Blogs to Behold!

Okay, tonight I want to do something a little different.  Explore the blogoverse, and point out some cool stuff.  I also want to do a little reminiscing about gaming, because that's always fun.

I'm sure everyone who's played Dungeons and Dragons that's over a certain age, knows about and may have actually watched the Saturday morning cartoon it's loosely based on. Well, I came across Mark Evanier's weblog POVONLINE , and he has an article about his involvement with the show. You might also know Mark as the writer of Groo the Wanderer, a wonderful comic book.

I've never met Mark, but I have met Sergio Aragones ( the artist of Groo the Wanderer ), and talked to him a bit about cartooning.  He liked my work, and gave me some pointers.  What a great guy.  He's one of my favorite cartoonists, well... okay he has the number one spot as far as I'm concerned.

Speaking of comic books, if you read them in the 70's and 80's, then you should probably be familiar with Jim Shooter, for quite a while he was the Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics.  He also has a blog called appropriately enough, Jim Shooter .  He has many behind the scenes stories that are great.  Check it out.

Okay, now I'm going to hop in the Way Back Machine, and tell a tale of the awesome bravery of one of my characters. We had just started playing Rolemaster, and a friend of mine was the DM.  He was using some published module, I don't remember which one, I really wish I could, because  I would like to get a copy.

Now ICE didn't have a lot published material yet.  I think we were using 1st Edtion, which consisted of Character Law, Spell Law, Arms Law, and I think that was it.  Maybe Claw Law as well?  It's been a while. Nothing with monsters in it.  So he had to import monsters from AD&D, which was okay, because they had conversion tables IIRC.  The module was also for AD&D...

Both me and my brother played two characters because our gaming group was small.  Well, at one point my magician had taken point, and was entering a room.  Why was I in the lead?  I don't remember.  The fighter and warrior monk may have been in bad shape.

So as I entered the room, I asked what I saw... and the DM said, "You see what looks like a man with the head of a tiger... he was sitting in a throne, but now he's standing up..."  It was a Rakshasa.  I asked the DM if I knew what it was, and he ruled that I did, or rather that my character did.  My character turns around yelling, "RUN!"  ( For some reason I had this fear of Rakshasas as a player. They don't seem that bad as I read the listing in the MM. Of course a home-brewed version in RM could be a nightmare! )

The DM chuckles, and the Rakshasa lets loose a lightning bolt.  ( This was a home-brewed Rolemaster Rakshasa after all... )  I was sure I was doomed.  Doomed to become a pile of smoking ash.  Well, the DM rolls, and then gets a funny look on his face.

Earlier in the game we had found a magic amulet.  We couldn't figure out what it did, or what kind of magical properties it had.  The DM asked me what I had done with it.  I said, "Stuck it in my backpack."  He asked me "Where in the pack?" I shrugged... "Dunno... just in the pack."

It turns out that the amulet is an Amulet of Spell Reflection.  It's always on.  Remember when I spotted the Rakshsa I turned around to run away?  So the DM sighs, and says "I rolled really good on the lightning bolt table...now the crit..."  At this point I am grimacing, expecting the worse.  The DM hadn't mentioned what was up yet.  So he says I hear the boom of the lighting, and that I smell some smoke... but I was okay.  I turn around.  The lightning bolt had hit my pack, and the DM randomly determined where the amulet was.  It had been stuffed close to the back of the pack.  Everything in front of had been destroyed, but I was okay.  The Rakshasa?  He may not have been a pile of ash, but almost...

Unfortunately, most of the magic items the Rakshasa had on it's body were destroyed.  Oh well.  At least we survived.  Talk about dumb luck, and a DM who was really paying attention!  Fun times...