One of those late-night discussions

I've just gotten back from Ackerman's place, where I was hanging out with Ackerman and James. We had a long discussion about our respective histories with RPGs and our views on several different aspects of gaming.

While I may be a young guy, I've had a pretty good range of experience playing and DMing games over the last 11 years or so. I know that isn't long compared to some of the guys I have spoken with, but I can't really help my age. I've developed a lot of ideas about roleplay over the years, and I've noticed that I lean towards what is considered "old school" gaming. I love good RP, and I'm a big fan of groups RPing out a situation instead of simply rolling dice to bypass whatever is going on.

An example I like involves D&D 2e, 3.x, and 4e.

In 2e, you walk nto a tavern and smoke clouds your vision momentarily. The bartender glares at you as he methodically cleans the same mug with the same dingy rag over and over again. Your contact sits in the back of the establishment, cloaked and shadowed, puffing on a pipe. His broken and battered armor shows through his torn clothes, and his rusted, well-worn blade peeks out from his belt. He is gruff and scarred, but smiles at you and gestures for you to approach. His only contribution to your quest is just a whisper of a rumor.

In 3.x, you walk into a bar. You can immediately locate the guy you need to find. He is obviously powerful - why else would he have stuff floating around his head like that? His armor glows faintly and is worn openly. His large bag o magical trinkets sits on the floor next to him, and his weapon is easily 6 feet tall, glowing all sorts of weird colors and made out of a rare and powerful metal. He doles out heaps of magic items to help you on your quest.

In 4e, you don't walk into a tavern or pub or bar unless you want to fight something. Who cares about the RP?

Of course, this is very exaggerated, and it does largely depend on the style of the guy running the game. I'll probably post more on this later, when I'm not about to pass out on my keyboard.

Group updates for the new year...

So, due to some work schedules and all that, we're not entirely sure when we can get the whole group together to play our 2e campaign. I've been going through a lot of my old gaming materials, and the nostalgia for some good old superhero roleplay. I've decided to run a Mutants & Masterminds game for the group, which has gotten a pretty good reception. We decided to run M&M on days where one or more people can't make it to a game. So far, Dan has created a large-sized guy with super-strength, crazy melee abilities, and limited teleportation. John's character will be an insane inventor who has a helmet that transforms him into a superhero. No word on the other guys' characters.

Anyway, Dan and I are about to head out to a concert, bt I'm going to give you an item from my Tobor campaign.

I can't find it though, so nevermind.

"Pretty ballsy to walk into a room full of...us."

For future reference, here's a list of the guys who I game with or have gamed with, in alphabetical order so nobody can complain. I'll probably reference them at some point in the future. Enjoy if you can.

In the current group:

Ackerman - Ackerman is our resident WarHammer/Dark Heresy guy. We think he's a little crazy, and he drives a car we call the "powder-blue-cock-block-mobile".
Dan - Dan is our pop culture junkie. He supplies the cups for our gaming sessions, an assortment of cups bearing nostalgic cartoon/comic/movie characters. We often fight over the My Little Pony cup. Dan played the legendary Halfling Rogue known only as Milo Tealeaf Baggins.
James - James is the "new guy". I've known him for a long while, but he recently decided to move back to Vegas and game with us.
John - The beacon of apathy that keeps the group centered is John, an engineer responsible for flooding our streets. John has been working on a Star Wars: Saga edition campaign for damn near 4 years now. It better be epic.
Pete - Pete is...Pete. His skills include belittling the rest of the group, insisting that his character has the most ranks in every skill, and playing Dwarves who wield weapons three times their size.

Past members:

Brandon - Brandon was the guy in every group who could somehow roll 25s on a d20. He also liked to wear tuxedos and get naked during the course of a session.
Chris - The guy who got too confused too fast. Didn't have much of a chance.
DM James - A legend in our gaming group, this fellow ran us through hell every Friday night for quite some time. Great DM.
DP - Now in the Air Force, DP played through most of our several year 3.X campaign. He tried his best to ruin what dragons meant for us.
Jen - She never paid attention and used to skinny-dip in the jacuzzi. Not much of a loss.
K-Man - Played through 3.X and ran a modified d20 Past game with us.
Kameron - Everything about this guy screamed "I'M A PALADIN IN REAL LIFE". Pretty cool guy.
Ken - A bit on the weird side, but a great roleplayer.
LJ - Little James was the young guy in our group, a weird goth kid with a fascination for the undead. Great player and a cool guy, once you got to know him.
Marcus - Our resident Fatbeard. He wasn't around too much.
Morgan - This kid was crazy. He always forgot his character sheets or got his characters killed. Every session. Without fail.
Tamara - Weird chick. Roleplayed decently when she wasn't hooking up with some of the other people in the group.
Toke - The amazing token black guy. Toke was one of the most fun guys to game with. Very animated and extremely creative. Toke had a thing for characters who fought unarmed.

Post Number One

I've finally decided to actually use this blog, as opposed to just having it for no reason. But whatever. My name is Max. I'm an English education major. I live in Las Vegas, which I have gotten used to in the 11 years I've been here. I really enjoy the fact that I can go out at 3 AM and purchase whatever I need, be it drinks, books, a hammer, or a root canal. I read too many comic books, my favorites being a long list of Marvel titles. I also enjoy Stray Bullets, Walking Dead, and a few others here and there. I listen to too much music nobody else likes, which I am absolutely fine with. I watch a few movies here and there, mostly epics and similar things. I measure every movie I see by how it compares in "awesome factor" to Clash of the Titans. I get with my buddies once a week (or so) to play some good old pen & paper RPGs.

I have experience playing every edition of Dungeons & Dragons, d20 Modern (including d20 Past & d20 Future), Mutants & Masterminds, Heroes, Call of Cthulhu, Palladium (sadly), GURPS (never again), Dark Heresy, Legend of the Five Rings 1st and 2nd edition, World of Darkness (not the LARP), Cyberpunk 2013, 2020, & 2027, Kult, Shadowrun 3rd & 4th edition, and a few others I can't remember. I have DM/GM experience with all editions of Dungeons & Dragons except 4th, d20 Past, Modern, & Future, Mutants & Masterminds, Heroes, and All Flesh Must Be Eaten. I am currently familiarizing myself with a few new systems, such as Alternity, Fading Suns, Star Wars d20 Saga edition, Unhallowed Metropolis, and Summerland.

Enough with the lists. I decided to make this blog to share my experiences as both a player and a DM/GM with my gaming group. Along the way, I'll try to share things that worked for me or failed horribly, and maybe upload some notes and maps from campaigns past.

We'll see.