Easley’s AD&D 1e DMG Cover (The iconic DM to my mind)
RPG Background
I began playing role-playing games in elementary school during the 1980s, starting with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1e). My first game occurred at the end of class during some free time using paper chits; it involved me rolling a bare-bones character, wandering a forsaken moor for a bit, and running into a troll. Not knowing the conventions of the game, I ended up climbing a tree in desperation to escape this creature I couldn’t injure — while becoming increasingly exasperated with the Dungeon Master’s repeated (and apparently nonsensical) reminders that I carried a lantern. I died.
After that, I immediately went out and bought the books and introduced my other friends to the game. Contrary to the example set for me in my first game, it seems I developed into a passably good Dungeon Master quickly enough and rarely had a chance to play a character from that point until the sophomore year of high school when increasing homework and the looming prospect of college brought my early gaming life to an end.
During college I didn’t play games at all, tabletop or video, and it was only as a graduate student that I picked up dice again to run some third edition D&D games for my wife’s middle school students. That didn’t last long either, as work responsibilities and travel made any real-life gaming commitments impossible. With my discovery of Roll20 and virtual tabletop gaming, though, role-playing has once again become my hobby of choice. This blog reflects my rediscovered love of the greatest game I have ever played.
Personal Background
- I’m in my early 40s
- I’ve been married for over 20 years
- I have three kids
- I have a PhD in medieval English literature
- I work for an academic press on digital archive products
Big thank you for the random encounter monster table, absolutely fantastic.
Weather generator also very helpful for a regular game. Curious if the source for these generators has been preserved anywhere, GitHub or the like. Seems you blog has been on hold for a bit and would be a shame to see these fade away.
I’m still around and running my campaign — 376 four-hour games more-or-less weekly since the beginning. My appetite for posting blog content, though, has not been quite as steady. If I decide to shutter this site, I will find somewhere for the code.
I just found your place here. Its grand. I really love that you are still running a solid campaign. We have a small group that has been at it since 7th grade, on and off, but pretty steady all things considered. Keep on enjoying!
While I don’t update the blog often, we’re still going on the campaign every week. We just had the 163rd session of the second part (the first part ended after two hundred odd sessions). We must be closing in on 1500 hours at this point — which is just over a year in-game.