All I Need to Know I Learned From Roleplaying Games
Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 13, 2016
Roleplaying games can be a metaphor for life:
We all start as zero-level nobodies who can’t take care of ourselves. That 20th level wizard who seems so awesome today started out pooping in his diapers, the same as you.
Fortune favors the prepared… and the ones loaded for bear with healing potions and protection spells.
At some point, we often retire from the adventuring. Settle. We stay at our current level indefinitely and become an NPC. Like that guard who took an arrow to the knee in Skyrim. You don’t have to stay there.
We forget our goals and get lost in the grinding. We’re supposed to take on the next boss, but we weren’t ready yet. So we started grinding for XP and cash for items, and… kept doing it. (And then, if it’s a CRPG, we get bored, quit playing, and maybe load it back up a long time later and wonder “what the heck was I supposed to be doing with this thing?”)
You get the most XP from facing the hardest challenges.
We almost always finish the game with an inventory full of stuff that seemed important but we didn’t want to use because we were saving it for that one time we’d really need it… and that time never came.
The numbers on the page are just stats to help us keep track of things. The real game is in the adventures we have and the people we have them with.
The monsters you face probably don’t follow the same rules you do. It’s not perfectly fair. It doesn’t matter. You can still beat them. You’ve got your own advantages. Use ’em.
A strong adventuring party consists of a mix of wildly different character classes* that compliment each other. There’s strength in diversity. Make the most of your own strengths.
There are no hard level limits on Life.
The most memorable and awesome adventures are the ones about triumphing in the face of adversity, not sailing over minor obstacles on a straight path to victory.
The nasty, impossible challenges that frustrate you so badly today are going to be yard-trash you can drop-kick with impunity in a few levels if you keep at it.
Nothing’s more important than being teamed with party members who have your back. Seek out the good ones, and lose the ones who will steal your valuables while you are unconscious or launch a fireball inside a tiny room. No matter how cool their abilities, they just aren’t worth it in the long run.
You never know exactly what’s waiting for you inside the dungeon. Sometimes you just gotta make sure you have the basics covered with preparation, you are fully rested and healed up as well as you are gonna get, and kick open the damn door.
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