30 Day Challenge

How did I get started in D&D?

Well, I think I have answered the question before, but will answer it again as best I can.

Back in college, way back in 1996--yes starting couting if you must--I came back from a weekend at home (free laundry service and free food.  Come on, who wouldn't.) I found a group of my friends in a circle talking about things their character was doing.  I was intrigued, but wasn't sure what to do.  I waited for the DM, a guy named Kyle, to finish up and I tracked him down after.  I asked him what he was up to and he said, "Playing D&D."

Until then, I was the Sci-Fi nerd supreme, looking down my nose a little at fantasy for being "cute and folksy."  But I had gone to college for trying new things and when he asked if I wanted to create a character, I jumped at the chance.  He had 2nd edition AD&D books and I devoured them.  Looking through them, amazed by the art, by the magic and baffled by the rules.  I made a character, a 1st level dwarven theif who had the kit of locksmith.  I even delved into his backstory, giving him a scar on his arm from not disabling a trap quick enough and having to run off from the job he was doing.

And then...nothing.  The game never got picked up again.  I was dejected and sad, but then the same guy started up a Superhero game and I got to play in that, so that was the first rpg I every experienced.  (Superheroes Unlimited, the first edition.  Pretty fun one shot.  Never played that game again either.  Sigh, the problem with college sometimes.)

I didn't get my first taste of a campaign until I called up a friend and asked what he was up to.  This was 2002.  It was late, about 10 pm, and I as bored  He said, "We're gaming.  Want to come over?" I thought, why not.  I went over and again, 2nd edition AD&D.  I was told we already had a thief, but "We could use a ranger, and if you want to be an Elven princeling, that would help tremendously..." So said the DM.  (I later learned this was a trap.  Oh Admirmal Ackbar, where were you?)

And since that day, rolling up Symal the Elven Ranger, I have never looked back.

Now, as an addendum, there is a friend who tried to get me into rpgs a year or so before.  But, I stll had the bad taste in my mouth of gaming with the guys in college for a session and then nothing.  Since that time, that friend and I, have gamed often.

Penultimate post to 100!

Wow, I just realized I missed the 1 year birthday of this blog.  Many things have changed, some have not:

The podcast that my friends and I do is still on hiatus.  I might try to get that back soon, so look for it in Feb.

I am STILL grinding through the module The Temple of Elemental Evil.  Though, to go into a quick game story: the former bladesinger/delusional elf (still thinking he is a dragon) went to the Silver Consortium and was able to buy a Deck of Many Things.  [Henceforth known as mistake number 3, One being, "Hey, let's eat a dragon brain." Two "Hey, let's eat the brain of a spawn between a dragon and an evil deity!" (He lost a level.)]  After some roleplaying with several NPCs, he decided to use it--wanting to pull the card with wishes.  He drew three cards.  The first one removed all of his magic items.  (Sidenote, sorry I know there are many but information needs to be had, he has spent three years--out of game--building this character up.  He had a magnificent library inside his bag of holding, as well as his spellbook and ALL his money.)  The card went back into the deck and he drew it agian, so nothing happened.  The last one gave him an answer to his next dilemma.  The player has since said that his character sheet is a blank sheet now.  He sees everything through his possessions, which is kind of dumb in my point of view.  But hey...to each his own.  The one good thing that came from his sacrifice was we now know where the end game item is and have a good chance of getting in and out without having to take down all of the Temple in one long slow grind.  One can hope...

I have started to run a game on Google Plus.  The first session went very well.  I am very hopeful for this game to continue for some time.  My players enjoyed it and I am eagerly awaiting the next session.  (More on that tomorrow.)

My 2E game ground to a halt because of inter-party strife.  I will not go into details, but I seriously doubt that the game will get off the ground again.  I might take a break from doing any kind of GMing for awhile, except for the ConstantCon game.  (If you're looking for my game, look for Sydell.  People are more than welcome to come and jump in.)

Yet, even as I say I am not going to run, I look at the world I am running using the LotFP rules and I like them, yet there is a part of me that chafes, that says that this world needs to be added to, you can expand much more of it using your ideas.  (It might be the topic of my next blog, I am not sure.  But, I have this idea brewing for a very Frankenstein-like bogged together rule set.  Stay tuned.)  One thing that has me thinking of it is two other blogs, both of them talking about the assassin, here and here.  (JB goes on for three posts about the assassin, and I just now discovered his part four was cut short because he was taken from the campaign.  Read all about it on their blogs.)  Getting back to my own feelings, especially when Alexis talks about his ideas of the assassin, it gets me to think about my own views and that sparks ideas and starts to build up scenarios in my head and I see adventure paths set out before me.  Heck, I also picked up a compilation copy of Conan:  The Frost-Giant's Daughter and it has my head spinning out ideas for barbarians and building them into the world of Sydell as well.  Even the cavalier I have in the Tempe game sometimes makes me think about different factions I can add, sending me running for my journals to jot down notes.  (NOTE to my ConstantCon Players: I am not going to add in much for your game.  A few ideas might slip in, yet I am not going to be distracted and let the game slip away from me.  At least I hope not. ;-P)

It has been an interesting year for this blog.  The fact I only have 99 posts thus far does not mean I have somehow failed in my blogging.  I hope to try and get to 200 or more before the end of the year.  It is a goal, yet if I don't make it, I don't make it.  C'est la vie.

And, my final thoughts for today concern what I will be doing tonight.  I shall be playing 4E, yes the one I have earlier gnashed my teeth about and have tried to play and couldn't get into it.  Yet, I am an edition war free blog now, so I will not call it some dreaded name.  I have some apprehension playing in this, yet it is suppose to be a short game.  I will tell you all about it.  Hopefully tomorrow.

(Do I wish to end this with some allusion to the rap song, or the meme of Skyrim going around with 99 arrows?  I think not...)

Until next time, may evil be confused on its way to your door.

Blogger issues, some food for thought and my gaming woes

First off, I STILL don't like the new Blogger look.  (No, I'm not jumping ship to wordpress.  Just annoyed with the way it is working.  Maybe it is just me.)

There is another blogger out there, known as B/X BLACKRAZOR who has an wonderful OSR blog.  I love reading it.  I recently read to articles about this hobby that he and I both enjoy running and it got me thinking.  Here and here are the two posts.

Both of them make good points.  I think the second one is something I want to deal with a little more.  Because that has always been an issue I have felt is one of the weakest points about D&D.  The fact that magic is so weak as to be more akin to technology.  (By saying these words and using these materials, along with the right hand gestures, you have a fireball.  Or by calling forth to your god/dess and clutching your holy symbol, you can heal someone or all a bless to go off.)  Everything is mechanical, there is no Gee Whiz! stuff going on in the world.  Yes, a DM can try and add to the realism, and the players could try and role play that gee whiz moment, yet it would feel fake IMO.

I have tried to do that in my most recent game, the one that is in a kind of limbo at the moment.  I did find that when I tried to bend the rules, some of my players enjoyed it, while the grognards took umbrage to me bending the rules.

There is a comment int he second rant, by a guy named George, who said it best.  These are his words:

"My new policy, which my players really enjoy, is simply: 'You will never find a magic item straight out of the DMG in my campaign. Never!'

So all my magic is either my own creation or inspired (or copied) from other sources (such as different games, bloggers, forums, etc).

I do the same thing with monsters. So I also tell my players: 'Don't bother studying the Monster Manual.'"

I think that is something I need to take more of a stand on.  It also might mean that some people do not want to play with me again.  (Just something I say off the top of my head, I could be wrong.)

This thought also leads to what I have been calling a schism of my latest game.  I don't want to get into a gaming story, but suffice to say that there were issues in the game that caused the players to break into two groups.  They fall along lines of more New School gamers and Old School gamers.  The Old School guys have effectively quit my game.  The New School group want to continue, yet the drama from both in game and out of game issues has me throwing in the towel.  I have held off on simply calling the game.  Yet, I still might simply stop it and either become a player or just not do something on Monday nights for a time and work on another campaign/or go back and try to re-work the current one and try to use it at a later date.

Yet another post about New Years and gaming...

Hello all...I have returned to write the blog.  I have emerged from 2011 and I am glad it is over.  I hope 2012 is better.

I will not be looking backwards as many blogs do.  I will be looking forward.  (And, hopefully we will see how well I can get the list done.)

Games I want to play:
Superheroes Unlimited
D&D, Basic-3.5 and even Pathfinder
4E (Yeah, I want to give it another go.  I have most of the books, just running into the issue of who will run...)
A Whitewolf game of some kind
Starwars
A sci-fi game of some kind (Maybe Star Frontiers or Rifts)

Games I plan on running:
Continuing my 2E game
A Starwars game, maybe continuing with the game as it was last year.
A superhero game
My Journey game--more on that later
Maybe even trying to run a 1E game, using Temple of Elemental Evil as a base.
And, running a game or two on Google+ with perhaps the LotFP ruleset

And, that is all I can think of right now...

And, hopefully soon we will have another podcast up soon.

Long time, no post...

Hey all...

I am sorry for the delayed post.  I have recently gotten a job that has been sucked up a majority of my time.  Even cut into my gaming a little.

No, the podcast hasn't faded yet.  But, it might be another week or so before we get one up.  Holidays and family always trump gaming and podcasting, IMHO.

There are a few reasons I have decided to come to the blog today.

First, is to tell you about Zak's cool Type V idea.  I just finished looking over it.  It has a bunch of very cool ideas.  I will probably steal a few in my own quest to try and make a DIY ruleset.  Don't agree with everything, but there few nitpicks over a majority of good ideas.

The second and third reasons are to tell you about some podcasts out there.

One is Fear the Boot.  The episode linked I listened to last night and it has me thinking about many things game related.  Mostly about encumbrance and gaming in general.  I highly recommend listening to their backlog--yeah it is massive, they have been doing it for years.

The other is a neat little podcast I'm listening to about OD&D. Here is the link.  Just started listening to it.  Also, gets me thinking about looking over the original Holmes game and how far and how different the game has become over the years.

Hope to be posting again soon...

Thoughts on 2E and running a game...

Last night I was was able to start up my 2nd edition AD&D game.  Been chomping at the bit to get this to start.  It was a great deal of fun in my opinion.  My players thought so as well.  Not much happened though, and that is fine with me.

I find that the players were helping create the world more than just what I had set down.  They went around the starting town; getting the first "adventure hook," exploring, following a simple boy with a snake coin and the thief doing his best to be a thief before they even left for the next "plot point."  There was a great deal of role playing without much combat, expect for a single round where they chanced upon a warehouse guard/owner.  It wasn't until near the end of the night that there was fighting at all.  With the Tokli.  (I highly recommend this guys blog.  He is great!  And, I know my players read this blog.  I trust that they will keep in game and out of game knowledge separate.)

Was I disappointed that it took most of the night to get to the small town?  Not at all.  I was having fun, so were they.  That is what the game is about.  Granted, as we got closer to midnight there were some sleepy looks and a little confusion.  Yet that happens.  I think next time, I might have a break if the players start to drift and wonder--if we are deep into the game.  If it is five minutes in, then no.

Moving on, the only complaint I got from my players was that there seemed to be a lot going on.  And, there is.  I have built this world to be massive.  There are plots and plots and plots.  Wheels within wheels.  It was one reason why I made a player's handout and the first thing I said was, "Take notes!"

This is something that has not bothered me, but sometimes I see my players just nod when I tell them that and then a session or two later stare at me blankly when I ask what the name of an important NPC is.  I'm not asking you find out every NPC and keep a detailed flow chart, just write down names of people who talk to you for more than a few minutes.  Usually the quest giver and any major NPC that can affect the party-captain of the guard, king, head of the local temple and maybe the innkeeper if you are going to be there for awhile.

This has always been a sticking point with some of my players.  They do have the correct assumption that this is their character's life, their character would know the name of these NPCs and that they--as players--don't need to write it down.  At the same time, I believe that is shows the the players are paying attention to what is going on.  (Probably cover more of this on the podcast...which might be a little later than normal.   Having issues with people, life issues that get in the way.)

Beyond that, the only two problems were minor.  One was an NPC bodyguard for one of the players didn't follow her somewhere.  I completely forgot about him is why and it wasn't until combat started that I realized no one asked about him.  So I decided he stayed in town.  It happens.  The other issue was the mage of the group sidled up alongside the skirmish that started towards the end of the night.  He asked for targets, I told him five.  I neglected to tell him that two were fellow PCs and one was a damsel in distress.  He proceeded to cast a spell to affect all five targets.  When I asked the players for saving throws, who both failed and were knocked unconscious by it, he realized the error.  He apologized and tried to take back the action.  Yet, I didn't allow it.

Once again, I think it falls into the category of a player not paying attention to the game.  He stated he was confused by what was going on.  Both points hold water.  Again, something we will talk more about on the podcast, I think.

The rule system is something I cut my teeth on.  Yet this is one of the first times when I didn't have to constantly look in the book for something.  Granted, I also put that down as a player handout rule.  And, most of the first session was roleplaying.  However, I hope that I can continue to have games without me or my players constantly looking up things in the book.  The only exception is mages and their spells.  I might have them put down notes on what their spells do, damage, range and the like.  Yet, this is just a thought at the moment.

Overall, it was a very fun game and I can't wait to do it again.  The way things are slated right now, I think it is an every other week game.  We shall see.