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Post by kirklas164 on Sept 15, 2015 14:58:36 GMT
Hi Everyone,
I've posted on a couple of threads so far and just saw the meet and greet page, so I thought I'd come in and introduce myself. I'm Doug Kirk, age 29 guy who lives in Sparta, a few miles north of Grand Rapids. I married my wife Theresa 3.5 years ago in a bar downtown Grand Rapids on Saint Patrick's day, and last year we bought a house and a puppy in Sparta. The dog is a Brittany named Finnegan and as you can tell from my picture he likes to sit like an old man and watch TV. My wife does not share my enthusiasm for fantasy games, but she is otherwise perfect. I work at Bissell, the vacuum cleaner company as an AR Coordinator and am going back to school for a software engineering undergrad.
I've always loved role playing video and computer games, and when my friend introduced me to D&D earlier this year I was hooked by the raw possibilities of it. Unlike what most people probably should do, I immediately started DMing because nobody else wanted to. We began with the 5e starter set and after bumbling through most of that and losing a few people to work conflicts, I started my own homebrew world. I gave a rough outline of it in the Your worlds thread. I'm hoping that after one or two campaigns in this world I'll be able to play in it. I got the idea for it when I was learning about emergent processes, where if you get enough simple rules together something complex can emerge from the whole, like weather patterns from simple physics, flocking and schooling behavior in birds or fish, or consciousness from neurons.
I've attached my world map and guide, just for fun.
I love the ideas and the advice in DM's block, and I think I'll be playing D&D for a long time.
Five things to Know about me: - I love learning about natural history and spend way too much time reading zoology and paleontology blogs and using that information in my worlds - I'm an atheist who wishes he could do more in the atheist community but doesn't have the time - I'm a big ol' liberal social justice warrior and that is reflected in my worlds (e.g. race give much smaller bonuses than culture) - If I'm not playing D&D I'm spending time with my family, usually with a local beer in hand (I'm about 10 minutes away from Perrin, and it's amazing) - I don't read as many books as I'd like to, but I make up for it reading online blogs and wikis - I like to bend the rules when I have to make a game work, and to create new systems when it would be fun
Feel free to AMA, I'll try to be an active participant in this forum.
Attachments:DD.docx (22.36 KB)
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Post by joatmoniac on Sept 15, 2015 16:20:36 GMT
Great to have you join the Block Party! I love to hear about people still getting into the hobby, and you were crazy enough to jump onto the DM side of the screen! Great world building and can't wait to see more of your posts on the forum.
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Post by DM Kiado on Sept 15, 2015 18:00:39 GMT
We will see what we can do to level you up. I would say based off your posted stuff though, you are a higher level DM then you think.  Block Party time! |
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Post by kirklas164 on Sept 15, 2015 18:55:53 GMT
Hello! and thanks for the welcome to the block party |
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Post by frohtastic on Sept 15, 2015 22:18:27 GMT
How do you prefer your steak? Suggest trying your hand at the DM-nastics as it has at least helped me with not only getting into "the mode" but was also pretty fun to do, thinking of using the moon godesses I made for the latest nastics in my world Edit: Also, Nice map did you do it by hand? have you made any city maps? |
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Post by kirklas164 on Sept 15, 2015 23:14:04 GMT
I like it medium rare, warm pink center with a good sear on the outside, salt and pepper to season. I look forward to doing some of the dm nastics, it seems like a lot of fun and I get a creative itch when I spend most of my day working in spreadsheets.
Thanks, I did do the map by hand. I got the layout with a really time consuming non-automated random process where I rolled a d12 to assign a number of tectonic plates with random heights, sizes, and directions and moved them around a while. Then made the continents and oceans based on their elevation and mountains where there would have been volcanic activity and subduction. Not super scientific or anything, no real math involved, but it was fun. That also took way too long to explain... Apologies.
I haven't made a city map yet, but I will be soon for the campaign I'm running. My players picked the Giants and their next stop is zwartbodem, I'll definitely share it when I do.
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Post by kjmagle on Sept 15, 2015 23:32:04 GMT
Welcome to the Blockhead Community !
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Post by frohtastic on Sept 16, 2015 0:06:07 GMT
Thanks, I did do the map by hand. I got the layout with a really time consuming non-automated random process where I rolled a d12 to assign a number of tectonic plates with random heights, sizes, and directions and moved them around a while. Then made the continents and oceans based on their elevation and mountains where there would have been volcanic activity and subduction. Not super scientific or anything, no real math involved, but it was fun. That also took way too long to explain... Apologies. Hah, well thats one way to do it. Meself made my world by having a cup of hot chocolate and then finding out that the foam made a perfect continental map, so snapped a picture and then sketched a rough outline. By the time I was done the hot choco had gone cold and the "sandwiches" gone meh. also medium rare is best steak. |
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Post by DM Mitch on Sept 19, 2015 17:00:23 GMT
Welcome to the Block Party kirklas164! Glad to have you here! Very nice map by the way!
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Post by DM Chris on Sept 22, 2015 16:08:25 GMT
Doug welcome to the Block Party. Good to know that there is another Michigander in the group. AMA for you what is your favorite Bar in Grand Rapids?
*Thinks to himself I really hope it isnt Hopcat...*
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Post by DMC on Sept 22, 2015 16:50:40 GMT
Welcome aboard!
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Post by kirklas164 on Sept 22, 2015 17:41:08 GMT
@dm Chris: My favorite Bar in GR is a tough one. It used to be Bar Divani, that's the one my wife and I were married in, but they switched owners last year and their quality took a major nose dive. I like Perrin if I'm staying on the north side of town, over the summer we did a couple D&D sessions at Pickwick Tavern that were pretty fun. I've never heard anyone say they didn't like Hopcat, though I think I've only actually gone there once or twice. Why don't you like it? Is there something weird I should know about them?
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Post by DM Chris on Sept 23, 2015 17:38:01 GMT
@dm Chris: My favorite Bar in GR is a tough one. It used to be Bar Divani, that's the one my wife and I were married in, but they switched owners last year and their quality took a major nose dive. I like Perrin if I'm staying on the north side of town, over the summer we did a couple D&D sessions at Pickwick Tavern that were pretty fun. I've never heard anyone say they didn't like Hopcat, though I think I've only actually gone there once or twice. Why don't you like it? Is there something weird I should know about them? Before I knew anything about beer I went there and I think it was just the waiter we had. Total beer snob and looked down on us for just being 21. More of a bad taste in my mouth from that. I am probably going to give it another try someday, but just no desire to from that. |
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Post by kirklas164 on Sept 23, 2015 17:49:31 GMT
@dm Chris: My favorite Bar in GR is a tough one. It used to be Bar Divani, that's the one my wife and I were married in, but they switched owners last year and their quality took a major nose dive. I like Perrin if I'm staying on the north side of town, over the summer we did a couple D&D sessions at Pickwick Tavern that were pretty fun. I've never heard anyone say they didn't like Hopcat, though I think I've only actually gone there once or twice. Why don't you like it? Is there something weird I should know about them? Before I knew anything about beer I went there and I think it was just the waiter we had. Total beer snob and looked down on us for just being 21. More of a bad taste in my mouth from that. I am probably going to give it another try someday, but just no desire to from that. That's terrible, I hate when people do that. I much prefer that xkcd comic: xkcd.com/1053/ |
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Post by DM Chris on Sept 24, 2015 20:53:37 GMT
Before I knew anything about beer I went there and I think it was just the waiter we had. Total beer snob and looked down on us for just being 21. More of a bad taste in my mouth from that. I am probably going to give it another try someday, but just no desire to from that. That's terrible, I hate when people do that. I much prefer that xkcd comic: xkcd.com/1053/That is great! New way to live life now found. Except if you haven't heard of the mentos and coke thing...I will make fun of you  |
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Block Party time! 
