Those Thursday Night Games

In case you were wondering who I'm playing D&D with these days, I'm happy to introduce you to them. So, in no particular order...

As mentioned in previous posts, my long-time friend Alan has taken up the helm as the Dungeon Master, running us through the Shackled City campaign. Things are starting to get moving, and I think he's doing a good job of keeping us all in line. I'm not entirely sure where the game is going just yet, and I'm wary of posting any spoilers. After all, this is about my fellow players!

We met Alan a few years back, and he and his family have become very dear to my wife and I. In fact, I firmly believe that it's Theresa's (Alan's wife) fault that my wife and I ended up having a baby. After all, if she'd never given us that copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting, I don't think we would've been expecting in the first place.

Still, you never know.

Next on the roster is Adam, my bother-in-law. I've known him about as long as I've known my wife. He's no longer the annoying thirteen year old that he used to be when I first met his sister. Adam's a very character-driven player. It occasionally takes him weeks to formulate the precise character that he wants to play. This isn't a bad thing, necessarily, but it makes playing off-the-cuff games interesting. In this case, Adam is playing Talmin, a human bard.

Mike is the third player. Mike is the lunatic of the group. I'm not sure if he's really insane, or just a damn good actor. My actual take on Mike is that he's so bloody smart, he can't help but be a little bit eccentric. His characters all come with incredibly detailed (and disturbing) backgrounds, and they are invariably cursed with names that average gamers have no hope of pronouncing properly (such as "Xicohtencatl" or, in the case of the current game, "Kaukomieli"). Mike's character (who I may start referring to as "Kook," for short) is a dwarven paladin of St. Cuthbert. As my wife has said on many occasions, Mike plays the sort of paladin who must burn the orcs in order to save them.

The role of our elvish rogue, Theriel, is being played by Alex. My wife and I met Alex in another fellow's game a few years back. Alex is a braniac. He's a scientist, working on his doctorate or something like that. When he's not in the lab, he's hanging with his wife or geeking out at the gaming table. Alex is a cool dude, and he knows his stuff. He's got an excellent grasp of the game rules without being a rules lawyer (which means I can be myself when he's around, nyuk). He has recently relocated nearer to us, so we can actually play together on a more regular basis.

My wife would normally be playing; in the case of the Shackled City game, she rolled up a wizard of some sort...but she hasn't yet played. Time and the child have both conspired to keep her away from the action that occurs at the dinner table every other week. Look here at what she's missing: the attack of the giant water-based marker pen! Aiiiie!

Of course, then there's me, your host. I'm playing a human cleric of no god in particular. I made sure to give my character a rather mundane and uninspired name: Marcus. He's based on the hospitalers of the Crusades, wandering and aiding the pilgrims of all good deities. For some reason unknown to me at present, he's in Cauldron. The more I see of the city, the less I understand why anyone would want to live there.

So that's our group, as it is. They hate it when I bring out the camera, but that's okay...they can deal with it, for the sake of my blog.