|
Post by mao on Jul 21, 2021 4:06:44 GMT -5
I was 17 in South NJ in the fall or winter of 1977/78. I was dipping my toes into adventure gaming. I had started buying a very low circulation wargame Magazine , Wargame Digest> In it was an ad for a gaming group in a near by town.I gave them a call and was invited to their games. Nevin was the soul of the group and his brother in law was the sort of leader, although I'm not that sure of who actually decided what to play that week. The games were held upstairs in the brother in laws house. It was a large room w a large table and shelves lined w Tanks, WW 1 and 2 ships and Civil War soldiers, I think that was the only games they were playing. The first 3 weeks or so me and a friend played WW2 miniatures(In a side note I am TERRIBLE at WW2 land battles, I doubt I have ever won a game ., contrasted by the fact that I nearly never lose when playing any kind of ships, any era). On the 4th week we played D&D(OD&D , Grayhawk and a few house rules).
The group was large with about 12 people total, including 3 or 4 married couples. I rolled up 3 characters, A male Mormon cleric and his 2 wives, a very forgettable thief and a fighter named Bertha Battleaxe. I picked the battle axe because I had incorrectly guessed that 2 handed battle axes did more damage. I loved Bertha best. I created a huge scandal playing female characters. even the wive's had male characters. The idea is that the wive's would give all their money to the cleric.We begain the adventure in Nevin's mega dungeon, Spear Mountain.
Nevin was an extremely lawful person and nothing reflected it more than his dming style. He took an extremely dim view of non lawful acts, and we got along very well as player and DM. Spear Mt. was a huge huge cavern w a ruined Dwaven city, it was actually open air not confined like most dungeons. From the very beginning of my Rping , I was a star. Bertha got double the experience of any other character.
(to be continues)
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 21, 2021 7:27:23 GMT -5
The adventure was set in the giant cavern. Thee notable events were: On the way 3 different people sent notes to me(thief) that they wanted me to kill the pc "Killer" in his sleep.I said "no despite higher and higher gold offers. The players was one of the top 10 weirdo's I have met gaming. WE entered the distortion field that surrounded Spear Mt. We entered through a cave that contained a hostel bear. We opened a chest that had a dead orc in it. It made all the regulars laff, as they remembered that they were the ones that put it there. The Highlight was a battle w a troll as it ran around a pillar after a 5th ish paladin(with holy sword) and Bertha chased after the troll(this is where most of my experience as I ended up doing the lion's share of the damage). the funnieast thing that stands out to me, is that I liked Miniatures far more than I liked D&D. The next notable highlight was my first time dming.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 21, 2021 7:50:55 GMT -5
About a month later(after 2 more D&D games) I unveiled my new dungeon to Nevin and more of his players I didn't know. I was about 17 and they were all late 20s to early 30s. I was such a hit hit w my "Music Dungeon" that they all called their wives to stay 2 more hours, nobody left. I was extremely pleased. I hope Nevin realized what a great teacher he had been.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 21, 2021 8:03:33 GMT -5
WE played WW2 a lot and very little D&D maybe only 2 RPG games in the year. The brother in law was starting to flake out and be as late as 2 hours to his own house. the group dwindled and the games became less frequent. It was a bad year. I started going over to Nevins house about once a month to play video games or small WW2 infantry battles(no tanks so I did better). I discovered that Nevin had letters posted in at least 4 gaming magazines that I know of. My friend ,Bob , just recently discovered a letter in Space Gamer that I didn't know about.One of the notable video games we played was a rip off of Battlestar Galactica. I always played the good guys and since it was a ship game, I always won. The reason I am telling this anecdote is that the game was played w a card board screen in the middle of the video so you could not see things that you were not close enuff between the ships.
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Jul 21, 2021 8:16:08 GMT -5
Great thread and tribute, have an exalt!
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 21, 2021 8:21:36 GMT -5
Great thread and tribute, have an exalt! He was xtremely important to me in severl ways and I am really happy w your words
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 21, 2021 8:49:03 GMT -5
We drifted apart until I turned 20 or so. . I was very busy w my brand new Mysantia game and my first serious girlfriend but somehow I made time. WE started playing Ancients and had a blast, only the 2 of us. This was the time of my life when we were the closest, he became more than my gaming mentor, he became a friend and a close political ally.He went to collage at an older age and we lost touch.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 21, 2021 8:53:43 GMT -5
We drifted apart until I turned 20 or so. . I was very busy w my brand new Mysantia game and my first serious girlfriend but somehow I made time. WE started playing Ancients and had a blast, only the 2 of us. This was the time of my life when we were the closest, he became more than my gaming mentor, he became a friend and a close political ally.He went to collage at an older age and so did I and we lost touch.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 21, 2021 9:09:33 GMT -5
When we both came back we got back in touch again and played a lot of Ancients and WW2 small skirmishes. It was the fall/winter 85/86. and it was the most eventful time of my life. I was chasing women hard(I fell in love at first sight w my currant wife) My beloved grandfather died, I had broken up w my prior girl fried of 7ish years and then there was Nevin. We started playing D&D with a small group in Nevin's game room for about 2 months regular. I was the manager of a shoe store and Nevein came in to see me. He was in his wheelchair. He came into the store because about 2 months prior I stopped showing up for the D&D game and was chasing women even harder.That was the last time I saw him alive. He died of his leukemia about 3 weeks later. One of the D&D players came in and told me about the wake. A few of his close friends were there. I did ok but the only thing I wanted of his possessions was I wanted Spear MT. to run.His mother had destroyed it accidentally the week before. I went outside and cried. They had found his will and I was bequeathed his dming miniatures because , quote" " I needed some decently painted miniatures." When that got read and we all laughed hard. This what I choose to remember about the wake.
(to be concluded)
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 22, 2021 1:47:35 GMT -5
Writing this has been far harder than I realized. and made me so emotional , I cried on my wife shoulder. I was going to sum everything up but I am not going to do that now. I am going to post every scrap of memory I have about him and maybe go into more details about above anecdotes.AS I said my grandfather died around the same time. He was always my fav relative when I was young, I loved him very much. About a week before he died I drove him to church and realized he had very little of himself left. I said good bye to him for the last time as he just didn't know he was gone. I am far more emotional about Nevin's death. I have no idea how old he was when he died, prob around 35-40, my grandfather was 82. It's not fair. I am going to leave this now with this thought. People we love can easily die young, it is far harder when this happens. I have a LOT of regrets when it comes to Nevin. Don't let someone go without righting all the wrongs.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 22, 2021 2:22:37 GMT -5
Some thoughts and notes about the scandal of my first game
As I said, it was 1977 and it was a different time. The 4 wives at the table had male characters. Nobody had ever seen anyone play a female character, let alone 2. Nevin had to come to me after the game and tell me about the scandal I created. Nobody said a word to me when we were playing about it, yet now when I think about it , they kinda ignored me.I wonder if this is why I didn't get more out of the game. The biggest interaction I had with the party was them trying to get me to kill "Killer" in his sleep. I don't think I even saved the character sheets for another session and none of them made it to second. I also didn't understand the whole idea of the fact that most of the other players were a lot higher level than my novices and they were that much more powerful. I also didn't understand why the paladin was running from the troll and I had to run and follow. How could anyone not be brave? Now I admit I have more dead characters than the average RPer because I am very brave but I really puzzled over why was he running.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 22, 2021 4:17:14 GMT -5
Some thoughts on Spear Mt. For it's time Spear Mt. had some really good ideas behind it that I have never seen elsewhere. The distortion field was very cool. I loved that it decided what entrance you were at. The field did not extend into the dungeon, might have been a better take. The other thing I loved about it, was that it was "open air" I think I saw one other dungeon commercially but memory is fuzzy(Judges Guild) AS I have been sequester away from the gaming community , I'm sure other peeps had used both, as I told hengest, there are almost no new ideas.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jul 22, 2021 9:54:39 GMT -5
Some thoughts and notes about the scandal of my first game As I said, it was 1977 and it was a different time. The 4 wives at the table had male characters. Nobody had ever seen anyone play a female character, let alone 2. Nevin had to come to me after the game and tell me about the scandal I created. Nobody said a word to me when we were playing about it, yet now when I think about it , they kinda ignored me.I wonder if this is why I didn't get more out of the game. The biggest interaction I had with the party was them trying to get me to kill "Killer" in his sleep. I don't think I even saved the character sheets for another session and none of them made it to second. I also didn't understand the whole idea of the fact that most of the other players were a lot higher level than my novices and they were that much more powerful. I also didn't understand why the paladin was running from the troll and I had to run and follow. How could anyone not be brave? Now I admit I have more dead characters than the average RPer because I am very brave but I really puzzled over why was he running. I think I understand where the group was coming from. I started in 1975 and the whole four years I played in college, the only guy that ran a female character was the referee (who runs all NPCs) running the female NPCs. However, where we differed is that the women (50% of the group) always ran female characters and never ran a male character. Now post 2000 I have had guys run female characters and women run male characters and though I never remark on it or penalize them in anyway, I always find it odd and wonder why anyone would do that. As to the Paladin running from the troll, it depends on the level of the Paladin. If the Paladin is running and leaving someone else to fight, then loss of Paladinhood, if the Paladin is running but is high enough level to be at least even with a troll and there is no pressing reason not to fight, then possible loss of Paladinhood depending on all the circumstances, if everyone is running because either the party is not strong enough to fight a troll or because they have other valid reasons then probably OK. But a Paladin can never run while others are engaged with monsters. I always played (in OD&D where character creation is quick and you can get back into the game) my fighters as the last to retreat, I was rear guard man. But when playing in games where character creation is long and you can't get back into the game until the next session, then you really avoid risk. But I like playing the first way better.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 27, 2021 4:27:22 GMT -5
I was hoping that I would dredge up a bunch of good memories to post.What I didn't think that I would make myself cry. WILL come back to this.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jul 27, 2021 9:20:50 GMT -5
I was hoping that I would dredge up a bunch of good memories to post.What I didn't think that I would make myself cry. WILL come back to this. That is often the case with memories of those who are gone, that you really and truly miss, that you knew well enough to really and truly miss.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 27, 2021 9:21:56 GMT -5
Yea, sorry to dredge thaat up for you.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jul 27, 2021 9:37:23 GMT -5
Yea, sorry to dredge thaat up for you. Not a problem I was just giving you some perspective about it.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 27, 2021 9:42:03 GMT -5
Yea, sorry to dredge thaat up for you. Not a problem I was just giving you some perspective about it. BTW At one point there were 53 peeps on w us
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Jul 27, 2021 10:19:32 GMT -5
53 in that campaign?? At different sessions? That's awesome.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jul 27, 2021 10:46:20 GMT -5
53 in that campaign?? At different sessions? That's awesome. I think he meant guests viewing the subforum where this thread is.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 27, 2021 10:59:15 GMT -5
53 in that campaign?? At different sessions? That's awesome. I think he meant guests viewing the subforum where this thread is. Yes , yes I did.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 28, 2021 2:50:22 GMT -5
For those of you who don't know, "Filk" music is sung in a folk way but deals about fantasy or Sci Fi. Apparently when Nevin was younger( in better health too, I think) he attended at least a few Sci Fi Cons. He had old reel to reel tapes(The thing that made me suspect that he was a little older than he looked) of some filk stuff 2 made a big enuf impression that I had him play them a few times so I inadvertently memorized them. The first is "Attila the Hun"(sung to the tune of Micky Mouse)(unfortunately that is Very politically incorrect so I can't share.) .The second was "The Whale Song", although it is a tad politically incorrect, it is anti-whaling and def pro whale, So I will share. Sung to the tune of Helen Reddie's "I am Woman">
"I am Whale watch me dive" "as I I try to stay alive" and I know not to go back to Jap-a-a-an.
"I am blue and gray and white," "I only surface late at night" " 'cause I don't wanna end up in dog food can.'
" Oh yes I am Whale and I have a tale to tell'" " They harpoon me and they chop me up and ship me in the mail."
"I am Blow Hole, I am Ambergris," " I am Wh-a-a-al" " I am Wh-a-a-a-al" " I am Wha-a-a-a-a-aL"
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jul 28, 2021 10:23:35 GMT -5
Another thing about Paladins from above. It is IMO rare for someone to play a paladin correctly. I remember years ago reading a thread on paladins on ENWorld and about 50 people chimed in and most of them, in my game, would have been stripped of their paladin powers for evil and chaotic play.
Also most people do not play brave, most people play focused on self-preservation first and the group second. A really good group has a lot of team players that are fiercely protective of each other IMO.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jul 28, 2021 10:26:06 GMT -5
For those of you who don't know, "Filk" music is sung in a folk way but deals about fantasy or Sci Fi. Apparently when Nevin was younger( in better health too, I think) he attended at least a few Sci Fi Cons. He had old reel to reel tapes(The thing that made me suspect that he was a little older than he looked) of some filk stuff 2 made a big enuf impression that I had him play them a few times so I inadvertently memorized them. The first is "Attila the Hun"(sung to the tune of Micky Mouse)(unfortunately that is Very politically incorrect so I can't share.) .The second was "The Whale Song", although it is a tad politically incorrect, it is anti-whaling and def pro whale, So I will share. Sung to the tune of Helen Reddie's "I am Woman"> "I am Whale watch me dive" "as I I try to stay alive" and I know not to go back to Jap-a-a-an. "I am blue and gray and white," "I only surface late at night" " 'cause I don't wanna end up in dog food can.' " Oh yes I am Whale and I have a tale to tell'" " They harpoon me and they chop me up and ship me in the mail." "I am Blow Hole, I am Ambergris," " I am Wh-a-a-al" " I am Wh-a-a-a-al" " I am Wha-a-a-a-a-aL" I love filk songs, I loved them back when I did not know they were called filk, and were just novelty songs.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jul 28, 2021 10:36:57 GMT -5
Side note, my dad and his siblings wrote a filk song back when they were teens in central WV in the early 40s. Sadly it has been mostly lost, but it was written about one of their friends to the tune of The Wreck Of The Old 97. (which itself is the tune of an older ballad "The Ship That Never Returned") They wrong it about a friend who nickname was Bulldog. Instead of scalded to death on the steam, he choked to death on a biscuit and if I recall correctly concerned his Model T. He had a Ford, but I never knew if it was really a Model T at the late date.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 28, 2021 10:37:02 GMT -5
Another thing about Paladins from above. It is IMO rare for someone to play a paladin correctly. I remember years ago reading a thread on paladins on ENWorld and about 50 people chimed in and most of them, in my game, would have been stripped of their paladin powers for evil and chaotic play. Also most people do not play brave, most people play focused on self-preservation first and the group second. A really good group has a lot of team players that are fiercely protective of each other IMO. This is another thing I never see, fighter types who are not brave. Now my combats can be brutal but my players were always brave. I have a tournment story about being given char who was not. My wife says every char I play is Capt. America and all the Villains are The Red Skull.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jul 28, 2021 10:40:58 GMT -5
Another thing about Paladins from above. It is IMO rare for someone to play a paladin correctly. I remember years ago reading a thread on paladins on ENWorld and about 50 people chimed in and most of them, in my game, would have been stripped of their paladin powers for evil and chaotic play. Also most people do not play brave, most people play focused on self-preservation first and the group second. A really good group has a lot of team players that are fiercely protective of each other IMO. This is another thing I never see, fighter types who are not brave. Now my combats can be brutal but my players were always brave. I have a tournment story about being given char who was not. My wife says every char I play is Capt. America and all the Villains are The Red Skull. Yeah, my characters are pretty much Captain America in an old school game and even the 5E game I am playing in that is pretty much how I play and I do have a paladin in that game. Who currently is at 3 HP and if he survives the orog in is fighting (after killing an ettin) he gets to face a huge troll.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 29, 2021 7:37:10 GMT -5
THE TIME HIS CAR GOT TRASHED
I don't know a lot about this but it is a good statement that things might not be as diff at collages today as they were then.about About 1983
As you know , Nevin was primaraly a wargamer he put up flyers to get peeps interested in getting into wargaming, it was not about D&D , it wasn't even mentioned. He got zero interests but peeps took down his flyer's and covered his car w them as well as destroying the car and spray painting "Nazi" all over it and death threats. A mutual friend who attended school with him, told me the flyer was just very awful, I hadn't seen it. About a year later he showed me the flyer. It had a great big tank on it in silhouette. That and a brief idea of what a wargame was, that's it.
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jul 29, 2021 9:03:27 GMT -5
THE TIME HIS CAR GOT TRASHED I don't know a lot about this but it is a good statement that things might not be as diff at collages today as they were then.about About 1983 As you know , Nevin was primaraly a wargamer he put up flyers to get peeps interested in getting into wargaming, it was not about D&D , it wasn't even mentioned. He got zero interests but peeps took down his flyer's and covered his car w them as well as destroying the car and spray painting "Nazi" all over it and death threats. A mutual friend who attended school with him, told me the flyer was just very awful, I hadn't seen it. About a year later he showed me the flyer. It had a great big tank on it in silhouette. That and a brief idea of what a wargame was, that's it. Wow, talk about assumptions and jumping to extreme conclusions.
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jul 29, 2021 16:08:06 GMT -5
THE STORY OF BALTIMORE CHUCK
Long before I met Nevin he had attended an Origins in Baltimore. There he had the unfortunate problem of meeting Baltimore Chuck. They enter a Miniature tourney against him(Tratics, WW2) You see according to the ref Baltimore Chuck never lost a game. According to the ref,Baltimore Chuck was his DM and mentor. According to the ref, Baltimore Chuck had parted the Red Sea. They began playing and Nev was US and Chuck was German. The started and right at the end of the game Baltimore Chuck ran a German 88 Cannon across the table unhooked it and took 3 shots"20'20'automatic hit".His team won the game cause they had one tank in the target area surrounded by 7 tanks 3 at guns and a cannon.. Yea . he won.
|
|