D&D: The Ballad Of Terminatur Or Why I’m Not Crying, You Are
A touching tribute about a grandmother discovering D&D at 75 and going on a magical journey to unexpected places. This is the ballad of Terminatur.
There’s something very special about RPGs. They have a way of grabbing us and taking us to unexpected places and discovering things about the world, our friends, and even ourselves. It’s a kind of magic that the imagination keeps alive, no matter what–and as we’ll see in this beautiful tribute it’s never too late to discover the worlds that RPGs. This story has been making the rounds on the internet, and for good reason–the story of Antoine H’s grandmother hits on the sort of excitement all of us hope to touch.
It highlights why games like D&D truly are for everyone–new players bring in excitement and energy that reminds veterans about those magical first moments when everything is shiny and new. Different perspectives bring something altogether new to the table to help keep each game feeling fresh and magical; this is the story of someone creating a Forest Gnome Druid and having adventures, but it’s also a story of how every group is its own different world created by the people in it. It’s a story of being who you are and bringing that out in other people. This is the sort of story that inspires us all. So come read about how a forest gnome invented a fruit and was friends with a goose.
Come and read: the ballad of Terminatur:
via Twitter
My grandmother passed away. Her funerals were today, but here I'd like to talk about the most important thing I couldn't spend too much time on in her eulogy: her love for Dungeons & Dragons. #DnD
— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
My grandmother chose to be a forest gnome because they seemed the most happy of the races and she really liked the fact that she could talk to small animals. She went with druid just to double down on the animal-friendship theme.
— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
So, we're making her character sheet, rolling her stats (she gets a 17 and puts it in WIS) and chosing her first spells, and I ask her if she has a name in mind. "I don't know, I'll find one by tomorrow".
— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
The next day, right before we play for the first time, she reveals her name to the party: Terminatur. Oh, and she'd also drawn him. pic.twitter.com/yTxLrlNDNk
— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
She made up the name from "termite", because she liked the idea of gnomes living in burrows, and "nature", because she was a druid. Both words are the same in French. And she dropped the final "e" because, I kid you not, "it's cooler".
— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
The party is made up of a Kalashtar sorcerer, a half-elf ranger, and our little gnome druid, who never goes anywhere without his goose friend. They chose to undertake the cleansing of a reportedly haunted house. And that's when I knew my grandmother would fall in love with RPGs.
— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
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My grandmother lives it. So much so that sometimes she has to close her eyes to calm herself down. Now, I'm not a particularly good nor experienced DM, but she made me feel like I was @ChrisPerkinsDnD or @matthewmercer .
— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
So anyway, she casts it, and makes her very first attack roll… natural 20. The whole table went WILD (by which I mean the players, not the mimic). It couldn't have been more perfect.
Advertisement— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
That fruit, that she named cipal, would months later serve as a bargaining chip with fairies that where tending to a fey orchard. It eventually led to Terminatur becoming a member of a multiplanar ecology group, the Circle of the Green Hand.
— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
The last few months were rough. She'd been fighting against pancreatic cancer, and things had took a turn for the worst. Sometimes, the pain and exhaustion from chemo were too much to bear and she couldn't play. She still did it when she could, though, and updated her drawing. pic.twitter.com/QAZJoE26MQ
— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
By the way, we decided that canonically, Terminatur looks like #DiceCameraAction's Simon as drawn by the amazing @genkaiko in this picture, with curlier blonde hair and a "Bécassine"-like colour palette.https://t.co/RscsG4VJeE
— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
My grandmother's was particularly overloaded, so one day she comes up with a potential name, "les Bijoutiers Fantaisistes". The Fanciful Jewelers. It was SO funny and unexpected, everybody loved it at once, and they've been calling themselves it ever since, often shortened as BF.
— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
So the BF will go on, without their druid. And in all my future campaigns, players will hear of a legendary planar-traveler gnome with a goose on his head that gives out strange fruit, cracks his whip and disappears.
Here's to the best grandma in the world. I miss her already. pic.twitter.com/nY16ly9tOJ— Antoine H. (@AntnHz) August 23, 2019
There must be dust or maybe someone is chopping onions in here, so, we’ll just leave you with this beautiful story. Do you have a similar story? How have RPGs touched your life? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear your stories… And as always, Happy adventuring, friends!
