i am not a number . . . i’m a bard!

I just got back from the True Dungeon at SoCal Gencon.
Wow. What a great time! I played a Bard, and all that Improv training I’ve had over the years paid off . . . I got to make up a few songs, gave my party +3 in a battle, stopped us from letting something Very Bad happen . . . and got killed when the giant spider hit me for 6, and then for 14. Ah, the joys of being third level with no armor.
I’m going to write about the whole thing for my column in Dungeon, but I will say this now: if you ever get a chance to do a True Dungeon, go for it. It’s a blast. They’re in Anaheim through the weekend.

53 thoughts on “i am not a number . . . i’m a bard!”

  1. Let me just say that, as the wizard in Wil’s party, he was a truly excellent Bard. And then he was killed by a giant spider. But nonetheless, he did indeed stop something Very Bad from happening to us, so he should stop beating himself up about not seeing the ledge already.
    Oh, and if you care, I’ve got a blog entry that at least touches on our adventures on my site as well.

  2. Wow, I saw Wil earlier today at GenCon in the main hall, and he stopped to take a picture with me. How cool is that?
    I made a note about it with the pic on my page…
    http://electricocean.com/67/article-444.html
    I have been asking people all day how they liked the True Dungeon, and everyone seems to have a blast. Can’t wait till tomorrow.
    Thanks Wil for being so cool.

  4. I am so glad you had a good time. Me, I put in a 13 hour day at work yesterday. I had so much fun I am going to do it again today. seriously, I am so glad you enjoyed yourself.

  5. That explains the middle of the night text message from a friend saying “I killed Wil Wheaton.” 🙂
    I played at GenCon Indy, and True Dungeon is one of those experiences you just have to keep going back to.

  8. No clue what all that was about. All I caught was “giant spider”. I am scared poopless of spiders. Our fake tree was put in the garage and I went out to pull my purple lights off of it for Halloween and three or four HUGE spiders tried to chew off my limbs. Trevor insist that he can get them out of the tree, he’s a big tough man, he can rule the world, yada yada. Typical man talk, you know? Being the woman, I wear the pants so we’re getting a real tree. There is no way in hell I am bringing that thing in our house and wake up some morning to find our cats missing.

  9. Hmm. I’m going to be at Gencon today…perhaps I’ll try that after Tracy’s Killer Breakfast. Thanks! The show looks like it will be a lot of fun.

  10. If I wasn’t stuck at my stupid job, i mean at my employer who gives me a home and food on my table, I’d be at GenCon now. Grumble. So It looks like no fun until tomorrow for me.

  11. If I wasn’t stuck at my stupid job, i mean at my employer who gives me a home and food on my table, I’d be at GenCon now. Grumble. So It looks like no fun until tomorrow for me.

  12. *giggles*
    I have been making some Ren. faire costumes for some people & I could just image you going as a bard – that is one costume I would love to make but so far no one has wanted one.
    sounds like alot of fun but no way I’ll ever get to go – you will have to go again for me.

  14. I have never even heard of True Dungeon. I played AD&D many years ago and my son and some other family members play it still but now that I’ve read your blog, I have to find out what True Dungeon is.
    I heard about your website and am glad I stumbled upon it from the Vulkon site. It’s very cool. This, of course comes from a Dork Princess of Fandom, so you may not think so much of the compliment.
    Anyway, now, I’m off to Google “True Dungeon.”

  15. Ouch, giant spiders. Man, I hate those things. I’ve payed D&D for 25 years and I /still/ hate them.
    Still, a bard CAN wear armor (though maybe not under the True Dungeon rules?), you just take a penalty on your spellcasting. A good chain shirt is nice. Do they have a rule specifically saying you can’t? Still, sounds like you had a great time, and that’s what counts.

  17. How did the traps work? was it somethng like an air burst, and a note in the chest saying “You’ve been hit by a poison needle”?

  18. Heh. I played a bard once (I prefer clerics or fighters.). It was hella fun. I had a fairly evil ferret for a pet that I would throw in the faces of enemies because I refused to do more to help fight (Yes, I was evil stuck with good people.). I do recall it did more damage and had more hit points than I did at level one. Scary. Glad to hear you had fun! Dude, I can’t find a store in my town that carries Dungeon. I can’t believe that! Farking Austin… 😉

  19. Hey Wil,
    We did True Dungeon on Friday with a party of 4, and lost one of our guys to the darn spider too! I am happy to report that 3 of us made it to the last room….then boned it 🙁 I guess we did pretty well because every single GM asked, “Um, there is only 4 of you???”
    I am dying to know the solution to the last puzzle. We think we figured it after the fact. Only time will tell!
    Glad you had fun, I know we did!

  22. Ahem… Not to sound like a rules lawyer , but in 3.5 a bard can wear light armor and still cast spells w/o penalty.
    btw, I learned of your site from the link at Monte Cook.com. I’m glad I did. I check it daily now.
    Live long and Prosper.

  23. I love this blog Mr. Wheaton! Maybe this breaks the rules for what is kosher or not…but for those of you who like reading about the theatre world, I just started a blog about the children’s theatre tour my husband and I are on. We live out of our car, in and out of hotels. We are on the road for eight months. Check it out and tell me what you think!
    http://aesopsfables.blogspot.com

  24. Heh. Order of the Stick is one of my favorite new comics.
    For those of you wondering what in the world a bard is (and if Wil doesn’t mind):
    Dungeons and Dragons has several classes you can play. Classes are like professions; a set of skills and abilities that go to together and compliment the other classes in some degree. Bard is one of those classes. The Bard is a jack-of-all-trades in regards to character classes. He can use a little magic (almost always done through singing or some other type of performance), can use a fair number of weapons tolerably well, and has a fair number of skills.
    The major Bard abilities center around special musical skills. She can use these powers to inspire the rest of his companions. Once she uses one of these special abilities the rest of the group fights better, has better morale, is less likely to be affected by certain spells or magical effects, etc.

  25. I don’t know if True Dungeon allowed me to wear armor, but even if it did, I know I didn’t have enough gold to buy some.
    The game is primarilty based on solving puzzles (and we had an AWESOME Wizard in our party, who solved at least one that I know I *never* would have been able to figure out), but the most fun for me was all the ridiculous singing and dancing I got to do.

  26. *kicks self for not going to GenCon SoCal*
    Well…..if you had THAT much fun at SoCal, maybe you could get to GenCon Indy in August! I’m sure the folks at GenCon would love to have you there!

  27. Glad you had such a great time, is it horrible that i suddenly feel un-cool because i have NO CLUE as to what you’re talking about?

  28. I did True Dungeon too, as the Bard…
    Nyah nyah, I was at the back of the party when the spider struck. But man did we scream when it shot the silly-string out.
    All 7 of us got to the end, but then our self-appointed bozo leader wanted to ‘watch the lizardmen’ instead of jumping them and NOT listening to me when I said they wouldn’t touch the altar. BAH
    Glad you had fun Wil. I had a ball too, hope to go again next year. 🙂

  30. Just got done viewing “boy searching for a body” movie, I think that is how you put it, with my kids and got to wondering, whatever happened….? So the search began! I was thrilled to find this site and catch up on your life!! Keep up the good work and I look forward to reading your books!!!

  33. I also got whacked in the spider room, but only ’cause our whole party took extra damage in one room because the DM said we hadn’t solved the puzzle when in fact we had. Grr.

  35. I just found your blog and perused it, I like it! It’a nice to know more about you other than star trek days, which I did watch and still do in re-runs. I had no idea you were a writer and so much more, glad to see the real you!

  36. Those giant spiders were nasty, almost my whole party died in that room. The only reason I lived through that one was that I was the silly person who had gone down the little floor tunnel two rooms before and gotten captured by the spider.
    Unless it was different at SoCal, as I went at Indy.

  37. I have to say I’ve never played any D&D. I’ve thought about it, but it just hasn’t happened yet. I’m glad you had fun though.

  38. Wil,
    I was lucky enough to be one of the people that was lurking in the tavern when you were starting the event – seeing you improv the song was great, thank you.
    I’ve always been a fan, and it was great to see you come to an event that I helped make. (My friend and I built the tavern)
    It’s awesome to hear that you had a good time!
    I noticed a few questions and comments about the event on these comments – feel free to post questions and comments on the true dungeon web site forum ( http://www.truedungeon.com ). We read the forums regularly and will respond asap.
    Thank you!
    -Lance

  39. I stumbled onto your blog a couple of months ago, and continue to be eminently satisfied each and every visit so I thought it was high time that I let you know it’s great and to never stop. Thanks for including Chap. 9 a couple posts ago, I was being lazy but now I HAVE to go buy the book. Played any poker lately? If so would love to hear about it!

  40. flashback
    I remember playing a bard that was in the back of the original Player’s Handbook, not the emasculated, weenie bard they have now. You had to earn fighter and thief levels before you started as a bard.
    Boy could I charm the chicks with my lute playing and songstyling.
    /flashback
    Oops. Looks like the old bards and new ones have a lot more in commom than I thought.

  42. Slightly off subject…
    Has anyone else noticed that Wil has been on TV all weekend, featured in the ads for VH1’s upcoming “The Coolest Years” series?
    It shows a picture of him from many years ago, split screen with him, today, saying something like, “When I was younger, I was into Dungeons and Dragons.”
    It all blows by pretty quickly, but it was definitely him.
    So, what’s the scoop?

  43. i saw that too…i came here to find out more info about it, but have been unable to locate anything.
    i also went to VH1.com and all it will give me is that the show is on tomorrow night.
    mechalet

  46. Wil,
    I was one of the head GMs for True Dungeon in SoCal. Not one of the ones on shift at the time your party came through the Dungeon, but I was able to watch your party’s progress behind the scenes for a couple of rooms that way.
    You were, hands down, one of the best bards we’ve had in True Dungeon. The bluehands, Death, other GMs, and I were trying hard not to laugh out loud behind the scenes at your songs and intrude on your play experience. It’s unfortunate that you met your demise in the Spider Lair, and didn’t get to experience the further rooms in the Dungeon.
    In my personal opinion (which is in no way representative of or to be interpreted as the official stance of True Dungeon/True Adventures/GenCon/etc.), the particular GM you had for the Spider Lair was rather harsh in your situation.
    Those of you commenting on Bard issues or the rulesets for armor, bards, etc. in such and such edition of AD&D/D&D – True Dungeon is not D&D. It’s True Dungeon, and while it’s based on and inspired by D&D, with many similar rules, they are adapted to work for this unique experience.

  47. .
    The game is primarilty based on solving puzzles (and we had an AWESOME Wizard in our party, who solved at least one that I know I *never* would have been able to figure out), but the most fun for me was all the ridiculous singing and dancing I got to do.
    Awesome? Wow, thanks, very kind of you. I’m a big puzzle-geek, so that made things much easier for me. Just curious, was it the number puzzle or the final room puzzle that you’re talking about? I actually felt kinda stupid for not figuring out the number puzzle sooner, but I was fairly keyed up at the time. And for the record, I certainly wouldn’t have figured it out if a certain someone hadn’t thought to use a certain spell in a certain spot, so kudos there.
    Oh, and I apparently forgot to put the URL for my blog in my first comment. For those who don’t mind minor spoilers and want more details, try here
    And for the guy who wanted to know if he correctly figured the last room out after the fact, email me your solution, and I’ll let ya know.

  49. True Dungeon sounds awesome. I got to Vegas for the first time last week and went through both Star Trek Experience rides. They were fantastic!
    I think a Vegas hotel should do a True Dungeon type theme a la STE. How cool would that be?

  50. Dang! Peter A. gave us passes for GenCon SoCal, and James was over there a couple of days doing panels, but I had a 3-year-old who wanted to “doh tee Minneee ‘n Mitteeee!!”, so I just went to Disneyland FIVE DAYS IN A ROW. . . and apparently missed my chance to possibly meet the incomparable Wil. So, I guess I lose “geek points”, and gain “parent points” 🙂
    And now, I must harass James for text-ads. . .

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