I have loved stories all of my life. When I was a small child, my parents would have to read me a book every night, or I wouldn’t sleep. A great majority of my childhood was dedicated to finding new great stories to entertain myself with, may they be books, games, or movies. I loved great novels like Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia. I was enraptured by the epic scale of the Star Wars and Lord of the Ring movies. I dumped hours upon hours exploring the worlds of giant RPG video games such as Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda. I loved stories so much that I began to write my own. I would come up with grand adventures and massive worlds in my head, only for me to explore. However, I eventually became frustrated that I was the only one that could interact with the worlds that I built. This was around the same time that I stumbled into Tabletop RPGs randomly one day when I was scrolling through YouTube. Tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder allows one player, the “Game Master,” to narrate to the rest of the players. To build a world for them to explore, interact with, and adventure in. Over the past year, me and my friends have been spending countless hours in worlds that we have built. It has finally given me an outlet to dump all of my creativity and ideas. I love to weave great tales of adventure and splendor. Of challenge and of triumph. I believe that stories have the unparalleled power to tug at our emotions, to release the greatest parts of humanity. There isn’t any feeling like finally closing the cover of a really great story, and I think that for the rest of my life I will be constantly chasing that feeling, like a moth drawn to a flame.
Ethan's Notebook 