Everything I Need to Know About Life: Lessons I Learned from Role Playing Games (RPGs)

As soon as I cracked open my first "Dungeons & Dragons" book, I was hooked on role playing games (RPGs). As I wandered through my first adventure as an elven bard atop a pegasus, I quickly learned that I could take risks in the game that I would not take in real life-and so began the long list of life lessons I learned from playing RPGs including tabletop games, LARPs (live action role playing games), online text-based role playing games and MMOs like World of Warcraft.

Lesson 1: Curiosity Killed the Character

In real life, it's pretty easy for me to determine when it's a good idea to explore something and when it's not. However, I'll do anything to stay in character when role playing, and that sometimes means satisfying my character's curiosity. Remember all those times Pippin inadvertently caused chaos or destruction by being curious in "Lord of the Rings?" That happens to people in real life. A lot. As a result, I'm not as curious about some things in real life as I might otherwise be.

Lesson 2: Force of Nature

I learned all about forces of nature from one of my friends, a master storyteller who writes significant amounts of plot for a LARP. This is the thing-a force of nature in a role playing game could very well take out your character's nemesis...or he could be like that Tyrannosaurus Rex at the end of "Jurassic Park" who makes a meal out of the menacing Velociraptors. If the JP tourists weren't careful, Rexxie could have ate them after consuming the raptors.

It's true in real life, too. I was really curious about seeing a tornado once when I lived in Michigan (despite being afraid of them), but I remembered the lesson of oh so many characters. Forces of nature seldom spare people just because they're well-behaved.

Lesson 3: Time Travel Isn't As Cool As It Seems

"Star Trek" RPGs allow players to explore the universe, but in the "Trek" universe, there are rules for members of Starfleet. One of these is the Temporal Prime Directive, which prevents Starfleet officers from going back in time and altering history to prevent changes in the present (like when the protagonist of "Back to the Future" changed the past and started to disappear in his photograph from his present).

Inevitably, the question comes up during dinner parties. "If you could go back in time and kill Hitler, would you do it?" While the genocidal maniac did some horrible things, my answer is an oft-debated no-thanks to the clarity of the Temporal Prime Directive.

Lesson 4: People Wear Disguises

In one "Dungeons & Dragons" adventure, my character searched for a missing princess for three days. However, my character had difficulty finding the princess initially because the princess had run off and become a homeless prostitute. Needless to say, that princess let a lot of folks into her castle! I guess the ancient Greeks had it right-you should always treat others with dignity and respect, because they could be a god (or promiscuous noblewoman) in disguise!

This has served me well socially and in business. It's best not to fully trust someone right off the bat, because at times the disguise is a lot more tolerable than the person behind it.

Lesson 5: Do Pay Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain

I'm hardly a politician, but I love to play one, especially in "Star Wars" RPGs. In the "Star Wars" universe, there's always someone behind the curtain pulling the strings of others, and I learned this quickly the first time I played a senator.

It's a decent life lesson. Love or hate presidents like Bush and Obama, it's best not to take the face man at face value. There's usually someone behind the scenes giving the real orders, and it works that way at corporations, too. This is one reason why I'm glad to be self-employed.

While gamers often get made fun of for having an interest in role playing, role playing is an effective way to try things-without really trying them. Why risk your life driving a car drunk when you can drink around a tabletop gaming table and make your character drink and drive a carriage? By taking risks this way, I can have all the fun of the risk with no real consequences-the real lesson being in safe fun.