Category: Juneau

Playing Rock Band

Last Friday a bunch of us all gathered at our friend’s house to hang out, visit, and to play Rock Band which Chris had brought over. Rock Band is a video game that lets you simulate being in a band. Now, there are currently two types of games like this. Rock Band and Guitar Hero. I am personally more of a fan of the game Guitar Hero then Rock Band. I just think it plays a little bit better then Rock Band. But they both have the same idea behind them. You have plastic instruments (bass, guitar, drums, microphone) that you use to play the game with.

Hannah snapped some quick video of 4 of us playing to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer”. I am playing guitar, Rose is on vocals, Carley is on bass guitar and Zaine is playing the drums.

Now you may notice that I am bouncing around like a fool while we play. I do this for two reasons.

  1. I really love music. I really get into it and enjoy it.
  2. To entertain people. There are about 5 or 6 people off camera view you can’t see who are just watching the four us play. I know personally i would rather be playing a video game then watching someone else play it. So I feel that the least I can do is try and make it as entertaining as possible for all those who are waiting for their turn to play the game.

This kind of mentality goes back to when I lived in Anacortes and used to play in a band. I was a poor high school student. I know the kids coming to see my band play where also poor high school student’s, and they are getting charged around ten bucks a show to see us play. So I always felt they should get their moneys worth by exaggerating my playing, showing off, just giving them something to look at. Making sure the kid in the back of the venue felt just as entertained as the kids near the front of the stage. I always try to take my band practices very seriously. Always wanting to get better at the drums and the music we were playing. I always felt that shows we played was when we are not longer musicians but entertainers. People are coming to a rock show to be entertained, not to just see you stand in the middle of the stage playing a guitar and signing with your eyes closed.

But I digress.

Guitar Hero (like Rock Band) Is a great game for parties and just fun. It’s one of the very few games I own that i still come back to and play all the time.

Dungeons & Dragons: 4th Edition Books

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It finally came!!!

I made the plunge and picked up the Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition containing all three core rulebooks. I also picked up some D&D Miniatures. I have been spending so much time researching Dungeons & Dragons on the internet, and talking about it with friends that I feel confident that picking up these D&D books will not be a waist of time or money. I can’t wait to get starting on them.

The Dungeons & Dragons books, as well as the Miniatures, came very well packed from Amazon.com. ( As you can see below ) The miniatures are very well panted and came with their own mini game as well. So for the cost it’s a great value.

The Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set came in very nice, durable slipcase. All the books are hard cover. After flipping through them a few times these books do feel like they could take a beating and not fall apart on you.

To be continued…

Dungeons & Dragons: Looking For Advice

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Having read the “Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition RPG Starter Set” a few times now my mind is filled with questions about the game. But the over all question I have is How dose this all work? I wanted to start finding people here in Juneau with D&D experience that I could ask my questions.

One of the first places I tried was a used books store in down town Juneau called Rainy Retreat Books. There I met a very nice gentleman by the name of Royce Metz. He and I got into a long talk about Dungeons & Dragons. He did his best to explain to me the differences of Dungeons and Dragons 3.0, 3.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 4.0. He gave me some great advice about playing the roll of the Dungeon Master.

Dragon Lance Chronicles Volume 1: Dragons of Autumn Twilight 1984He also suggested the first three books from the DragonLance Chronicles to read. That the books would give me some good ideas for adventures and quests. So for a few bucks I picked them up.

I also went looking online for advice. I figured that I could not be the only person online blogging about the journey to learn Dungeons & Dragons. But after many Google searches I came back with two links I think are worth mentioning at the moment.

The first one is from Wizards of the Cost. They are the current publisher of the Dungeons & Dragons books. They have a pod cast section on their website. In particular they have a pod cast with the guys from Penny Arcade and Player Vs. Player playing Dungeons and Dragons that can be found here. I have found this so helpful! You can listen to them play D&D 4th edition, and get a real good feel of the game mechanics and how everything works together! I think this is one of the most helpful things I have found.

The second link I found is for a website called Newbie DM. This is a guy who blogs about Dungeon Mastering and the tips and tricks he has found that works best for him. For me it’s been an interesting read learning how this DM runs his games and the tools he finds useful for himself and his group of adventurers.

I still continued to look around for people to talk to who have had experience playing the game. I even spoke with my older brother Reza, about this on the phone. I asked him if he had ever played Dungeons & Dragons. To my astonishment he had when he was a high school junior in Vancouver Washington. (My older brother is just as much of a geek as I am!)  Aside from needing the three core rulebooks, he told me a story about D&D. That back when I was much younger and we all used to live in Gridley Kansas, he had heard that a kid from near by Greenwood county, had killed himself. That one night while he was playing Dungeons & Dragons with some friends, his character had been banished to the Netherworld. This kid felt that the only way he could save his character from the Netherworld was to kill himself so he could go in after him. As my brother was telling me this story, I told him that I recalled hearing a version of it from my past. I might have even over heard Reza talking about this story with his friends or with our parents.

Mazes and Monsters vhs coverI can’t help but wonder if the story my brother and I heard was somehow related to the story of James Dallas Egbert III and what is refered to as the Steam tunnel incident. The steam tunnel incident is a set of urban myths wherein players enacting live action role-playing games perish. Mazes and Monsters is a 1981 novel based on inaccurate newspaper stories about the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III from Michigan State University in 1979. A 1982, made for T.V. movie called Mazes and Monsters (staring Tom Hanks) was based on the book. Just for fun I have added the movie to my Netflix Que.

To Be Continued…

Dungeons & Dragons: Is The Quick-Start Guide Any Help?

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As I wrote earlier I picked up the “Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition RPG Starter Set” from my local book store here in Juneau Alaska. I spent the next several days reading the material that it came with. The first book in the starter set is called the “4th Edition Quick-Start Rules”. This has information on the game mechanics, as well as the game rules. It also comes with five ready made characters so you can start adventuring. To someone like me who is new to the game of D&D, this was all very intimidating to read. But I got through it.

The starter set also includes a “Dungeon Master’s Book” which contains rules for the person who will be taking on the roll of Dungeon Master. A Dungeon Master is the game organizer and participant in charge of creating the details and challenges of a given adventure. The Dungeon Master describes to the other players what they see and hear. Also included in the starter-set is a pre made adventures and pre made Monsters. Between these two books you can play a game of Dungeons & Dragons. However, with just my first read threw of the information I don’t think I could run a game. Not yet anyway.

Reading these books has caused my mind to exploded with questions! I have learned a lot about D&D after reading these quick-start books, but I was still left with unanswered questions. The game has such endless possibilities. I am already thinking about picking up the Three Core Rulebooks. I want to learn how to build my own character and monsters. I want to be the Dungeon Master in a game and come up with my own adventures.

But first I need to take a deep breath and re-read the these quick-start books a couple of times. I just really need to get down and absorb the information some more.

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Starter Set
Tokens

This starter-set also came with character and monster tokens as well as 3 sheets of double sided D&D Dungeon Tiles that can be used to adventure with. The included Dungeon Master’s book has a sample adventure using these tokens and tiles. But one thing is clear, the game can be played without tiles, or tokens, or even miniatures. All you really need is some Pencils and paper.

This starter-set is not with out a complaint however. The box it came in really is shitty. By shitty I mean flimsy and week. It really feels like it can fall apart any moment.

To be continued…