Nine years ago today, I was promoted to the supervisory ranks of the NYPD. I quickly realized it was more important to play the role of a boss that knew what he was doing then be a boss that was pretty unsure of himself and nervous as all heck out of fear of screwing things up.
Years of role playing, mostly from the DM's chair, sure came in handy in those early days. It wasn't that I hadn't used those skill previously, on the streets as a cop in the South Bronx, but I hadn't tried using those skills on my fellow officers. Those years of rolling dice have done me some great service over the years.
Of course, if I were growing up now, I'd be more likely to be honing my skills in MMORPGS or first person shooters. I'm sure I'd find some use for those skills, but for me, I prefer the skill-set that D&D gave me.
Go figure. D&D helped qualify me for life ;)
D&D gives you real life XP!
ReplyDeleteHeh! I like that ;)
ReplyDeleteFake it 'til you make it is my motto. It does require the ability to improvise and to keep things moving, while staying cool or appearing cool, as you say), and so maybe that doesn't work for everyone.
ReplyDeleteBut that is main thing I try to teach undergrads that work in my lab: Yes, I'm throwing you in way over your head. You can't know how to do what I want you to know how to do before we start. I can't train you to be what you will become before you are in the thick of it.
And the ones that get through the hard stuff with my help and encouragement hopefully start to see that mostly if you show up, pay attention, do your best, and keep trying to better, accepting your mistakes, well, if nothing else you're the last one standing and people have respect for that.
So congrats on the milestone, Mr. Tenkar!
I sort of pitched this idea on my blog recently- that I could gain some real life experience for my chosen profession via GMing... the response was pretty good =) Glad it helped you.
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