Yes, I still play Dungeons & Dragons. I think we’ve covered that before. I’m usually the Dungeon Master when we play, but I’m not your normal DM… oh no! Some DM’s throw some orcs or goblins at you, and maybe give you some fire elemental action… I go a step further. I throw in parental guilt… you know; the kind of wound that never fully heals.
Yesterday’s game had our Half-Drow Cleric of Eilistraee, Magdalena (played by my friend Joan), finding the body of her recently killed mother. To add insult to injury, she also found her (nearly dead) father hung upside down, crucifixion-style, at her characters sacred ground (The Mouth of Song, for those of you in the know about all things Forgotten Realms).
After caring for and consoling her father and burying her mother, she found out that her father wanted her to move away with him to a bigger city and out of the middle of nowhere (Waterdeep was his first choice). Having a close connection with the Silver Marches, and the Moonwood in particular, she didn’t want to leave, and the farewell scene that we role-played between her character and her character’s father was a thing of beauty as far as familial manipulation goes.
It was roleplaying at it’s best, ladies and gentlemen, and I was proud to be a part of it.