Parvani's parents could have sent her to any university in the country. But they much preferred to have her staying at home.
My Dad was supporting our family on a single salary; he couldn't afford to cover my tuition, much less the cost of residence at an out-of-town school. There was no issue about me continuing to live at home, though, so room and board were covered. I had been working part-time for years, and had a bit of money tucked away. Somehow, I also pulled off an academic miracle in my final year of high school, and earned an entrance scholarship to university.
That meant that Parvani and I went to the same university. I saw her several times a week. We rode the bus together when our schedules coincided, and we met for lunch when we could.
Nate, on the other hand, went to college for applied arts and design. But I still saw him a few times a week, too - by now he was probably my best friend. We had a small social circle, and we were also trying to put a new gaming group together.
Most of the people we invited were friends of Nate, or people I was meeting in first year (I couldn't think of anyone from my old high school who would be interested - or that I would want to invite).
We should have installed a revolving door.
There were losers, misfits so lacking in basic social skills that we were glad to see the back of them - and we never called them again.
There were a few nice people, whose busy schedules just wouldn't permit them to join us regularly. And we soon learned that intermittent players quickly lost interest, when it took half an hour to bring them up to date on what they had missed.
We met some oddballs, including one guy who wanted to name his character Buffing Buffy Buffington - and another who wanted to call his wizard 'Tim'. Now, I love Monty Python, too, but it's no secret that Python jokes can completely derail a D&D game.
By Christmas, we had played with 14 different people.
I did learn a few things, which Nate and I discussed at his house.
- "I've been over here quite a bit." I said. "I can finally tell the difference between
Close to the Edge
and
Going for the One
."
Mostly, though we talked about girls, or D&D - or both at the same time.
- "Most guys are min/maxers. Powergamers." I said. "They just want the highest stats, the best gear, and a kickass magical weapon."
- "I'm not disagreeing." said Nate.
- "Girls, on the other hand, are more likely to go for the style, or the look of it. They're less likely to metagame, too."
Although it may sound like D&D was all we did, I did have a fairly busy social life.
I met a girl named Helen at my part-time job. On our third date, I finally found the courage to kiss her. We had a torrid necking session on our fourth date, but she wouldn't let me touch her anywhere below the neck.
On our sixth date, we were necking on the couch in my basement. She finally let one of my hands travel south of her collarbone, and caress her breast, through her sweater and bra. But when I tried to reach under her sweater, she grabbed my hand, and held it.
Helen and I did have a serious talk after that. She was saving her virginity for her wedding night. I wasn't going to mock her for her attitude, but I certainly didn't share it. I wasn't sure that I wanted Helen to be my first, anyway, but I was tired of being a virgin as I turned 19.
She was quite angry that I would break off with her for so shallow a reason. Helen went out of her way to let me know that she had a new boyfriend, only a few weeks later.
I joined the cross-country running team at university. I didn't have time for meets and competition - even if I had qualified - but I trained with them, and met a few nice people.
Parvani joined the Debating Society. I went to one of their matches, to support her. I didn't really understand it, though. It was all a little too formal, and a few of the debaters were pompous little shits who gave me a near-irresistible urge to kick them in the seat of the pants.
It was after Christmas that our D&D games started to pick up.
Derek was a friend of Nate's. He was into music and art, and more than capable of an intelligent conversation. Derek also had an excellent sense of humour. He created a samurai warrior, and role-played him to the hilt. He would never run from combat, or abandon a companion. He would also challenge anyone who insulted him or another member of our group.
He got killed a lot.
When his first character, Yoritomo, was killed in battle, he started Tadasaki, who lost a duel against a much stronger opponent. That didn't bother Derek: he started Norimoto, who vowed to train and fight until he could avenge his fallen cousin (the second character).
Alan was a guy Nate met at college, and then took on as a sort of reclamation project. I didn't care for him, at first, but Nate insisted that we give him a tryout.
- "His home life is brutal, Ian. I can't tell you all the details, but trust me - the guy needs something positive in his life."
It didn't bother me that Alan and Nate smoked weed together. But I did find him hard to get along with. Alan created Grog, a barbarian warrior. He got into role-playing, to a degree; he would burp, and fart, and scratch his balls. He also said 'Aargh' a lot.
I brought in another player. I met Tanya running cross country, at university. She didn't qualify for the competitions - she just liked to run. Tanya was about 5' 5", with long auburn hair.
At first, I found her difficult to approach. She had this perpetual smirk, an almost-smile. Tanya was also
very
sarcastic. She was clearly intelligent, though. When I spotted her reading a novel by Ursula K Leguin, I took a chance and started talking to her.
We talked about science fiction and fantasy, and discovered some common ground. A week later, it was Tanya who brought up the subject of books and movies. I took the plunge and mentioned Dungeons and Dragons.
- "Isn't that for nerds?" she asked.
- "Guess I'm a nerd, then." I said.
- "Really?"
Tanya was intrigued enough to try it once. She liked Nate and Derek right away - especially when they lit up a joint before the game.
We
all
liked the way she played. And Tanya could handle herself.
The other player that day was Aaron, another guy invited by Nate. It was his third game with us. Aaron was a bit immature, and the weed didn't help matters any.
We had been protecting a girl that we had rescued from a bandit raid. It turned out, though, that she was a princess, hiding from enemies of her family. We only found this out when the evil villain (our current nemesis) kidnapped her, and demanded a ransom.
- "So we have to rescue the Princess?" asked Derek.
- "And then bang her." said Aaron.
- "Aaron ..." I said. This was more inappropriate than usual, even for him.
I was the DM - not the teacher, in charge of classroom discipline. Besides, Aaron was Nate's friend - I couldn't just kick him out.
- "What?" said Aaron. "Who gets to bang the Princess? Is it the guy with the highest charisma? Or the one who kills the dragon?"
- "Aaron - do you have to be so crude?" I tried shifting my eyes, so that he would see Tanya. She didn't look particularly impressed.
- "She can bang the Princess, too." said Aaron. "I'm all in favour of that. Two chicks is hot!"
Tanya picked up the dice, and rolled them.
- "What's that for?" I asked her.
- "I stab the asshole in the back." she said. "Him." she added, indicating Aaron.
- "What? You can't do that!" roared Aaron.
- "I just did." said Tanya.
