Personal

Dungeons & Dragons played an outsize role in popularizing fantasy literature, ideas, and themes, as well as inspiring many of its devotees to create their own. Roleplaying, as a formal activity, owes nearly its entire existence to the phenomenal success of D&D. Even more remarkable is the extent to which the computer and video game industry, which is bigger and more profitable than the music and movie industries combined, owes a huge debt to the example set by D&D. If you play any game with classes or levels or experience or hit points today, that’s because of Dungeons & Dragons. ...

Phil and Jeremy both turned 50 this year. They took the opportunity to write some half-century notes. Having turned 50 myself and inspired by them, I thought I would do the same. 0-10 I see the light 50 years ago in Molise, a southern region of Italy that also happens to be the smallest and less known. One year later, my brother joins the family. Our parents are from a small village in Molise heights. When I am three, my family moves to Nigeria, following my dad, who is employed in the oil field. We spend about two years there. The memories from that period are scavenged from some clips recorded by my dad at the time. A female monkey used to live in our garden. Our home was part of a walled complex. Two soldiers were guarding the entrance, night and day. The wall, I remember, was built with wooden pales, very much like those wild-west forts from the old movies. When we move back, it is for the North-Eastern part of Italy, in the Ferrara province first, and then in Ravenna. I guess there’s not a lot to say about this decade; the usual baby-son-of-a-middle-class-emigrant-family routine applies here. ...