Hi from a complete newbie to Layonara...

[SteveMaurer]

Hi everyone,

My name is Steve Maurer, as you might have already noticed by my account, unimaginatively named "Steve Maurer".  I am a compete newbie to Layonara, and a nearly complete newbie to Neverwinter Nights, having missed the PC game while off having a life(*).

(*) Which among other things means having a smart and beautiful wife, who I love dearly, but is not intensely enamored with RPGs.

My story:

A long time ago, I was very much into role playing games.   When I was a teen, the California Bay Area was a Mecca of Roleplaying game companies. Combining my natural pushiness and writing skills, I became involved with a number of them.   I playtested Gloronthan Runequest with Greg Stafford, Call of Cthulhu with Sandy Peterson (before he made his money with Doom), convinced George MacDonald to put some new powers into Champions (which became the Hero System) and wrote scenarios for Hero Games, played Cyberpunk with Mike Pondsmith in Berkley, and wrote up some Secret Societies that got into Paranoia (I met the West End games staff at a Con).   Tiring of the Chaosium never delivering HeroQuest, I went and wrote my own and published it on the usenet; you can still find it out there.

The only D&D stuff I ever did was generic.  I wrote a single article, called "Pitfalls of GMing", that got published in the Dragon.  But that was about it.   (And a long time ago - I don't expect anybody is going to recognize any of these old games or gaming companies.)

I already told you the end.  I got married, became a dad, moved away to clean, rainy, wild, Oregon.  What little gaming I did was not pen and paper, but by myself on console systems.   I'm probably older than a lot of you, but if you don't hold that against me, I promise I'm a pretty good gamer, all in all, and a lot of fun to play with.   I'm hoping to just be a player here.   At least in the real world, I always ended up being roped into being the GM for some reason.

Some time in a week or so, I'll submit a character with a long background.  (Warning: I do like to write.)

Anyway, thanks for your time and attention.    

[geloooo]

Welcome to Layonara! I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I am.

[orth]

Hi Steve,
Welcome to Layonara.  We're older then you probably expect :\\

How did you stumble across us?

Enjoy embracing Layonara for some of your creative outlet.

Cheers.

[EdTheKet]

Welcome,

I second orth's request, how did you stumble across us?

[Eyvind]

Be sure to feel welcome, Steve, because you most certainly are!

I look forward to seeing the characters you bring to life.

[Alatriel]

Welcome to Layo!  
And I agree with orth- We're probably a lot older on average than you think.  There are a lot of us here that are married, many with children- young and old, and even a few with grandchildren.  We have the young, and we have the young at heart.  I hope you find a good fit with us and I look forward to playing with you in the world that we've come to know as a second home.

[Deacon]

Welcome to Layo!

You will not find a better community to roleplay with, and the GM's are probably the best that you could ever find.  Look forward to seeing you in game, though I can almost assure you that my character won't like you.

[Eyvind]

We have the young, and we have the young at heart.

There are also those of us who are young and stupid, who imply that they are older than they are and on a certain level wish that they really were older. They try to sound wise to cover it up, have trouble telling people what they do for a living, where they live, who they live with, what they do during the day, and what their favorite colors are. They try to sound wise on occasion, they fail and end up appearing younger and more foolish than they might really be. And in the rare instances when they realize that they might fail, they slap some self-irony on it. People like me. I suppose they also generalize to appeal to their conformist side.

Don't feel out of place, no one really is.

[twidget658]

Hi Steve and welcome.
 
 Wife not interested? Not all of them are at first . Let her watch some of the interactions once you get situated and she may want to give it a shot. Layo is not all about bashing, running and gaining levels. It can be as slow as you want it or as fast.
 
 Look forward to seeing you IG.

[s0ulz]

There are also those of us who are young and stupid, who imply that they are older than they are and on a certain level wish that they really were older. They try to sound wise to cover it up, have trouble telling people what they do for a living, where they live, who they live with, what they do during the day, and what their favorite colors are. They try to sound wise on occasion, they fail and end up appearing younger and more foolish than they might really be. And in the rare instances when they realize that they might fail, they slap some self-irony on it. People like me. I suppose they also generalize to appeal to their conformist side.

Don't feel out of place, no one really is.

Word! *gestures some gangsigns in a laidback stance*

Er..

Welcome!

[pinkpowerbait]

Welcome! You are SOOO going to love it here!!

[SteveMaurer]

There are a lot more people paying attention here than I thought!
Thank you, all.



OK, so I stumbled across you when my son, age 11, decided one day to ask me if I knew anything about "Dungeons and Dragons", because his friends were talking about it at school.   Knowing less than I should, because I had not seen this game since its transmutation by the Wizards of the Coast, I made the perilous journey to my den, bypassing the fulminating fury of the teen-daughter-doing-homework, and made sacrifices before the Oracle of Google to obtain wisdom from that font of knowledge.   From this, I learned of Neverwinter Nights, and Layonara, along with what I was actually searching for, which was some used 3.5 rulebooks.   There was a convenient guide in Layonara which pointed me into the deepest reaches of the Amazon, into which I made tribute.   But then, as a typical foolish adventurer, I forgot about Layonara, and the service she provided me.

Much more recently, having been dragooned into entertaining my son and his friends (since none of them wanted to be a DM), I again returned to the Oracle of Google for information on quick NPC generation.   Again, I was referred to some guides in Layonara, which gave me the Sheets of the Excel sans cost, and I was grateful.     That, combined with some enjoyment from Neverwinter Nights, led me to think this might be a place to spend some time in pleasant diversion.


Insofar as being young and stupid, I have been both.   So I begrudge no one their right to such enjoyment, so long as it does not (as I have informed my daughter) lead to anything permanent.   My only advice is that some kinds of stupidity are far more pleasant than others.   But of course part of being young and stupid and far too concerned with what others think of you is having to learn that for yourself.

[Deacon]

That was fun to read.  Now I am really anxious to see you online.

[Thief Of Navarre]

You seem like an acomplished human and all round interesting guy SteveMaurer!

Look forward to seeing your character application & perhaps meeting your PC ingame.

[Link092]

*drones* one of us.... one of us.... one of us....


heh. welcome!

[Kethryc]

Welcome!  you're writing is excellent.  I always had to play DM too.  When I was younger, no teenage children yet.  I have 3 at the moment, all under 4.  I started playing layo before I had the first one, I'm come and gone, and come back, it's the best place on earth to RP and play.  Many people go and come back.  You didn't even play and you got the bite and came back.  Muhahaha.  Leanthar's magical spells of charm person are working!

See you in game!