Ryan Z.'s page

I also have no shame in expressing my uber-nerd tendencies to, well, everyone! Maybe I've transitioned to some sort of post-modern nerd phase. I wear stylish designer clothes, spike my hair, drive a nice car, have a corporate job, and flaunt my geekdom to everyone.

I interact a ton with clients and customers and have found that most people are just afraid of sharing anything about themselves. Talking about yourself and your "coolness shortcomings" helps other people open up.

When I need to get email addresses from clients is when the opportunity usually presents itself. I've had in depth conversations on the World of Darkness with 30 year old men while discussing the applicability of their coverage, chatted with groups of 20-somethings I've met at the gym about our favorite 2ED "Complete..." book (tie between the Necromancer and Ninja handbook ;)) between sets of front squats, and rapped about classic Battletech over the phone with complete strangers.

Don't be ashamed of your nerdiness. Embrace it.

As James' fellow metal bandmate (sorry to plug it, http://www.shadowatmorning.com - perfect for a savage, mead-swilling good time - back on topic now) and best friend, I figure I'd weigh in on this here debate of sorts.

He and I have had this very conversation numerous times throughout our many years of collective geekdom. Both of us grew up playing D&D in the strange '90s era when MMOs still weren't all that prevalent (Meridian 59, The Realm, Ultima Online) and MUDs were dominating the online fantasy roleplaying landscape. Presently we're in an entirely novel era of gaming where individuals are familiar with the derivatives (World of Warcraft), yet are unfamiliar as to where the gestation of ideas for such games occurred.

Simply put, World of Warcraft and numerous other MMOs and CRPGs now provide much of the same immersion D&D provides IF you're playing simply for gear acquisition, leveling, treasure looting, or simple monster romping. These intents aren't necessarily synonymous with hack 'n slash style play but more often not are ever-present side dishes. Even for myself, a die-hard pen and paper gamer, the draw of D&D now comes from the collective storytelling and social unity I find absent in computer-based games. Guilds and the advent of VOIP technologies are coming dangerously close vis a vis the social unity and collective experience aspects. Left is the collective storytelling of which D&D (and other pen and paper games) excel at.

In such a sense, I can easily see how "hack 'n slash" is dead.

If I were ever lost in a D&D campaign, I'd want Keldrick to be "holdin down the block for me and my crewz, yeah." No one screws with the hobonin', magic missile throwin' wizard from the south side of Compton. Respect the ice.

My only regret is that I got so distracted by the "Draw Mike Mearls' Character" contest... never before has D&D seen so many dew rags and big gold necklaces. As I believe Z (temporarily playing Ursula) pointed out, Mearls truly is the Flava Flav of gaming.

Best new word of the session: "Hoboning".

-James

Sorry, MARSHALL Law :)

Mike -

If you play Tekken (or have played Tekken), mess around with Martial/Forest Law and their punching combinations. Namco based both of the Law characters around Bruce Lee, whose primary punching style is derived from Wing Chun.

One thing I might suggest is having your players create a 'stable' of characters. Have all of the player's PCs exist in roughly the same area of the campaign world, but allow them to have multiple PCs for them to run. This practice took up in my gaming group after myself and a fellow gamer began rotating the DM spot.

Generally, we discuss with the DM what character X will be doing while character Y is in the adventure. The player would comes up with a small work of fiction for character X and exp. would be doled out accordingly, so as to keep all of the player's characters at roughly the same level.

This is a lot of fun - even if you get bored with a character, you can roll up a new one and play him, but you still stay invested your PCs' lives.

Easy. Falenthor Ip'Tarin. An Elven Samurai of sorts, he wielded a Daisho (katana/wakizashi) pair, proficient also in the magely arts. He had 3 followers - Steve the Offensive Machine (a 1st level halfling Thief armed with dagger. Also Falenthor's pack mule.) Floyd the Gnome (a heavy crossbow wielding gnome, available for sarcasm at Fal's beck and call), and Cannon Fodder, Steve's cousin, who died very shortly after his introduction into our game.

Those were the days.

I think the problem with Drizzt is that in some sense he never really evolved. I understand in the new books he's taken on the "Hunter" persona from Sojourn/Exile. I've heard complaints that Salvatore abandoned the initial development of the character which may be true, but I think the appeal of Drizzt has very little to do with the "adversity" he has faced.

Let's face it - Drizzt is a Superhero living in the Comic Book world of Salvatore's Forgotten Realms. It's fantastic, fast paced, entertaining, action-packed fun, but I think to the degree that some people try to piece apart Drizzt as a character, are in many ways missing the point. We love Drizzt because he is so darn overblown and can consistently accomplish the impossible.

That said, I'm still a total Drizzt fan boy. Thank GOD they finally god his scimitars and appearance correct - the old covers of the novels were HIDEOUS sans the Crystal Shard which still had him appearing a tad too old.

I have to agree on the dysfunctionality of the group. Amazing, in some sense, that they can even play together. Great series although it certainly peters out toward the end of the saga. Didn't like the Keepers... series as much.

As far as Knaak is concerned, I know he's doing series work once again. Amazingly, I've heard it's pretty good. If I recall correctly he's done a few Warcraft novels and I believe the Diablo novel.