Ted was a nerd. He had always been a nerd. He was 5'10", 175 lbs, with longish dirty blond hair and brown eyes. He had a lanky build and really a handsome face, but he was so shy that those girls who saw through the nerdiness couldn't get his attention. He could have been a popular kid, except for his love of classical music and art, and a predisposition towards Dungeons & Dragons.
While the other guys were out on dates, Ted was sitting in a garage being a Dungeon Master, guiding his six friends through fantasy campaigns for marathon sessions lasting 24, 48 and a few times even 72 hours.
At 19, Ted was out of High School with a B average, and had begun going to community college and working graveyard at 7/11.
The group of gamers had shrunk to four, other than Ted. There was Max, also 19, who had helped found the group when both were 13. At 6'4" and 220 lbs, Max resembled a professional wrestler, but had the manner and heart of a poet.
Next was Jeff. Also a founding member, Jeff was 5'6", 275 lbs, and had the look of a happy old hobbit with a penchant for jelly donuts and Pepsi. Jeff was quiet and shy, a total Mama's boy, and in the opinion of the rest of the group, probably as queer as they come.
Then there was Ricky, who was 20. Ricky had joined them two years before, and though nobody could really stand him personally, he was a pretty good gamer. Ricky was 6'2", 200 lbs, and a gung-ho bodybuilder who planned to join the Marines but hadn't gotten around to it.
Last, there was Ron. Ron was the newest member, joining only a year before. Ron was 18, stood 6'3", weighed 235 lbs, and looked like an incredibly handsome actor playing Clark Kent. He was a devout Baptist, and didn't mind slipping in a little preaching to the conversation, but he was extremely intelligent and very friendly, and the group respected and admired him a great deal.
The four of them had gotten together and created an ad to attract new gamers to the group, since it was obvious that they had about exhausted every new idea they could come up with. The ads were placed in comic book and gaming stores four month before, but they hadn't gotten a single response until last Monday.
"Hello," Ted said when he answered the phone. He had just gotten home from work and was dog-tired. He craved sleep, but had two classes before he could rest.
"Hi," the female voice on the phone replied. "My name is Anne, and I'm calling about the gaming group I saw advertised at The Dungeon." Ted's heart skipped a beat, and he lost all thoughts of tiredness.
"Yeah, er," Ted began, searching for the right words that wouldn't scare her off. "We currently have four gamers, and we've been playing for about 6 years."
"I've been playing D&D for five years," Anne said. "I just moved here from Berkley, and I'd like to sit in on your next game and see what's going on."
Ted filled her in on the details of how to find Jeff's garage and told her the next meeting was the following Friday at six. He hung up the phone and stood shaking. It was the first girl he'd spoken to apart from work in over three months. He couldn't wait to see her and put a picture to that husky voice.
Wednesday night the group got together for a pizza to plan the new adventure, and Ted told them about Anne. He told them she had a really sexy voice, and he was sure she would be a real hottie. Ricky laughed and told the entire Pizza Hut that he was sure she was a total dog, and that she'd probably stink up the garage. Jeff just looked excited, and Max, as usual, kept quiet and mulled the matter over until the subject changed.
It was decided that they would begin a totally new adventure with new characters. Ted was appointed Game Master, since he had at least 20 different worlds created at any given time, and all of them would be exciting.
On Friday, they assembled at Jeff's garage and Ted began laying out the world so they could create their characters. Ricky decided to create a paladin; something he seemed to think was a novel idea, though nobody could remember his ever playing anything else. Ron chose a thief, Jeff his usual female elvish magic-user, and Max his normal ranger.
Ted smiled as he watched them rolling, carefully looking away when one of them quietly re-rolled a bad score. He looked up at a passing car and saw Anne walking up the driveway, slowly and uncomfortably.
Anne Henning was 18, 5'5" and 105 lbs. Her face was fresh and pretty. She had long brown hair and blue eyes, and had on glasses with thick black cats-eye frames. She wore blue jeans and a red "lumberjack" shirt, un-tucked and unbuttoned, with a white tank top underneath, and bright red sneakers. Though the numbers would have escaped their untrained eyes, her measurements were 34b-25-36.
Ted jumped up and jogged over to introduce himself and when she smiled his heart fluttered when he saw the way her eyes crinkled at the corners. He couldn't help but notice she wore no make-up, or that she didn't need any.
He brought her into the garage and introduced her to the guys. They fell all over themselves trying to be charming and witty, but Anne just smiled politely and repeated their names as she memorized them.
Seating her directly to his left, Ted walked her through creating her character, a female warrior. She took her rolls as they came, with no "fudging". All in all, her new character, Irina, was a pretty tough cookie.
Ted called the game together and began his narrative, introducing the characters to each other, and to his world. He swept them up in the complex social structure and the general political geography, the religious orders, and the current threats to the community. He swelled with pride that the guys kept their attention on him and seemed to be absorbing every detail, but he thrilled when he looked at Anne and saw her gently smiling at him, her soft, beautiful eyes never leaving his.
Ted introduced his adventure "hook" which the players familiar with his style immediately jumped on, and Anne followed their lead. They began their adventure and had two satisfactory battles before reaching the entrance to the dungeon they sought. Since it was almost eleven, Ted called the first break.
Max took food and drink orders from everybody then jumped in his car with Ricky at shotgun to go forage. Jeff tried to begin a charming and witty conversation with Anne, but only succeeded in making himself look like a complete and total horny nerd. Ron was polite to Anne, but cool in a strange way.
Ted got up and walked out to the alley and lit a cigarette. He stood next to a garbage dumpster and stared up at the stars.
"Got another one of those?" Anne said as she quietly walked up behind him.
Ted shook another from the pack and lit it for her. She took a long drag from it that glinted off the lenses of her glasses.
"Thanks."
"So, um, how do you like it here so far," Ted asked, clueless for anything substantial to say.
"It's pretty nice, I guess," she said, "but it's really kind of boring. I'm glad I found you guys because you run a really nice game. It makes me feel at home."
Ted beamed. "I'm glad you like it. I worked really hard on this one's politics, but only Max has a head for that stuff. Ricky's," β her nose wrinkled at the mention of his name β "a power-gamer, Jeff's a role-player, and Ron's a problem-solver." He paused a moment and continued, "I guess you could say that I-"
"You are a really cute and intelligent man who has like, totally no self-confidence β which is sad because if you did you'd be as charming and interesting as those NPCs you run."
 
                             
                         
                         
                         
                         
                         
                                 
                                 
                                 
                                