D&D@40 Blog Hop: Days 26 & 27

Well, this here challenge is almost over! I have to admit, I'm looking forward in particular to tomorrow's topic, because I have a lot to say about what D&D taught me. I'm also interested to read my fellow Blog Hoppers' posts on that subject. Now, on to today's topics (it's a two-fer!):

 

Day 26: Do you still game with the people who introduced you to the hobby?

 

Sadly, no. Ah, I do so miss those long-ago days when I gamed with the guys with which I grew up. We've tried now and then in recent years to get back to the roleplaying table, with only limited success. I have to stress that said limitation was on my part, really. How so? Well, I'm pretty sure I have ADD, and I'm not just talking about Gamer ADD. As a result, my attention span for RPGs has, at times over the last few years, been veeeery short.

 

Basically, my two old friends and I met so infrequently to roleplay back in 2010 (see the above link to a post from that year) that my ADD (whichever kind) drove me insane...rendering me unable to hack the slow progress of my campaign. And I called it quits.

 

I know. That's really lame, shitty, and no good excuse...especially in light of how, like many gamers my age or older, whine about wanting to get the old group back together. But there you have it, folks.

 

Well, actually, I may be too hard on myself. The two old friends didn't seem too devastated that we didn't keep that particular campaign going. Not sure what that says about the quality, but there you go.

 

Thought: I'm not sure if my regular ADD and Gamer ADD means I have a double dose of the condition when it comes to RPGs, but it sure feels like it sometimes.

 

Day 27: If you had to do it all over again, would you do anything different when you first started gaming?

 

Hmm. I would have done it more often. I would have been a player more often, rather than mostly DM. I would savor the insane amount of free time I had available to me for the hobby! I would reach out to more people beyond my group to find "fresh blood," and not suffer under the exploits of wackjob gamers.

 

Okay, I think I need to stop musing on that...otherwise, it might become a rather endless rabbit hole of nostalgia...

D&D@40 Blog Hop: Day 25

"We've been gaming together for so long, we're basically common-law polygamists."

Day 25: Longest running campaign/gaming group you've been in.

Hmmm, well...I played with a group of childhood friends from when I was around 13 until I was in my early 20s. So I have to say that that was my "longest running group" from my original gaming career.

 

These days, I've been gaming with some good people at my FLGS for a couple years. At the moment, I don't roleplay as much as I used to, but at least I have a group to go back to when I get a chance!

D&D@40 Blog Hop: Days 22, 23, & 24

Day 22: First D&D-based novel you ever read (Dragonlance Trilogy, Realms novels, etc.)

That would be STORMBLADE by Nancy Varian Berberick! I was a young lad, still struggling to escape from the clutches of conservative Christian dogma, when I came upon this "unsung hero" of the Dragonlance novel line. Looking back, it seems strange that this is my first experience with a fantasy novel. It's quite a humble introduction, I suppose. But there you go! If you've never read it, go find a copy! I highly recommend it!

Day 23: First song that comes to mind that you associate with D&D. Why?

"Ramble On" by Led Zeppelin!

Also, I think of "Ballad of the Adventurers" by David Bowie. Ever heard it? Check out the lyrics:

Sickened by sun, with rainstorms lashing him rotten
A looted wreath crowning his tangled hair
Every moment of his youth apart from its dream was forgotten
Gone the roof overhead, but the sky was always there

Oh you, who are flung out, alike from heaven and from Hades
You murderers who've been so bitterly repaid
Why did you part from the mothers who nursed you as babies
It was peaceful and you slept and there you stayed

Still he explores and rakes the absinthe green oceans
Though his mother has given him up for lost
Grinning and cursing with a few odd tears of contrition
Always in search of that land where life seems best

Loafing through hells and flocked through paradises
Calm and grinning, with a vanishing face
At times he still dreams of a small field he recognises
With a blue sky overhead and nothing else

Day 24: First movie that comes to mind that you associate with D&D. Why?

Conan the Barbarian! Because when I saw it as a kid going through my original gaming experience, it seemed like one big D&D adventure! For all its faults, I love it still! And I DEFY YOU to not be pumped up to play some D&D when you hear THIS:

 

Codex Nordica: Just over 24 hours left

There's just over 24 hours left for Troll Lord Game's latest Castles & Crusades Kickstarter, CODEX NORDICA! There's already been some great stretch goals that have been attained. If you haven't already, go check it out and be part of bringing some Viking fury to your C&C game...or any other D&D-type game for that matter!

D&D@40 Blog Hop: Day 21

 

Day 21: First time you sold some of your D&D books.

Well...I've never sold D&D books. Ever! I've sold lots of books from other RPG systems, but never D&D books. Just never had the desire to do so. I can't even part ways with my 3rd Edition core books, despite the fact that I will probably never play it again.

 

I've only ever "lost" D&D books over the years. As our old group split up, some of our books just went to different people in the group. AND, much to our eternal unhappiness, one of our friends went "hard-core Christian" and somehow "disposed" of a huge bulk of our D&D stuff! Ugh. I hate to think about it even to this day. It was like our own personal RPG Inquisition! I forgave him long ago, but the pain lingers on...

 

Wait! Maybe that trauma is what keeps me from getting rid of D&D books! 

 

I think I just had a breakthrough!

 

P.S. Despite the fact that I used the image above that depicts a book burning, I don't think the guy burned our books. I think he just threw them in the trash. Just as bad, though, in the end.

D&D@40 Blog Hop: Day 20

 

Day 20: First non-D&D RPG you played.

 

When I was still in the midst of my First Edition D&D days, somewhere along the way my group and I came upon a copy of a roleplaying book called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures! The 1980's version of the cartoon was in full swing at the time, and I was a fan. I also knew something about the grittier origins of the Turtles in the comics, and found that much more appealing. The cartoon could be quite goofy at times.

 

The book we aquired was my first exposure to the work of Erick Wujcik, who would later go on to craft my beloved Amber Diceless RPG, and the Palladium RPG company. It also turned out to be a book of adventure scenarios, and therefore contained just stats for NPCs and not the Palladium rules for actual play!

 

My group dove in, though, with the typical ingenuity of the gamer! We tried on a good number of occasions to create mutant animal characters using D&D rules, but we quickly got frustrated with that path.

 

Eventually, we got ahold of the actual rule book for Palladium's TMNT (as with the TMNT Adventures book, I'm not sure where we acquired the rules...memory fails again). But by that time, it was sort of a novelty, as we were really absorbed in the D&D world. We played a few times but soon enough we were back in the dungeons again!

Both the above books were a feast for the eyes, as they were illustrated by TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. I'm not sure where my copies of these books wound up, and that's a shame because my son has been exposed to the Turtles via the latest version of the cartoon. I would love to expose him to the RPG. Hmm, is that eBay calling?

Anyway, exposure to Palladium via the TMNT books was the gateway for our group to other RPGs from that company, specifically Ninjas & Superspies, Heroes Unlimited, and of course Rifts. We played those three Palladium games for a few years, until our group broke up as we got older and went our separate ways...you know the old story!

D&D@40 Blog Hop: Day 19

This isn't my annoying gamer, but this guy represents the annoying attitude.

Day 19: First gamer who just annoyed the hell out of you.

I have to say that I haven't been annoyed with too many of my fellow gamers. At least, the ones I've played with directly. I've been near players at other tables who were annoying as hell. But usually, I'm a pretty good judge of character and I usually seem to settle in with the right roleplayers who won't be, you know, PENISES.

 

Let me just say this: I am a self-deprecating person. To a fault, sometimes. When I joke, I'm the butt of those jokes. Unless I'm with good friends and we bust each other's balls. Otherwise, self-deprecation time.

 

NOW, there's a class of nerd I've been exposed to over the years that uses sarcasm as a weapon in lieu of actual self esteem. You've probably experienced them yourself: they have nothing good to say about anyone else at the table. If there's a girl gaming with you, it's even worse. They ratchet up the nerd-sarcasm to the Nth degree.

 

I know their jibes and jabs are born of self-loathing and self-pity, but I just can't stomach it. Probably because I've always gone out of my way to do the exact opposite of what they do.

 

With all that preamble out of the way, the first gamer to ever annoy me coincidentally came into my teenaged gaming fold about the time we got into 2nd Edition D&D. He was indeed one of the sarcasm-slinging nerds. He also happened to be the one and only gamer who insisted on being an evil character all the time. His favorite type of character? Drow anti-paladins. 'Nuff said.

 

He also took, uh, kendo, I guess. You know, the martial art focused on using swords. So, do you know where this is going? Yes, that's right: every fight became an exercise in extreme tedium, because he absolutely had to CHOREOGRAPH each fight in excruciating detail. When it came time for his turn, he would jump up from his seat, grab his wooden practice sword, and begin to go through the motions of showing what stance he would take, and how his inevitable flurry of blows would progress, one step at a time.

 

This whole thing was made all the more ridiculous due to D&D's famously abstract combat system.

 

We played with this guy for a while, but eventually the rest of us got tired of his verbal abuse as well as his absurd insistence on creating intricate slow-motion "sword-fu" scenarios during sessions. Why did we put up with him? Well, we were a pretty insular group of lower-middle-class kids, with no real interest in branching out to find new players further afield (i.e. in another town). Yes, we were shy and wary of those potential gamers beyond our group of long-time friends.

 

Also...being dirt poor and living in South Jersey, GenCon basically took place on the moon every year. That's how improbable it was that any of us would get there. And living in South Jersey, as I've stated before, is basically living in the FLGS post-apocalypse.

 

But eventually we grew apart, went separate ways, and the nightmare that was that particular phase of my gaming career came to a blessed end! Here's to better days, and better gamers I have discovered since then!