"We Are Returned!" Part 1

The Warp Storm Materializes!
Several years ago, a blog was created, Game Thug and I wanted a record on really cool events we were doing at our LGS (Local Gaming Store), namely the 40k apocalypse games that we ran year in and year out, unfortunately this plan never came to fruition.
Real life, the dreaded foe of many war-gamers and hobbyists decided to disrupt our grand design. Now over half a decade later, I come back to this humble blog. I originally chose the name warp storm after one of the most fearsome instances of chaos and destruction that isolates worlds and tests a warriors mettle. It is only fitting that as I start fresh, now that the warp-storm has been lifted, I may chronicle my hobbies.

'Ere We Go!

The last couple of years have been a maelstrom of compiled events, failures and successes. Such instabilities has made it extremely difficult to do any form of hobbying for any prolong period of time, and unfortunately I had to sell the majority of my wargames to get by. That being said, I have been a chance to start anew, both in and out of gaming. New LGS, new games, new people, new experiences...these things didn't stop me from visiting old friends like Game Thug, playing a game of 40k, and even travelling back to my old LGS (though it has had a serious face lift).

Here is a compilation of my gaming history to bring you up to speed with what I have been up to.

ADVANCED DUNGEON'S AND DRAGONS 1st Ed. (or how learned to stop caring and become a hermit)

The Tiefling's Game

I moved to a very small town of 200 people in eastern Canada, and it was very good for me, I learned a lot, like I never want to live in a small town of 200 people in eastern Canada again! My new 'local' gaming store, was about 45 mins away, which made travelling in very difficult. Moose also made travelling difficult as did crappy roads, and Canadian winters.

Not knowing people is usually not a problem when you walk into a game store, the store owner is usually passionate about something you have a passion for, and the other patrons are eager to engage in a fresh conversation about different tactics, meta etc. This was not the case...this was the Deliverance of LGS (minus the banjo playing...and Burt Reynolds).
Plan B: I still have friends back home, lets play DnD over skype. I thought to myself, how bad could
it be?

It was fun, if your idea of fun is sitting alone in your room, while you over hear your friends having a great time (but not the details due to crappy audio), and all you can stare at is a window showing the battle mat, and when you try to speak you are practically yelling to be heard, then everyone has to stop, and listen to what i was saying just so you could do something. Fun right? No?

I didn't realize it at the time but i was an electronic buzz-kill that my friends put up with cause they felt guilty that I was not with them, and to be honest, I am thankful for it.
It was my only form of social interaction, I got to play DnD with my friends. As a wizard i didn't need to speak that much, and it was nice to hear my friends discuss stuff, but eventually it became too frusterating for everyone, and I left.

WARHAMMER ONLINE: AGE OF RECKONING (WAR, what is it good for?)

I was one of the thousands of people that  bought WAR when it came out, I was also one of the thousands to leave the game a month after launch. The game was a BETA, it was not ready for launch, it was fun but largely unplayable, and it stayed that way for 2 years after launch. Shortly after I stopped playing DnD i decided to resubscribe, the allure of the game, and the ability to play as some of my favourite miniatures in my (at the time) 2nd favourite wargaming IP, hooked me in. To be honest I still like this game, I met a lot of people, made a bunch of friends and got to have my first real taste of competitive gaming.

"GOBSTAR SMASH PUNY WITCH HUNTER!"

 While in real life I was socially isolated, here I could be a social butterfly (except a deadly one, that could lead armies, and was armoured, and stuff!). Taught me alot of really important social lessons, like how to not be a douche or how to be one when you need to be. Oh and that you should pretty much always (ALWAYS) mute me if i am playing mad deeps! Good times, and this game would stay in my life till EA closed it down.

 I never really over dosed on it like one of those WoW horror stories I.E getting sucked in and losing everything because of it. What it didn't help me with was the fact that I would brood, and game let me do it easier.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS v3.5 (House Rule edition)
Alright, so i was able to get out of the small village, and move to a small city. After about a year, I was able to get over the anxiety of basic social interaction, or the fact that more than 10 people could exist in the same room at one time,
I heard somewhere that people who live in Antarctica for any long period of time have to learn to reintegrate with large amounts of people, due to isolation. the time spent in the near to the middle of nowhere (cause the middle has an identifiable position), and then gluing myself to a computer on top of that, might be related to the issues faced by those polar researchers.

  I got to meet some new people, people that wanted to play D&D, I too longed to play again, especially with live breathing people. The problem was, we didn't have a dungeon master, which isn't really a problem when you try hard enough. So DnD became a thing, and a fun thing, till one of my players went off the deep end, like back flip, 5 point dive, into the sea of drugs, madness, and crazy women. So that WAS a thing. So yeah, don't let your sexually frusterated friend invite their manipulative drug-laced super crush to play DnD with a bunch of computer nerds, Spoiler warning: It ends badly.

(Part 2 Coming soon)