My son is 11-years old and has discovered Pen & Paper RPGs. He’s even started with D&D. I suppose I should be proud. I remember, in 1976, drawing dungeons on graph paper for the boy next door. I graduated to MMOGs with Asheron’s Call in 1999. He started with Asheron’s Call in 2000 – earning his first 2 Cub Scout belt loops for Computers and Chess. He played Chess in Asheron’s Call. It is a story I tell often. Like mother like son?

I have, in some way or another, been involved in RPGs all of my life. When I gave up rolling characters I provided beer and pizza and a comfortable place for the guys whose girlfriends “didn’t get it”. Sometimes, I’d sit in and run a character if someone was missing. I liked MUDs, but simply didn’t have the time to devote to the experience. I knew early on that once I started down that virtual path, I would be forever lost.

We, of this “grande” community are not as large as one might suppose. Same said 11-year old wants to be DM for the first time. Mom wants to be a kleptomaniac bard. (He so hates me *grins*.) When discussing all of the really wonderful ways to mess with a DM that exist, a friend - in England, over Skype – said it was “just like Eric and the Dread Gazebo.” Apparently, I’d missed this one.

Apocryphal, I know. I didn’t know an internet legend of a story. That is, until he started reading it to me...

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