D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 28

What's the single most important lesson you've learned playing DnD?  No matter how passionate or dedicated you are to a thing, if your not having fun with it then take some time away.  If it starts to cause stress for you, just take a break.

Life is a journey and there are many things to experience while your moving along.  Too many times I let stress ruin things for me, instead of merely taking time away to recharge.

I'd rather have more friends than gaming sessions.

R.I.P. Aaron Allston

It's been a tough week for geek circles.  First we lost Harold Ramis and now Aaron Allston.

I was introduced to Mr. Allston's gaming work through Champions, specifically his Strike Force sourcebook.  For my gaming group is was like the holy grail of campaigns and we'd talk about it, mine it, use it and steal from it.

I didn't realize until later on, that he was working on the DnD line, which I preferred to ADnD 2E, back in the day.

But I did enjoy his Complete Ninjas Handbook.

I also enjoyed his novel, Doc Sidhe.

You'll be missed, Aaron.

You were far, far too young.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 27

If you had to do it all over again, would you do anything different when you first started gaming?  Yeah, I'd tell myself that while gaming is great, mix things up more and hang out as friends in addition to gaming together.  I'd also trying to help myself be more mature with social groups and be less controlling and less prone to temper tantrums.  I had many conflicts within our group when I was younger and I'm at least 50% of any of those conflicts.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 26

Do you still game with the group that introduced you to the hobby?  Sadly, no.  Mark Means moved to Florida and met an amazing woman, whom he wisely married.  Aaron got married and lives too far away now.  I drifted away from Todd, Kurt, Jonathan, Mike, and Barry.  Richard also got married and moved to Florida.

Dead of Night: Deep One [AGE]

Deep One


The children of Dagon and Hydra have ruled the waters of Kthon for uncounted millennia. Eventually, Dagon became aware of Selene and each guided their people to meet and intermingle.  From these revels, the Melange were born. Selene's followers found the hybrids distasteful, however Dagon's children embraced them as royalty.  And so the deep ones wait, quietly watching and subtlety shaping the lives of the land dwellers, by planting Melange lords and ladies as agents of change.

Abilities (Focuses)
1 Communication (Performance, Seduction)

3 Constitution (Stamina, Swimming)

1 Cunning

0 Dexterity

-1 Magic

0 Perception (Seeing)

2 Strength (Intimidation, Spears)

0 Willpower (Faith)

Combat Ratings
8 Speed on Land

18 Speed in Water

60 Health

10 Defense

2 Armor Rating

Attacks
Weapon              Attack Roll       Damage 
Bite                          +0                 1d6+2
Trident                     +4                 1d6+5

Powers 
Favored Stunts: Skirmish, Pierce Armor, Seize the Initiative (3), Strange Song (6).

Strange Song:  A deep one can perform a Strange Song stunt for 6 points.  1d3 more deep ones will appear the following round, however they lack this ability.

Scaly Hide: Their fishy hides give deep ones an armor rating of 2.

Amphibious:  Deep ones have gills and lungs.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 25

Longest running campaign you've been in?  Longest campaign was a Champions 5E game I ran with Mark Means, my best friend.  We ran it for almost three years, and before that we ran a DC Heroes game for well over a year.

Longest running gaming group you've been in?  Longest running gaming group was my first group, we were together basically in one form or another from 1991 until about 2009.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 24

First movie that comes along that you associate with DnD?  Clash of the Titans.

Why?  The trailer for Clash of the Titans ignited my interest in mythology and truly got me reading.  Sure, at first it was just bits here and there and then it was comic books, but it sent me down a specific path.  A path that would lead me here.

The toys were pretty cool, too.

Its a shame I hated the film, but the remake was cool.