D&D!

[blackjohn]

Yep, I caught that one. Talk about your extra-double geeky inside jokes. I doubt my gamer friends would've picked up on that. Though, I suppose one or two of them may have read some of those books.

[blackjohn]

Has anyone seen the movie Darkon? I was pretty surprised to find out the whole thing took place in Baltimore.

Finally got around to watching this over the weekend. Whoa. I don't know what to think. On one hand, it was interesting... but on the other hand, I wanted to grab most of these people by the collar and yell at them... "get a life!" I suspect some of them do have lives, but... others... I dunno.

The dark-haired guy, Skip, who was sort of the protagonist of the film, was someone who I talked to on a regular basis "back-in-the-day." As he points out in the film, his family business was The Armory (once upon a time a huge distributor of games and books and stuff). They had every Osprey book in print in the warehouse, so in the good old days I'd go over there (sometimes as much as once a week), and I'd usually talk to Skip for a couple minutes before browsing. He was a good guy. So naturally I was routing for his side to win.

The Dark Elves had some really good makeup.

I wonder how many violations of state codes went into the construction of the fortress... and how many federal clean air codes were violated when they burned it?

All in all... I recommend it... if for no other reason than it's a good reality check movie.

[Rogue Mermaid]

My thoughts about Darkon were pretty similar, I was entertained but sometimes it just blew my mind just how weak some of the "actors" grip on reality was. In the special features, one of the guys (it might have been Skip) said something along the lines of, "My wife just has to understand that sometimes Darkon comes before family". Wow. I wonder how much of a reaming out he got when she saw that!

The dark elves were pretty well done, I just kept thinking "Facial hair? On a drow?"

I had some Armory character sheets back when I first started playing D&D. I might still have some photocopies laying around somewhere.

[Patrick Hand]

D&D was fun.... I learned how to play the game back in 76 when I was in Basic training (Army).... so I had go get the books when I was home on leave.... (the old original... 3 brown covered books... I still have them... and DANG they are worth something now.....) I ran a kick-ass game when I was in Korea (Just got the new copy of the first "official"ADD&D rules..) .... dang.... there were people that heard about it all over the country... (even had a round eye( American) that came alla the way up to Camp Kitty Hawk looking for me.... (unfortunately I was misbehaving at the time)

I ain't played it in forever.....

I prefer the old original Rune Quest system more.....(you gotta remember ... most of the game rules that I have are older , and ....ergh now collectibles....)

But the part I alway hated about D&D was that you have a third level thief... pick pockets alla the time... but never climbs up any walls.... he/or she now get to fourth level... and they can climb walls even better....

I like the Rune Quest System better.....Your Character learns by what they do.....

And dang... I was a good DM..... when I was in Korea, we had a 50% kill ratio.... OK.. that is kinda high... but we also had a lot of people that (off duty) could only play so much.... the higher level characters had to step in and save them.... eeergh.... HEY... it worked....And it worked well for the game we could play......

I bought a newer edition of D&D... (just to check it out) where they try to fix alla the problems with the game system....I didn't like it.......the game system sux..... BUT IT WAS THE (ok enough of the capital letters) the one where alla the other game Systems developed from.....If it wasn't for D&D, Rune Quest, Twilight 2000, Shadow Run, Warhammer... etc.... wouldn't exist also.....

[blackjohn]

My thoughts about Darkon were pretty similar, I was entertained but sometimes it just blew my mind just how weak some of the "actors" grip on reality was. In the special features, one of the guys (it might have been Skip) said something along the lines of, "My wife just has to understand that sometimes Darkon comes before family". Wow. I wonder how much of a reaming out he got when she saw that!

Also, you have to wonder what hit the cutting room floor. The guys who made this had control over editing, and creative editing can really change the tone of a conversation.

The guy I worried about was the one who referenced Columbine.

There was one guy who I thought had a good grip. They only talked to him twice, I think. His last bit of dialogue was along the lines of, "I don't care about the politics of all these bigwigs, I just want to have fun."

The dark elves were pretty well done, I just kept thinking "Facial hair? On a drow?"

Sure. I seem to recall seeing them with facial hair in Q1: Queen of the Demonweb Pits.

I had some Armory character sheets back when I first started playing D&D. I might still have some photocopies laying around somewhere.

Yeah, The Armory sold tons of cool stuff. I had a ton of Armory paints. I think a few of them are still usable too. They had a really good "chainmail" color. It was a kind of dark metallic silver.

Which has me thinking... I'm making a New Years Resolution to paint more minis in '09. Which means, if I paint (to completion) one single mini I will have followed through on my resolution.

[blackjohn]

I bought a newer edition of D&D... (just to check it out) where they try to fix alla the problems with the game system....I didn't like it.......the game system sux....

Was this recently? Or in the past? Rogue Mermaid really like the 3.5 edition. I, on the other hand, didn't really like 3.5, but I do like 4. However, 4 does diverge quite a bit from previous editions. But whatever... the bottom line for me is the sitting around a table with friends shakin' dice and having fun. The system doesn't matter. The genre doesn't matter. The getting together with friends is the part that matters.

BUT IT WAS THE (ok enough of the capital letters) the one where alla the other game Systems developed from.....If it wasn't for D&D, Rune Quest, Twilight 2000, Shadow Run, Warhammer... etc.... wouldn't exist also.....

True, more or less. Though I suspect something would have filled the gap if D&D hadn't come along. Afterall, D&D is just an offshoot of miniatures wargaming. Dave Arneson had been running some sort of version of Blackmoor prior to D&D. And M.A.R. Barker had been fooling around with some sort of Tekumel thing early on too. Yada yada yada... actually, there's a pretty good history of rpging on wiki... and it includes a Harpo Marx reference! Can't beat that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_role-playing_games

[Rev.Sam]

Sorry to get into this so late. But I still have a big ol' soft spot for D&D and a few other tabletops out there.

BUt yeah I think the Fourth Edition strove to make it easier so as to free players form the system. However in doing so, it gave folks a more "WoW" (World of Warcraft) feel, or so my buddies complained. I personally liked 3.5 a lot better, but I have had fun with the 4e as well. I think all in all it depends on your DM and those you play with for how that all around experience is going to go for you.

[Rogue Mermaid]

Rogue Mermaid really like the 3.5 edition. I, on the other hand, didn't really like 3.5, but I do like 4. However, 4 does diverge quite a bit from previous editions.

I don't know that I'd dislike 4th edition, I haven't even tried it to be honest. I just don't want to spend money for new books (again). I've flipped through the books and the artwork is fantastic.

But whatever... the bottom line for me is the sitting around a table with friends shakin' dice and having fun. The system doesn't matter. The genre doesn't matter. The getting together with friends is the part that matters.

Yup, that's what it all comes down to. I've met so many great people through this game.

My friend Sara who doesn't play, is the wife of one of my gaming buddies Dan. She told me a great story recently:

Sara's college age nefew just recently got into D&D. During Christmas his parents were talking about it. Someone had told them that D&D led people into evil cults and that it causes you to lose your grip on reality. They were worried. When Sara told them that her husband plays they asked her how she felt about it. First, she told them that she didn't mind him gaming because she knew where he was and what he was doing (instead of being out drinking or something of the sort) and that it was easier than being the wife of a sports fanatic.

Then they asked her if she liked his gamer buddies. She admitted that at first we were pretty annoying, but only because we always wanted Dan to be gaming or out hanging out with us and she was first time pregnant and later, dealing with a new infant. Once things settled down though she was amazed at how good of friends we had all become. She gave the example that when one of our friend's father died he asked all of his close friends, that started out as just gaming buddies, to walk behind the horse drawn hearse with him and his wife. And we did, half a mile in our funeral clothing and hateful dress shoes, with the temperature in the high nineties while most of the guests drove behind us. And we'd do it again in a second.

After talking to her and discovering that their perfectly normal brother in-law plays D&D they felt much better and didn't give their son a hard time about the game.

And that's my D&D public service announcement for the day.....