For Post # 1000 I'd like to give special thanks to all of the members on here.
Back in 2005 when I joined
The Acaeum my family was going through really bad grief following the death of my brother. This tragedy was soon followed by my mother having two terrible strokes. Over the next seven years my mother, who survived the strokes, fell victim to Alzheimer's disease. This resulted in seven years of nursing homes, doctors, lawyers, Medicare and Medicaid red tape, crushing stress and the horror of severe paranoia taking over my mother's mind.
In an effort to escape from the madness I started rebuilding my D&D collection. It just seemed like the right thing to do despite the fact that I hadn't picked up a rule book in almost (at the time) two decades.
I started playing in 1978 with a mash-up of rules sets, including Supplement I,
Greyhawk, the
Monster Manual, and
Metamorphosis Alpha, of all things. Like most groups, we had house rules (a natural 20 was double damage; we had no idea whether our to-hit tables were correct); also like most groups we gravitated to
1E once all the rule books were available. Our favorite dungeon modeules were the A-series, the Slavers series. For whatever reason, though, my heart never left the original/basic game, and what eventually became the BECMI version of D&D.
By the time I got married in 1989 I had completely given up
RPGs and gaming in general, except for the odd poker game. And it pretty well stayed that way until the aftermath of my brother's death. Since my own kids were really young at the time I needed something to take my mind off all the stress. The cure was D&D. I don't specifically remember how I found this site, but I have always enjoyed posting here and have had some great transactions over the years.
I still don't play
RPGs very much, with a handful of notable exceptions: A few years ago I played
1E with a group of very distressed kids who were dealing with a terrible situation at home. And I have also played
Pathfinder and
The One Ring with my son. We've had mixed results in both endeavors. Nevertheless it's a fun hobby, the collecting, reading, and (when the stars align) playing D&D, in all its manifestations (except
4E).
I sincerely hope none of you ever has to deal with a parent with Alzheimer's. It is a hell of a disease that will rend a family apart. But if you do have to contend with it or similar malady, I strongly recommend continuing to collect D&D. It can be a small but powerful salve that helps a very big wound.
Thanks,
Keith
