D&D Original Edition Premium Box Set!

I must have pre-ordered this about a year ago from Amazon.  :)

It finally arrived today!

The box is very nice.  The laser etching is well done.  Great dice.  I'm excited to read the booklets!

Here are some pics!

The wood is light, but sturdy.

You can use the ribbon to lift the books out of the box.

The interior of the lid has this framed/recessed art piece.  Very cool.

It took awhile to get here, but I'm glad I bought it.

Day 6: First Character Death

I hate to admit it, but I don't know that I've ever had a D&D character die.

Campaigns have died, stalled, ended abruptly -- leaving characters in limbo -- but I don't think they've ever died.

I did have a Champions character die once.  It was PERFECT for the story and he died heroically, so I didn't mind a bit.

If player choices led to the death of the character -- good or bad -- and the player knows they had some autonomy, then character death is something most players can deal with.

-=-=-=-=-

At the risk of angering a dear friend, I will tell the story of the death of a noble cavalier-paladin.

Sir Neville Trollbane (played by my friend GZ), a cavalier-paladin (this was right after Unearthed Arcana came out) was a TANK.  Nothing could stop this guy.  He had awesome stats, field plate armor, magical weapons, loads of HPs, etc.  Amazing character!  

My monk, Robyn and Neville were adventuring companions.  I was forever in his shadow.  When I was dealing 1d6 damage with my staff, Neville was dealing out 2d4+6 with his magical bastard sword.  My AC was something like 6.  His was -2.

You get the idea.

Anyway, we were sent on a quest to retrieve a magical item for another paladin.  I had promised to retrieve this magical sword...

Oh wait!  ROBYN DIED!  I handled it fine.  :)  A noble paladin of my order raised me from the dead.  I got enough experience from the event to make 2nd level!!  :)

...because he had raised me from the dead.  There was this magical room in the bowels of "Bellicose Keep" (JD's megadungeon) that would allow you to take any one item of any kind, BUT ONLY ONCE!  It was called the "Chamber of Want" or something like that.

The paladin couldn't go in after this sword because he had used up his one and only entrance into the chamber to retrieve some "realm saving" magic item a decade or so earlier.  

First you had to find it, then you had to fight your way through a maze and there were puzzles too...

Anyhow, Robyn and Neville found their way into the chamber.  JD, the DM, asked what we were looking for.  I said I was looking for this "holy sword..."

"You find it," JD stated.
"Robyn takes it for the paladin," I replied.

JD then asks GZ what he's looking for....

Now I don't remember WHAT Neville was supposed to find and bring back.  Turns out Neville didn't remember either.

GZ asks what's in the room.  JD starts describing things.  Armor, weapons, shields, wands, rods, staves, potions, gems...

Neville seizes upon the idea of magical armor!  "Is their magical field plate armor?"  "Yes."

"I take that!"

With that solved, we leave the "Chamber."

-=-=-=-=-

Once outside, JD asks GZ, hey weren't you supposed to get something for the paladin?

OH YEAH!  Neville goes back in!

Now remember, you can only go in once and you can only take one thing. 

Neville looks around for the item for the paladin BUT HE SPIES A MAGIC SWORD INSTEAD AND HE TAKES IT!

Now JD has to decide what the penalty will  be for violating the rules of the chamber.  He decides (or perhaps he had decided in advance) that the penalty was HALF of your HPs.

Not damage.  Permanently lost.  HALF.

To Robyn, this would have been crippling.  I didn't even think about going back in.  To Neville, the cavalier-paladin with a ton of HPs and an AC to die for, decides, "Eh. No biggie."

HE STILL DOESN'T HAVE THE PALADIN'S ITEM!

Here's where the communication between DM and Player broke down -- it was all about MATH!

You see, JD the DM was thinking:  Half + Half = All
GZ the Player was thinking:  I've lost half, if I lose half again, I'll be at one-quarter.

Those are VERY different things...

Needless to say, when Neville went back in (for the third time) to get the paladin's item, he dropped dead upon exiting the chamber.

:(  That was an (ahem) exciting incident!

Day 5: First Character to go from 1st level to the highest level possible

Well, as I've said in a previous post, I'm mostly a DM.  I don't have a lot of high level PCs.

Some of my players have gotten their characters up into the early teens.  That's about where I prefer  them to retire.  :)

I think Robyn Hoodwynk made it to 7th or 8th level.  I enjoyed playing him.

My current character, Gorsen, Cleric of Lathander, is (at the time of this writing) 7th level.  (I'll be sure to edit this post if he dies tonight!)

Day 4: First Dragon your Character Slew (or some other powerful monster)

Wow!  This IS a hard one.

I don't remember ever slaying a dragon.  Is that sad?

I think, years ago, I was playing D&D via the US Mail.  My friend JD and I would write up detailed "stories" for each other, loosely based upon what each other's character would do.

He played Sharky Dangerthorn, a ranger and I played Robyn Hoodwynk, a monk.

I think there was an evil white dragon (Eversleet?) that Robyn fought and defeated.  I'm just not sure.

Most of my D&D play has been as DM all these years, so, I don't have a lot of "big kills" in my memory banks.

:)

Day 3: First Dungeon you explored as a player or ran as a DM

The first dungeon I explored was "The Caves of Chaos" in B2, "The Keep on the Borderlands."

It is, of course, a classic.

I still have extremely fond memories of exploring the "Shrine of Evil Chaos" portion.  My DM, Brian, really managed to evoke the atmosphere of the place.

It holds such a fond place in my memory, I later "converted" it to Savage Worlds.

-=-=-=-

The first dungeon I ever really "ran" as a DM was of my own creation.  It was "The Evil Temple of Fraz'urb llu."  You can find it here.

Day 2: First person YOU introduced to D&D

Though it probably seems strange, the first person I introduced to D&D was probably my Dad.

You see, there were all these cool adventures to play (you could check modules out from the public library) and I needed a DM!

Dad could do it!  :)

He was a good sport about it.  He never really understood what he was doing.  I always had to help him "move through" the adventure.

In reality, I was probably a co-DM and player.  :)

The adventure he "ran" for me was "The Isle of Dread."

We skipped over the hexcrawl stuff and mostly dungeon crawled.  Funny how I always seemed to know where the good treasure bits were located...

-=-=-=-

Later in life, I introduced my girlfriend (eventually wife) to the game.  She played a wizard in a 3+ year campaign.  Myrrinne Moonbow.  She has also played Fudge, FATE and Savage Worlds with me.

I also introduced two of her sons (my stepsons).  I still play Warhammer 40k with one on a regular basis.

I've also introduced my grandkids.  3 of 4 have played at one time or another...

Day 1: Person who introduced me to D&D

Way, way back in the summer of 1981, my family had just returned to Arizona from California.  We had spent that summer in Concord, CA, holed up in a small hotel room, because my Dad was working in San Francisco.

My Dad was a union electrician, IBEW 134, and there weren't a lot of jobs to be had in the Phoenix area.  He did big industrial jobs (power plants, mines, etc.) so we frequently moved wherever the work could be found.

We had purchased a house in Mesa, AZ and had just moved in around Christmas of 1980.  Dad was working to build the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station and thought it would be stable.  After all, they had 12 reactors planned.

Nope.  He was laid off in the spring, so he headed to San Fran.  We waited for school to be out and then we followed him.

The summer in SF was good.  As good as it can be when you are stuck in a hotel room.  We did enjoy exploring the city on the weekends.  Alcatraz, Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not, The Presidio, Sausalito, etc.  Oh and this cool place called "Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza!"  Lots of video games.  Asteroids was my favorite!

Anyway, it was good to be home.  I had missed my friends and my books and stuff.  Dad came back with us.  Rumor had it that Palo Verde would be starting up again, so he wanted to get his name on the books at the union hall.

Before the summer had gotten away completely, I wanted to go see my friend Brian.  Maybe hang out and swim at his house -- or maybe a sleepover!  :)

I made arrangements with him.  His parents called my parents and we got it all confirmed for a Saturday night.

---

When Saturday afternoon arrived, I packed up my tatty mustard-yellow duffle bag and Mom dropped me off.  They'd pick me up after breakfast on Sunday.

I headed over to Brian's, expecting we'd hang out, swim and do whatever.  Just like we always did.  He and I shared a passion for Star Trek TOS (I was Kirk, he was Spock) and computers.

I had no idea what surprise was in store for me!

---

That evening, Brian revealed an amazing treasure to me -- The Holmes Blue Book!

He explained that it was a game you played using "characters" while making a map on graph paper!  Amazing!

We didn't "roll up" characters, we jumped right in by choosing classes, giving them names and picking out equipment.  

I had a fighter named "Berserker" (I was a big fan of the Doomfarers of Coramonde by Brian Daley,) a hobbit named "Bilbo," a wizard named "Gandalf" and an elf named "Legolas."  Not terribly creative.

We explored the "Caves of Chaos!"  I think we started with the goblins!  I remember them yelling "Bree Yark!"  How we survived that encounter, I'll never know.

Eventually we moved on to the "Shrine of Evil Chaos!"  My favorite part of B2 to this day.  :)  Brian did a great job with the descriptions and evoking the mood of the place.  

It was FANTASTIC!  I was absolutely HOOKED!  I couldn't stop thinking about the game and I had to get my own books!

Eventually I did get a 1st Ed. DMG (still have it!) and a Monster Manual.

The rest, as they say, is history!

Thank you D&D and thank you Brian!