River City Comic Expo!

Wow I haven't updated anything on here in quite a while!
Life has been busy for sure. My wife and I had our 4th daughter in September and I've got 1 last class to finish over the summer and I'll have my Associates of Applied Science in Computer Information Systems officially!

On June 11th-12th I'm going to be running a D&D 3.5 Eberron dungeon for the people who attend the River City Comic Expo that is going on in Little Rock, Arkansas. I'm excited and nervous about this as I've never run a game for anyone aside from family before, but I'm hoping it will go well.

http://rivercitycomicexpo.com/

As soon as my last class if over and I'm officially done with college then I am going to start heavily working on my Silver Divinity game more. I'm hoping to maybe run it as a test at the local game store where I live when I get it done.

Gaming! and Future Plans

Well I've been just a little busy here lately and haven't gotten around to posting anything on here. Between school for me and my 3 kids along with working and everything else I've been extremely distracted.

The evil campaign I've been running for the in-laws has been going well, and actually this weekend should be the last session with it again (they are level 23 now). After that the in-laws are wanting to test out the new D&D 5th edition game since my father-in-law bought the books that are available at the moment.
Looks like it could be fun at least, I'm not picky about the game I play as long as I can play. I've heard good and bad things about the new edition and honestly I don't care either way. A game is a game and until I play it I can't make an decision on whether or not I like it. Although being that it is a game I'm sure I will find something to enjoy about it regardless of anything else. I hope that rambling made sense as I didn't intend to start into that, oh well.

I've not had the time or concentration to work on my own game lately, but I still plan on putting more work into it at some point.

As far as updates, me and my wife have decided to go in on working on something creative together and are in the process of working on a Web-comic using 3d figures (I'll be making the panels/pages/images in DAZ Studio). Might turn out well, or might be horrible but either way we are giving it a go as a way for us to do something together, so should be fun either way.

With all three kids in school now it is nice but stressful at the same time as that means they are getting bigger and older. Our oldest daughter wants to play softball again when that comes around (not until spring at least), and the middle daughter is participating in the Youth Football group in our area as a cheerleader, the youngest is only in pre-k and hasn't wanted to get involved in anything yet.

Well enough of my ramblings for now I'll try to post something sooner without a huge break between them this time. Have a good one anyone who happens to read this. :)

Day 28 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

What's the single most important lesson you've learned from playing D&D?

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I'm not really sure, I don't like questions like this one personally. I've learned how to be more creative I think. When I run a game I tend to pull things out of nowhere, whether it is random creatures or rooms to whole dungeons being built as the characters are going through it with nothing prepared ahead of time.

I've learned the enjoyment of playing a game with people who have similar interests, and the fact that not all people play the same, so two games doing the same exact thing can be completely different from each other depending on who is playing.

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Day 27 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

If you had to do it all over again, would you do anything different when you first started gaming?

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I honestly wouldn't change anything. Although starting to play at a younger age would have been interesting, I know that no one around me had any interest or even now they don't have any interest in learning how to play. So even if I did learn about the game when I was younger, I wouldn't have had anyone to play it with.

As far as when I did learn, I don't think I would change anything. My in-laws are interesting people for sure, but they are pretty fun to play games with at least. And they are all pretty easy going so learning how to play with them was both fun and easy.

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Day 26 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

Do you still game with the group that introduced you to the hobby?

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The people who introduced me to role-playing games were my in-laws, so yes I am still playing with the same group of people. They are fun people to play with at least.
I've tried playing with a few other people here and there, and it is always fun but scheduling conflicts always seem to arise sadly.

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Day 25 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

Longest running campaign/gaming group you've been in.

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As far as how long we played I can't remember exactly, but the longest running campaign I've played in was my Father-in-Laws game where I played my Psion (shaper). She got to level 24 if I remember right.

The longest game I've run personally is the Evil campaign I'm running currently. Been going for a little while now. We took a big break between playing but have picked it back up now.
Currently the party is at level 19, and are not quite close to the end of the campaign. So it could go on for a bit longer. It will also be my first epic level campaign to run as well, so hopefully that will turn out well.

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Day 24 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

First movie that comes to mind that you associate with D&D.

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To be honest the only movie that comes to mind is the D&D movie from 2000.

It was an amusingly silly movie.

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Day 23 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

First song that comes to mind that you associate with D&D.

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To be honest there is no song that I can think of that makes me think of D&D at this time. So yeah, short answer.

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Day 22 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

So yeah got a little busy last few days so playing catch up now sadly. But here goes the last few days.

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First D&D-based novel you ever read.

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The first D&D book I've ever read was a gift from my Sister-in-Law.

It was an Eberron book called The Binding Stone (The Dragon Below, Book 1). It was interesting to read a story based in the world I like playing in for sure. I've not tried to find the other books for it yet, but maybe in the future I will look into them.

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Day 21 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

First time you sold some of your D&D books?

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I've actually never sold any of my books at this time. I've usually kept whatever I've bought or whatever has been given to me. Maybe eventually, but i like the idea of going back and looking at things for reference.

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Day 20 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

First non-D&D you played.

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The first game that wasn't "D&D" exactly was Castles and Crusades, but the similarities in game play makes me not want to count this one.

For me I would consider my first to be Victoriana 2nd edition. To put the reason down sounds silly but here it goes.

My wife and I both play Dungeons and Dragon Online, and Star Wars Online.We have been playing DDO for a while now actually. When I first started (before my wife joined me, but just barely before) I played alone for a while and when I mentioned I played to one of my friends, one of his other friends played also. He gave me his characters information so that he could invite me into the guild he was in on there.

Looking at it now I consider this a wonderful thing. The guild is called Blades of Serenity and the leaders of the guild are a married couple. To be honest the only reason we still play is to chat with them and a few other members (Mr. Anthony especially, who really helped us get started in understanding the game). Well to shorten this story now; My wife and I got the opportunity to meet the guild leaders and friends (Joe, Amy, and Anthony). When we did they asked about a tabletop game to play and I told them we were up for something we haven't played before, so Anthony chose to use Victoriana. All in all it was probably one of the best tabletop gaming experiences I've ever had personally, and we've gotten to meet up with them again (we played Deadlands that time which was awesome!)

We're planning on visiting them again so we'll have to see what else we come up with to play, either way should be fun.

I realize also that I got a little off subject with this post, but I still answered the question at least.

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Day 19 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

First gamer who just annoyed the hell out of you.

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There has only been one gamer so far who has annoyed me greatly. Luckily here lately he is toning himself back so it's getting more tolerable. He likes to play ranged attacking characters and likes to try to build something that can supposedly kill everything before anyone gets close to it. As a DM it's annoying but manageable to work around him. But as a fellow player for me it's annoying as it takes a lot of the challenge and fun out of the game when someone tries to do that.

Now don't get me wrong I'm all for building a character that can hold their own. I do it myself, but I don't play mine in a way to overpower everything we come across. To me taking the challenge out takes the fun out of the game (I feel the same for electronic games, no challenge and I get bored and can't finish the game). So yeah. Had my sister-in-law tell me she likes it when I DM as I manage this certain player well.

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Day 18 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

First gaming convention you ever attended.

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The first and only gaming convention I have ever attended was Troll Con put on by Troll Lord games who make Castles and Crusades.

It was an interesting convention but I went with a friend and we got there a little late so the main events were already over sadly. It was interesting but ultimately we didn't do or get anything from it.

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Updates and Blog Blitz!

So I didn't really post at all this weekend, so of course today I am catching up on the D&D Anniversary  Challenge.

I realize that I just posted 4 posts (including this one) all in one day within like Thirty Minutes of each other, but yeah I was excited a little.

I noticed this morning that I almost have 100 posts (98 to be exact, which I realize isn't a lot compared to other blogs), I still only have 12 followers sadly. But I noticed that I now have over 10,000 page views which made me happy at least.

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So on a side note as well, I have been participating in the Blog Blitz being put on by DL Hammons over at Cruising Altitude 2.0.

It is fun and nice I think for the people who get blitzed; so if you want to sign up just click the Blog Blitz link above or the picture below or the picture lower on the side menu!

It's easy and doesn't take much time out of your day, and it is something nice to do for the other bloggers around.

Day 17 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

First time you heard that D&D was somehow "evil."

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This one I like. The first time I heard was a year or two after I started playing, and it was from my Father. My mother looked at me funny when she found out (my family does not play anything besides board games), but she understands it is just a game. Of course by that point I was already 19 or 20 (I don't remember exactly) so they really didn't have a huge say-so in what I wanted to do anyways.

Which that now makes me realize I've only been playing for something like 8 - 9 years personally, as I will turn 28 in May of this year.

My father though gave me a whole rant about it being evil and what not. I laughed. I have done, and still do occasionally look online for information about how D&D is evil. I won't link to any of the sites I've read, but their easy to find. They are fun to read to see how people say that D&D is evil and corrupts, and even summons Demons and the like!

All in all it is an amusing read at times. And the few people I have introduced to the games I usually mention this to them after they've played their first game so they can see the amusement.

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Day 16 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

Did you remember your first Edition War?

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This sort of ties into the last question. I've never participated in an edition war and I find the idea silly. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and the right to defend that opinion, but having a "war" over a game meant for fun and what not is just a silly thought to me.

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Day 15 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

What was the first edition of D&D you didn't enjoy? Why?

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I've only played a couple of editions and I enjoyed both; along with most any game I've played.

I'm not picky when it comes to games as long as the other players are fun and the DM is amusing and/or good. I haven't gotten to play a huge variety of games so far, but what I have I have enjoyed no matter the genre or rules.

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Day 14 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

Did you meet your significant other while playing D&D? Does she still play?

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I didn't meet my wife while playing, but she and her dad are the ones who introduced me to tabletop games. We play together still, although I have gotten more into it than she is. She likes playing a lot but just likes doing certain things and doesn't do much to prepare outside of the game. I took it and ran obviously.

So yeah I didn't meet her that way but we play together and she is the reason I've even gotten involved in D&D at all. I believe my wife is an awesome woman, partially because of all this.

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Day 13 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

First Miniature(s) you used for D&D.

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Honestly the groups I've played with don't really use miniatures. We tried for a while with one of my Father-in-laws campaigns, but only one person in our group liked it, and my Father-in-law didn't.

For that game I was actually playing the Kalashtar Psion I've mentioned in previous posts. I don't know where the figure was from but it was a sorceress figure or something of the like that my Father-in-law had in his box of figures. I did use a figure of my own though to represent my construct, as I tended to focus on that. It was an Obsidian Guard figure from Heroscape.

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Day 12 - D&D 40th Anniversary blog hop challenge!

First store where you bought your gaming supplies. Does it still exist?

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Considering I haven't been gaming for quite as long as some of the other people participating in this, I don't have an older store or anything. The first physical store I bought stuff from for the first time was a gaming store in St. Louis, Missouri where I bought my dice bag, an a few gaming books for my kids.

Considering that was only a few years ago I'm assuming it is still open although I am not completely sure of that as I don't remember the name of it to check and see.

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