Memories and Old Friends

I started, ALL those years ago with OD&D - my Nan bought it me back from a trip to see my cousins in the US. Not that it was her idea to buy it for me; it was one of my American cousins (I never did find out who).

I was hooked, myself and my friend Philip would spend hours playing - we roped his Mum (Rose) in for one game - she was UTTERLY confused LoL! But whereas my addiction increased, Philips interest waned.

I went on to study Music, was in a Band (Philip became a drinker, and died in a drunk driver incident) and quickly roped my fellow rockers into playing. I came to know and become firm friends with a guy named Steve - we were both in Six of One (the Prisoner society) and knowing Staves penchant for adventure shows, I suggested AD&D (I had gone through Basic/Expert with the Band - you know, the red and blue boxed sets - and was moving into AD&D by this time) - I have always been a bit of a tarter as a DM.

You can bring an established character into my games, providing your old DM can confirm what you have, or has signed off on your notes or character sheet somewhere - just to keep things fair to my other players really. Likewise, I would PREFER you to roll your characters in front of me or at the very least with another player to witness your rolls. If that’s impossible, then you have to use a point’s allocation system I devised.

Too much information? LoL! No - it’s setting the "scene" for the next part.

Steve came around my house bright and early that Saturday. We were going to roll his character up, then actually role-play him buying his equipment (I always give people their clothes, a dagger, and walking boots/shoes anyway - I think its "illogical" to start them naked IMHO) - So, sitting at our Kitchen table - with Tea and Biscuits provided by my Mum (very British I know) we settled down to roll up Steve’s first character - Londarth Drogos.

I wanted Steve to start with a Fighter, always best for a Newbie - we were using 3D6 in order. Steve amazed me with his rolls, and this is the ONLY time I've EVER seen this done - he rolled straight 18's for every attribute, after doing it three times - I insisted he change his dice after 3 18's, and he rolled 3 more. Londarth was Steve’s longest running character; his Ranger Grath Von Eltz had good solid attribute scores - but (obviously) not a patch on Londarth.

Unfortunately Steve passed away from Cancer some years ago - its a shame that very few people in real life have Con 18. I recently managed to get the figure he used for Londarth off EBay - a Vintage Citadel C01 Paladin. 

I miss you Steve mate, I hope you keep rolling high wherever you are . . . . . . . .

Vin Diesel - Old School Gamer?

I watched this video on YouTube AGES ago, and it never really twigged with me at the time.

Good old Vin is an Old School Gamer, not just because of WHEN he was playing (late 70's early 80's) but HOW he (and his group) played.



You can tell from the passion of the way he tells his story, he remembers those times very fondly.

Great Stuff!

Simpler - I DON'T THINK SO!

A lot of people accuse Old School RPG's of being too simple, an accusation I think is wrong and without foundation. When the people are challenged, they can offer no real tangible evidence as to why they think its so.

Upon reading the Posts of the 4th Edition Group over at Various RPG Groups (Including Facebook and the Wizbro Forums), a lot of them are along the lines of (and these are direct qoutes) these -

Quote:

I just started playing with my 4 year old Son this week

Quote:

I gm, my wife plays a mage, my 10 year old son plays a warlock rogue, and my 4 year old daughter plays a cleric.

Quote:

My 7 yr-old son and 9 yr-old daughter have played

Those are but three comments out of many, these are spread around the 4e (not) DnD community - for the most part the very people who lay the accusations about OS Games being so simple.

The message there to me is that they have DUMBED DOWN the 4e (not) DnD rules so much that a Kindergardener can play them!

I have spent a considerable amount of time defending my hobbies and passions - people taking the "michael", saying "its for kids" I FINALLY after umpteen years get the respect for the hobby it deserves from my Family and Non-Gamer friends - when gorram WizBro make 4th Edition (not) DnD so damn simple and childish little kids can play it!

It might be a Game/Hobby that appeals to all age-groups, but its NOT supposed to be a Kiddyfied Family Hobby!

Whilst I am not against youngsters playing RPG's (see my Harvesters post) I feel the rules should be appropriate to the age group in question - you wouldn't let an 8 year old play full contact Rugby for (an extreme) example.

This sort of "Teach my 5 year old to play (not) DnD" is going to be damaging to the hobby for us older gamers - just wait and see.