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Playtest Group of the Month
(December)

More About Us:

Rob Lee:

Rob is a 30-year-old illustrator and graphic designer from Greenbrier, TN, and has been a devoted roleplayer for 18 years now.

He has just become a father for the second time and has begun training a whole new generation of D&D players. Rob has always enjoyed playing rangers, thieves, and wizards but thinks that the sorcerer may join the list when he gets a chance to play 3E instead of DM.

There are many great changes to the game, but removing exceptional strength and the new Monster Manual format are two of his favorite things in 3E. He is also very happy to hear that Greyhawk will become the default setting for the D&D game since he has been DMing Greyhawk for the past 18 years with only a few distractions along the way (Taladas, Planescape, Ravenloft, and even Gamma World).

Brian Patterson:

Brian is a 23-year-old freelance children's book illustrator from Nashville who works full-time as a Screen Room Supervisor. He has been into roleplaying games for about 8 years and has recently started running an Alternity game when not playing in the 3E campaign.

Brian's favorite class is fighter. He recently rolled up a halfling fighter who specializes in undead hunting and writing his own ghost stories about his adventures. He is really looking forward to playing a sorcerer for a change of pace. Of all the changes in 3E, Brian thinks that the new armor class system is the best, followed closely by the very open and simplified multiclass system. he truly believes that when it comes to game mechanics, "The simpler the better."

Brian's favorite moment during playtesting was when the other players yelled, "HEY BRIAN, KEEP THE BEHOLDER BUSY FOR A MINUTE!" Needless to say, it was less than a minute.

Karl Haynes:

Karl is a 30-year-old graphic artist who lives in Franklin, TN. He has been an AD&D player and DM since 1982, and currently makes an extra income by doing character portraits around the state of Tennessee.

Karl's favorite character class is a priest or paladin, and he generally plays his characters a bit over the top. When not trying to manipulate the rules of the game to suit his own twisted needs, Karl enjoys camping, fishing, and playing with his children.

One of the moments that made Karl proud during 3rd Edition playtesting was his use of a bind spell to help him get into Tenser's castle (in the Return of the Eight adventure).

Randy Anderson:

Randy has been gaming for about 24 years (since he was about 11) and loves to play rangers. He is a gymnastics instructor and freelance graphic artist from Hendersonville, TN.

Randy is really happy with the 3E skill system and lack of restrictions on demihuman classes and levels. He is a big fan of the Champions and Hero System roleplaying games and feels that 3E will definitely rival both. He just can't quite make himself believe that his character is capable of rolling a 1.

One of Randy's favorite playtest moments was when his half-elven ranger made a perfect shot into the one good eye of a charging cleric of Gruumsh.

Chris Alexander:

Chris is a graphic artist, prepress coordinator, and web designer from Hendersonville, TN. He is 27 years old and has been roleplaying for about 10 years. His favorite class is the ranger, but he has played a variety during the 3E playtesting. His newest character is a chaotic neutral half-orc assassin, which should prove to be VERY interesting.

Chris is overjoyed that 3E has a core mechanic that makes all checks, saves, attacks, and skills run on the same basic idea . . . roll a d20 and hope you roll high.

During one of the more exciting playtest sessions, Chris totally destroyed Brian's character with a call lightning spell cast by his cleric of Fharlanghn. To be quite fair to Chris, Brian told him to do whatever it took to bring down the orc war chief. Brian's character just happened to be locked in melee with the war chief at the time.

Clint Roberts:

Clint is a stockroom supervisor and full-time student from Nashville. He is 22 years old and has been playing D&D for about 5 years. Clint is a wizard player but is going to roll up a barbarian soon to really test his roleplaying talent.

Clint really appreciates the new spell lists in 3E and the way they are presented. He finds the new spell descriptions easier to reference and fast to learn.

The first time Clint's character used his signature spell, "Valus's Mass Missile", we all stood up and cheered. That spell became the bane of any foe the party faced for the rest of the campaign.

David Anderson:

Dave has been playing D&D for just over a year. He is a 21-year-old screen technician from Nashville and works with Brian every day. He is also an aspiring comic artist and writer with an almost unhealthy appetite for Hong Kong action movies. Not suprisingly, he loves that the monk has been put back into the game and immediately rolled one up as soon as we started playtesting.

Dave's most memorable moment so far during playtesting was when his character's alignment was magically altered and he began plotting to take out the party and overthrow the King of Nyrond.