[Moo] A LiveJournal post

[Dexter Guptill]

I just put up the following on my LiveJournal<http://3fgburner.livejournal.com>
:

25-1/2 or so years ago, I was dungeon-mastering a bunch of drunks, playing
old-edition Dungeons and Dragons, down in the basement. One of them tried to
rules-lawyer me. As in,

"I've got a magic bow that will fire 6, +1 arrows in a round".

"The ogre with a club is right behind the door you just kicked."

"But the rules say..."

"Fine. If you can do it for real, your character can do it in the game."

"HUH???"

Stuffed him in armor. Simulated typical player-character encumbrance by
stuffing a goodly portion of my SF collection in a backpack. Handed him a
bow and a Markland-tip arrow. Grabbed a mace, went in the bathroom, told him
to kick in the (unlatched, didn't  want to break it) door. He did, and I
speed-bagged him with the mace. He didn't shoot me.  He went off in the
corner to sulk, drink more, and pass out. The rest of the group forgot D&D,
and asked me why I had armor, and padded weapons.

"Well, there's this group I belong to..."

Fast-forward to June of 81. We put together a small melee-fighting event,
out in Front Royal, VA. Feast was 10 gal of venison stew, keg of beer,  and
a pile of bread and cheese. Feast hall was 2-3 tarps over picnic tables. It
rained. The Crown Prince at the time, Sir Bertrand de Flammepoing, had so
much fun that he asked us to do his Coronation in September. Thus was born
the Shire of Stierbach. <http://www.stierbach.org/> Perpetrator, moi.
Godfathers, Sir Strykar Geirhaldsson and Sir Kennequrae of Gilchrest.

25 years later...

The group's grown. A lot of people have come and gone. We've been a Barony
for quite a few years now. Some of the folk at the event last Saturday,
didn't even realize it was the 25th Anniversary.  I had a  blast. Primarily
Marshalled, and lugged water for the fighters. There was a most excellent
feast. There was also a pretty substantial merchant's row. I counted pointy
hats from at least three other baronies around.  There were a LOT more
fighters there, and the event went back to its roots: a primarily-melee
fighting event.

I was truly impressed with the people who ran the event. From the efficiency
of the Troll staff, to the Marshall-in-Charge, to the Chirurgeons and
Waterbearers, folks who set up and ran archery, and the cooks of the
excellent Middle-Eastern feast (very appropriate for the weather), all did
an outstanding job.  I haven't autocratted a Birthday in about 20 years,
myself.  When I did, I could not have done as well as the current lot of
worker-bees.

VIVAT!


Erich von Kleinfeld, mka
-- 
Dex
--Dexter Guptill
aka "Brother Shotgun of Social Justice"

http://members.cox.net/dguptill
"Rule 37: There is no overkill. There is only 'Open Fire', and 'I need to
reload'. "
-- http://www.schlockmercenary.com
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