Dungeons and Dragons, or why I have more dice than the average small town.

I Play D&D, and so, thank the heavens, does Sadimac. It's our bowling, our golf, our heroin, our whatever (except it's not our alcohol, we have alcohol for that).

Warning: I am about to talk about my D&D character. Those of you that are bored senseless by this will want to skip the next paragraph or so.

Last chance to look away...

Through a combination of skill, luck, DM generosity and the party springing for a resurrection that one time, I have a 20th level character. Gaerdin Barradawan, Chaotic Neutral Human (with Gnomish blood) Ninja 18/Fighter 2. Excellent stats, a host of top notch magic items, and the sword: a +4 Keen Flaming Burst Ghost Touch Gromasha Wood Katana. He ate a fruit from the grandmother tree of his people's legends, can see things others can not, as well as other stuff I can't reveal because my DM swore me to secrecy (Sadimac reads the blog). He is a ritualistic cannibal, a cheat, a thief, and is frelling awesome.

There, I'm done you can continue reading.

I've been playing pretty consistently since Jr. High school, although I first played in about sixth grade with some kids that kind of had a tough time grasping the concept, so I got bored and didn't try it again for a couple of years. I've played in great campaigns, lousy campaigns, and through stuff I'd rather forget. Even when I didn't have a game going, I still read the magazines, picked up the occasional book, and constantly made characters that would never be played.

I've been through all 3 and a half editions, dragged kicking and screaming into each new edition, only to admit after a couple of months that it was an improvement each time. I say now that if there is a 4th edition I'll never play it, but I expect that I'll change my tune with in two years, just like every other time.

There are now a total of 6 characters that I've played that are truly memorable(Niche the Halfling Rouge, Sira the Half-Elf Wizard, Voldam the Human Cavalier, Velsos the Elven asshole Archer, Dila the Dwarven Psionic, and Gaerdin), followed by dozens that are half remembered puzzle pieces that have become a jumble in my head.


Now, our current campaign is at end game. Our characters are incredible (If you think mine sounds impressive, you should see Sadimac's Necromancer, Jolene), and next Saturday we'll go and fight something that we'll probably not all survive. It will be immensely satisfying, and it will be over.

But you see, I have this new character...