Earlier today I was browsing through shelves at a toy store to look for a last gift for one of my daughters. That’s when I hear an excited voice ask one of the store employees ‘do you have dungeons and dragons?’. I listen in and learn that they do not have any DnD material at all and also can’t order it. I walk a bit closer and see 3 12 year old ish boys and a girl with disappointed faces. The employee also can’t help them where to find dungeons and dragons products.
Now I live in Germany where you can’t find dnd boxes at the likes of Target like in the US for example. In fact I know of 2 stores in the whole city which carry DnD books and material.
I step in and ask if I may help out with the question. I tell them that there are 2 stores which carry the books, dice and more on the other side of the city. They said that’s far away but they’ll try to go there in Saturday.
We get talking and they tell me about how they are looking to start a dnd club at school and also play at home. They got a set of dice and saved around 70 euros for a book and maybe some more dice and such. I tell them that’ll buy them the players handbook which is a good starting point and maybe some extra dice.
They ask me if I played as a kid and I said yes, in fact I still do and I’ll be playing tonight. That’s when I made a weird decision in my head. I had all my stuff already with me so I don’t have to go back home between work and game night. I opened my backpack and gave them my copies of the PHB and Monster Manual. They were super excited and actually insisted to pay me but I’d have felt bad taking money from them.
I didn’t want to post this as virtue signaling stuff or anything. It was just kind of a crazy decision I made that I think was kinda cool. They just reminded me so much of me when I started out. We were lucky to get our first dnd books gifted by an older brother of one of our group’s members. So I wanted to pay it forward. Now I just have to figure out how to run tonight’s game without my books.
There will be tales of the mysterious stranger who gifted the party arcane knowledge before vanishing in the blink of an eye…
As the young adventurers rushed to their guild, ready to share the treasure they were handed by the kind traveller, they could hear seven canaries singing happily.
If you’re the DM, you can just fall back on Rule Zero - the rules are what you say they are :)
You’ve done a really nice thing - I’m sure these kids will never forget it. I sometimes forget how much harder it was just to acquire stuff as kids.
I miss Rule Zero being summarized in the flyleaves of "rule"books. 😅
This is the sort of thing that keeps your hobby alive with the next generation. Very cool
we need more content like this, that gives me the warm fluffy feelings
I have a bookshelf full of DnD and other roleplaying books. Whenever someone is over if they get particularly excited about something I always try and give it to them (unless that book holds particular sentimental value to me). Or like one time when I was moving one of the movers was talking about studying for a programming interview so I gave them a book specifically to help with that. For most my life I had very little income and I’m finally in a place where my needs are met and I’m not struggling constantly. The times people gave me things when I showed interest were really impactful and I just want to do that for others now. You’re doing great things they’re going to remember this
I find giving someone something that I enjoy is even better when you KNOW that they will use and enjoy it too.
I gave away a PS4 to someone at the office. I got the PS5 and wanted someone to enjoy the PS4 as much as I did. It made me happy to hear the games he was able to play now–and he did tell me about them.
The joy of giving is not a myth.
Heck, I bought BG3 for an old D&D buddy of mine who didn’t have much monies and have gotten nonstop enjoyment watching their complete addiction.
It might be the best gift I’ve ever given.
Yes Baldur’s Gate 3 is an awesome game. I have 200 hours in it and I am only 1/3 of the way through it. Great D&D game!
I don’t even play D&D, but I want to thank you for what you did.
they will never forget that day…that would be a treasured memory for them for the rest of their lives
Paying it forward, nice.
I’m sure they’ll remember this day in decades.Plot twist: they were 3.5 books
The best edition. There, I said it.
Agreed. However, I’ve come to learn that it’s far from an unpopular opinion.
I didn’t want to post this as virtue signaling stuff or anything. It was just kind of a crazy decision I made that I think was kinda cool. They just reminded me so much of me when I started out. We were lucky to get our first dnd books gifted by an older brother of one of our group’s members. So I wanted to pay it forward. Now I just have to figure out how to run tonight’s game without my books.
Truly, thanks for being nice to others. We need more of that in the World, especially these days.
A similar thing happened to me as a kid!
One of my favorite substitute teachers saw me trying to play a homebrew RPG with typical d6’s - all because I couldn’t afford the actual D&D books. After a few times, he came with his old 1st edition AD&D stuff and gave it all to me.
Now, sure, it was the early aughts and folks were playing 3.0/3.5 and he gave me 1st edition books, but still!
He also gave me all of his dice. Every single one. I still have (most) of them.
I’ve already had a couple of chances to pay it forward a few times myself!
You could “acquire” a pdf version of the books.
Be careful. I believe that is Comic Book Guy’s origin story.
Congratulations on your excellent virtue, you have more signal than kraftwerk
I was a bit worried that if might come across as that. But it’s more about sharing a positive story I think.
