I wish I could write Haikus, but alas, it's a story.

Probably not the most unique origin story, but -

It all started with COVID.

(Luckily) found a job working night shifts months after leaving a previous job before lockdown, which was pretty scary and really cut it close at the time. As per the kind of job I had, I could wear headphones through the whole shift, which is the one and only perk I associate this job with as I still have it to this day, 6 years later.

Listening to music while working was the best. Several months went and it was all I needed. After a few more months though, even my fairly large collection and attempts to discover new music started to get a little same-y. Then podcasts came in. Juggled 3 or 4 comedy podcasts. I was good. 4 hours of music, then 4 hours of podcasts.

Fast forward maybe a couple years later, I randomly saw that clip - Deborah Ann Woll teaches Jon Bernthal Dungeons and Dragons. I don't think anyone could have marketed that better to me. As an 80's baby, I became aware of D&D's existence in the 90's, and I'd always been a little curious, but never got close with the circles I ran in. I also saw 1 actual play clip, which I was completely unfamiliar with before this. It was a random algorithm thing I got, probably just from that initial clip - it was Fresh Cut Grass introducing themself, and explaining how they got their name. Even out of context to all of Critical Role or D&D for that matter, I found it hilarious. So I looked into it. Podcast - D&D - a massive amount of episodes. I was hooked.

With the amount of time I had every night at work, I blasted through Critical Role. Campaigns 1-3 went by in a matter of a year or 2? And that was with me having to limit my consumption to just half my shift to make sure I didn't run, which is a crazy thing to think with them having a 10 year library.

Cut to earlier this year, wrapped up C3, a whole rewatch of C2, and currently in the middle of (a more painful than expected) rewatch of C1, trying my bestest to put off starting C4 for as long as I can.

For my 18th anniversary with my partner though, she unexpectedly got me the Heroes of the Borderlands starter set. As a little thank you gift, I decided I'd get us our own sets of dice for fun. And it was. Even before we finally got around to playing our first game, I already got a few random sets. I rolled them daily, they were essentially fidget spinners that live on a table to the right of my PC.

Then the algorithm kicked in again.

I started seeing nicer dice. Liquid cores caught my eye, just always in motion, never dull. Then I saw Darker Matter. The first dice maker I followed was Dispel.

They didn't have it in stock, but they did have Bloodmoon which was similar, but black and red was always my thing, and Vampiric Kiss caught my eye, which was available through Noble Knight. I also saw my ultimate get that I am waiting patiently for a restock for, which is Exsanguinated. As I enjoy obsessively researching stuff, I joined the Discord, and outside of being a fantastic resource for seeing real-world pics and vids, people were super friendly and welcoming. With some advice, I pulled the trigger on my first set, Vampiric Kiss.

Which brings us to now: tons on my wishlist, almost daily looking through it trying to narrow it down, only to add others I haven't considered before. But I've been bitten. And the hunger is there. And being a new part of this community has made it a lot more fun.