Back when I was a wee little tyke of 15, some of the kids in my "enriched" class were talking about D&D and I was totally into the concept. (I just watched the Big Bang Theory the other night and Sheldon is on the comp using an emulator to play Zork....I immediately went online to see if I could find it. I couldn't). But the cartoon and LotR and those comp games were just starting to ignite my imagination. I played some games with these teenage smarty pants D&D kids but they were at demi god status and having dragon battles and I didn't know what the hell was going on.
Around 16 I met Carl who actually taught...like literally taught me how to RP. He also made me read the dragonlance chornicles which is by far the best thing anyone has ever made me do. On a side note, he also would rebuild MGB's which is the least geeky thing someone can have in the arsenal.
Carl was older than me, in college when I met him - and our short and whirlwind romance consisted of a few kisses, a few love letters and long drives in his MGB convertible. He drew me Raistlin after my love of the character and to my horror my parents had it framed (I think they thought it incredibly romantic that he drew it for me and dropped it off with a red ribbon). You might wonder why my parents were so ok with me dating a college boy which reminds me of the other part of the story - our parents were old friends and they used to joke that Carl and I had used the same crib and that somehow tied us together. I think it was kind of messed up.
Teaching someone to play D&D is not easy. The mechanics are overwhelming (this is also AD&D era, aka version 2.0 which is much harder to learn than 3.0 and 4.0) and the roleplaying itself is very hard to get used to. Carl and his brother and my sister and me would sit around the Bussler table rolling dice. We would say something and Carl would instruct us, "is that really what your boss ass warrior would think?" It was hard at first and I felt very self concious. After playing Carl would take me on a walk. He would reset the stage for me from a scene from the Dragonlance chronicles. "Carl, I'm so cold, let's go back..." to which he'd say, "No, imagine you are Laurana and you have to get to the army before Kitiara...." It sounds so stupid and childish now but in truth it was the foundation for everything I have for tabletop gaming since that time.
This is all a long intro to say that Carl will be self publishing a pathfinder RPG supplement. I am going to be picking this up, maybe it's something I can run. Carl started me on a path of 20+ years of amazing friends, adventures, and memories. The least I can do is buy his own creation.
http://www.timelessadventures.com/
Around 16 I met Carl who actually taught...like literally taught me how to RP. He also made me read the dragonlance chornicles which is by far the best thing anyone has ever made me do. On a side note, he also would rebuild MGB's which is the least geeky thing someone can have in the arsenal.
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| Carl and his MGB back in 1991. |
Teaching someone to play D&D is not easy. The mechanics are overwhelming (this is also AD&D era, aka version 2.0 which is much harder to learn than 3.0 and 4.0) and the roleplaying itself is very hard to get used to. Carl and his brother and my sister and me would sit around the Bussler table rolling dice. We would say something and Carl would instruct us, "is that really what your boss ass warrior would think?" It was hard at first and I felt very self concious. After playing Carl would take me on a walk. He would reset the stage for me from a scene from the Dragonlance chronicles. "Carl, I'm so cold, let's go back..." to which he'd say, "No, imagine you are Laurana and you have to get to the army before Kitiara...." It sounds so stupid and childish now but in truth it was the foundation for everything I have for tabletop gaming since that time.
This is all a long intro to say that Carl will be self publishing a pathfinder RPG supplement. I am going to be picking this up, maybe it's something I can run. Carl started me on a path of 20+ years of amazing friends, adventures, and memories. The least I can do is buy his own creation.
http://www.timelessadventures.com/
I simply adore this story. In college I was the one standing around the table asking the guys what the hay they were doing and didn't understand it one bit. No one ever invited me to participate however. I'm glad the boys were nicer to you. :)
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