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My family used to run Tech Talk for Families, a toy and game website and podcast, and Leapfrog flew us out to San Francisco to get a factory tour and give us a marketing spiel. We had a great time. We were living in rural Iowa at the time, which was overwhelmingly homogeneous. We boarded a bus in San Francisco, and nearly every voice among the passengers spoke a different language.
While it might have made some of my Iowan neighbors uncomfortable, that cultural diversity felt like home to us.
I love variety. My favorite food is one I’ve never had before. I love exploring new places. I love getting to know people whose experiences and perspectives are vastly different from mine so I can expand my perspectives. I love new ideas and creative solutions to problems.
Consequently, I love that kind of variety in my TTRPGs. Player options like new ancestries and subclasses get me excited. I like using monsters that aren’t in the Monster Manual. I want twists, not tropes.
But that’s one of many features that make TTRPGs so wonderful. You can have all the diversity you want. Mix it up! Add some magic! Challenge expectations!
And that’s what makes the real world better, too. You’re different from me. You have different lived experiences. You perceive the world with your own set of senses, abilities, and contexts, past and present. And when we get a chance to learn about each other’s experiences and perspectives, that provides new contextual pieces for our own experiences, and our lives get more wonderful.
As we enter a season of multiple holidays with multiple cultural perspectives and traditions, I hope you experience the wonder of empathy, getting a sense of others’ experiences. And I hope that makes your season a season of wonder. |
