Alexis has a theory on D&D posted just today and I have a rejoinder for it below.
D&D is not fun, and its not easy. It's more than entertainment, but it's something just short of or just beyond art, maybe. It's something different than everything else like it, but the theory that it's only a means of scratching one's itch to be unaccountable to anything or anyone doesn't resonate with me. D&D isn't about being an asshole. I liken D&D to the precise sensation one gets when playing in a band.
If I want to hear music, the easy thing to do would be to find my favorite song on the iPod or, god forbid, go dig up a vinyl record or CD and see if either of those players still work. It will sound great, because of course I have awesome taste and of course anything out of my music collection would be great. Most people will do this to hear music.
But instead, some few take the hard road and learn to play guitar and then get their friends to learn instruments or find new friends. These few bust balls learning chords and riffs and eventually have a few decent songs, maybe even originals they've written. At some point, though, whatever the original impetus... girls, money, fame, something to do after school other than huffing glue and jerking off... unless you are the rare, lucky and talented few you realize you're not going to be a professional musician... you're not going to be a world famous artist.
But still, you keep at it and despite a wife and kids, a mortgage payment and a soul-sucking job to pay the bills... BUT STILL, you get together now and then not to play records... you bust out the instruments.
My band won't be as cool, copied and tragically overlooked as the dB's nor as perfect in execution as The Band. We won't warble like Neil Young or kick the fucking door down and steal your girlfriend like The Replacements. But we will motherfucking rock it just the same; beer-bellies, bald-spots and all.
D&D is garage rock.
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I said it was just a theory. Bleh.
ReplyDeleteLet me remind you. I have a book that I will be putting on the internet on the weekend. It is about musicians. It is about practicing to be a musician. It is called Pete's Garage.
You will like it very much.
I'm in, Alexis. I'm totally in. :)
ReplyDelete@ James: I'd take it one step further and state that D&D is to Thelema as so-called Storytelling Games are to New Age Navel-Gazing as Passive Entertainment is to Exoteric Spirituality.
ReplyDeleteRoll as Thou Wilt!
DeleteRoll is the law, roll over AC!
Delete93
I'm thinking Story Telling games are more like being involved in some prog-rock outfit with a heavy, heavy concept album in the works, but use and abuse the analogy as you see fit Reverend. : )
ReplyDeleteYYYYYYYUP!
ReplyDeleteAnd the hippie games are prog rock
Great minds must think alike :)
DeleteI've been so stupid.
ReplyDeleteJames, James, James ... my good friend. Music is an act of defiance. It's a huge 'in your face' to the rigorous standards of the world. The word 'thrash' is a statement of destruction, of demolition, and the very process of playing so freaking loud that you're driven out the garage is the DEMONSTRATION that you will not cower and obey like a dog.
Garage Rock IS being an asshole ... and loving every screaming minute of it.
OK, in that light maybe you're on to something Alexis.
ReplyDeleteForgive me for this, James, but as you brought it up in your post. This is the end of the third to last chapter, which I'm just polishing tonight:
ReplyDeleteI think musicians do as well as they can with non-musicians. I don’t think non-musicians do very well with us. There are arguments about late-nights and the need to get real jobs ... but there’s more, too. There is a steady push I’ve seen from both men and women, saying to the musician, give it up. Let go of the music. The song is always the same. “After all, it’s not like you’re going to be a success. You spend hours practising and I’m always alone. I’m tired of your musician friends, they don’t care about me, they don’t care about you, they just care about being lazy. We don’t have as much money as we should. You’re getting too old for this. Are you going to be a kid forever? You need to be realistic. You need to face reality. You need to accept that you’re not a musician.”
That’s how the song goes.
I’ve seen relationships between musicians and non-musicians work. I’ve seen marriages last for decades. Every time, the partner—the non-musician—needs space themselves. They have their own projects, their own goals, their own life. They come to watch their struggling artist partners from love, from the sheer pleasure of being in the room with them while they play. They don’t care where it’s going. They don’t need assurance. They know what the music means, and they know who it is they love, and they know how it works. Sometimes instinctively. Sometimes with their heads. But they know.
I have lost something great in my life. I’m not the musician anymore. I’m the audience now. I find myself glad to have the Garage. It gives me space, or purpose, or what have you. I think I know how to let someone else have that, and to quietly love what they do, without it having to be something they do for me. Musicians, I think, need that kind of love.
There's some truth, there, yes. I'm definately looking forward to reading it in its entirety.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean James. I think a lot of people don't understand why we play because it doesn't seem to benefit us or anyone else. It doesn't help our careers or or social lives, if anything, it hurts them quite a bit. But it's precisely for that reason that I love the game so much. It's totally unconnected to anything else I do, and so it's completely irreplaceable by anything else I do. If more people had things they cared about that were totally separate from the rest of their lives, I think they'd be a lot happier and more fulfilled.
ReplyDeletePersonally I'm not much of a musician, so the best metaphor I've found for what I do is cooking. I may not be a celebrity chef on tv (or be the most popular DM at the convention) or get my recipes published (or my modules), but I can provide a service for my family and friends while perfecting my chosen craft. Of course, I've never done any serious cooking either, so no doubt my view is somewhat romanticized.
Good post. You've given me a lot to think about.
Thanks for commenting Ozzie, I think you get it entirely. Also, your first name is apropos to my chosen metaphor, if I may say so.
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