@contrarian@dice.camp
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

contrarian

@contrarian@dice.camp

I have nothing to sell you. I'm just a boy who never stopped loving AD&D.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

contrarian, to random
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

The only reason I recognize is because they wasted a lot of money showing me Facebook ads for a game I was never going to buy. So, I guess it makes sense that "enormous" marketing expenditures is one of things that did them in.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-rise-and-fall-of-evil-genius-games.702617/

contrarian, to dice
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

For , a short story about and .

Back in 2011, I was dating an attractive young woman who told me she didn't play , but wanted to show me her D&D set. Weirdly, it was the 1977 "Holmes Edition" set.

"What's weird about that," you ask? Reader, my girlfriend was born in 1981. How does a non-gaming Millennial start her collection with a box four years older than herself?

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

The answer was simple, but at the time, a bit shocking: My millennial girlfriend's set was hand-me-down from her father, who claimed he bought the game back in the 1970s, but never played it, because "it was too complex." (I laughed in at that.)

For the first time in my then-40 years, I was dating someone young enough to have inherited her D&D stuff from her parents. I've never felt more like a cradle-robber in my life!

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

My girlfriend's basically-untouched 1977 set was in great shape, but there was one problem with the set's . Do you see it? That's right, she didn't have a d6!

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

A set missing just one die is the kind of thing that can drive an old game collector crazy, and I was a collector back then.

I'd stopped playing in 1999 because I didn't like Third Edition, but restarted five years later when I decided it was OK to be an old who specialized in old versions of D&D. A major part of embracing my grognard roots was using eBay to hunt down all the classic gaming accessories I'd missed the first time around... including dice.

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

The early 2000s were the perfect time to be collecting classic through eBay. Lots of ex-gamers dumping collections cheap. Sometimes, I was buying three hardcover books and a bag of for 20 bucks! Sometimes, I'd buy a hundred dice lot to get one die that completed one of my sets.

I ended up with so many extra dice, that my collection has its own Iconic Monsters, such as the Bowl of Unwanted Chessex, the Lifetime Supply of 30-sided Dice, and... the Jar of Old TSR.

Large plastic bag full of white 30-sided dice.
A small glass jar full of vintage TSR dice.

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

I admit, I'm genuinely awful at choosing good gifts for anyone, let alone for girlfriends. It's hurt relationships in my past. But just once, in that time and that place, the stars aligned and I had the perfect gift for a pretty girl.

That's right, readers. I gave her a vintage six-sided die.

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

Did an antique six-sider impress that girl? I'd like to think so, because she married me, and I have the to prove it!

So, Happy to all the gamers, grognards, and other geeks reading this. Remember, with five funny dice and one , you can handle any adventure!

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

@Shkshkshk "The wedding favors are going to be dice!" was literally my only contribution to the planning. My wife had a big dream wedding planned, but I only had one tiny wedding dream!

They were custom . Very affordable, especially in bulk. https://www.chessex.com/custom-engraved-dice

Yora, to DnD
@Yora@dice.camp avatar

history question:

When was the Plane of Shadow first introduced and who came up with it?

It does not exist in Planescape, but it's included very confidently in the 3rd edition Manual of the Planes as if it had always been an integral component of the D&D planes.

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

@Tim_Eagon @Yora You guys... It's in "Deities & Demigods." (The 1E MoP actually downgraded it to a demiplane before 3E re-upgraded it.) If you want to look for an earlier origin, you need to look before 1980.

contrarian, to gammaworld
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

In the future, members of a musical Cryptic Alliance called the Fire-Singers travel the . They perform, study, and debate all 8 versions of their sacred hymn that were written between 1989 and 2232, hoping to somehow, somewhere, discover who started the fire.

https://people.com/fall-out-boy-updated-cover-billy-joel-we-didnt-start-the-fire-referencing-qanon-elon-musk-7554757

contrarian, to mst3k
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

's "Gorgo" starts out as a "King Kong, but with a dinosaur" knockoff when a sea monster is purchased by a London circus, then pulls a switcheroo when the monster's much larger mother arrives to rescue her baby. Godzilla-like rampaging ensues.

players are always trying to talk DMs into letting them capture and train monsters. Why not let them, then let them meet their new pet's mother?

contrarian, to mst3k
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

In 's "Doctor Mordrid," the secret sorcerer is for some reason giving academic lectures on the occult.

Reminds me of a idea I never used -- a supernatural superhero with a secret identity as a "cult expert" advising police. Basically cons the cops into finding crimes for him, gives them bad advice, secretly solves the crimes as a superhero, and leaves the cops with a lot of "unsolved crimes." Might work as a hook for a modern , too.

contrarian, to mst3k
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

In 's "Prince of Space," an alien who's frustrated that Earth doesn't surrender the minute he lands spends the rest of the movie improvising dumb plans to convince Earthlings to give up (including kidnapping scientists who don't think they're as influential as the alien does).

Combining stubbornness and poor planning makes for a very episodic alien invasion, which is what a needs: A new dumb evil plan every week, not just a military bug hunt.

contrarian, to mst3k
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

The "golden spider-duck" joke in 's "Horror of Party Beach" reminds me of a pet peeve: Gamers who think "combination monsters" like are too silly.

You know what? Centaurs, chimeras, and pegasuses are silly combination monsters, too, but they don't seem silly to most Westerners because those monsters are part of a culture we grow up with. "Silly monster" is just a cultural bias against monsters you didn't grow up with.

contrarian, to random
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

Why does https://tabletop.events still have a "Share to " button?

contrarian, to mtg
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

Selling chicken tenders in the game store? Now the players will never go home!

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2023/11/ypsilanti-area-business-is-upping-its-gaming-experience-with-addition-of-cafe.html

contrarian, to random
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

Attention, gamemasters: Some of you need to update your histories of the future, because 13 October 2023 is now apparently the date the Space Rangers were founded.

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/space-force-ranger-school-guardian-daniel-reynolds/

LeviKornelsen, to random
@LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

Listen, I'm not saying that I primarily practice book repair on my (over my lifetime three) copies of Castle Falkenstein, but I am saying that it's terrible binding is why I learned how to glue pages back in.

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

@LeviKornelsen I own a bottle of acid-free bookbinding glue solely because of TSR's .

contrarian, to DnD
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

Just found out my wife has been storing a sword (left over from her days) under our bed the entire time we've been together. It's like she's the clichéd "retired adventurer living a quiet life in the village" in a game, and I'm the clichéd clueless spouse.

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

@nyrath Indeed it was. None of the photos she's shown me from those days included a sword. Until today, I thought she was one of the mild-mannered reenactors!

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

@RogerBW I already told her she's in charge of handling orcish invasions now. It's good to have a clearly-defined set of responsibilities in a marriage.

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

@johnshirley2024 I will definitely be more careful about what I say to her in bed, that's for sure.

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

@NatureMC It was in a box of her reenactor stuff that I never needed to open! I only saw it this weekend because I was helping her declutter.

kyonshi, to DnD
@kyonshi@dice.camp avatar

A discussion of The Complete Warlock.
I find this topic interesting because Warlock was a California variant of that helped foster the growing hobby of the time. It never really seems to have taken off by itself though, as was just around the corner.

The Vintage RPG Podcast: The Complete Warlock

Episode webpage: https://www.vintagerpg.com/2023/07/the-complete-warlock/

Media file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/thevintagerpgpodcast/VRPG_-_The_Complete_Warlock.mp3?dest-id=747998

contrarian,
@contrarian@dice.camp avatar

@kyonshi There was a Yahoo Group of Warlock old-timers, who migrated to Google Groups when Yahoo Groups closed.

Somebody must still be playing the game regularly, because most of the group messages are "I'll be hosting this week's game."

https://groups.google.com/g/warlock-d_and_d/about

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • megavids
  • kavyap
  • DreamBathrooms
  • cisconetworking
  • magazineikmin
  • InstantRegret
  • Durango
  • thenastyranch
  • Youngstown
  • rosin
  • slotface
  • mdbf
  • khanakhh
  • tacticalgear
  • JUstTest
  • everett
  • modclub
  • Leos
  • cubers
  • ngwrru68w68
  • ethstaker
  • osvaldo12
  • GTA5RPClips
  • anitta
  • provamag3
  • normalnudes
  • tester
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •