Avengers... ASSEMBLE!

I've never been a fan of either roleplaying games (like Dungeons and Dragons) or party games that involve acting (like Celebrity.) Because I'm an actor, games like that have always felt a little too much like "work" to me. I've always imagined it being akin to a bus driver relaxing by going for a three hour drive through busy city streets, stopping every few blocks. But my long-standing prejudices aside, I headed out in early December to join a dice-based roleplaying game that combines Marvel and DC comic book characters together in a shared universe.

I played Starman (William Payton), a minor character from DC comics circa 1990. He's essentially a normal guy who ended up with superpowers, including flight, invulnerability, and the ability to project heat, flame, light, and radiation. (Hence the name "Star"man.) When he realized he had these abilities, his sister Jayne helps fashion him a costume and he becomes the hero known to Phoenix, AZ as "Starman."

It's quite a costume, isn't it. God bless the early 90s in comic books...

After some chitchat and dinner before we started gaming, we hopped right in with the time-honored game of "screw with the new guy." I was the new guy. Starman was in trouble almost right away, and there were more than a few tense moments as he tried to figure out who everyone else around him. (Those people turned out to be Captain America, She-Hulk, and Deadman.) In fact, Starman is the only one of the heroes of our group who does not have his own wiki entry.

The game, which went until about 1am, was a whole lot of fun. It was a challenge to get into at first, especially since I was playing a character who was much more of a re-actor than a prime mover. But once we got into the story, acting the character became much easier, and I really started getting into a groove with it. And even past the "acting" part of the roleplaying, I started getting into the hang of how superhero characters behave and act. I was coming up with creative ways to use my superpowers, and also advancing the story in what I thought were very "comic book" ways.

We have more sessions scheduled for the New Year, and I'm looking forward to them. Far from feeling too much like the day job, it was a lot of fun to release my creativity and pretend to be a superhero. I was so into the role that whenever Starman was flying, I would actually lift my feet off the ground and sit on the edge of my folding chair so I could really "feel" what it would be like to be Starman in that moment.

Yes, I'm a geek. But an unapologetic geek.