D&D Going Hip and Hipster

As much as I love some Andy Borowitz satire, I cringed at the initial though of the recent New Yorker article covering the resurrection of Dungeons & Dragons.

Upon reading it, my head hurt, I felt a little dirty, and after fears of a clueless hipster wave overtaking my logic center made me empathize with Middle Americans who thought the coasts "didn't get it," I feel a little dirtier.

D&D is booming.  The Fifth Edition books have all hit the Amazon 100 and stayed there for months.  Podcasts and streaming video channels with diverse and telegenic tables of players with at least capable improv ability are entertaining tens of thousands. Even game cafes in Brooklyn are suffering waitlists and trendiness among the "Games Workshop Moms" that is usually reserved for Pokemon, Beanie Babies, Wine Memes, and fashionably comfortable footwear.  Plus, their push for inclusivity of all types of players and characters has pushed upon the doors to let other people into a hobby dominated with socially awkward white dudes, even if the stereotypical character tropes are simply wrapped in a rainbow banner.  We're not really breaking new ground, simply expanding upon a well-prepared base.

On top of all that, I've been through 18 years of mainstream articles touting 3rd/4th/5th, the same old list of celebrity gamers, and whatever the trendiest video site is for games (with an even more judgmental nod to video games).  They are really not hashing anything new I haven't seen in the local paper, or a copy of USAToday many moons ago.

A couple critiques on some of the actual writing in the article:
Calling Gygax Magazine a "once defunct" magazine in the same paragraph that mentions its launch party is confusing to anyone with half a brain cell, and insulting to everyone with more than base knowledge in gaming history.  (Dragon Magazine is discontinued... Gygax Magazine tries to take up the mantle, shenanigans ensue, and while the new TSR is barely alive, Gygax Magazine could most certainly be described as currently defunct.)

Really, I don't when this whole "D&D (and RPGs in General) are Great for Autism" thing went viral to the mainstream, but did anyone look at gaming groups in the 70's, 80's, and 90's?   At least half of the players in them would probably land somewhere on "The Spectrum."   Of course, it can be great for many different groups of people!  It's not kettlebell pilates, naked paintball, or a Gerard Depardieu fan club, it's an imaginative social activity with friends.

And finally, I don't care what your style guide demands, the trademark is for "D&D," and has been for decades, so you don't need to plaster the obnoxious and migraine-inducing "D. & D." throughout the article.  It's the moniker for the brand not the abbreviation some short line railroad in eastern Idaho.

I guess in the this post-media world we're now fully entrenched in, any media coverage truly is a positive for any entity, but I can seriously say, with my nearly thirty years of general gaming, industry news, retail and manufacturing experience, and hobby history, that I had no clue where the author really wanted to go with the article after the first read-through.

And regardless of whether I agree or disagree with the angles and directions of the article, if I can't figure it out, I have concerns that the regular readers of the New Yorker will be even more flummoxed. 

As much as I love some Andy Borowitz satire, I cringed at the initial though of the recent New Yorker article covering the resurrection of Dungeons & Dragons.

Upon reading it, my head hurt, I felt a little dirty, and after fears of a clueless hipster wave overtaking my logic center made me empathize with Middle Americans who thought the coasts "didn't get it," I feel a little dirtier.

D&D is booming.  The Fifth Edition books have all hit the Amazon 100 and stayed there for months.  Podcasts and streaming video channels with diverse and telegenic tables of players with at least capable improv ability are entertaining tens of thousands. Even game cafes in Brooklyn are suffering waitlists and trendiness among the "Games Workshop Moms" that is usually reserved for Pokemon, Beanie Babies, Wine Memes, and fashionably comfortable footwear.  Plus, their push for inclusivity of all types of players and characters has pushed upon the doors to let other people into a hobby dominated with socially awkward white dudes, even if the stereotypical character tropes are simply wrapped in a rainbow banner.  We're not really breaking new ground, simply expanding upon a well-prepared base.

On top of all that, I've been through 18 years of mainstream articles touting 3rd/4th/5th, the same old list of celebrity gamers, and whatever the trendiest video site is for games (with an even more judgmental nod to video games).  They are really not hashing anything new I haven't seen in the local paper, or a copy of USAToday many moons ago.

A couple critiques on some of the actual writing in the article:
Calling Gygax Magazine a "once defunct" magazine in the same paragraph that mentions its launch party is confusing to anyone with half a brain cell, and insulting to everyone with more than base knowledge in gaming history.  (Dragon Magazine is discontinued... Gygax Magazine tries to take up the mantle, shenanigans ensue, and while the new TSR is barely alive, Gygax Magazine could most certainly be described as currently defunct.)

Really, I don't when this whole "D&D (and RPGs in General) are Great for Autism" thing went viral to the mainstream, but did anyone look at gaming groups in the 70's, 80's, and 90's?   At least half of the players in them would probably land somewhere on "The Spectrum."   Of course, it can be great for many different groups of people!  It's not kettlebell pilates, naked paintball, or a Gerard Depardieu fan club, it's an imaginative social activity with friends.

And finally, I don't care what your style guide demands, the trademark is for "D&D," and has been for decades, so you don't need to plaster the obnoxious and migraine-inducing "D. & D." throughout the article.  It's the moniker for the brand not the abbreviation some short line railroad in eastern Idaho.

I guess in the this post-media world we're now fully entrenched in, any media coverage truly is a positive for any entity, but I can seriously say, with my nearly thirty years of general gaming, industry news, retail and manufacturing experience, and hobby history, that I had no clue where the author really wanted to go with the article after the first read-through.

And regardless of whether I agree or disagree with the angles and directions of the article, if I can't figure it out, I have concerns that the regular readers of the New Yorker will be even more flummoxed. 

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Playing at the World: Vintage Ad: Why Women Don't Play Wargames

The blog Playing at the World recently posted a picture of an ad that TSR used to "lure" women into the burgeoning fantasy role-playing hobby.   Vintage Ad: Why Women Don't Play Wargames:

From Playing at the World

The blog Playing at the World recently posted a picture of an ad that TSR used to "lure" women into the burgeoning fantasy role-playing hobby.   Vintage Ad: Why Women Don't Play Wargames:

From Playing at the World

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A Reaper Mousling Ad in White Wolf Magazine

Flipping through the Halloween issue #48 of White Wolf, circa 1994, I come away with a few things.

1. It was chock-full of edgy, pretentious BS back in the day.  It's pretty tame compared to the wackiness at the ends of the spectrum we're dealing with today.  That is neither a compliment towards their writing, nor of the current situation.  
2. $3.95 for a magazine was an acceptable price for a guy who just had gotten a job for minimum wage ($5/hr) at New Frontiers in the Phillipsburg Mall selling Magic cards.
3. Ken Carpenter was one of the only reasons I read this magazine at that point.  A Fantasy scenario and a review for Legions of Steel? Totally Sweet. 
4. A note that issue #45 had an editorial about the movement to remove lead from minis.  Oh the barbarity! 
5. The current reviews I post from time to time or little better than the schlock review for TWERPS Space Cadets 2nd Edition in the capsule reviews.  
6. The #3 best selling gaming product for that August was Jyhad Booster Packs.  The only two products in the top 20 that weren't Wizards, TSR, Palladium, White Wolf or FASA?  R. Talsorian's Castle Falkenstein.  I may post that list later.  
7. It was the glorious early days of Reaper Miniatures as they had commissioned Terry Williams to sculpt some of the original Mouslings (and the long forgotten Verminites).

Dollar minis.... oh the memories....

7. The dude reviewing TWERPS Space Cadets 2nd Edition was me...

Flipping through the Halloween issue #48 of White Wolf, circa 1994, I come away with a few things.

1. It was chock-full of edgy, pretentious BS back in the day.  It's pretty tame compared to the wackiness at the ends of the spectrum we're dealing with today.  That is neither a compliment towards their writing, nor of the current situation.  
2. $3.95 for a magazine was an acceptable price for a guy who just had gotten a job for minimum wage ($5/hr) at New Frontiers in the Phillipsburg Mall selling Magic cards.
3. Ken Carpenter was one of the only reasons I read this magazine at that point.  A Fantasy scenario and a review for Legions of Steel? Totally Sweet. 
4. A note that issue #45 had an editorial about the movement to remove lead from minis.  Oh the barbarity! 
5. The current reviews I post from time to time or little better than the schlock review for TWERPS Space Cadets 2nd Edition in the capsule reviews.  
6. The #3 best selling gaming product for that August was Jyhad Booster Packs.  The only two products in the top 20 that weren't Wizards, TSR, Palladium, White Wolf or FASA?  R. Talsorian's Castle Falkenstein.  I may post that list later.  
7. It was the glorious early days of Reaper Miniatures as they had commissioned Terry Williams to sculpt some of the original Mouslings (and the long forgotten Verminites).

Dollar minis.... oh the memories....

7. The dude reviewing TWERPS Space Cadets 2nd Edition was me...

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(Kickstarter) Frank Mentzer's World of Empyrea

Very little in the Fantasy RPG genre tickles my interest anymore, especially when it comes from the Johnny-Come-Lately mentality.   No matter if it's 5e, OSR, or something in the middle of the F20 strata, the demand for $20+ books that I would barely look at if they were cardstock and typeset, and one-fifth the price boggles my mind.

But when you throw in the name Frank Mentzer into the mix.

Frank's World of Empyrea Kickstarter looks like a sure thing.  A long-running campaign with some Greyhawk roots, but the serial numbers filed off.  A veritable "super-team" of writers and support staff to flesh out this massive boxed set.  Heck even the maps have that Greyhawk feel, with a little Known World influence.

But I realize that the market has changed.  If Frank had somehow gotten this printed in the days between Gary's removal from TSR and the Rise of 3rd Edition, it would have been a generic setting without stats and we would have eaten it up.  Now, they have to cater to the diluted masses, including statting out for TEN game systems.

1) D&D 5E
2) Pathfinder
3) Runequest
4) Savage Worlds
5) Dungeon Crawl Classics
6) Castles & Crusades
7) Swords & Wizardry
8) Hackmaster
9) D&D BECMI
10) D&D 1E/2E

I've already expressed displeasure with the system dispersion with Talislanta: The Savage Lands, which was reaffirmed by their recent announcement to drop two of the five systems from their production schedule.

This is somewhat different, as the systems will be built into the boxed set, rather than separate printings. And to make a comparison to cars, most would not only be GM products, but just different Chevy models.    Sure, Runequest is Peugeot, Savage Worlds is Kia, and Hackmaster is a relaunch of the Saturn line, but the rest were pretty easy to convert between the others.  Heck, some are essentially the same model, the only difference is an Oldsmobile or Buick logo.

As much as I jumped with glee with the early announcement of this Kickstarter, I have a library full of material that I've barely scratched the surface on, so a $70 investment in a campaign world I probably won't use (much), doesn't seem practical.  My game worlds will never be professionally published, but they are mine, and that's all that matters.

Company website http://worldsofempyrea.com/

Very little in the Fantasy RPG genre tickles my interest anymore, especially when it comes from the Johnny-Come-Lately mentality.   No matter if it's 5e, OSR, or something in the middle of the F20 strata, the demand for $20+ books that I would barely look at if they were cardstock and typeset, and one-fifth the price boggles my mind.

But when you throw in the name Frank Mentzer into the mix.

Frank's World of Empyrea Kickstarter looks like a sure thing.  A long-running campaign with some Greyhawk roots, but the serial numbers filed off.  A veritable "super-team" of writers and support staff to flesh out this massive boxed set.  Heck even the maps have that Greyhawk feel, with a little Known World influence.

But I realize that the market has changed.  If Frank had somehow gotten this printed in the days between Gary's removal from TSR and the Rise of 3rd Edition, it would have been a generic setting without stats and we would have eaten it up.  Now, they have to cater to the diluted masses, including statting out for TEN game systems.

1) D&D 5E
2) Pathfinder
3) Runequest
4) Savage Worlds
5) Dungeon Crawl Classics
6) Castles & Crusades
7) Swords & Wizardry
8) Hackmaster
9) D&D BECMI
10) D&D 1E/2E

I've already expressed displeasure with the system dispersion with Talislanta: The Savage Lands, which was reaffirmed by their recent announcement to drop two of the five systems from their production schedule.

This is somewhat different, as the systems will be built into the boxed set, rather than separate printings. And to make a comparison to cars, most would not only be GM products, but just different Chevy models.    Sure, Runequest is Peugeot, Savage Worlds is Kia, and Hackmaster is a relaunch of the Saturn line, but the rest were pretty easy to convert between the others.  Heck, some are essentially the same model, the only difference is an Oldsmobile or Buick logo.

As much as I jumped with glee with the early announcement of this Kickstarter, I have a library full of material that I've barely scratched the surface on, so a $70 investment in a campaign world I probably won't use (much), doesn't seem practical.  My game worlds will never be professionally published, but they are mine, and that's all that matters.

Company website http://worldsofempyrea.com/

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

GenCon 50 Museum Tour

When you throw 72,000 unique gamers in a space like the Indiana Convention Center (and Lucas Oil Stadium) for GenCon, special events are bound to appear by the score.

In celebration of GenCon 50, they set up a retrospective of the prior convention under the guise of Lake Geneva Horticulture Hall, site of the early convention.

Guide Paul Stromberg does an incredible job giving a solid overview that the men who would bring Dungeons & Dragons to life were first and foremost fervent wargamers.

When you throw 72,000 unique gamers in a space like the Indiana Convention Center (and Lucas Oil Stadium) for GenCon, special events are bound to appear by the score.

In celebration of GenCon 50, they set up a retrospective of the prior convention under the guise of Lake Geneva Horticulture Hall, site of the early convention.

Guide Paul Stromberg does an incredible job giving a solid overview that the men who would bring Dungeons & Dragons to life were first and foremost fervent wargamers.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

#RPGaDay 2017 Day 26: What RPG Provides the Most Resources

Day 26: "What RPG Provides the Most Resources?"

Let's be honest here, I have seen some new games come out that are 300+ pages, yet there are no resources inside for players or gamemasters.

And then you look at Rockerboys and Vending Machines.  It lays out how to create a character, how the mechanics work, and how you generate an adventure.  It's so comprehensive on two little pages that I think I could probably pull off a freaking Shadowrun campaign with nothing else.

I've had so many books full of crunch for my olden days of gaming, but very few of them provided any advice or ideas on how to use that crunch.

For me the greatest game resource would be the AD&D 1st Edition Dungeon Masters Guide.

The first edition DMG does not have great writing.  High Gygaxian is an acquired taste, but it simply requests high adventure and drama generated through the mechanics, not "the story."

The DMG is chock full of great resources, but the average player doesn't know how to take advantage of them. The Appendices in the back of the book is everything you need.  You need a dungeon that doesn't need to be ecologically sound?  The random dungeon generator is perfect.  Need a random wilderness map? Hell, my entire World of Georic setting from 1989 to 2001 was created using the random terrain table.

Of course, a novice DM very early on is going to make a simple determination that not every dungeon dressing on the random chart is necessary (especially when medieval items fall within an Egyptian-style tomb) but you can run an all-out fantasy crawl using randomization.  It's going to to gonzo fun, but you should figure out by session two or three that constant factors that get randomly rolled should have some campaign significance.

Players have gone on months' long wild goose chases for much less. 

Day 26: "What RPG Provides the Most Resources?"

Let's be honest here, I have seen some new games come out that are 300+ pages, yet there are no resources inside for players or gamemasters.

And then you look at Rockerboys and Vending Machines.  It lays out how to create a character, how the mechanics work, and how you generate an adventure.  It's so comprehensive on two little pages that I think I could probably pull off a freaking Shadowrun campaign with nothing else.

I've had so many books full of crunch for my olden days of gaming, but very few of them provided any advice or ideas on how to use that crunch.

For me the greatest game resource would be the AD&D 1st Edition Dungeon Masters Guide.

The first edition DMG does not have great writing.  High Gygaxian is an acquired taste, but it simply requests high adventure and drama generated through the mechanics, not "the story."

The DMG is chock full of great resources, but the average player doesn't know how to take advantage of them. The Appendices in the back of the book is everything you need.  You need a dungeon that doesn't need to be ecologically sound?  The random dungeon generator is perfect.  Need a random wilderness map? Hell, my entire World of Georic setting from 1989 to 2001 was created using the random terrain table.

Of course, a novice DM very early on is going to make a simple determination that not every dungeon dressing on the random chart is necessary (especially when medieval items fall within an Egyptian-style tomb) but you can run an all-out fantasy crawl using randomization.  It's going to to gonzo fun, but you should figure out by session two or three that constant factors that get randomly rolled should have some campaign significance.

Players have gone on months' long wild goose chases for much less. 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

#RPGaDay 2017 Day 13: Describe a Game Experience That Changed How You Play

Day 13 of #RPGaDay brings back waves of nostalgia:

"Describe a Game Experience That Changed How You Play"

Short Answer -  September 22, 1990, "The Jade Monkey"

Long Answer  -
Way back in 1990 I was a Junior in high school and a regular DM at the dining room table for my friends.  The gaming convention, Lehicon III was descending upon the Sheraton Inn in Easton, Pennsylvania, my hometown.

I've talked about the con at length here, so today I'll focus on the Saturday night session, the RPGA Open game, the Jade Monkey.

My early days for D&D was like the majority of D&D gamers out that secretly reside out in the countryside, play the same system they've played for the last 10, 20, 30, nay I say 40 years.  The play style nudges slightly closer to "Roll-Playing" than "ROLE-playing."  A little sandbox here, a little flavor text there, SWAT style fantasy tactics during a dungeon crawl.  No one's been trying to pretend they're doing Summer Stock for years, and at least one dude's version of role-playing is "Malthor the Mighty seduces the barmaid."   And he hasn't changed that for 15 years.

FYI: There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, at my first convention, I hit some horrible AD&D games, but to wrap up my evening, I jumped in an RPGA Open one-shot, The Jade Monkey by Carl Buehler.

The adventure itself is pretty standard fare (check out Polyhedron #62) of tricks, traps, and a pig-iron pig golem named Wilbur, but this was the first game I had participated in that came with fully-fleshed out pre-generated characters, complete with backstories and opinions of the other characters.

Throw in our DM, Joe Ward and an equal mix table of men and women, and I got to experience proper PC and NPC interactions.  It wasn't the new age improv gaming you can find on today's podcast actual plays, but the door to that style was finally cracked open.

"Copper Piece?"

I didn't go barging through that door of role-playing Nirvana, and part of it was by character design. William of Arinka was a shamed paladin disguised as a simple warrior.  Shy and wary to use his paladin abilities due to his previous failings, William was fine to defer leadership to others, use his sword and magic items when asked, yet somehow I was still stuck in multiple awkward situations, including one involving the elf I had a major crush on falling on top of me while I was sans culottes.  Lots of laughter, lots of fun, and the fate of Macon the Monkey Mage was an afterthought.

It's not exactly Powered by the Apocalypse, but for me, it was the start I needed.   

Day 13 of #RPGaDay brings back waves of nostalgia:

"Describe a Game Experience That Changed How You Play"

Short Answer -  September 22, 1990, "The Jade Monkey"

Long Answer  -
Way back in 1990 I was a Junior in high school and a regular DM at the dining room table for my friends.  The gaming convention, Lehicon III was descending upon the Sheraton Inn in Easton, Pennsylvania, my hometown.

I've talked about the con at length here, so today I'll focus on the Saturday night session, the RPGA Open game, the Jade Monkey.

My early days for D&D was like the majority of D&D gamers out that secretly reside out in the countryside, play the same system they've played for the last 10, 20, 30, nay I say 40 years.  The play style nudges slightly closer to "Roll-Playing" than "ROLE-playing."  A little sandbox here, a little flavor text there, SWAT style fantasy tactics during a dungeon crawl.  No one's been trying to pretend they're doing Summer Stock for years, and at least one dude's version of role-playing is "Malthor the Mighty seduces the barmaid."   And he hasn't changed that for 15 years.

FYI: There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, at my first convention, I hit some horrible AD&D games, but to wrap up my evening, I jumped in an RPGA Open one-shot, The Jade Monkey by Carl Buehler.

The adventure itself is pretty standard fare (check out Polyhedron #62) of tricks, traps, and a pig-iron pig golem named Wilbur, but this was the first game I had participated in that came with fully-fleshed out pre-generated characters, complete with backstories and opinions of the other characters.

Throw in our DM, Joe Ward and an equal mix table of men and women, and I got to experience proper PC and NPC interactions.  It wasn't the new age improv gaming you can find on today's podcast actual plays, but the door to that style was finally cracked open.

"Copper Piece?"

I didn't go barging through that door of role-playing Nirvana, and part of it was by character design. William of Arinka was a shamed paladin disguised as a simple warrior.  Shy and wary to use his paladin abilities due to his previous failings, William was fine to defer leadership to others, use his sword and magic items when asked, yet somehow I was still stuck in multiple awkward situations, including one involving the elf I had a major crush on falling on top of me while I was sans culottes.  Lots of laughter, lots of fun, and the fate of Macon the Monkey Mage was an afterthought.

It's not exactly Powered by the Apocalypse, but for me, it was the start I needed.   

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

#RPGaDay 2017 Day 7: What Was Your Most Impactful RPG Session

It's no secret that I squeal with delight once the #RPGaDay questions are posted a week or two before the start of August, and it should also be no surprise that most of the questions are answered and ready to go before August 1st.

Day 7: "What Was Your Most Impactful RPG Session?"  has taunted me up until the wee hours of this morning.  Day 13's question "Describe a Game Experience That Changed How You Play" could be construed as similar in many opinions, so I had to look harder and complicate things.

So I went to some of my current and former players and threw this question at them.  For them, the biggest impact wasn't a session, but fell into three categories:

• My ability as a GM to run a living campaign, where NPCs mattered and previous actions could visibly affect their world aided into their immersion in a game.  If things went good or bad for these characters, the players had emotional attachment to them.   Thank God I didn't kill them all off.
• When my college AD&D game, The Ballad of the Pigeon God , reached the end of the its first semester, everyone expected a lull over the Summer, but I managed to keep the available players active for those three months, while keeping the other players active and invested in their own right.   Episodes #15-30 will cover that Summer and what I did to get everyone back together on college move-in day in September, both players and PCs.  That seemed to affect players on both sides of the schedules and show them that everyone mattered.
• I did get some responses that effectively were, "Things for shitty for me at the time, but the game was the one thing I looked forward to every week."    Right back at you guys....

I typed up something, but something was still stewing inside me.  What type of impact qualify?  Campaign implications (I've dropped some decent bombshells)?   Economic (Running/Playing a demo)? Or is it a session that personally impacted myself or my players?

I tried to go into the context of personal impact, but I really couldn't find anything.  No one has ever told me that if they hadn't shown up for the game, they were going to kill themselves.  No one has ever discovered the courage to express their true sexuality after a session.  No event had players going down the road to... waitaminute

He figured something out!

In my college AD&D 2nd Edition "College" game I managed to combine the sheer insanity of my old group with fresh meat, errr.. my new college gaming friends.  I'm in the midst of posting  the 19-year old actual plays on this blog with new episodes on Tuesdays under "The Ballad of the Pigeon God."

Tiny spoiler, but somewhere around Halloween, episode #30 will drop that will have Rolf Wolfsblood, Barbarian Warlord and his first encounter the naive young magic-user Mellandria.

And absolutely nothing romantically happens.

However, for their players, Phil and Jess, it was the largest impetus to eventually get them together and ultimately married.

It certainly wasn't the first meeting of the pair, as we made cross-chapter visits for the greatest Albanian fraternity of all, the Society of Neffs, but regular Saturday night game sessions helped the friendship grow, survive a series of bad decisions, and turn into wedding bells.
Session #30 was already an influential session and player favorite.  with this, it becomes legendary.

It's no secret that I squeal with delight once the #RPGaDay questions are posted a week or two before the start of August, and it should also be no surprise that most of the questions are answered and ready to go before August 1st.

Day 7: "What Was Your Most Impactful RPG Session?"  has taunted me up until the wee hours of this morning.  Day 13's question "Describe a Game Experience That Changed How You Play" could be construed as similar in many opinions, so I had to look harder and complicate things.

So I went to some of my current and former players and threw this question at them.  For them, the biggest impact wasn't a session, but fell into three categories:

• My ability as a GM to run a living campaign, where NPCs mattered and previous actions could visibly affect their world aided into their immersion in a game.  If things went good or bad for these characters, the players had emotional attachment to them.   Thank God I didn't kill them all off.
• When my college AD&D game, The Ballad of the Pigeon God , reached the end of the its first semester, everyone expected a lull over the Summer, but I managed to keep the available players active for those three months, while keeping the other players active and invested in their own right.   Episodes #15-30 will cover that Summer and what I did to get everyone back together on college move-in day in September, both players and PCs.  That seemed to affect players on both sides of the schedules and show them that everyone mattered.
• I did get some responses that effectively were, "Things for shitty for me at the time, but the game was the one thing I looked forward to every week."    Right back at you guys....

I typed up something, but something was still stewing inside me.  What type of impact qualify?  Campaign implications (I've dropped some decent bombshells)?   Economic (Running/Playing a demo)? Or is it a session that personally impacted myself or my players?

I tried to go into the context of personal impact, but I really couldn't find anything.  No one has ever told me that if they hadn't shown up for the game, they were going to kill themselves.  No one has ever discovered the courage to express their true sexuality after a session.  No event had players going down the road to... waitaminute

He figured something out!

In my college AD&D 2nd Edition "College" game I managed to combine the sheer insanity of my old group with fresh meat, errr.. my new college gaming friends.  I'm in the midst of posting  the 19-year old actual plays on this blog with new episodes on Tuesdays under "The Ballad of the Pigeon God."

Tiny spoiler, but somewhere around Halloween, episode #30 will drop that will have Rolf Wolfsblood, Barbarian Warlord and his first encounter the naive young magic-user Mellandria.

And absolutely nothing romantically happens.

However, for their players, Phil and Jess, it was the largest impetus to eventually get them together and ultimately married.

It certainly wasn't the first meeting of the pair, as we made cross-chapter visits for the greatest Albanian fraternity of all, the Society of Neffs, but regular Saturday night game sessions helped the friendship grow, survive a series of bad decisions, and turn into wedding bells.
Session #30 was already an influential session and player favorite.  with this, it becomes legendary.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad