Dave Hargrave Day

Today we celebrate the birthday of Dave Hargrave the creator of Arduin. May 25th is our annual celebration of one of the most creative of the early Referees that picked up the Original Dungeons & Dragons and ran with it. In those early days, we were all encouraged to take the game and make it our own, bend it to our own vision and stretch the boundaries of our creativity. Dave Arneson set the standard for that and Dave Hargrave set out to see where he could go and his friends went with him.

Along the way Dave Hargrave gave us some advice for navigating the world of Arduin. This was posted in the Google+ Arduin group in the waning days of G+ by Matrox Lusch on July 27, 2018.

In honor of Dave Hargrave I am reproducing it here.

David Hargrave's Thirteen Rules for Survival
1. Nothing is ever what it seems, so always be alert.
2. The Game Master cannot be out-fought, but he can be out-thought.
3. In all melee, battle, or surprise situations, the prime thing to remember is that you must react. Do something, even if it’s wrong. Take action!
4. The surest way out of any ambush is through the point of maximum resistance. Never ever try to turn around and/or retreat. It’s precisely what they’ve planned for you to try. So hit them hard, fast, and hell bent for blood, because you’ve got nothing to lose anyway!
5. Never fight when you can think instead.
6. Beware mixing the three M’s: melees, missiles, and magik. To do so is to court disaster.
7. Remember that for battle you must have preparation; distance between yourself and the target; sufficient delay time in which to wield your maximum firepower, and enough firepower to ensure the absolute destruction of your intended target.
8. Always expect the worst in any given situation. Always be prepared for the worst, no matter where you may be, and truly, through practice, become “the worst” so that trouble will strive mightily to avoid you!
9. You must have eyes and ears in all directions at all times.
10. A closed mouth means silence, which equates to secrecy, which means safety and a surer way to travel. Don’t advertise your destination.
11. Be careful with your weapons - they cut in two directions, and your friends are often more vulnerable than your foes.
12. Every adventurer should be prepared to fight and/or flee at any time with no more than what he is wearing and carrying. And don’t load yourself down with a lot of junk; be selective.
13. The thirteenth, though last, is the most important of all the rules of survival:
THINK!! THINK!! THINK!!

Creation of Footprints Issue #25 has started at Dragonsfoot

Footprints the Dragonsfoot ezine has been through 24 issues 2004 (15 years and counting) and now the creation of Issue #25 of Footprints has been announced. See Footprints Issue #25 for full details.

The user known as Malrex has volunteered to head up the team to make this happen.

I plan to tackle this as lead. I'm super busy, just like everyone else is, and recognize this is a volunteer effort, so my initial deadline is December 2021 (1.5 years away). Of course, if we get submissions and volunteer editors and people get fired up, we can bust this out waaaaaay faster. So I'm gauging interest out there:

I'm looking for people who are interested in submitting material for Issue #25. Articles, new spells, magic items, monsters, short adventures...whatever!

I'm looking for people who are interested in offering their cartography and art skills. 

I'm also toying with the idea that it might be cool to have a list of "The Best" from all previous Issues. So I'm looking for a volunteer to compile a list of articles, monsters, dungeons, etc. and generate polls for the general boards so everyone can vote on them to determine 'The Best', and we can compile a master list that can be inserted into Issue #25. This idea may need some ironing out and whoever takes this task could run with it...

I'm especially looking for volunteer editors.

As you can see they are giving themselves plenty of lead time to pull this off. I want to note that the editor part is on of the crucial things for them or really for any ezine. Putting it altogether is the grunt work and so if you are a Dragonsfoot member and you have some skills, then help bring this project to completion, who wants to wait until the end of 2021 or early 2022. Of course anyone can submit articles for this effort and if you follow the link you will find submision guidelines and how to submit your articles.

So join me in helping create buzz to get this project off to a quick start and then bring it to a timely completion. If you can help, then volunteer. If you are not sure what this is about then go here to download previous issues. 

Today Would Have Been My Wife's 61st Birthday

My dearest Janet, I know that you are having a wonderful, joyful birthday today in heaven and that if you have any tears God is wiping them away. I am sending you my love and so much gratitude that our God brought you into my life and that you were my wife for almost 23 years.it was a privilege and a joy knowing you and loving you, I am so happy that I did not miss out on that. You knew how to be joyful and to enjoy all of God's creation, you had an amazing laugh and zest for life, you loved deeply, first God, then me, your family and friends and you loved the lost. You truly knew how to separate sin and sinner and to love as Jesus loved, there was no hate in you.

Through all the challenges that life brought your way, you continued to love and to trust God. You were very much like Job, "The Lord gave and Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised." While we both always wanted children from our youth, God firmly closed that door for us on many occasions, but in spite of the pain you (we) trusted God and his plan. Everyone else's children became our children through the Lord and we loved them together. As the Lord said to Paul,"My Grace is sufficient for you." It was always special to watch you hold a baby and see the joy in your face. 

You loved simple things, ladybugs, balloons, especially hot air balloons - every time you saw one you never failed to thank God for the gift of seeing it, you loved floral patterns so much - and that made it easy for your colorblind husband to get gifts you really did love. You loved the outdoors and we went on some great hikes together, you loved to sit outdoors and feel the breeze, watchting the trees, the birds, the clouds and just spend time communing with God. 

With you I really learned what love was and how to love people, and you taught me how to forgive and mean it. Today is bittersweet for me, On the one hand I am so happy that you are with God, and that your suffering is over forever - no more pain, no more sickness and on the other hand I am so sad that we are not together right now and it hurts so much that you are not here. But God's love is all around me, He gives me hope and His love is ever present; and whle I have shed many tears, I have much comfort too! I love you so much! Happy Birthday my love!!

I also ran across this today!