Hot Elf Chick For Your Viewing Pleasure

© 1983 John Stireman III

So, it looks like a lot of people are jumping on this bandwagon, and I thought I'd join them.  Yesterday, James over at the Underdark Gazette made a post about his fiendish plan to grow the OSR (Old School Renaissance.  Or Old School Revival.  Whatever you prefer).  Read about it here. 

A few points:

1) What is the OSR?  It's not easily defined.  The quickest way to understand it is to say that you are part of a group who prefers playing versions of Role-playing Games that were published in the 70's and early 80's.  Basically, anything prior to AD&D 2nd Edition (1989) can broadly be called "old school."
2) Yes, that's an elf, damn it!  Her pointy ears are covered by her lustrous locks of hair.
3) The guy who taught me how to play D&D, and who also exposed me to the breadth of fantasy and science-fiction pulp literature, and who also taught me the basics of drawing, drew this picture around 1983 when we were about 13 years old or so.  He's was an amazing artist way back then, but I've lost touch with him.  It doesn't look like he's kept up with it. However, this is technically his drawing even though he gave it to me all those years ago, so I'm going to put his copyright information on it.
4) Most importantly - did you stumble across my site while looking for a (possibly scantily clad) hot elf chick?  Sorry if I disappointed you.  However, please stick around!  If you're into elf chicks, then I'm sure there's plenty of stuff here that you'll like.  This blog is devoted to writing about my memories of playing RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons while growing up, as well as recapping my thoughts on my current games I'm running/playing, and also miscellaneous ramblings about comics, science-fiction, and fantasy in general. 

"Current games I'm running/playing", you ask?  YES!  There's actually a very vibrant community of gamers here on the Internet.  Are you a lapsed D&D player from back-in-the-day who is now interested in seeing what the current state of the hobby is like?  Check out some of the other blogs in my links to the right.  If you had to pick just one, I'd go with Grognardia, but there are lots of good ones.

In a nutshell, if you've been absent from the D&D community for a while, here's a quick run-down of what you might want to check-out:

• Did you play Original D&D with the "Three Little Brown Books"?  You'll want to check out Swords & Wizardry, which is a "retro-clone" of that version of the rules.  Their blog is here.
• Did you play Basic D&D (also known as Basic/Expert/Companion/Masters/Immortals)?  If so, then Labyrinth Lord is the retro-clone for you.  
• Maybe you were an AD&D player?  Then check out OSRIC (the Old School Rules & Index Compendium).  

The best news?  All three of the above rules sets can be downloaded for free!

If you'd rather "look forward" instead of backward, then you can check out some more current versions of the rules.  The brand-name Dungeons & Dragons game is currently on the 4th Edition of the rules.  You can find them at the Wizards of the Coast website.  If you ever heard of 3rd Edition D&D and are interested in that, another company is keeping that rules set alive with their Pathfinder game, by Paizo Publishing.  I'm currently running a Pathfinder game myself. 

Enjoy!  Oh, and if you click on some of the links in my blog list, you'll inevitably come across some more scantily clad hot elf chicks than the one I posted.  Good luck.