I once played a great game of Microscope with some friends, where we were telling the story of a colony that arrived in a foreign place, tried its best to establish itself, but was ultimately destroyed by a native species. Some of the rules were that it existed in a liquid state, we had no high technology, and that we didn’t know where we came from, just that we needed to survive. When the entire thing was over, we looked at what we created, and realized that we had told the story of a bacterial infection that had found itself in a body, and the body’s immune system eventually fought it off. It turns out that I’ve been reliving this story inside my own body since Sunday.

About two weeks ago, I proudly told a friend of mine, “since I had H1N1 a few years ago, I just don’t get sick anymore. I guess my immune system is a golden god.”

Tuesday night, my immune system decided to take my hubris down a little bit. I started having aches in my elbows, hips, and knuckles in the early afternoon. Shortly after dinner, I was shivering and sweating, and my entire body hurt. By the middle of the night, I woke up in sheets that were completely soaked through. My body was covered in sweat, and my hair felt like I’d just climbed out of a swimming pool. My stomach and entire GI system hurt, and oh my god the aches in my muscles.

It was official: I was sick. I was, like, intensely sick. I was as sick as I’d been in years, and my poor wife had to wake up in the middle of the night and take care of me, like I was 5 years-old.

In the morning yesterday, while I struggled to sleep, Anne called my manager and assistant, and asked them to cancel my day — including @midnight, which was a real bummer — and then she made me a doctor’s appointment.

When we got to the doctor, I described all of my symptoms, and how long I’d been having them (I didn’t realize it until I said it out loud, but I’ve, uh, been shitting like a goose since Sunday morning). He told me that it could be a long list of ailments, and that we’d probably never know precisely which one it was, but he suspected that I got some weird bacteria from eating shell fish on Saturday, and it went Battle of Helms Deep on my body (not his exact words). So I’m on some antibiotics, and taking acetaminophen to keep the fever down, along with some anti-nausea medication to help me keep down food.

Anne got me what I realized is the standard “I’m sick and this is all I want” kit from the store: chicken soup, green Gatorade, and apple sauce. So far, I’ve been able to hold it down, and I think my fever may have broken overnight. I’m still sore, and my body feels wrecked, but my doctor told me that I should steadily feel better over the next few days, and that yesterday was the worst of it.

So I’m hoping that I can just rest and stay hydrated and help my body fight off whatever is trying to ruin my day, and maybe I’ll watch a bunch of Adventure Time or something.

So I do this ask me thing on the tumblr thing, and this came up yesterday:

methodoflogicalmadness asked:

Which format of D&D would you recommend for a new playgroup? I have previous experience with Pathfinder, but we are considering jumping into 5th ed. From what I’ve gathered, 5th ed. streamlines many features with its advantage/disadvantage system, but I was wondering if there are many flaws in the mechanics. I would hate to learn 5.0 only to learn that the game is dysfunctional or beyond repair. Do you have any advice toward which version is better?

I answered:

I love 5e, and I think it’s a great place to start the hobby. At the moment, there are two main forks of the RPG experience (someone who works in the industry may disagree, or may be able to expound on this): the minis-on-the-map game, and the storytelling game. D&D 3.5, 4E, True 20, and Pathfinder are heavily into the minis-on-the-map thing. That’s fine, if that’s what you want to do, but if I’m going to do minis-on-the-map, I’ll just play Warhammer. The storytelling games are the focus in Savage Worlds (though it also supports minis-on-the-map), FATE Core, Fiasco, Primetime Adventures, the AGE system, and D&D 5E (at the moment. I’m sure it’ll go minis sooner than later).

But, look, the important thing is that you play, not what you play. Don’t be afraid to try out some different systems (they all have free quickstart rules online) and discard the ones you don’t like. And, once you have some experience in the hobby, don’t be afraid to take something from one system and drag it into another system. Don’t be afraid to modify stuff from one setting so that it will work in a different one, because the whole point of playing is to explore worlds that exist because the DM/GM and players all agree to make them.

I hope this helps. Have fun!

I remember how intimidated I was when I was learning how to play RPGs, and that was way back in the 80s when there were only a few to pick from. Now, there are hundreds. I’m sort of making it part of my mission in life to help get more people playing more games, and part of that is taking the fear and intimidation out of the hobby as much as I can.