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Last month, I expounded on some of the reasons I was interested in
trying the RPG genre. I expressed a hope and a plan to be able to report
on my first incursion into such by the time of this months column. I am
happy to report that, yes, I am able to so report.
One of the things Ive learned in life is that time spent in
research and shopping is well spent. The bitter aftertaste of poor quality lingers
far longer than the sweet aroma of a low price. Keeping that in mind, I
started looking around for RPG books. Since it is one of the oldest and
most established games, I set about looking into Dungeons and
Dragons. Granted, it is likely a matter of opinion whether it is "the best"
game or not, but it does have a distinct advantage of being well known,
readily available, and easy to find other players in. I found the Dungeon
Masters Guide and the Monster Manual for AD&D 3rd Edition at a local used
bookstore for $10 each. The Players Guide, though, was only available new.
In many ways, this might have been better anyway, since the new one did come
complete with the Character Creator Utility CD for the computer.
Last month, I mentioned the Usagi Yojimbo RPG that Chris and AJ had
bought for me. One reason I thought to try D&D first was a bit more
familiarity with the kinds of creatures and quests that the D&D type
Fantasy genre has. Usagi Yojimbo takes place in Feudal Japan, during
the Shogunate. Part of the game includes role playing the culture and
customs of this era. While this can be an interesting aspect of game
play, I thought it might add an extra level of confusion while trying
to learn the RPG game style. Rather than tackle too many things at once,
I opted for the KISS rule: "Keep It Simple, Stupid".
In preparing for the first game, I not only bought the
aforementioned books, but I also downloaded the simplistic
"sample" game from the D&D website. Even my wife thought this
sounded interesting, and since it accommodated up to 4 players plus the
Dungeon Master, we invited Chris and AJ over for dinner and a game on a
Friday night. I read over the sample game, which seemed rather simple even
for a novice like me to try running. When it came time to play, though, AJ
expressed a dislike for the "Prefabricated" characters that came with the
sample game. Having read over the materials, I really could not blame her.
Playing a character created by someone else, to their specifications, didnt
seem like the best way to enjoy the game. By general consensus, then,
we decided to create our own characters, and AJ would DM our first game for
us.
This is where that Character Creator CD came in quite handy. Since
there were three of us who had never played D&D before, but only two
experienced players, it worked out nicely to have AJ helping my wife create her
character while Chris helped my son with his. Meanwhile, I played with the
software and created my character on the computer. I still needed some
advice from the experienced players, but a lot of the "foundational" stuff was
automatic with the software. It was commented during this process that no
one ever wanted to play a gnome character. Well, that was almost like a
cue for me. Click. My character was now a gnome. Since brute force is not
something one would associate with a gnome, I selected "sorcerer" for my
character class. It seems simply logical to stand back and cast spells when youre
only three and a half feet tall (and skinny to boot), as opposed to risking
being squashed by attempting to melee the enemy. With some advice from
Chris and AJ, I selected the few spells my new level one gnome sorcerer
would know, and bought the equipment to begin his life of adventuring.
One part of character creation I hadnt anticipated, but found
enjoyable, was giving Hoomi, my character, his personality. A
character is more than just stats and skills. Role playing
meant giving him believable character traits, appropriate to him. Hoomi
really could not be just a mirror of me, since the traits that determined how I am are
nothing like his traits. The Character Creator Utility has a page wherein I
could list such things as personality quirks, phobias, etc. How would a 3 foot
6 inch tall gnome sorcerer react to the world? In the world of men and elves, he
would find himself constantly looked down on, in more ways than one. Hoomi,
then, is sensitive about his height, and has a "chip on his shoulder"
about proving his value does not correspond to his stature. Being a small person
wandering about a dangerous world, he has a phobia of large snakes. After
all, while the percentage of snakes that could swallow a grown man is relatively
small, the percentage that could swallow a full grown gnome is much larger.
It took a while for all of us to get our characters created, but
finally we were ready to play. I had my own set of dice already, while
Chris and AJ had brought extras that they could loan to my wife and son. We learned quickly
to not under-estimate the value of a good set of dice. The set that my son
borrowed from Chris seemed almost cursed, as so many of his rolls that evening
didnt go well at all. My son had created a large barbarian character. Our
first "battle" was against some marauding goblins, and he did OK against
them. Our second battle, though, was against the three ogres that had sent the
goblins against the town. In this battle, where it seemed that being a barbarian
would be a much better option than being a gnome sorcerer with only 4 hit
points, my son did not hit at all, and actually ended up laying nearly dead
on the ground. Chris character killed one ogre with a well placed arrow right
off the bat, and did decent damage to a second ogre before he, too, lay
wounded on the ground. Hoomi, with the dinky spells at his disposal, and
the limited number he could cast, actually did more damage than my sons barbarian.
Such is the whim of the dice. Likewise, my wifes bard character
accomplished more in the battle than the barbarian. Logically, Chris character
and my sons character, both "beefy" warriors, should have carried the battle with minor
back up from the bard and the sorcerer. It just goes to show that, when the
dice are rolled, there is really very little that can be called a
"sure thing". The next time, it could just as easily turn out the other
way, with the barbarian saving the day for all, while Hoomi lays waiting for healing.
We all walked away from the "campaign" with a nice sum of gold for
our efforts, and 550 EXP towards advancing to the next level. With that, we can
better prepare for the next campaign, and maybe get enough EXP to
hit level 2. That, hopefully, will be reported on in the next installment.
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