Fond memories of glory and wanton slaughter: Part Three - The Last Crusade

College.

Off I go to art school in LA (okay, Valencia) while everyone else stays up in Oregon.

I don't think the Geeks up there continued with D&D. I'm still friends with them, but we're not too close, and after one of them flipped his lid during a game of Monopoly (long story), I've kept him at arm's length.

The Freaks, hell, they didn't even continue with school, much less any RPGs. They all dropped out and had lots of problems for lots of years. I'm still vaguely in touch with them (who isn't vaguely in touch with everyone from their past these days?), but we don't really talk or reminisce or connect.

Some of my college buddies had grown up with D&D, but none of us had played in a while.

Planescape came out.

I was intrigued. I absolutely loved the artwork. I bought most of the books. I made a few characters, I started to plot a campaign of such grand scope that it would ultimately alter the nature of the Blood War and the Lower Planes. I made some of my best character designs to go along with it. Some of my new college friends made characters. I made a Tiefling (of course) Necromancer (of course) Dustman (of course) named Hierlev.

We might have had one brief play session, maaaaybe two. School and drugs and girls and Los Angeles were intervening.

I got a computer. I played Warcraft. Diablo. Starcraft. The Playstation came out. The Xbox came out. The Playstation 2 came out. The Xbox 360 came out (I haven't really dabbled in the PS3). World of Warcraft came out (nor did I dabble in Everquest)...

Ten years after pen & paper games have dropped off my radar, I realize that there is not only a 3rd Edition of D&D out, but it's been out for several years and there's a new 3.5 Edition. I buy the core books out of curiosity and hastily try to learn how it works by making a character.

I am horribly confused.

The class changes look neat, the skill changes look neat, the prestige classes look neat, but I can't quickly put it all together, and the artwork isn't very interesting, so I put it on the shelf next to my antediluvian Ravenloft and Planescape schwag.

Five years later, I hear there's a 4th Edition. I get the itch. I do some research online.

Whoa. What the fuck does OSR mean and why is everyone going off about it?

Oh.

Neat!

I actually take the time to read through my 3.5 books. They make sense.

The online community and volume of resources is incredible.

I call up my friends and ask if they want to play.

I start a blog.