D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Recap

The D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge is now over.  I completed every post and I enjoyed reading many of the posts by others.  I have participated in other similar events with a D&D focus but I think this round of questions was probably the overall best.  I noticed a strong trend of similarities on some posts while other posts were vastly different in experience.  

I attempted to break up the monotony of the posts related to the challenge by inserting posts on other topics at random intervals throughout the challenge.  I noticed something right away when I did so.  The "off topic" posts generated much more traffic than the posts related to the challenge.  I am not talking about a small margin of difference here; it was literally ten times or more for the number of views on the "off topic" posts.

I am not sure that I am going to participate in any more of these month long challenges in the future.  I may participate in a "different" way.  Maybe I will do a combo post every week combining all of the week's posts into one or do a post every 3 or 4 days with the previous 3 or 4 days all lumped together?  I am not 100% sure if I will do anything at all with them yet.  There is the upcoming A-Z challenge coming up and I will make up my mind about participating soon.      

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 28

This post is part of a series of posts in the D&D 40^th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge.  The information in many of these posts is related to events that occurred primarily in the1980’s. Since it is now 2014, I can not guarantee complete accuracy with such a large passage of time but I will present the events and information as best as I can recall.

Day 28: What’s the single most important lesson you’ve learned from playing D&D?

Simply that variety is the spice of life even when it comes to a hobby that I enjoy tremendously.  I referred to this in my previous post for the D&D 40^th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge.  My gaming group had a tendency to playing “just D&D” which meant AD&D or Basic D&D.  Even though we would occasionally play something else, the vast majority of the games we played were D&D-like in their rules or play style.  In short, we leaned heavily towards these types of games from 1980 to 1991. 

I took a long break from 1991 to 2000; basically, the entire time I was in the Army.  I played once or twice during that time but I was not excited about A/D&D or even fantasy gaming in general.  It somewhat felt like a chore to me and I needed a break at that point.  The reason for that break was that I had over played A/D&D and similar games to the point that I was not interested in playing anything at that point.

I have a much smaller collection at this point in my life.  Fantasy still takes up the most shelf space but it is a slight margin now instead of the vast majority.  I have a lot more variety with games like SteamCraft (a steampunk role-playing game) and Dead Reign (zombie apocalypse) as part of my collection.  It would be easier to GM some of these games now if I would have expanded my horizons back in my early days of the hobby.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 27

This post is part of a series of posts in the D&D 40^th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge.  The information in many of these posts is related to events that occurred primarily in the 1980’s. Since it is now 2014, I can not guarantee complete accuracy with such a large passage of time but I will present the events and information as best as I can recall.

Day 27: If you had to do it all over again, would you do anything different when you first started gaming?

I would not change a thing about when I first started gaming.  There is, however, one thing that I would change.  We got into A/D&D mode and got stuck in a rut.  There would be other games suggested and people were always stating “Man, I need to keep playing my Elf so he can level up” or something similar.  It would be false to say we never played anything else.  For instance, FASERIP Marvel, V&V, Talislanta, and Palladium Fantasy all got their fair share of play.  We actually could have played many more games than we did.  There were several games that each of us bought but could not convince the rest of the group to give it a try.  At times, some of the content would definitely influence or inspire our other gaming but we seemed to stick to just a handful of games when we had many more available.  Just off the top of my head I know that we passed on GURPS and Middle Earth Role Playing just to name a few.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 26

This post is part of a series of posts in the D&D 40^th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge.  The information in many of these posts is related to events that occurred primarily in the 1980’s. Since it is now 2014, I can not guarantee complete accuracy with such a large passage of time but I will present the events and information as best as I can recall.

Day 26: Do you still game with the group that introduced you to the hobby?

No, I do not still game with the group that introduced me to the hobby for various reasons.  I am still good friends with some of them and some of them live too far away for anything practical.  Of the ones that are close by, there are too many scheduling conflicts to make it happen.  I am currently in that spot “between groups” at the moment but I do have some potential gaming lined up with my cousin and his wife.  

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 25

This post is part of a series of posts in the D&D 40^th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge.  The information in many of these posts is related to events that occurred primarily in the1980’s. Since it is now 2014, I can not guarantee complete accuracy with such a large passage of time but I will present the events and information as best as I can recall.

Day 25: Longest running campaign/gaming group you’ve been in.

The only constants in the longest running gaming group I have been in were Jamie King and me.  We began gaming together in the fall of 1980 and would continue to do so until the summer of 1991. That was the year that the majority of the gaming group was seniors.  Upon graduation, five of us had joined the military and would soon leave out for various destinations all over the globe.

Over the years, others would come and go at the game sessions.  There were times that my brother Mark would play A/D&D with us.  Our mutual friend Dan would join in but it was mainly when it was something other than A/D&D.  He was not fond of the class & level system because his older brothers had convinced him that other systems were “superior”.  The stoner kid down the street – I can not remember his name – would play but he was mainly into the live action events.  For several years, the Carman brothers (Ray and Neal) gamed quite a bit with us and that was when we played the greatest variety of games; Talislanta and Palladium Fantasy were some of the most often played.        

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 24

I will be really surprised if Krull is not mentioned several times by other participants.  My buddies and I were all excited by the Krull trailer and we talked my Uncle David into taking us all to see it.  The Glave made several appearances in our campaigns over the years. I always stop and watch for at least a few minutes if this movie is playing.  D&D comes to mind instantly because it was the first time all of us in the group went to see a movie that we related to our game sessions.

Now Open - A Megaversal Miscellany

I have just started a new blog, A Megaversal Miscellany, to fill the gap I see in blogs devoted to game lines from Palladium Books.  There are certainly a decent number of RIFTS blogs or blogs that have some RIFTS material posted from time to time.  I am not worried about the RIFTS material because there is plenty of it available.  The focus of this new blog will be on the lesser supported Palladium game lines such as Dead Reign, Beyond the Supernatural, Nightbane, Heroes Unlimited, and Palladium Fantasy.

Currently, I am starting off by focusing on Dead Reign.  I am sure you are wondering why I would name a Dead Reign blog "A Megaversal Miscellany"?  The answer is simple - I plan on expanding into the other game lines at some point in the future.  I thought it was better to plan ahead instead of changing the name later.  I will make appropriate changes to stay in compliance with the Palladium internet policy once the change over happens.

Currently, I have just the welcome post up but there are various small projects underway.  I have some house rules that I will be posting up and an alternate setting for the Dead Reign game; eventually, I want to include all of this in a net book.  In addition, I have begun work on some of the custom additions like zombie variants, new OCCs, and a host of other resources.

At the moment, I am just the Dead Reign guy at A Megaversal Miscellany but it will be much easier to expand into the other game lines with your help. I want to stick with the lesser supported lines at the moment; all of the official resources are tied up with RIFTS and Robotech.  Certainly, there must be a fan or two of the Palladium lines that would like to contribute something.  I am on the hunt for guest posters or even permanent contributors.  

Do you want to write a review of a sourcebook?

Do you have a Palladium Fantasy race or O.C.C. that you have created and would like to share?

Do you have a write up for a new superpower for Heroes Unlimited? 

What part do you want to play?

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Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Nightbane®, Megaverse®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. RPG Tactics™, Beyond the Supernatural, Chaos Earth, Coalition States, Dead Reign, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Minion War, Mysteries of Magic, SAMAS, Thundercloud Galaxy, Three Galaxies, Vampire Kingdoms, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.

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D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 23

I must have borrowed this movie from my Uncle David "a million times" when I was a kid with D&D always on the brain.  I used to play this movie when I was working on D&D stuff.  I would get out some graph paper and just start knocking stuff out.  That is why O Fortuna from Excalibur makes me think of D&D when I hear it.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 22

This post is part of a series of posts in the D&D 40^th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge.  The information in many of these posts is related to events that occurred primarily in the1980’s. Since it is now 2014, I can not guarantee complete accuracy with such a large passage of time but I will present the events and information as best as I can recall.

Day 22: First D&D-based novel you ever read.

The first D&D-based novel I ever read was actually a trilogy; the Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman.  I do not recall a lot of the details around that time; did I buy them all at once or one volume at a time?  What I do remember is that it was summer time so there was no school to be worried about.  I started reading until I went to sleep that night. 

The next morning, I got dressed and then I started reading again.  I remember this so well because my grandmother was worried because I had “done nothing but sit there and read all day” for several days in a row.  I wanted to tell her to relax because this was not 1940 but the modern world; there are plenty of modern conveniences that make “working in the field all day” obsolete. 

I stopped reading and asked, “What do you want me to do?”, as I waited for an answer. 

She got a puzzled look on her face and replied, “Well…I don’t know.”, and went back to whatever it was she was doing at the time.

I continued on and finished the trilogy.  I would go on to read several more Dragonlance novels over the years.  For the most part, I think the Weis & Hickman contributions are the best but there are others that are just as good.  The one I currently need to buy and read is the final volume of the Dark Chronicles trilogy. 

I know some people do not care for these books but that does not dissuade me from reading them.  I choose not to get irritated or argue with them – different strokes for different folks sort of thing.  Not everybody is going to like everything I do and the opposite is very much true as well.    

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge Day 21

This post is part of a series of posts in the D&D 40^th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge.  The information in many of these posts is related to events that occurred primarily in the1980’s. Since it is now 2014, I can not guarantee complete accuracy with such a large passage of time but I will present the events and information as best as I can recall.

Day 21: First time you sold some of your D&D books – for whatever reason.

The first time I sold some of my D&D books was after a few years in the Army.  It was during the height of popularity for Vampire: the Masquerade and I could not find anyone interested in playing A/D&D.  I thought long and hard about but I eventually reasoned that I probably would not be playing again and probably should not hold on to stuff that would just take up space.  I sold quite a few items and I now wish that I had not done so.  Since that time, I have purchased some of the items again but nothing will replace the actual books that I had accumulated since the early 1980s.  Lesson learned!