Rants/Raves
Fantasy film and television has brought us lots of interesting weaponry outside the norm - besides swords, axes and lots of crossbows, there are plenty of unique devices that, regardless of whether or not they could actually function, are pretty darn cool. Xena's Chakram, Krull's Glaive, the three-bladed sword in Sword and the Sorcerer... What's your favorite fantasy weapon, and why?
The title says it all. . . are DM's capable of cheating? After all, we are mere mortals, and the dice never do any wrong! Never! The rules are the final say in any aspect of the game, and doom on you if you forget that!. . . Or so say some, outlandishly detailed by yours truly.
I admit that I'm one of those guys who don't dig the D20 rules for the 3rd Edition of D&D. See, I was weaned on D&D during the last days of 1st Edition. I'm used to everyone going up a level with varying amounts of experience points. I'm used to -7 AC being a good thing. I'm used to arguing over how you pronounce THAC0. I'm used to D&D having it's own, unique set of rules. I'm used to playing the game my way.
When I first began playing Dungeons & Dragons at the tender age of eight, I was fascinated by the alignment chart in the blue Basic Set rulebook. I did not understand it. I asked my father to explain it to me, but not being a gamer, he was unable to shed much illumination on the subject. Now, a little over twenty-four years later, I find I still have not received an explanation of the D&D alignment system to entirely satisfy my curiosity.
DM's are usually a different kind of person. They like to plan. They like to create. They like to scheme. Most of all, they like to set all three of those together, get with a couple of players, and tell a great story. Nothing is better than setting something in motion and seeing it bear fruit. When it goes right, it is wonderful. The players are happy, the DM is happy, and one hell of a story is being created.
So, your gaming group gets together and the newest D20 supplement is making the rounds. Your players are practically drooling over all of the new and interesting things in the book, and they look at you with looks that would put hungry puppies to shame. Someone shoves the book under your nose and points "I want to be one of these! Can I?"
Everyone who has run a game has had them, and most of you have read about them. Yes, I refer to the problem players. Those people who make you wonder why you're doing it. There are plenty of articles about them, but we've read about those player types so much that we have it memorized. I've got three new types, and some of you at least have dealt with one or more of them.
Ever since I started playing D&D back in 1992, I've always marveled at its complexity and genius. Every great piece of inspiration has its flaws however, and D&D was no exception. I could look past them all, enjoying the game for all it was meant to be, but one thing always stuck in my mind: what the hell is a Halfling and why is it here?
Ahhh yes, another rant about Blizzard. Don't you love it? I start this off with one statement; Money Maps bite the big'un. How can you in all honesty say you're a melee-player, but have NEVER played something as simple as Lost Temple? This map is fairly much the Ladder world as it stands. . .and I've known people with 1000-25-0 records, all Easy Money. Of course, I challenge them to any map that doesn't have four hundred THOUSAND minerals per patch, and wipe the floor with them. Now I've played with great players, Random being one of them, if you know what I'm talking about, and I still don't understand how this works.
A very long time ago back in the mid 1980s I discovered role-playing. Not surprisingly the game that introduced me was Dungeons and Dragons. I was in my first few years of grade school, and although some of the concepts in the red boxed basic D&D set were difficult for my friends and I to puzzle out, there was still a giddy sense of fascination.
