Wednesday, March 23, 2022

The Dungeon Is Life!


The Dungeon. The mythical underworld, of which you will steer clear if you want to have the slightest modicum of a remotely pleasant existence. Because to go there is to die much sooner and much bloodier than you otherwise will. Yet to go there is also to live, to risk, to act, to dare, to take, to kill...or be killed, to leave your mark and say to an uncaring universe as you exploit, illuminate, and beat back the darkness -- Right now, this space is mine!

You exist only for a short time and in the end, you will be broken. Life will beat you, not be beaten by you. It is grim, I know. Sure, you can soften this fate, go with the flow, evade, dare not, delve not. Perhaps you will keep breathing just a little while longer and sleep in a bed not made of dirt. But know this, friend, all will fall and be forgotten -- that is a predetermined fact!

The Dungeon is Life! It will shut doors, it will lock them. It will turn off the lights and blow out your torch. The floors will fall beneath you and walls will shift. It's pitch will terrify and haunt you. It will send countless hordes against you and then send countless more. It's poison will bite! You did not build this place. You do not get to make the rules here and you are not smart, powerful, or privileged enough to break them. This deck and every other deck that was ever put into play is mightily stacked against you!

But before you crumble in the corner, friend, remember this: You were born with something. You have learned something. You are stubborn, bold, defiant, a master of pain. Let the weak numb themselves! You welcome the Dungeon, you yearn for it. You don't care for the town or the tavern, the journey or the parley. Nor do you care that in the Dungeon, doom is your destiny. Because the Dungeon is the heart of Life and it is the heart of gameplay and it is your entire reason for being. For in the Dungeon, you are taking it right to them, a full-on assault on the deepest, darkest, secret center of all things and there you will make your stand, where the odds are always stacked high against you and you will say -- By Crom, stack them higher!


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