Tech | Youseph Tanha

Playing Dungeons and Dragons

With all the Dungeons and Dragons talking I have been doing (not only on my blog but with my friends and co-workers) it’s not supprising that some of us would finally get a game started. For the last couple of weekens I have been part of group of friends playing Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. I am not DMing this game. Just playing as a character. (A half-elf rouge actually) It’s been a lot of fun hanging out with friends, laughing, joking, and just have a good time in general. Some of us have never played D&D before, and some of us have.

Playing the game as a player character has really been helpful to me in answer questions about DMing. It’s helping me understand how the game is played and how a good DM should act and tell a story.

Since I have been playing with this group for a coupld of weeks now, I have started filling notebooks with Drawings and notes for the game I will eventually lead. I can’t wait to get started but am also glad to have as much prep time as I do.

Here are some pictures from the game i have been involved with currently as a half-elf rouge.

To be continued…

Dungeons & Dragons: Mazes and Monsters

Mazes and Monsters vhs cover I wrote in an older post that I learned about the movie “Mazes and Monsters“. It’s a 1982 movie about a group of college students and their interest in a fictitious role-playing game (RPG) of the same name staring Tom Hanks. The film was adapted from a novel of the same name by Rona Jaffe. Jaffe had based her 1981 novel on inaccurate newspaper stories about the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III from Michigan State University in 1979.

Being into Dungeons and Dragons as much as I have been lately, I thought it would be fun to Netflix this movie and watch it. Well I did just that. I Netflix it, and watched it this last weekend.

Mazes and Monsters was not to bad. Actually, it was bad. It is a low budget, 1982 movie. The source film they used for the DVD transfer was not the best. There times where the film looks faded and spotty. At one point in the movie there is a bug that crawls from the bottom of the screen, to the top. (How the hell does that happen? How dose that end up on the film?) But you know, for me, it was a fun and silly movie to watch. Because of that it was not to bad.

There are even a few scene that take place inside the World Trade Center.

To Be Continued…

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.

I really love music. I really get into it and enjoy it.
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: A Brief History

In my continuing quest to learn how to play Dungeons & Dragons, I have also been learning a lot about the games history. The game D&D stems from European war fair. A system was developed in the eighteenth century to simulate battle field scenarios. Figures represented troop movements and dice represented random elements in the battle. This was called War Game.

About one hundred years later, writer H.G. Wells published a simplified version of War Game for use of toy solders which he called “Little Wars“. Clubs for “Little Wars” started all around the world. Eventually Gary Gygax was part of one of these clubs, and he along with Dave Arneson took the game Idea and created what we know today to be Dungeons & Dragons.

To Be Continued…

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

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…