On Tuesday,this week the first steps were taking as an adventurer in the realms of TRPG. This is not to mistaken with RPGs or JRPGS, No. True Role Playing Games of Dungeons and Dragons. Dungeons and Dragons has been around for about forty years, created by some college students in America and it has inspired many other formats of role playing games. Once began they find themselves in character not necessary full method. However, with a sprinkle of confidence and enthusiasm over time it won't take long to show the traits of a long term hobbyist.
It is of personal interest to explore this game, inspired by a podcast that came floating through, unsure how ,on Spotify by the name of Dungeons and Daddies. An adventure about four dads searching for their kidnapped children in a another dimension. The story and podcast is hilarious, the story telling and the imaginative problem solving shows the possibilities of D&D. Once inspired the task was to search out a club or a gathering in my local area. However, the global pandemic and amongst other things lead to a losing the scent of the trail. After a short time the intrigue resumed and continued to investigate if D&D had transferred onto a digital realm. It didn't take long to be part of a Facebook group and after posting an advert for absolute beginners, an invitation was sent to take part in a game in five days. In Five days a character was created with a backstory, understand a significant amount of rules, learn how to fill out a character sheet. Time was spent on listening to podcasts, tutorial vids and reading the digital guide book that was flipped back and fourth hours on end. Furthermore it was required to work out a partial amount of three programs as well. For someone with dyslexia it is a mind warp to remember and read, reread and calculate all the bonus's and attributes. However, these are good exercises and practice to get that grey matter going. The group i was invited to join was done so by the Dungeon Master (DM) ,the story teller, the one who decides the events of the adventurers, "Evangelizing the non dnd is where we are at". and the group messenger chat was welcoming as well. So after setting up everything the adventure began in Waldrand. Gorblas the Half Orc was my character, avatar and met up with fellow adventurers in the tavern. where our adventure began. The sessions are adventures that will have the adventurers return home by the end of the evening, a contained episode rather than a series length story. personally there is so much to take in that getting home before dark seems ideal. when asked about something at the very beginning of the game by a fellow player, there was a moment where it was unclear whether to answer on behalf of Gorblas or myself. The decision was to answer on Behalf of Gorblas and that is where the fun began. What followed was a few hours of adventuring, due to first time players anxiety and playing with complete strangers and not knowing this brand new world there was a lot of silence from my side of the mic. there was a couple of decisions that needed to be made and was worried if the results were going to annoy people in real life. that soon past. When it came to the first fight for battle ready Gorblas. the D20 the most important dice of D&D resulted in slipping on ice and missing the opponent. The second attack went badly as well as the weapon of choice the Battle Axe slipped of Gorblas's hands and landed five feet away. Hilarity followed. and eventually my character left the sewer covered in sewage and the remains of an exploded Battle Rat. The game concluded with a prime example of what TRPG really is. To solve a problem that dealt with loss, pain and suffering that showed why the antagonist was the way they were and how it affected the non playable characters(NPC) around them . Using persuasion and discussion to resolve the problem and not violence was through choice alone and any time someone could have decided to slain the witch. Personally this is one of the most attractive aspects of D&D. That at any point you can decide to change your mind at a whim and see how your fellow adventurers react whilst experiencing the consequences of your actions. Though this can be done in games such as World of Warcraft the digital realm is a heavily visual experience. Here, it appears that the players imagination compliments the Dungeon Masters imaginative creation and intention and what happens next may end up in utter chaos yet with beautiful storytelling.
0 Comments
Hello There,
So this entry is different as it is a backstory of a character as a first time adventurer for Dungeons and Dragons. After becoming interested through various podcasts, there was an overwhelming urge to try it out. After a week of learning how to create a character and rules and skill and weaponry the time has arrived for the first outing. Backstory of Gorblas There is an Enchanted wood where the trees themselves were processed by an ethereal energy ,that when felled they were used to create books, wands , runes and other processions that would aid Spellcasters. Though the Spellcasters used the materials for their own means it was those of another kind to not only produce the raw material but to protect it at any cost, for in the wrong hands it would prove to have devastating consequences. Protecting the woods were for generations were a clan of Half Orcs. This strong, powerful Iron willed tribe were committed to their sworn oath. As with all clans there is a hierarchy the chief and the champion both always prepared or the next potential candidate for their position. Unfortunately this is not where we meet our hero , where there are leaders and heroes of the towns, tribes and even families there will be the runt of the litter, meet Gorblas. strong when working in the forest a tough a blood thirsty warrior he was not. For this Gorblas was designated as an assistant to the aging and cranky chief woodsman. Gorblas was responsible for felling of the trees with his trusty well sharpened axe, then prepared the wood to be transported. Gorblas was a dreamer, a philosopher, no one could understand why this was. Was it due to an imbalance with his human side? suppressing the Orc that would normally fuel the hot raging blood his brothers carried with almighty ferocity? who knows. unfortunately for Gorblas he became absent minded, clumsy if he was distracted and at work this was a large problem. More times than not he was yelled at to snap out of it. the next time it happened was the last. After the tree he he was working on came crashing down on the mill itself injuring both a spell caster inspecting the woodshed and his master the chief woodsman. Gorblas was mocked and beaten by his tribe. Furthermore, he was jeered at for never killing in the act of battle, accused of being as weak minded as well he was physically, it was true Gorblas could barely fight to project himself yet it was only because he had to, let the true warriors of the clan engage with what they do best. For the tribe though enough was enough. A spell was cast to remind him of that day and would only be broken once he could prove that he was a worthy member of the clan. Exiled that day he left with his axe on his back and what was in his pockets including wedges of wood from the trees felled that day and the red hand print magical scarring that covered one half of his face reminding him the shame of his tribe. He journeyed as far as he could where no one would recognise him where eventually he would be forgotten by his clan. For Gorblas, he would always carry that burden with the hope he could one day return home and with honor . It was when he came to a town called Waldrand that things began to take a turn. The first adventure is this evening and will write up how it went relatively soon. The return to work after the festive season has officially begun, as we all tiptoe into the new year with some mild anticipation. Very excited continuing with a project that will be released onto the world towards the end of the year. The Christmas tree still stands proudly in the living room maintaining the festive vibe that will aid the spirit of the project as we venture towards the summertime. The decision to leave the tree and decorations up a while longer was a two fold decision. One, we haven't been bothered and two, we just want a little bit more jolliness and keeping the festive vibes while the world continues to be a little be wilder.
Reading and music has been the portal of personal escapism and was very fortunate to recieve a stack of books. some that were not completed many years yet were enjoyable and some that I have been wanting to read. a few space operas here, a quest that includes a few hobbits and wizards there, with stephen King epic to top it off. It has become appealing to delve back into listening to music through the media of the compact disc. it boiled down to having to the annoyance of requiring a screen to access audio format. it feels there are elements where this way of thinking would lead to being branded as 21st century Luddite. Personally, digital output of music (mp3), not electronic, feels synthetic, it is thoroughly enjoyable to go down a music hole in a random epic journey via Spotify yet there is something personally missing that a CD stereo CD quality music that cannot be topped. its probably it is because I am getting older,..... that's it isn't it? This is probably my generations version of original vinyl to CD and when albums were becoming digitally remastered people would say "yeah, but you don't here the crackle before and after the album, do you?" for the reason I mentioned above it is a personal wish and desire to watch the original Star Wars trilogy on VHS wide screen like it was before when Han Shot first, Jabba's Palace wasn't tweaked and when the Ewoks celebrated without the angelic choir. take care everyone and be safe. I found a choose your adventure book in a charity shop three years ago and now I am going to finally get adventuring whilst listening to some David Bowie. Hello There ...
Just read the novel The Big Sleep written by Raymond Chandler a noir story revealing the seedy world of Hollywood towards the end of the 1930's. a story that was told in just over two hundred pages this surprisingly took a long time to read. It should be noted that dyslexia has recently been a diagnosis and continues to be something to integrate with during the last four years, first discovered when returning to college as a mature student. Quite a challenge to understand and process when writing two reports. That being said it is apparent that ones reading speed is slower than the average bear. Yet reading The Big Sleep was a massive challenge. The publication of the novel was a direct reprint from the original copy of the text? The evidence of this was that the text appeared to be typed out with a type writer rather than a computer. The punctuation marks resembled an older font as the question marks were tiny and the apostrophes were similar to speech marks. Personally the text felt like it had to be read at a slow paced word for word or the plot would dissolve and wouldn't be able to tell if the first person narration was explaining the person or if they were in conversation. With the complexity of the everything mentioned it was difficult to remember what was going on, struggling at times to comprehend what was going on throughout the plot. As there were times when attempting to remember the plot, characters or potential clues definitely creating the brain to almost hurt. However, this does not mean that this was a bad story not at all, following the case that was to be solved by Mr Marlow was quite a page turner. without giving away spoilers and it is mentioned within a couple of pages of the story. the description of one of the female characters, or "dames" is described to "have dangerous predatory teeth when she smiled". This illustrates the dangerous of the character in question, most notably their personalty. this is a fantastic example of language that is narrated by the Private Eye. Definitely a page turner though strangely difficult as it was. Hello There ....
This is to investigate and experiment on whether or not this Blog page can maintain regular posts . Firstly there is no specific interest that I want to blog about. So going by marketing and advertising practices it will not be a blog for financial gain. It will be about me and the thoughts that swirl around in my tiny little world. what will happen is a case of wait and see. A diary for public display without the life's humdrum decisions such as, beans or peas for dinner? this is not to say this would not be important if it were to be in another context. This has been inspired by the need to create a discipline to write and to write regularly. I will write and store it in a quiet little corner of the internet. Pyke209 |