People Say I’m Boring, But…

People used to say I was sad and boring because I spent so much time gaming. But, gaming is awesome…

 

 

I’ve been gaming for over thirty years and in that time I’ve enjoyed countless hours of fun with my chums. I’ve run hundreds of gaming sessions and played in hundreds more. Several experiences stand out from all the others. I have:

  • Crept unseen through the halls of the hill giant chieftain.
  • Explored the Vault of the Drow and walked Erelhei-Cinlu’s benighted precincts.
  • Slain the Spider Queen.
  • Faced down and killed Oonga (twice).
  • Crushed the demi-lich Acererak beneath a Daern’s instant fortress.
  • Cleansed the Moathouse of its bandit infestation.
  • Released (and then killed) the demoness Zuggtmoy.
  • Seen a great wyrm slain with a single well-placed arrow in the first round of combat.
  • Defeated the smugglers of Saltmarsh.
  • Escaped Sakatha the Lizard King’s clutches, when most of my fellows did not by fleeing through three dungeons levels without a map.
  • Successfully defended the Pass of Adlerweg from a hobgoblin army.
  • Survived an exploration of a certain Forgotten Temple.
  • Escaped the Slave Lord’s dungeons with little more than my wits (and a fetching loincloth).

And best of all, I’ve done all the above in the company of good friends!

What have you done?

What’s your most memorable gaming memory? Let me know, in the comments below.

 

Published by

Creighton

Creighton is the publisher at Raging Swan Press and the designer of the award winning adventure Madness at Gardmore Abbey. He has designed many critically acclaimed modules such as Retribution and Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands and worked with Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Expeditious Retreat Press, Rite Publishing and Kobold Press.

6 thoughts on “People Say I’m Boring, But…”

  1. I still vividly remember in one of the first games I played (think it was WFRP) playing a dwarf muleskinner on a ship that was attacked by a huge Dark Elf vessel and attempting to swing between the ships using my trusty bullwhip, only for a stray arrow to sever the whip and plunge me into the cold waters.

    More recently I’m exploring the jungles of Chuult in 5E and Mines of Phandelver, both of which I’m greatly enjoying, fending off T-Rexs, adopting baby Basilisks and other such craziness. It’s good to know that new gaming memories to match the old ones are still being formed 🙂

  2. The gaming moment that hooked me into gaming is the one I share most often. My first DM was one of those “you can’t kill my NPCs unless I allow it” they were godlike as was his villains. he had a me vs the players attitude. I didn’t even get to play an elf like I wanted because there was “to many elves in the party already” (we all rolled characters at the same time) His friend in the group was the “party leader” and also un-killable (DM had given him a amulet of immortality embedded in his chest) He would often threaten to drop fire trucks on any player that made trouble. After a DM like that its a wonder I ever played again. But luckly I did, and then this happened…….

    My second DM had a DM-NPC with mine and my GF’s character. It was a ogre bard that spelled everything Dog. It was one of those games where every dice roll goes wrong, and just felt like nothing I did mattered. We had stopped into a weapons/magic shop where I picked up a sword and it whispered “hello slave” I now had an awesome sword that would eat the souls of my enemies, however if I didn’t feed it a soul each day, it would eat mine. In a moment of fear and desperation I killed the shopkeeper to feed the sword. (to my surprise the DM allowed this)

    The next day we had made our way to the next part of the quest, and still every roll was a miss, every skill check failed, battle was upon us and I could do nothing but suck. (meanwhile my GF was oneshotting monsters right and left) and in frustration I turned and swung on the ogre, and critically hit him……killing him instantly and the sword devoured his soul. The DM (my best friend) sighed and tore up the ogres character sheet. The character sheet for the character he had played for years and retired to be an NPC….his very first character. He looked like I had killed a family member. I instantly tried to take the attack back (I didn’t mean to kill him, NPCs are invincible right?) He wouldn’t allow it. He said whats done is done, and in that moment I learned that actions have consequences so choose your actions wisely.

    My greatest moment as a DM came last year when my brother in law learned that same lesson. He’s playing a rogue that didn’t like the captain of the guard for the town. (And Capt. Rex didn’t care for him either) the town was surrounded by a group of brigands/thugs lead by a very Negan like guy. He was upset and the rogues group for crippling one of his men in a recent fight.

    “Fair is fair, you messed up one of mine, i’m gonna mess up one of you, and I’ll let you decide who.” My brother in law made a head motion to indicate Capt. Rex, and the leader responded with, “so you speak for this group? OK I accept.” let out a whistle and an arrow flew into Rex, coated with a crippling poison. Brother in law was so affcted he took it upon himself to seek out medicine for him (it would not fix the capt, but it would ease pain)

    That’s why I still game after 27 years.

  3. I’ve crashed on Volturnis and watched my three teammates die, leaving me to solo the base, had a second ship crashland with more people on it, watched them die and ended up soloing the next base, had a third ship crash…. and ended up as the sole survivor once more…

    Dealt with a vampire using only a single magic item (not what would normally be considered a weapon) and the assistance of a caster with a first level spell. Killed an ogre with only two hits while starting out my career.

    Shown a group of supervillains why a shaman shouldn’t be ignored when well prepared.

    Used my skills as a trained infiltrator and assassin to make an ally for the Klingon Empire… by saving a ruler’s life.

    Evaded a rooftop pursuit from a thieves’ guild by making an impossible leap diagonally across an intersection.

    Had knives break on my bare skin.

    Completed a survival race starting with no equipment, in record time, and well ahead of the competition.

  4. Wow, there are lots of great memories.

    My first convention game, I played an old, retired fighter. The character’s proficiencies were listed on the front of the sheet, and I mistakenly thought I had weapons in my inventory. “Well, grandson, I’ve got to go save the town.” The DM, being helpful, said “Uh, grandpa, don’t you want to take your sword with you?”

    I looked down at the sheet, pointed to the proficiency list, and the DM smiled and said “turn the sheet over.” Yeah, no equipment.

    I responded “Well, grandson, in my day we didn’t need swords to take care of rabble like this, but if it will make you feel better I’ll go get it.”

    The table lost it. A group of perfect strangers became instant friends.

  5. I grew up on D&D/AD&D, but one of my favorite memories is more recent. I got my kids into playing Pathfinder a few years ago with me as GM. My daughter has bad luck with dice; if someone rolls a 1 at the table, chances are it is her.

    The players found themselves fighting a dragon at the end of one adventure; my daughter’s Ranger had one arrow of dragon slaying in her quiver, but kept using (and missing with) normal arrows as she was afraid to try the dragon slayer for fear of “wasting” it. As the dragon swept back and forth hitting the PCs with fly-by spell attacks and its breath weapon and the PCs started to falter, the other players pleaded with her to try the dragon slaying arrow.

    “Fine, fine!” she said in disgust. “This isn’t going to work anyway, then you’ll see!”

    Of course she rolled a natural 20, confirmed crit, dragon fails save, dragon drops out of the air dead before it hit the ground.

    I remind her of this to this day, every time she begins a sentence with “I can’t…”

    1. This a great story! I love how the natural 20 saved the day. I’ll be using this idea on my son. He rolled three natural 20s in one round of combat (which annoyed me immensely as the GM) as an archer and totally changed the course of a combat.

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