Get Back To Where You Once Belong

Do NOT collect 200 GP...

I've been out of pencil-and-paper tabletop role-playing gaming for about, oh, 5 years or so. With my increased involvement in stage shows, audio drama work, the rise of another edition of D&D I really didn't feel like shelling out the bucks for (plus the direction WOTC was taking the game - thank you no, I don't want to subscribe to to get content for a game that seems to be a bigger money black hole than all the other editions combined) and other odds and ends personal and otherwise, I just kinda drifted away from it. Did the RPGA thing for a while but with the changes at WOTC I left. Could never get a Champions game going (another game which has bloated out of proportion for my wallet) and with the apathy of Mutants and Masterminds around here, it just got to be more trouble than it was worth.

Until now.

I am now being led back to RPGs, specifically, D&D. Not the current trend, oh no. The Old Skool. You know, the one where you got five different saving throws. The one with descending Armor Class. Where the Dungeon Master makes stuff up on the fly and everyone is having a good time. You know, the fun one.

Two things conspired to get me into this state. A friend (hi Julie) got me in touch with a guy named Vince who hosts a couple of podcasts. He was looking for someone to write and produce short fantasy audio dramas for his 1st Edition AD&D show. I did and next thing I know I'm co-hosting a podcast for Basic D&D, the Save or Die Podcast. That got me interested in all things BD&D (when I started gaming, it was with 1st Edition AD&D so I had no knowledge of Basic). I found it close enough to AD&D to be understandable yet different enough to be a refreshing change. I also found out about the Retro-Clones: those RPGs who purposely mimic the Old D&D editions (through the OGL) so's others can play these (some long out-of-print) games. Not to mention the thriving community out there on the 'net in support of these games and this movement. I love it.

The other thing that got me back was the fact that my oldest grandson is 7 and he started to show an interest in what Grampa is doing with these games. I'd be tickled to get him started on a very satisfying hobby.

SO, I proceeded to seek out copies of these games. An uphill battle the best of times, I am unfortunately living in Oklahoma City, which seems to be not only game-dead but game-resource-poor. Fortunately, a couple of my co-hosts on SOD took pity on me and sent me a used copy of the D&D Rules Cyclopedia (a jewel of a book - thanks, Mike and Liz). I did manage to find a couple of things (the D&D Creature Catalog and X1 - The Isle of Dread) but something tells me I'm going to be trolling eBay and other websites for books or relying on retro-clones for my reading/playing goodness. My next hunt is for some of the D&D Gazetteer supplements (mainly Karamekios for now, maybe a few more). Wish me luck.

Anyway, that's where I am, here at the start of 2011, as far as gaming goes. My dicebag is dusted off and I'm ready.