys recognized it as such.

Emrys (Nate) had the highest charisma in the group, so he did the talking. He was able to learn that the giants - a male and a female - were furious because the Count had kidnapped their infant son, and was holding him in the castle. The Count was demanding that the giants attack his neighbour, in the next valley - or he would kill the baby.

- "How big is a giant baby?" asked Rhiannon (Tanya).

- "One and a half full grown grizzlies." I told her.

- "We have to help them." said Nimue (Parvani).

- "And we will." said Yoshikune (Derek).

So while Papa giant hurled rocks at the castle from a safe distance, Mama giant (under an invisibility spell cast by Emrys) approached from the other side. She simply lifted our party over the castle walls, and placed us on the ramparts.

We captured and interrogated a guard, who revealed that the baby giant was being held in the dungeons.

- "Figures!" said Tanya. She shot me a dirty look.

The fight against the Count's guards carried us across the courtyard, and into the keep. Yoshikune (Derek's 4th samurai) led the way, supported by Murrough, my cleric. But it was our trio of spellcasters who dealt with most of the opposition.

The Count, predictably, had a warlock for an ally - the architect of the whole evil business. The final confrontation was an epic battle, in which I only fudged one dice roll - secretly - to keep Derek's samurai alive.

There was magical treasure a-plenty, happy peasants (released from the tyranny of the evil Count), and extremely grateful giants, reunited with their strapping baby boy. They had gifts for each of us - and a further request: their homelands were being threatened by a very powerful black dragon ...

- "Nice." said Derek.

- "Awesome." said Tanya. "Good work, Ian - I didn't see that coming."

- "Thanks to Parvani." said Nate. "It was her idea to talk to the giants."

- "Damn right." agreed Tanya.

Par was embarrassed to be praised so effusively, but she couldn't stop smiling (without showing her braces, of course).

Nate made a pot of tea, and we talked about the game, school, and other subjects. Normally, I would have stayed longer, after the game, to de-brief with Nate. But I thought I should walk Parvani home.