Hi there all, well the time has come to analyze one of my pillars, that pillar being the first way any person had a structure beyond pure imagination for pretending to be a part of a fantasy world: Dungeons and Dragons.
Another fun hobby introduced to me by Jason Emery, these days I've asked just what I found fun about it. Because well, I haven't played a game in about fifteen years.
Folks do at Obsidian to be sure, there was a campaign run every week for awhile with miniatures and a dungeon master, the whole shebang. A group plays Warhammer 40k as well. So there's a lot of my enjoyable days remembered played out every week in the same building. Why not partake?
Obvious answers really: I live an hour away and I have a family. But that's not a REAL reason. I'd say a real reason is just because I don't find it as fun as I used to. And I think I like music a little more than games after all, though only just a little.
The red cover adorned by the painting by the great Larry Elmore pictured here was the first D&D rules I ever got, given to me by my Grandmother. It was awesome. I read these rules, got the dice, enjoyed painting miniatures and reading Monster Manuals cover to cover. I think what really lacks these days is the fact that not much has changed about it. The games are far more detailed and much more like a true representation of professionally written modules (The Lost Caverns of Tsodjcanth would be the one I'd love to do myself), but the basic tenets are the same, despite 4 rule changes.
But let's not get too "old man" about it yet. There's definitely some cool things going on now that Wizards of the Coast has the reins of the series.
D&D Insider: Essentially an online way to partake in the pen and paper aspect of D&D, with online magazine subscriptions to Dungeon and Dragon, a character builder which is like a character sheet that has a bunch of bells and whistles that you can keep in a secure database and share with others. A compendium that people can have custom characters stored in. Just a big database really for $4.95 a month.
Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach: The Neverwinter Nights series allowed people to create modules and campaigns themselves for the first time and was a fair success. But as far as an online representation of D&D in the new world of Eberron, this was the first time it happened. It also was a fair success. Nope, haven't tried it. Hell, I haven't played a D&D game for more than a couple of hours since Neverwinter Nights 2.
Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition: Apparently the 4th edition is a good one, better than 3.5 from what I hear. Given the middle aged hardcore game design gurus at Obsidian there's a lot of critical discussion of it, but if I do decide to dive back in and give it a whirl I'll let you all know.
Any comments on the state of D&D nowadays please feel free to write in. Jason, the very guy who got me interested in the first place, doesn't find it that fun anymore himself. So if you're a current fan or an old dissillusioned fogie, write in!
