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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DmQ" data-source="post: 1608061" data-attributes="member: 13748">(WARNING!! Big Post…)I can’t say I was ever persecuted for playing D&D… Of course I have always been a very convincing speaker, and anyone even remotely curious about the game where given a lengthy explanation on its intricacies. I was introduced to D&D by a neighboring kid that always seems to get everything I ever wanted. His parents spoiled him rotten. One day I walked over to his apartment and noticed he had a red box opened up with dice inside, and a bunch of papers. He, his friend, and my little brother where playing. I stood there watching for a while and was instantly hooked. So I saved up my money and bought the red and blue D&D boxed sets from Toys R Us. That was over 16 years ago.There was a short period in my life where I was not the most popular kid in school, but I lived in predominantly minority neighborhoods and they all considered me “That White Boy”… I would get funny looks as I sat in the empty halls during lunch reading my DragonLance Novels. But when I moved to Texas, I started high school in a Hicksville town where I wasn’t messed with every day for being white. I immediately started playing football, and became quite the jock.I would spend nearly every free moment I had making adventures. Even in the middle of class. Of course I always passed my classes and was otherwise a good student, so my teachers never bothered me about it. I even got passes from my homeroom teacher to spend lunch and homeroom in the library where I could read and write in privacy.When the guys I knew from football would ask me why I was into that stuff, I told them exactly what was up. They all respected me for it and accepted the fact that I hung around with a few geeks and played *cough* Dungeons and Dragons. As a matter of fact, most people I knew where bewildered that I played a game that they associated with ‘geeks’ and ‘Losers’. But I usually shut them up about it and defended my friends whenever I thought it was necessary. It didn’t happen often because I was an imposing presence.Every girlfriend I have ever had has been explained too that I am a gamer/computer geek. They have never had any problems with it. Now that I am quite older I have been known to bring my books to work and write stuff on my breaks or between work. Anyone that was curious was given a healthy explanation about the game and never asked again. As a matter of fact, I have managed to change quite a few people’s minds about the game after having a short one on one with them.Put simply, D&D was the best thing that could have every happened to me as a child. I am slightly dyslexic and no one could figure out why I was having such a hard time with my reading and writing skills. By the time I was 11 I was being sent to special Ed classes with kids that couldn’t hardly write there names and where mentally handicapped. Of course I didn’t understand why I was in these classes because I have always been an above average intellect and never got failing grades. However my reading and writing scores where abysmal. That is until I got into D&D. Until I got into D&D I had never read a single book from start to finish. I never wrote anything unless I was in school and even then I struggled. I couldn’t spell at all, and would regularly misspell the simplest words… Once I found D&D I was suddenly reading every chance I had. I was writing adventures, drawing maps, and creating stories in my head. Though I never quite had the English skills of my peers, D&D made it possible for me to enjoy a semi normal school life. Especially after hitting high school and having to write so often.Not only do I owe D&D credit for turning my academic life around, I am a firm believer in the power of games to educate and think that things like D&D should be incorporated into normal school curriculum. Learning the most mundane facts can be made so much easier if they where tied into the mechanics of spell casting, or historically significant to the plotline of an adventure… Anyway, I am rambling now.Anyway, D&D has always been a very positive influence in my life, and I know many of you can appreciate that. So no, I cant say anyone ever tried to ‘save’ me from D&D. And as far as I am concerned I will do everything I can to promote it in the lives of my friends and family.</blockquote>

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