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I've been doing this here NerdFitness thing for a while now. And you'd think I'd realize that I follow my own challenges best when they are framed by things I care a LOT about. Not things I think are funny or am heavily involved in. The things that matter. To me. Funnily enough, on a place called Nerd Fitness, my thing is games. How games are constructed. How games are played. How people interact with them. These are my bread and butter. And dragons. Fun fact: I first found this image in 1997 and got in touch with the artist to find out if he sold prints. This was 1997 and he did not and also was from Korea. I used this for many years as my avatar image on ICQ and MSN Messenger when those were still a thing. So today, we're going to talk about a game which is very near and dear to my heart. So, my lovely little nerds, let me take you on a journey. A journey where you will do the impossible. As your Game Master (or Dungeon Master, if you're fancy), it will be my job to make sure that you go the right way and save the right princess. But first, before we do that, we're going to need a party. That's what my nerds are for. Let me guide you on the path to building a successful party. I have played every edition of D&D. I could go on at great length about the pros and cons of each edition, but that's not what we're here for. We're here for the edition that has the most structure (I will not say best, not in this thread) for constructing a party. That's 4th edition, or 4E for the D&D nerds out there. In 4th Edition, the playable characters are broken up into 4 each of which falls in line with my goals this time around. So let's get to this. STRIKER Death is the best status effect 4E Strikers are often the simplest and least complicated characters to play. These are the guys that pick a target and make it dead. They have class abilities that make them more accurate, deal more damage and get out of trouble quickly. In short, they kill things dead. Everybody wants to play the striker at one point or another. Showing you how to be a striker is fairly easy for me. That's my hapkido classes. Two classes a week. Working hard on speed, precision and flexibility. DEFENDER I am the shield that guards the realms of men For those of you familiar with D&D and its idiosyncrasies, let me be very clear. A Defender is not like a tank in WoW. Their job is not to take all of the damage. A defender's job is to stand before the ranks of the enemy and say, "No." Does he want to move? No. Does he want to hit my friend? No. Does he want to do anything that I don't allow him to? No. The Defender is a tactical and careful character who makes his allies safe. My inner Defender needs to shine to be a good example to my party. How can I make things safe? The holidays were sort of a bad time for me, what with being unemployed, having no schedule and being sick for two weeks straight. I've lost my basic healthy pattern. So I'm going to make some baby steps back. I need to eat properly and consistently. When my wife is at work, I have this habit of not really eating meals. So my goal is 3 meals per day. I'm not one of those people who can fast. I get the hangries like nobody's business. Every day, I need a good breakfast, a lunch and a healthy dinner. That keeps me safe and stable and ready to rock. CONTROLLER Oh, I'm sorry. Did I break your concentration? The Controller is often the most difficult class to play in any D&D game. They do not deal extraordinary amounts of damage. They are very frail. Their defenses are usually relatively low. And yet, they can be one of the most potent characters at the table. Controllers look at their foes and see a world of opportunity. They fling enemies about the battlefield. They slow, confuse and dominate the weak-willed. They erect walls of flame and shadow. They summon angels and demons to harry and threaten enemy ranks. They do exactly what their name suggests. They control how the battle flows. My enemies are depression, anxiety and yet more depression. I will control the battlefield of my life by setting up a framework for my days. I will not stay in bed, despite being unemployed and having nothing better to do. I will get up with my wife as if I had a job to go to. I will not go back to bed, because depressed people will sleep if given the opportunity. I have work that I can be doing until such time as it turns into employable work. I am going to put my nose to the grindstone and just do it. I am going to do it because I can do it. LEADER Don't believe in me who believes in you. Don't believe in you who believes in me. Believe in you who believes in yourself! I know what you're thinking. Leader? Sounds like the man in charge, right? Wrong. Old editions of D&D had this problem where it was nigh impossible to survive if your party did not have a cleric. No healer = TPK. 4E took that old trope and evolved it significantly. The Leader's job is to make every other party member better. More accurate, more damage, more attacks, more defenses, more movement, more hit points. The order of that statement was also no accident. If monsters die faster, less healing is required. If the party is harder to hit, less healing is required. Who needs a cleric? Clerics are arguably one of the more boring type of leader that are out there. Give me a nice warlord who uses his barbarian companion as a weapon instead. And what will I do to make my party (myself) better over this challenge? If you read the tags on my thread, you may have been curious when they would become relevant. Part of my mental issues is that I don't really think very highly of myself. One might argue that it's a pretty big part of them. I am going to resolve to post one thing each day that is nice or good about myself. Either something about me or something I have done. I can be better. So start by pointing it out. *** That should about cover it. I'm recovering from two solid weeks of being sick. I'd really like to start the new year off on the right foot. Unlike the usual new year's resolution nonsense, I'm starting small to build a better me. It's probably pretty obvious from the tone of this thread that I love 4E D&D. I love the design. I love the mechanics. I love the diversity and tone of the classes. And since I love it, it's a worthy theme for my challenge. Now if only I could get off my ass and learn how to use the virtual table software I have to run the game that's brewing in the back of my head...