...once a nerd...

I have played D&D since the late 70s and early 80s from the Basic set of Rules and then when our characters hit third level we went over to the Advanced D&D rules. Looking back on it, those were fun times because all we had were our imaginations and the story telling abilities of our Dungeon Master(DM). Back then I was a human rogue thief that was fueld by the books of Thieves World, edited by the great Robert Asprin.

I got into it through my older brother who basically got me into everything, he read fantasy and sience fiction and passed his books on to me to read so he could prep for his classes he was in so he did the same with his hobbies of which one was role playing games.

Anyway, I digress but Alec Lufkin (named after Alec Guinness) had worked his way through the Keep of the Borderlands (barely staying alive in those days) he was 4th level and we went on to run our own staories or try out new modules (adventures written for the DM to take their characters through) Now back then you could hack n slash through fighting or Role play your character for xp to advance. D&D sort of kind of got lost as it moved from TSR to Wizrads of the coast to Hasbro. I played 3rd edition and 3.5 but after 4th edition came out which was basically putting D&D into the world of World of Warcraft...it lost its flavor for me...

Until...5th edition came out in 2014, where they simplified the game and is way easier to play now and frankly allows everyone to role play a bit more which is what these games are for...Now I run games as well as play. When I run games I am in the Chums of Chance Guild of DMs where some of have called me "Giggles" because I giggle when I crit on a player. But when I play, I am now a walking 450lb Torle (HUge Snapping Turtle) named Oslo Shellweaver...6th level monk or a varient is a 11th level Barbarian.

The best games are when we are close to not making it out alive because we have to think on our feet and try to work our way out of a jam. Oslo recently found himself in a dungeon where he had to dive into a 10ft well and turn a wheel to open a drain for water to be let out of another room in the dungeon. In the room with the water, were Kelp Fields that when they attacked you had a chance of putting you into a condition of stunned - thats where you can see and are aware of things happening to you but you can not move in other words incapacitated. So in getting the drain to go down Oslo went into the attack of the Kelp Fiends only to be knocked prone and then to come within 2 death saves (this is where you are down to zero health points and he has to roll a dice to see if he saves or fails - every character gets 3 death saves - if he makes them (rolling a 10 or better on the three) he is stable and is just sitting there till he can get healed. If he fails, break out a new character and come up with a good backstory...cause you died-died! Do not pass go you can not be ressurected!

Anyway, Osloe got a save and with 5 hp of his 45 he attacked the kelp fiends and barely killed them to help save the party (he didnt do it by himself, he just did his part).

When I was a kid, if it got out you played, you were absolutely dubbed a "nerd" but now, as I got older and we started playing again (since 2012 this time around) the thing I love to see the most, are the girls and women enjoying this game. You have to understand, when we played it was just guys but now, both genders enjoy it and it lives and breathes with both girls and boys are playing and I fucking love that! And the girls are more cut throat and absolutley more dangerous than the boys and I have to be extra prepared to make sure I keep them engaged by both the adventure and the adventure in the story.

Some of my writing here is inspired by those games that I have ran, (Heir to the throne was a Savage worlds game that I ran and TPK'ed 4 players (TPK=total party kill)

Now as I'm older, I love being a nerd, I love coming up with my own stories and I love preparing games for players to have fun in...adventures to build their problem solving skills and to push their imaginations...but I digress...