A Gm's Day Memory

This afternoon I read a blog post on Owen KC Stephens blog that he had written for GMs day.  He talked about the time he met Gary Gygax.  His story was an interesting one and I wish I could say that I shared the experience,  It inspired me to write about one of the most memorable times I've had as a GM.  

This past June I was running a game of Kobold's Ate My Baby at Prairie Con.  It is one of my favorite convention games because people really seem to get into it and have a great time playing it.  Sadly we were set up in one of the out of the way rooms. Maybe they learned their lesson from the previous year where I was set up in the main room and more than a little disruptive.  When I arrived in the room there was an old man waiting in the room with a woman who I got the impression was his daughter, despite being old enough to be retired herself.  

I introduced myself and started to set up for my game.  While I was doing I was more than a little concerned about how these two would fit in with the others.  The gentleman sat quietly watching and the woman stayed off to the side.  As I worked I confirmed that they were here for the game.  The woman wasn't going to be stay but she wanted to make sure that he father made it to the right room.  Apparently he had seen the name of the role-playing game on the schedule and wanted to try it because it was on that he'd never heard of.  He had long been playing role-playing games.

The rest of the players arrived just as I was about to run through the basics of the game.  If you've never played Kobolds Ate my Baby it isn't your standard RPG and there are a number of strange rules that go along with the game making it fun and humorous.  I was more than a little worried that the older man would have a hard time with it.  The woman excused herself and said that she would come back to pick up him up after the game.  

Once the game was underway I made a point of keeping an eye on the gentleman. It took him a little bit longer to get call out "All Hail King Torg"  whenever someone said King Torg {All Hail King Torg}  The dices rolls needed to be explained to him when they were called for.  I could tell all the way through that he was having a good time at the table and the other players didn't mind him being there despite the vast age difference.  What really confirmed it for me was when the group sang the Kobold Drinking Song to force me to reroll.  The whole group of PCs was rocking back and forth at the table singing horribly but in unison.  In that moment, the old man had the biggest smile on his face that I had seen the whole time he had been there.  

A little while later the game came to an end.  The players said they had a good time and thanked each other and me.  He(the old man) shook my hand and thanked me for the game.  A part of me couldn't help but wonder how many more games he would get to play.  It was certainly a  depressing thought but at the same time, I was proud to have been able to run this game for him.  

I can only hope that when I am his age I will still be actively gaming and having as much fun as he did.