My Road to D&D 5e

In September of 2016, I reintroduced myself with Dungeons and Dragons through the 5th edition (5e) system.  Over the past 8 years I had become, and still am, an avid board game enthusiast, however, no matter which game I played, a void remained in the personalization of play experience.  Please don't get me wrong, there are many games on the market that provide a wonderful story, complex puzzles, and cooperative teamwork from the players, none of which like D&D.

Beginning in middle school, I acquired an interest in Magic the Gathering, as most people this age do (whether they admit it or not as adults).  Still to this day I play Magic, but utilize my older cards and would never consider playing in the new/updated realms.  In fact, my experience with Magic did not yield spells/cards such as Plains Walkers and Rares as they are now classified.  Nonetheless, I digress.....

My interest in Magic and Fantasy Fiction, particularly the Dragonlance Chronicles by Hickman and Wise, helped lead me into the world of D&D 3rd edition (3e).  With my Magic playing friends, I was able to start building characters and daydreaming up ideas for campaigns and dungeon crawls that would be what I thought "the most intense adventuring experience ever!"  Well, minus the fact that only one of us had a Player's Handbook, and the only time we saw each other was during school hours, these dreams faded as quickly as our middle school careers.  Not giving it another thought I progressed through high school, went to college, got married, started an family, got a mortgage, and am living the "American Dream."  Granted, I am very thankful for all that I have, and all I have been able to accomplish.  I have an awesome family, great job, and live in a fantastic region of the country.

After searching around YouTube and stumbling upon the fellas at Node playing through a D&D Home-brew campaign, I was motivated to jump back into D&D.  Understand that when I reference 'jumping back in' I had never done anything more than create a few characters within an outdated system.  I decided to purchase the 5e Player's Handbook, Monster Manuel, and Dungeon Master's Guide.  Through much study and research, both online and in the manuals, I determined this edition to be easy enough to navigate and start playing, I only had one problem....who could I get to play with me?

I have always had a very large family who was open to playing games that present a good challenge.  So, when faced with the obstacle of 'who can I get to play' I relied on my family.  Prior to my start as a Dungeon Master, which is my primary role most of the time, I did participate in a few Adventure's League campaigns at two of my local game stores.  Not to be critical, but both experiences were terrible.  One of which had 18 players playing through one adventure (one big group) and the other not well facilitated (the DM allowed new players to argue about what to buy at a local armory for 45 minutes of the 2 hour session).  If I had known nothing of D&D, and these were my only associations/experiences, I probably would have not played the game again.

This leads me to the present day.  I am now a part of several adventures, some of which I DM and others where I'm the player.  In fact, I would say for those looking to get into D&D and find a group, the sky is the limit.  My current adventures, role within each session, and frequency of play consist of the follow:

• Curse of Strahd: DM - Monthly
• Adventure's League at local shop: Player - Weekly
• Hoard of the Dragon Queen: DM - Monthly
• Lost Mine of Phadelver (two seperate groups): DM - Monthly
• Dark Days in Stoneholm: Player - Monthly
• The Soul Power of Siblings (home-brew): DM - Bi-Weekly  

As you can see, my D&D hobby has now exploded into a part-time job (which is GREAT!).  Minus my play in the Adventure's League at my local game shop (not one of the two original game shops I referenced above), all campaigns are composed of family members and close family friends (they may as well be family).  Ages range from 4 years old to 42 years old and a consistent mix of males and females.  The D&D Family Adventures blog will be the outlet for adventure recap in these campaigns along with other information pertaining to the hobby.  I encourage those of you who are reading to be a part of the conversations here and become a part of our family.  Although I still consider myself 'green' in the Forgotten Realms, I am confident readers will enjoy how the adventures of our D&D family play out and contribute to the exciting fun each D&D session holds.  

Lessons Learned
If you don't have a good experience, don't give up.
Never underestimate the power of a great family.

Departing Thought
Stay tuned for our Curse of Strahd campaign update #1 and #2....coming soon!