ISBN 1952303192
Table top role playing has a special place in my life, like a lot of people. So, of course I wanted to dig into this tale of a group of friends who came together through a game and are trying to navigate their lives changing after school.A lot of people I know started TTRPGs in high school. The games they played then took on a greater weight than most of the ones after. Perhaps it’s because that time of one’s life is often chaotic and finding a place to be accepted and where you belong is a treasure in itself. These themes are essential to The Last Session.
This group of friends came together initially in a Student Gay Straight Alliance where the president never showed. Desperately in need of a place where they weren’t the odd ones out, instead they passed the time playing Dice & Deathtraps. The book has several flash backs to the high school days, but the story takes place as they are finishing college and preparing to be scattered even further. They are trying desperately to finish their quest. Jay’s partner Cassandra joins the game and the original players struggle with her place in the group and find themselves resenting her as a stand in for the great changes in the lives around them. They wonder if they will ever get to finish “their game” or if it will just be lost to growing up.
The Last Session features amazing BIPOC and GLBTQ representation, which often gets forgotten about in the larger gaming community. It flies like a ranger’s arrow straight to the point of what gaming means to most of us lifetime gamers, and how our approach to the hobby and each other changes over time.
I very highly recommend this graphic novel for personal and public collections.