Bard's Tale

Outside the winter was starting to melt away, but inside we were still wearing bulky jackets to class and trying to keep track of our mismatched gloves and hats. The chaos and stupidity of East Middle School was not normally where I wanted to be, but today was going very well. Yesterday, I was talking to Larry about computer games and he told me about Bard's Tale, which sounded fantastic. An evil wizard, a damaged world, opportunity for legends to be written about the characters.

My mind raced about this all day long. Every time I would see Larry I would ask him the questions that occurred to me. I asked my other friends if they had played. I considered how I could get my mom to drive me to a store where I could pick the game up. I ended the day empty handed, weaving the story in my head.

Today, when I saw Larry, I immediately started asking him the questions that had occurred to me since we last talked. He was slow to answer my questions because he was drawing something out of his back pack. There it was, the game, plus a book of photocopied maps of the important locations in the game. A rulebook, a disk, a dial, which would give you the password you would need to start, it was all there. He said I would borrow it for a couple days, until I could get the game.

My classes for the rest of the day became places I read the rulebook, sneaking it behind textbooks, under my paper. I would try to look busy, which I was, just not doing Math or English. I was deciding on what six characters I would build. A paladin or a rogue, a wizard or a bard. I figured you would have to have a bard, since, you know, Bard's tale. Elf wasn't a class, like original dungeons and dragons, but I didn't read anything about races either. It didn't matter, I would be slaying monsters and getting magical swords soon.

The time ticked on, and I started filling notebook paper with plans. I checked my ideas with Larry, but we both knew I was just biding my time. When the bell rung I practically ran home. I told my mom I didn't have any homework. I pulled up the chair to the Commodore 64 and put the disk in the drive. The room I was in gave way to the Inn, where we adventurers gathered, and I was on the path to being a hero.