The The Dream-vision of Andre Norton's *Quag Keep* (1978)

I was recently inspired by an Old School Roleplaying blog, Greyhawk Grognard, to muse about an underestimated novel that I truly love, the first Dungeons and Dragons novel, Andre Norton's Quag Keep (1978). As I was Googling the novel to see what everyone else is saying about it, I came upon an old blog post from Grognardia, wherein James Maliszewski reviews the novel. Of the novel he writes, "The real interest here is in its portrayal of the World of Greyhawk, a setting that had not yet been published for gaming purposes in 1978." Although he goes on to critique the novel on the level of its Greyhawk accuracy (something I won't do because I'm incapable of doing), I feel a similar way about this novel to him. For me, the main attraction held out by this novel is the setting; or, more specifically, the atmosphere.

The atmosphere is the "main character," if you will. There is a vagueness to the world, a kind of mistiness or blurriness that suggests depth and range just beyond what is being narrated. This sort of engineered obscurity is a good thing, a really unique aesthetic effect. Imagine a fully fleshed out fantasy world with complex politics, a rich history, a theorized economy; and then imagine a story that tantalizingly reveals only so much of that background, but the bits that are revealed evoke a vast world. It's an interesting minimalist effect, suggesting a fully realized secondary world through a minimal amount of surface references.

Norton's construction of a fantasy atmosphere in Quag Keep has the substance of reality, but the reality she creates is a foggy, dream-like reality. So, I occasionally have a few vivid Dungeons and Dragons dreams. Though in terms of plot, these dreams don't involve much at all. And yet, in terms of atmosphere, they are quite intense. In those dreams, I usually just occupy a stool in a smoky tavern tavern sipping a jack of ale, or I'm wandering down a shadowy hallway of flagstones and mossy brick with a sputtering torch, going where, I don't know. When I wake up and try to remember those dreams: that feeling approximates, I think, the intense aesthetic effect of this novel.

Unlike the richly conceived setting, the protagonists of Quag Keep aren't particularly memorable in themselves. And yet--for some reason, they intrigue me. There is a swordsman, an elf, a lizardman, and although they are flat characters, Norton is able to portray them less as personalities and more as mythical archetypes. Reading about these flat characters evokes in me a feeling similar to the one I have when I pick up a Ral Partha figurine and turn it around in my hand. To an extent, a Ral Partha figurine is less a fleshed out and complex personality and more a kind of shell that you, as the player, need to fill with a soul. The flat characters of Quag Keep embedded in Norton's obscure though substantial atmosphere evokes that feeling for me.

Finally, let me conclude with commenting on the story, the narrative spine of the novel. There's not much to it. It's a straightforward, old school war gaming plot: a magic user places a geas on a group of adventurers who have to go and fulfill a quest through trials and tribulations. There's a maze-like dungeon. There's a few melees. But as mundane as this myth cycle plot is, the ending is comparably innovative: the ultimate result of the adventurers' quest is that they are able to question the very fabric of reality. In other words, the novel ends with an intriguing meditation on the metaphysical dimension to Fantasy Roleplaying Games.

Perhaps you're dying to know more about the end of the novel; however, I'm afraid I'll have to upset you. But I can give you a hint with the following quotation from one of my favorite pulp writers, Clark Ashton Smith: "All things conceivable exist, have existed, or will exist somewhere, sometime."

Re-experiencing *Master of Orion II*

I recently discovered an amazing Website, Good Old Games dot Com (GOG.com). It was founded in 2008, so I’m kind of late in discovering it. This awesome site delivers old games for download that have been calibrated to work with newer computers and newer operating systems.

I love retro gaming, and for the most part I stick to consoles because I collect them; however, some of my greatest experiences with gaming growing up were PC games, the majority of the them I played on my first Packard Bell computer. I still own a lot of old PC game CD Roms, but, because I haven’t kept any of my older computers in tact, they’ve become more or less nostalgia paraphernalia that I can’t bring myself to throw away.

Anyhow, for $5.99 (which I think is a very reasonable price, I think) I purchased one of my favorite games: Master of Orion II: Battle At Antares. Published by Microprose in 1996, it is an explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate turn-based strategy game set on the galactic scale. As the player, you “take the reigns” of an intelligent race that is just beginning to colonize a wider section of the galaxy. Eventually you research new technologies, make contact with other races, and cloak-and-dagger diplomacy and full scale intergalactic warfare ensue.

Master of Orion II is an extremely well produced game that I think is a legitimate piece of art. The soundtrack evokes that “cosmic feeling” one gets when reading space opera’s like Isaac Asimov’s The Foundation Trilogy or A Bertram Chandler’s John Grimes novels, or when watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. The artwork is beautiful, blending a quality of mysticism with hard-science representations of spinning planets and asteroid belts. The gameplay is very in-depth, too. So much depends on the various technologies you choose to research over others, your domestic policies, your intelligence policies, your foreign relations policy.

In 1996 I was thirteen years old, so this was an intense gaming experience for my overtaxed brain. Imagine a thirteen year weighing the many pros and cons of a benevolent, research and economically friendly foreign policy over a more aggressive, militaristic one with a strong, intelligence arm. Wow.

At the time, the only store that I knew of that sold newly released PC games were office supply stories or computer stores. I remember I called around to a variety of stories until I finally found an outlet that had a copy. It was nearly an hour from my house on the West Side of Columbus to the North Side. I remember begging to convince my parents to drive me to pick this game up. My dad drove me up himself. This may be reconstruction, but I faintly remember having dinner afterwords at an Olive Garden and bringing in the thick game manual to fondly pour over. Talk about nerdy.

If you haven’t played this game before, check it out. Also, check out that site, GOG.com. It’s a real service that allows me to extend my nostalgic march through old games outside of the realm of the consoles I collect and into the old PC arena.

An Homage to *Destiny of the Emperor* (NES, 1990)

This afternoon, I started re-playing an RPG for the Nintendo Entertainment System released by Capcon titled, Destiny of an Emperor. It was released in Japan in 1989; the English translation was released in the U.S. in 1990.

I love this game! It's a simple RPG that reminds me of the original Final Fantasy by Squaresoft. It's turn based RPG with very simple statistics, equipment, and "magical spells"--they're called "tactics" in this game.

The interesting thing about this game, for me, is that each of your characters does not represent a single person, a solitary adventurer; rather, each character is a general of a whole army. The "hit point" attribute of each character represents many soldiers this specific character has. And so, whenever a character suffers from an attack (e.g. 2 points of damage) they love soldiers and not hit points. I found this intriquing as a little kid, this idea that I was controlling large amounts of soldiers.

I can't speak to the narrative of the game. As per the Wikipedia, "Destiny of an Emperor is based on Hiroshi Motomiya's manga, Tenchi wo Kurau, which follows the story of popular Chinese historical figure Liu Bei and his sworn brothers, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu. This story is loosely based upon the events of Luo Guanzhong's dramatic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, itself based on historical events and battles which occurred during the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China" (Wikipedia). I didn't finish it as a kid.

The Inaugural Adventure of Cleveland OSR! (Part 2)

So, this past Saturday Cleveland OSR continued our Labyrinth Lord adventure. I want to tell you about it. I reccommend looking at the previous post to bring you up to speed on things. Let me try to give an abridged version here:

The Game: Labyrinth Lord, a "retro-clone" of Dungeons and Dragons 0th edition.

The Adventure: We are exploring the ruins of an arena erected by a demented sorcerer for the magistrate of a city.

The Adventurers: The warrior, Geth; the dwarf, Drid; the elf, Findy; the sorcerer, Zopyros; the cleric, Pardue; the magic-user, Zopyros.

Last time: When we quit playing the last time, one of our companion suffered a horrible fate: the thief Ingvar was killed by a poisonous dart. We had explored part of the arena, slayed a few orcs, some wolves, and discovered some strange magical rings--one of which attached itself securely and firmly to the sorcerer Zopyros.

***

This night's adventures began with more exploration. We had explored the *Western* section of the arena. Thus, the task at hand was to explore the *Eastern* section of the arena. But before we could explore this Eastern section, something strange happened that requires some explanation.

The oven.

Being loyal companions, we were attempting to put aside the body of our fallen comrade, Ingvar the Thief. We wanted to protect his mortal remains from, say, slavering beasts that might be prowling the ruined arena. And so--we spied an old oven and thought it a perfect place to stow away the corpse. But, on opening the oven, we were attacked by a swarm of giant-feathery-mosquito-like-things-with-long-proboscis-like sucking-appendages. The battle was intense. Geth dispatched one by capturing it in a sack and bashing it about; Drid killed one with his axe. Pardue smashed one with his mace. And the sorcerer Zopyros--he turned himself into a swarm of hornets and killed one by throwing his many stingers.

We didn't survive the battle unscathed. In fact, we chose to rest at length after the battle before we continued our explorations.

The study.

Afterwards, we continued our explorations and, after exploring some empty rooms, we discovered what appeared to be an abandoned study: there were books, and scrolls, and a desk, and lots of dust. Of course Zopyros the Sorcerer set about reading the books, hoping to find some magic that might allow him to remove the strange ring on his finger. He was helped by his companions. Alas, nothing was found.

In the course of examining the study, however, a secret compartment was found. There was a trap door in the study that led into a underground chamber accessed by a set of carved stairs. After some debate, the party descended into the darkness; however, as they descended a horrible smell assaulted them. This didn't deter us however.

Into the caverns. An encounter with slime.

Lighting our way with torches and lanterns we came into a cavern that appeared to be empty; however, in a kind of alcove we discovered another magical ring. About this time, something strange happened: a mass of green, transluscent slime slopped off of the cavern's ceiling onto Pardue the Holy Man. At first, the slime seemed to do nothing. And then, with ever increasing intensity, it began to burn his armor, his skin, and worse, to liquify his flesh. Try as he might, he couldn't wipe the horrible slime off. In a moment of despair and panic, he called for Geth and his companions to try to burn the slime with their torche's flames. This seemed to work; however, it also hurt Pardue. Nearly dead from the slime and the wounds from the flames, Pardue healed himself with his magics. He then called for Zopyros the Sorcerer: Zopyros created a giant wall of flame with a magical scroll. He made the fire ring around Pardue. The heat burned the vast majority of the slime away; however, some remained. This was dispatched with torches.

All in all, Pardue was singed, his armor destroyed, and the party somewhat disheartened. We contemplated retreating back to the town. We decided against this however, and thereby retreated to the study to rejuvinate our strength.

Exploring the caverns: grasshoppers, scaly humanoids...

After this we continued exploring the caverns below the study. We came upon a strange herd of giant grasshoppers that ran by us panicked; however, when they realized we were invading their lair, they attacked us. The battle was intense. They spat a gross phlegm of some sort that caused Geth to become incapacitated with vomiting. Eventually, we prevailed, slaughtering them all. But we took our fair share of wounds.

Afterwards, continuing to explore the caverns, we came upon an underground pond. As we were inspecting the pond, five horrible creatures assaulted us--scaly humanoids with a horrible smell and long claws. They quickly began to make minced meat out of us. Our spirits at their lowest, Zopyros the Sorcerer cast a sleep spell, successfully putting all of these creatures to sleep. We then dispatched them vengefully.

The night ended with us exploring more of the caverns.

Spontaneous Solo Session: Rorshik the Dwarven Rogue and the Free-City of Andar

A Spontaneous Solo Session

Last weekend my good friend Chuck visited Cleveland for the "International Beer Festival." Although there are plently of stories to be shared about our attendance of that great event, in this blog post I want to share with you another story: the story of our "off the cuff" solo Old School Roleplaying session.

In my younger years I spent a lot of time RPing with my friend Chuck. When we played, I usually DM'd. We consistently played AD&D 2nd Edition in a homegrown campaign setting of my own creation. His most famous character was one "Rion of Galbus," a neutral good fighter who was exiled from the Kingdom of Isera after his family, a noble family, was completely obliterated in a civil war.

Anyhow, as we were blowing time before the Great Event (i.e. the International Beer Festival), I was telling him about my efforts to establish an Old School Roleplaying Club. A couple of coffees later, we'd rolled up a character for him and decided to give a try at a solo session. It turned out to be loads of fun!

Rorshik the Dwarven Rogue, Exile of Krel

Of course, we decided to used AD&D 2nd edition. Chuck made a dwarven rogue who he dubbed "Rorshik." A little about Rorshik: he was exiled from his homeland, the City of Legend: Krel, for a crime he committed. He was forced to board the trireme, "The Ruby-Eyed Beauty of the Sea," to sail across the "Sea of Shadows," and to begin anew in the dock district of the "Free City of Andar." This is where we began our solo session: in the dock district of the Free City of Andar.

So, what happened?

In the Dock District of the Free-City of Andar

Well, the first thing Rorshik did was he confronted a crusty beggar who introduced himself as "Priss, the Lord of Beggars." He asked Priss where he might locate tolerable fare and lodgings in the Dock District of Andar. For a few coppers, Priss directed him to a nearby tavern, a sailor's tavern and inn called "The Perpetual Smile." Of course, Rorshik went there.

"The Perpetual Smile" was somewhat dirty. Low-ceilings, filled with smoke and cursing, whores and gambling, the dwarven rogue would have felt at home if it wasn't for all the stares he recieved: he was the only dwarf, apparently the first dwarf the patrons of the "Perpetual Smile" had seen in a long time.

Rorshik quickly made the acquaintence of the tavern keeper, a grim man by the name of "Mikon." Mikon procured Rorshik a meal of cold meats and some ale, secured him a room, and even directed him to "someone who might have some work for a newcomer fresh off the Sea of Shadows looking for work and short on scruples."

A Skeleton-thin Old Man with Ink-Stained Fingers -- A Sick King -- A Proposition

After Rorshik had unloaded his scant belongings in his rented room, he approach this individual referenced by Mikon the Tavern Keeper: a becloaked, skeleton-thin old man with ink-stained fingers reading a book by the hearth. He tentatively approached the old man's table, introduced himself, and was told, "I am called Malus, and I am head-scribe for Lord Trikthor, the Ruling Ward of the Realm."

Malus gave Roshik some information about the realm. Here's the low-down: first off, Andar isn't *actually* part of "the Realm." The land Rorshik finds himself in is called "Souros." The "Free City" of "Andar" is called a free-city because it doesn't acknowledge the rule of the king in the capital city. The Capital City--"Beor"--is from where the King ostensibly rules. The King's name is "Uthar IV 'the Firestorm' of House Never--the Burning Tree." Uthar, however, has fallen gravely ill and is expected to die. His son, the Prince "Prosep," isn't of age yet. And so, even though the King is incapacitated, his does not rule. Who rules in his stead? The High-Chamberlain to the King and Martial of the King's Defenders, "Lord Trikthor, 'the Inklord' of House Grel."

Lots of back story, I know. Let me try to bring this to a head: the "skeleton-thin" old Head-Scribe works for this ward of the Realm and has a job for Rorshik. Malus informed Rorshik that not many people are happy about the rule of Lord Trikthor, who they do not trust. There's horrible rumors circulating about Lord Trikthor, and many of the noble families won't go along with his degrees announced in the authority of the king. Long story short: Malus is in Andar trying to find someone for a sensitive job Lord Trikthor needs done.

The Weapon-Merchant Maro and "the Sinks"

There are merchants supplying forces amassing against Trikthor with blades and polearms. Malus needs someone to have a talk with this merchant by the name of "Maro." He offers 200 gold pieces to anyone who will "have a talk" with Maro. The short of it is, the weapons need to stop leaving Andar. Here's the difficulty: Maro hangs out in a subterrean lair of thieves below the city of Andar, a place referred to as "the Sinks." The hidden entrances into "the Sinks" are jealously guarded secrets. Also, long, long ago--before the coming of the King--the Sinks were used by a cult who worshiped an extra-planar demi-god called "Perious of the Deep." Even though the cult has long been destroyed, the rumors are that some of creatures summoned by the cults strange and demented rites still linger in the less explored regions of the Sinks. *Gulp*.

We played a lot more. After a few hours, beer fest called. Actually, I mostly gave you the back story, the "adventure hook,"if you will. There were lots of adventures as Rorshik schemed and "cloaked and daggered" his way into the Sinks. I want to tell you what happened once he arrived to the Sinks. But this post it long enough. Perhaps I have a "Part II" in me.

The Inaugural Adventure of Cleveland OSR!

So, last night I played my first game of Labyrinth Lord, a retro-clone of the original Dungeons and Dragons. It was awesome! See, I started this Meetup.com group called Cleveland Old School Roleplaying and this was the first of what I hope to be many "old school" RPG sessions in Cleveland.

I'm going to relate our adventures in this post. But first! Here is the cast of adventurers:

• I played two characters, a Cleric named Pardeux the Holy Man and a Magic-User named Zopyros the Conjurer. 
• My wife, Nicole, played two characters: Ingvar the Thief and Findy the Elf.
• My friends David and Athena each played one character; the Dwarf, Drid, and the fighter, Geth.

Some thoughts on Labyrinth Lord... 

It was awesome! I had never played Original Dungeons and Dragons before. The D&D I've played has always been of the Advanced variety, i.e. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons or AD&D 2nd Edition. It was extremely interesting, playing this edition. I can't speak to the rules too much because, honestly, they didn't really come up. There was an occasional dice throw for an attack and a saving throw; other than that, the story and the scenario was foregrounded.

The hook... or, an adventure to "The Courtyard of Jerold the Red"...

So, here's what happened: The night began in a city of Irelim. The adventuring party was minding its own business on the streetside when out of the darkness ran Ingvar the Thief who was being chased by a butcher swinging sausages. Apparently Ingvar had helped himself to some meat without paying for it. After some puffed up threats, the butcher left the adventuring party alone.

Right after that, city guards approached the adventuring company. The Magistrate of the city wanted to speak to us. So, we all went to the Magistrate's office where he told a story of the city's past.

The Magistrate's story...

He told of how there was a magician named Jerold the Red who had built a "Courtyard" outside of the city where he staged magical "gladiatorial" battles between various magical creatures he collected. Also, Jerold the Red collected magical items and was famous for being a kind of puppeteer. Long story short, something went wrong during one of the gladiatorial battles one night and everyone was slaughtered. For years now the courtyard of Jerold the Red had been abandoned. This ended the Magistrate's story.

Afterward he told the adventuring party of a plan the city had of returning the courtyard to its earlier glories in order to generate revenue for the city. But, before they could do that, they needed some adventurers to go and clean the place out of any monsters that might linger there. The Magistrate offered us 2500 gold pieces for the job, as well as confirming any claim we might lay to treasure that might be found there. Of course we accepted.

O.k..

So, what happened?

Onward to adventure!

We left the city and quickly arrived at the ruins of the courtyard. The majority of the party lingered back. We decided to send Ingvar the Thief ahead to scout the entrance to the courtyard. As he approached the entrance--bam!--he was attacked by two slathering wolves. Not being the most courageous or powerful of warriors, he fled back to the party. After a quick melee, the the dwarf Drid felled both wolves.

We then went into the courtyard. I won't bore you with a long description of it. Suffice it to say, we discovered the courtyard inside. And! Fighting in the middle of the abandoned courtyard were two animated skeletons. In spite of their strangeness, we decided not to approach them because they ignored us.

We continued to explore the corridors surrounding the courtyard being very careful. However, while we were exploring one room, a group of orcs--apparently returning to the courtyard ruins after a raid--attacked us with blades and arrows. There was an exciting melee wherein  Pardeux the Holy Man showed his worth, slaying both orcs. One orc, dropping his short bow, sought egress through the front doors of the courtward. It was a wonderful victory.

We continued exploring the ruins and eventually came upon a trap door. Here things turned to the tragic. Ingvar discovered three locked chests and began unlocking them. However, one of them contained a poisoned dart. As Ingvar was wounded from his previous encounter with the wolves, the poison was enough to kill him. This is where we ended the night: with one brave comrade dead. 

The Saga of the Order of the Golden Disk (Post 1)

Last night was the second night in an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition Campaign some friends and I are playing. Now that I'm doing this blog, I thought I'd narrate the adventures to you. Today's post, however, is just going to bring you up to speed about the campaign in general.

The Cast of Characters

First off, let me relate the cast of characters, a chartered adventuring company titled, "The Order of the Golden Disk."

• Frank the Rogue. This character is played by Scott. He wields daggers and prefers to throw them. He tends to be hot tempered and suspicious of everyone.
• Lady Amalthea the Paladin. Played by Kristen. She is an upright paladin who was formerly a lady of noble ranking from the Capital. He family, a rich and powerful one with connections to the King, is angry with her because she chose a life of adventure.
• Bavmorda the Elven Ranger. Played by Beth. She doesn't speak any language other than Elven, so very few members of the adventuring party have been able to get to know her. She is a crackshot with a bow. 
• Geatrix the Marvelous, Renowned Bard. Played by me. Geatrix is a roving minstrel who desires to found a glorious adventuring company. He plays the lyre. 
• Morgana the Druid. Played by Nicole. A druid known for her affinity for fire. A good friend of Bavmorda, she translates for her.

The Campaign


The campaign setting is the creation of our Dungeon Master, Misha. So far it has consisted of a Capital City ruled by a Lord Mayor who is upset with the rule of what he describes as a bumbling King; a vast countryside patrolled by the king's men; a village called Stonedrop; and some foothills and mountains where magic has distorted the very fabric of time and space. An interesting place for adventure.

The Hook...


The first session began with the The Order of the Golden Disk (OGD) waking up in a dungeon in the Capital City. Apparently they had started a brawl in a tavern. Lots of folks were hurt. Lots of property damage had been done. Long story short, the OGD were on the hook for a large bill; however, the agent of their incarceration--the Lord Mayor of the Capital--rather than choose to charge fees or otherwise follow through with the normal routine of justice under such circumstances, decides to enlist the aid of the OGD in a problem.

His problem? The King has been, for many years, holding a warrior's tournament called "Trevgar's Games." Trevgar was a wizard who, in the course of magical studies, blew himself and his mountain tower, high into the sky.

The winner of the King's "Trevgar's Games" is awarded the opportunity to adventure to an abandoned wizard's tower to search for treasure. The catch: most of the folks who win don't come back from the tower.

The Lord Mayor is tired of losing good folks and of wasting the Realm's good money on these games, which, he believes, the King keeps up simply because of tradition.

What does he want the OGD to do? Well, he wants them to go to abandoned wizard's tower and survey it; then, he wants them to return to announce that the tower is empty of any treasure, that only a fool would fight in a tournament to win the "opportunity" to go such a dangerous place that offers little but death. His hope is that such an announcement will be enough to make folks stop going to the games. The result: the Realm would stop losing money on such a silly venture. Less people would die. Reason would rule.

Did the OGD take the adventure? Of course they did.

Inaugural Post: The "Primal Scene" of My Life as an Gamer

In 1992 my best friend, David, introduced to me a game called Nightlife (Stellar Games 1990). I was nine years old; David was, I think, thirteen. He'd been playing Nightlife for a while by then.

"It was awesome," he told me, "because in this game you can do whatever you want!" How did you play it? "Well, you kind of imagine it. There's a gamemaster, who tells the story. And there are players, who make characters. You just tell the gamemaster what you want to do, you roll dice, and then he tells you what happens."

The explanation confused my easily addled nine-year-old mind. But I was eager to learn.

And so, I found myself one rainy evening, sitting with David; his older brother, Bobby; and Bobby's friend, Dustin.

The "primal scene" of my life as an RPG gamer was Bobby's room, which was, to my mind's eye, the stereotypical young male's room: cluttered, in disarray, filled with a phantasmagoria of colorful imagery: comics, video games, movie posters, etc..

Let me be a little more specific to set the scene, if you will: I remember it filled with 8 bit and 16 bit video game cartridges (Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Nintendo); a pizza box; lots of dirty clothing; knick-knacks of every kind (a sword replica, an antique gun, some paperback books); and, of course, a small stack of glossy books, some notebook paper, sharpened pencils, and a handful of strangely shaped dice. It was awesome.

I remember Bobby looking at David, Dustin and I, sighing, and then saying, "So, you wake up in your coffins. What do you want to do?"

Little did I know that my life was about to change.

After Nightlife I think it was less than two months before I had my dad drive me to Westland Mall in Columbus, Ohio where, at a Walden Books, I purchased my first Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition Player's Handbook.

Let me spare you the obvious conversion story about how I became a gamer. Let's keep this simple.

About a year after I was introduced to Nightlife, "roleplaying games"--generally speaking--had become, my primary obsession. I played table-top "pen and paper" roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons; I played roleplaying video games like Final Fantasy II for SNES; I got the board game HeroQuest (Milton Bradley 1992). I think about this time I was also playing Magic: the Gathering. I remember being simply amazed by the artwork (I was, of course, horrible at the actual game and was beat down in every tournament I ever entered).

The older I get the more I realize that there is a long "wonder-filled" story I simply need to tell: of genre novels, video games (8 bit, 16 bit, MMORPG, CRPG), board games (strategy, dungeon crawl), card games, text-based games. And telling that story in order to relive it is one purpose this blog.

The other purpose is simply to reconnect with this passion. The older I get, the more I miss staying up until 4 in the morning, drinking soda, rolling dice, fighting dark elves and exploring forbidden cities with my friends.

In other words, I imagine this blog not as simply a "retracing" of past experiences with roleplaying but as a starting point of new ones.