Casting Shadows

I am on the road and so am thinking about our pack of dogs at home. Instead of doing the standard prompt for Day 28 of #RPGaDAY2024 today (great gamer gear), I will share a sort of anecdote about the dogs.

About 15 years ago or so, we were a one dog family. He was quite interested in all the games that I play and quite agitated by everyone that I play them with.  He is gone now, stolen from us early by cancer. He would patrol the game area like he was trying to keep all the fun penned in the game room. He played no favorites, but was all about the fun. Okay, he may have wanted to keep all the gamers penned up, too.

It was hilarious, really.

We weren’t a one dog family for long, however. The first was soon joined by a second retriever, and she was a nut. You might never have seen a dog who swims like she did. If you have, I hope you feel blessed. She was also interested in everyone I played with, but she liked the pulp games more than anything else, often pushing in under my desk to rest her head on my knee and stare at me raptly while pulp heroics played out in the game. Like the first, she was stolen from us by cancer.

These two weren’t alone long, either. They were soon joined by a Maltese cancer survivor who despite having a cancer-free diagnosis,  was described as having just a few weeks left to live when put into our care. She lived with us for more than ten years and was at least ten when we got her. She died peacefully in her sleep after a life well-lived, in which one of the highlights was Mechwarrior (A Time of War). She loved both the skirmish game and the RPG. She would sit in the corner of the room and watch the dice clatter and the mechs move with 100% focus. When possible, she liked me to lift her up to survey the board.

The three soon became five as a mutt and a blind yorkshire terrier came to us for shelter. One of them is still with me today and out of all the dogs we have had, he is the one least interested in gaming. He is a bit of a jerk. Ask anyone.

The terrier, though, he was a treasure and he loved to sit in my lap for games using RuneQuest 6 which then became Mythras. He clearly thought percentile systems were the bomb. He passed on from the many complications of extreme abuse by former owners, deprivation while on the street, and lack of sufficient care while in the shelter. We did our best for him – though it will never feel like enough. He passed on while still fighting fiercely for life. He taught me a lot about that.

The five became six before we lost the first one and the numbers began to fluctuate a lot through a rough patch of years of cancer, natural causes, and the heart-break of temporary fosters finding their trust for people again before moving on to permanent homes better able to care for them and their needs.

Each dog, though, except the jerk, of course, has found some part of my gaming that has fascinated them and in which they wanted to share. Many of my Actual Play videos have appearances by these furry characters, or at least the sound of them. Some of these videos sting quite a bit for me to watch, but over time, many of them have become treasured memories of how shared joy is a gift forever.

We have a pack that dances between 8 and 9 now as fosters pass single-file through on their way to better lives. Once we got to 5 dogs, we stopped having people come over to the house. When you have a house full of rescue dogs who are secretly rescuing you there has to be a sense of stability and trust. We, and the dogs, have a good time meeting and socializing with others outside of the house, knowing that at any time we can return to it. I miss hosting gaming at my house, of course, but I haven’t given anything up that matters – it has just transformed and transformed me in the process.

It is often very difficult to take in another stray, agree to a temporary foster, or adopt a dog a family cannot or will not care for. Each time we don’t feels like a mistake. Each time we do, we are setting ourselves on a balancing beam between pain and joy – not at all different from the rest of life, really.

This is what my relationship to gaming is as well. My best friends are gamers. I meet people best in the games that we play and I am able to really see them as they are when we are all imagining we are someone and somewhere else. Each person I let into my life is a decision, and not all of them can stay even though I might want them to. Some are taken from us, some are better off in another situation, some go when it is their time.

Each person though, has added something to my life, given me experiences that would never have been mine, brought thoughts to mind that might never have occurred, and generally made life better. They aren’t as amazing as dogs, but then again…. who is?

Most people might think that the idea of a dog liking the activity of a roleplaying game is a stretch, but it is another foundational block of my life. When a given game starts up, the same dog or dogs come to be near me while we play it. The English Setter, the Doberman, and the White ‘Ghost Seeing’ Terror love Call of Cthulhu. Both of the current Yorkies loves the gamers voices, their predecessor loved the drives to games and anything Ubiquity. The Could Have Been a Corgi likes action (such as Alien) and his predecessor with one eye and more attitude than Wolverine loved Broken Compass. The new Maltese survivor of puppy mill greed likes the post-session discussions. They each respond to something different and each in their way helps to highlight the value of all of these things, and more.

We are lucky to be gamers.

We are blessed to have dogs.

The combination puts Reese’s to shame.