It was sometime ago when I've decided to make some reorganisation to my online blog posts.

The original intention of this blog had solely been a site where I could place my rants about people, and certain events that had been interesting in my life. Although the initial few posts had been more or less than prudent in its seriousness, I deem apt to post them since they are about me after all. Yet, due to certain events which had been transpiring around me which I could not seem to ignore, and with the abject seriousness of those topics which I feel would not have the similar impact that I hope would have transcend upon my readers, therefore I've decided to set up another blog while retaining this site as my life's rant page, and would perhaps proceed to revamp this site into one of my dedicated D&D gaming blog posts as well.

Thus, I hope with all considerations, for my readers who follows this current blog of mine, I do wish that you continue to do so. As for some of you whom might wish to visit my blog on my views with regards to more serious topics, may visit this site here at http://azmodeus.wordpress.com.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused. (Not that I really mean it. I just add this in for the sake of it ^^)

Cheers

Dungeons & Dragons (Part 1)

I am quite sure that most of you probably would have heard of this title somewhere along in your life somewhere, one way or another had you been following popular culture. You would probably have seen the atrociously lousy movie that goes along with the title of it, or perhaps you have played the then popular video arcade games in the 90s, or some might even have seen the tv series of it somewhere.

But what most people might not have known that Dungeons and Dragons did not originate from a tv series, movie or even an arcade game.

Its a roleplaying game.

And I am not even talking about the video/PC Final Fantasy, Diablo, Breath of Fire, Arc the Lad, Romancing Saga type of games. Nor the much popular MMORPG games thats running rampant around such as World of Warcraft, Ultima, or even Dungeons and Dragons Online.

I am talking about the true blue RPGs that runs on pen, paper, and loads of imagination The type of RPGs with friends whom would sit around with you at the dining table, acting out their characters, checking with the next guy if hes got the right spells prepared, discussing their battle plans with the next horde of imaginary monsters that were planning to jump a surprise on them in the next corner kind of RPG.

Since most people do not have an idea of what Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game is like in the first place, can't say it had been terribly popular in Singapore as well. Perhaps I'll just ramble on a little of my personal experience on how I had started the game.

I guess it all started out when I was in my cousin's room back when I was 10, and to be honest, at that point in time, I have no idea what I was getting into was this addictive. Nonetheless, I was going through his stuffs on his table scanning through a whole bunch of his wierd collections of preserved insects kept in bottles filled with formalin, yea you got it there, bottles of beetles, ants, flies, bees, moths, and even a tiny snake submerged in clear yellowish liquid. It was quite a sight, enthralled for a moment by those innocuous bottles, before moving on to some multi colored faceted dices, those 4, 8, 12, and 20 sided dices catching my attention, again fascinated by the the fact that apart from the standard 6 sided dices (seen it quite often in my relatives mahjong sessions), these dices actually existed. It was when my cousin happened to came back and caught me with the dices, and I think, at that point in time, some kind of wicked idea flashed across his mind and have decided to introduce the game to me. Which being the young impressionable me then, decided why not? =)

And thus I had begun my journey to a fantasy world of giant purple man eating worms, fantastical fire breathing dragons, and cute morbid dwarves with my cousin. With a pen, and a paper, writing down my character's key statistics down, and we are ready to go, and from there I will assumed a a character of a sword wielding hero, donnng classic medieval armor and on my way to save a village from certain destruction by a pillaging orc band. My cousin will fill me in with the backdrop of the place where I was in, of wide open plains of farmlands, as villagers tend to their lands, and children running across the plains chasing butterflies, and as I walked along the wide farm tracks, the farmers came to me and informed me of recent rampaging orc bands which had been threatening the village in exchange for gold and food. As my cousin recites the story to me, as my imaginative minds vividly paints the scene of me championing the cause of good for the peasants and defend the weak against the wicked. As the skirmishes came on hard and fast, rolling dices to indicate how well I had struck the orcs, the higher the roll the better, as I've remember rolling a 20 on the 20 sided dice, as my cousin described my blade arcing down diagonally across the orc's body, the creature looks up at me stupidly, seemingly unhurt, and as he was about to raise his axe to strike at me, its upper torso starts to slide off, as the creature falls to the ground in two, sliced from right shoulder to left lower hip. I could almost imagine the tenseness of the battle, as each of my actions which I took in battle relates to the chances of survival for the villagers, and each roll of my dice translates to the success of my slashes, strikes and parries. The day ended quickly, 4 hours passed just like that within my cousin's room, just the two of us, with him relating the adventure and story, and I lived the life of a hero of honor in glory, saving lives and crushing evil.

The game itself requires at least 2 or more players to play it, one of them will take the role of the DM short for dungeon master, whom takes the role of the storyteller, the person whom arbitrates the rules within the game for the players and narrate the happenstance of what happens within the game and how it affects on the players, whom also assumes the roles of NPCs or non-player characters who appears within the game to interact with the players. As for the players within the game, they each assume a role of a character within the game (or story), where they are the primary cast whom gets to decide and act out their roles, which would ultimately influence the ending of the game which the Dungeon Master had usually already planned for.

To be honest, it was just something which I had not anticipated to be that fun, a game where it just takes a few imaginative players with a hell load of time to spare to sit down and enjoy the story with them, the main players and actors to determine the ending of that story. There was no pre-planned script, just people talking to one another, getting a fix from their roles, doing something which they could probably never get to do in real life, and thats casting spells, slinging fireballs at the other guy, hurling lightning bolts, swinging a magicked sword, shooting a bow, or calling upon the elements to crush your foe that sorta thing. Perhaps I had been overly simplistic, but thats exactly what had attracted me to the game initially, the simplism of the game, the ability of something so simple which draws upon the players' imagination to fuel your drive to play it.

As I progressed further into the game, the game had evolved to the point where its more than just to save damsels in distress, burning villages or kill the evil monster kinda campaigns. It had became more complicated as I was introduced to my cousin's DM, he kinda a dark ages romanticist, and he has such a knack for bringing life into the stories which he tells, his games were normally much more lively with witty conversations with his NPCs. We had games which involve plots, subterfuge, assassinations, and insidious plans set upon us by dark and evil characters within the game. It became complicated, yet, at the same time, I felt the game became more real, more tangible to what we touch on in real life, yet at the same time, provided that draw of a surreal fantasy world.

Okay,

Alright lets see, I still haven't finish my draft on the Penang trip yet, ya, theres alot of crap to be wrote, although its mostly the pictures which I did not have the time to upload it (amidst a chorus of boos).. OK OK! I know you guys are probably thinking that I am finding excuses (especially Janice), which I am not. bleah

So I shall dedicate my blog entry today to Miss Janice. Hmm.. sounds wierd that I should dedicate a blog entry to one of my major protagonists... but ya... I guess for her effort in reading my entries I supposed I could oblige her loyal readership with my entry for her.

Lets see,

I don't believe I had known her for a long time, infact I couldn't exactly remember where did I met her first (pardon me lar, I mean I don't note down who or when I met em sometimes). If I am not wrong, the first time that I've got to know this quirky lady was over at Happy (a gay club), for those wondering why the hell I was there in the first place, I don't even have an idea myself. All I do know is that some friend by the name of D managed to convince us of a place with good music and a place to shake our bomboms, and we went.

So it was there I got to know this charbor, I mean, at first glance, seriously, I had this impression that she have this retro style look, straight cut hair, nerdy glasses, and hell, with a set of perky cheeks to boot~ LOL and so there I was sashaying to the music, watching D, iz, and zy getting all warmed up to this ermm.. sassy lass (ok, I only got know the sassy part a lil later).

Alright, to be honest, she really doesn't look like your typical Singaporean chick that walks along the street, I mean, though shes supposed to be elegant (as part of her job requirements), I mean hell I don't see that particular trait when we are with her, I mean come on, which air stewardess will pinch you for 4-5 times for saying that shes a mummy's girl?Yup, elegance is definitely out, but sassy is in, which is where I found out about that part... it didn't take long though, maybe only about half an hour into Happy? lol

I guess she has her cute points, well... her cheeks are cute, cute retro looking glasses, hmmm.. perky posterior, and ermm.. what else? lol... alright maybe I let the rest fill me up on this particular portion, since her cuteness fails to dawn on me whenever she pinches me or grabs for my family jewels (YES!! She did!) whenever I make a smart aleck or wise ass comment about her *bleah*. Nonetheless, apart from those cute/uncute parts about her, after getting to know her for awhile, you'll realise that she isn't that bad I guess, well... apart from her quirkiness, unruliness, sassiness, cheekiness, and blurness behavior, taking those away, you actually get a down to earth, filial, fiercely loyal, emotional, and fun loving friend. *smiles* To be honest, Janice must have been one of those few persons I know whom would never fail her mum for dinner dates or outings, she would never find excuses or reasons not to go (which I must say I had been guilty of several times), for her, commitment to her family is probably one of her top priorities in life, and I really respect her for that.

Although I'll have to say I did not really have a really good impression of her during certain points of our friendship (read my entry on FoB), where I do find her too emotional at times when it comes to certain decision making, I guess after geting to know her better, I realised that its just her, and I guess the part where shes loyal to her friends kinda offsets most of her supposed bad points, and whats the most important criteria for being a friend? That is to be there for that person when he needs it, and Janice happens to be that kind of person, one who believes in the things that she do, one who believes that to be a good friend means one to be able to commit to maintaining that friendship. And for that, I am quite willing to be the kind of friend for her whom I would offer my well meaning advice to her, bum and crap together, and of course, offer my aid and support whenever she needs it.

Though if it helps, she really gotta curb her emotional outburst a little sometimes. *chuckles*

Well, thats it for my post today, and I am kinda expecting more pinches the next time I see this charbor again. Wish me luck people.