Out Here in the Feels #9: Roll for Initiative
Welcome back to Out Here in the Feels, the newsletter where my creative pals and I dive into existential quandaries so you don’t have to.
I’m Francy. 👋🏼
After a brief hiatus because Life Happens™, we are back and ready for more of The Feels. This month, we’re rolling the dice and exploring “The Depths of Dungeons & Dragons.”
To kick us off, I asked my correspondents to describe their first encounter with the game.
Meet Jake Joseph. He’s a songwriter & podcaster—not to mention a father of four—from Cambridge, Ontario in Canada. 🇨🇦
“When I first started playing Dungeons & Dragons with my brother, I didn't realize that's what I was playing. We didn’t even have character sheets!” 🤷🏽♂️
He continues: “When we finally sat down to play for real, I was nervous about it being a big time commitment, but I just fell in love with the game. My first character was a Halfling Rogue named Toma,” Jake recalls, with a glint in his eye. “It’s such an immersive creative outlet!”
I had a similar experience when I played the first time. With creativity so tied up into my career, I’d forgotten what it was like to be creative… for fun. Rolling dice, for me, was all imagination with no pressure to promote, pitch or monetize. Imagine that! ✨
I asked ChatGPT to imagine playing Dungeons & Dragons, and it’s answer was surprisingly… sweet?
“My character would be Aelius Prime, a sentient construct (AKA robot!) Wizard with a thirst for knowledge. I would play with a logical and analytical approach, finding joy in the intellectual stimulation of problem-solving despite not understanding the emotional depth of the game.” 🤖
That last part got me. Now I really want to play Dungeons & Dragons with a robot.
“My first character was Gwyn Windbreaker, a Cleric Dwarf. I still miss her sometimes!”
That’s writer/director Nichole Lim from Nashville, TN. She chimes in with a different perspective that I find incredibly touching:
“I started playing D&D before the pandemic with five other pals. Two of the players have daughters in the same age bracket as mine (9-11), so we’ve got a quest going for them too,” she explains, beaming. “It’s pretty amazing watching these kids learn not to be so self-aware and embarrassed about being silly. I love how it fosters connection and creativity.” 💡
D&D for Kids? Is that a thing? If not, it needs to be.
It’s clear so much good can come from this game. Still, you can’t deny the baggage that comes along with it—but we’ll get into that next week… So stay tuned!
That’s it for this week’s edition of “Out Here in the Feels 🌒 with Francy Planet.” Very special thanks to my correspondents for being part of this conversation:
Jake Joseph is a songwriter, performer & podcaster in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. His debut EP releases later this year, and you can hear him bi-weekly on Down to the Dice, the first and only “6th edition” live-play D&D podcast.
Nichole Lim is a writer, director and make-up artist in Nashville, TN. Her latest film “The Unraveling” (which she produced) is on the festival circuit. Find her on Instagram.
As for me, I want to take a moment to thank you for subscribing—I’ve had a wild couple of months and there’s lots to talk about in future issues (alongside new music this summer, and updates on some other projects.) In the meantime, thanks for reading and feel free to check out my EP of acoustic worktapes, Storyboards, wherever you get your music.
Stay curious! 🚀
Francy Planet*
*If Francy Planet sounds made up to you, it’s because it is. I call myself Francy Planet because writing songs & telling stories has always felt like a different world to me; a world I’m still exploring. I spent years in rock bands, but you can check out my new solo project here.