Gaming, board games and DnD: things I've discovered during lockdown

STORY-DRIVEN GAMING

Realising that I’d be at home a lot I took the plunge and got an Xbox One at the start of lockdown and, honestly, it’s been a great purchase. I’ve discovered I have a love for story-driven games (often shooters, but not always); games like Red Dead Redemption 2, The Witcher 3, Gears 5, The Outer Worlds, Metro Exodus and a host of others.

Gaming has come a long way since the days I used to regularly play around fifteen years ago - and the expansive world building that games give you these days is, frankly, astonishing. It's just the kind of escapism you need when (pretty much every day now) you wake up and some new terrible thing has happened in the world. That's not to ignore what's going on, but sometimes you need a mental health break, and lately, gaming is my go-to option.

THE JOY OF BOARD GAMES

With a quick bit of research, I discovered a couple of great two-player games to play with my partner during this time: Ticket to Ride (where you create train lines across Europe to score points) and Tiny Towns (where you manage resources on a little grid to create buildings to score points). Both have been much fun. I’m also very keen to get Bill and Ted’s Riff in Time, which comes out soon alongside the new film Bill and Ted Face the Music (the trailer of which dropped the other day).

DnD (DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS)

Now... this game is complicated at the best of times, but for some reason I thought that during lockdown, and online, would be the best way to get into it and learn the rules (of which there seems to be about three hundred million).

Anyway, slowly but surely I am getting a better (I've clocked in 13 hours of gameplay thus far). My favourite aspect is the ability to shape how the game (often a battle) goes, based on my weird and wonderful imagination. The character I created is Keaton Barber, a Dragonborn Paladin (below) and I'm kind of proud of him. He has a spectacular lack of initiative and wisdom but on the plus side he's strong, charismatic and can breathe fire.

MINOR HOME IMPROVEMENTS

I’ve tidied up my work station and put up a picture of Vietnamese cats that I got in Hanoi. I've got another leaning on the wall which, translated, saying 'following the path laid out by Uncle Ho'. I also bought a couple of bright throws to give the lounge a new and fresher feel and got a tiny side table to replace a cheap and awful one. Each time I sit on the sofa and put a cup of tea on my new tiny table I feel justifiably smug. These things weren't big, but being stuck at home these little wins perked me up recently. And you've kind of got to do anything during this time to help you mood and mental state, I think. It's paramount.

SPRING, NATURE AND PLANTS

For perhaps the first time in years I’ve had far more opportunity to get out for nature walks in the woods and commons where I live. To be honest I try and seek nature a lot anyway (wild swimming and mountain biking when I can) but this year I've definitely appreciated spring more, taking the time to notice everything in bloom. The weather has probably been a factor, being the hottest and driest May in the UK for 124 years.

Also, for better or worse, I've had a stab at growing plants (below). It's been a vague project, kind of cavalier. Yet they're still alive and everything. God help them.

RESOURCE PLANNING AND CLEANER LIVING

Living in a small flat in southwest London I've only ever really bought things as and when I need them, but since lockdown I've had to plan. To the point that, in order to actually buy anything in bulk, I've had to get to some sort of elite SAS level of cupboard organisation. Think Tetris, but far more complicated. And weirdly, it's been quite satisfying, having a stockpile of stuff that'll last you for weeks and months. Although it is odd when you find you've ordered five litres of washing up liquid or twenty bars of soap and realise that 'your soap needs are covered' for possibly the next 12 months.

Lockdown has also meant I've been eating healthier, avoiding things like terrible Tesco sandwiches, restaurants (obviously), cheeky ice cream tubs, and alcohol. As a result I've dropped at least an inch or two off my waist (not that I was overweight to begin with, but it's noticeable - my jeans are really loose now).

And if I do miss alcohol, there are some great alcohol-free craft beers out there.

Pistonhead Flat Tire, I recommend. And Lowdown lager, a CBD beer from alcohol-free suppliers, Dry Drinker. A couple of CBD beers definitely do something. High? Mellow? Merry? It's hard to say, but it works and takes the edge off.