Inspiration for D&D

I recently came across this video in my FB Reels feed, and it gave me a swell of inspiration to star DMing again after I'm not sure how many years after feeling the burn-out.

Reel from @dianaoftherose on IG

This video speaks to the option of what to do when you TPK your group. I have never experienced this issue in my 40 years of role playing, but a few years ago I was almost part of a TPK in a D&D game that was being run virtually during the Covid pandemic.

To give some perspective, I have been primarily gaming in White Wolf's classic World of Darkness. I started playing Vampire: The Masquerade when the 2nd edition was first coming out back in the 90's. I did manage to play some Dungeons & Dragons again when Wizards of the Coast published 3rd edition. I always enjoyed playing in the high fantasy world of D&D, but the fact that I spent the better part of almost 30 years in a more modern setting with the World of Darkness really caused a drain on my imagination for D&D.

I never really got into 4th edition, but when 5th edition came out, my interest was peaked again to try and get back into high fantasy. My biggest problems were:

• As much as I appreciate the published materials/adventures, I have a few ideas of some homebrew locations that I would like to incorporate into my campaign. I know that I can work to adapt things to suit my needs, but I don't think I've ever actually settled on an actual end goal.
• Though I have had over 40 years of experience roleplaying, I still have a great deal of anxiety of running a game again. When I was in my 20's, I would regularly run both tabletop and LARP games as a DM/ST. I enjoyed this, but it again has been many years since I've been able to do this for a high fantasy setting.
• Like many role-players, I have social anxiety that really inhibits me from socializing with people. This creates a huge issue when considering a play ground. I have 2 close friends that I am comfortable gaming with, but 2 people do not make a decent sized adventuring group for a game like D&D.
• In past games, I have always run them in Theatre of the Mind as opposed to using miniatures and maps. While this has been alright when playing in the World of Darkness, the past couple of years playing in a 5E game has shown me the wonders of using minis and maps; especially using tools like D&D Beyond and Roll20. I want to be able to provide a fun time for my players so my desire is wanting to be able to use minis and maps, but my anxiety makes me feel that if I don't have all the right resources that my attempt will fall flat. Ginny Di recently posted a video regarding the debate between Theatre of the mind and using minis and maps. It was a good watch but also helped to feed into my anxiety. While I have been working to build a collection of minis and resources, the back of my mind keeps telling me that it's not enough.
• Several years ago, I thought about designing a new RPG system that would incorporate a multiverse experience similar to Paladium's Megaverse settings, but my motivation became overwhelmed when I saw all the prospective systems being designed and published through the likes of Kickstarter. Right now, at age 50, I don't feel like I should spend my remaining time on this word attempting to recreate/redesign the wheel.

Going back to the beginning of this whole thing, the video gave me a hit of inspiration to put aside my anxiety and try to focus on just trying to run a campaign with the big hope to kill off some of the characters so that I can run a side game to bring them back from whatever afterlife they may have fallen into. I'm starting to feel hopeful for the possibility to giving some friends an entertaining time in the high fantasy world of D&D again. We shall see what comes of this hope and perhaps this will be a new focus of writings here.

Rose City Comic Con 2024 - My Experiences

September 6-8, 2024
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon

2024 marks the 9th year in a row where I have been honored to be able to cover RCCC as a member of the press. I want to thank Leftfield Media for this continued opportunity.

Day 1-

We were able to arrive in time to get parked in the underground area of the convention center. As I believe I've noted in the past, this is my favorite parking areas... except for the cost. This year, parking was $20. Fortunately, I was able to find a good spot that was fairly close to the elevators.

Unfortunately, when we got to the elevators, staff informed us that they were only for staff of RCCC and we would need to walk around to the front of the convention center to enter.

This was unexpected and not a welcome change for my person. I have been dealing with serious health issues this year, and my back has not been 100% for years. Being told that we would have to walk the equivalent of about half a mile prior to the actual event was not something I was ready for.

I know that others faced this same issue, including those who have legitimate accessibility/mobility issues. From what has been posted on the Rose City Comic Con Facebook group, this was brought to the event team and was subsequently taken care of. I hope that for future events this does not again become an issue.

Once we got in, it was a bit of a challenge to find someone who could tell us where to go to pick-up our press badges. It turns out that we would need to go almost all the way back to where the elevators from the garage would have taken us. Combined with the garage elevator issue, this was a little irksome. Fortunately, once we got our badges, things began to get better.

We got into the main exhibit hall and started making our way through the various vendors. There were so many vendors selling anime/manga items, and those that have been reading about my experiences should know that this is not my thing. This made our early walk-through quick because I didn't feel the need to stop and look at these vendors wares. Even though this is not my ball of wax, I understand that there's more than enough other people out there who do enjoy it, so my dislike does not take anything away from them.

Going into this years event, I had a few priorities for what I was looking to purchase:

• Action Figures - G.I. Joe Classified, Super7 3.75", Star Wars Vintage Collection.
• Funko Pops to add to my growing collection.
• Trade Paperbacks - I recently cleared my To Be Read pile after I don't know how many years.

As always, I Like Comics had a great selection of trades at 50% off, so I was able to get some more Rick and Morty to add to my collection. There was another vendor who had their selection of trades for 50% off as well, but there weren't any that either called to me or I needed.

While there were several vendors who were offering Funko Pops, I only found 2 that I needed to add to my collection.

I saw some Facebook posts from a few individuals that had a special certificate from RCCC that labeled them as "OG". I think this was a great salute to those artists and exhibitors that have been around to support RCCC from the beginning.

With all the walking around, I found the need to take some breaks. Unfortunately, there wasn't as many options to sit and rest in the exhibit hall as there was last year. The only location I could find to sit was in the RCCC Jr. are, and the tables had signs that said "No food or drinks". That was equally unfortunate.

While going through the exhibitors area, I was asked by the gentleman who was manning the Convention Essentials booth if I needed to sit. At the time, I felt the need to muscle through because we had a goal to make it through the rest of the exhibitor area, so I said "Yes, but not at the moment" and thanked him. To whoever that was, I want to say thank you for noticing my situation and that I wasn't feeling well. My legs, back and feet were killing me at that moment. As of writing this, it's less than a week removed from the event and my feet are still killing me. I didn't think to purchase a new set of insoles for my shoes.

While heading towards the RCCC Jr. area in order to take a break from walking, we passed the booth of writer George Michail. My photographer (Scott) was wearing a Viking history shirt, so as we passed, George asked if we were interested in stories about Viking werewolves. This caught our attention and Scott said he'd probably be back later.

After taking a brief respite in the RCCC Jr. area, Scott decided to go back and learn more about these Viking werewolves. He returned later to give me the lowdown on the premise for the Cover of Darkness series that George had written and that he had 3 trades available that contained this story. Since the premise peaked my interest, and the price was reasonable, I gave the money to Scott to pick the trades up for me. I'm looking forward to reading them and providing the reviews of each here.

George Michail

Day 2-

We ran a bit late getting to the Convention Center for day 2 of RCCC, so we realized that the possibility of getting the underground parking was slim to none. We went to a parking area that Scott had noticed in back in January when he came for day 2 of Fan Expo Portland. Unfortunately, the area was private parking for a hotel, and even though they had 75 open spots available, none of them were for us. The up side is that were were able to find on street parking only a couple of blocks away, and it ended-up being cheaper that the on-site parking. We only had to pay $12. 

As every reader of this blog should know, TTRPG's run through my blood and have since I was 10 years old. Since I started getting into Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, I have always been looking for a variety of 3rd party sources for additional items to help spice-up the game. Since starting in a campaign a few years ago, our party has gotten into the idea of harvesting parts of slain monsters in order to either sell them or make them into items that we can use. Since the published material from Wizards of the Coast doesn't really go into that level of complexity, our Dungeon Master found a system that he thought was decent to use. While it's a decent system, I am always looking for something more.

And while strolling through the Artist's Alley, we stopped off at the booth of Katelyn McCaigue and took a look through her 2 volumes of The Complete McCaigue Creature Compendium. The first creature that I flipped to in volume 2 was sold me on these books: Weredragon. 

While walking through the exhibitor's side of the event, we were stopped with the offer of a free sample of a drink line from Gamer Supps. While initially I was hesitant about any samples (as I am diabetic), I was also thirsty and decided to take a chance. I wasn't disappointed. Every sample I tried was enjoyable, and I think my favorite is called Guacamole Gamer Fart 9000. While the name doesn't sound appealing, I was guaranteed that it contained no actual guacamole or gamer farts. It was tasty and refreshing and I'm glad I took the chance to give it a try.

After all was said and done for the weekend, I was exhausted, but I enjoyed myself. I'm thankful for being able to attend and I look forward to coming back again next year!

Legendsverse

I have been collecting action figures for years, and for years I have been looking for a way to keep track of my collection. I have also been looking for a place where I could get an idea on how much my collection is worth as well.

I've been using the CLZ apps for years to keep track of my books and comics, but they have yet to create an app for action figures. I know that they have been asked about creating one many times, but I believe the response has always been that it's not in the picture for their future.

A few weeks ago (as of this writing), Big Nerdy of the Nerdzoic YouTube channel posted a video that caught my attention.

This was my first introduction to Legendsverse. 

When I first took a tour of the website, there were a couple of action figure lines that I collected, and I loved the interface. It was an easy decision to sign up for a free account and begin adding figures from my collection. By the time I almost finished adding my G.I. Joe Classified figures, I had come to the limit of figures I could add under the free account. By that time, I already made my decision to upgrade to a full account, but I wanted to wait until a few more action figure lines were added to the system.

Then I received an email from the creator Alejandro and he offered a discounted lifetime membership. Between that and the offer that Big Nerdy had made in his video, I jumped at the opportunity to join to not only be able to use this great service, but watch it grow and see how far it goes.

For my fellow collectors, I highly recommend signing up for a lifetime membership. There is also a growing community where you can interact with your fellow collectors. Legendsverse is only going up, and with your help, it can evolve into the best site for action figure collector. I invite you to watch the video from Nerdzoic to get a better understanding of what capabilities the site has to offer.

Cerebus Vol 9: Reads

 Title: Cerebus Vol 9: Reads

ISBN: 0919359159

Price: $

Publisher/Year: Aardvark-Vanheim, 1995

Artist: Gerhard

Writer: Dave Sim

Collects: Cerebus # 175-186

Rating: 2/5

Reads is a book of two parts. In one part, the story of Cerebus inches forward, as three aardvarks and a human meet, one of them warns the others that they're all stupid and greedy, and two of them get into a fight. The fight is epic - a slow-motion mix of pummeling and blood letting that wouldn't look out of place in a Quentin Tarantino movie. Unfortunately, we've performed a scientific experiment and discovered that only 35 per cent of Reads is taken up by the further adventures of Cerebus that most people will purchase the volume for.

The other part is prose. It starts off as a diatribe against the comic industry, with Sim using thinly disguised names to take digs at the industry he, by self-publishing Cerebus, has managed to stay on the outskirts of. Shortly after that, Sim drops the pretense of everyone except his own alter-ego and describes meetings, discussions and stories with other comics professionals like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. Then, eventually, he starts preaching his world view.

Sim's outlook, as is widely discussed on the web and elsewhere, is misogynist, rather sad and deeply misguided. Sim looks back to a simpler age where women weren't involved in decision making, in creative processes or in politics, and considers these better times. More was done, he argues. Men weren't held back. Frankly, it's a preposterous and offensive outburst.

It's a shame because the Cerebus story remains so interesting and promising. But Sim argues that he is the story, that auteur and creation are so tightly knitted together that, one supposes, we must know the man to know his characters. Of course, this is artistic pretension to the extreme. Some artists may successfully use their fame to talk about the bigger picture - Bob Geldolf springs to mind - but this is rare and is generally preferable if the cause is widely considered to be 'good'. Sim's arguments about the tyranny of the 'Female Void' ring eerily hollow in this regard.

Cerebus Vol 8: Women

 Title: Cerebus Vol 8: Women

ISBN: 0919359140

Price: $

Publisher/Year: Aardvark-Vanheim, 1994

Artist: Gerhard

Writer: Dave Sim

Collects: Cerebus # 163-174 

Rating: 2.5/5

Women, the eighth Cerebus book, is the second of four volumes that make up Mothers & Daughters (the other three are Flight, Reads and Minds). Sim’s intention was that Mothers & Daughters would conclude the main story.

Flight ended with a miniature, flying version of Cerebus appearing to both Cirin and Astoria, before he winked out of existence. This volume begins with two text pages, one by Astoria and one by Cirin, before picking up where that book left off. Artemis Strong, AKA PunisherRoach, has fallen in love with a prostitute, Astoria is preparing for her meeting with Cirin, and Cerebus pops back into normal existence having wandered through the Seventh and Eighth Spheres for the last couple of hundred pages.

If this isn’t making much sense, you’ve clearly not read all the earlier books, and we don’t have space (or inclination) to summarize everything that’s gone before. Short version: Cerebus started out as a parody of Conan before morphing into a political and then religious satire that got increasingly mystical, convoluted and controversial as time went by.

Anyway, Cerebus has reappeared, though unfortunately it’s hundreds of feet in the air. He falls, crashes through a window, and finds himself with an old woman whom the Cirinists have under house arrest. She tells Cerebus to hide in a tavern, as the Cirinists won’t enter. There then follows lots of typical Cerebus fare: visions, mystical happenings and philosophical conversations. Light relief is provided by a heartbroken PunisherRoach, who transforms into Swoon, a piss-take of Neil Gaiman’s Dream from Sandman, with Elrod (himself a parody of Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Meliboné) assuming the guise of Snuff, Swoon’s sister.

Lord Julius also puts in a welcome reappearance, with his pages amongst the many that abandon the convention of speech bubbles and instead print conversations as blocks of text, normally with an accompanying illustration. The book is also peppered with tracts from both Cirin (another aardvark, and leader of the Cirinists) and Astoria (the leader of the Kevillists, though they refuse to accept anyone as leader, of course) who get to put forward their contradictory arguments on a variety of subjects. Cirin and Astoria represent the mother and daughter of the title, and the text pieces are intended to show flaws in feminist thinking, or flaws in women in general. This is certainly a book that gives you a great deal of reading for your money. And a lot of food for thought, with Sim having mulled much of this over for years. You can accuse Dave Sim of many things, and people have, but lacking focus isn’t one of them.

At this point Cerebus was losing readers, and the situation would only worsen with later books, as Sim apparently pursued a path of career suicide which continues to this day. This is a great shame, as this book ably demonstrates, he is an accomplished writer and artist with a great deal to say.

Any readers that have persisted this far will find much to admire and appreciate here, not least of all the superb artwork, imaginative page layouts and beautiful background work by Gerhard, and repeated readings reveal how smart and well-constructed the entire series is, but it definitely isn’t for everyone.

Cerebus Vol 7: Flight

 Title: Cerebus Vol 7: Flight

ISBN: 0919359132

Price: $

Publisher/Year: Aardvark-Vanheim, 1993

Artist: Gerhard

Writer: Dave Sim

Collects: Cerebus # 151-162

Rating: 3.5/5

Flight is the first of four volumes that make up Mothers & Daughters (the other three are Women, Reads and Minds), and, after Jaka’s Story and Melmoth, in which Cerebus barely featured, we’re back with the aardvark, picking up once more on the storyline from Church and State.

At the end of Melmoth, Cerebus, having being almost comatose throughout the entire book, went postal, attacking and brutally killing a bunch of Cirinists. The Cirinists are the villains of the piece: ultra-traditional, matriarchal, Pro-Life feminists who believe that motherhood is all. The Pro-Choice Kevillists, on the other hand, while also feminists, believe in the empowered individual. Both represent two pernicious aspects of woman. Oh, and the Cirinists have a hive-mind and are controlled by Cirin, who is the second of three aardvarks in the world (Cerebus being the first).

Cerebus leads a brief uprising, which the Cirinists put down brutally, at least until PunisherRoach appears. Artemis Strong and his Roach-like superhero parodies have long been a staple of the title, providing much-needed light relief. His pearl-handled semi-automatic hand-held crossbow-bolts go through the Cirinists like fat through a goose, and the situation is only defused when the fickle Roach falls for a prostitute.

The Cirinists can’t find Cerebus. Why? He’s vanished into thin air and is soon zooming through the atmosphere on his way to the Seventh and Eighth Spheres, where he discovers the identity of the third aardvark. Their significance is that they all act as ‘magnifiers’, with historical events revolving around their actions. Which they’ve all played out over and over again, with different characters assuming different roles each time around. Cerebus has always dealt in this type of thing, and is forever ascending to the moon (see Church and State) or having astral conversations with Suenteus Po, a philosopher whose teachings were partly responsible for the mess in which they now find themselves. These happen while Cerebus is unconscious, asleep, drunk or bewitched, and Sim clearly enjoys them, as it lets him hold forth at length while drawing bizarre scenarios with Cerebus flying along like the Silver Surfer.

Sim can do pithy well, especially with Cerebus, but the subject matter lends itself to prose that often strays towards purple. The story is well constructed, and it’s clear that Sim has given all of this a great deal of thought, with the world-building convincingly authentic. The artwork is also very polished, with both Sim and Gerhard old hands by this stage. Page layouts are rarely dull, the lettering is excellent (think Will Eisner on steroids), and the craftsmanship is both apparent and impressive, with Gerhard’s backgrounds often painstakingly detailed and outstanding.

It’s no surprise this book caused a shit-storm when it came out, and it would only get worse with later volumes. Many feminists accused Sim of misogyny, and both sides entered into heated and pointless debates. So, if you’re a feminist, you’re really probably not going to enjoy it, and readers who can see past that still have to struggle with a book that explores metaphysical and spiritual matters with a depth that’s unusual for a comic. Too mature for its intended ‘mature’ audience, too esoteric, or just too misogynistic?

Cerebus Vol 6: Melmoth

 Title: Cerebus Vol 6: Melmoth

ISBN: 0919359108

Price: $

Publisher/Year: Aardvark-Vanheim, 1991

Artist: Gerhard

Writer: Dave Sim

Collects: Cerebus # 139-150

Rating: 3.5/5

Sim, and the ‘Cerebus effect’ (buying books rather than each issue of a comic) contributed immensely in popularizing the graphic novel format, and up to this point Cerebus ‘phonebooks’ (with the exception of the first, a collection of short stories) had been large novels: High Society and Jaka’s Story are around 500 pages each, and Church and State ran to 1,200 pages. This explains why Sim, in his introduction, calls the 248 page Melmoth a short story.

The book opens, after some beautiful establishing shots by Gerhard, with Artemis Strong (AKA the Roach) sitting outside a bar. The first words he speaks are, “Fucking cunts!” Artemis disappears after the prologue, and his brief appearance, little more than a cameo, would be repeated by other characters from earlier books. These don’t intrude upon the main story, which depicts the decline and eventual death of Oscar Wilde, through the eyes, and letters, of his close friends. Although it may not even be the same Oscar that we met in Jaka’s Story, the previous book. In that novel there were strong hints that there were two Oscars, and the deliberate ambiguity is continued here.

Cerebus, who doesn’t even appear until page 52, spends most of the book in a near-catatonic state, sitting outside the same tavern where we first saw the Roach. When he does finally explode into violent action, in the epilogue, it almost takes one’s breath away, and it’s as if the last 230 pages have existed merely to lull the reader into a false sense of security.

This is a quick read compared to all other Cerebus books, and one can see why Sim referred to it as a short story. However, reading the same story in comic form over two years made for a very different experience. Two years of waiting for Cerebus to just do something – other than eat the occasional raw potato – really made the blood-spattered epilogue all the more dramatic, and, frankly, a bit of a surprise after what had gone before.

Sim wrote, drew and lettered the entire book, and has deservedly won awards for his lettering. He was more than ably assisted by Gerhard. Much more than just a background artist, Gerhard’s buildings are truly works of art, and he made certain everything physical in Estarcion fitted together beautifully. His invaluable contribution helped make Cerebus one of the most attractive and professional independent titles on the market.

The writing is very good, though Sim has a tendency to wordiness and you wouldn’t necessarily want to start reading Cerebus with this book (High Society is a much better place to start). The tale of the death of a gay Irish writer may not be presumed to everyone’s taste, and it wasn’t, with the title shedding readers at this point. Though that was nothing compared to the shit-storm that Sim would cause with his next book, Mothers and Daughters, (split over four volumes: Flight; Women; Reads and Minds), comparable in size to Church and State, and concerning itself once more with Cerebus, after two books in which he’s little more than a supporting character. This makes Melmoth an interesting, if slightly odd, diversion from the main story. But it’s mature and polished, while pushing hard at the boundaries of what’s normal for a comic, and that’s something that should always be applauded.