Showing posts with label DnD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DnD. Show all posts

Monday, June 01, 2015

The D&D Thirty Day Challenge, Day 1: How I Got Started (part 1)

For the longest time, I have been wanting memorialize my "D&D" origin story so that when I'm in my elder years and my memory might possibly not fire on all cylinders, I will be able to reflect on some of the best times of my childhood from that magical era of 1970s and 1980s. I even have a page set aside on my blog to post my gaming history (when I do get around to piecing it together.)

Today, my friend Mark Clover of Creative Mountain Games posted on Facebook a picture announcing the "The D&D Thirty Day Challenge." I usually do not participate in the social media follies of "X Days of Y Challenge." For whatever reason this time, my interest is piqued. My writing skills are starting to get a little shabby and could use some practice. Writing posts on Facebook is getting to be a drag, with almost every discussion turning into an argument over something stupid. Therefore, I have brushed the virtual dust off of my blog. It has not been posted to in years. This is where I will be corralling my posts so I can ramble on without annoying my Facebook friends and family that have no interest in gaming (which could possibly also end up in an internet peeing competition.) This is where I will be responding to the 30 days of challenges.

Please also note, part 2 of "How I got Started" which will contain the actual meat and potatoes of my introduction to D&D is going to take a little bit of time to complete and will most certainly need to be broken into a few posts. It's probably long winded. Actually, I am certain of it! However, I just love telling that story.

With that said, if you want the BLUF (gotta love the military acronyms... this one means Bottom Line Up Front) then here it is...

I started "playing" D&D in the same manner children played "cops and robbers" with some friends in late 1979. In the summer of 1980, I begged my mother to sign me up in my town's summer recreation program because every Wednesday afternoon, one of the activities I could choose (like there really was a choice) was "Dungeons & Dragons." Sure there was kickball, crafts, and bowling trips on the other days, but D&D was the treasure to be looted. That summer, I became the owner of the Basic Set that was edited by J. Eric Holmes. It cost my mother $1! That's a cool story, as well, but will be told another day.



In the fall of that year, my mother got me the four AD&D rulebooks. That's how the fabulous avalanche began.

Sunday, August 08, 2010

My first impressions of the new Red Box.

My FLGS was able to acquire a preview copy of the new D&D red box for the upcoming release of the Essentials line. I was able to peruse it. Here are my thoughts.

If you are an experienced D&D player/DM, this is NOT the product for you. While there are some nice tiles, counters, a set of dice, for $20 the only thing of some utility to seasoned players would be the Dungeon Master's book.

Now, saying that, if I was a youngster today wanting to learn 4th edition D&D, this is THE product to get. The player's book uses a format similar to the Mentzer Basic set from 1983. The character is created based upon the decisions that the player makes during the "choose your own adventure" setup. With that, the concept of the basic game rules is explained also during the solo play.

The character sheet I really like, because each skill is listed under its respective ability score. I am not sure if this can be done with the character builder cause I haven't played with it that much.

More on my thoughts tomorrow.