[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Twenty-five

Day Twenty-five: Longest running campaign/gaming group you've been in.

That would be my current group.

We've been gaming together for the past 14 years. We've had several campaigns during that time, the longest being our Dragon Mountain campaign back in 2000-2004 that spanned AD&D Second Edition through 3.5. Over that time, three of the members left, two of whom came back. We're a good group, we work and play well together, and have strengths that support the overall group. Sometimes I wish they had a desire to branch out once in a while to some Sci-fi or Superhero, but you can't have everything, right?

Slayers, I salute you!

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Eleven

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

I've said several times that my early days were spent in mostly skirmishing. We had the base set, the core rules so to speak. We didn't need or use anything extra. It wasn't until I started playing 2E AD&D in 2000 that I discovered the joys of splatbooks and supplements. In my case, I decided (on my own) that Boric needed a bit more OOMPH in the divine spell-casting department. Of course, back then--just as with the Dragon Magazine CD-ROM Archive--it was still quite easy to find 2nd Edition AD&D material, even if 3E was appearing on the scene.

So I scrounged around a bit and found these little gems.

The DM took a brief look through these and rapidly accepted and approved them, and some of the choicest spells were then transferred onto 3"x5" cards and carried into adventure in a recipe box. Yep. With these I had enough divine magic to open up a large can of whoop-*** at Moradin's will.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Ten

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

Technically speaking, the first gaming magazine I ever bought was the Dragon Magazine Archive CD-ROM. I lucked into finding this in early 2000, shortly after it was released. I say "lucked" because it's quickly become a highly sought-after piece of gamerabilia. I still have these and now use Adobe to read them, as the interface is a little buggy on these new-fangled computers. But hey, I still have the first 250 issues for reference, right? I've even used them since changing over to 3.x edition, so they're still useful and helpful. Plus, they're fun to read.

Then there was this, the first actual hardcopy Dragon Magazine that I purchased was this one: Issue #278. Why, you ask?

Because DWARVES, that's why.

I stumbled across this one day walking through one of the (then) local game shops, saw the "Dwarves" headline and I was sold. Yeah, I was still playing 2nd Edition D&D at the time and most of the 3E stuff in the issue wouldn't come in handy for another couple of years. But the issue contained Dwarven language information and sample battle cries. This was the one that prompted me to collect--ultimately--the other 108 issues. Yup. I have all the others. At least, I purchased/subscribed all the others, from 251 on. Double copies on some issues.

Of course, at last count I'm missing about 8 issues somewhere. I suspect a former GM still has some mixed in with his packed-up 3.x stuff. So, now I'm stuck trying to fill holes. Of course, the missing issues are also some of the most popular issues and replacing them is proving to be more than difficult. But it will happen. Oh yes, it will happen.

And it all started with #278.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Seven

Day Seven: First D&D product you ever bought. Do you still have it?

Let's see.... I've talked on several occasions about the first D&D product I ever owned. That would be the 1981 Basic Set, otherwise known as Moldvay D&D. Arguably all my knocking on doors and pimping crappy wrapping paper would constitute "buying" and I do still have this box and most of the contents.

However, I choose to be pedantic about it. Most of the "product" I purchased in those early years were miniatures; in fact, other than the copy of B-2: Keep on the Borderlands that came with the Moldvay set, I'm not sure I ever purchased another "module" or adventure for D&D until the turn of the century. Other games? Yes. (Star Frontiers and Car Wars products come first to mind.) But seeing as how the miniatures question is set for next week, I'll hold off on those items until then. Besides, one could argue those weren't truly D&D "products" as they were produced by third parties. Same argument about the dice I bought: produced by third parties. (Leave me alone; I sleep just fine at night with my justification as my pillow.)

So we have to fast forward to the turn of the century as I said. There was a slew of purchases that first year as I tried to get up to speed with 2nd Edition AD&D. But the very first item I purchased was a copy of the 2E AD&D Players Handbook. Well, I suppose it's properly the 2nd Edition AD&D Revised Players Handbook. Y'know, the 1995 version of the book, not the 1989 edition. I still have it and it's in great condition, even though it saw a lot of use that first few years. I must confess... I don't think it's been off the shelf more than a handful of times since the group switched over to 3.x Edition. It certainly hasn't been off the shelf in over three years, that's for sure. But I still have a lot of fond memories associated with it. I even have a second copy, one I purchased for my wife when a couple of us guys from the group were trying to get a "spouses" game started. That one's in even better condition than mine; I think it's only been opened three times.

But can anyone tell me what the heck is going on with that barbarian's arm? I mean, really? Did Jeff Easley have a brain cramp when he got to that part of the man's anatomy? Seriously, it's always bugged me. I would have much preferred if they'd used the same illustration from the 1989 version; I've always liked the warrior-on-warhorse Easley illustration instead.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Five

Day Five: First character to go from 1st level to the highest level possible in a given edition. (Or what's the highest level character you've ever ran?)

My characters didn't last long, back in the day. Mostly because we were easily bored and changed it up far too often. So, once again I'm going to have to jump ahead to my first 21st-century game, Dragon Mountain for the answer to today's question.




I've spoken about him before, my namesake, Boric Glanduum. As I've said before, shortly after the turn of the century, I joined a newly-resurrected group as one of two new players. I was the last one recruited and so was shoe-horned into filling a party need--the cleric. But I made the best of it and rolled up a dwarf. I hadn't played in a LONG time, and certainly had never played 2nd Edition AD&D; I was a NOOB for all intents and purposes. The DM was willing to work with me, though. He and I had a killer backstory woven into the entire campaign. Yeah, it was full of the usual tropes: exiled royalty, stronghold-stolen-by-dragon, magic weapons, etc. You know the type. He put together much of the backstory. I started out as a chosen of Moradin, a High Old One, even, and then advanced from there. During the campaign we had visitations from Moradin's Avatar, I became a Favored of Dumathoin, and lost a clan artifact to a lowly rust monster. Boric spanned 2E, 3E, and then 3.5. He's had several incarnations in 3.5; currently he's 26th level and we're preparing to dust off these epic characters and bring them from retirement.

Let me share a few artifacts I've dug from my files about Boric. You can click on the links if you should happen to want to look at full-size PDFs of the documents. First, a little of his backstory (the introductory paragraph was updated as time went by to show some of the later deeds. It also relied heavily upon a Dwarven Lexicon I've built up over time from various TSR and WotC products.

I also came across a copy of the 12th-level version of Boric's Character Sheet, complete with THAC0 chart for his various attacks, both with his ancestral warhammer and with his clan's Rod of Lordly Might (featuring a hammer rather than a mace).

By the way, this chart is what I think of every time someone tries to tell me just how much more complicated 3.x Edition combat is than, say, 2nd Edition combat. It features every possible iteration of each attack, special attack, or power, including certain common buffing spells such as prayer and bless.

September Blog Meme Challenge Day 7

Well, that certainly worked out well, didn't it? That blog meme really motivated me to write more, no?

Actually, it really did. I was just a victim of (a) failed technology and (b) personal issues. I tried to post a second post while at Salt Lake Comic Con on September 7. However, we Con-goers apparently broke the convention center's tech; e-mails, texts, even cell phone calls--nothing was going in or out of the building. When I tried afterwards, from home, my cell phone ate several posts. Admittedly, it's likely due to user error as I'm still getting used to using a smart phone.

Sigh.

But the remainder is purely my fault. Purchasing a law firm is rough enough. Trying to sort out the various administrative and financial messes that the former owner left for me adds several layers of exponentially-greater difficulties to the process. I actually found a six-inch-square part of my desk top bare today. I don't plan on it being there very long. At any rate, the whole new-business-owner thing is still fresh and still causing a major hassle. It's a distraction from my distractions. But know I'm at least thinking about you all while I struggle through real life.

Without further ado, then...

DAY SEVEN

What is your favorite edition?

Well, that's easy enough: D&D. Period.

What? You want MORE, you say? You want specificity? OK. Sigh. Back in 2000, when I picked up the dice again, my group was playing 2nd Edition AD&D, and had been for some time. My favorite character was spawned during that campaign, and I maintain he could kick the tail of any later iteration of the character. The subsequent editions nerfed a lot of what made him great, effective, and fun to play.

We were dragged, kicking and screaming, into Third Edition, and soon thereafter, 3.5E.

And we enjoyed it. Sure, there are some hiccups, hills and valleys, and speed bumps. Every edition has its problems.

Let me say that again, clearly: every edition has its problems.

Enough so that our long-time Dungeon Master decided--with the advent of 4E--that he'd had enough of the vagaries of 3.x and jumped ship. He tried to get us to go with him, but for various reasons no one else in the group wanted to jump with him. Since then, we've instituted a grundle of house rules and incorporated a lot of Pathfinder (and some OSR). What we play right now would be classified as maybe 3.8E (if Pathfinder is 3.75 as it's so often called). We also have several rotating DMs, all of whom understand that there's rules and then there's RULES. There are ways to stay within the RULES and still have a speedy, fun, and technically "correct" game. We try NOT to refer to any books while play is going on. If a rule is found later to have been violated by either DM or player, appropriate rewards or punishments are meted out.

I've played 4E and found it wasn't my cup of tea. I've played 2E and enjoyed it, as well as 3.x. So, I guess I could fudge and say "D&D of any edition." But, long answer short, if you're going to pin me down and make me pick something specific: my favorite edition would have to be 3.8E.

September Blog Meme Challenge Day 4

DAY FOUR

What is your favorite game world?

Well, with the limited playing time my group has, it's interesting to note that we've had several home-brewed campaigns interspersed with our published worlds. I had a DM try and play us in the Amber universe. That failed miserably: all the players agreed with that assessment. We've had some interesting planar adventures and a jaunt to Pathfinder's Golarion setting. All in all, though, I'd have to say I enjoy the Realms the most.

Mind you, it's an "edited" Realms. This ain't your daddy's Forgotten Realms, in other words.

I found a kindred spirit in this respect this morning, perusing the other participants in this month's blogging challenge. I happened across The Tower of the Archmage and was interested to see that he plays in a similar Realms that we do.

All of the major figures/players are absent. If they DO exist, they are elsewhere, putting out fires. Elminster is the only one that really has been named as existing. Drizzt and his companions? Nowhere to be found, happily, although we HAVE had one player dabble with a Drow character. He did it well, and different enough from Drizzt to be palatable.

The events of the novels and the campaign settings do not effect our Realms, unless we are actually playing through one of the campaigns. Largely, we are in a Realms sandbox, and take bits and pieces from published settings as it suits us.

My experience with the Forgotten Realms in this way is one reason I do not understand people who say that they can't play in this-or-that Published Setting because they don't like the major characters, don't want to worry about canon, don't want to be stuck following the guidelines of the novels, don't want to blah-blah-blah.

Make it your own. That's all it takes. Just like complaining about a rule set--take what you want and leave what you don't. Just because it's in a book--campaign setting or rule book--doesn't mean you HAVE to use it, unless the DM and/or entire party decides to use it.

We've journeyed through Our Realms since 2000. We've gone through 2E, 3E, 3.5E, and now Pathfinder as we've traveled. We care nothing for Salvatore or Greenwood's opinions on the matter, and we certainly didn't bother with any 4E Spellplague drivel. It's our Realms. And it's going to stay that way.

Found Item Friday: Beholder Pong

Sheesh.

The firm has been kicking me while I'm down lately. I thought that after the New Year I'd have more time to blog, game, write, etc. This last week is proving me wrong. I've left the office after longer-than-usual days with the best of intentions, only to fall asleep in my recliner.

Anyway, I had a little time to dig through some old boxes and guess what I found: my first beholder mini! (It sounds like it should be the new Fisher-Price release: My First Beholder!)

Twelve years ago, when I got back into gaming, there were few-to-no options on the market for gamers who wanted a beholder miniature. At least, no inexpensive options. But my group needed one and I devoted myself to finding one for the campaign.

So I did some searching.

I reached out to the few people I knew in my newly-rediscovered hobby. And lo! I lucked out. There used to be a "little" site up in Canada called Cyberdungeon.com. I'd had some quick e-bay interaction with the store and happened to ask a then-employee named Luc if he had any suggestions for a beholder.

He said that he'd heard of people using ping pong balls and making their own.

It was a revelation. I tried my hand at it. Using estimates from the 2nd Edition AD&D books, I roughed out a size-to-character ratio. A ping pong ball fit the bill perfectly. A bit of Green Stuff, some random beads and wire, and a little paint.

Say hello to my little friend.

So here it is; the pictures aren't that great, and he's got a bit of paint loss in spots, but all in all, I still love the little guy.It remains my only scratch-built/sculpted miniature, and was only my second "kit-bashed" miniature. But I think it worked. And I'm still danged proud of it.

Best of all: it scared the crap out of my fellow players and the DM loved it. I was named "propmaster" for the group and the rest is local miniature-collecting history. (grin) I only wish that I'd had a chance to show Luc what his innocent comment spawned. I promised him several times a photograph, but I never got around to it. Cyberdungeon.com closed their doors a year or so later, and I quickly lost touch with Luc. [By the way, if anyone out there knows Luc from Cyberdungeon.com or has any connections to the store (I believe he was in Quebec), I'd welcome any chance to get back in touch with him.]

Yeah, it's a bit cheesy. His secondary eyes make him look a bit like he's a crown rack of lamb; his eyes are not quite as wild as newer renditions seem to appear. And the guys can laugh at it now, years later. In fact, they call him "Ping." But I think they've forgotten that they all wet themselves--just a little--when the DM put this guy out on the board. (Here's a side view just to show that there is a bit of detail work; he isn't just a flat, painted ping pong ball.) I'm a bit proud of some of the details; for example, his pupil is a thrice-forked pupil. This came from an image from the Monstrous Manual; a picure by Tony DiTerlizzi of a group of beholder-kin showed several variations on the pupil shape. This was my take. I figured, "Hey, if they can have a pupil split into two, or stretched out, who's to say there's not a type out there with a thrice-forked pupil. Maybe it's a signal that the central eye just ain't what the characters expect it to be. Maybe THAT'S the disintegrating eye instead of an anti-magic field." I should note that this is the first time that theory/explanation has ever been used. No one's ever questioned the odd pupil. Who would have guessed? (And in truth, it makes me a bit sad that WotC decided to go with the plain, old single pupil with their beholders. Kinda boring, ain't it boys and girls?)

And just to show that my measurements were fairly accurate, all those years ago? Here he is next to one of Wizards of the Coast's DDM miniatures:
He flies a bit higher than WotC's mini. Attribute that to either higher buoyancy, a better attack angle, or the simple fact that I had never heard of a "flying base" for a mini before and I did the best I could with what I had. Size-wise, I think it matches up.

My buddies have always mocked the coloration of my beholder, too. Granted, it was an early paint job and he doesn't look slimy so much as metallic. But again, WotC validated my choice when they released their "ultimate" eye tyrant figure. Tell me what you think; I think the colors work JUST FINE.

Like I said, my buddies laugh about him now; in fact, they've nick-named him "Ping" (for obvious reasons). I don't take that as an insult, though. I take it as a badge of honor and a show of respect. Because all of them have admitted to me that I did something they could not do. And all of them have come to me at one point or another and paid their respect to Ping. Most--if not all, including the DM--have admitted being scared for their characters' lives, as well as the entire party, when Ping makes an appearance.

And something about him seems to demand a little respect. Maybe it's just the idea he's a beholder. Maybe it's something mystical; perhaps I instilled a bit of life to him with the care and patience with which I constructed him. I don't know what it is, but I do know that my kids shouted "NO!" in horror when I brought him out last night.

That makes me smile.

IT CAME!

It came! It came! It came! Itcameitcameitcameitcameitcame!!!

I've been wanting to pick up an issue of Loviatar for a couple months but only now was financially-able to take the plunge. Yeah, I know, $3 isn't much, but there you have it. The descriptions of the first three issues have intruiged me and issue number four certainly did not let me down.

Well, it did, but only a slight little hiccup. More below.

What is Loviatar? It's a great little digest-sized hardcopy magazine in Old School fashion. Don't take my word for it; head on over to the website and check it out for yourself. Christian did a nice job with this and was very accomodating with my shipment request. He was also quite kind when I started crying about losing some content...but again, more on that below.

The picture really doesn't do it justice; the cover is a great, striking yellow (perhaps canary?) but unfortunately the color scanner is down at the office and this is the best I could do. I hope you'll forgive me, Christian.

The Master Thief

After posting pictures of my namesake's miniature representations, I felt that I had to post up images of his closest ally, the Master Thief: Simon.

Simon and Boric have been through Hell and back with each other--side by side and back to back. Because of their joint heroics, Boric has been named Elf-Friend and Simon has been named Dwarf-friend. They've travelled through 2nd. Edition AD&D, Third Edition, 3.5E and now "epic" 3.5E.

Like last week, I will not bore you with tales of the characters' in-game deeds. There are other times and places for that.

Post 100: The Namesake

It's taken 1 year, 6 months, and 11 days to reach, but today I can celebrate 100 posts at the Dwarven Stronghold!

I could have made it an even 1 year, 6 months if I hadn't suffered a couple bouts of the gomboo and some work-related issues, but that's beside the point. The point is we've reached 100 posts!

To commemorate this day, I've decided to dig into my miniatures and give a sneak peek at my namesake, Boric.

I won't waste time spinning tales about my character--I know that becomes all too dreary to outsiders. Suffice it to say that I had a DM who wanted to get a gaming group together years post-high school. I had been out of the gaming scene for roughly fifteen years and was eager to jump back in. I knew him through our wives; I wasn't a high school buddy.... He'd already gotten commitments from all his high school group and a co-worker and the group needed one more: the cleric. This was where Boric was born.

Yeah, I was shoe-horned into filling a party need. But I made the best of it and rolled up a dwarf. For one thing, I hadn't played in a LONG time, and certainly had never played 2nd Edition AD&D; I was a NOOB for all intents and purposes. The DM was willing to work with me, though. He and I had a killer backstory woven into the entire campaign. Yeah, it was full of the usual tropes: exiled royalty, stronghold-stolen-by-dragon, magic weapons, etc. You know the type.

But it was fun. This was in early 2000 and we jumped into 2nd Edition AD&D with both feet. Splat books and Player Options everywhere; the DM didn't care so long as everyone had fun. He ran a wicked-cool game. I became the "prop-master" for the campaign and painted nearly all of the miniatures used in the game. All was well with the world.

And then, shortly after we started the campaign, Wizards of the Coast came rudely into our lives. Third Edition was announced. We researched it, the DM and I (mostly through Dragon Magazine) and decided we didn't need it at this time.

We resisted "The Change" for about two years. Finally we started seeing some things we liked and picking up books. Slowly but surely we started figuring out ways of converting the still-ongoing campaign (we were playing, on average, twice per month so game-time hadn't been all that long). We took the plunge, bought the books, and started the conversion. There were some things that had to be changed on all of our characters. Some ret-conning took place; there was a bit of the same thing that the world of the Forgotten Realms would suffer in a few years with the Spell Plague and 4E. It was a convenient time in the campaign because our mage had just taken some steps that led to a royally pissed-off Mystra in our non-canon Realms. The result of those acts changed the landscape enough that Third Edition was possible.


Hey, let's be honest: it also gave me a chance to paint another miniature.

The change-over, as you could probably predict, was not that smooth or easy. The first problem came when we realized that we were running technically epic characters and that had its whole separate set of rules. The second problem came when we thought we could just use the Epic Level Handbook and call it good.

Stop laughing.

You see, to those who may not know, the Epic Level Handbook is widely considered to be the worst and most broken rulebook Wizards of the Coast ever produced. Those who don't consider it #1 surely have it in their top 5, possibly top 3. I consider it the worst, so I can't even offer 2 or 3 others that may be worse.

Our third problem? We had not waited quite long enough to make the switchover: here came 3.5E. And a whole new round of book-buying occurred. Once again we were retro-fitting characters and rules that simply were no longer possible under the existing ruleset. Yeah, we had that mindset, to my hindsight-induced dismay. We limped into a good place to end the campaign--or at least suspend it. Playing these characters, at the end, just wasn't fun any longer. Everyone agreed.

We rolled up new Third Edition--OK, 3.5E--characters. Life went on. Fast forward five years. Same group, but the old DM's departure from the group necessitated a new DM, and a new campaign. He needed some high-powered NPCs to help out as a shadow organization. He called me up and queried about the possibility of using my dwarf and his elf from the old campaign as these high-powered NPCs. We quickly statted up 23rd level characters, agreeing NOT to use the Epic Level Handbook this time. Problem was, we needed new miniatures for both of us.

Both Boric and the new DM's elf got a makeover (I'll post pics of the elf sometime soon). We added on to the backstories of our old characters, and by now were well-enough versed in Third/3.5 Edition that we made better choices with the characters. They made some great cameo appearances in the then-current campaign. In fact, it may have been the best use of DM NPCs I've ever seen: they were used for information sources and interaction. Nothing more. They weren't called upon to slay the mighty dragon while the PCs watched. They also didn't give away the answers sought--we had to work at it. Masterfully done, I still say to this day.

Now we're in 2011. The old DM came back. He had an idea to pick up threads of the original campaign, again epic level without the use of the "Epic" rules. The idea was to run a quick campaign to wrap up the original campaign once and for all. (The BBEG got away all those years ago, after all.)

This, of course, meant we had to update the miniatures. OK, we didn't need to, but I wanted to take another stab at Boric. This was the result.

I hadn't painted in about a year and I was a bit rusty. But I'd had this miniature sitting around for a while and he seemed to fit the new attitude. I now had a chance to use it. I also had a chance to play around with the figure itself and went out on a kit-bashing limb: I added magnets. I'd wanted to try it out for years since reading about it in White Dwarf in the early 2000s. I'd just never had a miniature that called for it. Now I did. Both his pack and his shield are, as shown below, removable.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. Both paint-wise and magnet-wise. [Although looking at these pictures tells me that I forgot to seal the figure. D'oh.]

The new DM allowed us to once again retro-fit all our old, original characters. I had several years' more experience with the rule system and started from scratch; I used none of the previous "updated" characters' information, except maybe the backstory.

Although there were some things that still could not be duplicated in 3.5, I'm fairly happy with the new incarnation. There is enough out there between WotC and third-party publishers that we got dang close.

How close, you ask? Close enough that he was able to stand toe-to-toe with a gargantuan black dragon and win (although the fact that my miniature was not, at the time, wearing his pack almost caused his demise).

How close? Frankly, he's close enough to make playing him fun once again. He's about as close as possible to the High Old one of Moradin, the Sonnlinor of old, that could call down the fires of heaven upon his foes, the dwarf that I first came to know and love. My namesake.

Happy 100th, my friends.

The First Step

"Who are you?"

Well, that's a long story. So far as this blog is concerned, and so far as the interest of time allows, suffice it to say this: I am a Gamer.