Every now and again life shows us a thing that changes the way we look at it. Before D&D, life appeared mundane. The future and what I would do in it was vague and distant. But after my first experience with this new kind of game, I saw another future. This one was more distinct, more tangible, and it was lit by a brilliant blue flame with tiny stars. In that future was fantasy and magic, and the path to it lay at my feet.

Like Robert Frost’s traveler pondering divergent roads, I knew that I couldn’t take the one path without leaving behind the other. Unlike the traveler, though, I didn’t long linger. I saw the way clear to the bend. The fantastic path had the better claim.

The road, I realized later, was the less well trod. In those days, it was the rare traveler who had heard of the game, fewer still who did not equate it with devil worship, and only a small number who played it.

Without knowing, I joined a small club. The club’s members, few and dispersed, made up a subculture that blended wargames with fantasy and science-fiction literature. An introverted adolescent, I found myself not always comfortable among the diverse crowd of geeks and nerds and metalheads, but always accepted into the awkward fellowship. As way led on to way, I didn’t look back.

Now, ages and ages thence, I, like Frost’s traveler, think back on the time life showed me the fantastic path, sometimes, with a sigh. How much different life would be had I never learned to play DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.