Das Rad der Zeit dreht sich...

... und die Zeitalter kommen und gehen, hinterlassen Erinnerungen, die zu Legenden werden, verblassen zu bloßen Mythen, und sind längst vergessen, wenn dieses Zeitalter wiederkehrt.

- Robert Jordan, das Rad der Zeit.

Am 16.09.2007 verstarb der Fantasy-Autor Robert Jordan. Er war vor allem für seinen unvollendeten Fantasyzyklus "Das Rad der Zeit" bekannt. Weniger bekannt ist, das er auch ein Rollenspieler war.

In seinem Vorwort zum W20-Wheel of Time -Rollenspiel von Wizards of the Coast schreibt er:

"I was very exited when Wizards of the Coast approached me about doing a roleplaying game based on my books, The Wheel of Time series. That brought back a lot of memories. When my son Will was young, he and his friends liked to play Dungeons &Dragons. I, of course, was the Dungeon Master. It was a lot of fun, though I made them stick to the rules. No creating invicible characters out of thin air. If they did something stupid, and the dice said they died, they died. And had to start over with a basic character that needed to be build up with experience. No "instant reincarnations", which they always wanted. Will and the others always complained that I made the scenarios too hard. Other Dungeons Masters were willing to cut them some slack, give them a break now and then. But I noticed that they never played with those DM's unless I wasn't available. An invincible character that walks around killing everything in sight gets boring after a while. When you can do anything, take anything, with no possible consequences, the challenge goes away. And so does the fun, except for a few who no doubt are destined to be junk-bond brokers, used car salesmen, or worse, politicians.
The stacks of D&D books are long gone from our house now, given to others to enjoy. Will is thirty-two and a painter. His friends have gone on to diverse careers: Museum curator, salvage consultant, product management for a major pharmaceutical company, and another painter, among others. They thought they were playing a game, and they were, but learned a few things along the way, about working together, about thinking things through. It might have been just a roleplaying game but I tried to make it real for them, to make it seem that was the world they had been born in, and so they gained something else. They have been adventuring were the monsters are, adventuring where their wits are as important to survival as their physical skills. That spirit remains with them, even if they don't realize where it came from."

Ich wünschte, ich wäre immer ein solcher Spielleiter gewesen. Ich wünschte, es gäbe mehr Erwachsene wie Robert Jordan, die ihren erzieherischen Auftrag durch das Rollenspiel verwirklichen. Und ich wünschte, ich hätte ihn persönlich gekannt, und wäre ein Spieler in seiner Gruppe gewesen.

Es gibt weder einen Anfang, noch ein Ende, wenn das Rad der Zeit sich dreht.
Aber es war ein Anfang.