Podcasts, feelings, and DnD

Content Warning: I’m going to talk about some feelings here, so if that is uninteresting to you that’s chill. My feelings make me uncomfortable too. 

Though connected to my learning project, this post has little to do with the actual process of becoming a DM, and more about the inspiration behind my decision.

I am not a creative writer. I have a scientific mind that trusts in logic, math, and replicable results. My academic history is riddled with questionable English marks, starkly contracting soaring math and science grades.

A few months ago, a new human entered my life moving into the spare bedroom of my house. His name is Harvey. Since meeting Harvey, he essentially beat me into listening to this random podcast I was completely uninterested in, about a game I have never played, through a medium I have never cared for. After weeks of convincing, I buckled and started listening to The Adventure Zone. This is where my adventure began, and after the first few episodes, I was obsessed.

Now I have spent the last few months listening to more than 80 hours of the Balance campaign, the first of many that McElroy boys played through and recorded. They played DnD 5e rules, which is the most recent version of DnD to be published. Since Balance ended, these boys have recorded and released a series of live shows and 3 additional campaigns. I finally completed Balance, and I am so overwhelmed.

Currently, media is consumed with negativity and heartache. We are:

• Waiting to see if there will be another government shutdown in the United States.
• Fearing for the Muslim community of Edmonton in wake of a threatening letter being left at their mosque.
• An accident leaving a worker injured at Evraz

I work to stay up to date on current events, and it often leaves me feeling upset at the state of our world. I know that sounds dramatic, but there is so little reminding me of any good. I didn’t realize until The Adventure Zone how badly I wanted something good. Not fluffy. But good, wholesome content.

The overarching theme of the Balance campaign was the importance of friendship and chosen families. The further we got into the campaign, the more difficult I found it to put away my headphones. I spent the last 5 hours of the campaign listening in 30 minute blocks, welling up in tears because of the amount of pure love and joy that poured from the story.

Unlike most high fantasy stories, this one focused on finding joy. There were no heartbreaking deaths, just unbreakable bonds formed between characters. There was no betrayal, just characters doing everything they could save their friends from heartache. There were no losses, just love. I have never had the opportunity to participate in content that was so deeply focused on love. I genuinely feel like this is what drew me in, and is why I am looking forward to being a DM. I want to find joy with my newly found family.