Friends, I hope you’ve had a good week. To continue the topic I've been posting about, I like role-playing games because they provide a forum for socializing, encourage creativity, and allow for an escape from mundane concerns. Back in college, Prof. Libby Tucker's excellent "Folklore and Fantasy" class covered the reasons that genre entertainment remains popular.

For most of the past 25 years, I've served as Game Master for numerous games, many of which were set in my own fictional universe. However, as adult responsibilities of work, relationships and family, and time management increased, many of my circle of acquaintances burned out or drifted away from role-playing. Even I have stopped running for a year or two at a time, but I've always come back to the hobby.

"Dungeons & Dragons," now in Edition 3.5 by Wizards of the Coast Inc. (WotC, the successor to TSR), is the baseline because of its wide availability. Most of the gamers I've met in New York, Virginia, and Massachusetts are at least somewhat familiar with the fantasy rules, which grew out of tabletop wargaming about 30 years ago. While not everyone likes the race/class/level system, I've always been able to find players who know it without too much difficulty.

My D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" heroic fantasy campaign setting takes place about 3,000 years ago on a subcontinent somewhere near what's now Central Asia on an alternate Earth. A million square miles have been mapped, more than 350 Player Characters have explored them, and years of history have been created in the process!

My second-favorite rules have been the Generic Universal Role-Playing System (GURPS), now in its Fourth Edition, by Steve Jackson Games Inc. During graduate school, I considered the multigenre alternatives to "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" 2nd Ed. (the edition of that time). GURPS 3e had well-researched historical and subgenre sourcebooks, as well as an elegant 3d6/point-based system derived from Hero System/Champions and different from the complexities of RoleMaster and AD&D2.

Sure, I played "Storyteller" in the 1990s, like many other people, but Steve M.R., Tim M.B., Jim J.D'B., and I used GURPS for successful superhero, steampunk, space opera, and time/dimension travel campaigns. Since then, we've experimented with "rules-lite" games such as Risus, FUDGE, and True 20 — a streamlined derivative of D20, which is based on the D&D3.5 Open Game License.

Support for GURPS 4e has been relatively weak, and my fellow gamers in Boston generally prefer D&D3.5 and D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed. scenarios (the latter is related to True 20, since both are published by Green Ronin). Of course, we share some interests in other genre media, such as comic books/graphic novels, movie and television serials, and anime.

As mentioned before, all of my campaigns have been connected, from the fantasy D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" to the steampunk alternate history of GURPS "Gaslight Grimoire" to the present-day GURPS "Supers/Powers: the S.J.I." and D20"M&M"2e: "Drake's Port" superheroes. The D20 OGL led to a boom in gaming not seen since the early 1980s or early 1990s, when I tried both D.C. and Marvel Superheroes games.

Even my "Top Secret: S.I."/GURPS "Espionage"/D20 "Spycraft" 2nd Ed. and cyberpunk/fantasy "Shadowrun" missions are connected, and my GURPS "Vortex" space opera — one of the first settings I created, based on short stories written with Carlo R. and David I.S. — is tied into the multiverse-spanning GURPS "Voyagers II" collaboration! For science fiction, the venerable "Star Frontiers" is a favorite, and GURPS/D20 versions (some fan-written and unofficial) exist of "Star Trek/Prime Directive," "Traveller," and "Star Wars."

Every Tuesday night, about six to eight of us have been meeting in my basement to continue the "1,001 Arabian Nights"-style of "the Broken Chains," the latest party in my D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" campaign. For the past seven years, the Boston-area groups have mostly played D&D3.5.

Alas, not all is well in the secondary worlds of role-playing. Competition from computer games, rising publishing costs, and changing tastes have taken their toll on our hobby, which counts a few million practitioners in the U.S. As I've noted on various message boards, I still prefer the socializing of face-to-face, pen-and-paper, "pizza-and-dice" role-playing to the "hack-and-slash roll-playing" of multiplayer online games.

On the other hand, as I've found with "City of Heroes," the ability to play real-time tactics with friends in other cities is certainly appealing, and I hope that the virtual tabletop technology that I'm now troubleshooting with Dexter V.H. and Byron V.O. will eventually improve and converge. Finding time for good in-person, nonlinear, collaborative storytelling and worldbuilding is still my preference, and my challenge.

In other bad news for gamers, Paizo and WotC announced that they will discontinue the influential and widely distributed "Dragon" and "Dungeon" magazines. Many critics have blasted the move on the Internet, but it was likely necessary due to the same financial pressures driving much publishing (and journalism) online and may be signs of major changes at WotC and the industry as a whole.

The ending of WotC's licensing of the D&D "Dragonlance" setting and the upcoming D20 "Star Wars: Saga Edition" RPG may also be harbingers of the much-debated D&D Fourth Edition.

Finally, I'd like to note the passing of TSR game designer Tom Moldvay, who joins artists David Sutherland and Keith Parkinson in my fond memories of early AD&D adventure modules. Next time: on Boris Yeltsin, travelers, and genre television!

I'm still recovering from my latest round of dental work yesterday morning (see my earlier posts for more details). While the appointment was ostensibly to get some molds for new caps on two teeth, it still involved gum cutting, tooth grinding, and drilling.

My next follow-up will be right after CW's annual editorial offsite retreat in two weeks. After the doctors get done with my top teeth, some worn molars on the bottom are next, assuming we can get my insurance to cover it. Sigh — few more months of chewing on one side of my mouth…

Janice and I have also been busy coordinating various guests and travel. As noted previously, we've hosted role-players Byron V.O. and Dexter V.H. this past month, and Dex may be back in the Boston area this coming weekend. We've met capital crew members Ben P.S. and Tim M.B. downtown, and Mark A.S. may fly in from New Zealand right around the time of my offsite meeting!

We'll be seeing my family in Virginia at the end of this month, as well as in New York City in June (finding affordable and well-located hotels another story). One of my sisters in law said she and her family would like to see Boston early next month. I also hope to join Janice at a conference in Seattle this coming autumn, but I'm not sure we'll have enough vacation time or money by then. With the cool and damp late spring that we've been having in the U.S. Northeast, any change in venue or weather would be welcome.

Between the D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands" fantasy sessions on Tuesdays (face-to-face) and Wednesdays (by teleconference, plus some play by e-mail) and the "City of Heroes" online game on Thursday nights and Sunday mornings, I estimate that I've been spending 12 hours per week playing various games. I hope to cut back a bit, mainly to free up time for Janice and other interests. At the same time, much of my socializing has been caught up in the gaming circles, so figuring out what to cut is a challenge.

But how did get into this hobby in the first place? My freshman year of high school, 1982, was a banner year for genre entertainment fans. The fantasy movies "Conan the Barbarian" and "The Dark Crystal," cyberpunk "Tron" and "Blade Runner," space opera "Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan," and SF classic "E.T." and horror remake "The Thing" all came out that year.

Since my father is a medievalist, I already had some exposure to real-world mythology and folklore. My paternal grandfather gave me a paperback edition of "The Lord of the Rings" novels for my birthday. I started playing the boxed sets of "Dungeons & Dragons," which had been around for almost a decade.

Along with friends such as Jon and Bill B., Carlo R., Reinaldo C., and John F., I helped found our Westchester, New York, high school's gaming and computer clubs. Yes, we were geeks or nerds, but we were also part of a creative movement still going strong today. Our shared interests in "Doctor Who" and early D&D (and "Star Wars" and "Star Frontiers") shaped our future tastes and social circles.

In freshman year of college (1986), I got my entire floor in my dorm playing "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons," and soon made many friends watching reruns of original "Star Trek" episodes, playing foosball, and through roommate John Z.G.'s AD&D2 "Gwynedd in Greyhawk" game. We also experimented with other rules systems such as Palladium, Champions/Hero, RoleMaster, and D6, as well as other genres, including westerns, espionage, cyberpunk, and space opera.

Most of my current friends date to that period in Upstate New York, even though many are no longer active role-players. Most of my students at NYPIRG's Queens College-CUNY chapter also played in my D&D "Vanished Lands" heroic fantasy campaign setting, setting a new record for the most people in a successful group.

In graduate school and into the 1990s, the AD&D2 and GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System) parties in Virginia grew amid another burst of creativity and interpersonal conflict. Steve M.R., Erik B.L., and Tim M.B. were among the Game Masters of that period, and we were eventually joined by several college acquaintances for fantasy, cliffhanger/steampunk (GURPS "Arth" and "Gaslight Grimoire"), and time/dimension travel ("Voyagers II") campaigns.

I mostly ran fantasy and the GURPS "Supers: S.J.I." scenarios, and played in Jon W.P., Josh H., and Hans C.H.'s "Vampire: the Masquerade" goth game, using the "Storyteller: World of Darkness" system. In future posts, I'll explain what's good about role-playing, why I like certain games, and how the Boston-area groups got to their current state…

Friends, I hope you had a good weekend. On Friday, 13 April 2007, I watched the half-season premieres of "Stargate SG1" and "Stargate: Atlantis" on the SciFi Channel. I think that "Farscape" alumni Ben Browder and Claudia Black have breathed new life into "SG1," which is probably the closest thing we have to the optimistic legacy of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry currently on U.S. television. However, 10 years is a good long run, so it's with mixed feelings that I watch the final episodes of the military space opera (at least until two planned telemovies later this year).

Spin-off "Atlantis," which will have some cast changes later this season (many U.K. and Canadian viewers have already seen them and protested), is O.K., but I'm not sure I'll watch it for long on its own, let alone the possible "Stargate: Universe." I do look forward to eventually watching Series 3 of the revived "Doctor Who," as well as to the next episodes of "Hustle" and "Heroes."

On Sunday, Janice and I took the T (Boston's subway) into town to meet Tim M.B. and Christy B. for lunch. We met at the crowded Hynes Convention Center, where Tim had registered for the Boston Marathon, which he completed on Monday despite bad weather. We went to a nearby barbeque restaurant, where we discussed mutual friends in Virginia, our respective role-playing games, and Tim and Christy's impending second son.

The marathon was overshadowed by the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. My thoughts are with the families of those slain, and I'm a proponent of stricter gun control. Unfortunately, many of the violent crimes committed in the Northeast are aided by the guns widely available in Virginia.

Speaking of Virginia, congratulations again to Steve M.R. on his and Aleece R.'s progress in their housing search! I've also been working with my brother Peter to arrange the celebration of our parents' 40th wedding anniversary in New York in June 2007.

I also watched the premiere of "Painkiller Jane," the second SciFi Channel series based on the action-oriented comic books. It was more cyberpunky in tone than its predecessor, but nowhere near as good as, say, TNT's short-lived, live-action "Witchblade." Janice and I have been enjoying the supernatural private investigator on "The Dresden Files," and she's been reading the novels, which are apparently somewhat different from the television show.

In other genre entertainment news, Edward Norton ("Fight Club," "The Illusionist") will replace Eric Bana ("Troy") as Bruce Banner in the planned "Incredible Hulk" movie. Intense and intellectual, he may be a good choice for the latest reboot of the franchise. While the Ang Lee-directed film had some psychological insights, the fans and studio want more of a superhero action movie next time around. I'm also curious about Robert Downey Jr.'s upcoming take on Tony Stark/"Iron Man."

Although I'm a big fan of the pulpy archaeological adventures of Indiana Jones and the recent "Mummy" movies, I'm disappointed that John Rhys-Davies ("Sallah") and Rachel Weisz ("Evie") won't be in the next installments of their respective franchises. Of course, "Indiana Jones [3] and the Last Crusade" and "Mummy [2] Returns" were both good endings, so we'll have to see how the next sequels are.

I'll have to save my dental and gaming notes for the next posting, but in the meantime, I hope you have a good week…

A few quick items:

R.I.P., Kurt Vonnegut. The science fiction author, whom I once met on a train between New York and Washington, died. His works were terse, sardonic, and shadowed by the horror of modern war. He will be missed.

Barack Obama, the Duke lacrosse scandal, and Don Imus: Despite a half-century's progress, race relations in the U.S. remain problematic. Presidential candidate Obama has been criticized by some African Americans as not speaking out quickly enough on civil rights issues and is viewed by (I hope only) a few as "not black enough" or "too black" to be seriously considered. While I feel that his relative lack of national political experience and vague idealism are flaws, I don't think that he or rival Hilary Clinton should be disqualified by the American public on the basis of their skin shades or sex.

Unfortunately, many rape cases become a legal duel of "he said, she said," and too many women suffer in silence. I'm glad that the Duke lacrosse scandal is finally over, even if my initial sympathies tended to be with the alleged victim. As fellow blogger Steve M.R. has noted, the occasional false accusation and use of the so-called race card — remember Tawana Brawley? And yet rabble-rousing preacher Al Sharpton still came across as an elder statesman when compared to some of his competitors in the last elections — undermines the credibility of those who criticize the real social problems of abuses against women and minorities worldwide.

Speaking of sports and race, our nation's original sin of slavery continues to contaminate popular entertainment. Nobody should have been surprised when aging radio "shock jock" Imus made an insensitive comment about members of a women's college basketball team. I'm sure his peer Howard Stern is laughing over on satellite radio, where he tries to be an equal opportunity offender. Imus has the right to be an idiot in public (see Wil Wheaton's blog about fellow "Star Trek" actor William Shatner for examples), but I'm glad that some sponsors have also exercised their right not to support someone who ceased to be funny years ago (see some of the work of the late conservative cartoonist Johnny Hart for more examples).

I've usually stayed away from political debate in this blog, but as always, I welcome any constructive criticism or rational debate.

Friends, I hope you had a good vernal equinox, Passover, or Easter. This past Friday, 6 April 2007, Dexter V.H. took the bus and train up from Brooklyn, New York, to the Boston area. Janice was visiting her folks in Pennsylvania, and Dex and I got burgers for dinner at "Friendly's" in Needham, Massachusetts.

After a long workweek, we reminisced about college, compared notes on recent genre entertainment, and created a Player Character for my "Vanished Lands" heroic fantasy campaign setting using "Dungeons & Dragons" Edition 3.5 — a female Dwarf Paladin of Sif, goddess of valor and wisdom. Her ties to existing characters, such as Drow Ranger "Faelonia," will be revealed in due time…

On Saturday, Dexter and I wrote up his new P.C., who should start adventuring the next time we get together. We drove down to Norwood, Mass., for lunch at Boston Market and to pick up my subscription at New England Comics. I showed Dexter the latest crossover stories of Marvel and D.C., as well as adaptations of various fantasy novels. We also chatted about his challenges in being a single parent and about old friends, such as Bill A.R. and Stuart C.G.

Upon returning to my duplex, we then rolled up "the Ebon Flame," a new superhero for my D20 "Mutants & Masterminds" 2nd Ed.: "S.J.I." scenarios. In fact, the last time Dexter came up was for the annual Halloween costumed session!

Beruk A./"the Stranger," Thomas K.Y./"the Righteous First," and eventually, via videoconference, Byron V.O./"Arcturus" joined us for another "Drake's Port" one-shot. We picked up from Byron's visit from St. Louis the previous weekend. The costumed vigilantes fought insect swarms and the Avatar of Disease! See the Yahoo/eGroups Web club at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/DnD3VanishedLands/ for more details.

Since the group was a bit smaller (and older) than our usual D&D3.5 "Vanished Lands: the Broken Chains" party on Tuesday nights, we had a leisurely start and went out to dinner at "Fuji," Janice's and my favorite local Japanese steakhouse. We had dessert at "Cafe Moca Blue," a relatively new gelato place. Some of the gamers didn't attend because I didn't run a higher-level D&D3.5 plot, but there will be other opportunities that make sense given who's available at the time.

Dexter also did some troubleshooting of the Fantasy Grounds virtual tabletop software for our Wednesday night teleconferencing sessions (http://www.fantasygrounds.com/screenshots/). On Sunday morning, I meant to show Dex how my "City of Heroes" characters had fared since he got burned out of the computer game last summer, but I got sucked into a team mission with some of our usual group: Kim A.G., Steve M.R., and Shari S. (David I.S. and Thomas were offline).

While our metahumans have occasionally struggled with tactics, Dex agreed with me on the larger issue of time management and said he's unlikely to rejoin that game anytime soon, especially when the D&D3.5 P.C.s are going strong. For more "CoH" discussions (and images such as "the Emerald Quarrel" above), go to http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/dimensionalcorpsonline/

After lunch at "Acapulco's" Mexican restaurant, we drove to some bookshops in Newton and Harvard Square, Cambridge, some of which were closed for the holiday. We did check out Pandemonium Books & Games, but Dex didn't want to load himself down, since he still had to travel home and doesn't play face-to-face games very often.

Janice got home not long after I had dropped off Dexter, and she and I went out to dinner at "Mandarin Cuisine," so we should eat in for the rest of this week. In the meantime, my family has started planning to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary in New York in June.

More immediately, I've been enjoying the "Dresden Files" television show, and I look forward to the remaining half seasons of "Smallville," "Stargate SG1," and "The Batman." Next week, I'll try to post in more detail about my gaming history and preferences…