Dungeon & Dragons/Advanced Dungeon & Dragons/Dragonlance/Forgotten Realms.

[Thelemech]

I have just acquired about 6 books of Dungeon & Dragons Fifth Edition as I am planning on eventually being a Dungeon Master for several campaigns. I got mostly positive reception for my stories as a DM and it really inspired my writing.

I cut my teeth on the original Advanced Dungeon & Dragons and had been a DM for about 8 to 10 years of my later youth and young adulthood. I love the Gary Gygax system of the game the most though I must say that so far I am very impressed with the current 5th Edition. It hearkens back to some of the original Dungeon & Dragons rules and monsters.
I love this game 

I also use to read a ton of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms novels. Those early dozen first books from both series had some great writing and engaging characters not to mention a plethora of world building going on.

Anybody else delve into this game and the related franchises?? If not then I put forward that you have greatly missed out!!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I spent this last Sunday afternoon DMing a 2nd Edition game with friends, we play about once a month, but with the Coronavirus situation we're only provisionally booked the next date. There's 6 of us and 3 of us take it in turns to be DM. 5 of us are in our 50s and have played for nearly 40 years! The newest member is the daughter of some other friends, she's about 25 and wants to try DMing at some point but she's too inexperienced at the moment.

The last two sessions I started taking them through D1 - Descent into the Depths of the Earth after previously taking them through G1-G3 Against the Giants. I can see them taking at least two more sessions to complete D1.

Wizards of the Coast seem to have redeemed themselves with the 5th Edition after the shit they got with the 4th edition. We're old school and will stick with 1st/2nd Edition.

[Vyn]

Back in the late seventies one of my cousins was in college and dating a guy there. He was big into AD&D, and talked me into joining one of their campaigns his friends were starting. I agreed, looked into it some, bought the Player's Handbook and some index cards and rolled a character (they all used index cards to keep their character stats, etc.). The game didn't have a version number, as it was the only version.

The campaign was Tomb of Horrors, and I made it two sessions before I died. I don't recall what level my character was (a magic-user) but it was double digits from the start because they were all around level 14ish. They figured I could handle it.

The first session we were in a town getting our shit together, and marched/fought our way to the entrance of the tomb.

The second session we entered the tomb, and almost right off the bat found a piece of art hanging on a wall that had a pretty good sized black hole sort of thing in it. We poked and prodded and asked questions, but we couldn't gain any insight. So I figured it must be a portal to another destination in the tomb, and promptly jumped in it. The DM didn't say I was dead, but that I had no awareness of anything and was no longer part of the group.

Of course, my character was obliterated. They decided I couldn't handle it lol.

That experience did prompt me to look into it more. I even bought a Dungeon Masters Guide but was never a DM. I lost most of whatever I had over the years, but I still have that DM guide, and a set of metal dice in a box somewhere. I wasn't able to find anyone in my circle of friends to really do much of anything, so within a year or so of dying in the Lich King's Sphere of Annihilation my AD&D involvement trailed off.

Sitting here thinking about it now, it was a lot of fun at the time. Those things haven't crossed my mind in years, and it is cool to learn there are still people out there who play it.

[Thelemech]

I spent this last Sunday afternoon DMing a 2nd Edition game with friends, we play about once a month, but with the Coronavirus situation we're only provisionally booked the next date. There's 6 of us and 3 of us take it in turns to be DM. 5 of us are in our 50s and have played for nearly 40 years! The newest member is the daughter of some other friends, she's about 25 and wants to try DMing at some point but she's too inexperienced at the moment.

The last two sessions I started taking them through D1 - Descent into the Depths of the Earth after previously taking them through G1-G3 Against the Giants. I can see them taking at least two more sessions to complete D1.

Wizards of the Coast seem to have redeemed themselves with the 5th Edition after the shit they got with the 4th edition. We're old school and will stick with 1st/2nd Edition.

That's awesome that you are a DM and also very cool that you have been playing for 40 years. As I mentioned I use to play when I was younger and there is actually about 20 years time between now and last I played.
I have to agree that 1st and 2nd Edtions are far superior to the current system though 5th Edition rectifies many previous problems and inconsistencies. Also it seems that it is a bit easier to learn than say the disastrous 4th Edition, that was at times needlessly complex or completely banal in it's simplicity.   
I have had some of the most fun with my imagination playing this legendary RPG, definitely one of the greatest games ever created.

[Thelemech]

Back in the late seventies one of my cousins was in college and dating a guy there. He was big into AD&D, and talked me into joining one of their campaigns his friends were starting. I agreed, looked into it some, bought the Player's Handbook and some index cards and rolled a character (they all used index cards to keep their character stats, etc.). The game didn't have a version number, as it was the only version.

The campaign was Tomb of Horrors, and I made it two sessions before I died. I don't recall what level my character was (a magic-user) but it was double digits from the start because they were all around level 14ish. They figured I could handle it.

The first session we were in a town getting our shit together, and marched/fought our way to the entrance of the tomb.

The second session we entered the tomb, and almost right off the bat found a piece of art hanging on a wall that had a pretty good sized black hole sort of thing in it. We poked and prodded and asked questions, but we couldn't gain any insight. So I figured it must be a portal to another destination in the tomb, and promptly jumped in it. The DM didn't say I was dead, but that I had no awareness of anything and was no longer part of the group.

Of course, my character was obliterated. They decided I couldn't handle it lol.

That experience did prompt me to look into it more. I even bought a Dungeon Masters Guide but was never a DM. I lost most of whatever I had over the years, but I still have that DM guide, and a set of metal dice in a box somewhere. I wasn't able to find anyone in my circle of friends to really do much of anything, so within a year or so of dying in the Lich King's Sphere of Annihilation my AD&D involvement trailed off.

Sitting here thinking about it now, it was a lot of fun at the time. Those things haven't crossed my mind in years, and it is cool to learn there are still people out there who play it.

You are completely correct when you say "it was a lot of fun at the time", and I must admit that I have been hit with a super dose of nostalgia of the times when I was an obsessed D&D player. Most of my time was spent being a DM and I must say that it really inspired my writings and gave me confidence to write short stories of Fantasy and Wizardry.

One thing - I never got the whole "it is a game of the Devil" hysteria that went on throughout the 80s and early 90s. I know that there are demons and devils in the Monster Manual, but they are enemies of the players unless your character is of evil alignment. I must say though that I never even used any of the demons or devils in any of the games where I was the DM.

Thanks to both you and Kilo for chiming in and sharing your experiences with the game!!

[Zzzptm]

My kids are doing a campaign with my brother and his kids. I'd like to be in the game, but my Saturdays don't lend themselves to regular scheduling.

I was the DM for my group in the 70s and 80s. Early on, I switched from doing dungeon crawls to urban adventures. I wanted more than just hack and slash and waiting for the players to figure out whether to search for traps or secret doors... I wanted to do NPC roles, and lots of them. I also wanted there to be typical urban rules on violence and its use/restraint, so that negotiation would play a bigger role for both sides of an exchange. Swords still got drawn, but there were consequences when the Hobbit Defense League showed up to shut things down.

The Hobbit Defense League were a bunch of volunteer guardsmen who all had a t-shirt that said "HDL" on the front and a local pub sponsor's logo on the back. They were all armed with massive pikes and showed up in numbers sufficient to block the road and to give serious pause to anyone that wanted to fight them before they headed down the pub for a celebratory beer.

Local magic users made some good money if they hired out as agricultural consultants and cast spells to bust up rocks, auto-plant seeds, bring in the harvest, or, most importantly, control the weather. Got a sleep spell? Congrats, there are some local merchants who hire you out around bedtime to take care of their infants so that everyone gets a good night's rest. Maybe the players weren't part of that economy during the game, but I'd emphasize practical spells for players' books to justify an income stream in between adventures.

If they got a flying carpet and one of those potions of unending waters, for example, they could hire out for the fire brigade. Not a lot of money, but incredible prestige among the leaders of the city made mostly out of *wood*. And when you rub shoulders with the city fathers, you get tapped for certain *opportunities*...

A running gag I had was the players encountering a single Kobold, far away. That would lead to panic. That would be because they *knew* Kobolds tended to move around in hordes. A single Kobold meant one of the following:

1. Either something nearby was powerful enough to wipe out the horde and this guy was both a lone survivor and a warning, or:
2. This was no ordinary Kobold. Proceed with caution...

[Thelemech]

Thanks for sharing Z  very interesting take on being a DM!!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Just had a Skype with the other players as a technical excercise to see how easy it will be to run the next game remotely. It went ookay, a few teething probelms as it is the first time many of us have really used it. We sorted out connections, sharing files and whether we thought it was doable. We have decided to give it a go, I will continue the game where we left off but I will have to do a lot of preparation before hand!

[Thelemech]

That is awesome that you will be able to do some RPG playing amidst all this chaos. I will be there in spirit 

[Thelemech]

So I have acquired the three Core Rulebooks for 3rd edition - The Dungeon Masters Guide, Monster Manual and Players Handbook. I have been researching to discover what is considered the best version of the game. The 3rd and 3.5 editions are considered to be the best by the majority of fans of the game. This with the 2nd edition are generally the highest rated for the mechanics and freedom of play. Looking forward to reading through the books.

[Zzzptm]

3.5 is what my kids use in their campaigns, and I can concur that it's an EXCELLENT system. v2 lacked substantially in my view in its sharp departure from Original Recipe AD&D. It uses the v3 books with some downloadable errata, as I recall.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

5th Edition seems quite popular, I've never really looked at it. 4th Edition is considered by many to be the worst, I've never looked at it. I have the books for 3rd edition (or is it 3.5 I have... I forget). I and my players have stuck with 1st/2nd Edition and have never seen any point in migrating to any of the later editions.

[Zzzptm]

While we're on the topic...

You see a secret door on the northern wall. You spot it because the cracks in the stone line up just right, thin as they are. (rolls dice) You also notice that your torches begin to glimmer with a greenish light.

[Vyn]

Gizzo, the gnome, has done a magnificent job thus far of hiding the fact that he suffers from prasinophobia. Upon witnessing the unexpected change to the color of the torches' light, he uncontrollably releases his bowels.

The group hears a slight *toot* come from the gnome, and now Gizzo's secret is out.

[Zzzptm]

(rolls dice) Seiji the half-elf notices a tendril from a fungus growing on the ceiling points downward towards Gizzo and... (rolls dice) ... is inexplicably turned-on by that sight.

From the other side of the secret door on the northern wall, Fabbo the halfling hears sounds that he describes as 3-5 orcs passing the bong around.