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Living as an RPG - Textbooks
September 28th, 2019
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I think about my own life in terms of roleplaying games. I'm not
alone in this. I bet some of you reading do the same thing. When
I learn a new skill, I am totally thinking about it being added to
my character sheet as I draw a 1 in a little column. The skills
I choose to collect are probably a little skewed toward things
that are more useful in a fantasy adventure than in real life, but
that's not so bad. I once helped a friend get back into their
house when they locked themselves out, so who says lockpicking
isn't practical!

It's not just skills, though. I travel and move through life ready
to pounce on the newest quest that comes along. "Quests aren't
real," you say? Screw that jazz. You're just not looking hard
enough. When a ridiculous opportunity arises and you say yes,
BAM!, you're on a quest. Max out that XP and level up, my dudes.

For those of you who aren't quite ready to up-and-move to another
country, or join the military on a lark, or enter religious life,
or go live on a boat in the middle of a lake, or whatever, you can
still power-level by using some of the sweet loot available to you
at your local library. That's right, I'm talking about textbooks.

Simply read these magic tomes from the start to the end to add
a skill rank in whatever subject you desire. That's it! And it's
free! Maybe the library doesn't carry the subject you want and the
latest volume is like $7,000 at the campus bookstore... so get an
old version online for pennies. You think the information in Intro
to Physics has changed that much in 10 years?

When you're not in school anymore it might not occur to you that
you are still allowed access to textbooks. Just because it wasn't
assigned in a class doesn't mean you can't just pick it up on your
own. It doesn't have to be related to work, or a hobby, or
anything at all. Maybe you always sucked at math in school. Maybe
you can't remember the first thing about Algebra. If you want to
fix that, just get a textbook. Seriously. You're older, wiser, and
know how to apply your brain meats to stuff. Pick it up and start
at the beginning. The book will teach you. That's what it's for.
You won't have a teacher, so instead you'll have to,
I dunno...Google it. Hit up Khan Academy, or wikipedia, or bug
someone on a Tilde server. It's not hard. 

That's the secret of the whole fucking universe, by the way. It's
not that hard. Nothing is. It just takes some time to learn. Start
at the beginning and build up the knowledge.

You want to know how to build rockets? Do it. Like, for real. The
knowledge to do so is free. What else are you working on that's so
important that you can't crack a book in the bathroom for a few
minutes while you do your business?

Learn new skills, level up, take on new quests, be heroes.