13 Reasons Why I Like RolePlaying Games

I’ve always been a bit of a geek, but I’ve now crossed over into being not just a girl geek, but a girl gamer geek. I have to admit, I used to think that all of these roleplaying games were pretty lame. You know all those jokes about the losers in high school who played Dungeons and Dragons, right? Yeah, I told them too. I was slightly embarrassed about my husband’s gaming habits when he was still an active gamer in the early years of our marriage. He had to give up his regular gaming sessions due to both work and the fact that the local Gamer’s Guild in the mall closed. I was relieved that the geek had been tamed a bit.

And then some of our friends Ali & Zack moved back into town, and Zack was interested in starting a new gaming group. Ali was really into the idea, as Zack wasn’t as thrilled about the move from Arizona as she was, and she wanted him to have something awesome here. So Tom agreed to host a weekly gaming group in our home on Wednesday nights. After the first few weeks of listening to them playing in the other room, I realized they were actually having fun. And entertaining me while I listened to them. This was something I wanted to do.

So after they completed their first adventure, I was added to the team. We’re playing Dark Heresy, part of the Warhammer 40K universe. We’re members of the Inquisition, and we’re charged with purging heretics. I’m a Sister of Battle, and I kill people in the name of the God-Emperor. If you’re still thinking that this sounds lame, here are 13 reasons why it’s actually pretty awesome:

1. Shooting criminals and heretics or destroying them with my flail is great for stress relief. Something you just can’t do in the real world.
2. Our Gamemaster (GM) is Zack, and he is an amazing storyteller. I swear he could have a great career in voice acting. The way he reads the part of every non-playable character (NPC) is so expressive!
3. It’s fun just hanging out with adults. You have your book club, I have my gaming group.
4. My character is totally kickass in ways I will never be. It’s fun to be someone else sometimes.
5. I’ve made new, although unlikely, friends with the other guys in our gaming group. We’re totally friends on Facebook now.
6. My character carries a bolt gun that could kill you at 30 paces. I get to feel powerful.
7. Last night, my character – who is effectively a fighting nun – seduced the head priest of a suspicious cult in order to gain information. It seems so wrong, but it’s fun to be bad sometimes. Even when your face is beet red during the narrative. And your husband is sitting next to you.
8. If you are playing the game with your husband, the post-game show after everyone else leaves can be quite… interesting. 😉
9. Technically, my character died last night. (A hit that was hopefully not ordered by that cult leader…) But I am being cybernetically resurrected. You can’t tell me that’s not cool.
10. My character commands fear and respect that I… don’t.
11. It’s fun to get immersed in a completely fantastical setting so unconnected with our current reality. Escapism is good.
12. Having to think through each adventure is good for my imagination and creativity. These are good “muscles” to flex as a writer and blogger.
13. It’s very satisfying as a rookie gamer when you receive your first roleplaying votes from your fellow players because you rocked your character that night.

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Christina Gleason (976 Posts)

That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.