Backstory: Adam grew up in an artistic household, and spent a lot of time drawing from
comic books. He also liked Thundercats, He-Man, Battle Beasts, and later,
Ninja Turtles. Adam used to spend time at the Boys and Girls club, hanging
out in the art room. There, all the older cool kids would go into the back
room and read comics and play Dungeons and Dragons; Adam learned both these
things were really, really cool. Except then Adam moved to Stoughton, and he
learned they wern't really that cool. Sports were cool. Music was cool --
as long as it was rap. Wearing thugged out Looney Tunes shirts were cool --
as long as the back of the shirt had the back of the Looney Tunes character
on it.
In addition to Comic books, and Thundercats, He-Man, Battle Beasts and Ninja
Turtles, and Dungeons and Dragons (which Adam didn't even KNOW what that was
yet), and backwards hats and Looney Tunes Shirts and "Shoop," and "Gin and
Juice," Adam also had a strong interest in Greek and Roman mythology. He
had a fantastic book called "The Encyclopedia of Things that Never Were."
By chance, one day Adam was in a book store, and happened by a copy of this
encyclopedia, next to which was a copy of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
Monstrous Manual. Thumbing through the book, Adam was amazed. It was like he
was seeing a standardized encyclopedia of every imaginary creature in the
world. The strange statistics were cryptic at best, listed under headings
like "Thac0" and yielding results with the letter d sandwiched between: 2d8.
What could this mean? Adam saved his allowance, and returned to buy the
book.
That same year, the Magic: The Gathering craze hit. Everyone had a deck. So
did Adam. But in-between magic games, someone would usually be flipping
through the strange Monstrous Manual, decoding the statistics, and trying to
understand their purpose. Soon, it was apparent that the Monstrous Manual
was only part of a larger game. Returning to the same book store, Adam
found a boxed set, "Introduction to Dungeons and Dragons." He bought it,
and read it cover to cover. Soon, he was scouring book stores, toy stores
and hobby shops looking for more and more D&D books to buy. He tried to
stumble through the adventures with his friend (Rick), brother (Chris) and
father (Smurf), but poor understanding and lack of player interest made the
game unproductive.
That summer, role playing was put on hold while another game entered the
scene: Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. Adam felt so fulfilled having
Warcraft II. Holding the battle chest just before opening it to install the
game was a moment he'll always remember. His world was about to change.
Playing Warcraft, Adam was introduced to the Orc -- a creature often skipped
over in the Monstrous Manual, since it had a dull, greasy appearance. But
these Orcs were barbaric. They were dangerous. They were awsome.
After the game had been beat (in those days, internet play was not common
place), attention turned back to Dungeons and Dragons. Deciding to "wing
it," Adam DM'd a test game with his friends, (Chase and Alex). Chase named
his fighter "Maim Blackhand," the same name as the Warcraft warchief. This
was not a coincidence. Alex named his elven ranger "Mortis of Scots," which
Adam could only assume is some reference to the WWE (then WWF), his scottish
heritage, and latin class. His character talked like Bill Cosby. Their
characters were ambushed by trick-loving leprechauns, who forced them into
an arena where they were pitted against a fire-drake. The game was a
success. Soon, Adam's brother (Chris) joined the sessions, playing a theif
named Slade. Again, this was a video game reference-- borrowing the name
from Shining Force II. This campaign would last through all of high school,
and would see many players come and go (such as the Draconian, Panzer
(played by Bolster), the paladin, Gattica (Played by Robbie) and the wizard,
Kazin (Another Shining Force name, played by Cale).
All the while, the D&D publisher, TSR, was faltering. It was getting harder
and harder for Adam to find D&D books. But that did not deter their game. As Adam kept busy in high school by wrestling, acting, painting, playing
back-yard football, and musically performing, he and his friends always made
time for D&D.
In fact, there was one time during their senior year that Adam, Alex and
Chase skipped their first class to go to breakfast. Walking to the school,
they realized they simply did not want to go into school at all that day.
Knowing they could not go home to their parents, they took a detour into the
large wooded area behind Adam's neighborhood. There, they hung out, and
played D&D. Adam's story was improved, Alex and Chase's character sheets
were memorized. To roll, a more creative solution was realized: twenty
leaves, each numbered 1 through 20, were mixed up in the front pouch of
their school backpacks. To "roll," a random leaf was pulled from the bag.
This was the heart of D&D. Imagination, creativity and friendships.
But it would soon all end. High school was coming to a close, and whispers
of a new edition were slowly making their way to Adam. With their departure
to college, Adam's main campaign ended. There were several small attempts
to start a new campaign during the early college years, but vacations were
always a little too short, and the school year always a little too long.
Adam, Alex, Bolster, Cale, Chase, Chris, Laura, Mike and Meghan all made
attempts to commit to a serious game, but never did a campaign last more
than one session.
Midway through college, Adam realized that he would not be able to play D&D
while he was in school. He spent his time world building, designing his own
campaign setting, and illustrating the various maps, creatures and
characters therein. A couple years later, and Adam found interested
players: his co-worker (Joe) was friends with Cale and Chase. Cale's
friend, Ben, also was interested in playing D&D. The campaign Adam built
would get it's play-test, and "The World of Scarlet and Azure" would come
to life. This, however, was also short lived. Nearly defeated, Adam
decided to take a break from D&D.
A year later, and Adam had found a new approach to Dungeons and Dragons:
D&D Miniatures. Unlike the role-playing game, this game was competitive,
and as an added bonus, the pre-painted plastic miniatures were doubly
utilized as D&D role-playing miniatures. Collecting them became an
obsession.
At the time, Chase, Cale, Ben and Joe had also been playing MechWarrior.
Adam had no interest in the theme of giant robots, however, and slowly
seeded interest in D&D Minis instead. One night, Chase suggested I come to
his regular game store, Battleground, where they played MechWarrior. "Come
down and meet Derek, he's a cool guy," Chase said. But Adam was hesitant--
he didn't want to be one of the people who hangs out in game stores -- there
was a strange stigma about what it would be like. It would be smelly. It
would be hot. There would be an abundance of people eating Cheetos and
drinking Mountain Dew. The owner would be pompous. The customers would be
one-dimensionally geeky. But Adam went anyway, feeling Adventurous that
night.
Entering the store, Adam was relieved. Battleground was clean and full of
interesting people and game products. And the owner, Derek, seemed like a
genuinely cool guy. Even more reassuring, the majority of the night was
spent with Adam talking to Derek and Chase about Texas hold-em poker, a
decidedly non-geeky game in Adam's mind. This was a normal place, not full
of game people, but people who played games.
Adam continued his interest in D&D Minis, and became friends with two great
players, Pat and Declan Lynch. Through continual practice, Adam was able to
win first place in the 2004 D&D Minis qualifier, and would travel to GenCon
to compete in the National Tournament. After his successes, however, the
game became stale for Adam.
Adam had also become involved in one of Derek's home Dungeons and Dragons
games, and had been developing a character named Shamus. Refocusing on D&D,
now as a committed player, Adam, Ben, Cale, Chase, Chris K, Joe and Matt
began to save the world of Greyhawk from the Age of Worms. Four years
later, and the epic game continues.
Throughout the game, dynamic characters are brought to life by Derek, and
bold choices are made by Matt and Chris K. Adam has brought to the table
his artistic vision, and has been keeping a running picture journal of the
adventurers. The game was, and still is, exciting, and Adam's throughly
engrossed in it.
Also, Adam has brought his friends down to Battleground under the guise of
"Board Game Night." Board Games helped break the "Game-store stigma," and
soon Rick, Alex, Chris and Marcus would join the scene.
Having friendships with several other regular Magic players (Craig, Mike,
Jay), and meeting new friends who are regulars at the store (Josh, Cookie,
Steve, Jay), Adam quickly became very comfortable at Battleground-- and is
there every Wednesday night, Sunday night, and various other times
throughout the week.
With the release of 4th edition D&D, Adam was privileged again to join
Derek's next campaign. Adam, Ben, Cale, Chase, George, Matt, Rick and Rob
all now adventure through the recent D&D adventure paths.
Adam is very impressed if someone actually read all of this, and would love
to know all about how ridiculous you thought his "Backstory" was. You can
contact him at ADAMzADAM@msn.com
He is also -- Ahem, *I* am also sick of writing in the third person. |
