Happy almost tomorrow! Last night I went to my high school friend Joel's house to watch he and his friends play Pathfinder.

Pathfinder is a fantasy role-playing game that is very combat-based, and very complicated. This particular group of 6 friends (and two gamemasters) had already been playing since the end of 2014, so I popped in somewhere in the middle of their progress through the book.

From what I could gather, there is a map in the middle of the table with a grid on it, and each character has a figurine that appears to serve approximately the same purpose as a Monopoly piece. Each person has a set of dice (SO. MANY. DICE.), and the numbers they roll determine what happens next in the game. Joel and the other gamemaster sat and crunched numbers the entire time. Another player was on a laptop the whole time manipulating data. It was a lot to take in. Joel mentioned that it takes a ridiculous amount of prep to get ready for one of these game nights, and I believe him.

Each player has a sheet with information about his/her character. The other side of the page also has a ridiculous amount of data. I understood almost none of it. Joel tried his best to explain it to me, but I had too many questions and I didn't want to interrupt everyone's game.

The game took about 3 hours. It was intense, but there was also a lot of laughter. Everyone brought food and beverages and had a great time hanging out. It was a lot of math, but also a lot of problem-solving. Even though I had no idea what was going on, it was still fascinating to watch.

My main takeaway from watching this campaign is that it's about the game, but not really. It's a bunch of friends getting together to enjoy a common interest and each others' company. Everyone I met last night is really awesome, and I hope to see them all again at some point.

This is going to be an interesting week. I have speed dating on Wednesday, plus I'm going to be reuniting with someone I haven't seen in a really long time. I'll keep you posted. Right now I need some sleep.

See you all in the morning.