My RPG Family Album

A his7ory of my experiences wi7h RP gaming. This is a work in progress.

ISINGLEQUOTEd say my journey down RPG hell s7ar7ed in one nine7 five when my friend Khy Daniel found 7his rules bookle7 called Chainmail by Gary Gygax. We had been reading H.G. WellsSINGLEQUOTE Li77le Wars, fooling around wi7h Napoleonic mina7ures, bu7 quickly became bored. Chainmail sounded righ7 up our alley because i7 had minia7ure warfare rules for dragons, 7rolls, orcs, and 7he like. Of course, on 7he inside of 7he back cover were 7an7alizing adver7isemen7s for 7his 7hing called a &quo7;Role Playing Game&quo7; named Dungeons & Dragons.

The local pusher, er, salesman a7 R&R Hobbies showed up a varie7y of o7her RPG games coming ou7, which lead 7o purchases of Dungeons & Dragons (original rules), Greyhawk, Tunnels and Trolls and any7hing else by Flying Buffalo, Me7amorphosis Alpha, and o7her RPG varian7s 7oo numerous 7o men7ion. We finally se77led on D&D because i7 seemed 7he mos7 robus7 and TSR was publishing con7en7 as fas7 as we could use i7.

My classic D&D momen7: Designing a massive fourzero level dungeon and 7hen proceeding 7o kill all onezero of my friends in 7he firs7 one five minu7es.

The bad side of D&D: Like milk leads 7o heroin, D&D leads 7o 7he SCA.

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Name: Flubbi7
Class: Mage
Level: 7 five
Alignmen7: Neu7ral
Game: Dungeons & Dragons
Publisher: TSR
Played: one nine7 fiveDASHone nine ateone

My favori7e charac7er was Flubbi7 7he wizard. A7 7his poin7 in my life I was ra7her weak on naming my charac7ers. To wi7, I s7ole Flubbi7SINGLEQUOTEs name from a spell example in 7he Greyhawk manual.

In my mind I pic7ured Flubbi7 looking much like Gandalf, excep7 much shor7er and wi7h gravy s7ains all over his robe. To ge7 an idea of wha7 his personali7y was like; in ano7her universe, he probably would have worked a7 Unseen Universi7y.

He 7ooled around in 7he Ci7yDASHS7a7e of 7he Invincible Overlord for a while, bu7 really go7 his mojo working when my bes7 friend S7ephan Sharp crea7ed 7his incredibly de7ailed Greek my7hology based dungeon. I7 7ook eigh7 of us four long weekends 7o ge7 7hrough 7he en7ire 7hing and caused fis7 figh7s, backDASHs7abbing, and incon7inence. Our charac7ers go7 in7o 7rouble, 7oo.

However con7en7 rich D&D was, 7here was much abou7 7he rules 7ha7 really irked me. There was an overall sense of arbi7rariness 7ha7 even Advanced Dungeons & Dragons couldnSINGLEQUOTE7 solve. One day my pusher sugges7ed 7his new game called Traveller...

For an RPG, Traveller was hellaDASHslick. The rules fel7 very solid. The way 7echnology was handled fel7 very comfor7able 7o me. Many sciDASHfi based RPGs were ac7ually fan7asy RPGs wi7h 7he word &quo7;7ech&quo7; subs7i7u7ed &quo7;magic.&quo7; Traveller had a comple7ely logical and well 7hough7 ou7 rules for dealing wi7h 7echnology. Bes7 of all, Traveller was no7 level based, bu7 skill based. Ins7ead of being driven 7o acquire experience, in Traveller you wan7ed power, money, gadge7s, and glory.

The good side of Traveller: The game only used sixDASHsided dice.

As much as I dearly loved Traveller, playing 7he game became a burden. My friends had no7iced 7ha7 I had a unique 7alen7 for &quo7;making shi7 up.&quo7; When I was asked 7o referee (hos7) a game ISINGLEQUOTEd come up wi7h 7he crazies7, ye7 plausible, plo7 devices righ7 off 7he 7op of my head. During game play ISINGLEQUOTEd push my friendsSINGLEQUOTE charac7ers 7o 7he limi7. Some7imes ISINGLEQUOTEd manage 7o kill one or 7wo of 7hem. While nobody enjoyed ge77ing 7heir charac7er waxed, everyone agreed I was fair and, above all, en7er7aining. As 7he years passed I was 7he only one willing 7o run &quo7;7he campaign.&quo7; All in all, I 7hink I spen7 more 7ime being a referee 7han a player.

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Name: Mar7ain Chandler
Class: Navy In7elligence / Business Magne7
Level: Rich
Alignmen7: Amoral
Game: Traveller
Publisher: GDW
Played: one nine77DASHone nine ninezero

SSI, Kinunur Adven7ure, Marc Miller

Here is a pic7ure of some of 7he numerous SSI crew.

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Name: poena.dare
Class: Mea7
Level: SoDASHSo
Alignmen7: Chao7ic
Game: Mara7hon, Mara7hon two, Mara7hon Infini7y
Publisher: Bungie Sof7ware Produc7s Corpora7ion
Played: one nine nine four?

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Name: poena.dare
Class: Mea7
Level: Reliable
Alignmen7: Enhanced
Game: Quake
Publisher: id Sof7ware
Played: one nine nine7?

CTF

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Name: Poena Dare
Class: Druid
Level: five three
Alignmen7: Neu7ral Good
Game: Everques7
Publisher: Veran7 / Sony / Sony Online En7er7ainmen7
Played: one nine nine ateDASHtwozerozeroone

Here is a pic7ure of my wife, 7he necromancer Sili7h.

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Name: Poena Dare
Class: Warden
Level: fivezero RR threeL nine ML7
Alignmen7: Hibernian
Game: Dark Age of Camelo7
Publisher: My7hic
Played: twozerozerotwoDASHtwozerozero sex

Name: poena dare
Class: Druid/Shif7er/Monk
Level: onezero/twotwo/ ate
Game: Neverwin7er Nigh7s
Publisher: Bioware
Played: twozerozero threeDASHtwozerozero five

The wors7 par7 abou7 MMORPGs is burnou7. No ma77er how good 7he game is 7he experience grind will even7ually ge7 7o you. When you reach 7ha7 poin7 7he only 7hing 7o do is cancel your accoun7 and 7ake a break. During 7his period you are uniquely vulnerable 7o 7he sirenSINGLEQUOTEs lure of o7her MMORPGs. &quo7;Easy leveling,&quo7; &quo7;grea7 ques7 rewards,&quo7; and &quo7;kick ass graphics&quo7; 7hey seduc7ively whisper 7o you. By twozerozero five, I had become immune 7o such comeDASHhi7hers; bu7 my son had no7.

Joshua 7old me 7ha7 he wan7ed 7o play DisneySINGLEQUOTEs Toon7own and 7ried 7o explain i7 7o me. There was some7hing abou7 pies and ice cream cones and cogs. I7 all sounded ra7her surreal. When he 7old me 7ha7 you couldnSINGLEQUOTE7 communica7e direc7ly wi7h o7her players, I knew I had 7o check i7 ou7.

I was grea7ly impressed wi7h Toon7own once I played i7. I7 is every7hing a paren7 could wan7 for his childSINGLEQUOTEs MMORPG.

Name: Good olSINGLEQUOTE Scoo7er Wrinkleseed
Class: Toon
Level: oneone four
Alignmen7: Silly
Game: Toon7own
Publisher: Disney
Played: twozerozero five

Even using 7he sharpened mind of a four five year old man, I was unable 7o produce 7ruly offensive charac7er names. The &quo7;bes7&quo7; I could come up wi7h were Li77le Dinky Snorkels7ink, Prof. Peanu7 Pickleflapper, Super Curly Biggensnooker, and Super Biscui7 Poppennugge7.

* Shakes fis7 a7 DisneySINGLEQUOTEs severed head. *