What am I thankful for?

What are you thankful for? Gratitude is the primary focus of this season, so one would think it would be an easy question to answer. Or, who knows, maybe you're like I was a few years ago, always struggling when my parents asked me what I was grateful for. Perhaps you're at a place in your life where everything just sucks and you can't muster a single grateful thought.

Or maybe you just live in 2020.

Now some of you are probably thinking that this is gonna be a preachy thing where I tell you that there are so many little things to be happy about, but I know all too well how that can affect people. I was, and kind of still am, one of those people that isn't susceptible to that kind of thing, so I think that doing the same thing to others would be pretty hypocritical, so instead, I want to tell you a story about the reason I'm grateful this year.

You see, I don't have an ideal family, or house, or pets, or life in general, that is just not in the cards for me. I keep praying everything will work out better for me. Daily. In fact, I wish for a different life than my own almost on a regular basis.

I get the desire to leave your small town and live in the city, or visa versa. Make a big name for yourself, maybe meet the right person to share your life and all your pets with.

Now I'm not writing this so to get attention or pity from anyone. I genuinely love my family and pets, and I am happy that I have a house to live in. However, I know that, especially right now, it's hard to find anything good in the world.

You've gotten sick of being trapped inside, or you are tired of job hunting so you can support your family. You feel as though you have been cut off from the entire world, or you have been quarantined inside with your noisy siblings and silly parents. Whatever the case is, it seems there isn't a whole lot to be thankful for right now.

I'm not going to tell anyone to "look on the bright side" or anything like that. It wouldn't do any good. It doesn't do very much good with me either. So instead, simply for my sake, I am going to try to see at least one thing good about this year.

The highlight of my year, has been my D&D campaign.

Allow me to elaborate for those of you who don't quite get it.

Unlike the famous Critical Roll, or High Rollers, we began this campaign this year. I know. It probably seems like a stupid idea to some, but for me, I wouldn't have been able to get through this year without it.

Now, though we haven't been playing for that long, we have enjoyed every bit of this game, playing up the mishaps, the crazy character quirks, and dynamics of the party.

In the time we've been playing, we've battled a False Hydra, saved a possessed monk, found a selkie coat, got so rich we may never have to loot again, possessed a tower owned by a famous party, found a baby changeling being cared for by a young goblin, helped save a town from orcs, traveled into the middle of the desert, gotten in a bit of trouble, discovered some secrets, and flown through the air as griffons for an hour (in game)!

Now, as DM, I don't want to give anything away on the off chance that one of them reads this, so, suffice it to say, that I am really excited for this to continue!

Yes, I did make my players rich on accident, yes they have been ignoring some of my nuggets, and are thus getting through this a lot quicker than I had anticipated, and yes, because they are moving so fast, I am now playing 3 party following npc's and all around stressing that I don't have enough materials for them! But hey, no campaign is perfect! :D

Now, it may not seem like much, but for me, this has been my saving grace. Being able to play with my friends every week, has been a blessing, and in fact, one that my family gave me by accident. If my family hadn't bailed on game night, I wouldn't have gotten this thing started as soon as I did. Though I wasn't all that happy about it at the time, this has really grown to be my favorite thing this year, and maybe even within the last few years!

I'm rambling now. Sorry.

Truthfully, 2020 has been, to put it bluntly, terrible, but I am so grateful for my family and friends that made it possible to run such and interesting and entertaining campaign. I'm grateful for the imagination I've been blessed with to create this fantasy world and characters. But most of all, I'm grateful for the chaotic nature of my players that makes this game so fun!