Whaaat? Another post?? Insanity!
But seriously.
Some of the folk who read this may get the reference in the blog title. If not, totally fine, because I'm about to explain! Thursdays have become a night I tend to treat as a "night off" because I absolutely love watching the live stream of Critical Role - "where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors play Dungeons and Dragons". If you enjoy having something on in the background while you work/play/do whatever, both Campaign 1 and the current campaign, Campaign 2, are a joy to listen to, and they're a pretty big deal right now.
I love Dungeons & Dragons. I played once or twice in college while acting as wingwoman for a friend of mine, and when I moved out to Vancouver, BC, a coworker invited me to join a game. That was several years ago now, and our group of friends is still going strong, currently trying to survive a literal temple of doom, a Tomb of Annihilation (the name of the story module). Needless to say, listening and watching the Critical Role actors weave their story scratches an itch of mine. As someone who loves fantasy and grew up reading David Eddings, Terry Brooks, Piers Anthony, and Anne McCaffrey (to name a few), it's like comfort food. As someone who writes scripts with myth and magic in them, it's fascinating.
Collaborative storytelling with a dash of improv, your successes and failures as a character usually depend on a roll of the dice. Adding in the possibilities of slow character reveals, backstory moments, and chances to simply talk as a different character, it's like being immersed in a story every time you play. I've laughed and cried and felt the satisfaction of hearing "drop it" after killing an enemy more times than I can count. Even if you aren't sure on the whole "Dungeons & Dragons" fantasy thing, there are so many RPGs (Role Playing Games) or TTRPGs (you guessed it...Tabletop RPGs) there's no doubt in my mind you'd find something right up your alley.
And I can confidently say that RPGs have helped me improve my skills as a writer and storyteller in general. I grew up with a close-knit group of long-distance friends, and we got to know one another around decades of characters, worlds, races, and hours logged interacting in stories online that have had me writing until sunrise some days. They're my best friends, and I wouldn't have met them if it weren't for RPGs. One of them, in particular, has an awesome blog that you can find here.
Right now, as I listen to storytellers doing their thing, it's a way for me to get a creative boost while thinking over a new story idea. I don't want to rest on my current TV pilot, Otherworld, I'm diving head-first into some new material, which means figuring out what I'm going to do with it.
The first thing, for me, is character. I love a great plot, but without the right characters, I find even the best story falls flat. So here I am, listening to Critical Role and the adventures of a group calling themselves the Mighty Nein (even though there's only seven of them...), and thinking about how Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot, handles using a French Press to make coffee and microwaving a cinnamon bun. All while wrestling with the very specific grief of having closed his eyes one moment and woken up to find centuries have passed and Camelot has become nothing more than a series of stories.
Hard to find a way to empathize with that, at the start. That is, like I said, a very specific scenario. But empathizing with the struggle to deal with feelings surrounding loss of family and friends? That's something I can build on. To me, fantasy is a way for people to process things and learn things in a way I haven't found in other genres. Of course, I'll never be someone who has to go on a grand adventure with a magic ring or have to find a way to battle, and win against, creatures who look at humans as nothing more than "smart meat". Thankfully! But I hope that my struggling humans and ancient, sometimes-cruel Faeries find that balance of "real enough".
For now, while I toy with this new idea and sketch out a few potential character arcs, I'm going to cheer on the Mighty Nein and toy with the idea of a frazzled, exhausted businesswoman trying to teach an ancient King how to drive in London traffic.