Tales from the Ragged Edge

I’m gonna let my geek flag fly here for a bit, so if that’s not your scene, keep on moving.

There we go.  We’re alone in here?

Good.

When I was 12, I played Dungeons & Dragons for the very first time. My character was a Dwarven Paladin, which turned out to be against the rules. This was OLD school D&D, back in 1st edition, back in 1981 or so, when people thought it led to Satanic worship. That was my first Role Playing Game, and I have rarely taken a long break from gaming since. A lot of characters have come and gone, but you never forget your first.

I was living in Seattle, playing at the Game Center in the U-District, owned and operated by Wizards of the Coast who now published D&D, when the 3rd edition came out. My first 3rd edition character? A Dwarf. His name was Oztangiel Craghelm, Cleric of Kord. He learned to craft beer and used it as a base for his healing potions that he also brewed. He was known for being…adaptable. When fighting a gargoyle without magic weapons, he chose to wrestle the thing to the ground so the rest of the party could whale on it with their charmed weapons. While fighting a hydra, he had only his mace, ill suited to cutting off a head–so he pumped up his strength as high as he could and hacked a head off with the edge of his shield. Ah, I miss Brother Oz.

I’m currently playing in only one game that meets every-other week. Yeah. I’m playing a Dwarf, this time a Barbarian who happens to be the smartest member of the party. He has a sunny personality and likes to carve little sleeping cats with wings out of stone. He’s a sweetheart. And a tank. And a murder-machine when necessary. But a sweetheart nonetheless.

I guess you could say I enjoy Dwarves. I really don’t know where it came from. Honestly, no clue.

As much as I enjoyed the Lord of the Rings trilogy, there’s something else that has my heart swelling about The Hobbit.

I don’t care that it is being split into 3 movies. I don’t care that Peter Jackson is directing (though I would have loved to see what Del Toro did with the material). I only care about one thing.

Epic fantasy with a HEAVY Dwarven focus. And holy crap…that song…I can’t wait for it to show up at karaoke because you KNOW I’ll be belting it out.

Beards are back, baby.