About Us
The History of Vorpal Chaos
The group that would become Vorpal Chaos began somewhere around 1994. The original group consisted of Dennis, Rob, Robert, Robert’s brother-in-law Scott, and “Joseph and Luigi”. The group took turns in the DM chair, but tensions soon mounted. “Luigi” had a predisposition to create impossible scenarios for the players, taking great delight in injuring or killing the characters. To make matters worse, his friend and intimate “Joseph” actually sat behind the DM screen when “Luigi” was DM. Tensions and resentments mounted, spilling over once and for all in an ill-fated game, chronicled elsewhere on this website. “Joseph” showed up with a female character that he and “Luigi” had rolled up with no witnesses. All of “Joseph’s” stats were 17!! When questioned about it, “Luigi” began to make the game very hard on some of the players. He put them into a situation eventually where the party Paladin was armless and the only character with a weapon above a +3. They were fighting a Demon that regenerated after being hit with anything beneath a +3. The Paladin couldn’t use his Holy Sword with no arms, and it was a +2 sword in the hands of the rest of the party. They were in effect decimated, being completely surrounded by Demons and unable to escape or fight effectively. That night was the last that the original party played. “Luigi and Joseph” were never called again, for a game or otherwise.
The group continued to play, and in 1995 three others were added to the roster; Al, Art and Josh, all brothers-in law of Dennis. Al played 3 times in a six month period and then decided that he would not be interested in playing anymore. Art and Josh continued to play for a while. This incarnation of the group played together from 1995 until 1997. At this point Scott got married and between his job, commute and new wife was unable to play anymore. The group played on without him. In 1998 Robert left the group, having taken an out of state job. Rob, Josh, Dennis and Art continued to play. Later in 1998 Art left the group, not having the time to play with the hours he worked at a new job. Rob, Josh and Dennis were the only remaining players. In 2000 Rob left the group, having got a job in a different state. Josh and Dennis tried to drum up new players with little success. The group was in essence defunct.
In 2003 a friend of Dennis’ named Tim joined the group, and Josh brought a friend Cory. Cory played twice and moved out of state. One of Dennis’ cousins, Rich, joined for one game but was also unable to play beyond that. Rob continued to drop in for games when he was in town, and Dennis brought in 2 more work friends, Matt and Steve. With the group back up to five they played every 3 months. In 2004 Steve left the group, but another brother-in-law of Dennis, John, joined up.
Later in 2004 Matt dropped out due to a new marriage. The group was down to Dennis, John, Josh and Tim. They continued to play through 2004 and 2005. In 2005 Dave joined the group as a friend of Tim’s. In 2006 Allen joined the group. A professional Game Master of close to 100 different RPG’s, Allen played with Gary Gygax in the late 1970’s. He had no desire to play, opting instead to be all time DM. His modules are the best the group has played in our 12 year history, and his experience and adaptability make for riveting adventures. We are fortunate to have him. We lost Dave in mid 2006, but in late 2006 a former co-worker of Josh’s, Jeff, joined the group. The current group consists of Dennis (Bladesinger), Josh (Paladin), Tim (Thief), John (Mage), Jeff (Cleric) and Allen (DM).
Group Bios
By Biff Bluesleeves
Name: Dennis - She Never Told Me She Was A Mime
Tenure with the Group: 1994- Present
Bio: Dennis is a charter member of Vorpal Chaos and has played a number of character types, from a Minotaur to a Dwarf, an Elf, a Half Ogre, and most recently a Bladesinger. Giving his characters names such as Biff Dingle, Elviso and Seamus O’Toole (See-miss the Tool). Dennis is the comedian of the party. He has hosted almost every game for the last 12 years, and his kitchen table has seen many a battle. All of his characters have collected the ears of evil characters that he has fought alone and killed, a practice that has offended the Lawful Good members of the party over the years. During one module an Arcane contracted the party to help him escort his caravan to another town. However he deceived the party, and they were sold by the Arcane into slavery to a Gladiator School, who put them into some fights right away. The party broke free quickly of their surroundings and attacked the man who owned the arena. He kidnapped Tim’s Thief and barricaded himself in a room with several soldiers. At the same time the Arcane was running for the door. The DM was confident that the party would not desert their friend, but was soon proven wrong. At Dennis’ urging the party opted to go after the Arcane first. He was killed with an arrow in his back from Dennis, and the party proceeded to loot the Arcane’s cart, taking 27 high level magic items, including a Cube of Force, a Sword of Sharpness, a Book of Puissant Arms and many more. The unprepared DM rolled for an hour off of several tables to determine all of the loot, while Dennis laughed the whole time. The party then used their newly found arsenal to obliterate the barricaded soldiers and free Tim, who was not appreciative of being left like he was. Dennis’ luck with the die is also legendary, and widely attributed to his Blessed Fiery Orange Die (BFOD). He rolls the most Natural 20’s of the party during melee. He consistently rolls high stats for new characters in the presence of the whole group every time we begin a new party, almost superhumanly endowing his character, and years ago inspiring the limerick;
When Dennis rolled up his new person
He got stats that seemed not to worsen
From his previous guy,
Who could do all but fly,
And his damnable luck left us cursin’.
Origin of Nickname: Dennis is obsessed with 2 things in this game-The name “Biff” and Mimes. At one point Dennis played a Mime Thief, and when one of his fellow party members fell down a hole with some monsters in it, Dennis sprang to his aid with the rest of the group. The party threw down a rope and all lined up to haul their comrade up to safety. All but Dennis, who’s Mime Thief stood beside the 3 other struggling characters, pulling on an invisible rope in perfect synch with their pulling on the real one. Dennis has never run a game that DIDN’T have a Mime in it. The party was once subjected to invisible boxes and walking against stiff winds from a Mime Mage, who tried to put up an invisible wall between us and him. We can still see him slap his knee in silent laughter at us as we tried ineffectively to get to him from across the room…….
Name: “Luigi”- Il Duce
Tenure with the Group: 1994-1995
Bio: “Luigi” was one of the original member’s of the group that would become Vorpal Chaos. His modules were notoriously lopsided, and he openly took grudges against other players out on their characters when he was DM. Some of his attacks on members of the group were almost comical in their open hostility, and he seemed to have a special bond with “Joseph”, who sat with “Luigi” behind the DM screen oftentimes. On the last night “Luigi” and “Joseph” played with the group “Luigi” was DM. He had an NPC character of a Bald Elf that was infinitely powerful and able to root the whole group in place in fear without a saving throw, including the Kender and Paladin, who should have been immune to fear. Later in the game “Luigi” gave a party of 12 riders surprise and initiative when they had been sighted 300 yards off riding hard and some bow shots should have been allowed before melee was closed. Dennis pointed this out, and “Luigi” responded by having all 12 riders surround and attack Dennis (on horseback, mind you). Although Dennis had an AC of -4 all of the riders had a low enough THACO to hit him. The final straw came later that same module when “Luigi” put the party in a fatal position there was no escape from. He had them surrounded by Demons without any weapons that are +3 or over, except for the Paladin’s Holy Avenger. The Paladin had both arms removed, and the sword was a +2 in the hands of a non-Paladin. “Luigi’s” intent to trap and kill the party was clear. In disgust Dennis had his character kneel down and be beheaded by the head Demon, which “Luigi” cheerfully obliged. “Luigi” and “Joseph” were never contacted for a game by the group again, although “Luigi” left his miniatures at Robert’s house that night. Josh took possession of the miniatures for the group.
Origin of Nickname: “Luigi” was dictatorial, tolerated no dissent and had his enemies killed. No further explanation is needed.
Name: “Joseph” - She’s Only Seventeen…..
Tenure with the Group: 1994-1995
Bio: “Joseph” was “Luigi’s” buddy, and was granted special privileges during the modules “Luigi” was DM for. He played a Female Thief with all 17 stats. Prior to his Thief character “Joseph” played a Fighter character. During one of the modules “Joseph” decided that he didn’t want to do what the others were doing. His refusal caused the person who was DM that game to make his character scrub toilets. This did not phase “Joseph”, who promptly decided to walk the opposite direction from the group. He just kept walking, and when it was clear that “Joseph” was not going to be cooperative the DM charged the group with hunting “Joseph’s” character down as a deserter and killing him, which the group did. “Joseph” never DM’ed, and was largely there to support “Luigi”.
Origin of Nickname: “Joseph” showed up to one of the later games with a female Thief character that he rolled himself with “Luigi” the only witness. All 6 of his stats were 17’s, which “Luigi” instantly corroborated as being genuine rolls. At the time the group rolled 3d6 for stats, allowing a re-roll on 1’s and 2’s. Aside from the violation of a group policy about all characters being rolled in the presence of everyone the fact that “Joseph” rolled a sequence of 2 sixes and 1 five 6 times in a row is almost mathematically impossible, but something that “Luigi” and “Joseph” swore was true.
Name: Robert - Traps and Mazes
Tenure with the Group: 1994-1998
Bio: Robert was a Texan and one of the charter members of Vorpal Chaos. He played a Thief generally, his most memorable being Willow, who did a successful backstab on a Will O’ the Wisp for over 60 points of damage. Other memorable Robert moments include a time that the group was trying to infiltrate a fortress of half ogres. Robert and Dennis were attempting to climb a steep wall, with the aim of getting to the top and lowering a rope for the rest of the party. Robert was thrilled when he almost maxxed his climbing stats with a 98%, but the thrill quickly died when he failed a check and fell. Trying again he failed another check and fell. Trying a third time he failed a third check, fell, and took D6 damage. When Dennis stopped laughing enough to talk he lowered a rope for Robert. After we retired our 16th level characters and begun anew Robert elected to play a Kender Thief. His trademark greeting of, “Hey guys! How’s it going?” in a high pitched voice became the standard for Kender behavior and imitation in our group to this day. When Robert’s wife was expecting the last of their 3 children he declined an invitation to play on a day that was close to her projected due date. In the middle of the game Robert, like a true legend, showed up at the house to play his character, his wife having given birth only hours before. Robert took a consulting job that called him to Colorado frequently, the resulting long absences and subsequent out of state move causing him to have to drop out of the group.
Origin of Nickname: One game date Robert was the scheduled DM. He had spent a lot of time at work and as the date drew close he had not had the time to prepare a module. His solution was to download a series of traps and mazes and make the party go through it. There was no goal, and very little loot. But there was a lot of damage in store for the party. The module was unfinished by the end of the night, and we never completed it.
Name: Scott We’ll Have None of That Mouth Here, Fisherman!
Tenure with the Group: 1994-1997
Bio: Scott's character was Roland Atreides the Cleric, who took a cartoonishly long time to look up and implement spells. One of our favorite memories of Scott was when the party was captured in a mine by hostile bipeds. While the rest of the party bided their time with a temporary surrender Scott's cleric elected to cast a fly spell, which more or less permitted him to hover 20 feet above the party, well within arrow range of the incredulous bipeds. A proud sort, Scott refused to admit that he had made a poor decision, and elected to fly around overhead catching arrows and taking damage. Once almost dead he had no choice but to come down. He also played a Gnome Ranger wryly named “Qu’lem Aul” (Kill ‘em all). The far distance away that Scott lived (Deerfield, Il), his long hours as a paramedic and his new marriage forced his eventual resignation from the group.
Origin of Nickname: Once when the party was aboard a boat they passed a small fishing boat that contained some smart aleck fisherman. Words were exchanged in passing between Roland Atreides and the fishermen, which prompted one of the fishermen to drop their pants and moon the enraged cleric. Thinking only of revenge, and not taking into account the fact that a cleric with a 16 strength and a magic longbow and +2 arrows would do a great deal of damage to a half hit die NPC, Scott's character shot the unlucky fisherman in the derriere. The strength and magic bonuses to the attack resulted in the hapless fisherman being killed when the well shot arrow entered a bodily orifice and pierced several vital organs. Blue lightning crackled overhead, and Roland Atreides was knocked unconscious to the deck by his angry Deity. Not exactly a Lawful Good act to murder an innocent fisherman over an insult.
Name: Rob - Scattin’ Lester
Tenure with the Group: 1994-2000
Bio: Rob was another charter member of the group. He played every sort of character from a Paladin to Chip Greenleaf the Elf fighter to Lester the Gnome Cleric/Mage to Red Elk the Elf Mage. Rob was an excellent player and an excellent DM. His knowledge of the rules of the game is shadowed in our group only by Allen’s, and he was a good resource for ideas, solutions and rule clarifications. During our 20th level “one time character” module the party was descending through the 9 realms, summoned by Odin to aid in a battle against Surtur who had forged his great sword and was preparing to destroy Midgard with fire. The party had to descend through the land of the Drow and Jotunheim of the Giants as well as through the Ice plane of Niffleheim before it arrived in Hela’s realm. Hela sent a giant monster that was composed of the bodies of 50 dead men to attack the party. The monster won initiative and got one attack. Then Rob asked Josh (who was DM) if the monster had less than 1,000 hit points. It did, by 2. Rob replied that the monster was then dead. He had summoned a deadly swarm of Insects, and killed a monster that was meant to be a much greater obstacle than he actually was. Rob laughed the rest of the evening at Josh. Rob was also responsible for casting a spell that killed the Tarrasque in one of our modules. The party had decided to retire their 16th level characters, and so decided that to have them go out in a blaze of glory they would have a hyper tough module, sure to kill them off. They slew an Ancient Red Dragon in the course of the game, and in the finale came face to face with the Tarrasque. The DM feared that with its negative THACO the party was only able to hit the Tarrasque on a roll of 1. So he allowed the Tarrasque to be hit by rolls of 1, 2, 3 and 20. The result was unexpected and disastrous. The party walked right through the Tarrasque with those allowances, with Rob administering the spell that killed it. The DM even attempted to keep adding hit points to the Tarrasque secretly because it seemed so anti-climactic to kill such a legendary monster so quickly. None of the party was killed, and the characters were retired intact. Rob moved out of state to take a different job, so he left a big pair of shoes to fill in our group after 6 years of tenure.
Origin of Nickname: The most memorable character Rob or anyone in our group EVER played was Lester the Cleric/Mage. Modeled after the doll “Lil’ Penny”, Lester was an African American Gnome with a love for 3 things-Gold Pieces, Mead and the Ladies. One time the party was engaged in some hard pressed melee and getting the worst of it. Lester cast Bless and went right into a Chant Spell. However, his Chant was a Scat, and he was Moon walking as he did it. The visual along with Rob’s pantomime of it was to date THE funniest things ever done at a Vorpal Chaos game.
Name: Josh - Fumbles
Tenure with the Group: 1995- Present
Bio: Josh joined the group in 1995 to play at Dennis’ invitation. He has never played a Non-Paladin, although in our most recent campaign he attempted for one game to play a Lawful Good Cleric. His attempts at remaining true to his Lawful Good alignment have resulted in borderline comic results at times as he takes damage interceding with his companions about to kill an unarmed evil enemy or rushes into what is quite likely a trap because he hears a woman’s voice calling for help. Two of his Paladin’s have had Holy Swords, one found in the belly of a Bullete and one being given to him by a dying Paladin, who was killed because the DM didn’t listen to Josh when he said his Paladin was going to aid the aging Paladin in melee against the Vampire they were fighting. Magog was the name of Josh’s long time Paladin, and Magog’s son is Josh’s current Paladin. In Josh’s first module with Magog the party was seeking directions. As a Paladin with an 18 Charisma Magog was selected to approach and ask an elderly woman on her porch churning butter. As he asked her for directions she interrupted him and asked if he would like to buy some butter. Magog agreed, bought the butter and got his directions. Being new at D&D Josh did not stop to consider what he would do with the butter, but he elected to throw it away after it melted all over his gauntlets. That night he discovered the butter in his pack. He threw it away again, and it ended up in his pack again days later. This magic butter plagued Josh’s character for years, melting all over his equipment, making his hands slick, etc. At one point in melee Magog drew his sword not knowing that the butter had reappeared and coated his equipment yet again. His sword flew from his hand as he drew it, causing nearby party members to duck. He fought with a negative modifier the entire battle.
Origin of Nickname: As Luck is to Dennis, so is Misfortune to Josh in terms of die rolls. Whereas Dennis has the record well in hand for his Critical hits Josh holds the undisputed title for most fumbles ever. During one game after a series of Fumbles Josh became incensed with his cursed gold colored 20 sider and hurled it across Dennis’ kitchen where it disappeared under his refrigerator. It was recovered years later when Dennis bought a new refrigerator, still sitting in the drip tray of the old one, and Josh now keeps it in his die bag, unable to use it because of the Fumble Curse upon it.
Name: Al - Mysterrangersir
Tenure with the Group: 1995
Bio: Al was a short timer. A brother in law of Josh’s he worked third shift and would usually show up to the games for only a few hours before he had to leave for work. It was clear after a few games that Al did not enjoy D&D at all, which was confirmed by his hit and miss attendance. Al eventually decided that the game was not for him and dropped out after 6 months tenure with the group, most of which were no-shows.
Origin of Nickname: Al was assigned a Ranger to play, and he was absolutely incapable of coming up with a name for his character. Al was not the creative sort in terms of D&D. Josh’s initial suggestion of “Rump” was not amusing to Al, but he did accept Josh’s second tongue in cheek suggestion of “Mysterrangersir”, which earned him a special place in the DM’s heart.
Name: Art - Baseballs
Tenure with the Group: 1995-1998
Bio: Art was one of Dennis and Josh’s brother-in-laws and had never played D&D before. He joined the party around the same time as Josh and Al. He loved playing the big, dumb, strong fighters with the huge Oak clubs and a 20 Strength. During one of the modules the party was in a town with some free time, trying to decide what to do. Art’s Half Ogre decided that he needed to “seek some friendly company”, but was unsure of where such services could be procured. His solution was to go into a nearby stable, grab the 12 year old stable boy by the shoulder and yell at him, “I need to get laid!”. Art’s intention was to convey urgency. What image was ACTUALLY conveyed was that of a 7 and a half foot tall 500 pound Half Ogre bellowing down at a 4’10” 12 year old about his “needs”, which frightened the boy so badly he wet himself and then ran away. Art’s increasingly heavy work schedule and some serious health issues caused him to have to resign.
Origin of Nickname: One game Art was unable to make it, so one of the other players played his character, who was a big, dumb-witted Half Ogre. It was noticed on Art’s character’s physical description that he was “Muscular, with calves the size of Baseballs”……
Name: Cory - We Hardly Knew Ye
Tenure with the Group: 2002
Bio: Cory was the shortest timer of all. A co-worker of Josh’s he was invited to play as the group was still struggling to rebuild after losing 4 players in a 2 year period. Cory was a good player, experienced, sharp, and adept with his fighter character. Sadly during our second game with him he announced that his wife, a teacher, had taken a job in Arkansas, and Vorpal Chaos lost another budding member.
Origin of Nickname: Cory had the potential to be a good player and an excellent addition.
Name: Tim - Gripley’s Believe It Or Not
Tenure with the Group: 2003- Present
Bio: Tim joined the group in 2003 at Dennis’ invitation. He has played the perennial Thief character, and his skills with check for traps and pick locks have become legendary. In the recent module series Tim’s Thief met with misfortune a series of times. It began when he was transformed into a Gripley, which gave him such jumping abilities he has to date voluntarily remained in that form. It was Tim who boldly leapt to attack the evil Mage Horon in his compound. As Horon and his consort were held Tim attacked them with his weapon, but he did a series of ineffectual 1’s and 2’s for damage with his Gripley strength. This was remedied by the party’s Mage when he unleashed fireball on the held pair, which Tim barely evaded. He was poisoned by plant zombies, escorted a disguised Green Hag into the party’s camp and was poisoned again and captured by Giant Spiders. He rarely makes a back stab, but Tim is a good natured fixture with the group, always willing to set a snare when the need arises.
Origin of Nickname: Tim’s voluntarily remained a Gripley through the 3 games after his transformation, and he seems loathe to return to his original form. He is a Gripley soul trapped in a Human Body……
Name: John - Magic Missiles
Tenure with the Group: 2004- Present
Bio: John came to our group in 2004 widely experienced in D&D having been involved in several groups. John is always familiar with the new versions, and brings his laptop to the games to utilize his massive data bases of spells. John is our recurring Mage character, and he plays his character well. His Mage has a penchant for catching other members of the party in the blast radius or area of effect of his spells. The Paladin is a seemingly favorite target for these inadvertent magical over shots, as he has been hit with Lightning, Fireballs, Color Spray, etc. His Fireball and Lightning spells also tend to obliterate magic items being held by the enemy, making the group’s salvageable magical loot few and far between. But he is a highly effective support character and always knows which spell is most effective for every situation. John recently solved our logistical problem of how to get the dragon loot out of a cavern that was wider than the cart we were pulling it in. He couldn’t cast Shrink on the cart because the money and bags would remain normal size. No matter which of the three items he could shrink the other 2 remained normal sized. John’s solution was to cast a Shrink spell on the Paladin, who would be carrying the cart with the money and bags inside. As it was on his person the items would all shrink with him. This idea worked out beautifully and enabled the party to get the gold out of the cavern so that they could lose it to the Green Hag.
Origin of Nickname: A Favorite of our Mage, and one of the few spells guaranteed not to do collateral damage….
Name: Dave - Kender Historian
Tenure with the Group: 2005-2006
Bio: Dave was a former co-worker of Tim’s. He played a Kender Thief and had a very informed lease on the intricacies of the character. His real life personality suited him perfectly for the Kender role, and he contributed frequently to the game. His Kender’s curiosity always seemed to cause him to take large amounts of damage as he was in a bad place at a bad time frequently. Dave was a single father, and child care issues eventually compelled him to drop out of the group.
Origin of Nickname: Dave had a notebook full of pages upon pages of handwritten notes on Kenders and an old Kender character he had played many years ago. If there was a book with Kenders in it Dave had read it. He knew more about his class than most players, and his knowledge was very usefully imparted to the group.
Name: Allen - Game Master
Tenure with the Group: 2006- Present
Bio: Allen joined our group in the middle of 2006. A certified Game Master in close to 100 RPG’s Allen is the best DM we’ve ever had. There is not a rule he doesn’t know or a trick he doesn’t recognize. Cunning, wily, and always 2 steps ahead of the party, his modules have been incredibly challenging, and the most fun we’ve had in Vorpal Chaos in a long time. Allen played with Gary Gygax back in the late 70’s, so he trained with the master. He has a metric ton of figures, die, books, manuals, and accessories….and he owns his own suit of armor. You won’t find a more knowledgeable DM.
Origin of Nickname: Allen runs Hero Clix and Mech Warrior games weekly, but is also certified to run every type of game you could think of, and several more that you can’t.
Name: Jeff - Speed Bag
Tenure with the Group: 2006 to Present
Bio: Jeff is an old school D&D player who began playing back when First Edition came out, which is evidenced by the fact that he owns a copy of the first edition Monster Manual with Cthulhu in it. He used to run games as DM for his cousins who played Chaotic Evil characters, burning and pillaging everything they came in contact with. Jeff began with Vorpal Chaos as a Cleric but has recently changed his character class to Monk. One time back when Jeff was playing the Cleric the group was in a subterranean hallway looking at 3 Brass Doors. One of the Brass doors was bowed out into the hallway with a thin trickle of water running from underneath it, and the party stood in front of it deliberating about how to get to the other side. The Bladesinger suggested a spell that would cause a diagonal hole in the wall of the tunnel to drain the water out. The Thief and Paladin started to take cover behind one of the other doors while the Bladesinger cast the spell. However, before the Bladesinger could cast Jeff’s Cleric boldly strode up to the bowed door and pulled it open. Hundreds of thousands of gallons rushed into the narrow passageway with tremendous force. The Paladin and Thief had the door slammed on them but were safe on the other side of the door from the deluge. The Bladesinger was flooded back out the tunnel the group had just come from and almost swept out to sea. The Cleric was hurled against one of the other doors with such force that he was knocked unconscious. The rushing water held him against the door as he took damage every round, drowning slowly. The Thief and Paladin were able through a lot of effort to push the door open enough to pull the Cleric to safety one round before he died permanently.
Origin of Nickname: In the same subterranean encounter the party entered a seemingly deserted room with a crypt at the end of it. As they cautiously approached it a high level vampire leapt out from behind a pillar. Charging right for Jeff’s Cleric he performed Flurry of Blows like a speed bag on the Clerics head. The Cleric got punched in the face about 20 times in 2 seconds before he even knew what was happening, going down for the count a moment later with his eyes rolled back into his head. The party was eventually able to chase the vampire off, but not before he had rung Jeff’s bell with hilarious ease.
Name: Dave - Whispers
Tenure with the Group: 2007 to Present
Bio: Dave joined us at Allen’s invitation, a long time gamer. Dave also got started playing First Edition when the game first came out. Aside from D&D Dave also plays Hero Clix with Allen on Mondays. Dave is a very experienced Cleric character and brings a very needed dynamic to the group. While he hasn’t played with us long he demonstrates a real ability to function with the needs of the team as the first consideration. His knowledge of Cleric spells, area of effects and D&D rules in general make Dave an excellent addition.
Origin of Nickname: One time the group began a module in a tavern where they were seeking to rest for the night. As a customary precaution the group took a table in the corner with a view of the room and the protection of the wall at their back. The Paladin began to Detect Evil around the room, and Dave’s Cleric decided to Detect Magic. Detect Magic is an audible spell, so Allen made Dave roll to see how loudly he cast the spell. Dave’s roll ended in an unfortunate fumble, so the Cleric ended up standing up and shouting his spell in a booming voice. Almost everyone in the tavern had an item light up on their person, and most of them took the Cleric’s spell casting as an attack. Tables got over turned, people took defensive positions, and battle was joined as a Berserk, Magic hating Barbarian (ironically carrying a Magic Axe) flung tables as he rampaged towards the Cleric. In the debacle that followed a bar wench was nearly killed by a flying table to the head, the Barbarian was almost killed, a group of Thieves strong arm robbed the Cleric of his belt and spell components, a wall of blades was cast which shredded the support beams of the tavern’s ceiling, and 4 thieves were killed. Once the battle was over the Cleric paid almost all of his gold to the tavern owner and the injured bar wench in recompense.