"Just a Little..."

Just when it seemed like I might finally get a game together with one of the players from my original  gaming group of the '80s it came crashing to a halt with one simple statement - "Yeah, me and my girlfriend just do a little bit of meth...no big deal".  REALLY?!  Of all the things you could discuss, that is what passes for casual conversation these days?  You want to come into my house with my 5 and 6 year old with me not knowing whether or not you are under the influence of this garbage? 

 

He explained to me that he had problems with another friend that he was hooking up with a place to stay - the rent was basically free because he was supplying them.  I was just amazed at the relative ease he had discussing the use of meth like it was not any different from using some legally obtained over-the-counter medication.  I was pretty much speechless.  I have known this dude since the second grade and he is a smart guy; he definitely has checked his brain at the door it seems.  Since we graduated in 1991 his life has been up and down with a failed marriage, DUI, and other stuff.  We lost touch with each other and then got back in contact several years ago.  We have even discussed other mutual friends from our past that we no longer associate with due to drastically bad decisions such as this.  The whole situation is pretty messed up.

 

Make no mistake about it - if he was interested in getting some help then I would be willing to go to meetings or whatever with him to lend support.  I understand the grip of addiction.  I smoked cigarettes for 15 years.  *Yeah, I know, there's nothing worse than an ex-smoker.*  People can argue all they want about it but at some point a smoker no longer smokes because they want to but smokes because they HAVE to.  It is just that simple.  I think back on all of the wasted years and wasted money during the time I smoked and think one word - IDIOT.  My point is that I can understand when something has a hold on you like that but I also understand that I have two small children and their safety comes above any other concerns.   

 

On a positive note, I am close to organizing some gaming with another old friend.  This one I have known just about as long as the other.  We share a lot of the same interests but we just never got around to gaming together.  Fingers crossed...

 

     

I Know The Weird Stuff You Are Into...

Yesterday, I was having a conversation with a co-worker.  The conversation was somewhat random and just going from topic to topic when I got blindsided from out of left field with, "I've seen your facebook page and I know the weird stuff you are into.  Is that Semi-Retired Gamer thing something you belong to or is that you?".  Of course, I admitted that it was me.  I got a blank stare and the "old knowing head shake" like I was some sort of cult member or something.  I was not really irritated but I thought it was quite humorous.  It just reminded me of growing up in the 80's when D&D was insanely popular and the associated witch hunts that "concerned" parents and others would go on in search of the evils of the game.  I recall hearing the unbelievable accounts of people losing their sanity, learning real magic, assorted Satanic groups using D&D as a recruitment tool, and other completely outlandish and ridiculous claims.  Yet, people believed that then and less (I hope) believe it today.  It just caught me off guard because I thought I would never hear any of this garbage again.  I am 39 year old father of 2 that has been sporadically playing D&D since 1980 with no ill effects - 'nuff said.

[Rant] Charts & Tables - UGH!

I hate charts & tables, I hate charts & tables, I hate charts & tables, I hate charts & tables, I hate charts & tables, and - just for emphasis - I HATE CHARTS & TABLES! Now that I have that off of my chest it is probably time to explain myself.  It's a fact that most every rpg I have played has some sort of chart(s) in the rules somewhere. 

I have no problem with games using LOTS of charts and tables or very few at all.  I have no problem with games referencing charts or tables during combat or character creation.  Some of the games I have played with charts include AD&D, DC Heroes, Marvel Super Heroes, Palladium Fantasy, & Talislanta.  I have no problem coming up with the details of charts or tables that I create. 

So, what is my problem with charts and tables?  It is the physical act of typing in the information and creating the chart or table itself.  It always seems so tedious and I always have bad luck with editing.  In other words, it always winds up being atleast twice as difficult as it should be for me.

[Rant] My Experience Using D&D Meetup

*Note: this is just my experience with using the local D&D Meetup service one time. I'm sure some others have had similar experiences but I'm also sure that many others have had a good experience using this same service. Put simply, the experience was pretty lame but it was the person encountered that was the source of my disappointment and not the service itself. ****

I used to play a ton of RPG's.  I started with D&D/AD&D back in 1980.  Over the years, I tried many other games from DC Heroes, Marvel Super Heroes, Champions, Fantasy Hero, Villains & Vigilantes, Super World, Car Wars, GURPS, RIFTS, Talislanta, Palladium Fantasy, and many other numerous titles.  The old faithful lineup of RPG's that I continuously played through the 1980's until I graduated high school in 1991 consisted of AD&D, RIFTS, Talislanta, Villains & Vigilantes, and Palladium Fantasy.

A month after I graduated from high school I left for the Army.  I didn't play a lot while I was in the military but I did keep up with gaming in general, discovered Magic: The Gathering, and did actually play a few sessions of AD&D.  I left the Army in 2000 and returned home.  Most of my old gaming buddies had either left the hobby or moved out of town.  I had virtually no face to face gaming available.  One bright spot is that I did introduce my cousin, Alex, to 3E and we still hook up to play occasionally. We have also been developing a shared campaign world, Toldara, for several years.

I tried to overcome this absence of face to face role-playing by finding other outlets.  After some internet searches, I ran across some PBP games, message board games, PBEM games, and also heard of MEETUP. I don't know the exact time frame but I registered for the local D&D meetup around the time of 4E's release.  IIRC, the Pathfinder Alpha was out but the completely playtested Pathfinder Core Rulebook was not released yet.

I was on the D&D Meetup site for only a short time before I got contacted.  It sounded pretty good to me because the people were in Tulsa; about 25 miles from my location. We agreed to meeet halfway between our locations at Panera Bread.  We ordered some drinks and discussed our RPG experience and what kind of gaming we enjoyed.  It seemed like a really good match so we decided to meet again and try to gather some more people.

The next meeting took place at their house.  I brought my cousin, Alex, with me as a recruit.  At this point, there were 4 of us - Alex, me, and the two players we met.  The guy - I'll call him "Dick" - was interested in being the DM. He had all sorts of ideas for a campaign world, some adventures, and even some house rules.  Dick mentioned that his girlfriend - I'll call her "Jane" - would be playing her first game with us so it might be slow going at first.  No problem there. Dick also mentioned that he was talking to 2 other players about joining the game.  At the end of that meeting, we had decided on the rules system (3.5E with some early Pathfinder stuff), made characters (Alex, Jane, & me), and decided to meet again in 2 weeks for our first game session.

Two weeks pass and we (Alex & I) show up at Dick & Jane's to play.  The other two players - I'll call them "Will" and "Wendy" - had showed up earlier so they could create characters with the house rules available to them during the process.  I remember that Will and Wendy had printed out some really cool character sheets from some website.  It was nice to see everyone was ready to start playing before the start of the game.  We introduced ourselves, had some idle chit chat, and then got ready to play.

The game session lasted for approximately 4 hours.  The length was just about right. It wasn't too short for the drive involved. It also wasn't too long and drawn out either.  The session was fun with no rules lawyering or any of that silliness.  Everyone appeared to have a great time.  We ended the session and then agreed to have another meeting in two weeks again. 

One week passed and I was looking forward to another game session.  I checked my email and received a message from Dick.  He explained that the group "just wasn't working out for him" and decided to tell Will and Wendy they would not be invited back.  I tried exchanging messages with him and getting a good reason but he wouldn't give one.  Eventually, I got pretty irritated because he didn't give a group of strangers a chance to gel and didn't even give the other 4 of us a chance to continue playing with a new DM or one of us taking over as DM.  I promptly unregistered from the D&D MEETUP group and have yet to take another chance on gaming outside my circle of friends.

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edit - some text got erased when posting - d'oh!