Thread by @potomacripper, So let me nerd out and do a thread on some DnD [...]

So let me nerd out and do a thread on some DnD during COVID times and something the RP helped me see about human beings.

First, let me say that my DnD group that started before the lockdown times is awesome. They are all rollerderby officials from all over the country.

We are used to having a bond as officials at a game or tournament, but it's been real fun to bond as a party of idiots wandering from town to town and occasionally finding some treasure.

Bonding with friends outside of the hobby you met them in is really affirming.

I was the last to join this group and I could see from the characters selected the party needed a tank. Usually I'm a stabby or caster, and outside of Druish Bear in WoW have not done much tanking.

So I rolled up a Goliath Barbarian to fill the role.

It's totally cliche but INT is his dump stat. So of course I start playing him as all SMASH NO THINK! SMASH!

I also based a bit of him on Lenny from Of Mice and Men, so he's an animal lover, which I've RP'd into protector of all creatures smaller than him.

Which as we have adventured for a year has translated into protector of everyone in the party. They are all very smol.

Also, from his perspective, they are all idiots who keep wandering into random encounters with owlbears and don't know how to protect themselves.

Good Tank.

His name is Gorp. And as they party has leveled up his Tankiness has turned into being way overprotective of all the small ones in his care.

They are kittens and wander off to get in trouble and have to be herded back to safety. If someone even looks at them wrong he RAGEs.

A barbarian who rages? Cliche. Absolutely.
But I've RP'd him so he doesn't ever just rage for no reason or rage just for the bonus.

He rages because someone threatens one of the smol ones in the party

(side note: I've also come to realize that this was my on track roller derby persona. I was a support player. Offense for my jammer was my bread and butter when I was 50 pounds heavier and could lay out someone who touched them)

But Gorp is fucking dumb as rocks
I've RP'd him honestly below what his INT stat really is.
For 6 levels this meant being a follower in the party. Going wherever the bard and warlock said to go. Smashing whatever doors open the cleric told him to.

Somewhere in the last module we've been playing through something changed in the RP though.
DnD is alot like improv and stuff. The characters reveal things about themselves and if you'll YES AND it enough, it can be an exploration and journey.

Somewhere between levels 7 and 8 Gorp showed me something.
He's not a fucking idiot.
He's a goliath that grew up in the sticks, speaking Giant among his people (who kicked him out for being caring and not a selfing Ayn Randian a-hole like they are)

So he's an outcast, trying to find himself and stumbles into a gang of adventuring idiots who are all squishy and can't walk down a road between towns with aggo'ing every ill intended bandit or dragon.

So he found his place helping this group survive.

But no one speaks Giant.
So Gorp speaks common.
"GORP SMASH DOOR FOR LITTLE DWARF" (he speaks third person because tenses and pronouns are confusing)

He always messes up counting. "ONE, THREE, SEVEN, FOUR" as he pulls GP out of his pouch.

I finally realized, he can count BUT HE DOESN'T KNOW THE WORDS IN COMMON
Took me a year to figure out that this loveable, overprotective barbarian was so out of sorts because DOESN'T SPEAK THE LANGUAGE

I've been listening to @pennjillette podcast about learning t speak Spanish and how hard it is. and when you speak another language it's such a different experience for your brain that it's like being a different person

So last week's DnD session we ran into some Giants and Gorp spoke to them in his native language and suddenly he spoke eloquently. He spoke normally.

My idiot barbarian who had been speaking in single syllables for a year gave a monologue to these giants

he shared his complete POV on all that had happened and was so grateful there was finally someone who understood.

and it played out beautifully in the RP session

This opened up a whole new world for me in this game. I finally had a hook for this character beyond just SMASH! one note RP'ing. Now he had depth and an inner world.

So now I'm playing him as a not-so-dumb but he can't express his thoughts so it's still going to be RAWR! I AM A BEAR TOTEM to get his thoughts across but what he's really saying is "I don't have the words to express or to lie to you in the language we share, so I'm stuck"

and I'll be damned if that isn't going to play out in future sessions.
He is trapped in a world where he can't express himself, so he resorts to shutting down. In his head, he is the leader of this group but can't use words to express that he cares

He can only lash out and smash people that try to hurt his adoptive family.

There is a lesson in here somewhere about people.

How many people do I know that are trapped because they can't use the words they need?

Whether it is a limitation of language or it's a limitations on the pronouns they want to use with their true identity or a million other things they are held back by.

So anyways, this was a thread about how DnD taught me some interesting lessons about empathy and identity and looking further into what someone might really be feeling when they lash out or don't talk much.

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