GameDevMike

I was first introduced to Shamus Young’s blog through a post on Jay Barnson’s blog last year. I’ve been a loyal reader of DM of the Rings ever since.

Once upon a time, I was a rabid D&Der. I’ve been kicking myself, hard, for a few years now because I gave all of my original first edition AD&D books (I had them all) to a friend. I had brought them back to Korea with me after a trip home, a decade ago, in the hopes of getting some games together. I hadn’t played in years, though, and my lifestyle was quite a bit decadent at the time, so I wasn’t able to keep interested. I was moving fairly often back then and, prior to one move, decided to lighten up on the junk I was carrying around. My entire stack of AD&D hardcovers was part of what went. My friend, Barry, being a former D&D junkie himself, was shocked.

“Are you sure,” Barry asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

“Of course, I’m sure,” I assured him, “I outgrew this stuff years ago. I’m not gonna give up chasing skirts to sit around a table throwing dice all night!”

It was a few years later, when I was reading about the Third Edition, that the gravity of what I’d done hit me in full. Oh, well. Live and learn.

So I’m also a big fan of Tolkien. I read through The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion at the age of 12 — about the same time I first got into D&D. When I first heard about the movies, my wife had no idea what I was on about. She, being Korean, had never heard of Tolkien, nor anything to do with hobbits. Still, all of three movies were heavily promoted here. One theater even opened Fellowship at midnight rather than wait until morning. Many of my students, mostly adults, saw the movie. Their reaction was almost comical. Nearly all of them were surprised that the movie ended where it did and left the theater scratching their heads. They had expected the ring to be destroyed and everything to be wrapped up, most not realizing that it was supposed to be a trilogy. Nearly everyone I talked to gave it a negative review because of the ending. It wasn’t long, though, until Korean versions of the books hit the shelves. That, together with some movie review programs on TV, helped to clear things up. The other two movies were much better understood.

I’ve gotten off track a bit. What I’m on about is that, since I’m a former D&D nut and a huge fan of LotR, DM of the Rings has really been great entertainment. I’m not sure I have the discipline to put together something like that, week in and week out. Shamus has done a great job with it. Sadly, it’s about to come to an end. He’ll be moving on to something else, though. Can’t wait to see it.

So if you haven’t yet seen the DM of the Rings web comic, you’re really missing out. Though if you aren’t a current or former D&D player or DM, you likely won’t get it.

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