Hubcap sandwiches & other misconceptions

Hairfoot

First Post

• Sep 23, 2005

• #1

When I started D&D at age 10, I thought "iron rations" meant that my PC ate ball bearings. Worse was the distinction between "bards" and "barding". I still mix them up, to the detriment of lutists everywhere.

What were your confuseled puzzlements from early games (or current games, even)?

 

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R

Rackhir

Explorer

• Sep 23, 2005

• #2

I forget the exact wording, but in the old SF RPG Traveler, it said something like "To join the Traveler's Aid Society you had to roll a 4+ on 2d6 to avoid a blackball" (Ie. a member blocking your joining). I thought that this meant you needed to make a piloting skill roll to avoid a black ball as in an object.

 

Ralif Redhammer

Legend

• Sep 23, 2005

• #3

I can't remember any real confustions (though I'm sure that there were some), but I do remember having some ghastly pronunciations of words I had never seen before. I'm looking at you, "chitin."

 

Drkfathr1

First Post

• Sep 23, 2005

• #4

I had a player that thought a 'waterskin' was a wetsuit!

They were in a water filled cavern and he said he was going to use his waterskin. We thought at first that he was trying to drink all the water in the cavern!

I had another one that thought that the abiltity to 'Turn Undead' meant he could create undead out of creatures he had killed in combat. He was a Paladin too!

 

M

Monte At Home

Explorer

• Sep 23, 2005

• #5

Just like the cartoon in an old issue of Dragon, my 1E group had clerics running around with lucern hammers, not realizing they were pole arms. Similarly, after seeing the movie Krull, we thought that the glaive was a throwing weapon, not a pole arm. (After finding out the truth of the latter, we ignored it and still used the Krull weapon in our games.)

 

Rel

Liquid Awesome

• Sep 23, 2005

• #6

Monte At Home said:

Just like the cartoon in an old issue of Dragon, my 1E group had clerics running around with lucern hammers, not realizing they were pole arms.

Click to expand...

Did that.

Jyrdan Fairblade said:

I can't remember any real confustions (though I'm sure that there were some), but I do remember having some ghastly pronunciations of words I had never seen before.

Click to expand...

Did a LOT of that. After the incident of me talking about the "puh-sway-dough" dragon (PSEUDO!), my father (who was never a big proponent of my hobby at the time) kindly sat down with me and the Monster Manual to straighten out my mispronunciations. Though even he was stumped by the Ixitxachitl. He peered really closely at the spelling and description and there on the first line it said, "FREQUENCY: Very rare" and he said, "Just don't use one of these in your game and you won't have to pronounce it."

 

Tolen Mar

First Post

• Sep 23, 2005

• #7

Shucks, he beat me to it...

I still write up stats on occasion for the glaive.

 

R

Rackhir

Explorer

• Sep 23, 2005

• #8

Rel said:

he was stumped by the Ixitxachitl. He peered really closely at the spelling and description and there on the first line it said, "FREQUENCY: Very rare" and he said, "Just don't use one of these in your game and you won't have to pronounce it."

Click to expand...

There was an old Dragon magazine cartoon which showed a pair of adventurers underwater with an Ixitxachitl sneaking up on the one with his back turned and the other Adventurer was frantically scrawling on a sign that had something like

"Ixitlcasdfhty" (crossed out)
"Ichytaxyl" (Crossed-out)
"MONSTER!"

Written on it.

 

Last edited: Sep 23, 2005

K

kenobi65

First Post

• Sep 23, 2005

• #9

Monte At Home said:

Just like the cartoon in an old issue of Dragon, my 1E group had clerics running around with lucern hammers, not realizing they were pole arms.

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Guilty as well. I just thought it was a really big hammer.

 

Henry

Autoexreginated

• Sep 23, 2005

• #10

Rackhir said:

There was an old Dragon magazine cartoon which showed a pair of adventurers underwater...

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Loved that one!

My cleric carried Lucern Hammers, ate MREs (I thought "iron rations" meant they were canned, no matter HOW anachronistic), and thinking that Glaives were some funky throwing star that fighters used.

I also caught hell for creating a character who had formerly been a "seaman." (pronounced 'see-men'.) Amongst a group of awkward 16-year-olds, nothing will bring out gales of laughter more than someone declaring he's a "seaman" repeatedly and ignorantly.

You think "Ixitxachitl" is tough, try "penanggalan" with a speech impediment. (And don't get me started on the near-urban-legendary "there's a Leak (Lich) in the fountain.")