Dungeons and Dragons Strikes Again

You know, D&D is one of those nerdy things that never seems to get anywhere, but never really goes away either. It's different, fun, and always hilarious, but in terms of actual plot and normal RPG style progression, nothing really happens. You kill some baddies, sometimes you die, every session comes with a slew of witty jokes, bathroom humor, and awkward roleplay. And, nearly every campaign has a fight that ends in a truely awesome way. But, eventually, people get busy or lose interest or something goes wrong, and the campaign drops off at a strange spot and

never is picked up again. However, sure enough, a month or two or three later someone says "HAY GUYS, lets play D&D, I got some suh-weet ideas!" and the process starts all over again.

It occurs to me that there are a few things that have taken on this "on-off" cycle throughout the years. Starcraft, obviously the best game ever (in my opinion), is one that always seems to make a comeback and delivers fun times. Diablo 2 appears now and again, and usually we'll all play halfway through Nightmare or a little bit into Hell before we realize how much of a pain in the ass the game is and move on. Magic has swelled and receeded, never really dissapearing completely but always sort of in the background; the game that fills up the boring times between other events. And, of course, World of Warcraft, a game that sticks around primarily because it is so damn addictive. There are other things too, like Smash Bros and nightly walks and other (less nerdy) things that come and go as well.

It makes me wonder what it is about these activities that makes them cycle in and out. They are all extremely fun, but I suppose that without variety even the most refreshing of activities can quickly become stale. So you need to boot them out and then bring them back in order to keep getting enjoyment out of them. I guess this is a pretty obvious conclusion... but it was on my mind. I think there would be a lot more activities that would take on this nature if people were able to participate in them. Especially "kid things" if you know what I mean, like playing at a park or who knows what. (Not that you can't play at a park now, but people would look at you pretty wierd if you did.)

You know, if adults were allowed to play in playgrounds, I think there would be a lot less fat people in the world. And why can't they? I mean, playgrounds are fun, and healthy! But think about it, if you saw some 30 year old man crawling around on top of the monkey bars (yes, you're not supposed to be on top, but everyone did it!) it would probably wierd you out a bit. There are a lot of things in the world that are like that. I mean, I'd love to go and play pretend out in the woods with some toys like I did as a kid. But it's just... not acceptable I guess. And because of that I'd feel wierd doing it too. I really think if there wasn't such a stigma attached to

adulthood, where you "need to grow up" and "stop doing kid things" people would be a lot healthier in general. They could just go play pretend and enjoy simple things sometimes, and you know, that makes people feel good. Sometimes you just have to go play pretend, or climb on top of the monkey bars.

Uuuh, wow. This post got out of hand.

Anyway, I've had the next panel of Adventures in D&D nearly finished for a few months now, so I should probably get on that and continue with it. It really was a great fight, and extremely hilarious at the time, so I should finish what I started! Here is a teaser in the meantime:

This time the Ent is the one freaking out....

The main reason why I should finish this strip is to make way for future strips. D&D always has funny moments just begging to be illustrated, you know? :)