On Thursday, PZ Myers wrote about the origins of Dungeons and Dragons, an article and about a documentary on it. I managed to get copies of those books in the early 1990s after the height of the fad had passed and a toy store was dumping old stock. I didn’t own them for too long; after I graduated from college in April 1994, I pretty much stopped playing and had to sell or give away of all my D&D materials for a move. (Yes, the 25th anniversary of my graduation recently passed – scary thought.)
My feelings and nostalgia about the game aren’t about the game play, the adventures, or about late night sessions. What I look back on most fondly are the people. Growing up how I did, D&D was a lifechanger and a lifesaver. Continued below the fold….
Excerpts from “Put Away Childish Things”, by Harley White:
Put away childish things
yet keep the childlike wonder.
Though dreams be rent asunder
our wishes still have wings.
[…]
Put away childish whim
yet not delight in playing,
then when the world’s dismaying,
our days won’t seem so grim.
Put away childish fears.
Nonetheless, through thick and thin
hang on to the child within,
the laughter and the tears,
all the livelong years…