Pen and paper RPGs are necessarily creative. As a player, you bring a character life – giving it a name, a personality, a back story. You are also imagining the events of the game – the flow of a battle, the atmosphere of a tavern. As a Dungeon Master, you are doing all that as well as crafting a story and building a world. In case of my gaming group, there is also a ridiculous (disturbing?) amount creativity put into dick jokes. All this creative activity is bound to spill out of the realm of playing RPGs.

It certainly has for me. For starters, I created this blog which is absolutely a direct result of playing games. My enthusiasm for gaming drove me to express myself. I’ve written almost 30 posts (not so much lately unfortunately) including stories about the characters I’ve played in the regular Swords & Wizardry game I play in. My last post was one such story. This is something I never would have thought I’d do before getting into this stuff. I’ve always felt character stories were silly, a little self-serving, and bit too much like writing fan fic. But, I had fun with it, so I’ve got learn not to judge until I’ve tried it myself.  I started painting minis after going to a workshop at Rincon. I’ve found the hobby to be extraordinarily relaxing and creatively rewarding for me.

Finally, my big creative project, the one that has been most rewarding for me,  is a short story. It’s not related to gaming, but it came about because of gaming. Really, it came about because of the people I game with. I’m fortunate to game with a group of very creative people. Our DM, Paul Fini, runs his own RPG blog, The Warlock’s Home Brew, publishes game modules and aids, is an accomplished artist, and has published several comics through Indie Only Comics. Many of the other players are artists and have blogs themselves. Check out: Gedleesmote’s Grumblings, Rambles of a Lost Viking, Never Crit, Rebirth of Classic Comic Art!, and Boom Culture. Being around all these creative folks is inspiring.

That last blog, Boom Culture, is put out by Max. He is a researcher studying video games and distance learning in education (I know. How cool is that?). He wrote a short story last summer and sent it out to the group. I thought it was great and felt maybe I should try writing something. I haven’t written fiction in a while. I always had ideas, but never the follow through.  Around the same time, several of the guys came up with an idea to put out a pulp magazine called Tales of High Adventure in the style of the old pulp magazines of the ’30s and ’40s like Weird Tales and Amazing Stories. The first issue just came out. Check out Indie Only Comics for details.

This set things in motion for me. I had the inspiration and creative energy. I had a goal to shoot for: write a story that could by published in this new pulp magazine. Also, I had a style, the pulp adventure style, that I found very easy to come with ideas and fun to write. So, I set out to write a story. I decided on a pulp sci-fi story in the vein of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers with some influences from Doctor Who and Alan Moore’s Tom Strong.  Honestly, when I started, I didn’t think it’d be good enough to actually get published. It was just a goal to shoot for and motivation to actually finish. It took me months to write it, but I finally finished the first draft of Doctor Galactic at the Edge of the Universe in “The Creeping Invaders”. I had a hell of a lot of fun writing it. I submitted it and they liked it. After some great editing work (thanks Paul!), the second draft should be close to being ready to be included the second issue of Tales of High Adventure. Exciting stuff. Once it gets close to coming out, I’ll post a preview of the story here.

To add further to all this creative energy, my good friend has started a web comic. Check out Detective Agency. He’s off to great start, so check it out.

That’s all for now. Hopefully, I’ll be able to post more often. If only I had more time to devote to my creative projects . . .

I am plan to run a beginner’s D&D session using the new Red Box on Saturday at 2pm. I want to run a game that is very new player friendly.  Take people through the basics of the game.  I might even try to do a limited character creation session if I can figure it out.

I hope to try out games I’ve never played.  I’d like to try Mutants and Masterminds or the new DC Adventures RPG based on M&M.  I’d like to play some board games.  Castle Ravenloft looks fun.  I’m already signed up for a game of Battlestar Galactica at 10pm (which is late for a father of two like me) since I here good things about that game. I wouldn’t mind trying a miniatures game since I’ve never really played one. Wings of War looks cool.

I’m also planning on volunteering at the con.  I want to give back a little.  Also, I think it will be a great way to meet people.  You get RinCoins for volunteering which can be redeemed for games or used as credits with the vendors there.  I’m always up for some swag.

So, come on down to the Tucson Convention Center 10/8 through 10/10.  The con is bigger this year.  Wil Wheaton will be in attendance again as well some great game designers and writers.  There will loads of games to play.  And if you’ve never played anything before, this is a great place to start.

First, an overview: Wil Wheaton came up with this idea to run dungeon delves (short dungeon crawls that last around 2 to 3 hours) for charity.  He ran the first two delves at Rincon ’09, one on Friday and Sunday.  Five people participated in each delve.  It was a $50 donation to play.  Players had to show up at the registration desk when the con opened to sign up for the Delve.

Dungeon Master Wil Wheaton

When I first read Wil’s announcement on his blog, I thought, “I’d love to do this.”  My first hurdle was what my friends and I call the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor).  Now, up until this point, my wife has been accepting of this new Dungeons & Dragons hobby of mine.  Actually, besides some good-natured ribbing, she has been very supportive.  But, I was worried I was pushing the limit because I was already planning on spending much of the weekend at the con while she was at home, pregnant and watching our 18 month old daughter.  So, I didn’t know what to expect when I told her I wanted to spend $50 to play Dungeons & Dragons with the guy who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek.  When I told her what I wanted to do, her response: “Oh my gosh!  I used to have the biggest crush on him!”  She didn’t have a problem with it.

My second hurdle was to actually get into the delve.  I knew I had to get there early to get a slot.  To complicate things, I had a 11 am dentist appointment to finish up a root canal.    The procedure ended earlier than I thought and after a quick (but, carefully eaten) lunch, I got to the con a little after 1pm to try to secure a spot.  I was the ninth person in line and got into the Sunday delve.  It’s funny because if not for that root canal I probably wouldn’t have gotten there early enough to get into the delve.  I’m chalking it up to some cosmic karmic balance thing.

On to the delve.  I get to the table a little early.  A couple of players are already there and Wil is setting things up.  First, I had to pick my character from the pregenerated characters.  Every character was a Dwarf.  This the first of several good tips  for running a delve that I picked up from this experience.  Since this was a dungeon delve at a convention, the time constraint, combat heavy orientation, and players unfamiliar with each other can make role play difficult.  Since every character is a dwarf, it opened up some easy RP opportunities.  I chose a warlock because that was the class I was most familiar with of the ones remaining and named him Darbin Darkboot.

I also perused our generous gift bag.  From Wizards of the Coast we received the Player’s Handbook 2 and Monster Manual 2 (neither of which I had) as well as the mini we used.  From Gamestation dot Net, we received a set of dice, the D6 was engraved with “W2D2 Rincon ’09″ to commemorate the event.  Wil had also gotten a set of crayons for each of us because the numbers on the dice weren’t colored in.  From what I’m told, in the old days, you old-timers had to color in your own dice with crayons.  I’m also told you tied onions to your belts, as it was style of time.  I was already excited to just be in the delve and contribute to a great charity.  The nice gifts were more than I expected.

Then, we dove into the game.  We were all members of the Swackhammer clan.  We found ourselves at the Adventure Hook inn.  The problem: We had drank our way through all the ale.  So, we needed to raid a dungeon in order to free up the supply.  (Or something like that. My memory fails me a little on this point.)  This was the second good tip I picked up for a delve.  Using a simple and fun adventure hook like dwarves questing to get more beer opens up RP possibilities.  There were several funny jokes and character moments that came out of it.

The first encounter was a tense, close quarters battle with some skeletons and ghouls.  I had some trouble getting away from monsters to fire off eldritch blasts.  The second encounter involved some  zombies who dispensed cold damage which prompted one of the players to comment, “If we kill these zombies and take them back to the pub we could have cold ale all the time!” +2 to his next attack.  The third encounter was the finale.   It took place in a large room with brazier traps.  The Big Bad was an evil necromancer brought to life by Wil’s  appropriately evil cackling whenever the necromancer spoke.   There were even a few references to Jim Darkmagic in there.   The necromancer was protected by a huge zombie hulk.  My warlock dealt a devastating blow with a fire damage daily power.  You see the effects of that blast here:

Wil describes a devastating blow against the zombie hulk.

In the end, the Swackhammer clan defeated the necromancer and got back to what dwarves do best: drinking.

All in all, it was a great time and Wil really hit on a great idea with this charity delve thing. I am sure he will continue to do at future cons if possible.  Mr. Wheaton is every bit the cool, gracious, and funny geek that he comes across as in his blog and podcasts.  He’s a helluva DM as well.

This really was the perfect end to my first ever gaming convention.

Bonus
Here are the stats for the magical item Wil Wheaton was wearing:

But, what do I know? I’m new to all this. Well, don’t take my word for it. Listen to these fine folks talk about how awesome RinCon was. Or read about how awesome Berin Kinsman, father figure of RPG bloggers, thought it was and what the plans are for next year here. Or read about what this guy named Wil Wheaton thought about RinCon at his website.

That’s right. Wil Wheaton was in attendence. Not only that, but he held the first ever Wil Wheaton Dwarven Dungeon Delves Doom! And I was lucky enough to play in Wil’s second delve on Sunday of the con. I plan to write up the experience and post it soon. So, more on that later.

I had several goals I wanted to accomplish at the con. First, I wanted to broaden my gaming horizons. Prior to the con, I’d only played various versions of D&D (Swords & Wizardry, 3.5, 4th), so I wanted to try something different.

On Friday, I played in a game of the Star Wars RPG: Saga Edition. I really had a great time. We had a good group. (And I have to say, throughout the whole convention, everyone was friendly, welcoming, and generally just cool.) The GM ran a good game with an interesting story. We barely made it through our first battle against incoming fighters in an asteroid field. I found the mechanics for operating the ship in battle was interesting. Everyone had something to do and the combat was really exciting. It was interesting to play an RPG in a setting other than fantasy.

My second goal was to play some board games. On Saturday, I played a new, not-yet-released game called Terra Prime run by the designer. I was drawn in by the space exploration theme. It was an interesting and rather complex game. It translates many aspects of a 4x computer game to a board game. It was almost a little too complex for my tastes. I think I’d have to play it again to really sink my teeth into it. I also played Ticket to Ride or the first time. I really enjoyed it. I like games with simple rules and complex strategies and Ticket to Ride fits that bill.

My third goal was set when I learned about Wil Wheaton’s plans for the dungeon delve. I wanted to play in it. Well, as I’ve already said, I did and I’ll be writing about it soon.

RinCon ’09 was truly a great experience. I couldn’t have asked for a better first con. I played some great games and met some great people. If you are a new gamer, I highly recommend going to a local gaming convention. It’s a great way to broaden your horizons and start to become a member of the community.

My goals for RinCon ’10: 1) become a volunteer at the con, 2) run a game as a GM, and 3) play Dungeon & Dragons with another, slightly obscure, former Star Trek cast member. I’m thinking maybe Levar Burton.

Thus, I am writing a blog.

I’m lucky to live in Tucson which has a vibrant gaming community.  Thanks to this community and specifically Southern Arizona Gamers Association (SAGA), I have played some great games, made new friends, and had some wonderful experiences.  I attended the world’s first gamemaster’s conference.  At Rincon ’09, I played in Wil Wheaton’s 2009 Dwarven Dungeon Delve of Doom among other great experiences.  I’ve played in several great home games.  All of which, I’ll be writing about in this blog.

Now, I am fully aware that a few months of gaming means I cannot speak authoritatively on the subject of RPG’s in any way.  I absolutely do not intend to try.  I’ve just scratched the surface on all this stuff.  So, this blog will mainly focus on my experiences getting into the hobby.  Any advice or tips will be directed more to new gamers like me.  Any reviews will be firmly from the perspective of someone new to the hobby.  Hopefully, this will be an interesting perspective to new gamers and seasoned gamers alike.

Thanks for checking out my blog.  There’s more to come.