Dear Fellow Geeks and Nerds,
I love role-playing games. I was first introduced to role-playing games when I lived in England. A friend brought to my attention the tabletop miniature game by a company named Games Workshop called Warhammer 40,000. I fell in love with the science fiction aspect of the game and the vivid imagery the Games Workshop artwork provided. While this game isn't a role-playing game per se, there were options to morph the game from strictly tabletop to a game with some role-playing aspects.
In high school, the role-playing portion of the world of Warhammer 40k led to Dungeons and Dragons, specifically, AD&D 2nd Edition. Oh my god, the adventures we had. The gods we faced and conquered. The mead we drank. The bars we trashed. The virgins we rescued. and the ponies we raped. We were teenage and we had a blast. Of course AD&D was the basis of our existence. We lived and breathed the stuff. In fact, we were allowed to use a empty classroom during our lunchtime break so we could crawl through dungeons and thin the horde of monsters. Wow. We were such nerds. Life was good. Role-playing life morphed into various flavors of game from TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Robotech (pick a saga and we played it), Gangbuster, Ghostbusters, Cyberpunk, and Traveler 2400.
Though it all D&D holds a special place in our collective nerdy little hearts, life has a way of crushing ones spirit. We had to graduate and decide what to do with our lives. I went into the Air Force and was not able to play the game as much as I would have preferred for quite a while. Once I got to my duty station, I was able to locate a group and we enjoyed thrashing Draconian monstrosities. I played a warrior priest of the goddess Mishakel by the name of Garth Daybreaker. Dude was awesome. He could waylay thugs and goblins with ease using merely his bad breath and a fist. Alas, life once again kicked us in the nuts and we had to break the group. I was not able to play D&D again until several years later when I was living in Missouri. I was a staff member in a sexual offender treatment facility and use the game as an incentive (bribe) for the kiddies to behave themselves. Yet life once again rears its ugly head and I had to stop.
::sigh::
::moan::
::groan::
::silent complaint::
I then found a hilarious group of guys when I was rummaging around the options in the iTunes podcast database. These guys are demonstrating the new 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons rule set. I tried the first episode and was immediately hooked. These guys are funny. I remember actually having moments like what the group is going through. I actually find myself pining for a good kick-a$$ game of rip-roaring adventuring. Alas, life again digs her talons of life-sucking energy into my world and threaten to reduce this dream of mine to a pile of pickle juice soaked ashes. I wanna play!! Wahhhh!!!
Choking and Sobbingly yours,
Sam Laughter
