Hey guys, I told one of my mates this story, they mentioned you might like to hear it here.
Before this pandemic, I was running a home brew adventure with some friends, and a couple of strangers and we were having a a blast. It was me, 5 adventurers and our Rogue’s Gf (who we’ll call Silent) who wanted to watch and learn but didn’t feel she could play.
Now Silent had a really bad stutter, and I don’t mean bad like she stuttered on every few words but you could understand her, I mean it took her 3 minutes to say 2 words. Because of this, she felt she couldn’t really play which is a shame. She would normally watch and then text her boyfriends or me some questions.
But hey we gotta make sure she is involved, so I gave her a character sheet and some spare paper and Silent ended up designing a bard name Baroness Hammer lute with a +10 to Performance (You’ll never guess what her instrument was). Now as our sessions continue, I found out that while Silent cannot speak clearly, when she sings, she is essentially clear as day. She could sing entire songs with maybe a slight falter if she has to say ‘Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious’ and she can ‘sing speak’ (if that’s the right term)
The group are more than happy to have her join in the game so myself and her bf suggest that she plays as the Baroness, but that her character has a curse that makes it she can only sing, she cannot speak normally also we had to nerf that +10 bonus). We ended up calling it ‘The Divorce Curse’ after her character divorced her husband.
She’s happy as a clam and two sessions later, she’s literally playing a drum solo on the BBEG with a pair of dragon bones while singing the opening verse from ‘Psycho Killer’ (which was a little scary).
To see this quite, reserved person turn into a Bardic maniac singing ‘C’mere you little goblin bastards! I haven’t eaten all day…’ was amazing, and it’s why I love this game.
I know a woman who doesn’t stutter, but has some pretty severe social anxiety. Among other problems.
She began playing a game much like D&D but uses cards for various actions (my parents knew the game creators so we always played that with their game groups instead of D&D)
Super shy and quiet when she started coming to the games, and she didn’t know anyone there. She just saw the sign for the group and decided to stop in (the sign basically says “welcome in, ask questions, stay for a game or two” ) and stuck around. We figure she mostly stayed for the free food.
Once we started playing this not-D&D game, she decided to join during session 2 after observing sessions 0/coordinating/creating and session 1. Had a full character with cards ready to go, even though she hadn’t approached any of us about how to make a character or play, she was not only spot on from the start, she (in a good way) absolutely would not shut up while playing.
Her character is (I think) everything she wants to be. She’s popular, she’s outgoing, as quick with her dagger as she is with her tongue. Basically a rogue/bard wombo combo of charisma and extroversion.
At first nothing changed. The moment the game ends, she shuts down and goes back in her shell.
Then slowly as we wrapped up game sessions, she would begin chatting with her seat neighbors.
Then she started showing up early to sessions when it’s just a bunch of socializing.
Then after awhile, she basically just stayed in character after the games, showed up to sessions already in-character.
After about 6 months she stopped us as we were breaking things down, and had an entire prepared speech where she thanked the group for giving her something to live for.
Apparently she was not only homeless when she first came in, she was suicidal. She just wanted a place to sit and not be judged. Then she noticed we had food. Of course everyone always greets people when they come in and offer any snacks they want. She came back for the snacks. Then she came back for the vibes. Then the game.
She could barely speak to people before she started playing. Panic attacks when she tried. Her character is confident, and when playing with us she feels like she’s confident too.
Now she pretends like she’s her character in her daily life. She got a job at the library we played in every few weeks. She got an apartment, got a bicycle to get around quicker. Made friends outside of work and the games group.
I can’t remember her name, this was almost 20 years ago now, but I will ask my parents about her, I’m curious how her life turned out. I was a teenager and barely cared about some so story that wasn’t my own (cue emo music and it’s not a phase mom) but I’m sure they remember her.
I continued to see her every so often around town when she stopped coming to the games after moving, but she didn’t go back to the library any of the times I was there.
You never know how small a gesture might completely change someone’s life, whether it’s a huge lifestyle change or just someone being a bit more outgoing in certain situations.