The Beav according to Beav

Still crazy after all these years.

Saturday, August 04, 2018

Thank you Critical Role

I just finished watching a live D&D session, played for a live audience of thousands, and many thousands more that watched it happen, real-time, on the internet. I was going to say that it was a dream come true, but it wasn't. You can't dream what you can't conceive.

I learned to play D&D (well under the "10&up" recommendation), in the late '70s while my parents learned to play. "It needs imagination and he's got it in spades," they reasoned. I played when you could be an elf or a fighter. I continued to play as it morphed into AD&D, and 2nd Edition. I played through the '80s when my friend had to keep his books at my house because his mother would destroy them if she knew - keeping the devil at bay. I played full theatre-of-the-mind style, walking from class to class during Junior High; and on weekends all through High School. I played after I joined the Air Force in the mid '90s. Even introduced the game to my now-wife.

Through all that time, whether actively demonized (literally), or merely dismissed as a pastime for basement-dwelling nerds, I never expected it to ever be accepted by the populace at large. I never imagined it could ever be a spectator-event.

To the cast and crew of Critical Role; to the thousands of fans literally around the globe:

Thank you.

Thank you for making the dreams I couldn't conceive of dreaming come true.

I love you all.

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