Jason

Missing Games!

That's right.  I really miss my games.  Since I moved about a year ago, I haven't gamed in any serious kind of way.  It's depressing.  I've managed to squeeze a few boardgames out of my fiancee's family, and I've run some pretty enjoyable games in the forums, but it's just not the same as sitting at a table with a bag of Doritos and a Mountain Dew, a character sheet and some dice and going at it.  I miss the smell of the books and the rattle of the dice bag.  I miss the joking around.  I miss wasting an hour of game time deciding what to get for dinner.  I miss defeating evil (well, more evil than my fellow adventurers at least).  I miss forcing my gaming group to try the latest new card/board/dice/role-playing game that I got over the weekend.  I miss gaming.

Now, for what it's worth, there are plenty of gamers where I live.  One need only go to the local call center.  You can't swing a chain-mail mesh dice-bag over your head without hitting a gamer in a call center.  And there are plenty of gamers that don't even work there.  The problem is the time involved.  First I have to find a group, then meet with them, then get comfortable with them, then find out that some/most/all of them are horrible mutant freaks.  Now, I love gaming, and gamers are my only friends, but for the love of crap, gamers can be the most psychotic goobers in the world!  I'm lucky enough to have hooked up with the Staff as a gaming group in the past.  They are an intelligent, well-rounded group that I miss a great deal as well.  Now, I know that our readers are the exception, but many of the gamers I've encountered are... quirky.  Like obsessive-compulsively so.  Gamers who can't just let a rule go, or who fly off of the handle because a new edition changed their favorite rule, or even are rule they had no opinion about prior.  Or gamers who uncontrollably house-rule a game to death, just because.  Not because they've played the game for several months and thought about it and decided that it was ruining the game.  No, these are people who hear a generality about a rule before the game is even released, cry out “That's stupid/broken/unrealistic/too realistic/not the way it was/not the way I wanted it to be!” and swear an oath to create house rules to change it before it even hits their gaming tables.

Maybe I'm just insecure.  Maybe I just don't feel right if I feel I can't trust the “physics” of the game world.  After all, while there are exceptions, most players don't want to think that they are at the whim of thier DM's.  We all assume that the DM is following the rules, and even if he's out to get us, he's working within the framework of the game's paradigm.  If the DM just “makes up” rules on the fly, overrides the rules “just because”, or creates poorly thought out house-rules, it breaks the game's consistency.  You can no longer trust the rules to work like you expect them to.  It's like knowing that, at any time, your city's department of transportation might decide that “red lights mean go”.  I don't know about anybody else, but that makes me a bit uncomfortable.  I'm not just seeking rules advantages here, either.  I've had DM's change the rules in my favor, and I didn't like it.  It cheapened the risks my character took.

Then, of course, there are the vast variety of personalities in the gaming world and the world at large.  Some people are just asses, and shouldn't be allowed out of their homes to begin with.

So, what it boils down to is this.  I miss gaming, but right now it's just not enough to get me past my dislike of meeting new people, and especially new gaming groups.

*sigh*

Server Master Rich

Hello all,  I'm glad a lot of you worked with us through the changes to the new forums.  I know some don't care for the change, and I know some do like the change, and others are iffy due to a combination of good and bad changes.   I think over the last week, we've made a lot of good progress, in large part to various requests/dialogues we've had with the dndorks community. 

Work should actually accelerate, not decrease, as more and more of our various projects are updated and made mainstream (in terms of the backend), in large part because Jason now works full time on the sites! 

Now, we are looking for some volunteers to help us with some of our projects, some with our role-playing setting we're creating (Galactic Chasms), some with dndorks, and some with topwebcomics.com  Look back in a few days with specific roles we're looking for.

Jason

Well, hello there!

I haven't posted in the rants for a while, but then again, not much was happening for quite some time.  Now, however is different, as a great deal of things are changing around here.  First off, I'm now able to devote myself full time to DnDorks and other related projects that the Staff has going.  For example, the cool, d20 inspired, Galactic Chasms web comic!  It features an original setting full of sci-fi goodies and magical mayhem, new races, advanced classes, feats, spells and technologies.  It uses the d20 Modern rules set per the d20 Modern OGL, and is absolutely free!  There will be more updates to those rules as time passes, as well as sample characters, adventures modules and the like.  While you're checking the site for the latest rules or setting info, you can also follow the adventures of the mercenary group “Blue Wave” as they get into all sorts of fantastic, dramatic, action-packed trouble!

There have been, and will continue to be some great changes in the future.  One, of which I'm sure you're aware, is the new forum.  Now admittedly, they took a little getting used to, and still require a few tweaks here and there to meet the fine standards to which you've grown accustomed, but beyond that there are many, many great features and the opportunity to be part of a larger community with WebComic.net!  Now that the dice-roller is installed, I personally am looking forward to continuing my swashbuckling, high-seas adventure RPG in the PBF Forums, if I can get my players to respond again :)  Also, I'm trying to get together a group to play Rune, the RPG, in the PBFs.  I don't know how well it will work, being as combat-oriented as it is, but I'm certainly going to try! GRRR!

Now, some of you may be aware that the DnDorks Staff was planning a trip to the San Diego ComicCon this month, but it doesn't look as promising as it once was.  I, personally, at least, have a lot of work to do to get DnDorks and Galactic Chasms to where I want them to be, and that may go for the other Staffers as well.  Still, there's always next year, and we intend to have a much bigger presence then.

Speaking of presence, my birthday is July 25th!  I'd suggest a party at my place, but it's kind of small here, and my little dogs are mean >:(.  Maybe we'll just have some cake and punch in the forums ;)  I'll see you there!

Server Master Rich

Important Information!  As our friendly Dndorks Admin posted here

How do I recover my Dndorks Forum Account???

Answer per The Dork Sage/ Arivia
Go to Login.
Hit I've forgotten my password.
Enter the email you had associated with your account previously to the change.
Hit send.
Follow the instructions in the email that should follow.
Now, remember, your login is now that email address.
I've already gone in and changed my password back to my old one-might you do the same?

If you're still having difficulties, please PM me via messenger (rmathis @ nextlevelweb.com) or email Jenn, and we'll get you all set back up.  We use e-mail address as your login now, which may prove confusing to some.  Everyone come back later (about 2:30pm Pacific Time is when it should be uploaded) to check out Jenn's first forum skin (based on the old dndorks forums).  If you'd like to try your hand at creating a forum skin, let me know, I'll send you a zipped package for you to work with, and you can have your own personal forum skin that may end up being used by hundreds/thousands of people!