Old GM, new here

[revaddict]

Hello, everyone,

I just joined this board not too long ago and thought I should introduce myself. I've been gaming (mostly as a GM) for about 30 years now. I've owned Campaign Cartographer for several years but I haven't really taken the time to explore its capabilities until recently, which is why I joined here. I'm hoping to get to know you and to learn great things from you about making great game maps.

revaddict

[tilt]

hi revaddict, welcome to the guild. A lot of us in here are "old boys" in the rpg community, played 31 years myself and I'm not even the oldest guy here ... be sure to check out our tutorials and when you're ready to make your first map - post in a WIP thread for help and critique while you work

[Jaxilon]

Another one for the oldsters. I don't want to think about how many years it's been since I first held an 8 sided die...hmmm, let me see - it was the original books in the Basic set box and I was captivated by the whole concept of building your own story. I can't even imagine the hours I spent rolling up characters and imagining them in the thick of adventure much less the actual playing. I remember our parents shaking their heads at us and saying things like, "I just don't see what you get out of that." We couldn't understand how they failed to see how great it was but I suppose if you didn't sit down and listen to the story unfolding as the dice rolled you would just see some kids huddled together chatting and rolling the dice from time to time.

Back in those days my best friend and I took turns GMing and it was truly a feat to survive. I think we were actually bent on killing one another off right down to the last Donkey. (ROFL) I'm not kidding, if your pack animals ran for their lives and survived it felt like a victory especially if they had the loot on them. As we matured we realized it was more interesting to see the PCs escape by the skin of their teeth. I guess that's why I still love stressing my players out. Oh the awesome excitement when everything stands on the edge of a knife blade and you have 5 people leaning forward as one person rattles the dice in their hand and hyperventilating lets them fly across the table....I love it. It almost always ends with whooping or wailing and that's what makes those epic moments they will remember for years.

Then there is the time my sister's character grabbed a staff from a room full of treasure and fell unconscious to the floor - the others checked to see she was alive and continued loading pockets albeit more cautiously. Then they realized the guardian had returned and they were trapped between a dragon and it's goodies. As they discussed tossing the unconscious player to the dragon like a steak at an angry dog so they could slip by my sister started berating them with "You guys SUCK!" In the end they didn't toss her but to this day she will glare at them when certain situations come up.

Anyway, enough of my prattle: WELCOME ABOARD!

[Steel General]

Welcome Aboard!

[revaddict]

Another one for the oldsters. I don't want to think about how many years it's been since I first held an 8 sided die...hmmm, let me see - it was the original books in the Basic set box and I was captivated by the whole concept of building your own story. I can't even imagine the hours I spent rolling up characters and imagining them in the thick of adventure much less the actual playing. I remember our parents shaking their heads at us and saying things like, "I just don't see what you get out of that." We couldn't understand how they failed to see how great it was but I suppose if you didn't sit down and listen to the story unfolding as the dice rolled you would just see some kids huddled together chatting and rolling the dice from time to time.

Back in those days my best friend and I took turns GMing and it was truly a feat to survive. I think we were actually bent on killing one another off right down to the last Donkey. (ROFL) I'm not kidding, if your pack animals ran for their lives and survived it felt like a victory especially if they had the loot on them. As we matured we realized it was more interesting to see the PCs escape by the skin of their teeth. I guess that's why I still love stressing my players out. Oh the awesome excitement when everything stands on the edge of a knife blade and you have 5 people leaning forward as one person rattles the dice in their hand and hyperventilating lets them fly across the table....I love it. It almost always ends with whooping or wailing and that's what makes those epic moments they will remember for years.

Then there is the time my sister's character grabbed a staff from a room full of treasure and fell unconscious to the floor - the others checked to see she was alive and continued loading pockets albeit more cautiously. Then they realized the guardian had returned and they were trapped between a dragon and it's goodies. As they discussed tossing the unconscious player to the dragon like a steak at an angry dog so they could slip by my sister started berating them with "You guys SUCK!" In the end they didn't toss her but to this day she will glare at them when certain situations come up.

Anyway, enough of my prattle: WELCOME ABOARD!

Thanks for the warm welcome, everybody.

And, Jaxilon, your story almost brings tears to my eyes. :-)

[Coyotemax]

Great stories jax, and yeah you hit the nail right on the head. I still have very clear memories of sessions from 10,20, 30 years ago because of that exact description.. house shaking as someone rolls a critical right when they need it most and everyone jumps and cheers.. someone rolls a fumble right when you least need it and everyone screams NOOOO in unison...

wow, there goes my ability to be productive tonight

Welcome to the board rev.. now look what you've started!

[Needamedic]

Welcome from an 'old guy' gamer. I started playing AD&D 1E in 1981. I don't play much anymore, but I still love to build worlds and am just getting into digital mapping.

Welcome Aboard.

[revaddict]

I suppose I could add my own little story about getting started in gaming. My very first D&D game was about 1981 when I was about 12 years old. I had no idea what an rpg was, but when my cousin ran me through a dungeon crawl that included miniatures and a 3D diorama, I couldn't get enough of it. I finally got my D&D Basic Set a year or so later. The year I was in 8th Grade, my friends and I spent most of our recesses inside playing D&D and other games that I started to get into also. Of course since I was the one with the rules, I was the DM/GM for most of our games. And it's been that way most of the time since then, but I didn't mind.

Yeah, I know--it's hard to believe our teachers let us stay indoors and play a geeky game. Even more amazing is that this was at a Christian school back in the days when rpg's were suspected of teaching kids to worship the devil, blah, blah, blah... Oh, if they only knew!

Ironically, today I'm a Lutheran minister. :-)

[Ascension]

Bring out the Comfy Chair and put him in it.