Vince Hendricks was my first RPG game master. There were other game masters before him, but Vince ran the first real, ongoing, sustained campaign I played in.
Vince was my first college roommate – a senior when I was a sophomore (I transferred in that year) and he introduced me to a ton of gamers in college.
He had an epic plot featuring heroes fighting Cromorians – draconian-like humanoids, but much tougher and more advanced than the similar creature from Dragonlance. It also had a bunch of powerful swords; either inspired by or taken from Fred Saberhagen’s Books of Swords. (It’s been ages since I was in that game … and I never read the books). Either way, they were a great addition to the game.
At the time, I recall that it was very story driven, which was fun, but it inspired me to go the other way with my own college campaign. Set in the World of Greyhawk, it features characters pretty much going wherever they wanted. Sure, I still had stories, but there wasn’t an overarching plot, and I pretty much fed off of the party’s interests and (if I’m honest), party conflicts.
Both campaigns were fun in their own ways, and I learned a lot from Vince about how to run and organize a campaign.
- This post is part of the RPG a Day 2023 event. Catch up on Nuketown’s posts via the project page and learn more about the event at its community page on Facebook.
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Three of the Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition rule books: Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Tome of Magic. Credit: Ken Newquist