Nathaniel’s worst fears have been realized…

One of the delightful things about having a stable group for playing D&D with is that you begin to develop your own mythology: tales about things that happened (or almost happened) during your sessions. When I started playing D&D on a weekly basis in 2000, just about the same time that D&D 3rd edition was being released, I had no idea that I’d still be running what could be considered the same campaign ten years later. None of the players are the same, admittedly, but there are a couple that have been playing for eight or nine years, and they have continuity with the early days of the campaign.

I’ll know the mythology of the game really has legs when the new players start telling stories about the old games they didn’t participate in, because they heard them from the older players and they’re entertaining stories. I think it’s beginning to happen now. Give me another five years and I should be able to tell you for sure. Or not, because my memory seems to be going as I get older.

When I first met Nathaniel, he was still at school – in Year 11, I believe. I’d met him at the local game store where we played CCGs together, mostly Magic, but also some Wheel of Time. (Yes, there really was a Wheel of Time CCG in the past. Many, many years ago now!) He joined one of my D&D campaigns and we played for two or three years before life got in his way and he couldn’t attend any more. A couple of years later, he came back and he’s in my current games. I think this run is about four years or so.

Nathaniel is a great person to know, with occasionally some strong opinions about the game. Based on what he’s said in the past about D&D 4e, I expect that when I next see him, he’ll be telling me that D&D is dead to him. We’ll all find this very amusing, and he’ll repeat the sentiment.

Why is he going to say this? Well, it’s because of something that happened during his first campaign with me; something we still talk about today. Yes, it’s entered our mythology. The story has to do with a particular monster that killed his PC… and then almost did it again to a new PC.

Do you know the old Tracy and Laura Hickman adventure, Pharoah?

It’s probably my favourite adventure of all time. It was first published back in 1982 by TSR, in the middle of the classic adventure era of AD&D. The adventure has the PCs exploring a superbly interesting pyramid, seeking to despoil it so that the curse on the lands around would be lifted. I’d taken the PCs out of the World of Greyhawk to put in the adventure, and Nathaniel’s 3e rogue character was having a good time finding treasure and dealing with Ernie’s cleric (who’d unwittingly put on a ring of contrariness, causing much roleplaying fun). Anyway, one of the PCs had gotten separated from the rest of the PCs in the mist-maze, but that wasn’t deterring the other characters. Go and look for her? Not a chance. There was treasure to find. And what was the best source of treasure but that chest over there. Nate, go search it for traps!

Unfortunately for Nathaniel, the chest wasn’t a chest.

It was a mimic.

Which proceeded to eat his poor character.

What’s a mimic? Well, if you’re lately come to D&D, you probably haven’t met one (yet). It’s basically a shapeshifting creature. One that shifts into an inanimate object that can then come to life and eat unwary adventurers. Like Nathaniel’s rogue. To make things worse, the lost PC turned up just after Nate’s character was killed, too late to save him. Nathaniel was not impressed – with either the lost PC, or the mimic. The mimic is the classic example of the “gotcha” monster; one that seems to exists purely to surprise adventurers. I mean, why is it in the form of a chest, anyway? Just for passing adventurers? Admittedly, if the mimic was in Castle Greyhawk, it’d have a pretty reliable food source there…

Of course, knowing what Nathaniel felt about mimics, I couldn’t resist putting one into another adventure I ran later. This time I disguised it as a door, and – wonderfully – Nathaniel was the one who got trapped by it again. This time he was adventuring with some slightly more competent players, and so was saved before it could kill his PC.

The reason I bring this up is because D&D 4e has been most definitely lacking a mimic so far. This has been something that Nathaniel has noted, and has gained a lot of pleasure from. He’s told me his feelings on the matter. You should be able to deduce from this tale why he’s likely to tell me that D&D 4e is dead to him when I next see him.

Yes, as revealed in a recent D&D Insider article, the mimic is back! You’ll be able to see it in Monster Manual 3.

It will really be a shame to lose Nathaniel from my D&D group, but when given a choice between having Nathaniel in the group or Mimics in D&D… well, the choice isn’t that hard to make.