So what’s first? They say you never forget your first. Maybe you end up comparing all of your other experiences to your first. But this blog post isn’t about that.

Last year was the first year that I did both blog posts and videos for RPGaDay. That year I ended up sticking pretty close to one format. I tended to write these posts first and then do a video afterwards. My videos ended up being less extemporaneous and seemed less like me. This year I decided to do them separately and if they go off in different directions then so be it. So this is a first.

The first time you read or play a new game it can be magical. This is something you don’t get to do again. My friend Anthony has admonished me for reading too much, skipping ahead, learning all about the setting, or what have you. He reminds me that I only get to have my first in game experience once. In my eagerness to devour everything at once I can ruin that first experience when everything is new and unknown. I smiled because I know what he means.

To me there are very few things like that thrill of discovery. Reading a new game, encountering that new premise, that new mechanic, that different philosophy that the game designer has brought to the table. Encountering somebody who thinks about the hobby and has an opinion different than what you’ve heard before. A different take on things.

It’s easy to get jaded and set in our ways. We can have that first experience and always pine for it, always chasing the Dragon hoping to recapture it. I can’t go back in time and have it be 1981 and discover role playing games for the first time ever again. But… I can have those other first experiences. That new game, that new friend, that new way of looking at things, that new game group. These first encounters can make everything seem new and exciting again. This is part of what keeps me coming back.

What about you?