Dodger
My nickname is Dodger and I’m passionate about tabletop role-playing games.
I have been for at least 40 years now.
My preferred title is Narrator as opposed to Game Master, Judge, or Storyteller.
My preferred grid is Hexagons rather than Squares.
I enjoy playing characters in adventures run by other people.
I especially enjoy telling my own stories and running games for my friends.
I enjoy sharing a narrative with others and having fond memories of adventures and characters gone by.
I enjoy teaching new players how to express themselves, learn the rules, and have fun.
I have enjoyed almost every genre of setting.
I particularly enjoy world building and creating my own settings.
I have also enjoyed many different rules systems and all their unique approaches to the same goal.
I often enjoy building my own house rules, sometimes by almost rebuilding the entire system.
Because my interests within role-play are so broad, I am particularly fond of generic systems that can handle any genre. I love how this allows for characters from different genres to interact within the same rule system. I’ve picked up and examined the structure of many different generic systems, delighting each time at the differences and similarities between them all. A few of my favourites are The Pool, Open D6, Tri-Stat Dx, the HERO System, and my current most favourite, Savage Worlds.
I haven’t only played generic systems. I got my start staring longingly at my older brother’s collection of 2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons books and wanting to tell stories the way he did with his friends. I couldn’t really read well back then though and so I took steps to organize my friends usual pretend play by including simple dice mechanics and the risk of failure. That’s right, I built my own rudimentary role-play system at the age of 6. It was all I needed back then, but I quickly grew past that.
I’ve enjoyed all sorts of games, including most editions of Dungeons and Dragons, many of the World of Darkness titles, every edition of Shadowrun, a few editions of Earthdawn, Call of Cthulhu, Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play, Pathfinder, several different iterations of Marvel Super Hero role-play, various versions of Star Wars, a few editions of Legend of the Five Rings, Rifts, Alien, even a few games that are Powered by the Apocalypse, just to name a few. My appetite for story and adventure is vast and, as an introvert, I find connecting with people through structured game play and sharing the creation of a memorable narrative together to be a safe and rewarding experience.
I rarely put my work out there for others to see, this Blog represents me reaching beyond my usual comfort zone. I hope you enjoy what I have to share, and I look forward to reading any comments along the way.