D&D 5E RANDOM TABLES

ABOUT ME

My Story

I have been playing D&D for a long time. I first started with AD&D, waaaaayyyyyy back in the 80's. My dad was a DM, my uncle was a DM, and most of my aunts and uncles played. It all started one night at a family function, I believe it was Thanksgiving or Christmas. My uncle called out to the adults who were going to play. They cleaned off the table, big enough for at least 12 people comfortably. He then went to his room, and came out with a stack of books, some papers, and a box that rattled when he walked. He set everything down on the table and started setting things up. He first stacked the books on one side of the table, the papers right in front of him, then he put up the screen (you guys know which screen I'm talking about). Then he opened the box...

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I looked on with wonder, as my uncle took all these weird shaped dice out of this box, he then started systematically rolling them. I watched as he first rolled the small pointy ones, then the ones I was used to using, then the ones that looked like two of the smaller ones put together, then these weird ones that looked kind of like the previous ones, then the big ones with so many sides and numbers. With each set he would take out a couple of the dice and set them aside. The rest he pushed off towards the middle of the table, but still kept them separated in their respective groups. He then took some of the papers off the stack in front of him, and handed them to each of the adults. One of the adults took four of the normal dice, and started rolling them, writing down a number, then rolling again, and again, and again... They then passed the dice to the next adult, who did the same thing. When each was done, they would start writing on the papers, that had all these boxes and lines, and bigger boxes. They then took one of the books and started looking through it, and writing more stuff on these papers.

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Once everyone was done, my uncle got everyone's attention, and started talking to them in a strange voice. The other adults were watching him, some would make faces, others watched my uncle with a serious face. He continued with his discourse. He then said: "What do you do?" The other adults started talking, some amongst themselves, others asking my uncle questions, referring to him as Dungeon Master. Dungeon Master?!? What is this?!? There's no dungeons here, we're in my Grandma's dining room, sitting around the big people's table. My uncle then responded to them with a description of something, he went into great detail about what he was describing. He then said the all too familiar phrase that all RPGers are used to: "Roll Initiative!"

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The other adults grabbed one of the big dice with many sides and rolled them on the table, they looked at their sheets, then started calling out numbers. My uncle wrote these numbers down, as well as some numbers that he rolled out. He then told them, "You have been attacked by a small group of Goblins. They attack first!"

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I was hooked, here are all these grown-ups, sitting around a table, rolling dice, and PRETENDING that things are there. Grown-ups, acting like kids, telling a big collaborative story. I couldn't believe it. I wanted in. I asked my uncle if I could do this too. He told me, "It's up to your dad", then he looked over at my dad, who of course was playing at the table. My dad got up, grabbed a chair, and put it next to him. He had me sit down and got a paper from my uncle, and helped me fill it out. This was my first game. I was all of 10 years old, and I had created my first D&D character. His name was Aragorn, after the Ranger in The Lord of the Rings. It's been a rollercoaster of a ride ever since, and I'm still playing D&D more than 30 years later, only now I'm the DM.