Southern Oracle
Explorer
As you may have guessed, I live in a town called Greeneville, which is nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. My tabletop gaming group is named after the town. We’ve been going strong for 10 years now, despite our location, and I’m proud that we’ve managed to keep our love of gaming alive and, more importantly, pass it on to the next generation.
It was a tough transition for me, moving from the suburbs of Detroit to East Tennessee. It was my junior year of high school, and I was enough of an outcast with my clothes, my hair, my accent, and my academic achievements, so I kept my gaming a secret. I spent a lot of time crafting adventures, typing up monsters and NPCs to file in alphabetical order, and coloring the pictures in my game books with fine-tip markers.
My senior year introduced me to the love of my life, my wife Patty, who was smart enough to realize that if she feigned interest in D&D, she would eventually own me, body and soul. We played a lot of solo adventures and then added my sister (who’s three years younger), then her boyfriend, then his best friend, and so on and so on.
Patty and I moved to Greeneville to go to Tusculum College, and we continued to game with my sister and her friends through their high school years. Marriage, work, and our first daughter slowed the gaming to a crawl, but we still got together for special occasions and “one-shot” game sessions. I learned to pace the games so that a diaper change equaled a cliffhanger, and a breastfeeding session meant “times passes” for the characters. Our games ran 12+ hours; a bunch of college/high school kids and two newly minted adults crammed into someone’s basement or garage with pizza and 2-liters to fuel the dice rolls.
My sister’s crowd then graduated, married, had kids, and the gaming died down again. Schedules didn’t allow marathon sessions, and Patty and I added daughters two and three to our family. I went back to crafting adventures, entering monsters and NPCs into my computer, and wishing I hadn’t colored the pictures in my game books with fine-tip markers, because it made them so hard to read.
With daughter #4 looming on the horizon, I strolled into B&C Collectibles one fateful night and joined a D&D game. I came back the next night and played again. The next week, I ran a game. The week after, the Greeneville Gaming Group was born. We met once a week at the shop, played, laughed, and ate pizza, bonding over a shared love of D&D. I remember the first time Patty met the group; it was Halloween, and she brought our youngest out in her costume for trick-or-treating. I had promised the group extra experience points if they dressed as their characters. Lew wore a pointed hat and a robe, carrying a wizard’s staff, and Dusty wore a white dress with a wig (he was playing a female snow elf at the time). Those were good times.
Unfortunately, Greeneville was not large enough to support a hobby shop. B&C carried minimal gaming merchandise, depending mostly on Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh to keep it open, charging for pizza by the slice and drinks by the can. It wasn’t enough to sustain the business, so they closed shop. The Greeneville Gaming Group transitioned to meeting at people’s houses, and we still do that all these years later.
The middle years were filled with three or four hour sessions each week, as schedules allowed. Most games took place at our house, as with four kids, either they came along, or Patty didn’t play. It was just easier for the guys to come to us, instead of the five of us piling into the van and having to entertain the girls and run a game at the same time.
Members came and went over the years. They either grew up, grew out of gaming, moved away, or all of the above. For the longest time, Patty and I were the only married couple in the group; Lew was married, but his wife worked opposite shifts from him, so she could never attend. The other guys had girlfriends from time to time, and they would come to one or two games, but they never lasted.
Eventually, one of our number got himself a girlfriend (in secret) and wooed her. We had no clue Daniel was dating anyone until he announced their engagement. Apparently, the Greeneville Gaming Group was his “dirty little secret” that remained hidden until their relationship was secure. At first we were offended, but when he convinced Kristen to play with us (and she loved it), we were delighted to add another female to our company.
Fast forward a few years, and it’s now nearing the end of 2012. Our group has had its ups and downs, and gaming sessions are lean this time of year, what with the holidays. Financial and personal problems have kept members from attending on a regular basis, and so we’ve turned to the next generation of gamers – our kids – to fill in the gaps. I always wanted my kids to play D&D, but daughters 1 and 2 had no interest.
Daniel and Kristen adopted two teenage boys, and they’ve both joined our campaign. Daughter #3 has joined as well, and brought her boyfriend into the fold. Our group now stands thusly: myself and Patty; our daughter Faelyn and her boyfriend; Daniel and Kristen, and their two sons; Paul, Dusty, and Lew. Eleven people after 10 years of gaming, four of them teenagers, primed and ready to carry on the tradition. We’re back to marathon sessions of 10 to 12 hours, accompanied by cheese platters, salads with gourmet vinaigrettes, and bubbling slow cookers full of barbecued pork and Italian meatballs. Life is good, even if it does repeat itself.
If you read last week’s article, you know I wanted to try out D&D Next. I broke down and helped Faelyn and her boyfriend make characters, then helped my youngest daughter make one as well. They ventured into the Caves of Chaos, fell into the pit trap, and were overcome by kobolds, cave rats, and a dire rat – a TPK. A good time was had by all, and we made plans to tweak the characters and try again.
“Dad, do you think it would be okay if mine and Austin’s character were brothers, since I’m the fighter and always protecting his wizard, and both our characters are male?”
I smiled and nodded. “You know, there are books about some brothers just like that. They’re over there on the bookshelf.”
“Really? What are they called?” Faelyn peered at the stacks of books, her eyes scanning the titles.
“Dragonlance.”
“There are bunch of those! Where do I start?”
I choked back tears of joy as I pulled Dragons of Autumn Twilight from its stack, the cover torn off but tucked firmly in the book’s middle. Off to her bedroom she went, thumbing through the pages and studying the map at the beginning. I’m glad that I’m a dad, and that I could pass on a love of fantasy and D&D.
Here’s to the Greeneville Gaming Group, and to 2013.
It was a tough transition for me, moving from the suburbs of Detroit to East Tennessee. It was my junior year of high school, and I was enough of an outcast with my clothes, my hair, my accent, and my academic achievements, so I kept my gaming a secret. I spent a lot of time crafting adventures, typing up monsters and NPCs to file in alphabetical order, and coloring the pictures in my game books with fine-tip markers.
My senior year introduced me to the love of my life, my wife Patty, who was smart enough to realize that if she feigned interest in D&D, she would eventually own me, body and soul. We played a lot of solo adventures and then added my sister (who’s three years younger), then her boyfriend, then his best friend, and so on and so on.
Patty and I moved to Greeneville to go to Tusculum College, and we continued to game with my sister and her friends through their high school years. Marriage, work, and our first daughter slowed the gaming to a crawl, but we still got together for special occasions and “one-shot” game sessions. I learned to pace the games so that a diaper change equaled a cliffhanger, and a breastfeeding session meant “times passes” for the characters. Our games ran 12+ hours; a bunch of college/high school kids and two newly minted adults crammed into someone’s basement or garage with pizza and 2-liters to fuel the dice rolls.
My sister’s crowd then graduated, married, had kids, and the gaming died down again. Schedules didn’t allow marathon sessions, and Patty and I added daughters two and three to our family. I went back to crafting adventures, entering monsters and NPCs into my computer, and wishing I hadn’t colored the pictures in my game books with fine-tip markers, because it made them so hard to read.
With daughter #4 looming on the horizon, I strolled into B&C Collectibles one fateful night and joined a D&D game. I came back the next night and played again. The next week, I ran a game. The week after, the Greeneville Gaming Group was born. We met once a week at the shop, played, laughed, and ate pizza, bonding over a shared love of D&D. I remember the first time Patty met the group; it was Halloween, and she brought our youngest out in her costume for trick-or-treating. I had promised the group extra experience points if they dressed as their characters. Lew wore a pointed hat and a robe, carrying a wizard’s staff, and Dusty wore a white dress with a wig (he was playing a female snow elf at the time). Those were good times.
Unfortunately, Greeneville was not large enough to support a hobby shop. B&C carried minimal gaming merchandise, depending mostly on Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh to keep it open, charging for pizza by the slice and drinks by the can. It wasn’t enough to sustain the business, so they closed shop. The Greeneville Gaming Group transitioned to meeting at people’s houses, and we still do that all these years later.
The middle years were filled with three or four hour sessions each week, as schedules allowed. Most games took place at our house, as with four kids, either they came along, or Patty didn’t play. It was just easier for the guys to come to us, instead of the five of us piling into the van and having to entertain the girls and run a game at the same time.
Members came and went over the years. They either grew up, grew out of gaming, moved away, or all of the above. For the longest time, Patty and I were the only married couple in the group; Lew was married, but his wife worked opposite shifts from him, so she could never attend. The other guys had girlfriends from time to time, and they would come to one or two games, but they never lasted.
Eventually, one of our number got himself a girlfriend (in secret) and wooed her. We had no clue Daniel was dating anyone until he announced their engagement. Apparently, the Greeneville Gaming Group was his “dirty little secret” that remained hidden until their relationship was secure. At first we were offended, but when he convinced Kristen to play with us (and she loved it), we were delighted to add another female to our company.
Fast forward a few years, and it’s now nearing the end of 2012. Our group has had its ups and downs, and gaming sessions are lean this time of year, what with the holidays. Financial and personal problems have kept members from attending on a regular basis, and so we’ve turned to the next generation of gamers – our kids – to fill in the gaps. I always wanted my kids to play D&D, but daughters 1 and 2 had no interest.
Daniel and Kristen adopted two teenage boys, and they’ve both joined our campaign. Daughter #3 has joined as well, and brought her boyfriend into the fold. Our group now stands thusly: myself and Patty; our daughter Faelyn and her boyfriend; Daniel and Kristen, and their two sons; Paul, Dusty, and Lew. Eleven people after 10 years of gaming, four of them teenagers, primed and ready to carry on the tradition. We’re back to marathon sessions of 10 to 12 hours, accompanied by cheese platters, salads with gourmet vinaigrettes, and bubbling slow cookers full of barbecued pork and Italian meatballs. Life is good, even if it does repeat itself.
If you read last week’s article, you know I wanted to try out D&D Next. I broke down and helped Faelyn and her boyfriend make characters, then helped my youngest daughter make one as well. They ventured into the Caves of Chaos, fell into the pit trap, and were overcome by kobolds, cave rats, and a dire rat – a TPK. A good time was had by all, and we made plans to tweak the characters and try again.
“Dad, do you think it would be okay if mine and Austin’s character were brothers, since I’m the fighter and always protecting his wizard, and both our characters are male?”
I smiled and nodded. “You know, there are books about some brothers just like that. They’re over there on the bookshelf.”
“Really? What are they called?” Faelyn peered at the stacks of books, her eyes scanning the titles.
“Dragonlance.”
“There are bunch of those! Where do I start?”
I choked back tears of joy as I pulled Dragons of Autumn Twilight from its stack, the cover torn off but tucked firmly in the book’s middle. Off to her bedroom she went, thumbing through the pages and studying the map at the beginning. I’m glad that I’m a dad, and that I could pass on a love of fantasy and D&D.
Here’s to the Greeneville Gaming Group, and to 2013.
Keep up the good gaming!
