My friends and I play D&D. It’s quite fun. I love any opportunity to tell a story, and my friends get to be in the story, which is even better. It reminds me of the campfire story game, where everyone in the circle tells a part of the story, attempting to outdo the last and stump the next. It also reminds me of the stories my Dad would tell me and my sister, about me and my sister. He would make up a bedtime story, starring us, and featuring characters that resembled the other people we knew. We would go to a fantasy realm with wizards and unicorns, and meet people who looked like our aunts and uncles, our grandparents, and even my Dad’s friends and honorary Uncles, Ged, Ted and Andy.

I loved those stories. He would tell a new part of the story each time. Sadly the stories stopped when a tale set in a circus featuring a dodgy clown and were-panthers gave my little sister nightmares. The attempt to recreate that feeling I had when Dad told us those stories has been a great inspiration to me. Thanks Dad. I love you.

That’s why I started ‘The City of Gate‘, and that’s why my friends and I play D&D. So consider this the first of a series of articles bearing the D&D tag in which I talk about some of the places, characters and history of the world my friends get to play in every other friday. We’re not using any of the preset worlds, and I’m a little loosey goosey with the rules. I’ve played rules heavy games, and they interrupt a good story with encounters, premature character death, and way too many dice rolls. My friend Bumble is a master of character sheets, so he does that.

It’s occurred to me more than once that people might like to hire Bumble and the Brit as professional DMs. Perhaps once we’ve gained experience, levelled up a little. At the moment it’s just fun. Last game had 10 people squeezed into 1 small apartment living room. It might be time to either split the group up and fill the empty fridays with half of them, or move the games to a larger venue. Of course, if I do become a professional DM, I’d probably just use the client’s location. What do you think of this idea? What do you think a good DM could charge for his services?