Ever sat at a gaming table, character sheet in hand, eager to dive into a new adventure? We have all been there. We often forge characters based on personal whims and fancies, leaving the Dungeon Master the herculean task of weaving our motley crew into a cohesive plot. While a common practice, it often sets the stage for what I term the "see evil, kill evil" routine. But, what if we tweaked the formula? Today, I want to introduce a more narrative-driven strategy - let's dub it the "Deep Narrative Approach" for now. In essence, it's about co-creating characters deeply rooted in the campaign's narrative, ensuring a richer and more immersive experience for both the player and the Dungeon Master.  Put another way, we are going to put the story first, and make sure that the players are part of the story before it even begins.

I started playing DnD in the fall of 1981, about 3 years after the Players Handbook for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was first published. My experience harkens back to what I would call the first wave of DnD Players, or the first generation if you will. It was a good game, even then. When we call Dungeons and Dragons the granddaddy of them all, it's because back in those days, it was the first to present the refined concept of the role-playing game. It was a mind game—a game played in your minds, a very different concept from just about every other type of game on the market at the time. It was akin to how we played as kids—how we played make-believe. DnD latched onto that primal childhood concept and made a game out of it. That was the beauty of Dungeons and Dragons, and that's why I started playing. None of us knew at the time how long the concept would work. This was all brand new to us. But there's one thing we knew for certain. We knew how to play the game.