Thursday, February 13, 2014

By Mattel

The D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge rolls on . . .

Day 13: First miniature(s) you used for D&D.

Actuall, the first miniatures I used for D&D were the minis that came with the Mattel Electronics Dungeons & Dragons Computer Labyrinth Game.  That is sort of cheating - but then again, it's sort of awesome too. :)

On the art front, I got in a big batch of Japanese art supplies - blue lead, pens, etc - and this is the result of me dorking around with them for three minutes.  Wheeeeeee!

- Ark

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Gemini @ Saturn

The D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge rolls on . .

Day 12: First store where you bought your gaming supplies.  Does it still exist?

I found my first fix of D&D at a Waldenbooks in a mall in Clear Lake, Texas.  There was this spinny rack thing with all sorts of books and modules.  I remember it well, and made many, many trips back.

But no, I don't think Waldenbooks exist anymore.

As an aside - at the time, I lived in an apartment behind Mission Control - you know 'Houston, we have a problem.'  Yeah, that place - at the corner of Saturn Lane and Gemini Street.  Some guys from NASA come to our school when Voyager 1 was at Saturn and showed us raw video of the pictures beaming back.  Then, some NASA scientists organized a summer school class to teach us programming.  In 1981.  I wrote a character generator - of course. :)

- Ark

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Revenge of the Dead Simple Lock & Trap Mini-game

About a billion years ago, the OSR Blogosphere was chewing over a method to make dealing with locks and traps more interesting for thieves in D&D.  Taking all of the good ideas, I taped together a method that my son liked - the Dead Simple Lock & Trap Mini-game.

Well, I just got a message from one André LCRJ out of Brazil . . .


Hi, I’m a little late but I only discovered your site now, and I have to say that your idea is fantastic. In fact, I liked it so much that I made a BURP deck for me, in Portuguese (It is a FORS deck actually). But since you were so kind as to share your game I might as well do the same, and I made a deck in english too. The distribution is the same of a standard deck of cards: Four suites from 1 to 10 plus 3 face cards for each suite (Lock, Hourglass & Key). The size of the cards fit a standard card shield. I added a little extra too: At the bottom of each card there’s a “Magic 8-Ball” like sentence, that a DM can use to solve some problem that he might have in the game session. Hope you enjoy.

The deck is HERE.

Cheers,

André

So thanks, André for the awesome card deck.  Now I need to get it printed out all fancy-like.

- Ark

Splat?

The D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge rolls on . . .

Day 11: First splatbook you begged your DM to approve.

Um . . . I don't understand the question.  I don't think I've ever done that . . . beg . . . that word - no - or splat.

:)

- Ark


Monday, February 10, 2014

First Magazine

On with the Anniversary Blog Hop . . .

Day 10: First gaming magazine you ever bought (Dragon, Dungeon, White Dwarf, etc.)

That would be Dragon #45.  As soon as I found out there was such a thing as a gaming magazine - I was hooked.

Now this dragon over on the left . . . well . . . he needs some work.  Been experimenting with markers.  Apparently I need a heck of a lot more experimentation. :)

- Ark

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Welcome to the D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge!

Day 9: First campaign setting (published or homebrew) you played in.

That one is easy.  I bought The World of Greyhawk folio early on, and everything, by default, happened there until I got around to making my own worlds.

- Ark

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Hardcore Wax Play

Welcome to the D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge!

Day 8: First set of polyhedral dice you owned.  Do you still use them?

They were in my box, of course.  With a crayon!  We were hardcore back then - rubbing our little no-brand crayons against polyhedral shapes until we got blisters.  I've got some of those dice still - but no, they are too chewed up to use.

- Ark