Introduction

The Big Bang

The moment that Beorn "Bear-Bombed" the Orc infantry from Gundabad...that was the moment the RPG blog seed, planted within me long ago by the members of the OSR and RPGAlliance, sprouted into something more.

Why that moment? Well, because "Bear Bombing" had happened years before, with my friends and I sitting around a table.

When we all saw that (entirely CGI) scene at the end of Peter Jackson's third Hobbit installment, we couldn't help but laugh in shock: somehow our boyish creativity from years ago had made the same connections that our own personal heroes were making now through the big screen.

This brought back other memories. Memories of times that I saw myself and my creativity in the creativity of others in the nerd industry.

Like the time I designed a better D&D, only to see it released as "D&D 5th Edition" a year later.

(I kid, of course...though there were striking similarities....)

All in all, I was convinced that my creative voice needed to be heard, and by more than just my friend Max's begrudging ears.

So here we are.

My Credentials

I have decided to put them all in a list, from most important to least, for your convenience and mine:

  1. In terms of years, I have played tabletop RPGs longer than I haven't played tabletop RPGs
  2. In terms of minutes, #1 isn't true, but it's probably close...
  3. I have designed something like two dozen RPG systems over the last eight years
  4. Of those two dozen, I finished about ten
  5. Of those ten, I'd say seven were good
  6. Okay, more like four...
  7. I have never published any tabletop RPGs that received poor reviews
  8. I have never published any tabletop RPGs, reviewed or otherwise
  9. But I might! (No promises)
  10. I own two (2) cats
  11. I have DM'd/GM'd for my gaming group the majority of the time we have played
  12. That being said, I have played extensively too
  13. I have read all of THIS (and so should you)
  14. I have run a complete campaign at least once
  15. I have never named an imaginary tavern or drinking establishment in such a way that there was no alliteration
  16. I own more than ten RPG books
  17. I have had a girlfriend, though never more than one at the same time
  18. I played in the infamous "Nick's Campaign" (References: to follow)
  19. I am an aspiring writer
  20. I am also an aspiring human
  21. I have had hangover-like symptoms solely from ingesting Mountain Dew and Doritos
  22. I was born before the year 2000 (A.D.)
  23. I own all three extended special editions of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy
  24. I have played a monk
  25. ...it was alright, I guess...
  26. I was once convinced that I was immune to explosive runes because my character was illiterate
  27. I never drink and drive
  28. I have played a dwarf
  29. I have had an arch-nemesis in a gnome named Fives Mcgee
  30. I'm kind enough to stop this nonsense at thirty entries
Post-Script

P.S. If you have read this far, then you must enjoy tabletop RPGs, or my writing, or both. Either way, I thank you, and hope that you find my other posts, which mostly focus on game design and running games, helpful in some way. If you haven't read this far, than these words are all just a mental cadence, hanging in the unconscious, vibrating enormity of space-time, I suppose.

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