Monday, February 24, 2014

What is Best in Life?

Prismacolor marker experiment.
The D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge

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

Conan the Barbarian.  Why?

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."

That's why.

- Ark

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Black Blade

The D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge

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

"Black Blade" by Blue Öyster Cult.

Why?  Why?  Because it was written by fucking Elric of Melniboné, that's why.

Oh, and we whee listening to A LOT of Blue Öyster Cult at the time. :)

- Ark

Saturday, February 22, 2014

D&D Books

Coffee shop patron in a small Texas town.
The D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge


Day 22: First D&D-based novel you ever read.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight was the first D&D novel I read.  My mother had read Quag Keep years before, but her description of it never interested me enough to pick that one up.  I immediately fell in love with the world of Dragonlance.  Fizban was awesome, and even the Kender couldn't sway my interest.

I even remember fretting all summer long (1985) over the sickeningly sappy love triangle, waiting eagerly for Dragons of Spring Dawning to come out.

Then there was the series that went back in time - which was kind of interesting.  But all the stuff that was printed after that - meh.

A year or two ago I went back and read Dragons of Autumn Twilight again.  Nostalgic, yes, but it definitely fits into that whole YA thing, and doesn't really lift it's chin above that pigeon-hole.

The Boy loved the series - that's all that matters. :)

- Ark

Friday, February 21, 2014

Sad Books

A chat at the coffee shop.
The D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge

Day 21: First time you sold some of your D&D books - for whatever reason.

A couple of months ago - actually.

I've lost A LOT of gaming books and modules and paraphernalia over the years.  Moving once or twice a year, not being able to pay the storage bill and having the items auction off, just being stupid - yeah - those all took a huge toll on my collection.  But selling D&D stuff?  No - Never - I Never, Ever, Ever would do that . . .

Oh, wait.  Just before we moved back in December I looked over everything that I was going to have to move and decided that my huge collection of books had to get whittled down.  It was actually easier than I thought - and a trip to Half-Price Books later and all of my 4e stuff was gone.  Weeeeelll - I kept the stuff from the Essentials line.  And the Dungeon Tiles.  And the Minis.

Oh, I did keep the Hammerfast.  The module - um, I mean "Roleplaying Game Supplement," is a neat little dwarven town full of adventures.  It is so unlike any other 4e adventures, it makes you do a double-take.  There is a description of the town, places in the town, people in the town, and possible adventures.  And some maps.  And LINE DRAWINGS.  But no pre-programmed overly scripted combat scenario monstrosities that plague every other facet of 4e.  It really feels like an original D&D product - just scrape out some stat blocks and insert your favorite rule-set.  I'd recommend it.

But the 14 metric tons of rules, adventures, and splat books all went splat.  I still see them sitting on the shelves at the Half-Price Book store three months later - along with everyone else's copies of 4e books.  It seems rather sad.

- Ark

Thursday, February 20, 2014

It's a Secret

He really wasn't this sad.  The sketch just turned out that way.
The D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge

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

While I am pretty sure I bought Gamma World before Top Secret, we actually got in a Top Secret game before the mutant-fest began.

As a kid, I really enjoyed James Bond movies, history, weaponry, geography, politics, and foreign languages and cultures - so Top Secret was perfect.  I loved the name of the first module - Sprechenhaltestelle and enjoyed the name of the game author so much that Merle M. Rasmussen became the name of the agent's handler at the bureau.  Oh - and the percentile dice.  I loved them.  The system - to me at least - made so much more sense than the whole polyhedral thing going on with Dungeons and Dragons.

Interestingly, I never got the Top Secret Companion with its rule changes.  Even when I purchased Top Secret/SI - I just didn't like the rules revamp.  I liked the original rules written for the original boxed set.  As far as I was concerned, they were perfect for the types of games I was running - and I ran Top Secret Games from 1981 till 1987.

Gamma World, on the other hand, didn't make sense to me at all.  Hated it.  It was just completely crazy and non-sequitur.  Of course, it was that way by design - and if I had met Jim Ward back then, it would have clicked. :)

- Ark

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Day 19: First Gamer That Annoyed the Hell Out of You

Two of my current players sitting at IHOP.  The topic of this post is merely coincidental.
The D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge

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

Early in my gaming career, the family moved from a real city (Houston) to a not-real-city, Stephenville, TX.  Back then, the town had something like 10,000 people, a Rexall Drug Store, a movie theater with one screen, and absolutely no where to buy D&D supplies.  There were a couple of kids there that liked D&D, but Satanic Panic was pretty heavy there, so it was hard to get a game going.  I just read my old D&D stuff over and over again.

Then, about six months after moving, my mother decides to take a trip 80 miles or so to the nearest mall for a shopping spree.  I high-tailed it to the nearest bookstore - and lo and behold - they had D&D stuff.  I saw this little manila book called Swords and Spells, and had to snatch it up.  That's when HE came in the store.

He was this kid - about as old as I was, who LOVED D&D.  Loved it to tears.  He loved his 87th level Thief/Bard/Magic-user/Ninja/Cyborg/Chiropodist too, and told me all about Magnifidorf the Magnificent's adventures.

For like thirty minutes.

I tried to chew my leg off and limp stealthily away, but no, he was too strong in the force, and held me in place as he accounted for every piece of copper his character had ever found, and recited poems in iambic pentameter lauding his talking, singing, magic vorpal sword of freezing annihilation named Brutus.

Eventually I escaped, reeling from the onslaught.

For decades, I abstained from talking to anyone about the adventures of my characters, or the contents of the campaigns I ran, unless someone specifically asked - and then - I tried to be a brief as possible.  Magnifidorf the Magnificent's player/operator really put the fear in me - the fear of being perceived as a boring, obsessed, geek/dweeb with a thin grasp of reality and even thinner grasp of the patience of others.

Of course, now I blog about that kind of shit. :)

Oh, and if Magnifidorf the Magnificent's player/operator is out there - I'm sorry.  Follow your bliss.  Talk all you want.  I'll make popcorn.

- Ark

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

FurstKhan

Them there mobile phone addicts at the coffee shop.
The D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge

Day 18: First gaming convention you ever attended.

My first gaming convention was NTRPGCon on 2011.  My experience inspired a few posts:

NTRPGCon - 2011
Stapled
Get Thee To A Convention
Gaming on a Harley - The DCC RPG Experience
Why I Am Broke
Not Amused Door is Not Amused
Dungeonspiration: Urutsk
That'll Do, Pig. That'll Do.

- Ark