DND geek

While I loathe real war, I love fantasy violence and political maneuvering. I am a loosely interpreted version of what is called a Dungeon Master for the game Dungeons and Dragons, affectionately nicknamed D&D. Soren and his friends gather around with their characters sheets, 3-d polygon dice, Monster Manuals/Handbooks and I send them on imagined adventures and quests (for hours and hours). They tell me what they want their characters to do in a given situation, imagined characters react, and outcomes are determined based on the characters' skills and, like real life, chance (the roll of said polygons).

In D&D one can:

• Slay a dragon
• Find a hidden magic item
• Have songs and poems written honoring one's past quests
• Find that a friend has been setting one up for destruction
• Find one's way out of an ambush
• Become an expert hunter or magic user
• Activate a poison arrow trap
• Fight goblins, giants, mindflayers

My name is Heather and I am a D&D geek.

The Last Tommy

British Supercentenarian, Harry Patch died a few days ago. He was the last surviving vet of WWI (remember, the one that was supposed to end all wars?). In his nineties he began to talk about the war and became a critic of war in general: "We weren’t heroes. We didn’t want to be there. We were scared. We all were, all the time. And any man who tells you he wasn’t is a damn liar."

A few days before he died, he said that the WWIII will be chemical and he was glad he would not be here to see it. While I am not a "roll-over-and-abuse me" pacifist, I consider war the largest failing of the human race, besides the exploitation of children. Many times, they are the same thing, which then compels me to hope for Zion (I don't mean the Israeli political entity or an exclusive sectarian communist project). I hope we teach our children to stand up for themselves without having to resort to force-to be equitable, forgiving and just and find ways to protect the weak without stealing peace and dignity from another.

Here's to no more double W's followed by Roman numerals. Zion depends on it.