Gathering of Fools - 2024

It's a yearly tradition with my old gaming group from our high school and college days to gather at some point in June, usually on a Saturday, to remember Paul Benedetti. We lost Paul on 9-11nearly 23 years ago, and Paul's birthday was in June, so we gather in June each year (2020 being the obvious exception).

I always hand out gaming books to the other 4 members of our group. This year it was the Basic Fantasy RPG and Morgansfort.

Cherish your friends. Embrace them when they are with you and celebrate their lives when they pass on.

Paul, as always, your presence was missed...

Gathering of Fools 2021 and the Possible Return of the Original Group

I no longer have PDF copies of my early releases, but one of my group had printed out copies a few years ago. I need to see if he still has the PDF files...

Today my old gaming group and I did what we've done once a year for many years - with the notable exception of 2020, not that that is a surprise - we gathered in memory of a good friend we lost when the towers came down on 9-11.

We drank good beer, ate good snacks, watch some good (and crappy videos), and did a lot of grab-ass. Well, Dave did much of the grab-assing, but that's how it is most every year ;) We topped it off with a nice dinner.

As is my usual, I came bearing gaming gifts of goodness. This year, it was copies of Basic Fantasy RPG as well as Adventure Anthologies 1 & 2 for BFRPG.

I heard something I'd never expected to hear from Dave: "These guys want me to run some 5e for them but I can't do it." They'd been talking that since 2019, and I had offered to run Swords & Wizardry or something similar, but 5e was the new shiny and they thought they could do it and I wished them luck and if they got it up and running I wouldn't mind joining in as a player. I never got the call.

This year I was told, "we'll play AD&D, Swords & Wizardy, BFRPG, or any ruleset or Erik's choosing." I'm torn between S&W and BFRPG. Once a month, scheduled a month in advance, likely using a combination of Roll20 and Discord, but the actual VTT may change. I'd like to kick it off in August, but we may need to wait till after the Labor Day holiday.

It feels good to get the band group back together ;)

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Yearly Gathering of Fools in Memory of a Lost Gamer (9-11)

Paul is middle back row

My old gaming group has been gathering yearly in the Spring since 2002 in memory of a dear friend that we lost when the Towers came down on 9-11-01. They don't approve of me referring to us as a Gathering of Fools, but I do think it's appropriate.

We formed our friendships during the early-80s in High School and kept gaming at least once a week until early 1997. A few years later we migrated to MMOs.

Brian hosted as usual, and he inherited Paul's gaming collection when he passed.

Paul, we miss you. Rest well.

Hung With My Old Gaming Group Today and Look What We Found

As I've mentioned before, Tenkar was a henchman in one of my old campaigns that became moreso as time went on.

I never retained a copy of the character sheet of Tenkar, the Dwarven Fighter that was a henchman for Paul (who dropped out for the group for a bit and is the reason we gather each year, as Paul was lost on 9-11) before Tenkar moved on to Brian - who made this character sheet.

Tenkar later returned as my Dwarven Paladin in EverQuest shortly after launch and became my online name when I started blogging (to keep "the job" and "the blog" is separate worlds)

Anyhow, an excellent time with friends I've known for over 30 years. Gaming bonds are often life long bonds.

Gathering of Fools 2016 - Young at Heart 30 Years Later

The sixth member of our group, who was a peripheral member of the group in our high school days and returned to the fold over the past few years, took the above shot at dinner earlier today.

I've known the other four members of the group pictured above for over 30 years. I was the only one in the above picture that (A) never learned to play an instrument useful in a heavy metal band or otherwise and (B) never had long, heavy metal hair when I gamed back in high school and college.

We've helped each other move (some multiple times), been at each other's weddings, supported each other in bad times and helped celebrate the good times. Three of the four were also working at the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks, and the fact that we only lost one friend (whose picture can be found on the table shown in tonight's prior post) is probably a small miracle, but we would have preferred a larger one.

I just need to convince them that playing once a month via Roll20 is not only viable but damn close to what we had going back in our younger days of gaming. Well, without the practice jokes (hard to replicate the classic Easy Cheese Randomly Squeezed Into the Group's Ring Ding Supply at a virtual table ;)

Gaming, it does a soul good :)

Gaming is the Fountain of Youth

When Fools Gather...

During Saturday's Gathering of Fools, Dave (one of our founding members), remarked that leading up to our final session, we were gathering at my house earlier and earlier. As early as 10 am, with sessions lasting to 7PM or later.

We knew the writing was on the wall. After the first weekend of March in '97, it was quite likely that I would no longer have weekends off - I was graduating the NYC Police Academy and would work where and when the job dictated. Weekends off like I had for the 8 months of the academy (and Sundays off for 8 years of retail) were about to be history. We knew we were squeezing in what we could, when we could. Six, seven, eight hours or more on a Sunday - we couldn't get enough as we knew it was coming to an end.

The sad thing is, after six months on the streets I wound up getting steady Sunday / Monday off, but the deed was done. Of the five of us, two were married, two were engaged and all significant others quickly found things to occupy those Sunday afternoons. In the end, we all gave up our childhood when I went to patrol the South Bronx.

Dave, Bri, Tony and  John - if you are reading this, I will strong arm you all back to gaming once a month via Roll20. Bring Kevin along for the ride and we can all be in our mid 20's again. Heck, bring Texas and it will be like the MMO years ;)

The OSR is the Fountain of Youth for gamers in their 40s and beyond...

You Can Go Home Again - Gathering of Fools 2014

Saturday afternoon through evening was the annual sprint Gathering of Fools. It's when my old gaming group from high school, college and beyond (at least until March of 1997). We do aim for more than once a year, but the springtime is sacred - we gather to remember out friend Paul, who we lost when the Towers came down.

I gave away copies of Hackmaster Basic and Scarlet Heroes AND got a commitment from 3 of the 5 in attendance to aim towards a once a month Roll20 Hangout session. Sure, it's the guys without kids that agreed, but hopefully the ones with kids will find a more immediate use for the Scarlet Heroes ruleset.

It was a good time, with good beer and good food and general shenanigans. Isn't shenanigans one of the best reasons to game?

The Old Gaming Group May Have Been Tempted Back Into the Fold...

This year's host for the Gathering of Fools was Tony, and he nearly floored me when he showed me that he had printed out two of my PDFs for Swords & Wizardry: Demi-Options: The Halfling and Minor Majiks & Miscellaneous Arcana Vol 1 as well as KnockSpell #6. We haven't had a session of tabletop roleplaying as a group since March of '97 yet the desire is still there.

We did come close today, as we ran the first two quests from Drinking Quest 1. Regretfully, we saved DQ to the end of the gathering, where we had all (except our designated driver Bri) had too much to drink. It was soda and water for everyone but the one player who NEVER lost an encounter (Dave). Actually, there was some cask strength scotch making the rounds, but only two dared to drink it - Dave and John. I wisely stuck to beer ;) Still, we got to use the results of the DQ session to decide the order of picking the RPG items I was giving out.

There is talk of getting together once a month via G+ Hangouts / Roll20, which would be a crap load of fun. Additionally, there is talk of me running a one-shot epic level session with pregens for a six or seven hour sitting. That should be interesting.

Did I mention I'm exhausted? heh

Time to Tempt the Old Group... With Games!

As my old group gets together to tell the stories of old times and old games, I'll be running some Drinking Quest, with a prize pool consisting of my gaming duplicates and such. I always bring stuff for the group to remind them of the old times and show them what is going on during the current times.

Biggest prize is probably a copy of Stars Without Numbers - somehow I wound up with two copies. Mongoose Traveller Pocket Edition (as the print is too damn small for my eyes), a copy of Gygax Issue #1, an orange cover UK edition of Tunnels & Trolls 5e (wound up with 3 copies thanks to Ebay) and some other random goodies to round out the pot. Others bring food, beer or chips - I bring the gaming ;)

There Will Be Drinking Quest This Weekend!

The mostly annual Gathering of Fools will be taking place this Saturday afternoon. My old gaming group - we started in high school, moved on to college, reset to MMORPGs when work and family commitments prevented us from getting together in person regularly - will be getting together this weekend.

Grown 40+ year old men eating, drinking, watching bad movies and this time around - playing some Drinking Quest!

Hell, I'm not even the designated driver (I've been so on many of the previous gatherings) so I'll be able to chug with the best of them.

Now when does the Indiegogo of Drinking Quest 2 ship again?

Got Some Game Time in With My Old Gaming Group Tonight

Yep, after dinner and beers and such we go in about 2 hrs of play - playing pool that is ;)

We try to get together multiple times a year, but a "Gathering of Fools" HAS to happen in June. Our friend Paul, who we lost on 9-11 when the Towers fell, had his birthday in June.  We gather in his memory.  Usually, we do it on a weekend, but most of us being 40ish and married with kids doesn't lend itself to easy scheduling.

Still, tonight was an excellent time.  Lots of catching up, joking around, heck - even got my last wedding present (thanks Dave ;)

It's nice to know that even if we don't get the chance to game (although that may be changing with G+ Hangouts - logistics of scheduling is the issue as always) this little blog helps keep them connected to the gaming world. Makes me feel or warm inside - or that may be the booze from earlier ;)

Oh, BTW, keep an eye out tomorrow for a contest post. It should be fun (and rewarding to whoever wins of course ;)

Good Food, Good Friends - Now Where's the Game?

Last night I had dinner with some old friends in memory of one that we lost on 9-11. It appears that all the OSR games I've distributed at the multiple Gathering of Fools over the past few years have finally paid off. It looks like folks are itching to start playing using Fantasy Grounds or some other Virtual Table Top. Not sure what my game of choice will be - C&C, S&W Complete and ACKS are all contenders. C&C has the advantage that I've given out copies of the Player's Handbook to to everyone on the group over the years and there is a very complete FG2 add on for the system.

It was good to see my friends and their wives at a time when we really needed each other to recharge our emotional batteries. We communicate multiple times each day via mail and the occasional G+ video huddle, but nothing compares to hugs and ass grabbing at an upscale restaurant in Manhattan - it even better when you can embarrass the women folk with your actions ;)

Oh, and Holy Crap! The Jets won!

Reaction From Outside the Blogosphere - LotFP's Weird Fantasy is "D&D Porn"

Yesterday, at the Gathering of Fools, one of the gaming items I brought to give away was the extra copy of LotFP's Weird Fantasy Rules & Magic book.  I got the extra copy as I preordered the Grindhouse Edition Boxed set.

The Tunnels & Trolls 7.5e Boxed set lasted mere seconds after hitting the table.  Damn, but that was grabbed fast.  Weird Fantasy was the second thing that grabbed attention.  The questions started with "Why is there a Pilgrim on the cover of a D&D book?" but quickly turned to "Holy shit dude!  Where did you get D&D porn?  And why?"

That was the reaction of my old gaming group to the full page art plates in Weird Fantasy.  Over the years, I've given out copies of C&C Player's Handbooks, Osric, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, Dark Dungeons and even had them fight it out as generic 1st level fighters for a copy of the Swords & Wizardry White Box.  The above is a main listing, I've given away other odds and ends.  One of my friends calls the collection that he has gained one of the coolest things he owns.

Never before has any one accused - maybe "accused" is too strong a term - let's say "voiced the opinion" that I brought over D&D Porn.

Heck, it's not that they were offended.  Mildly disturbed perhaps, but none of us are prudes.  Most of us are parents tho', and it never really occurred to me before that there might be products in my gaming collection that would be best stored out of the reach of children.  I've been too close to the whole blogging / insiders view of our hobby that I failed to see the forest for the trees.

Now, the nudity that was in the earlier Deluxe Edition of Weird Fantasy was more "artsy" then "porn" in my opinion, as I sit here and compare the two.  I think it is the erect penises and obvious sex act that puts the Grindhouse Edition over the edge.  Well, at least that's what got the initial reaction from the guys yesterday.  I found myself trying to defend the rules, not the art, but I shouldn't have had the need to do either.

In the end, it found itself a new home.  Wall Street Wizard should find a lot of cool gaming ideas held within that book.  He will need to keep it out of the reach of his curious young ones, which is a shame, as the book itself does not read of sex acts or anything else of the sort.  A picture says a thousand words, so perhaps James felt the less actually said, the better.  All i know is, if me and my fiancee decide to have children, I don't have all that much I will need to keep out of their hands, except the Weird Fantasy Grindhouse Edition Boxed Set, which is a shame.  It didn't need to be that way, and as written it is a good system to introduce new gamers to the hobby.  Just don't pass the rules on to any under the age of 18 ;)

Gathering of Fools - June 11, 2011 - Recap

Today was the Annual Gathering of Fools that my old gaming group does every year around this time.   We chose late May / early June so that we can remember the member of our circle that we lost on 9-11.  His birthday was in late May.  We miss ya Paul.  You are with us in spirit.

As for the Gathering itself, it was a blast as always.  We spent a good amount of time playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero on the Wii.  As I am the only member of our group that never learned how to play an instrument, I stuck with singing.  Belting out Rammstein's Du Hast was fun, but didn't leave me much vocal strength for a good Ramone's song.  Yes, I'm a Punk / Metal / Rock / Techno geek when it comes to my musical tastes.

Mexican food was on the menu for lunch - our host, Wall Street Wizard made an excellent choice.  Any more food and they would have had to carry me back to the car.

We watched Zombieland, which was much more enjoyable watching with a bunch of goofball friends then it was when I watched it on my own.  Heck, we usual watch Army of Darkness, and this hit many of the same sweet spots.

Movie time was followed by a game of Action Castle, a game that seeks to reproduce a Zork-like gaming atmosphere as a party / family game.  Once they got the hang of it, they had a blast.  It was Wall Street Wizard's idea for me to bring it along, so he was on a roll today ;)

Gave out some gaming loot to the guys.  Highlights were a copy of the Tunnel's & Trolls 7.5e boxed set (Davey grabbed that), and extra copy of LotFP Weird Fantasy Rulebook for the Grindhouse Edition (Wall Street Wizard), 2 copies of the T&T Corgi edition of the 5e rulebook, 1 T&T Corgi double solo, 2 Monsters! Monsters! reprints and some extra copies of the Sorcerer's Scroll that I picked up on Ebay.  Not a bad haul for the 4 of them to split.

Information Overload

Gamer ADD is a horrible curse. Really. It stops more games from happening then it ever helps start.

I've got my Tunnels & Trolls. I'll be starting in a weekly online campaign next week. I'll be playing, which is good, as I'm probably too distracted to run a game as I planned because...

Swords & Wizardry is occupying my thoughts. I'm close to finishing off the Bard class I've been working on and should be able to hit the deadline like a radio DJ hitting the post right before the singer hits their first note. Which is good because...

OpenQuest / Runequest is also sneaking it's way back. I really enjoyed the original RQ2 - the setting material was many colors of awesome. Mongoose is putting out some really good setting material these days for their RQ2. Which makes me sad, as I only have so much free time these days. I must allocate my time better.

The Gathering of Fools (my old gaming group) will be happening in early June. I'll get to distract them with some Tunnels & Trolls goodness I've been gathering for them. I've also been asked to bring a copy of Parsely #1: Action Castle to actually (unheard of at these gatherings) play a session of. Good to know at least one member of my old group reads this blog on occasions ;)

More Beer! More Games... Tastes Great, Less Filling

Actually, I don't know if the beer tastes great yet but one can hope. Mr. Beer suggests one week to brew, one week to carbonate, and possibly one week to condition. All of the forums I've read push 2-2-2 as the cycle, so next weekend for the bottling / carbonation stage. At the moment the Irish Read has some nice activity with a healthy foam on top of the brew, the Oktoberfest less of a head.

RPG Blog II has a link to a way to get Iron Crown Enterprises Rolemaster Express in PDF for free. They did this offer last year and I snagged a copy (also bought like 6 dead tree copies at 5 bucks a piece last year when they had a promotion). It's a great write up of the Rolemaster Rules without the overwhelming pages and tables from the full set. Almost reminds me of the MERP rules of old.

The Gathering of Fools took place yesterday, and our host succumbed to the dangers of 12 year old Scotch by 4pm... we didn't realize until nearly 5, and didn't wrap things up until nearly 7. Another fun time was had by all. Er, almost all.

Palladium Books has extended their Grab Bag offer until January 15th. Basically, for 37 bucks (plus handling, shipping and possibly tax) you get 80 or 90 bucks worth of gaming goodies. I received 6 signed prints (one signed and numbered), one unsigned print, 14 blister packs of Rifts minies, The latest Rifter (signed by Kevin and the rest), a Palladium Fantasy sourcebook (also signed) and last but certainly not least, a signed copy of the Palladium Fantasy Rulebook with a scetch signed and dated by Kevin. That was a double order (2 x 37). I need to pick up some frames to display the art :)

What's Old is New that was Old... Sorta

July 4th was a gathering of my old gaming group for a holiday bar-b-cue. As I try to do at all of our gathering over the last few years, I distributed a gaming book to the other four. This time it was paperback copies of OSRIC. Earlier this year it was copies of Swords and Wizardry. Before that, Labyrinth Lord. Dice. Rolemaster Express. Castles and Crusades Player's Handbooks. I give memories packaged in new wrapping but recalling our earlier experiences.

We are married, have kids, stressful jobs, busy lives. We are no longer the high school and college students that could game 7 days a week during the summers. Heck, if it weren't for online games like Warhammer, these guys wouldn't be gaming together at all these days.

So I give re-imagings of our past so we don't forget the games that put us where we are in out lives today. I learned as much in those game sessions as I ever learned in school.

Besides, sooner or later I'll suck them into a VTT game... and then their souls will be MINE!!! heh