One of the things that I started to do with friends is play Dungeons and Dragons (here is a link to a page in the official site that goes in to far more detail than what I can do on my own), at the insistence of one of my closest friends. To be honest, I was very apprehensive at trying the game, as I often struggle with the idea of role-playing and embodying a persona that can be drastically different than who I am in real life.
For instance, my character that I have created for the campaign that I'm a part of is a half-elf/half-human bard named "Inigo, the Exiled". As a traveling musician, Inigo's very much charismatic: social, very playful, lighthearted/easygoing, and at times sassy/sarcastic, in a "charming scoundrel" kinda way. Totally not me, to a great extent. So naturally, I struggle getting into this sort of headspace when it comes to acting conversation, or talking out the actions that he'd take (as opposed to what I'd do in that same situation). I don't know, for me, this is very difficult for me to perform, so I'm quite grateful that my companions are very patient and understanding as I fumble my way through the rules of the game.
Overall, playing as Inigo has been an uncomfortable (but in a good challenging way) exercise in being more outgoing and creative in a way I didn't think I thought I could be. I still need more time to find an appropriate voice for Inigo, as I feel it's just me in a costume, instead of Inigo being his own 3-dimensional character that I'd want him to be. Before now, I've never played D&D before this year, and the closest I've come to playing was with Stranger Things, and even then I didn't know what was going on. Also, I occasionally watch Critical Role to get ideas on what I can do differently for my character, as well as get ides for other characters when the time comes.
Recently, as some of my companions can't be present for every session we hold together, we've been doing these mini-campaigns that let me explore different races, classes, and backgrounds, as a means to change up gameplay without having to compromise our main campaign. I've been trying different voices (a lá voice acting), as well as trying to project different types of personalities and such to add more to variety and color to my gameplay experiences. I still feel awkward and goofy for the time being, but I'm having a good time and I'm amongst good company, so I feel like I'm in a safe enough space where I can be goofball and fail spectacularly from time to time. I think I'm going to love this D&D stuff, even if it's much more grandiose than what I could ever anticipate.
