I'm baaaaack, baby!

"I'm back,"
Erus grunted, shifting his shield onto his shoulder and started down the hill. The village before him was almost alien - it had doubled in size and now spread across both banks of the river since he had last clapped eyes on it.
The old growth forest that he had so loved as a child had been cut back and replaced with new buildings of wood and stone.
It had been 15 years since he had joined the roving band of adventurer's and left the village - 15 years of battle and treasure. Despair and joy. Laughter and misery.
In 15 years he had slain hordes of enemies. Collected a king's ransom in gold. And lost it. He'd bedded hundreds of beauties. And held dozens of friends as their lifeblood spilled onto the ground.
And now he was home.
Head held high, hand on sword he marched through the town, looking for a familiar face. The house he had grown up in was gone, replaced by a new one. His father's smithy was now a stable.
Finally he reached it - the inn he had so loved as a young villager. No longer did the black cat sign swing from it's lintel. Now a pair of tankards hung there.
"Oi! who the hell are you?!"

That's right.. Gobbo's back. I know it's been almost a year in between posts but this blog has often been in my thoughts and many was the time that i thought "I really need to get back to blogging".
But life... as it always does got in the way.
In the past year we've moved cities, I've changed jobs, got a pretty major promotion, my wife's grandmother died and my mother suffered a heart attack.
As all this happened, a few ugly occurrences seemed to be taking place among the online OSRIC bloggers and the whole environment didn't feel all that friendly.
so it's been a pretty rough trot that was pretty much devoid of roleplaying.

But I'm back - and oddly enough it took D&D 4th edition to drag me back, kicking and screaming.
About six months ago I ended up playing 4th edition with a couple of fellas i met online - I was looking for a game (any game!) and they were also in the same position of having just moved to Sydney.
We hit it off, we had a ball and then the game folded - certain players couldn't be bothered anymore, the DM had some personal shit to deal with... same old story.
The good news is that the core group of those players have kicked off another campaign - another 4th edition.
Now... I'm willing to admit 4th edition is not exactly blowing me away but i am enjoying gaming and I'm finding I'm actually enjoying the mechanics of 4th.
Best of all, I'm playing rather than DM'ing: we've got a first time DM who appreciates my support (we'll bounce ideas off each other and sling emails back and forth all week leading up to a game) and a group of mainly younger guys who are first time players.
Yep - not only am I the old man of the group but I'm the only one has ever played 1st and 2nd edition.
While this goes a long way to making me feel old it also means my pc (a half orc ranger) has developed into a mentor-like character rather than an out and out leader type, which is great.

So you can expect the following from Gobbo in the coming days and weeks: session reports, 4th to old school conversions and vice versa (I said i was enjoying 4th not that I'd given up on old school gaming), my thoughts on the new edition.... and general geek stuff.
And I'm sure I can get some BoL in here as well.

So - friends, Romans, Gobbo lovers, gather around.

Now, if only i can get these kids to understand what a THACO is...