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Post by bestialwarlust on Jan 21, 2017 9:49:38 GMT -5
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Post by makofan on Jan 21, 2017 12:42:12 GMT -5
Enjoyed the interview. Mike's good nature comes across in a way it doesn't always in print. I agree with him that it is better for the players not your know too much of the mechanics.
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Post by Vile Traveller on Jan 21, 2017 20:26:32 GMT -5
The Bee Bee Cee, no less! So old school D&D is high-brow at last, eh?  |
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Post by bestialwarlust on Jan 21, 2017 22:40:44 GMT -5
I'm disappointed he didn't tell anyone to "GET OFF MY LAWN!" He was civil and well spoken how dare he give gaming a good image.  Now about that light saber you built did it work?  |
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Post by ripx187 on Jan 22, 2017 13:56:39 GMT -5
I already considered Gronan a celebrity. This was a nice interview, but far to short. Thanks for posting this!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2017 23:48:13 GMT -5
The lightsaber worked as well as the ones Lucasfilm made. Better, in fact, because the lighting and sound are built in.
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jan 27, 2017 11:47:07 GMT -5
I found out you are writing or supposed to be writing a book. How is it going?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2017 15:23:46 GMT -5
Slowly. I finished the first draft but sort of ran out of energy and interest.
The book is called "We made up some sh*t we thought would be fun." It's a collection of musings from my memories, centered around the de-mythologizing of the writing of OD&D.
I's my thoughts on how our wargaming shaped our expectations going into D&D, interspersed with humorous anecdotes from my gaming years. To wit:
UP IN THE AIR, JUNIOR BIRDMEN!
In Volume 1 of Original D&D, Gary wrote that “There is no reason that players cannot be allowed to play as virtually anything, provided they begin relatively weak and work up to the top.” I’ve noted that I played several Balrogs, and way back in the Introduction, I told the story of Sir Fang, the first Vampire player character.
Note, however, that Sir Fang was not the LAST Vampire player character.
One of the gang at the U of Minnesota wanted to play a vampire. This was LONG before vampires were sparkly, and, for that matter, long before they were Brad Pitt. A vampire was Christopher Lee or Bela Lugosi in tuxedo and opera cape, period.
In D&D, if you wanted to play anything, you ALWAYS started low level and worked your way up. D&D undead had a correlation between type and hit dice; a Skeleton was 1 HD, a Zombie 2, etc, up through Ghoul, Wight, Wraith, Mummy, Spectre, Vampire… so our would-be vampire started, of course, as a Skeleton. But at long last he became a vampire, and then, per the rules, proceeded to make a bunch of slaves by “putting the fangs to them.” Of course, those killed would rise with 1 HD also… as a Skeleton.
Eventually the vampire got a cohort of slave vampires and spectres following him. Hooray.
Well, one dark moonlit night our PC and his henchpires were out travelling somewhere and had a random encounter… another band of vampires. PC decides he’s going to eliminate the lead vampire of the other gang and take them all over; the NPC vampire had much the same idea. And the fight was on.
Vampire attacks Spectre. Vampire hits; Spectre is drained 2 levels; Spectre becomes a Wraith.
Wraith attacks a different enemy, a Spectre, because it’s easier to hit, and hits. But wraiths drain one level, not two, so the enemy Spectre is drained one level… and turns into a mummy.
Oh, by the way… both vampire gangs had been flying, and were fighting at an approximate altitude of 1000 feet above the ground. And mummies are notable for their aerodynamics – “notable” in the sense of, “They fly about as well as a dessicated human corpse that’s had its internal organs pulled out and then been wrapped in bandages.”
And the hapless mummy plummets earthward, flapping its arms madly.
I’m sure you can see where this is heading. The aerial duel continued in something rather like “Night of the Living Dead” meets “Blue Max,” and as the combatants were drained levels, they would eventually hit a non-flying form… zombie, ghoul, wight, or mummy… and go hurtling towards the ground in the grip of that puissant incantation, “9.8 meters per second squared”.
I picture the peasants below, huddling in their wretched huts and praying as hard as they can as various half-decomposed bodies fall out of the sky to land with meaty thumps. On the other hand, all that organic material would be great fertilizer.
I’ve never needed rules for “comic relief” in D&D. Wait patiently and the players will provide it in abundance.
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jan 30, 2017 16:28:38 GMT -5
What great fun! How long have you been working on this? Do you have an editor? Why did you lose interest? Energy I can understand, you being so old, decrepit and all; but interest, that should be the last thing to go! Stir yourself up and do the second draft and put in all of the things you forgot the first time through. We can't buy it, if you don't publish it! |
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Post by The Bear Hawk on Jan 30, 2017 18:50:08 GMT -5
What great fun! How long have you been working on this? Do you have an editor? Why did you lose interest? Energy I can understand, you being so old, decrepit and all; but interest, that should be the last thing to go! Stir yourself up and do the second draft and put in all of the things you forgot the first time through. We can't buy it, if you don't publish it! @gronanofsimmerya, I am with Darci, stir yourself up and get going! What can we do to motivate you? |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2017 0:34:47 GMT -5
Energy I can understand, you being so old, decrepit and all; Not too old to turn you over my knee, young lady! |
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Post by Samson and Solomon on Jan 31, 2017 19:46:53 GMT -5
Energy I can understand, you being so old, decrepit and all; Not too old to turn you over my knee, young lady! Our money would be on Darci, even if Gronan were our age (23), we would not bet against Darci. |
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Post by Mighty Darci on Feb 3, 2017 16:12:59 GMT -5
Not too old to turn you over my knee, young lady! Our money would be on Darci, even if Gronan were our age (23), we would not bet against Darci. Wise decision! |
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Post by The Archivist on Feb 3, 2017 17:06:12 GMT -5
Energy I can understand, you being so old, decrepit and all; Not too old to turn you over my knee, young lady! Finishing the book is a great idea, the delusions of being young, not so much.  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2017 17:08:36 GMT -5
Not too old to turn you over my knee, young lady! Finishing the book is a great idea, the delusions of being young, not so much. Beat me too it! |
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