Alt-right blogger Jenna Abrams (@Jenn_Abrams) enjoyed a large following in Twitter, and her tweets were cited by Buzzfeed, the NY Times, and other news agencies. It turned out “she” was another creation of the Internet Research Agency, the Russian government-funded troll farm in St. Petersburg.
Yesterday my dad told me something that I think maybe more people need to hear.
You’re allowed to just do things for fun.
He told me that in this modern society, especially the United States, we seem to have this attitude that we shouldn’t do something unless we’re aiming to be the best at it. If we can’t sing like Beyonce or Frank Sinatra or something there’s no point to singing. If we can’t make the next big breakthrough there’s no point in looking into mechanics and engineering.
But, he tells me, it took him a long time to figure out that life doesn’t have to be a race. If you want to take up the piano when you’re a teenager or later you’re not going to master it. You’re not going to be able to play to huge concert halls, but that also shouldn’t stop you. You can study a language out of curiosity and then drop the ball if you want. You can just get okay at something or even be terrible at it. You can drop it for days or years and then pick it up again and it doesn’t have to be a shameful thing.
I’m really glad he told me that because today I opened my sketchpad for the first time in months and just started drawing. And it looks terrible. But I don’t care. I don’t have the talent or patience or spacial awareness to get anywhere near good at drawing, but it’s fun. It helps me focus my mind and nobody has to see it.
And because of what he told me, I’m thinking maybe someday soon I will take up the bass guitar. And I won’t worry about how well I do, or how fast I learn, or that I haven’t played an instrument since sixth grade, or that I don’t have that much time to practice. I’m just gonna enjoy the experience. Maybe I’ll try swing dancing again and take a class because I’m not the best dancer but damn if it isn’t fun.
Yeah, you don’t have to be good at things. It’s not a requirement. Maybe that seems obvious but it had never occurred to me before. You’re allowed to just enjoy what you’re doing. For me, that feels like a life changing revelation. I don’t have to be good at something to like it. I don’t have to put 100% effort into everything I do. It’s kind of amazing.
Context: In our group there’s a witch (me) who is fascinated with magic and a playful bard. The witch is a hoarder and will randomly pick up things along the campaign – some for spells, but some not.
The Witch rolled a nat 1 on picking up a small brick. Since her modifier is -2, she got a -1 to move it. And went along the mission. On the way back this happened.
Witch: picks up The Brick™ with a successful roll
Bard: casts spell to move The Brick™ from her hands to the ground again.
Witch: “That’s weird… I guess I dropped it…” picks it up again.
Bard: uses spell again and makes ty fly out of her hand and spin in a circle.
Witch: “Guys! Look look look! Bard did you see?!”
Bard: rolls a nat 20 on bluff. “No I didn’t. Maybe it’s magical? It might even be sentient…” then he continues to move The Brick™ around having the witch chase it.
Witch: rolls a nat 1 on sense motive. And thus proceeds to keep The Brick™ like a companion for the rest of the campaign
So, the Friday Game I’m in had been running for a few weeks. We had a small party consisting of a gnome rogue (me), a warforged sorcerer, a human ranger/alchemist, and a human bard. Though the party had been through some stuff together, due to some character related reasons (gnome’s a racist, ranger is dependent on potions, bard is … a bard, and the warforged takes everything literally), the group hadn’t quite been able to mesh well. Particularly when it came to combat. (Two of us had already died and been resurrected.) But, what I’m about to recount to you is the wonderful mayhem that happened once we got a FIFTH member of our little band, a human cleric.
Highlight 1:
(Setup: My gnome, upon learning the cleric was going to be joining our group, immediately set up a prank, placing a booby-trap on the door to the cleric’s room so that when he woke up that morning, he’d set off a trap that would cover him in flour if he didn’t make the dex save. He didn’t.)
DM: Alright, as you open the door of your room and step out into the hallway … a ton of flour falls over your head, covering you completely.
Cleric OOC: Hold on, I have to check to see what sort of omen this is. *rolls percentile dice*
DM: And?
Cleric OOC: It’s a good omen! ((He’d been rolling bad omens until then.))
Party: *bursts into fits of laughter*
Ranger OOC: I see this right? I’m in the hallway, going to my room. I f’n see this, don’t I?
DM: Not only do you see this priest get covered in the flour prank you know that the gnome set up, you also see him pause for a moment and then nod to himself and say, “Good omen.”
Party: *begins to die of laughter*
Ranger: *rolls their eyes* And you said I was the weird one. *walks into their room*
(The Cleric continues the rest of the session still covered in flour, having not even bothered to try and clean it off.)
Highlight 2:
(Setup: The party is sitting down and discussing how to best deal with the threat of the goblin warband that had formed just outside the village. My gnome had been slinging insults at the cleric most of the morning and was far too pleased with the prank’s success. Side note: My gnome DESPISES goblins to her very core.)
Cleric: So sorry, but I’m afraid I don’t really know much about goblins, you see. Would someone mind telling me a bit more about them? Should I be worried?
Me: (attempting to frighten the cleric) *grins* Oh, goblins are vicious. They’ll rip your throat out as soon as look at you.
Cleric: *immediately and without thinking* Kinda like you then? *eyes go wide as he realizes what he said*
Entire table: *a mix of shocked faces and people holding back laughter as I reel back in shock*
Me: *raises eyebrows and fixes the Cleric with a death glare* … Excuse me?
Cleric: I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!
(I proceeded to glare daggers at the Cleric throughout the rest of the strategy meeting.)
Highlight 3:
(Setup: We’d made our way to the goblin caves, implementing a strategy of distraction to lure most of the goblins away from where we’d be infiltrating. We were inside the caves, having killed a couple of goblins already when two wolves came out of the darkness. One had already been shot with a crossbow bolt, and our bard had been holding his action to do vicious mockery on the next enemy that came into range.)
DM: *moving the pieces across the play mat* So the wolves charge forward and-
Bard OOC: Oh! I was holding my action! Can I do a vicious mockery?!
DM: Okay, which one do you mock? They’re charging at the same time, so they come into range at the same time.
Bard OOC: Does it matter?
DM: Well, one has a crossbow bolt sticking out of its side where the gnome had shot it, and the other one hasn’t been hit by anything yet.
Bard OOC: I’ll mock the one that the gnome hit.
DM: Mock away.
Bard: Hey wolf! You’re so stupid! You let stupid orange morons ((Referring to the goblins)) tell you what to do!
DM: *rolls the saving throw* And it failed the saving throw. What’s the damage?
Bard OOC: *rolls the damage* *jokingly* Please don’t tell me I demotivated it to death? *laughs*
DM: *smirks* As the wolves charge forwards, this one hears your shout. It pauses and then decides that you’re right. It takes a sudden turn and plunges into the river where it gives up and drowns.
Entire table: *laughs as the bard looks horrified*
Bard: Wait-no! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!
DM: -You cry out as you watch the wolf’s body, still covered in faerie fire wash downstream.
Bard OOC: Well now I just feel like a horrible person. I didn’t think it’d actually kill it!
Highlight 4:
(Setup: The boss of the caves has appeared behind us, the hobgoblin who has formed the other goblins into the warband. The target we decided to attempt to take out.)
DM: *as hobgoblin* You, you lot must truly have a deathwish. You come into MY home, burn down MY forest, and kill MY people without provocation- *clearly has more to this speech*
Me OOC: Yeah, my gnome is gonna try and shoot this guy in the throat.
DM: *pauses* Really?
Me OOC: Yeaah … Also, I was hiding. Am I hidden from him? Cause I’m pretty sure I get advantage and sneak attack damage if I am.
DM: What was your stealth roll again?
Me OOC: Modified 20?
DM: *rolls dice* Yeah, he doesn’t see you. Roll with advantage.
Me OOC: *hits* So, as I shoot my crossbow, I scream “For Tordek!” ((The gnome’s mentor who was killed by goblins))
DM: *sigh* You interrupt the hobgobin with your cry and the bolt hits him in the shoulder. He pauses and then laughs.
DM: *as hobgoblin* Fine then. If you want to hasten your death …
DM: Aaand we’ll end it here for tonight.
Entire table: *groans*
(On the way home, I complained about the cliffhanger, and the DM complained about me interrupting his speech in return.)
