Ok I found it funny but there you go, with stereotypes and bizarre jokes that only people who read the magazine will get. Enough apoligising and onwards. Sorry.

Ghosts & Goblins

Six men set out to roll dice. But why?
Imagine a fearsome, 12-legged beast. It smells faintly of cheese and onion crisps. It is half-Edge, half-Gamer, and all man. Wolves raised it. It feels a strange, primeval urge to play role-playing games but – gasp – not via the medium of electronics.

Pausing only to buy elaborate ice-cream confections, six men decamped last night to a lofty garret atop the highest hill in Bath: Edge magazine’s Ste Curran, Mark Walbank, Dave ‘Taurus’ McCarthy and PCG’s Kieron Gillen, Jim Rossignol – plus yours truly. The aim: to create ‘characters’ for use in a ‘role-playing game’ using the ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ rules. A fearsomely nerdy preoccupation, one might justifiably imagine. But I’m not here to defend pen-and-paper role-playing. I’m here to recount what happens as our campaign progresses over the coming weeks and months. What you think is up to you.

Mr Walbank, self-confessed fount of D&D knowledge, has gathered this grim-faced band. His is the adventure, the dice and, ultimately, the flat. He is the Dungeon Master. We’re told only that our adventures will take place in a standard fantasy setting, in which civilisation is increasingly coming under attack from nasty creatures and bands of roving goblin-types. Incredibly, we have no six-sided dice; a 12-sided one and an electronic R2-D2 random number generator suffice for the evening. We select classes, and skills, then work out statistics. It’s complicated. It takes three hours. I watch the cricket highlights out of the corner of my eye.

Interestingly, we can keep our backgrounds, motivation and alignment secret from our fellow players – the DM, of course, knows everything. Quickly, a trend of note-passing develops. Admittedly, much of this involves “Kieron is gay” scrawled on scraps of paper, but – who knows – some of it may have been crucial information, not to be shared with undesirables. Already, a faint atmosphere of suspicion has developed. Does Kieron’s halfling cleric harbour a Napoleon Complex? Is Jim’s dwarf fighter (very nearly called Grax ‘The Axe’ Longbeard) a Chaotic murderer who’ll cave in our heads in the night, or a deeply religious shortarse with a penchant for needlepoint? Only time will tell.

One thing’s for sure: we all want to seduce ladies using our Charisma bonuses. With any luck, my extra skill with ropes will come in handy.

Ross.atherton@futurenet.co.uk


Game of the week: Black & White. It’s ba-ack.

Record of the week: Foo Fighters – The Colour and the Shape. Rediscovering the B-side.

Holiday destination of the week: Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire. Fifteen minutes sunshine – every day!




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Hi, Jabidas! I enjoyed that! I'd like to have been one of the party!

I read pcgamer sometimes but not as often as I would like - expensive for pensioners, lol!

Have you ever played pnp ad&d? Never have myself. I'd like to play though. I quite fancy playing Magic the Gathering with cards on a table, too, but I know no-one in my locality with an interest.

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http://www.ranchoweb.com/images/bg2guy/fljotsdale.gif

Hi Fljotsdale, if you want to start gaming you should head into the local hobbyshop or wherever sell that kind of stuff and ask the people there about any open games or how to get into contact with people who play, chances are they will be very helpful, oh and just to clarify this is from the englich pcgamer site, loads of magazines called this for some reason

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Oh come on Jabidas, let's not be overgenerous here. I'm sure it was a typo, so I'll assume you really meant to say was every decade!

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Regards

<marquee direction=left scrollamount=7> http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/noncgi/smiles/anr.gif </marquee>

Mouse (from very near the Broch)

[This message has been edited by Mouse (edited 08-31-2001).]

I didnt type it bloddy Ross Antherton did and he has a beard, so there. OK perhaps that isnt a very convincing argument but thats just the way it goes.

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An amusing article nonetheless. Thank you for sharing it!
http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...es/biggrin.gif

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You know childhood is over when a puddle seems like an obstacle instead of an opportunity.

Is Too! Is Not! Is Too! Is Not!

Hm, thanks Jabidas. Why didn't I think of that? Must be senility... http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...miles/wink.gif



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http://www.ranchoweb.com/images/bg2guy/fljotsdale.gif

Ah, the joys of pnp, how i miss thee. Now if my bloody#%%&^#$@@% group wouldn't of broken up!

On a totaly diffrent note for all who want a humorous glimpse into fandom, please try dorktower.com

And to show gaming is safe :http://www.gamespy.com/comics/dorkto.../shadis20.html