I have officially played Dungeons and Dragons, twice! That is not something I ever thought I would say. (Don’t worry, we played via the video chat system on Discord because social distancing.)
I want to share my experience here, somewhere I feel comfortable, to see if it helps me when I play. Also, because I realized there are a surprising number of people in the book community that play this game and, like, that’s so cool!
So, here’s the gist of it. Our DM has kind of created his own world so it’s not the typical D&D world (I think? I don’t know if this is a normal thing or not. I’m still pretty clueless). Anyways, the world is very Tolkien-esque – basically right up my alley! Other that that, though, I don’t know much about the world. It will start unfolding more as we play.
Until then, let’s talk about my character! I made a mood board? aesthetic board? I don’t know what they’re called. I never make these so if it’s bad, oh well. Here it is:
Her name is Alera. No last name. She was an orphan as a child growing up on the streets with other orphan children, but being a half-elf, she was never fully accepted. She didn’t belong with the humans. She didn’t belong with the elves. Thus, she felt isolated. She was an outcast. This made her angry as she grew older. She left her town to find odd jobs to make money, eventually finding herself in the midst of criminals. She began doing some sketchy things to make a buck, but also to make a name for herself. Her goal is to be known even if it’s for something terrible. But she’s more than just a half-elf that grew up on the streets.
My inspiration was 100% YA novels. She’s like every YA female character I love rolled up into one, but with a bad guy twist (because I love reading about the bad guys). But don’t worry folks, I have a plan for her character. She’s not all bad.
But here’s the thing: I absolutely suck at roleplaying. I don’t know how to get into character. I do a lot of “I want to do this” or “I go do that“. I don’t act it out. I don’t give her dialogue. Even though the people we are playing with are all our friends, it is just so awkward. I don’t know how to break out of that shell (probably booze). That is what is so hard for me with D&D. It’s fun but not at the same time. I feel like I’m missing out on what really makes Dungeons and Dragons what it is.
However, our DM is so great. He’s done this for years. I’ve talked to him about my anxiety with it and encourages me to take my time. He told me a story which I found very cool (I’m probably going to butcher it but here it goes):
D&D is used as a tool to get kids to open up. In one game (not his), a kid playing always just sat there, didn’t roleplay (hey! I can relate!). Until one day, when the story brought them to a table having some drinks, the DM asked him how his character would be sitting during this and how his character would ask for his drink. The kid finally acted out that small scene. And guess what? He stayed in character the rest of the time.
I think that is awesome. Hopefully me, a 28 year old, can be as brave as that kid.
So far, that is my experience. We’ve only played 2 short sessions (in which I had to walk away a lot because baby needs my attention). I’m sure I’ll improve.
Do you play? Any tips for a newbie with anxiety?
Also, I’m thinking about continuing my updates. What do you think?
4 Comments
That’s awesome you played D&D twice now. You can use the D&D setting, but it’s also quite common that the DM creates their own setting, like what your DM does. The roleplaying can take some gettign used to and it gets better the more you play, so give yourself time to get used to it.
I’ve played D&D and some Fate (another role playing game) and the acting things out is one of my favorite things about it, but at first it can be really hard and awkward. I think that’s normal. What helps for me is to get a really good image for my characters, what he/ she is like, how they would react in certain situation, what are their motivations, what matters to them the most, etc. It also is helpful if everyone gets into the roleplaying, we’ve had groups that don’t get into the roleplaying and it’s a bit hard to roleplay when other’s don’t.
For a while our group had a list of scenarios titled What Would Your Character Do (this was a list of like 25 scenarios I think) and we answered those scenarios as our character to get a feel how they would react in certain situations. When I have that good image of my character I try and gather that feel or image around me when we start the session and that helps me react like that character.
You can also try to use certain ways of speaking or even body language or whatever works best for you to get in character. Like try and use a different way of speaking or behaving when you get in character. I once played a Jawa from Star Wars and talked in short sentences of badly grammatical English and threw jawaese words in his vocabulary and that really helped get in character. We once had a player who used a pencil to emulate a character’s walking stick that he ticked with on the table when he acted as that character.
Anyway that is what helps for me, it probably depends a bit on you personally as well. I once knew a player who liked to draw her character a lot or write out parts of her backstory to get in character and another one who didn’t plan in advance but discovered their character as they played. There are lots of different ways to get there. maybe think of what helps you relate to a character in a story or even use a character you already know as basis? Sorry this comment got so long.
Your character sounds great! I played D&D as a teenager, and when my son got interested I played a bit with him before he found a game to join, He has had a regular fortnightly game for three years, and they are playing via discord now too because of iso.
You might like to watch some Critical Roll for some playing inspiration.
I’ve heard of CR. Our DM recommended I watch that but I never did haha oops! Maybe I should actually listen to you two lol
I’ve never played DnD, but I want to because it sounds fun! Except I think I’d suck at role playing too. I’m terrible at improv and making things up on the spot. I hope you can break out of your shell and get into it more though! Be brave!