PixlBit

It may not come to a surprise to many of you, but I’ve had my fair share of stereotypical “geeky” hobbies in the past.  When one plays video games as often as I do/did, you’re oftentimes drawn into pastimes enjoyed by those of a similar ilk.  I played videogames, I read comics, and yes, I played Dungeons and Dragons. 

While the idea of me playing Dungeons and Dragons throughout my middle and high school years may not come as a surprise, it may be slightly interesting to you that D&D was not my first role playing game.  No, Earthdawn was my first foray into the world of pencil and paper RPGs.  Soon after, I was playing Shadowrun, Rifts, Vampire the Masquerade, and a myriad of other homebrew games.  It wasn’t until a few years into the hobby that I played my first adventure of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (second edition forever!).  Where most people started, I came late to the party.

But even though I didn’t “discover” D&D until later (I had certainly heard of it – anyone who even thought about playing RPGs had at least heard of it) when I did finally take the plunge I did so with gusto.  I bought as many books as I could – and there were quite a few – immersing myself in the rules and mythic histories that the game offered. This is not to say that I didn’t have a life, I enjoyed a healthy social life that involved outdoor activities and everything, but I thoroughly enjoyed absorbing all that this game had to offer.  History has always fascinated me; mythic history was even more delectable.

When high school ended so did my role playing.  I attempted to play a few games here and there, but I couldn’t commit as much of my now precious time as I previously could.

Now I’m older and I find myself with a family – more specifically my fantastic fiancée, Kasondra, and my little bundle of awesome, Lila – and a rekindled interest in the hobbies of my youth.  As many of you know I’ve recently started reading comics again, and it would just so happen that just this month Wizards of the Coast released the 5^th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons (The Players Handbook only – the Monstrous Manual and Dungeon Master Guide are coming out in the next few months).

I’m exposed to a lot of nerdy news feeds through the day, so it was nigh impossible to avoid articles on the new release.  I expressed my interest in picking the new PHB to the PixlBit group, and was surprised that there was a real interest to try Dungeons and Dragons themselves, as a few of them had always wanted to play but didn’t know how to go about doing so.

Long story short, I’ve found myself in the position of DMing a game of Dungeons and Dragons with a mix of veteran players new to 5^th Edition, and those that had never picked up a D20 in their lives.

So we’re labelling this, the great PixlBit D&D experiment.  The group at this time is comprised entirely of PixlBit staffers; Chris Yager, Chris Iozzi, Matt Snee, Mike Wall, and Stanton Daries.  As said, I’ll be the Dungeon Master.

We’ll be having our first “orientation” session last week, and I’ll share details with you via this blog.  As we live all across the country, we’ll be playing via Skype, and could possibly record sessions.  Perhaps if there is enough interest out there, we could post these recordings (or edited versions of them) up here at PixlBit.

It’s sure to be a lot of fun, and I want to hear what you all think.  How many of you played or still play?  What kind of updates would you like from our little band of misfits, if any?  Make your voice heard, and post in the comments section below!

Game on.