Chronicles of Shandahar

While I was at Gencon this year, I picked up the Chronicles of Shandahar books, Child of Prophecy and Warrior of Destiny, from the authors' booth in the Art Show. I'm always reading something, and after skimming the introduction of the first book, I was intrigued. The authors, Tracy Chowdhury and Ted Mark Crim, were really nice and signed copies of the books I had purchased, and off I went home, excited about having something new to read.

I'll admit, and I'm sure several of you have experienced the same thing, after coming home from a convention, I sometimes forget all the stuff I bought; this year, I kinda forgot about the Shandahar books. But once I found them again....

I could not stop reading them. The books are well-written and very engrossing. It is easy to become emotionally invested in the characters, and who doesn't love a struggle of good versus evil where you really hope good will win, but you are a little nervous to turn the page in case things go wrong.

I visited their website, and I was not surprised to learn that these books were based on a campaign. There is so much in the storyline that reminds me of epic adventures in which I've played that I can almost picture friends at a table, rolling dice, making spot checks or casting spells or attacking the Big Bad.

I'm near the end of the second book, and I have to admit, I don't want to end it because I'm going to be so sad when it's over. But at the same time, I can't wait to see how it all ends. I can assure you, no matter what happens, I'll be looking forward to a third book.

Gamer's Crack

There's something about having a hoard of polyhedrals spread out in front of you that just makes you oh so very happy, and there's really no explaining the phenomenon. Those colored dice have a special power that can strip even sophisticated conversationalists of their ability to say anything more intelligent than "ooh, dice!" And for those so addicted, there really is no substitute.

I am highly addicted to dice, and every year at Gencon, I have to make several Will saves to avoid buying everything I can grab when I pass the Chessex tables. Fortunately for me, my very wonderful husband keeps me anchored to reality, and I settle on a new set or a scoop or something. I did pretty good this year and only bought one set (blue Nebula), and are they nice!

If you're anything like me, you have those special dice that are reserved for special purposes. I have a set of d6's that I only use to roll up my characters. I have a set of d8's that I use almost exclusively for my healings or longbow/sword damage. And of course, I have my ever-favorite (until it rolls too many single-digits, anyway) d20. It's translucent green with white numbers, and I can't start a session until I have it on the table, along with whatever other dice I'll need.

For those of you who feel hopelessly addicted, feel no shame. It's a perfectly natural response for one who rolls dice as we do. Just remember, you're not alone; there are others who love those polyhedrals as much as you do.

My Nerd Dream comes true!

This year's GenCon was filled with some pretty staggering moments of Nerd Zen. You've already been regaled by Vanir's brush with D&D Celebrity, and now I would like to tell my own.

The tale begins the Christmas before last, when my good buddy Dave from eScapes Photo gifted me his set of original D&D sourcebooks, including four supplements. I was ecstatic at the gift, and was happy to show them off to all of my roleplaying savvy friends whenever possible.

This year, upon seeing the announcement that Gary Gygax was going to be an Industry Guest of Honor I knew that I had to try to get him to sign my books. Imagine my surprise when I was able to walk right up to his table and fulfill this goal while only having to wait behind one person in line. Because I didn't want to be That Guy, I originally only had him sign my three core rulebooks however later on in the convention I did make a second trip to get my supplement books signed.

I found Gary to be extremely good natured, taking the time to pose for pictures and chat. For some reason I was imagining a long line with signing limits and him being largely frustrated at having to have the same banter with generation after generation of nerds. I was very impressed at how kind he was in person and how eager he was to sign my stuff.

When I went to get my supplements signed, I was wearing our Save The Owlbears t-shirt. Gary seemed to like it quite well and told me a story about a friend of his that used to wear "Save The ..." shirts of various kinds. He asked if we had a card, so I quickly reached into my pocket and pulled out a card. We had made 100 cards with various t-shirt design slogans on them, and the one I handed to Gary was "Gnomes are mining my butt for coal". I didn't realize this until I saw that Gary was laughing at the card, and I wanted to die a little when I realized which one it was. Despite that, it was really cool that Gary enjoyed the shirt design and that really made my day.

The story doesn't end there, however. The guy I was standing behind was also getting some books that looked VERY close my edition signed and Gary told him "hm... looks like the third printing so this is one of 3300 copies." Since I didn't exactly know the pedigree of my books, I decided to go and ask the knowledgeable folks over at Crazy Egor's (I'd link them, but they don't appear to have a web presence) and ask. I got about three questions in with Mrs. Egor when I mentioned that I had just got Gary to sign the books, and she said "oh, why didn't you get Dave [Arneson] to sign them too? He's sitting five feet behind you!"

So I turn, and lo and behold there was Dave Arneson, author of the excellent Blackmoor setting and co-author of Dungeons and Dragons. He was equally kind and eager to sign my books. He even signed my Blackmoor supplement, which was very cool because he was selling an updated edition of the Blackmoor setting at the convention. He was recovering from foot surgery and did not want to have pictures taken, but the experience was so great that I doubt I will need photos to remember it by!

A true nerd's dream come true, and all in the first half-hour of GenCon! Here's a shot of (r to l) Stupid Ranger, myself, and Gary Gygax (you'll notice that we're wearing a few of the StupidRanger.com shirts, available in our shop)!!



And here's Gary signing my books!

The Most Amazing Breakfast I Will Ever Die At

When I was about 7, my brother got the D&D Basic Set, and as a consequence I knew who Gary Gygax was pretty early on. I started playing D&D myself when I was about 12, and his name was still printed all over practically every sourcebook I owned. I always wondered what he'd look like and what kind of person he was. In 1997, I attended my very first Gen Con, and I was in awe of the giant sales floor. I'd never seen anything like it before, and all the companies from Dragon magazine that I wanted to order stuff from over the years were all right there. In retrospect, it's probably good that I didn't have a large credit limit yet. Anyway, I wandered into a a booth to look at some books and I realized I'd tripped on someone's feet. It happens, I'm tall and I don't always look where I'm going. I looked down and noticed an older gentleman who came about up to my chest. Imagine my surprise when my brain finally caught up to the name printed on his badge: "GARY GYGAX". I don't have to imagine my surprise. I said "OH. BEH BUH SORRY!" and I got out of there as fast as I could. A similar incident happened the next year, followed by a similar unintelligible outburst, and a failing of my fear check. And I didn't see Mr. Gygax again until this year. I'm sure he was around, I just didn't run into him again (no pun intended). I saw him on the sales floor on Friday, signing books.

On Saturday, I attended Hickman's Killer Breakfast, which turned out to be every bit as awesome as I'd heard. Basically, Tracy Hickman is a killer DM, and literally a hundred first level PCs have to amuse the DM somehow to survive. And we were in Ravenloft this year, so that was basically completely impossible. I arrived early because I thought it'd be packed, and to my dismay I couldn't find the generic tickets I had bought for this event. Fortunately, a kind couple walked right in front of me to the ticket taker and said "We have an extra ticket we're not using. If someone else could --" and and that point I was on my feet going "OOH OOH ME ME ME", except in a much more polite way. I hope. I had the choice of being a spectator, or being killed with the rest of the players. I didn't come all this way to spectate, I wanted to be killed by the best. So, I lined up with the players.

Before too long, a man in a black shirt came out and everybody started cheering. I had no idea who he was. I thought they were cheering because they were going to let us in. It was shortly thereafter that I was struck with a very important realization -- Tracy Hickman was a dude. Up until last week, I thought Dragonlance was written by two women. How do you love and cherish a person's creative works for almost 20 years AND NOT KNOW THIS? I felt the geek cred seeping out of my body, and I wondered how I was to survive the next two hours.

They marched us into the ballroom seperately from the spectators, and somehow or another my row got ushered into the spectators section and a staffer came over and put us back with the players about two rows back from where we should have sat. Soon the event started, and Tracy and Laura Hickman (OK, I admit it -- I thought they were sisters until last week) came out and started singing a parody of The Phantom of the Opera. A "safety presentation" was then shown, and then the carnage began. You had to say why your character was there right then, and it had better not be boring or you died. That let you live one round. And you better DO something brave, stupid, or entertaining the next round or you would die. Also, if anyone around you did something stupid you died. You were pretty much hosed.

I'm usually pretty good at coming up with random funny ideas. I was choking. Hard. I thought briefly about several jokes about how I got there ranging from "I'm here to pick up goth chicks" to "my mom and dad gave each other a special hug" (which thankfully, someone else did and he killed them on the spot). But when I was called up to go backstage, I was out of ideas. About 30 seconds before I got onstage, my random thought generator kicked in, and I got an idea. A funny one. I just hoped everyone else thought it was too.

So I got on stage and I was just about to sit down when Tracy Hickman says "STOP STOP STOP! We have a celebrity that needs to be killed next!". And I look to my left and Gary Gygax walks on stage. The crowd goes completely bat-shit insane, and a stupid, indelible grin crosses my face. I almost forget to sit down when Tracy tells us to. And that's when I realize I can only vaguely remember what I was going to say. Fortunately, there was one guy before me and he said something dumb and got killed horribly, giving me time to remember. And so it was, playing D&D with Gary Gygax in front of a crowd of hundreds with Tracy Hickman as my Dungeon Master, I uttered the following words in my best attempt at imitating Peter Cullen:

"I am Optimus Strahd. MegaSoth must be stopped, no matter the cost."

That's right. Who of you is nerd enough to make a Transformers joke in front of two D&D legends, one of whom created the characters you just transformed into undead robots? I AM NERD ENOUGH. Thank GOD everybody laughed, I thought my heart was going to stop.

The guy between me and Gary dies, and Gary says he got there by hitchhiking. We're both still alive. Tracy starts over the table again after telling us a horde of vampires led by Strahd is coming one way and zombies led by Soth the other and we're in the middle. The guy next to me dies. Then it's my turn:

"I transform into a bat and ROLL OUT!"

Less laughter that time, but it's enough to keep me alive. Gary burrows underground, which was smart because the guy at the end of the row hands Tracy a piece of paper with the following words on it: "I prepared Explosive Runes this morning." The crowd went completely nuts, mostly because it was a hilarious joke from Order of the Stick, a very popular D&D webcomic (and one of my personal favorites). All of us died, except for Gary, who was underground. He died shortly thereafter, when somebody threw the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.

It wasn't until I sat down that I realized HOLY SHIT I JUST PLAYED D&D WITH GARY GYGAX AND TRACY HICKMAN. Even if it was for only 2 minutes and 17 seconds. And the shame of not knowing Tracy's gender? Fellow gamers, I am healed.



(Special thanks to neal_swint who graciously allowed me to use this picture from his flickr set. I was really hoping all this wasn't some sort of E.L. Fudge-fueled hallucination!)

There is no better distraction than a centaur with an impacted bowel!

The stupid ranger, Dante, and I went to Gen Con this weekend, and it was there that I introduced them to the event that basically revitalized my Gen Con experience: Nascrag.

For those of you unfamiliar with the event, it is a competition in which teams of 6 play D&D. But it's not like the D&D Open. There are monsters to fight and puzzles to solve, but in this event you are also scored on roleplaying. And you are encouraged heavily to think outside the box and ham it up heavily. And they're a little nuts. In exactly the way that I enjoy!

To wit: I played an old man who used to be a powerful knight. Some roleplaying goals I was scored on included:

• wanting to die a warrior's death
• being disgusted by magic, but still trying to patch things up with my son who is a talented sorcerer (with a raging penchant for the kind bud)
• making up war stories and sharing them in-game with my old war buddy Jules the cleric (played by our own Dante)
• making fat jokes about the druid
  

In case it wasn't already abundantly clear, the settings are somewhat more humor-based than your standard D&D, but it doesn't get in the way. A lot of fantasy analogies to pop culture creep into the stories, and they're really damn funny. (In one adventure, we were IM'ing LonelyElf15, who would only speak to us in 1337).

The puzzles are of all varieties, but my favorites are the ones that require performances. It really gets the players involved and out of their shells. For instance, we all had to play charades to figure out the words to a passphrase. And another time, we had to talk to an important NPC so we all had to sing to get into a talent competition he was running. It was at this time that I, in my Scottish accent, declared that "mah old friend Jules and I here will be performing a duet!", and I received a look from Dante that was a mixture of shock, fear, and death. I attempted to fire up my random thought generator and start singing something, but he beat me to the punch with a reference to a war story I had talked about earlier in the evening. And by this, I mean he started violently shaking his fist and yelling "STONE GOLEMS! STONE GOLEMS! STONE GOLEMS!" And I was shocked for a moment but I, again in a Scottish accent, started yelling "SHOOT THEM IN THE GENITALS! SHOOT THEM IN THE GENITALS!" This continued for a moment to shocked and amused looks from everyone at the table, and then we stopped. But not before I threw up the horns and yelled "PUNK ROCK!!!!". With a Scottish accent. I have known Dante for almost two full decades, and never in my life did I ever expect the man, when pressed for a musical decision, to go for hardcore death metal.

As for our group, it was the stupid ranger, Dante, myself, my old roommate Ryan, my work friend Ryan (who we referred to as "WaRyan"), and this guy whose name I never knew but he had an awesome UNIX-beard. And, well, I'm afraid our team, "Carnal Bardic Knowledge", didn't make it past the first round of play (of which there are 3) this year. I did get listed as an alternate player and got drafted into another team, and so I had the pleasure of playing round 2 with team "Skull in a Bag" who were some very nice guys from Iowa City. My new team ended up getting listed as alternates for round 3, but they unfortunately did not call on us. Regardless, I had 8 hours of unbridled excitement and fun, and it was still the best $4.50 I'll spend all year.

Nascrag basically rewards roleplaying the way I think it ought to be. The characters and scenario were full and rich, and offered me the opportunity to let go and do some crazy shit while still not disconnecting from the game. That takes some good writers and some very talented DM's. I love it, I'll be playing again next year, and I wholeheartedly encourage you all to join me! Players should go to see some very talented people let go and roleplay their characters to the hilt. DM's should go to see what happens when you let them do that. (P.S. the answer is MAGIC. :) )

Nascrag: First impressions...

As previously mentioned, this year the StupidRanger crew took our initial plunge into the irreverent world of Nascrag. What I will recount to you is my impressions, the others will be along this week to share our vast and varied GenCon experiences.

I really enjoyed Nascrag... the level of crazy that was circulating outside the hall that we were going to play in was so thick you could reach out and touch it. This was not Vanir's first rodeo, so he was there to help guide us through it. If we didn't have a repeat offender there, I can see how the pre-game setup could be a little overwhelming.

It came time to call our team name and give our slogan. We all hammed it up appropriately, and I sent my GM fleeing by advancing on him briefly with my backside. Sometimes I have no shame. :)

I'm not going to divulge too much of the storyline since I've heard that the folks at Nascrag make their module available, but for me the only real downside was the amount of background information you were expected to absorb in a very short time frame. Those that have played previous years have a clear edge in that regard, but the actual game session itself was pretty fun.

The GM that we had was pretty good too... his was something like his 16th Nascrag event and it showed. He took his time describing important things well, listened to our group as we roleplayed and asked questions, and did a very good job making the NPCs fun to interact with. He did a good job of giving his characters a specific voice and attitude and took time to let the group explore areas and try varying ideas. Unfortunately, Vanir and I were doing some good roleplaying but I think it might have been overlooked because the GM tended to spontaneously sidebar with adjacent PCs which grew a bit frustrating as the session went on. Unfortunately, I heard from some other groups that we missed some important areas so we didn't make it to Round 2 (entirely, but the rest of the story is for Vanir to provide).

Great moments for me: trying to maintain a French accent for a considerable time, trying to get a leprechauns drunk, and an unfortunate punk metal battle duet with Vanir. I'll let him elaborate a little more on that, since he tends to do the colorful description much better than I.

In all, it was a fun experience for the first time gaming outside of my own group at a convention. Next year is the start of a new three year story arc, so maybe we'll get a chance to get in at the beginning and do a little better!