My D&D Journey

I'm a fantasy nut, it's always been my thing.  From I can first remember as a child, I was making up make-believe stories of horrible monsters, quests and heroes (who usually never survived).  The first time I saw a video game RPG I was hooked, and I started pounding away on my keyboard in BASIC to figure out how to make one.  I wanted to make fantasy video games so bad, I earned a Computer Science degree in college largely because of it.  Since then, I've had no other hobby last as long or as intense as all-things fantasy.  I've dabbled in other genres like sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, modern, etc, but none of these hold my interest very long.  It doesn't matter if it's a book, a movie, a game, or a location - if it isn't fantasy, it isn't much good.

The ultimate playground where fantasy flourishes is in the mind's eye.  Media is just an imitation of it, and can never be quite as good as what we fill our heads with.  Granted, there are tools out there that help our imaginations facilitate fantasy worlds, but ultimately the "magic" has to happen inside of ourselves for it to be effective.  Tabletop RPGs are probably the best tool that we have so far, and Dungeons & Dragons is king of the hill.

Over the years, I have gone through many editions of the game even though I came pretty late to the game.  I grew up in the 80s, but my mother forbid me playing anything with the D&D label on it.  I remember my best friend rented Heroes of the Lance, a Dragonlance setting action-RPG for the Nintendo Entertainment System with the D&D license, one weekend.  I knew the consequences of playing an "evil" game with the D&D name so I refused my bewildered friend's offer to let me play it with him.  So I sat and patiently watched him instead.  To make a long story short, my mother did find out that I had played "Dungeons and Dragons" and I was grounded for an entire month from seeing my friends.  Yes, an entire month.

Even with the forbidden game just out of reach, I eagerly watched from the sidelines, envious of my friends who spent their weekends playing this mysterious, but amazing, game without me.  So you could say that I grew up fully understanding the "culture" of D&D even without having played it.  I survived on knock-off board games like Milton Bradley's HeroQuest and other computer RPGs like Might and Magic, Wizardry and Ultima to keep my appetite fed.

College, dating, and other activities took me away from it all for several years and the game was all but forgotten.  It wasn't until the ripe age of 26 when I finally remembered the old forbidden game of my youth that I had stored in the deep recesses of my mind.  Of course, now I could finally see what all the fuss was about and dig into something I had always wanted to investigate from years earlier.

With little understanding of the evolution of the game I, of course, jumped right into the most recent edition and ordered the core 3.5 rulebooks.  Obviously this one had to be the best, it had so many years of practice, right?  At first, things went pretty well.  The game was everything and more that I could ever imagine.  I soon had a fledgling campaign setting and used my wife as the guinea pig by throwing her into the middle of it.

The first game I ran was a little bit of a disaster.  You see, I've always been a fan of throwing everything and the kitchen sink into every game I play, be it board or video game, to make it feel more realistic.  I'm a big fan of simulation, I love making my fantasy as plausible as I possibly can, so using every little rule I could find in the DMG, I tried to use it all at once the first time.  Weather, temperature, wind currents, animal migration patterns, fatigue, distance travelled, and on and on, all had to be calculated by the book for me to feel like I was playing it right.  The game became instantly bogged down.

After several sessions like this, over the next couple years, I started to rethink the whole D&D thing.  What was I doing wrong?  Why was this game so complex?  Sure, all these fiddly rules sounded great on paper, but in actual gaming practice, it became a complete nightmare to track.  And if I was just going to dismiss them, was I really playing the game as intended anymore?  By that time Pathfinder was almost out and I decided that the revision, promising to simplify many of the rules, would be my solution.  Turns out that Pathfinder was only marginally different (Jury is still out as to whether I feel it's better) than 3.5.

It was during an online Pathfinder Skype session from an Enworld group that I finally threw my hands in the air.  The party I was DMing for had just completed a battle with a giant spider or some other large monster (can't remember exactly).  The battle had taken nearly a full hour to finish largely because of some rules issues we were having.

On top of the rules complexities, I really had a problem with Pathfinder's presentation and some of the power creep in the classes.  In their effort to remove "dead levels" (a term which I despise) where some classes were not getting enough "stuff" per level, some classes were starting to resemble heroes from Marvel comic books.  Among other things, rogues could now cast cantrip spells as an option at later levels.  Really?  This and the colorful, beefcake/chainmail bikini, art style were the straws that broke the camel's back and I "hung up" the books on the shelf for good.

I started looking around for other games at that point.  I briefly looked at 4th Edition, but quickly found out it was going in the same direction as the problems I was having with Pathfinder.  The miniatures requirement, the super-powered classes, the tactical combat focus.  No thanks, I'll play a board or video game if I want that.

After that I started looking backwards, hearing some good things about earlier editions like 2nd and 1st.  At that point in time, I wasn't quite ready to make that leap.  One thing I still loved was the D20 mechanic.  It was so easy to use, and THAC0 scared the crap out of me.  I had brief infatuations with both Microlite20 and (later) Warrior, Rogue and Mage, stripped down 3E systems that basically just left you with the D20 mechanic.  I loved this at first, but the bare-bones system started to grate on me after a while.  Simple mechanics begot simple encounter where everything started to feel cookie-cutter.

Castles & Crusades is another love affair I had for a while.  It had gotten so much praise for it's old-school style using new-school mechanics.  This, I thought, was the game I was destined for.  I ran it using the Zagyg campaign world and had a lot of fun for a while.  The "Siege Engine" was designed around the D20 which used prime attribute modifiers and combined all saving throws with regular encounter checks.  It was fast and easy...too fast and too easy.  That's where I started to see its flaw.

For a long time, the D20 universal encounter resolution mechanic was the glue that held RPGs together for me.  I couldn't imagine a world without it.  The problem I now understand with this mechanic is the fact that it cheapens the role-play experience considerably by providing a short-cut.  "Player: I search for traps.  DM: Give me a wisdom check.  Player: I jump over the pit. DM: Give me a dexterity check.".  That, to me is not an RPG, and it's just plain boring.  My RPG dogma is now: any game system that uses such centralized roll mechanics is anathema to the spirit of role-play in the game itself.

The moment I read Matt Finch's A Quick Primer For Old School Gaming, everything I understood about D&D was turned on its head.  For the most part, I decided, I had been playing it all wrong.  I'll surely elaborate in future posts, but to summarize, I learned that D&D was far more about player decision making through his character than it was about character sheets.

About a year ago I settled on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition.  I had been reading a review on the DMG and had heard so many good things about it, decided to pick it up.  After that, I thought, why not pick up the PHB and MM too?  As it stands today, 1E is the best edition to understand Gary Gygax's theory  and vision of the game.  It's the edition with the best art (the PHB cover is bar far my favorite) and the best explanation of the D&D concept.  But it's not quite THE best rule-set.

So where did I end up?  Stay tuned...

The Lands of Mirte

The known lands of Mirte (for DM use only)

Mirte is a northern highland wilderness of the world of Tenebrous in which my D&D campaign takes place.  The land is dominated, geographically, by the Everlasting Range, a towering chain of steep, but relatively narrow mountain peaks.  The southwest coast, reaching all the way to the highland slopes bears a mild maritime climate most of the year with heavy rainfall and thick foliage.  East of the mountains, the climate is colder with long winters and heavy snowfall, but unusually warm summers creating conditions for plenty of flora highlighted by pine forests in the higher elevations and even a few deciduous forests in the lowlands.

The far northwest is the most wild and untamed part of Mirte, and few, in modern history, have ventured beyond the borders into the region surrounding the great ice sheet.  Rumors circulate of ruined cities and a great prison of ancient origin among tales of horrible monsters.  The small fishing town of Ebony Bay shares the border with the King's Keep, an outpost watching the northlands for trouble.

Stony Deep and its surroundings

The land is ruled by the High King under the banner of Monarchy out of the capital of Stony Deep, a medium-sized city in the southeast.  The city's original origins date back hundreds of years and sits atop a wide limestone mesa.  Rumors hold that many secret tunnels run through the mesa under the city, with tales of deeper caves and aquifers beneath that.

The city's most stark feature is the large, central fortress where the king and his family reside, along with other nobles and the royal guard. Well-known locations in the city include the cathedral church, the fighters and thieves guilds and the wizard tower.  A popular place for travelers is the Screaming Elf alehouse, situated in the northwest corner of town.

The far north, nestled between the great ice sheet and the highest peaks north of the swamps of Marshmere, lay an enormous stone wall spanning nearly a hundred of miles from southwest to northeast.  No man alive has ever scaled the wall and returned to tell the tale of what lies beyond.  Before reaching the wall, a massive ruined city, nicknamed Stoneholt lays in waste where it is whispered to hold many dark secrets about Mirte's past.

The civilizations of the Lands of Mirte are dominated by humans.  A small contingency of Elfen folk recently existed, but there is nothing known of any other race of civilized beings of lawful creatures other than folklore and myth.  On the other-hand there have been many documented sightings and encounters of other chaotic creatures both magical and monstrous in the darker places of the land.  The recent Kobold War has put many on edge and it is now believed that something sinister has taken up residence beyond the wall to the north.  Not far to the north and east of Stony Deep lies the Faery Forest, once home to the mysterious elfs, and still rumored to be home of many magical fae creatures (though not officially confirmed).

Our story takes place just after the departure of these mysterious race of beings.  A recent timeline of events will be heretofore outlined in the next post.

Reviewing An Unexpected Journey

I had the chance to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey over the holidays with relatively low expectations.  While I liked Peter Jackson's interpretation of The Lord of the Rings well enough, I felt like there was little need for a Hobbit movie, much less three of them.  Besides that, I also thought that there was a very good chance that these new films could suffer the same fate as the Star Wars prequel trilogy.  And no, it's probably not what you think (see below).  After seeing this movie, however, I think most of my fears have been misplaced.

As a fantasy movie all on its own, I think it's one of the best ever, sitting proudly side-by-side with the LotR trilogy. Contrary to what others have said, I feel that this movie did an even better job of putting Middle-Earth on the big screen even outdoing the LotR movies in this regard. I'm in love with New Zealand, the landscapes were a kaleidoscopic of colorful vistas that felt almost exactly like what I had envisioned of Tolkien's fantasy world.

And yes, this was a D&D movie through and through. I almost wonder if some D&D players were advising PJ and the other producers during this as some of the elements are too coincidental to not have some RPG connections. Unlike LotR, this was a classic, "orthodox" fantasy quest, about greedy heroes and a menagerie of cool villains.

The added bits to tie The Hobbit together with LotR (beyond just the ring) was brilliant and warrants the three films. Going into this I was under the impression this was simply a cash grab. Now, I don't think it is. It is far more than The Hobbit, it's a film that fills in the missing pieces of the LotR story with Biblo's tale added on.

From a purist's point of view, however, the film was the biggest mess in the PJ Tolkien series yet. In most cases, this doesn't bother me too much, like the troll battle, Thorin's more complex character, and Radaghast. My biggest and most unforgiveable gripe was [spoilers ahead] Azog. Read the Durin appendix and you'll see why. As the story goes, he was clearly beheaded and had no business coming back to chase Thorin around. Now this wouldn't normally be a problem for me because I'm okay with story changes to spice things up for theatrical purposes, but in this case, this change wasn't needed at all.

You see, Azog's son, Bolg, is the one who goes after Thorin and ends up leading the goblins at the battle of five armies. Why, oh why, did PJ have messed with this? Revenge is one of the best story tropes ever and it would have worked beautifully juxtaposed to Thorin's OWN story of revenge against Smaug. Now we have this weird god in the machine albino, captain hook Orc, situation to make lemonade out of lemonades. This simply wasn't needed. The son revenge story would have worked just as well (or better) AND stayed true to cannon.  I wouldn't have even cared if Thorin had killed Azog himself, just as long as we had the right Orc going after him.

Other than that, a few scenes did bother me a bit. The attempt to shoehorn in Frodo and Ian Holme's Bilbo in the beginning was just a mess and completely unnecessary. Not only did they look wrong make-up-wise, the scene just felt awkward (Was it just me or did Elijah Wood look like he was anorexic?). The Goblin City battle made me wince a few times, turning the party into invincible/comical super heroes.  I thought the Radagast chase sequence was too long and poorly done as it was needlessly shot in two completely different locations making the whole thing feel unrealistic and disjointed.

This is a funny movie because I can find faults with almost every scene in the film for one reason or another, yet it's the sum of its collective parts that redeem the whole.  The movie just feels good from start to finish, notwithstanding the cringe-inducing moments.  Other than that, the movie was a win overall. Problems notwithstanding, I know it could have been far worse, and that's more than good enough for me.

My biggest fear, above all else going into this movie, was the expectation that it would try to "out-epic" the LotR trilogy.  What I mean by that is I think there was a real temptation to make everything bigger and better than its counterpart.  Afterall, Jackson was sitting on over a decade of improved CG technology and far more wiggling room from his studio that could have very easily out-done the original series.  Even though most can agree that the Star Wars prequels were inferior to its predecessors, Lucas had this very same problem.  Because of technological wizardry, the prequel films feel far grander and more "big" than the originals.  This would have been a terrible thing had it happened to Tolkien's work.

But it didn't.  The music was less memorable, the CG was relatively on par with the others, the acting was about-as-good, and the entire feel of the film matched the tone of the LoTR movies fairly well in size and scope.  That's a good thing.  The LotR novel series is and should remain the superior literary story, and I think PJ respected that.  Above all else, that's the most important thing for me in this series - make it good, but not too good.  That's a lot harder to do than it sounds, but I think Peter Jackson pulled it off, bumps and all, in The Hobbit.  There are two more films that could change my mind, but we're off to a pretty darn good start.

Uncovering Worlds

"There are not many persons who know what wonders are opened to them in the stories and visions of their youth; for when as children we learn and dream, we think but half-formed thoughts, and when as men we try to remember, we are dulled and prosaic with the poison of life. But some of us awake in the night with strange phantasms of enchanted hills and gardens, of fountains that sing in the sun, of golden cliffs overhanging murmuring seas, of plains that stretch down to sleeping cities of bronze and stone, and of shadowy companies of heroes that ride caparisoned white horses along the edges of thick forests; and then we know that we have looked back through the ivory gates into that world of wonder which was ours before we were wise and unhappy."
— H.P. Lovecraft

There lies within each of us an insatiable desire to dream of worlds just out of our grasp.  Fantastical vistas, eccentric personas, daring quests, and creatures both benign and beastly, which entice our senses to wonder and awe.  We play games, we watch movies and television, we dream in our sleep, at work, and at school, to believe in something greater than our current state of being.  We know that such fantasies are simply wisps and shadows of reality, but if we believe long and hard enough we can make them as real and as permeable as reality.  It lies within such obscure thoughts of magical worlds that we often find ourselves.

ten·e·brous
/ˈtenəbrəs/
Adjective
Dark; shadowy or obscure.

This blog is dedicated to the discovery, or uncovery, of such worlds as they exist in our imaginations.  And they do, indeed, exist.  They are not turned off, frozen, or paused like a movie or video game, they continue on with or without our attendance.  When we return we become active participants, allowed if we are willing, to illuminate some of its greatest mysteries.