this is matt

Tonight, we’re getting together to make new characters for a new DnD campaign run by a new DM. My fingertips are tingling with excitement and possibly carpal tunnel.

I’m not entirely sure what kind of character I’m going for. My favorite idea so far is a former paladin of an evil cult who is starting over and learning to use magic (class: swordmage).

Also on the former-badguy concept is the thief who has been released from prison and given a second chance because of some skill or ability he has (class: psion).

In the opposite direction, I was thinking of a young, idealistic student at the mage academy who wants to do good things and get a nice job when he graduates, like enchanting weapons or running a magic shop.

Whatever I go with, it’s bound to be a blast.

On Friday I mentioned that I started something pretty sweet. What I meant was that it’s bigger than anything I’ve attempted before, and I’m really excited about it. So far I like it a lot, and I think you guys will, too. I’m hoping to have it done this week, but definitely next week at the latest.

Seriously, I’m pumped.

In completely unrelated (DnD) news, I found a dragon egg on Thursday. The cave started to collapse, so I shoved it in my bag of holding and fled with the rest of the party. It’s going to be a red dragon, so we’re going to learn whether they are evil by nature or nurture. Either way, it’s going to be tough being a single-parent adventurer lost in time… I can only hope that the little guy will turn out all right while I’m out killing bad guys.

This is where I need some feedback from the rest of you… how does a dude go about raising a baby red dragon? Any ideas?

During last week’s DnD session, my party found ourselves in a massive cavern filled with Drow. A dragon had sent us there to help his cousin fortify, since some very bad people (our DM’s Wednesday night group) were out to steal something from him. The Drow got there first and chained that beast up. They were in the middle of some sort of ritual when we reached the cliff overlooking this cavern, so they didn’t notice us.

Naturally, two of us threw caution to the wind and rappelled down the cliff. The original plan was an Indiana Jones-style “punch out the sentry and steal his uniform” maneuver, but once we had an unconscious sentry, we realized that neither of us would pass for a Drow. The other two members of the party reached the bottom and, due to clumsiness, drew attention to themselves. I used the distraction to sneak over to the priestesses and bull rush the one right in front of the dragon.

If not for combat advantage (a +2 modifier to my attack roll), I probably would have been the one to end up in the dragon’s mouth. However, I succeeded and the priestess became a snack, breaking the ritual and throwing things into utter chaos.

Had this been a video game, there would have been an invisible wall preventing me from going near the priestesses. See, the DM’s original plan was that we fight a few waves of baddies, each stronger than the last, and reaching the dragon just in time to hear his tale before he died. We messed it up, and he didn’t even miss a bit as he changed the direction of the evening.

I’m not saying this to knock video games. I love them very much. But even in the most open-ended sandbox of a video game, there are certain things that you just can’t do. Those are the things that make tabletop roleplaying so satisfying.

Today is exciting because, if all goes well, my group will resume playing Dungeons and Dragons after a long hiatus. Our DM had some huge project at work that finally wrapped up and gave him his brain back.

In the time off, I spent some time thinking about my character, his backstory, and his motivations. I think I’ll be able to contribute more interesting stuff than, “I hate the undead,” from here on out (assuming I have time to review my notes before we play). So far, I’ve mostly had to fall back on cliches because I didn’t put enough time into creating a story for my character, so I’m really excited about bringing some depth his actions.

I’m also looking forward to the “hanging out with friends” aspect of it. I don’t have a ton of experience with roleplaying games, but every now and then I read horror stories on the internet of horrible gaming groups that only stick together because there are no other gamers in the area. My group is the opposite in that we are awesome.