This is something I've been wanting to do / putting off for a long time. This blog will be about role-playing games, most notably Dungeons and Dragons and its many variant rule sets and products. I will post session recaps from the games that I referee and play in, review products (literally my bookshelf is bowing from the weight of all the role-playing books I own), as well me giving referee advice and thoughts.
Before we begin though, I feel like you, the reader, should know my background in the hobby and why I love this game so much. It all started for me in the early 90's during a summer break at a friend's place. The set up was not elaborate: a fold-out table, some chips and the D&D Rules Cyclopedia. I was hooked....no, I was addicted immediately. My friend ran myself and another through a custom castle dungeon he had created, but the world I immersed myself in that day would forever change me. Looking back, it would be many years until I got my hands on a another D&D Rules Cyclopedia, which is a compilation of the variant boxed sets released in the first edition of the game and in my opinion one of the finest products released by for the game system, and I paid way more for it this time.
Before long, I had my own rule books, I had used allowances to purchase many of the setting boxed sets (Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Ravenloft) that were all the rage in the 2nd edition of D&D, and I was creating and refereeing my own adventures for my friends. I could not get enough, it was always my first option when the friends gathered. But like many things in our life, we lose interest or the ability to do the same things we love, such was the case for role-playing games for me. School, work, parties, college....but always it stayed in the back of mind.
Flash forward to 7 years ago. Now married, in a career, no kids as of that time, and yet there was something missing from my life: no outlet for creativity, social interaction and laughs. On a whim, I went out and purchased the latest version of the game....scratch that, 4th edition was the latest edition, but after watching some YouTube play of that version of the game, I decided to pick up and play the Pathfinder rule set. I literally forced some of my friends into joining a Roll20 game that I would referee. To get my legs underneath of me again, I ran Rise of the Runelords....it was amazing, looking back my opinion on this changes a bit, but that will be for another day. The rules in my opinion were a little complex and clunky, but we made do, learning the rules as we played. After several sessions, they had cleared the first chapter, but that's where the group fell apart. Turns out that D&D groups die to scheduling more than any monster or trap ever conceived.
I was hooked again though and craving more. Breaking out of my introvert shell, I sent out some emails to some work colleagues: "Hey, so random question. Have you ever heard of D&D?"......
I will continue this story in another post, which will be the recap of the Shadowvale (homebrew) campaign that I ran over the past few years for that group. So, what is it that I love so much about this game? There is so much, but for me most of al it is: bringing together people, escaping to this fantasy world for a few hours, laughs with friends, and just creating a story with a group of people that nothing else can ever simulate.
Before long, I had my own rule books, I had used allowances to purchase many of the setting boxed sets (Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Ravenloft) that were all the rage in the 2nd edition of D&D, and I was creating and refereeing my own adventures for my friends. I could not get enough, it was always my first option when the friends gathered. But like many things in our life, we lose interest or the ability to do the same things we love, such was the case for role-playing games for me. School, work, parties, college....but always it stayed in the back of mind.
Flash forward to 7 years ago. Now married, in a career, no kids as of that time, and yet there was something missing from my life: no outlet for creativity, social interaction and laughs. On a whim, I went out and purchased the latest version of the game....scratch that, 4th edition was the latest edition, but after watching some YouTube play of that version of the game, I decided to pick up and play the Pathfinder rule set. I literally forced some of my friends into joining a Roll20 game that I would referee. To get my legs underneath of me again, I ran Rise of the Runelords....it was amazing, looking back my opinion on this changes a bit, but that will be for another day. The rules in my opinion were a little complex and clunky, but we made do, learning the rules as we played. After several sessions, they had cleared the first chapter, but that's where the group fell apart. Turns out that D&D groups die to scheduling more than any monster or trap ever conceived.
I was hooked again though and craving more. Breaking out of my introvert shell, I sent out some emails to some work colleagues: "Hey, so random question. Have you ever heard of D&D?"......
I will continue this story in another post, which will be the recap of the Shadowvale (homebrew) campaign that I ran over the past few years for that group. So, what is it that I love so much about this game? There is so much, but for me most of al it is: bringing together people, escaping to this fantasy world for a few hours, laughs with friends, and just creating a story with a group of people that nothing else can ever simulate.
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