RPG Carnival- Life Without Gaming

7
May/102

RPG Carnival- Life Without Gaming

3 Years, give or take.

That’s the longest I’ve gone without gaming.

It was during the second half of my undergrad. Unlike a lot of gamers, I didn’t game a lot back in undergrad. As it began, my old high-school group went its separate ways, some of us to University, some to work, and we all chased after different things. Mostly we chased after girls, booze and drugs, truthfully.

I know that for myself, I saw those years (say 18-23) as a chance to try out new things and try on new identities. It wasn’t just a ‘now that I’m not in high school I can be cool’ thing, it was more of a ‘the world’s bigger than the small town I came from’ thing.

So it’s not like I was bored.

I co-hosted a college radio show. I got involved in politics. I went to see bands, plays and art. I probably watched hundreds of great films (always my first love).

What I didn’t do was game. And no matter what I tried to tell myself, I did miss it. I was a junky convincing himself he’d kicked the habit.

I was living in Edmonton, Alberta for a big chunk of my rather chequered undergraduate career and I thought I was happy living my life without gaming; but every once in a while, I’d jones for it.

I lived in the seemingly abandoned downtown core of Edmonton in the late 90s and whenever I’d get antsy at night, I’d head out for a cigarette and coffee fuelled. Listening to Tortoise or God Speed You Black Emperor, I could really dig on the whole empty apocalypse vibe that the city gave me at night. That said, sometimes walking by empty stores and seedy bars got old and practically the only thing open after 9pm was the ‘Wee Book Inn’ used bookstore (just off of 104th and Jasper avenue, I believe).

Whenever I felt restless or just needed to get out, I’d go there and search through the racks of paperbacks and comics for something to catch my eye.

Most of the time I wouldn’t find anything.

But one night, I stumbled across a bunch of odd looking books that had been misfiled with the comics. Supplements for White Wolf’s Trinity and priced for maybe $5 each. Inevitably, I slowly bought up the lot, devoured them, and eventually sprung for a new copy of the core book.

Future psychics fighting against the return of apocalyptic super-heroes in a conspiracy fuelled universe.

I was hooked.

Whenever I got frustrated with my academic work (which I took far too seriously) I’d sketch out ideas for campaigns or theorize about the elusive gaps in White Wolf’s official story. By the time I finished my degree, I knew I had to run something. I knew I was a gamer and that running games was just something I like to do.

It’s funny.

I’m still mildly political, I’m still a bit of an art nerd and I love music, but after those years of experimenting with new things and trying on new identities, I wound up realizing that gaming, comics, and film were really my three big passions.

I’m glad I broadened my horizons, but I’m even happier that I realized what I liked to do. Since then I’ve never let myself go a longer than 6 months or so without a game (although moving to Montreal and starting Grad School was a transition).

Then again, I’m going to be a dad in two months, so we shall see…