Dungeons & Dragons | Youseph Tanha

Battlemat Review

Ever since I have been getting into Dungeons and Dragons I have been researching battlemat options. Battlemats can be used to help display combat aspects of a D&D game. Some people like to use them, and some don’t. I do like to use them.

Since I have started researching battlemat options I have been very disappointed with the reviews I have see on other websites and blogs. There seems to be one cream of the crop option when it comes to battlemat choices for D&D gamers. That would be Dwarven Forge sets. (Check them out on youtube) But I do find the Dwarven Forge option a little price prohibitive for me.

Now after Dwarven Forge, the choices for battlemats are a little less clear. A friend of mine got the Paizo GameMastery Flip-Mat which is a double sided laminated mat with 1 inch by 1 inch squares drawn on it. Because it is laminated you can use just about any kind of marker on it and wipe it off when your done playing. But this battlemat does come to you folded, and you can fold it away for easy storage when your not using it. However it dose not lay down very flat as a result. Which I do find annoying.

Another option (and the one I went with) is the Chessex Battlemat. This is a vinyl mat with an overlying black 1 inch square grid on it. It came with some short directions on how to keep it clean. It lays down flatter then the Paizo mat. But you do have to take a little bit better care of it. You only want to roll it up for storage as folding it will cause creases. You only want to use water based markers on it. Like the kind you would use on an over head projector. You also want to stay away from red and purple, and orange markers as the ink used in these colors to stain the mat.

The Chessex Battlemat came with some short and simple care instructions with it which I have found helpful. They also shipped to me here in Juneau Alaska very well. Using good post office packaging and peanuts to unsure the product came to be undamaged.

I have used this battlemat a couple of times now and it has gone over really well. I am glad I chose it. These pictures don’t show it very well but after a few minutes the mat dose lay down flat.

To be continued…

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…

Dungeons & Dragons: 4th Edition Books

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.

Dungeons & Dragons: Core Rulebook Gift Set

Dungeons & Dragons: Core Rulebooks and Miniatures

To be continued…

Dungeons & Dragons: It’s A Matter Of Life And Death

After my last post, I stumbled on some YouTube videos about the dangers of playing Dungeons & Dragons. Like this 1985, 60 Minutes story below. You also get to see Gary Gygax being interviewed.

To be Continued…