Hey y’all,
What does community mean to you?
For me, it’s a group of people gathered together for a common cause or interest.
In my case, that’s often games and play! Last week, I had the opportunity to join a game designed and hosted by Flagons and Dragons, a gaming space and gamemaster rental, here in Lansing, Mi.
Obviously, it was a big, intense game of Dungeons & Dragons, right?
NOPE. I met up with 4 other adults and a 6 year old at the Constellation Cat Cafe, where we took on the names of the adoptable live-in residents:
- Trapper keeper, the pilot
- Ginger Burger, the mechanic
- Annie Bannani, the purr-ista
- Robert the Bruce and Cotton Wool blanket, se-purr-ity team
I was Cotton Wool Blanket, a smarty pants cat with a yarn slingshot, and for an hour, we were all part of an astronaut team on a search for Nypta, a planet made of catnip.
Our gamemaster narrated, as told by the dice rolls and a secret sheet of possible events. We took turns and worked together to create the story, rolling 6 sided dice to determine the outcome of our actions.
There was a surprising amount of pie and cupcakes aiding our mission, thanks to the purr-ista, our youngest member, who had some hilarious ideas to solve the challenges we faced. We came across space pawrates, a ticklish space octopus, and a massive EMP that forced us to crash land on a dangerous planet. All in 60 minutes, before we finally reached Nypta.
It was awkward at first, playing with strangers, but after an hour, we were bonded by an incredibly unique, funny experience. That’s the power of games for community building. Creating community doesn’t require history; just a willingness to bring people together and create memories.
This is just one example of role playing games beyond the well known Dungeons & Dragons. Anyone can create a simple role playing, storytelling, or collaborative game and there are tons of existing ones already out there. If you’ve been waiting for the right game or the right moment to play with your team, the time is meow!
Gl;hf*
Lissy
PS. Designing games for your team is something PATO can help with. If you’re curious what that could look like, reply to this email and let’s chat!
*Good luck; have fun – a common wish shared between gamers right before a match. Also just solid life advice lol
