The Quietest Player at the Table


After a few session we all seemed to have our own places at the table.

The barbarian sat at my left, and the cleric to my left.

The Dungeon Master was in front of me.

The others filling in the table around him.

At the start of the campaign for the Forgotten Realms Romeo would sit next to me which eventually turned into his favorite spot.

There would be those critical moments in the game, where the Barbarian and I would have to make a decision, the combination of his might and my magic to save the party, as the other were newer to the game.

Romeo would just sit there and look, sometimes nodding his head in agreement, most of the time leaving it up to us to decide.

Why is it when it came down to those critical roles, when you needed to roll high, or roll a “20” the dice always bounces off the table?

Romeo was the one to always go under the table and fish out the dice.

It was halfway through the campaign when I discovered Romeo liked pretzels like I did, and in sharing that I always brought a big bag for us to share.

He was there for all the great adventures and when the campaign ended, he was the one who I missed the most.

Romeo was a dog.

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    Roppo Doji writes from the intersection of discipline, memory, and presence. His work explores the quiet spaces where lives touch:  the dojo at dawn, the silence between two people, the rituals that shape a path, and the moments that linger long after they’ve passed. 

    His stories move through themes of impermanence, devotion, and the beauty of connections that cannot last but still transform us. 

    With a voice marked by restraint, clarity, and emotional precision, he captures the gravity of lived experience and the subtle transmissions that occur in the spaces between words. 

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