Long, long ago in a land not so far away... four children came together at the dining room table in the dining room of their home. The eldest became known as the Dungeon Master. The other three children were players of the game of Dungeons and Dragons.

The players learned to follow a map and figure out directions. They even brought a compass into the game so they could orient themselves with the directions needed to follow the dungeon created by the Dungeon Master. As they developed their skills they became better at avoiding traps, solving riddles and finding their way to the hidden treasures.

The Dungeon Master also picked up new skills and enjoyed causing confusion, building even more twisted dungeons and bringing the players into a special maze with a treasure they never did quite manage to find.

The four children were myself and my brother and sisters.

I loved being the Dungeon Master! We started playing with my Dad as the Dungeon Master but he didn't have patience to stick with the game and yet he had endless patience when it came to stopping the game to read every last rule for the game. Eventually we had the game to ourselves and enjoyed the spirit of the game more than being good rule-abiding Dungeon and Dragon players and characters.

I wish I still had a group to play Dungeons and Dragons with. My nephew, Zack, plays with a group of his high school friends. But, now they are all in the first year of university and will have a harder time getting together in one place at the same time. I hope they can keep their game going.

The only downfall for the game of Dungeons and Dragons is that you really do need the same group of people each time you play. It's not so easy to bring in new characters and adapt old characters to merge with the game as it is with the ongoing characters in the game.

Now you can get the new editions of the Dungeons and Dragons game, rules and equipment.

Later I did find more Dungeon and Dragon sets, rulebooks, manuals and guides but my brother and sisters and I had long grown up, moved away from each other and now we are more likely to play card games when we get together. But, I still love D & D and I've kept all the books, game parts and even some of my old map creations.

I hate anyone saying they are bored. To me it just means they aren't putting in enough real effort into what they are doing - or making the most of what they could be doing. Dungeons and Dragons took a lot of effort, planning and even real skills (like map reading and map making). Anyone who claims to be bored with playing D&D has likely dumbed it down and lost interest.