I Cast RESURRECTION!!!

So,  I know it's been awhile. I didn't realize it had been quite that long. I hope some of you are still around out there.

I know I've talked about some of my roadblocks to blogging before: depression and a new career have been the main cause. Well, they haven't gotten much better. My creativity just gets sucked away by the time I get home. 

So i'm going to try something a little different. Call it a new beginning. This dwarf is going to add some anachronistic material to the Stronghold i.e., going to branch out from just D&D-type stuff. Maybe some more real life stuff. Give me your feedback; tell me what you'd like to see. 

It's good to be back. Hopefully I can make it stick. 

Shameless Plug!

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[The Stronghold 'Zine] Day One is In The Books--Sales Report

Well, my friends, "Day One" is done and, I must say, I'm both amazed and humbled. Amazed at the feeling of watching my product go out into the world and humbled that so many of you thought enough to grab a copy of The Stronghold 'Zine, Issue #1, on Day One. I have to give a shout-out to those who forwarded the news of the release out into the world; specifically +Tim Shorts and +Jim Magnusson for their efforts to get the word out.

All told, fourteen of you pulled the trigger on Issue #1 yesterday, from all across the US, to Canada, and the UK and Australia as well. Those of you in the US, your copies are in the mail. International customers? Well, yours will be in the mail this afternoon, once I clear up a couple things around the office.

A reminder: this IS a "print only" run. The good news is that I still have some copies left after yesterday's madness.

(I say "madness" only because every time I looked at the computer it seems there was yet another sale notification. And there's another one now.)

Grab 'em while they're hot, my friends. Purchase info is below.

**You can see a preview of the contents here or click on the link below to go ahead and buy.**

Rates:

USA $5.00 USD Canada $5.50 USD Europe & Australia $6.00 USD

[The Stronghold 'Zine] Get the Cigars, Boys! The Stork's Arrived!

What you see is the cover image for Issue #1 of The Stronghold. That's right, boys and girls, we have a new baby. And I'm a proud, proud papa. Like I've said before, I think there's some good, fun, and useful stuff between these pages.

Plus, I'm humbled to have been graced with a magnificent cover image by none other than the great Jay Penn and two wonderful illustrations within by the extremely talented (and quick-penned) Jim Magnusson.

The first copies have already hit the US Mail system, hot off the press. I can't wait to see what y'all think. The link to buy your own copy is below; sorry, for the time being, it's a "Print Only" 'zine, in the old-school-style tradition. Also, unfortunately rates to places outside the US are a bit higher, due to postage costs. Hopefully that won't dissuade you from picking up a copy. Or two.

**You can see a preview of the contents here or click on the link below to go ahead and buy.**

When you do pick up a copy, please drop me a line, especially if you use anything from Issue #1 in your game.

Rates:

USA $5.00 USD Canada $5.50 USD Europe & Australia $6.00 USD

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

Day Twenty-six: Do you still game with the group that introduced you to the hobby?

Nope. That ship sailed a long time ago. It wasn't really a "group" per se. As I've mentioned several times, my original "group" consisted of two of us: my best friend and I. We've gone our separate ways, although we've recently re-connected in a different circle. We still talk about gaming, but we play different games these days.

Now, if you were to ask if I still gamed with the group that re-introduced me to the hobby, I'd have to say, "Yes."

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

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

Easy.

Hotel California, by the Eagles, 1977.

If you have to ask why... c'mon, have you never LISTENED to the lyrics? I know, I know, Don Henley has claimed that the song was an "interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles" and that "It's basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America." All that symbolism aside, I still say:

Why has no one written an adventure based on Hotel California?!?

Let's take a quick look at the obvious: you have an adventurer, traveling in the dark. He sees a light in the distance, and immediately becomes sleepy. We have a mysterious woman whose motives are unclear who welcomes him into the house by candlelight. Charm spell, anyone? Once inside, he hears voices. Ghosts? Undead? Captives? Minions? Who knows?

This mysterious woman--Tiffany--has a bunch of boy toys pretty boys thralls in the courtyard, dancing. Honestly, some of them may actually be zombies, too. I can see in my mind both kinds: the thralls are in the middle of the courtyard, ball-room dancing while the zombies are around the edges, perhaps a few interspersed in the crowd, and every day they're shuffling, shuffling, shuffling. (I couldn't resist.)

Now, the idea that you entered the building willingly takes on a particularly dark and sinister note, doesn't it?

The hero asks for provisions, without any luck. And then, the voices come back, and loud enough to wake you up in the night. As you wander around investigating the building, you find garish, tacky, or out-of-date decor: mirrored ceilings, although despite the lyrics I always see them as a room of mirrors, like in the funhouse; fancy, cloying food and drink; and prisoners, but possibly willing prisoners. Maybe they're more thralls, maybe some of them are merely kept for occasional "snacks."

Then you find yourself in the "master's chambers." Perhaps Tiffany isn't the BBEG after all.... Whoever IS master, however, has a beast of some kind chained in his chambers. All of the thralls and his other subjects have gathered there for a ritual sacrifice: The Feast. No matter what they do to it, it will not die. Perhaps it's troll-kin. Perhaps they have a resident cleric who waits until the creature is on the verge of death and who then heals it back to normal. Whatever it is, the ritual is sufficient to cause the adventurer to run, nearly senseless, for the front door.

Only now he finds that there is no front door. The entire building is a trap. And the evil butler, himself likely a mid-level vampire, tells him that he can "check out" at any time, but cannot leave the building. He can die at any time, but he cannot escape.

Now you tell me.... Why would I possibly associate this song with D&D, hmmm? `

"Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light. My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim; I had to stop for the night."

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

Day Twenty-two: First D&D-based novel you ever read (Dragonlance trilogy, Realms novels, etc.)

OK. I have to play a game of semantics here. I'm pretty sure I know the answer to today's question, but there's some difficulty in my mind with the word "novel." Did the author of the list of questions mean "novel" to be "any non-game book that is associated with the D&D world"? Or did he mean it to be "any non-game book that is associated with the D&D world that is of generally-accepted novel length"?

Here's why I ask the question. Rather, here's why the conundrum is raised.

My first true novel-length D&D-related non-game book was R.A. Salvatore's The Crystal Shard. Yep. You could say that I cut my teeth on Drizz't Do'urden's swords. I want to say it was somewhere in the fall of 1991 when I first read it, although I didn't remember that I had read it until about a decade later when I picked it up again and got one-third through it before I had the "a-ha! moment."

I'm not as critical of the series as a lot of gamers are. Yeah, Salvatore's not Shakespeare, but he's also published a heck of a lot more than I have. So, he's due a little deference for that, at least. They're a fun read, again, as long as you're not expecting Twain, Steinbeck, or Hemingway. I also like how he treated the dwarves, at least initially. (I take GREAT exception to how dwarves were treated in his Cleric Quintet, on the other hand.) I certainly prefer his writing to that of Ed Greenwood. Although I understand that--for some--that may not be saying too much.

Now, the conundrum.

This little gem was, I believe, the first "non-game book that was D&D-based" that I ever read and owned. Revolt of the Dwarves was one of the Endless Quest choose-your-own-ending* books that TSR published. In fact it was the fifth in the series. I still have it, I believe...somewhere in my vast library. As I said yesterday, I've never sold--let alone given away--any of my books that I can remember. I don't remember a lot about it; I seem to remember a story line about some rebellious dwarves, the reader is separated from his/her parents, and you have to attempt to survive on your own in the world. I'm truly not sure what else there was. In fact, looking online, I'm surprised to find that the book was over 150 pages. I certainly don't remember it being that large. I've only found the page count in one place so far on the internet. Granted, I haven't looked that hard; maybe I'll have to dig out my copy for verification purposes. And to make sure it gets on my game-stuff shelves. [Aside: for the record--and to beat my gaming group to it--"Yes, all dwarves are revolting.They're smelly and hairy. We get it. Ha. Ha. End aside.]

Looking at this book again after all this time raises a few questions in my older, more cultured, gamer mind. Why are the dwarves riding horses? And why does the dwarf in the lead look more like a mongol--say, Gengis Khan--than Gimli? Of course, I guess you could make the argument that these are war-ponies and not actual horses...but there's nothing else on the cover that gives a sense of scale.

*There's a specific reason I did not call it a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. That phrase actually described specific titles published by Bantam. I did not remember these two were separate until I did a search for "choose your own adventure" and "TSR" at which point "Endless Quest" popped up in the results.

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

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

Another easy one. I have never sold any of them.

Heck, I'm not sure I've ever sold any of my books, regardless of what they were, RPG or no. (OK, college textbooks don't count in that respect.) I love books. I am a self-proclaimed bibliophage. I have a book with me wherever I go. As much as I would like a Kindle or similar e-reader--for the convenience of it--I love the feel and smell of books more. My library is huge. I've even lost track of where some of my books are.

Yeah. I'm not even sure I've ever even traded books to a book exchange or a used bookstore. They just mean too much to me.

So...selling game books? Not yet.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Twenty

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

After D&D, I had one other RPG love as a youth. One that rescued me from having Gamma World as my first non-D&D RPG by a couple of months. (See yesterday's post for an explanation of that comment.) In fact, it was this other RPG love that caused much of the grief and contention with yesterday's-mentioned Justin Case.

What was this first second love?

One hint:

STAR FRONTIERS!!!

This, D&D, and Car Wars formed the triumvirate of my gaming loves for most of my youth. We even managed to shoehorn a bit of Star Wars into our Star Frontiers. Lightsabers and the Force--granted, not under those names, of course--were statted up, as was the Sith Lord.

I haven't played in over twenty years. My books are all still somewhere around, though, and I try to keep somewhat abreast of the still-living Star Frontiers online community. Unfortunately, none of my current gaming group wants to try their hand at Sci-Fi or Space Opera.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Nineteen

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

There was a fellow once, back in the mists of time, that I met at a summer camp. He introduced himself as Justin Case. I still have my doubts as to whether that was actually his name or not. Anyway, I was stuck in a cabin with him for an entire week with no escape from the tales of his exploits.

He didn't play D&D--he felt that was too childish a game for his mature twelve years. Yeah...that was the footing from which we started. HIS game was Gamma World. I'd never played or been exposed to Gamma World before then; "lucky" for me, he brought his books to camp with him.

This also explains why I've never picked up Gamma World since that week.

He ran a couple of quick adventures for a bunch of us after "lights out." Most of what I remember is foolishness about finding a sacred toaster and his powerful PCs showing up as NPCs to taunt, fight, and kill off our characters. When he wasn't fighting us with his personal characters, he was telling us stories about what these characters (and others) had done in other campaigns.

Finally, it got bad enough that a couple others in the cabin wound up helping him find his way into one of the large multi-gallon trash cans near the kitchen. I have to confess: I wasn't involved, but wasn't sad to hear about it. It worked, too--whatever threats had been levied against him, he shut up about Gamma World, which gave us a 24-hour period of peace and quiet.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Seventeen

Day Seventeen: First time you heard that D&D was somehow "evil."

This one's kinda easy, although I can't put a specific date on it. My parents, I guess, bought into the hype of the day a few years after I started playing. Let's call it the early 1980s.

Throughout my junior high days, they counseled and argued about the "wisdom" of playing, and expressed a lot of concerns, although I'm not sure that I ever actually heard them use the word "evil" in connection with D&D. I knew they considered playing it a bad idea and were concerned about its possible effects.

I have no proof that a Jack Chick pamphlet was ever in my parents' home.

In high school, I let my gaming taper off; by then I was more into Car Wars, Champions, and Star Trek. By the time I graduated and started my undergraduate studies in 1987, I'd pretty much put everything away. It was a personal choice, not one imposed on me. And it was a choice made based on time-use and priorities, not "evil vs. good."

A dozen years later, I picked up my dice again.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Fourteen

Day Fourteen: Did you meet your significant other while playing D&D? Does he or she still play? (Or just post a randomly generated monster in protest of Valentine's Day.)

My significant other had no idea that I was a gamer for the first several years of our marriage. And vice versa.

As I've explained countless times, there was a large gap of non-gaming time in my twenties. As the turn of the century approached and a new gaming group invited me to join, I went to my wife for "permission," seeing as how it was bound to take time away from her, which, as a new attorney, was extremely limited. The prep and self-psyching for THAT conversation was really interesting!

And anti-climatic. It was more of a "What? You played? So did I!!"-kind of conversation. Come to find out that she also started playing with the Moldvay Basic Set. Unfortunately, most of her gaming stuff has vanished over the years.

As far as still playing, well, she's dabbled. My group tried to spin-off a "wives' group" game; that ended for her with the birth of our son and a changed focus and time-consuming new "hobby." This past New Year's Eve she actually sat-in once my eldest daughter wandered away and locked herself in her room with her cell phone. My wife jumped in and played the daughter's character for a little while; she seemed to have fun. Perhaps it's time to get her to roll up a character and add her in to the group.

Happy Valentine's Day, honey.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Thirteen

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

My very first miniature is apparently lost to time. I have looked and looked and cannot find him anywhere. I believe that what happened is this: my first DM and I, as I mentioned yesterday, commonly pooled our spare change to buy minis. I vaguely remember when we went our separate ways we divvied up the minis. Somehow, it appears, I ended up with most of the monsters and none of the characters. I've gone searching on the internet and have found a picture of what I believe was my first purchased miniature, ever. If you read my post yesterday, you'll remember that I said the game store/toy store broke up boxed sets and sold the miniatures individually? Well, this one was a victim of that practice, coming from Grenadier Models' Advanced Dungeons & Dragons #2002-Halflings boxed set. This fellow was known simply as "Swordsman." I seem to remember that the color yellow figured prominently in his paint scheme, and I also think red was in there.

Boy, I wish I still had him.

I've managed to dig up most of my other 30+ year old miniatures, though. My kids, when they asked, "What's in the box, Dad?" and I answered, "Miniatures. 35-year-old metal miniatures..." -- Ooh-ed and Aah-ed. It was a great moment. Here's a few of the old ones.

This miniature was one of my favorites at the time. I'm pretty sure that's why I kept this one. I mean, it was a giant carrying a morningstar, right? How could you go wrong with that? A quick internet search tells me that his actual name is "Hecatron"--Ral Partha 01-067 (Personalities and Things That Go Bump in the Night). Ral Partha included a brief bio on Hecatron in their catalog: "An outcast among giants as a scrawny youth, Hecatron has become feared by giants and humankind alike -- he is one of the few giants alive with the wit and speed to master the arts of war. Encountered in a nonviolent situation, Hecatron is quiet, gruff, and polite. In combat, however, he is a metal-sheathed tornado, never checking morale and avoiding incoming attacks with surprising grace and speed. Hecatron will not change loyalties in a fight for which he has already been been paid, even though he may sympathize with his foes. (His money goes immediately for food and drink.)"

"Cyclops"--Grenadier 8003e (Action Art Series: Mythological Creatures). This was another favorite. I loved the detail and concept of the cyclops carrying a bag of skulls that he used for missile weapons. I've always thought of cyclopes as rock-throwing creatures. I remember thinking what a cool idea it was that this cyclops used the heads of his victims as weapons against future prey.

This one is "Djinn 1"--Ral Partha 01-069a (Personalities and Things That Go Bump in the Night). This one really intrigued me, mostly because of the size of the sword. It was bigger than many of the player character minis. I also liked the massive teeth poking out from his bottom jaw. I remember that he and Hecatron were the two heavy-hitters on my time. I'm pretty sure that the DM had another Djinn with a large sword, but a different sculpt.

That's it for now; I have to save some for a later post, after all.




**Many thanks to the Lost Minis Wiki for the information on the miniatures.**

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Twelve

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

Hammond's Toys & Hobbies.

It's still around, in various forms. By that I mean it's no longer in the same location and their selection and quality has decreased somewhat in the face of box stores. But they're still around and still family-owned. I even worked for them for a while several years back. The place was quiet enough at night that I could actually get some painting done at the front counter.

This was the place that I picked up some of the first metal minis and polyhedral dice I ever owned. My friend (the DM for our skirmish games) and I would pool our cash to pick up minis, Testor paints, and dice. The Armory dice from a few posts ago? Those came from Hammond's. They were a great source of back issues of Dragon and White Dwarf magazines back in the early 2000s. I was able to pick up a boxed set of Rod of Seven Parts at a terrific discount long after it was out of print.

Looking back, though, it's a little frustrating to realize that one of their business models with the lead miniatures was to open and break up boxed sets and sell the individual miniatures at a higher price than they were valued as part of the whole box. Granted, I owned a few miniatures that I likely never would have owned otherwise, but it's still upsetting to think that they were doing this at all.

The greatest memory I have of the store is of the owner. At that time, I thought he had to be over 100 years old. He was ancient. He was also always grouchy. I remember that he seemed to hate kids; ironic, of course, considering he made his living by catering to us snot-nosed brats. But the strongest memory I have is of this man shadowing the kids around the store, making sure no one shoplifted anything. It was comical to watch and admittedly creepy if you were one of the watched-over kids. I suppose it probably helped quell their losses; I know that the store I worked in had a very low merchandise loss ratio. (In one of their now-defunct stores, they replaced Gramps with fake video cameras. Black plastic cameras with a 9-volt battery to run the red "recording" light and a short cable that was stuck up into the drop ceiling.) He wasn't the manager; the manager was invariably one of his family members and was always behind the counter.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Eight

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

These are the ones that started it all. They're my oldest and dearest. They're the ones that started the crazy addiction that has grown (nearly) out of control.

In the bottom center are my three remaining dice from the 1981 Basic Set. I don't know where my others have gone over the years. I was sure I still had a d4, but it's nowhere to be found. The two crystal dice on the top left were the first ones I purchased for myself. I had just read The Sword of Shannara, and of course I had to have my own elfstones. (Yeah. I know. But I was young.) Now, of course, I just wish I knew the manufacturer. They have the flattened tops that were common way back when. (Edit: thanks to Kevin over at Dice Collector.com who identified the red and blue d10s as Armory dice. Thanks, Kevin!)

The red and green d6s are from some long-lost board game. These four were the dice I used with Car Wars.

The orange d10? I don't remember it's origins, but I know it's old. Hence, it goes in the +5 Box of Altoid Protection with the other retired gentlemen. (Edit: Again, thanks to Kevin over at Dice Collector.com. He's not sure about the orange, but thinks it may be Armory. Issue: that style has been so copied, he can't be sure. Thanks for the help, Kevin!)

Yeah, you can take that implication as truth: I don't use these any longer. I've heard too many stories of rounded edges and deterioration. I'm too sentimental to really play with these guys. They've earned their rest.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Six

Day Six: First character death. How did you handle it?

I've discussed this one before too, in passing at least. I have to look back at Urdin Darjyr, my Dream Dwarf Storm Druid. Yeah. Really.

The storm druid was introduced in Dragon Magazine, Issue #328. Instead of focusing on nature and plants, etc., the storm druid looks to the skies, channeling nature's raw, untamed energies. In addition, this particular dwarf was a dream dwarf by race: a sub-race introduced in the 3.5 Races of Stone supplement. From the D&D Wiki page: "Dream dwarves feel the hills slumber beneath them. They see the world as a resting giant of inestimable power, and they are caught in the dreaming. While other dwarves shape metal and stone, dream dwarves contemplate and meditate. Wise and cautious, they understand nature in a way at once similar to and wholly alien to the understanding of druids and shamans of other races." Yep, a dwarven hippie.

Urdin's backstory made him quite interesting and fun to play, while the special druidic class gave him some serious awesome nature-magic firepower. He wielded a pretty wicked dwarven warpike, too. However, if I remember correctly, he was a multi-class nightmare. I think I had a couple levels of fighter and of barbarian to give him some additional oomph feat-wise. If I remember correctly, he'd started out as a fighter, one of Boric's bear-riders. Then he was trapped, alone, in the wilderness for several years which gave him a few levels of barbarian--mostly for the rage ability and a couple others. Then he had levels of storm druid. He had forsaken the worship of Moradin for the worship of nature after he was stuck without shelter during a tremendous thunderstorm.

Ultimately the adventure led Urdin and his compatriots to a small island--Mezeketh Isle--in search of the Jathiman Dagger. The Jathiman dagger is a weapon capable of killing gods and, at least in this campaign, was kept in check by a "curator" whose will and soul kept the dagger's powers from manifesting. He also acts as a physical guard to keep the dagger from being removed from its current location. Urdin died in the fight to keep the dagger out of the hands of the villains. He was resurrected shortly after the battle ended. In an effort to protect the dagger from the world (and vice versa), Urdin took his retirement and sacrificed his freedom by trapping himself on the small island, at least until a replacement could be found. Through a little post-campaign PBEM, he actually became a Death Delver, a Prestige Class that "delves...deeply into the mysteries of death...to better understand and eventually gain some small power over it...and thereby draw strength from his understanding and indomitable courage in the face of it." {Heroes of Horror, Wizards of the Coast, p.93}

In effect...and we said this at the time...by being struck down he became even more powerful. Of course, he can never leave the island to exercise that power.

[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.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Three

Day Three: First dungeon you explored as a player-character or ran as a DM.

I'm going to take advantage of this one and play a two-fer.

Back in the day, I don't know that we ever actually ran a "module" or a dungeon that had a name. Mostly it was creating characters, painting miniatures badly, and staging battles and skirmishes between the miniatures. So, I'm going to fast forward to the re-birth in 2000. The DM put together the group of players, and gave us all detailed (I'm talking REALLY detailed) backstories that tied us all into some part of the adventure, including story hooks and motivations. Then he put together a modified version of TSR's Dragon Mountain, plopped it down in Faerûn where we could find it and where it tied in with our various backstories. Then we were off and running. That campaign ran for...oh, probably three years. For the climax, the DM dug out of storage and assembled the only Red Dragon of Krynn (vinyl) miniature I've ever seen in the flesh.

(BTW, it's real and it's spectacular.) Wizards of the Coast put out a Colossal Red Dragon. They tried to make it spectacular. And yeah, it's cool. I don't like how they squeezed it all onto one square base. It doesn't have the awe-inspiring pose that the vinyl miniature did. And then, I've seen them side-by-side. No comparison. None at all. If I had a choice, the vinyl miniature from "Screamin'" would definitely be my go-to red dragon of choice. Putting that old girl on the table is a real pee-in-your-pants moment for your players. The picture here really doesn't do it justice.

Back to the story.... That was the first real dungeon I'd played as a PC. For the other part of the question, the first dungeon I ran as a DM was a little side adventure I threw together a couple years ago to give the then-DM a chance to rest for a couple of sessions and unwind by playing a PC for a change. I ran out of time and fell back on a little freebie that Wizards of the Coast published, a little thing called "Start at the End." The idea is that you run into the dragon at the very start of the dungeon, and then various other inhabitants as the PCs work their way through the various caverns. Xorn, bodak, and other various nasties lie in wait for the players; I modified it throwing in some small critters and molds of my own as well. Now that I think about it, this was, in fact, the site of the first PC to die at my hands as a DM. The then-DM was playing an elven rogue and was scouting ahead of the rest of the party. He turned a corner, came face to face with a bodak, and promptly failed his saving throw. BAM! Dead elf. I loved every minute of it. Immediately texted my wife the news that I was no longer a "virgin DM." The group still laughs about that moment.

Unfortunately, it appears that, although WotC still has the base article online about this free adventure, they've actually removed the content (as they have with most of their 3.5 content) from their website, so the link is apparently broken. Fortunately, I think I downloaded the adventure back then and saved it on one of my various drives somewhere. Maybe someday I'll stumble across it and pull it out again.

[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day One

Day One: First person who introduced you to D&D. Which edition? Your first character?

Technically speaking, it was the good folks at one of those places that use elementary school kids to peddle their wrapping paper to the neighborhood that introduced me to D&D. I truly wish I could remember the name of the outfit; I can see their brochure(s) as if it were yesterday, but it's been 30+ years.

You may remember them too: slick paper, full color, almost epileptic fit-inducing busy-ness on each page. Every inch of every page touting what you could get with 100 points, 500 points, 1,000 points! Oh boy! Oboyoboyoboyoboy there's even trips to exotic places if you sell enough (read: travel to another state and a 2-night stay in a seedy motel) wrapping paper. I remember hitting up everyone in my church's congregation. Neighbors I had never met. Family members, both immediate and extended. Parents, aunts, uncles, friends' parents. All in an effort to get enough points so that I could see for myself what was inside that box.

And all for what I thought was the neatest thing in the catalog that year. It was this cool new game called "Dungeons & Dragons." And just what was that dragon guarding? Yeah, I'd heard about it (vaguely) at school. I'd never played it. This was the image that grabbed me, hooked me, and reeled me in. I still have it. Unfortunately, my first character -- indeed, all of those pre-21st century characters -- are lost to the ages.

Note: early on in my blog, I mentioned that I was introduced to D&D by a friend at school. While this is true, this friend was my first DM and so I'm saving him for that entry in the bloghop. In addition, I may have gotten some of the dates wrong. I remember "pushing the miniatures around" in the late '70s/early '80s, but I didn't even meet this particular friend until 1981, so the "miniature pushing" may have been with a different friend entirely. Also, I'm serious when I say above that "technically" it was the gift wrap people that really introduced me. My parents weren't going to buy this for me on their own; I'm not sure they would have even known where to find a copy if they'd wanted to. Certainly after all the Jack Chick hysteria started, I wasn't going to convince them to use their money to buy it. So, what I said back at the beginnings of the blog and what I say today are both true.

From a particular point of view.

September Blog Meme Challenge Day 8

DAY EIGHT

What is your favorite character that you have played?

I made a list of my favorite characters earlier in the Challenge Meme entries. I'll narrow it down a bit to this:

#4 - Malgrim Irontomb, Rogue
The rogue is what I'm playing now. Malgrim is fast becoming a favorite, not just of mine but also of the group as a whole. I've never played a rogue before; Malgrim has enough hit points that you're not concerned about him dying, and while he doesn't have terrific strength, he can do sufficient damage with what he has (and his sneak attacks) that he is a very useful and efficient second-line asset to the group. We've never had a rogue that could soak up so much damage (and do so much damage at the same time) and be as efficient as he is in opening locks, etc. We've had one or the other, but never all three in one character.

#3 - Urdin Darjyr, Storm Druid
The storm druid was introduced in Dragon Magazine, Issue #328. Instead of focusing on nature and plants, etc., the storm druid looks to the skies, channeling nature's raw, untamed energies. In addition, this particular dwarf was a dream dwarf by race: a sub-race introduced in the 3.5 Races of Stone supplement. From the D&D Wiki page: "Dream dwarves feel the hills slumber beneath them. They see the world as a resting giant of inestimable power, and they are caught in the dreaming. While other dwarves shape metal and stone, dream dwarves contemplate and meditate. Wise and cautious, they understand nature in a way at once similar to and wholly alien to the understanding of druids and shamans of other races." Yep, a dwarven hippie. His backstory made him quite interesting and fun to play, while the special druidic class gave him some serious awesome nature-magic firepower. He wielded a pretty wicked dwarven warpike, too. However, if I remember correctly, he was a multi-class nightmare. I think I had a couple levels of fighter and of barbarian to give him some additional oomph feat-wise. Urdin took his retirement and sacrificed his freedom for the party (and the world) by linking himself to a MAJOR magical item. That link allowed the item to slumber once again, but meant that Urdin would forever be trapped on a small island... at least until his replacement appeared.

#2 - Azarr Stonetower, Barbarian
Speaking in a rough patois, a mix of dwarven and english, this character was a straight barbarian. He cut first and and asked questions later never bothered to ask questions ask questions after burning the remains of his foes to ashes. He eventually became a lycanthrope--a werebear--thanks to the DM's wickedness. He was a mean, tough, unrefined, and uncouth kick-in-the-door-arrow-magnet type. He was a LOT of fun to play and was responsible for some of the most memorable moments in our group's gaming history. He used a wooden bench as a club in a tavern fight, right before he killed another foe with the long table. He sprinted up a stairwell into an area of darkness taking crossbow bolt after bolt without stopping. He also saved another character's life by stabilizing him by force-feeding him a goodberry; the now-infamous quote: "At least it weren't me wipin' hand!" Azarr was axe-bladed death on two stumpy legs.

#1 - Boric Glanduum, Sonnlinor (warrior-priest of Moradin)
Boric, as my namesake, is obviously my #1 favorite character. I said in my previous post that editions subsequent to 2nd Edition have nerfed him. Truthfully, he's not as fun to play as he used to be. But he remains my favorite. I like to picture him as retired, with the other characters from that epic group. He's a silent partner in the elf rogue's Lawful Neutral/Chaotic Good endeavors and Guild, all the while while working to bind together the scattered dwarven clans. He still participates in Matters Of Importance to the world, but nowhere near as actively as he once did.