{"id":16,"date":"2008-12-18T02:02:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-18T07:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.allegedlyinteresting.com\/2008\/12\/avocation.html"},"modified":"2008-12-18T02:02:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-18T07:02:00","slug":"avocation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allegedlyinteresting.com\/?p=16","title":{"rendered":"Avocation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/news.cnet.com\/i\/bto\/20080407\/Players_Handbook_540x707.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 353px;\" src=\"http:\/\/news.cnet.com\/i\/bto\/20080407\/Players_Handbook_540x707.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>Yes, ok? I admit it. I play <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dungeons_&#038;_Dragons\">Dungeons and Dragons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>*pause for dramatic effect*<\/p>\n<p>I know you&#8217;re surprised. I would have been a few years ago if I&#8217;d found out that someone as cool as me played it.<\/p>\n<p>I still clearly remember the days when I swore that I would never play this game because <span style=\"font-style:italic;\">I&#8217;m not that much of a geek<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Evidently, I was wrong. I was convinced to give it a try by <a href=\"http:\/\/mumak.net\/\">jml<\/a> and to my chagrin I really enjoyed it. When I think about it, it really shouldn&#8217;t be surprising considering the fact that I play a lot of computer games. The difference is not at all huge, especially with the changes implemented in the new <a href=\"http:\/\/wizards.com\/default.asp?x=dnd\/faq\">fourth edition<\/a> rules.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, if anything D&#038;D gives me more of an opportunity to stretch my brain. I have a huge array of options available to me for use in any situation. I am not simply relegated to working out which object in the room requires me to walk up to it and hit the &#8216;use&#8217; key. <br \/>See that bag of stuff on that pedestal over there? It is <span style=\"font-style:italic;\">most likely<\/span> trapped. In a computer game, I have a couple of options. I could walk over to it and take the item thereby setting off the trap or, I could walk over to it and use my <span style=\"font-style:italic;\">Disable Trap<\/span> skill. That&#8217;s it. Two options.<br \/>In D&#038;D on the other hand, I could do either of the above or I could stand outside the room and try to knock the bag off of the pedestal with my sling and a stone, I could try to prod it off with a 10ft pole, I could attempt to lasso it, I could hang from the ceiling and try to grab it, I could use some sort of spell to levitate the bag&#8230; the list goes on.<\/p>\n<p>The game is fun. More fun than its detractors would allow you to believe. You get to make up a character and do awesome stuff with it. You can make a min\/maxed character in order to be as powerful as the rules of the game will allow, or you can create a balanced character and focus more on narrative and back story.<br \/>You can put on your character&#8217;s voice when they enter a conversation, or you can use the tried and true &#8220;My character says&#8221; method.<br \/>You can pick fights.<br \/>You can drink at a pub.<br \/>You can travel over the ocean.<br \/>You can be a hermit.<br \/>You can fall in love.<br \/>You can be caught in a compromising position (Can&#8217;t you Kevin?).<br \/>You can be incredibly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dreadgazebo.com\/index.php?name=News&#038;file=article&#038;sid=8\">stupid<\/a>.<br \/>You can fly.<br \/>You can walk.<br \/>You can teleport.<br \/>You can kill.<br \/>You can be fanatical.<br \/>You can be boring.<br \/>You can be a hero.<br \/>You can be a villain.<\/p>\n<p>You can be whatever you can imagine.<\/p>\n<p>So instead of assuming the stereotype, give it a go.<br \/>If you don&#8217;t enjoy it, can I have your books? Because they&#8217;re overpriced in Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, ok? I admit it. I play Dungeons and Dragons. *pause for dramatic effect* I know you&#8217;re surprised. I would have been a few years ago if I&#8217;d found out that someone as cool as me played it. I still clearly remember the days when I swore that I would never play this game because &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/allegedlyinteresting.com\/?p=16\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Avocation&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[72],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allegedlyinteresting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allegedlyinteresting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allegedlyinteresting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allegedlyinteresting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allegedlyinteresting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allegedlyinteresting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allegedlyinteresting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allegedlyinteresting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allegedlyinteresting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}