the fact that dungeons & dragons gives people who feel isolated from mainstream narratives the ability to tell their own stories in the exact way they need to is something i cannot overstate enough. i am in a hard place in my life right now. playing a character who is also at a hard place in his life right now, in some ways that are not dissimilar to the damage and fear and struggles i am carrying around, is a way for me to see a place in the world for people in my position, who still get appreciated, who still get the chance to be heroes
i can play a mentally ill character whose mental illness is never going to be “solved,” but who can come to confront it and some of its sources, and make something close to peace with it while developing a support system
i can play a physically disabled character who doesn’t have special abilities that specifically make up for the ones that are sometimes hard for him – sure, there are things he’s good at, and that’s encouraging too, but sometimes he’s just exhausted. sometimes he just fails at them, because his health has thrown him a curveball
i can play a character who’s anxious and traumatized and damaged, who still gets to have other dimensions to him, like interests and quirks and wit, and who still is visibly loved by other characters who don’t treat him as a burden
those aren’t stories i find in fiction often or ever, and certainly not all in the same character. but they’re stories i need right now and having an environment to tell and share them is immensely powerful
