As self-indulgent as it feels, this is a picture from last night over at Distinct Gaming in Belper, UK.

Four people gathered around a single trestle table (we used the other one as a place to put dice and coffee mugs, see foreground) and we created three characters for a game of RuneQuest Glorantha. All around them players of Magic: The Gathering were having a tournament.

In a lot of ways, I don’t suppose this is a very remarkable image. To me, however, it is emblematic of what it means to be vaccinated and able to meet other adults during an active pandemic to play that most precious of all things – a game.

We smiled. We talked. We discovered the stories of three fantasy neophytes as their grandparents, then parents, and indeed the characters themselves were born into our consciousness. We pointed to places on the map of Dragon Pass. It was simple and it was glorious.

We are going to meet again in a fortnight to play some more. I wasn’t entirely sure we’d ever get to do this again.

Game on!