Big D&D game at my house tonight

[NewJeffCT]

It will be geek central at my home in Connecticut tonight, as my wife finally gave me permission to play D&D (Dungeons & Dragons, for those non-geeks out there) regularly, as long as it is at our house.

I managed to find a pretty good amount of players that seem to be mature and decent guys.

I bought 24 cans of various types of soda, another 16 bottled waters and maybe 8-10 bags of various types of chips.

I'll have to see if I can slip my liberal bias into any actual gaming.

Wish me luck.

[Orsino]

1. Good luck!

It's hard to promote the LibrulAgenda(tm), though, if the setting includes castles 'n' kings.

[NewJeffCT]

5. You can do it in subtle ways

players that stick up for the weak & downtrodden get a bonus to XP - sometimes players tend to treat the random townspeople or caravan guards as "cannon fodder"

but, in the real world, you can be a pacifist and a peace lover - but, it's kind of hard to do that in a world where things like demons and dragons are real and the undead stalk the lands.

[Orsino]

19. Played a semi-pacifist once...

...a barbarian-type ranger, completely innocent as to civilized ways, who would mostly fight with the blunt end of his spear. Violence was a last resort for him. Spent half a game session making the party leaders explain capital punishment to him (why would anyone kill someone who's already been safely captured?), and forced 'em to explain it in the simplest words (hilarious language barrier). They wound up executing the captured were-beast, but in my utterly naive way I more or less shamed 'em into holding a trial first, with another party member agreeing to advocate for the defense.

Good times.

[NewJeffCT]

21. not a bad idea

the gaming world I'm using has a deity called "The Peacemaker" - but, part of the backstory is that there is a schism in the religion. One side is dedicated to total peace and passive resistance. The other side is also peaceful, but thinks it's okay to use force as a last resort, if absolutely necessary.

[spinbaby]

2. You've got to get some real food!

D&D players feed on soda and chips get cranky.

[JVS]

3. They need a big sandwich or something

[NewJeffCT]

6. eh, we're starting close to 7:30 pm

so, hopefully everybody has had dinner by that time.

[spinbaby]

16. Doesn't matter

D&D requires food and lots of it.

[NewJeffCT]

18. if folks really get *that* hungry

we can order pizza or Chinese for delivery.

[Connonym]

29. at the D&D game days I attend

the host provides the location, the guests provide the food and drink (otherwise it would be an unfair burden on the one who hosts regularly). When it gets to be time for food sometimes we all bring stuff for a cookout or we do a carry-out run -- everyone throws in their share of the money into the kitty and at the end of the night there's a poker game with the winner taking home any extra food money. Fortunately, everyone in our group is really good about making sure they put in enough for their food with enough left over for a little bit of a poker pot. It's a system that's worked for this group for almost 20 years.

[NewJeffCT]

34. If things work out

I might have it where the guys rotate who brings snacks & drinks each session.

[NewJeffCT]

62. apparently, not that much at my place

I had planned on a lot of chip-eating, but only one guy really ate anything. Several drank waters and some soda (pop), but that was really about it.

[AllegroRondo]

4. Sounds fun!

wish I could find a game like that around here.

[SteppingRazor]

7. Your wife gave you permission to play Dungeons & Dragons?

Sweet Jesus, what do you have to do to go to a strip club?

:evilgrin:

[NewJeffCT]

9. well, considering

that it took over 4 years of asking for permission to get a bi-weekly D&D game at my house, I can't even begin to contemplate that one...

Actually, the big thing that has stopped me from playing this century has been 1) a new job that started in early 2001 that demanded crazy hours; 2) Soon after I found a new job, my wife gave birth to our daughter in early 2003; and 3) when we finally got into a post-birth routine, the DM of my old gaming group went down with major surgery - he had one hip replaced in 2004, then the other in 2005 and never really recovered. He's still bedridden and unable to do more than raise his head and move his arms.

So, I missed almost all of 3rd edition.

[SteppingRazor]

11. I was pretty much done with D&D by the time third edition came out.

Or at least, it had just come out when I stopped playing, and I still insisted on 2nd edition rules because that's what I knew.

In any case, your wife ought to be happy to have a game at the house! Beats going to the bars with the guys, no? This way, she can keep an eye on you :)

[NewJeffCT]

13. my experience was the opposite

I played constantly with the old 1E rules from the late 70s until I got out of college in 1989. I stuck with 1E with my old group, but as they graduated college and moved on, my face-to-face gaming experience basically died. So, I had little experience with the new 2E stuff... and didn't game at all in person through the mid 90s. I did some computer gaming - Pool of Radiance & Eye of the Beholder I remember, but that was it.

Finally, i got married and also found some online D&D forums... my marriage quickly went south and I ended up noticing some guys from not too far away from me that also posted frequently online. I contacted them, they welcomed me into the group and we had a great 2E campaign that went from mid 1998 until September or October of 1999. It was my first extended experience as a player, and my weekly escape into gaming really helped me keep my sanity as my marriage fell apart...

However, when 3E came out, I was kind of excited because everybody else in the group knew 2E better than me, so it was a chance to get back onto an even footing. However, our first campaign in 3E crashed and burned - we had a couple of new guys in the group that decided they hated 3E and wanted to go back to 1E rules... in addition to being so incredibly racist (out of game) that it made even the moderate Republican guys in the group feel uncomfortable. We booted them out of the group... but, by that time, it was when I got my new job that required crazy hours. Then, I got remarried, etc, etc.

[SteppingRazor]

24. Ah. First edition was a little before my time.

I had some of the old books, but only used them for references, especially for the unique monsters in the monster manuals (demon lords, etc.) that were absent from 2nd edition. Eventually, I eBayed all the first edition stuff I had for ridiculous amounts of money to some collector.

[GirlinContempt]

15. I *hate* 3rd ed

Almost as much as d20 Call of Cthulhu

[NewJeffCT]

17. well, next spring, we'll have 4E

So, you can move on if you wish.

And, I haven't even ventured into playing Cthulu for ages, which means going back to last century before d20 and when I had free time in my life.

I just hope I don't get stage fright DMing for guys I barely know.

[GirlinContempt]

23. What they hell is that anyway?

3 editions in 8 years? pffft

[ThomCat]

8. How did you find players?

Short of hanging around at the local gaming stores (all teenagers) I don't know how to reach gamers to form or join a group. I'd love to hook up with some older, long-time gamers.

[NewJeffCT]

10. Some popular D&D online forums

www.wizards.com (then, a bunch of clicks to find the D&D section, then the forums section for D&D, and then the Player Registry/Finder within the forums.)

and also www.enworld.org

In the past, I have not had much luck... but, this time, I've found guys that are all fathers, so are hopefully somewhat responsible.

[Orsino]

20. Yeah. Just jump online to see who...

...is still arguing in favor of second edition, or Basic D&D, and you'll weed out most of the youngsters.

[AllegroRondo]

22. Basic D&D is still the best!

and I have the original red and blue boxes to prove it!

Seriously, I liked how simplified the character classes/races were in that version. It left a lot more open for role playing.

[NewJeffCT]

26. I still have my original dice

my original d20 is almost round now and seems to end up on 2 an inordinate amount of time. Not good if you're trying to hit something.

[AllegroRondo]

28. Me too! the dark blue plastic ones

that you color in the numbers with a crayon.
Havent used those in a LONG time.

[Orrex]

12. Which edition?

And how many players? Whether as a player or as DM, I always had the most fun with groups of about five players. More than that and it starts (in my experience) to get a little unwieldy.

[NewJeffCT]

14. Right now, 3.5

it is myself, plus 4 other guys. I also have another guy on hold that says he can bring 1 or 2 more players. But, I thought 7 players, plus myself was too much for me to handle.

[VenusRising]

25. Yes!!

Have a great time adventuring!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOpPgKhv604

[TommyO]

27. I haven't played D&D in years!

Can I relive my youth vicariously through you?

[NewJeffCT]

30. sure, if I have time tomorrow

I'll post a wrap-up of the gaming session.

[NewJeffCT]

63. OK, here is a brief wrap-up for you

One guy called out sick - hopefully, it's legit, because it would have been nice to have 4 players. He could have found a new gaming group closer to where he lives, though...

The setting was The Kingdoms of Kalamar from Kenzer (more famous for "Knights of the Dinner Table")

The area of Kalamar was the Kingdom of Mendarn, not far from their border with the evil slave-trading Theocracy of Pel Brolenon.

And, sure enough, the party of a human sorcerer, a human rogue and an elf fighter encountered a raiding party of slavers, attempting to make their getaway from raiding a small merchant's wagon on their route to the village of Yelden.

They got there too late to stop two slavers on horse make their getaway with two prisoners, but they did manage to stop them from killing the caravan guardsman, and got one slaver captured as prisoner.

The party, with the guardsmen and the unconscious prisoner, then made their way to the small town of Yelden, which is really the last settled area within Mendarn between Mendarn's border with Pel Prolenon.

Unfortunately, when they got into town, the party got mixed up in a little ruckus and they were all tossed into jail for the night to cool their heels. They met a beaten man named Brand, who claimed to be a political prisoner from Eldor, the nation to the north of Mendarn. he said he was a simple scribe who had come to visit his friend Mordeln, and was promptly jailed. However, one of the PCs was able to deduce that Brand's accent was clearly not Eldoran, but they were unable to glean more information from him.

They did manage to hear that Duke Aldriv had just been assassinated, and that his younger brother, Cardor, had gone missing.

The next morning, they met a man named Mordeln who was looking for Brand. He promised them a profitable offer if they would hear his tale at the local House of Solace (a deity devoted to peace). The PCs accepted, and then went off to get a little more information - their captured slaver had disappeared, presumably into the hands of the town guard; the guy they saved in the beginning had to report his loss to the local merchant, but he had promised to reward the PCs for saving him.

[IndianaJones]

31. make it Warhammer and I'm there. nt.

[NewJeffCT]

32. I have 3 pretty good Warhammer Fantasy armies

but, I've never really gotten around to playing...

Empire
Orcs & Goblins
Dwarfs

are the 3, if you were wondering.

[IndianaJones]

33. I'm into the 40k. I'm going to get some Fantasy figures to paint.

I like the Orc stuff.

[NewJeffCT]

36. Since my daughter was born 4 1/2 years ago

my painting time has been severely limited. I had a local high school paint some stuff up for me a while back (for money), but he's off in college now.

[Marrah_G]

35. Do you have any Mountain Dew?????????

:rofl:











(here is a link for all you non-gamer geeks who just don't get it)
http://www.ugoplayer.com//animation/8bitdnd.html

[NewJeffCT]

37. nope

I hate Mountain Dew - so, I bought Sprite, Pepsi and Diet Coke. At least I can stomach Sprite if nobody else likes it.

[VenusRising]

38. Where are the Cheetos??

:rofl:

[Liberal Dose]

39. Good luck, Jeff! FYI, you can rp D&D all the do da day in second life and there is no mess to clean

up after. Just sayin'. :7

[NewJeffCT]

40. second life?

is that an online game?

[Liberal Dose]

41. Yes, second life is an online world built by the users. I roleplay in a D&D simulated land, and

there are several. Some are like Never Winter, but most are D&D based. PM me if you want :)

[NewJeffCT]

45. It's probably too addictive for me to play

I doubt my wife would be happy if I started staying up to midnight every night to play D&D online...

[Liberal Dose]

48. Do what I did and bring her along. My hubby plays on sl too! It can get addictive when your

storyline starts to grow, but I find that a schedule helps. That way, those who are part of my rp know when to count on me being there. Your wife would be surprised at how many women are playing. I can introduce her to a high priestess friend of mine if you'd like lol. Doesn't hurt or cost anything to look and it has become a really good creative outlet for us. It is a nice way to escape for a few hours a week. I have also joined some politically active groups in second life. Barack Obama for President and Yearly Kos. Anyway, just an idea. :bounce:

[NewJeffCT]

50. That sort of thing has little appeal to my wife

she doesn't quite understand what the appeal of Lord of the Rings or Star Wars is. I think it's at least partly cultural.

[Liberal Dose]

51. Second life isn't completely made up of us D&D/Medievel/Star Wars/LOR roleplayers. There is so much

more there that I'm sure your wife would find something that interests her. For example, not only am I a faerie in sl, I am also a Mafia Godmother. With that I'll stop, because I'm beginning to sound like I own stock in Linden Lab (don't I wish!) :7

[eyepaddle]

42. Good luck dude!

Especialy if you can slip in that Liberal Bias!

I'm not a gamer myself, but I can tell when somebody has their mojo cranking--so go get 'em gunsmoke. :)

I think having it at your house would probably make it more relaxed than at some store or gaming area. (My girlfriend's son plays something called "Mutants and Masterminds" at a local comic book store/gaming resource mecca. Everybody looked to be having a blast, but the way you are doing it it should be like a football party or something!)

[NewJeffCT]

44. thanks

I don't know if I have any mojo going - it's Friday night and I'm 40 years old, I'll be happy to not be keeling over from exhaustion when midnight rolls around.

I'm certainly not a rules expert, so I'm hoping to concentrate on the story and the background and create a few simple and interesting scenarios.

[Haole Girl]

43. I hope it all works out well!

:hi:

[NewJeffCT]

46. normally, when you suffer from stage fright

they tell you to imagine your audience is nude to help you relax... but, if you've seen most gamers, that probably isn't very good advice.

[Book Lover]

47. Dude, "gave [you] permission"?

Am I myopic because I married another gamer? I can't concieve of asking anyone permission to play. Or are you joshing and I'm too serious today?

[NewJeffCT]

49. no, I'm not joking

If you had a hobby that your spouse had no interest in, it's a bit different. Imagine, instead of gaming, you decided you wanted to have a weekly poker session with the guys? Or, you wanted to play in a twice-weekly softball league? I would hope you would ask first...

[Book Lover]

52. I don't mean to sound snarky

but honestly, I wouldn't ask permission to enjoy my hobbies. Having the game in our house, that's one thing I would ask about first, but to simply participate in my hobbies, no. (maybe that's what you meant?)

[Aristus]

53. I made a saving throw and don't have to attend.

Man,I haven't played D&D in for-EV-er!

I kinda miss it

[NewJeffCT]

54. it seems like forever for me

though, I've made a few "guest" appearances at the game of my old DM.

[distantearlywarning]

55. My husband is lucky (or smart)

He married a fellow gamer!

We recently started hosting a D&D game at our house too, after being out of it for about 4 years. Both of us had to completely re-read all the rules because we had no idea what the hell is going on with 3.5 (or really 3.0 for that matter). We found some other players by putting up an ad on a local gaming site and also a paper ad down at the local gaming store. I had to sort through about 10 undesireable people (too young, too argumentative, live too far away, etc.) before I found a group that seemed like it would work. I think it's going to be fun, and we're both looking forward to the next session.

I'm sure it's none of my business, but I just have to say this anyway: as the wife of a gamer myself, I find it offensive when one person in a relationship controls the other one's time. It seems like I usually see this with girlfriends/wives. My husband and would have strong words and maybe more than that if he tried to make me "ask permission" to do some activity once or twice a week, especially something as harmless as sitting around rolling dice and drinking soda. It's no better if it's the wife doing it to the husband. Not understanding a hobby or not being interested in it yourself doesn't give someone the right to deny that activity to someone else. Ask her how she would feel if you made her "ask permission" to go shoe shopping or have lunch with a girlfriend once a week, and then you bitched and moaned about it and made her feel guilty every time she did it? How would you feel about a male co-worker you found out was treating his wife this way...? This is just my opinion as a woman who doesn't know either of you, and some food for thought. If your relationship is working for you, feel free to ignore me.

[NewJeffCT]

56. To be honest, it wasn't quite like that.

In 2001-2003, I hardly had any time for gaming because I had a new job that required crazy hours, including a lot of weekends. I managed to get in some "guest" gaming appearances here and there where I would run an NPC for a night, but that was about it.

Then, we had our daughter in 2003 and, despite having a new job, I was too worried about my wife, my baby and my mother-in-law to have a lot of time for gaming.

Then, when things started settling down at home, the DM in my old group went down for major surgery in 2004 (hip replacement, despite being like 33 at the time) and then had his other hip replaced a year later. He had thought after the first surgery, he would be okay and back to gaming within a few months, but he never really recovered... With his personality, he was really the focal point of that group.

And, he still has not really recovered and will likely be bedridden for life. He can raise his head and move his arms, but is otherwise not mobile at all and has to lay flat on his back. He still games on occasion, but has a table over his bed and rolls his dice on that table. I'm actually going down to visit him Sunday night.

And, where we lived before, we had a terrific basement for gaming, but I kind of knew we weren't going to live there for very long, so I didn't really have a big desire to go out and start gaming if we were going to move and break up the group in a few months.

So, it wasn't really until we moved to our new house that I thought maybe I could find time for gaming again.
And, since we had never really had many gaming sessions at our old homes, I figured it would be best to ask first before committing to anything.

[Mojambo]

57. I'm totally jealous.

Have fun!!

[NewJeffCT]

58. I can't believe this thread

is up to almost 60 posts now!

But, thanks

[DarkTirade]

59. Y'know, I've never actually played D&D or any D20 tabeltop games.

Plenty of RPGs, but the only D20 system games I've played have been computer games. :P

[NewJeffCT]

60. I've never really played d20 on the computer

and, the only computer "RPGs" I played were the old "Pool of Radiance" game, circa 1990 or 91 or so, and then "Eye of the Beholder" which was a few years later.

[DarkTirade]

61. I'm a sci-fi geek, so the only D20 computer games I own are the two Star Wars ones. :)

I've played a few others (Including Eye of the Beholder. Man, that one has an awkard interface if you're not using a mouse. I don't know how the hell it worked on Nintendo.), but only own those two.