The Last First Campaign

Taking my boys through their first D&D module

I started playing Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) in middle school when I was about 13 years old. In 1981 D&D was still riding a wave of popularity and it just seemed like everyone at school was playing. I remember sitting in the amphitheater at lunch and getting invited to join a game. It immediately tapped into my psyche like nothing had before. There was even a scent to the books and the unusual polyhedral dice demanded to be held. All of the terminology, every mysterious creature and every new adventure was fascinating. Most importantly, it was easy to role-play a first-level fighter since I was as inexperienced as my new character. This particular experience is fleeting and can never really be repeated. After my first games, never again could I be surprised by a 10’ deep pit in a dungeon or by a basic creature like a goblin. I played in many campaigns over the next half a dozen years but none ever grabbed hold of me as much as those first months of playing.

Years later, I came across some old D&D books at a used book store and picked them up for a few dollars. Now in my early 30s, I had reached a point in life where there were a couple of interested pre-teen boys in my family. My son, Noah and Jill’s son, Dane, both wanted to play. Jill and I were still dating at the time but she brought Dane over to my apartment to play D&D with Noah each week. I explained how the game would work and the boys were enthusiastic and eager to get started.

I selected “The Keep on the Borderlands” since it was the one burned into my brain most deeply as a kid. The boys created their characters — a fighter for Dane and a magic user for Noah — while I outfitted the party with a handful of helpful NPCs to round out the team. Knowing what was ahead I sent them off with two clerics. Dane and Noah spent every bit of wealth they had in order to purchase horses and carts, which were then loaded down with supplies. As they set out for the Keep the bloated group looked more like a traveling circus than a group of brave adventurers.

Their first day of travel was uneventful, moving parallel to a wide river and eventually joining up with a road that would take them to the Keep. They passed other travelers on the road, seeing common folk as well as other adventurers who were now returning to the Keep after some less than successful forays into the Caves of Chaos. The boys decided to call it a night, moving a short distance off the road and into the edges of the surrounding forest. The group unfurled their bedrolls and quickly fell asleep after the long day’s travel.

“Your dreams are troubled but you all sleep through the night. The sun comes up and its brightness slowly awakens all of you from your sleep,” I said.

“I go get some breakfast from my pack”, said Noah.

“You are a bit groggy still but it seems like you may have misplaced your pack,” I replied.

“I check my horse and the cart to see if my pack is on them.”

“Your eyes scan the campsite and you seem to have misplaced your horse as well…and your cart…and actually you aren’t seeing ANY horses in the campsite,” I explained.

“Somebody took all our stuff!” Dane howled.

Yes, that’s right. The boys paraded their caravan of shiny new gear past curious eyes along the main road for many hours before settling into a nice long sleep. They also failed to post a guard and take shifts throughout the night. Their first encounter as professional adventurers had just taken place and the party slept through the whole thing. This is exactly the kind of stuff that never happens to experienced players even if they were to try and role play as a first level character again.

Over the next few months the boys would learn many other hard lessons, each one experienced with bright eyes. They seemed completely panicked when I described the grotesque Owl Bear as it attacked. Another day they kept getting lost in the twisty caves despite Noah’s desperate attempts to accurately draw a map. He was convinced I was making a mistake in my geographic descriptions but had yet to learn of the Minotaur living in the caves. They even fell for the “Welcome” sign outside the Bug Bear lair and barely escaped with their lives. Their naivete was again exposed when they entrusted some gold to a seemingly helpful creature who promised to procure a magic item for them — one that would allow them to gain a treasure that was just out of reach. Of course, the rascal absconded with their money and was never to be seen again. (Note: I think this was inspired by my memories of my high-school friends giving people money to buy them pot and then never seeing that person again.)

One particularly hilarious encounter involved their meeting with a Medusa. Seeing only a portion of her attractive figure and finding her chained-up in the cells, Dane moved quickly to rescue the fair maiden. Of course, the Medusa immediately turned him to stone. Noah reacted quickly and stayed outside of the cell and was careful not to meet her gaze. The Medusa offered to restore Dane to health with a potion should Noah agree to release her. Dane was bursting at the seams by this time and struggled to stay out of our conversation–he was, after all, currently made of stone.

Noah agreed to the bargain and the Medusa returned Dane to flesh with the promised remedy. Dane exited the cell and Noah kept his end of the deal by cutting the Medusa loose. She, predictably and promptly, turned Noah to stone. Over the next 30 minutes the boys would take turns getting turned to stone, the other then bargaining with the Medusa, throwing things at her and alternately opening and closing cell doors. Eventually the cycle would end with a taste of the Medusa’s Stone to Flesh potion and some kind of trickery that would result in the process beginning again. It was nearly slapstick in its execution.

The whole thing was perfect to me and the time together was one of the earliest bonding moments I had with Dane. That was the last time I played D&D but I was happy to experience it with the boys and get to see the game through their first-level eyes one last time.

Originally published at robertgoudie.tumblr.com.