Roll For Initiative!

D20 Lollipop (or 'sucker' if you must)

Thought that would be a good way to start things off.  My name is Josh, affectionately referred to (by myself) as DM Josh when  I am running a group or campaign.  Thus, I have decided to use the same moniker here.

The planned focus of this blog will be discussion, inquiry, and analysis around Dungeons & Dragons on two (and maybe three) fronts:

1.  New and Developing DMs honing our chops (Myself definitely included).

2. Recruiting new players for your group and introducing new players to the game (Girls).

3?.  Looking at how 1. and 2. tie in with the upcoming D&D rule set and the current Play-Test.


If you are wondering who I am and why I am writing this:
      I would classify myself as an Intermediate-Beginner DM.  I am on the path to being an intermediate DM but stuck in the beginner stages.  I hope to explore this at greater length in the future here on this blog.  I played a lot of AD&D Second Edition and some other RPGs in junior high and in high school.  I fell out of the hobby for a long while and got back into it when the guys from www.penny-arcade.com recorded podcasts of them playing Fourth Edition D&D a few years ago.  These are the fourth edition ones.   This is the most up to date D&D podcasts, including Penny Arcade and Scott Kurtz playing with the D&D Next Play Test rules.  If you are interested in these latest soon-to-be rules check out The Official Website, and I also recommend the Live Streamed Wizards (the people who make the game) R&D folks using the new rules to play the classic module, Against the Slave Lords.
     When I did get back into the hobby, I wrangled my girlfriend and two of my old gaming buddies along with their n00b wives to start a group.  We had surprising success getting the girls to play, and I had much more fun than I had had playing with strangers at the game store.  Due to some life changes, such as moving 2000 miles across the country, I have found myself needing new groups a few times.  This is how I really started DM'ing more regularly, in order to actually *have* a group at all.  I have had the opportunity also to introduce a number of people to role playing and D&D throughout this process, with mixed results of course. 

Disclaimer:  I presume anyone reading this will know what role playing games are and how they work, what D&D is, and what DM'ing is.  If you do not, please leave a comment or shoot me a message.  I can respond to you or make the basics the subject of an upcoming post. 


Hope you have managed to swallow the introduction and are looking forward to my first real post!