It has been years sine I’ve played Dungeons & Dragons. So long in fact that it might be easier to count in decades rather then years. Oh sure I’ve played video games based on the D&D universe, I’ve dabbled in HeroClix and of course devoted several glorious years to playing Robotech, but the king of tabletop games has somehow proven elusive.

I’ve had a few opportunities to play over the years, though my anti-social behavior never helped matters, but the biggest problem was I just haven’t had much desire to play. The ancient red box version I had grown up on had long since evolved into a far more complicated and costly version that held little appeal for me, that is, until a mage named Jim Darkmagic appeared and changed everything.

You see Jim Darkmagic, of the New Hampshire Darkmagics, is the greatest D&D character of all time. He is played by Mike Krahulik, best known as Gabe from the uber popular web comic Penny Arcade. With the recent release of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, Wizards of the Coast attempted a defacto “celebrity” D&D campaign that was recorded and released online as an eight part podcast. The team of adventurers, dubbed Acquisitions Incorporated, was comprised of Krahulik’s Jim Darkmagic, Jerry Holkins (Tycho from Penny Arcade) as the cleric and CEO of Acquisitions Inc, Omin Dran and Scott Kurtz (creator of the comic PvP) as the dwarf fighter Binwin Bronzebottom. As might be expecting, much acquiring ensued. The first podcast proved so enjoyable for all involved that a second was done, this time Acquisitions Incorporated added a new intern, the Eladrin Avenger Aeofel “Al” Elhromanë (aka Wil Wheaton).

But while the celebrity aspect and the streamlined 4th Edition rules piqued my interest, it is Jim Darkmagic that makes both of these podcasts great. Self absorbed, self aggrandizing to the point of renaming his spells after himself and constantly referring to himself in the 3rd person, Jim Darkmagic is inspired role playing, made even more impressive by the fact that Krahulik had never played D&D in his life until sitting down for the first podcast. That he was able to pick up the game play so easily, while concurrently able to role play the crap out of Jim Darkmagic, the fire to play D&D was easily rekindled.

And with that I began to start recruiting friends to play D&D, many of them having long left the game similar to me, while others have never played yet are eager to try it out. Right now we are working at putting together a campaign, and it looks like this could be something that we might all be able to play on a regular basis. I’m excited about the possibility of playing D&D again, and I can thank Jim Darkmagic for that.

Episode 1 of the first Acquisitions Inc podcast

Episode 1 of the second Acquisitions Inc podcast

Download these now, in memory of Jim Darkmagic at the very least.

Tags: Adventure, Dungeons & Dragons, eladrin, heroclix, jerry holkins, mage, magic, mike krahulik, penny arcade, podcast, pvp, robotech, scott kurtz, tabletop games, tycho, wil wheaton, wizards of the coast

The young people of today may not realize just how scary the word Satanist used to be here in the United States. You see, being a Puritanical society most people had a fear of God. But if there was one thing that could scare them even more then God it was Satan. And thanks to Hollywood hits like The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby those fears were suddenly rationalized in celluloid.

Yes those kindly old neighbors are trying to stealthily allow Satan to rape you in your sleep. And yes, the reason your daughter has started cursing and crab walking everywhere is because she is possessed by a demon. And yes, that scary blind man constantly sitting in that chair in the attic is guarding the gateway to Hell.
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I was saddened to hear today that Steve Gerber died. He certainly isn’t a big name in the comic book industry for many people, but he was often times hugely influential on many of today’s writers, both with his stories and his causes. And while best known for his creation Howard the Duck he was hugely influential to almost any child of the 80’s, as he was regularly enlisted as a story editor for animated television shows like The Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Dungeons & Dragons.

And as I pointed out in my latest column, he also has a bit of responsibility for bringing to my television set Starchaser: The Legend of Orin, as Steve Gerber was the creator of Thundarr the Barbarian. He’ll be missed, but lucky for us his work will not.

And here is a link to a much better written, and more worthy write-up of this man’s work and influence.