RPGaDistraction

It's August, and #RPGaDAY is underway. There seems to be a lot more people involved this year, with my Facebook and Twitter feeds filled with the cool gold infographic that Will Brooks kindly designed for us again this year.

#RPGaDAY was, as I mentioned before, a reaction to some of the negativity that was going around online when it came to our hobby, and gaming in general. Inspired by BookaDayUK, it hopes to get people talking about tabletop gaming in a positive way.

But there was another ulterior motive behind me starting this. It wasn't a conscious one at the time, but it must have been in the back of my head when I started putting plans into action. I wasn't busy besides the day job in retail, and subconsciously my mind was desperately searching for distraction.

2017 marks the fourth year that #RPGaDAY has dominated my head in August. Today, the 3rd of August, also marks the fifth anniversary of losing my mother. It seems to be the way I deal with things like that. When my dad died in 2003, it was just a week after I signed a contract with Eden Studios to write four 100k+ word books for Conspiracy X 2.0. He had been very ill for a while, and proud of my writing. I don't think he read any of it (after all, it was boring roleplaying rules) but it didn't stop him taking a copy of them with him to show various relatives, or showing my books off when there were visitors at home. I think the last few things I told him, was that I was going to be writing some books for a company in New York, and that Debs and I had gotten engaged. I dealt with his passing by immersing myself in writing, aliens and conspiracies, seldom coming up for air. The real world just hurt a little too much.

Me, my mum and dad, at my graduation in 1995

When mum died, five years ago, there was the initial busy-ness of sorting the house and moving my remaining belonging out of my childhood home. When it was sold, there was a strange double sense of loss. Not only had I lost my mother, but the house I grew up in had gone.

The idea of #RPGaDAY spreading a little love around the world, getting people talking and communicating in a positive way seemed to be a great plan. I didn't consciously think "Oh this is a great distraction," but somewhere subconsciously I think my brain welcomed the rush of activity. And while I don't think my parents would have understood half of what I was doing, they'd have been glad to see that I was encouraging people to talk in a positive way with each other.

So, in essence, this post is a thank you. Thank you everyone who has taken part in #RPGaDAY in the past, and this year. Thank you for filling my head with tales of adventure and excitement. Fantastic quests and daring escapes. Reminding me of a time when I gamed with my old group in that childhood home (I think my parents really liked that I was playing D&D rather than becoming a drunk layabout).

Thank you for spreading the word of how much fun our hobby can be, and how we can make friends through gaming that can last a lifetime.

And thank you for taking my mind off of the real world for a little while, just when I need it.

Above all, thank you. Keep writing those blog posts, recording those videos, and sharing the fun. It means a lot to me.

Stay multi-classy.