Dungeons and Dragons

Geez. Almost a year since my last post. Crazy how life just continues to happen, regardless of what you do.

But I wanted to blog about something that's been going on since last fall...

We bought a Playstation 5 last summer while we were in the States, and I dutifully packed it in my carryon to bring it home to Barbados. We bought it to replace the aging MacAir that we had been using for VPN access at home so we can watch US-based streaming services.

Side note: have you tried accessing Netflix when you are outside of the US? Very interesting and an entirely different line-up of shows and movies depending on where you are. But I digress...

So, a neat feature about the Playstation 5, is it has its own VPN. And it works most of the time. So that's great. The first game we bought was Harry Potter. We each had our own character and if one of us had progressed further than the other, we would help the other with the puzzles and stuff. It was fun.

But then Baulder's Gate 3 dropped for the PS5, and I was keen to buy it, based on all the reviews. Plus, it was D&D-based, which is something I had not played since my undergrad days and, quite frankly, missed. Not just nostalgic, you know? But something that was a big part of my adult formative years. Plus, since it was set in Forgotten Realms, I know all the lore and background -- having plowed through all the FR books back in the 1990s -- as well as playing a MUD (look it up, younger peeps!) that was based on FR.

In short, I missed playing D&D over the years, but now had a chance to play.

Did I mention BG3 is co-op? No? Well...it is. Co-op means at least two people can play at the same time. In BG3's case, it's not just multi-player over the internet, but also "local co-op" -- so you can also play simultaneously next to each other ("couch co-op"). Even thought my wife is an avid gamer and board/table top game player, she had never played D&D. It was fun to walk her through stats and classes (and subclasses!). Once she had the basics figured out, and how D&D rules worked, we played a campaign through to the end. And it was soooooo fun!

Then my sister-in-law -- who had no D&D experience at all -- bought it and played through. She didn't get it at first, and was kind of bored, I guess? She could have gave the speed runners some good game, killing every character along the way and finishing it quickly. But she missed a lot of the nuance and storyline. She had a hard time understanding why we were raving about it. But, after spending a week with us, and my wife showing her the ropes, she got really, really into it. And now they have campaigns of their own, even though we live 4000 miles away. So fun. Thanks, #D&D and #LarianStudios!

I have to say, BG3 is quite similar to tabletop D&D, including the first step: character creation. My wife and I spent at least an hour creating our characters, including the backstories. "Although raised in a family of wizards, my dwarf never got the magical abilities, so she focused that disappointment and anger into becoming a badass fighter," my wife told me as we were exploring one of our first regions.

Long story short, we are enjoying the co-op gameplaying experience -- both couch and over the Internet. And the D&D style of #BG3. My wife is also having fun trying out new characters for each campaign, including the campaigns with her sister. And my sister-in-law and her husband also have campaigns they run solo and together.

It's been really great! Plus, it's brought D&D back into my life. The combinations are endless in BG3. Hats off to Larian Studios!

One more thing: BG3 is quite the programming feat...there are not only race- and class-dependent abilities, but race- and class-dependent conversations. One misspoken (or bad roll of the dice) response can lead to a devastating battle or a peaceful solution. The gameplay and interaction seems endless. We'll be playing it for years, most likely. Especially with the newly-allowed mods which make for even more exciting and challenging options!

At least until something else comes along to our liking.

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