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𝗠𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿.

He set an unparalleled example of servant leadership and always encouraged my personal and professional development. He was so excited when I followed his lead and became a Black Belt, and pursued certifications with the IAPP. He was always my best cheerleader, and my be source of constructive feedback. And my best source of wisdom.

I've routinely said, "If I ever grow up to be half the Scouter and man he is, I'll be doing a good job". I still believe those words. But, the more and more I learn about him, that half looks harder and harder to achieve. And I'm okay with that. I gave the eulogy at his memorial service, and it took a full 20 minutes to recount all he had done and all the lives he had touched.

Dad lived a wonderful life of servant leadership. My father was on the Library Board of our small town and was instrumental in building a library in Brazoria, TX. And I don't mean, "having it built". This library was built by the sweat equity of the town, with all money and materials donated. And dad helped lead the charge.

He dedicated his life to Scouting and earned almost every honor an accolade there is - though he never sought them out. He simply served. I was so proud to nominate him for the Outstanding Eagle Scout award from the National Eagle Scout Association (which he received).

My father also served for decades in our local church. He started a meals program for food insecure school children, who wouldn't be receiving meals from school during the summer months. He loved woodcarving and taught it to anyone who showed interest.

He served as President of the Texas Woodcarvers Guild, and of the local chapter. His other hobby passion was fishing. He taught fly fishing and fly tying to kids at the Sea Center in Lake Jackson, TX.

Words like representation and DEI weren't in my father's vocabulary, but they were in his heart and he lived them. He would honestly admit that he was raised with bigoted ideals, and he broke those down with the help of loving friends.

Dad turned a complete 180 on those antiquated ideals, and spent a lifetime working to bring joy, opportunity and wisdom to everyone he could - no matter their ethnicity, background, sexual orientation, walk of life, or whether they viewed the world as he did.

Whether he knew it or not, he ended up being a North Star for countless people who are now making their own impacts in the world. And becoming their own North Stars for others.

Rest well, dad. You earned it.

This was originally a blog post I wrote for DailyTech back in 2006. I had fully forgotten that I wrote this. Even in rereading it, I initially didn’t realize that the first two paragraphs were sarcasm (/facepalm). Not all of this came to pass, and AGEIA did go the way of AdLib and 3dfx, but the technology ended up at NVIDIA (as did 3dfx’s). I still feel that “heavy” folders sounds pretty cool. What do you think?

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The year - 1993. Everywhere, WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 users were clamoring for the new Pentium being offered by Intel. "Oh, how it will let us word-smith and number-crunch as never before," they cried. Due to the excessive heat of these 60MHz and 66MHz beasts, average office workers ran their units with covers removed and oscillating fans wafting over them.

Still, this was not enough, and over the next few years Intel continued to pursue speeding tickets in the name of office efficiency and eventually added the afterburner known as MMX. Over the years, the continued demands of office applications and Internet surfing caused Intel to push the boundaries of good sense in search of one more MHz.

This is the history of modern computing. Bloody hell, what a load of rubbish. Time and time again PC history shows that the gaming market telegraphs the next "big thing" in the mainstream market -- with a few possible exceptions.

My dorm neighbors in college didn't want Pentiums for reports and projects. They wanted Pentiums for Doom. These guys actually got permission from the department of housing to string Token Ring network cabling through the dorm hallways for multiplayer. And today, I don't know anyone without a network, usually wireless, in their home.

CD-ROMs? People bought them for Myst, often in a bundle. Sound cards? AdLib and Creative built a market by adding multi-timbre sound to games, not by adding sound effects to PowerPoint slides. 3D cards? 3dfx broke out in the 3D market back in 1996 with the original Voodoo - an add-on card with a proprietary API. Today, Microsoft is preparing to ship Windows Vista - a mainstream OS that is fully 3D accelerated and Apple did the same thing years before.

So why do I bring all this up? The next big thing is gaming is upon us, and I don't think any of us know exactly how far it will change the mainstream marketplace. This next big thing is the PhysX physics processor by AGEIA. While we already know that it has support from Unreal, and development tools like Maya and 3ds Max, what does the future hold? How long before transitions in PowerPoint or Pinnacle Studio are PhysX enhanced? Sound crazy? Maybe, but how many of us would like realistic wind, water, fire and particle effects in our slide and movie transitions? How about files and folder that feel "heavy" when you move them, because they are larger in size? Or, how about windows that collide and react realistically with each other (a la the menu screen in Meteos for the Nintendo DS) rather than stack, when you move them?

It could be crazy, and it may sound like overkill now, but not many of us thought about positional sound or a 3D OS environment back when AdLib and 3dfx released their initial products? Who knows where AGEIA and their PhysX technology will take us, but they are making waves in the gaming market - and that shouldn't be taken lightly. Let's just hope that AGEIA doesn't go the way of AdLib and 3dfx, while building a brave new market...

Be sure to stop by my site The Widescreen Gaming Forum to see an emergent technology go mainstream.

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This was originally a blog post I wrote for DailyTech back in 2006. I would suggest that technology driven self-isolation, with a false sense of connectedness, has only increased with the rise of social media over the last 17 years.

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While packing my bags for a recent trip to Boston, I thought of the recent feature in PC Mag on road warriors and the gear they traveled with.  Looking at everything I was packing, I started to wonder how much of this I would actually use.  Now, I'm not in sales, and I'm not a VP, and I'm not particularly important (if this makes you wonder why the hell "Ibrin" has a blog here, look for the upcoming "Why the Hell does "Ibrin" have a Daily Tech Blog?" blog entry), so I have no real need to "stay connected."  Unlike the people profiled, I don't need two cell phones (one electronic leash is enough), or even a Blackberry/Smartphone; and I don't need four kinds of external storage in my bag.

My total tech count ended up at:

• Work laptop & Apple PowerBook (personal)

• 2 USB Keys (2GB Sandisk, and VPN Key)

• 30GB 4G iPod (in iPod Sock) & JBL OnStage speakers

• Nintendo DS (w/ 6 games in flip case)

• Sennheiser PX 100 Headphones

• POS Motorola phone I need to upgrade

My intial thought for this first blog was to talk about what I used and what I didn't.  That ended up being pretty boring.  In the end, I used everything except the speakers, I worried constantly about losing the USB keys, and I even pulled out the DS during lunch at the meeting.

It's been a couple of years since I traveled for work, and what I noticed was how people now use technology when they travel.  Sure, there were the loud talkers on mobile phones, and the kids with iPods - just like at home.  But, it struck me how many people walled themselves off behind technology and refused to interact with the people around them.

When I got on the plane for the 7AM flight to Boston, all but three people in First Class were already typing furiously on their Blackberries.  The cabin area was silent, with absolutely no talking either between passengers or on phones.  The coach cabin was different.  A ton of people were on phones calling loved ones or business associates giving the by-the-minute update.  In fact, the lady next to me make six different phone calls before the cabin doors shut, and then she pulled out her knitting. (/roll eyes)

After we were airborne, I pulled out the iPod and the DS.  And, most people ended up either doing something similar or plugging in head phones to watch "Just Friends" on the in-flight movie.  With the introduction of mass-market MP3 players, and bringing the in-flight movie to the cattle class, there's no reason to even talk to the people you're traveling with.  After breakfast service, the latest Nickelback album, and enough Nintendo DS to put a knot in my neck, I ended up hanging out with the flight attendants at the back of the plane for the remainder the flight.

Fast forward three days, and we're now on the 7PM return trip.  The gate is filled with people wearing headphones (mostly college kids) or working on laptops (business folks wrapping up the week).  Virtually everyone was in their own little world.  We board, and get airborne.  After the lovely in-flight meal, the guy (kid really, with him being in college, and me having crossed thirty) next to me pulled out his laptop and started playing Jedi Academy.  Seeing as how he was proficient enough to be playing on a Thinkpad using the arrow keys and the pointing stick, I asked if it was the first time he was playing through.

He replied that it wasn't, and we ended up talking about the game and gaming in general.  He ended up letting me take a test run, and I pulled out my DS.  He ended up playing Meteos, Bust-A-Move, and the coolness that is Electroplanton.  The conversation lasted the better part of the almost four hour flight.  When we landed we continued to chat as we walked out of the gate, and I helped him find his connection (as IAH is my home airport).  As we shook hands he said that this was the fist time he'd ever talked to anyone on a flight, at least for any length of time.

This guy was a sophomore at MIT, who must have made the trip back and forth 3 or 4 times at that point, and must have traveled to some degree before that.  I couldn't believe that he had never talked to anyone on a plane.  That is one of the great things about traveling - getting to meet new people.  I wonder how many "first class deals" no longer get made because no one bothers to ask, "Who do you work for?" or "What do you do?"  For all of our "connectedness" we (myself often included) listen to the same songs on our iPods, play a Gameboy, or sift through a pile of email that never really goes away - rather than talk to new and exciting people around us.

For all of the wired and wireless connections, are we really "connected?"  Apply this same scenario to your apartment building, cubicle farm, or neighborhood.  While we certainly can email or call anyone, anywhere in the world, do we know what's going on right around us?  Do we take the time to express ourselves with more than a handful of smilies and emoticons?  My guess is probably not as much as we should...

From the EIC (Kristopher Kubicki):  Skip Clarke runs the wildly popular Widescreen Gaming Forum. I've known Skip since his site got off the ground, and I think he hits it right on the head.  Once in a while, everyone should turn off their phones, log out of WOW, observe the world around them and get to know your their neighbors.

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Over the years I’ve made a few attempts at collecting my writings about faith, leadership, and Scouting, on skipclarke.com. And I had a series of posts about D&D another RPG gaming on a campaign website.

Rather than attempt to keep those separate sites going, I’m trying to condense everything into this Substack. I’m hoping that being on this platform will help me write more, and help more people find my writing.

Be sure to look through the archives, while I kick the tires here at Substack.

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I’ve been a Sunday School teacher for high school aged kids for about six years. Initially I taught a class for Freshmen and Sophomores. When I first began teaching I was struck by how quiet the kids were in class. These kids were very vocal and lively during the gathering time, and the boys in particular had been lively as Jr High kids – even in class.

Initially I couldn’t figure out why this was. This happened during the same period of time I was becoming Lean Black Belt certified. In that training I was learning about silent brainstorming techniques, and the benefits of using them. And then one day it hit me: High school freshmen are like company new hires.

Let’s take a look at the similarities: both are new to the environment, unsure of themselves, wanting to fit in, and not sure of the expectations. The last thing either one wants to do is commit some faux pas that will stick with them for years.

New hires at a company, or even someone new to a role, will often take a passive approach as they get grounded – not wanting to risk making a mistake or saying the wrong thing. Often they will have the right answer or a good idea, but not voice it, potentially leading to a lack of confidence in themselves or from others.

Additionally, more introverted people will often not get an opportunity to speak up, with more extroverted people dominating the conversation. If they do eventually speak up, they are often left with an “I was thinking that” response.

Quiet brainstorming works well as it gives everyone the time and headspace to think of ideas, and the opportunity for every idea to be presented equally. To facilitate this in the class I handed out colored note cards that would correspond to each question from the lesson.

As we got to each question in the lesson, I asked the students to take 2-3 minutes to quietly think of their answer and write them down on the cards. Once the time was up, I would collect each card and read the responses anonymously.

Initially the students were surprised to find out that in most cases they weren’t the only ones with a particular answer or response. You could see the relief crossing their faces as they realized they were having a shared lived experience.

Even in instances where a student hadn’t written the same response, they would affirm that other response and say how they understood it, or possibly hadn’t realized that point of view until now. Even when someone held a sole opinion, they were affirmed as part of the group.

As part of my Black Belt training, we were instructed on the practice of doing “Plus/Deltas” to assess a meeting, training, event or change. We specifically didn’t do “Pluses and Minuses” as people tend to get hung up on negatives.

And, a “delta” simply looks at something you would change. It could be fixing a negative, enhancing a positive, or just looking for something different. The idea of “Plus: The coffee was great” and “Delta: We’d also like coffee after lunch” presents a different tone than, “The coffee was good, but we need more of it.”

Knowing that this new classroom style would be a big change, I asked the group of students for feedback. I was doing something radically different, and I wanted their buy-in to ensure it succeeded. Using the same anonymous method, I gather their input. You can see it in the pictures above, but I will quote some of it below.

Plusses (What did you like):

• I liked how everyone had a voice

• I think it helped us focus on the lesson

• I got my response out

• Quiet

• Conversation was very on task, but everyone could speak their opinion

• I think it helped us focus on the lesson

• We had better conversations and there were more answers

• We got much more engagement than usual and (possibly) more people weren’t scared to share their ideas

• I like the silence and that there was no pressure to talk

Delta (what would you change):

• I liked the process – easier to get my opinion out there 🙂

• We could try writing down comments as well as thoughts

• It was more boring than the other method with more conversation

• <3 It seemed like an excuse for people to zone out. <3

• It be easier to keep it on cards, but I think there’s a website called “Socratic” where students can join a room and submit electronic answers electronically

So, not everyone was a fan of the new process. With some insight, I was able to discern that these were likely the extroverted kids who dominated the conversation, and often took it off topic. But, the overall feedback was positive, and there were good suggestions to make it better.

Based on the feedback, I did make some immediate changes to the new format (which they had readily embraced). For each question I now passed out two notecards. The first one was used to answer the question in the traditional manner. The second was used for them to collect additional thoughts and comments.

While I read out the series of initial responses, each student used the secondary notecard to write their thoughts and comments about those responses. They then verbally shared those thoughts they had on the initial response to the question.

This “hybrid model” brought us the best of both worlds. It allowed the students the quiet time and opportunity to gather their thoughts and responses to the initial question, and have those shared anonymously as a corporate group.

They were then able to collection additional thoughts and comments to the corporate response without interruption, and share them in conversation. The students who needed quiet time to collection thoughts had that, and the students who thrived on verbal conversation had that. In all instances students and the comfort and security to share their authentic thoughts and feelings.

Within a couple of months the students had built enough community and trust with each other that they asked to stop using the index cards. They had built up the process and routine of giving each other space to speak, and respecting each other’s opinions to the point where the index cards became a hinderance to the lesson flow, and were not longer a help.

When this day finally came, it was wonderful to see manifest. But there was a day, some months prior, that I knew we were well on our way. We had a lesson that asked the students to imagine where they would be in five or ten years. As I collected the cards and read through the answers, one stuck out.

It read, “I have no idea what I want to do, and that scares me.” I knew from the handwriting and the card collection process that this index card came from one of our very popular and athletic freshman boys that every student look up to, and that every teacher and parent thought “had it all together”.

Him admitting that he didn’t have all the answers, or have his life already mapped out was a major moment of vulnerability. (And why do we expect 14yo to have all these answers?) I’m absolutely certain we never would have gotten in a purely verbal discussion.

This is the power of silent and anonymous responses – community building, authenticity, honesty, and vulnerability.

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When I was Cubmaster of Pack 404 we decided to get new t-shirts made. Older Scouts (about two dozen) in the unit had a previously designed shirt, but our newer Scouts (more than forty) didn’t have one. This gave us the opportunity for change. And change always brings risk.

A t-shirt may seem trivial, but it ends up being a large part of a pack’s identity. The last thing we wanted to have was a scenario where parents had a negative reactions each time they saw their Scout in the pack t-shirt.

So, how do you prevent this potentially negative reaction? You get buy-in from those involved in the change. How do you get buy-in? You ensure everyone’s voices are heard. Even if people don’t “get what they want,” it’s often enough they have their voice heard.

A simple tool to help people share their voice is ranked-choice voting, particularly when paired with multiple voting “rounds”. This voting style allows people to vote for their “favorite” thing, but still have input and influence if their preferred choice isn’t selected. An easy way to execute this is with dot stickers.

The above picture represents the first round of our dot voting. We had eleven leaders in attendance at the meeting where this was discussed. We gave each of them four green stickers and allowed them to vote for their favorite shirts.

They could cast up to two votes on any one shirt. This meant they could cast a “double vote” for two shirts, four single votes, or a “double vote” and two single votes. This allowed for a variety of inputs:

• Two “double votes” – I REALLY like these two shirts.

• One “double” and two singles – I REALLY like this shirt, and a kinda like these two.

• Four single votes – I kinda of like these four shirts

Once we had that round of voting completed, we had two clear winners – the “Jedi Scout” and the “old school” silhouette. Interesting to note that the previous design – the blue shit in the middle – was one of the lowest vote getters.

But what happens if you voted for one of four shirts that weren’t preferred options? Did your voice not count? No. Because you would get to share your voice again, in the second round of voting.

For the second round of voting, we took the shirts that were the obvious favorites (in this case two designs) and had people vote on their preference. In this instance we only gave out two red dot stickers.

With fewer voting options, we didn’t need to provide as many votes per person. The rules were the same, you could give a single or a double vote. And only red votes were counted in this round.

Leaders who preferred shirts were “left behind” in the first round of voting could still have a voice in the final decision. Even if their preference wasn’t chosen, they were an active participant in the process. And this entire voting process only took a couple of minutes.

Most people don’t like change. And even when change is wanted and needed, managing change can often be difficult. So, how do you help make change go smoother? You get buy-in.

Betting buy-in isn’t taking a vote and proceeding with the winning idea. Those who didn’t vote for the “winning idea” may not give you their full support, and may actively work against the change.

Buy-in is about engaging your constituency, listening to their viewpoints, and addressing as many concerns as you can. These activities are important for all types of change, even those that you may feel are minor. Leveraging simple tools to help others feel heard can make all the difference.

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This was originally a LinkedIn article that I wrote back in June 2018.

I’m the new Cubmaster for my son’s Cub Scout Pack. The pack has had a bit of a bumpy year, with a bit of leader churn, and Hurricane Harvey impacted both our annual fundraising and recruitment. To help construct a better next year, I decided to implement some Lean principles into our annual planning process.

PRE-WORK

The first thing I did was obtain the “Voice of the Customer” via some anonymous comment cards at a pack meeting. I used a modified SWOT analysis for parents, asking them to tell us what they thought were the pack’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities (for new activities and recruitment), and why we hadn’t had stronger participation at our District and Council events. I decided on replacing the “Threats” with this last option, as it was a specific element of feedback I was interested in.

All of the instructions were laid out with Standard Work:

• The Strengths and Weakness cards were color-coded green and red

• Opportunities and District/Council Feedback were color-coded in the Cub Scout colors of blue and gold.

• We asked Scouts for their Favorite thing (purple) about Cub Scouts, and what New thing (yellow) they wanted to do.

While parents were very happy to share their feedback, you would have thought we told every Cub Scout they got an extra birthday that year. I can’t share enough how excited these elementary school kids were to have someone ask their opinion.

All feedback was requested as anonymous, and kept in sealed boxes until our planning meeting. I wouldn’t sift through any answers to remove any specific pieces of feedback, nor would I get any time to think ahead on what was shared.

EVENT PREP

For the planning meeting I prepared a Kaizen Wall with butcher paper for stickies. The areas included the individual requirements for each rank (our Voice of the Process), spaces for the pre-work feedback, and a calendar for the next twelve months.

We also had in attendance the district volunteer who assists our pack – our District Commissioner (the Voice of the Business).

We kept a visual agenda, using stickies. That way as we closed out items, we could move them down and everyone could continuously see a visual representation of how the meeting agenda was progressing, and what was being accomplished.

KAIZEN PLANNING EVENT

The first thing we did was go through the comment cards. I had a different leader read through each card, and tape them to the butcher paper. We did some affinity grouping to help correlate the feedback. To help keep the event active, and encouraging everyone to be an active participant, I asked everyone to stand by the wall and discuss items as they were being shared.

As you can see in the banner photo, our Scouts *REALLY* love camping (the big blob of purple cards). Once we had input on what our parents and Scouts wanted in the next year, we started building our calendar.

Our District Commissioner helped us add in all of the pre-existing dates for the district and council events. With the addition of school holidays, we could easily see what days we had left to work with.

We then used blue and pink stickies to set out event dates for the year. When we realized one date wouldn’t work, we could easily pick up and move the sticky. With everyone engaged, and a fully visual representation of our calendar, we were able to easily plan a year of activity for our Scouts – taking into account the feedback from both parents and Scouts.

THE END RESULT

We had numerous accomplishments – many of which I believe were a result of incorporating just a few Lean Principles into our planning process. The major ones that come to mind are:

1. Our 12-month plan was based on feedback from our “customers” (both parents and Scouts), not just ideas from the leadership team.

2. Scouts, parents and volunteer leaders all said they were glad to have their voices heard – resulting in a plan with more ownership and buy-in from everyone.

3. We planned activities that both incorporated both the “Favorite” and the “New” things from the Scouts.

4. We planned activities that will help us have greater involvement in District and Council events.

5. We planned activities that cost less – offsetting the impact of reduced fundraising from the prior year.

6. We planned Summer activities to help us retain existing Scouts, and recruit new Scouts – offsetting the impact of reduced recruitment from the prior year.

Now, I don’t begin to think that previous planning efforts or years of program were lacking, or in vain. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time in the pack to-date. And, this is a Cub Scouting program that has served its community for more than 50 years. Nor do I think that the introduction of these Lean tools made some magical difference.

But – I am confident that we were able to use the Lean tools – specifically the Voice of the Customer – to better plan a program that meets the needs of its customers (both the Scouts and their parents). I’m also confident that we have feedback (from parents in particular) to implement continuous improvement efforts within the pack throughout the year.

If you’d like, you can see more of our Cub Scout Kaizen event photos on our Facebook Page.

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I shared this Scripture reading of Matthew 5:1-11 during a recent Scouting interfaith worship service. As a preface I spoke about how colonialism resulted in the decimation of indigenous traditions, languages and beliefs; and that most every major translation of the Bible is based on a Western worldview.

First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament

1-2 When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw this great crowd, he went back up into the mountainside and sat down to teach the people. His followers came to him there, so he took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and began to share his wisdom with them and teach them how to see Creator’s good road.

BLESSINGS OF THE GOOD ROAD

3 “Creator’s blessing rests on the poor, the ones with broken spirits. The good road from above is theirs to walk.

4 “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who walk a trail of tears, for he will wipe the tears from their eyes and comfort them.

5 “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who walk softly and in a humble manner. The earth, land, and sky will welcome them and always be their home.

6 “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who hunger and thirst for wrongs to be made right again. They will eat and drink until they are full.

7 “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who are merciful and kind to others. Their kindness will find its way back to them—full circle.

8 “Creator’s blessing rests on the pure of heart. They are the ones who will see the Great Spirit.

9 “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who make peace. It will be said of them, ‘They are the children of the Great Spirit!’

10 “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who are hunted down and mistreated for doing what is right, for they are walking the good road from above.

11 “Others will lie about you, speak against you, and look down on you with scorn and contempt, all because you walk the road with me. This is a sign that Creator’s blessing is resting on you. 

12 So let your hearts be glad and jump for joy, for you will be honored in the spiritworld above. You are like the prophets of old, who were treated in the same way by your ancestors.

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I shared this “sermon” as the inspirational message during a Scouting interfaith worship service. The service was part of an adult leader training called Wood Badge that I recently attended. It was delivered to an almost entirely white audience and was intended to show how work in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion align with the Scout Law – and intended to challenge them to actively engage in Scouting DEI work.

I’ve often wondered about the twelve words chosen for the Scout Law – particularly words like Friendly, Courteous and Kind, which seem to be synonyms.

Are they redundant?  Are they interconnected?  Has our modern English lost some nuance originally found in the words 100 years ago? 

I couldn’t find an online dictionary with definitions from a century years ago.  And when I looked in current online dictionaries, each word was often used to describe the others or as synonyms.

So, I moved on to Scouting resources.  In looking at various online sources I compiled the following:

Friendly: A Scout is a friend to all.  They are a brother and sister to other Scouts.   A Scout knows that friendship is a mirror. When you have a smile on your face as you greet someone, you will probably receive a smile in return.

Courteous: A Scout is polite to everyone regardless of age or position. A Scout takes the time to hold doors open for other people, to pick things up off the floor.  A Scout offers their seat to someone who needs it more.

Kind: A Scout understands there is strength in being gentle. They treat others as they want to be treated. To be kind you must look beyond yourself and try to understand the needs of others; take time to listen to people and imagine being in their place.

As I look at these in order, I see a progression: Friendly > Courteous > Kind.  This morning I would like to share with you my thoughts on these three words and share my experiences as a Cubmaster (the “quoted” sections below) attempting to model them for my Cubs and their families.

Friendly is about outward appearances and initial impressions.  It is as simple as a smile or a wave.  It requires nothing of us.  No sacrifice.  But it is necessary, and it is foundational.  When I was a Cubmaster I told this story:

Last week I was at Kroger getting gas.  A man who looked nothing like me pulled up on the opposite side of the pump I was using.  As he came around to pump his gas, I smiled at him and said, “Good morning”.  That simple gesture brought an instant smile to his face.

He greeted me back and began to pump his gas.  As soon as he had his pump set, he came back and struck up a conversation with me.  We chatted about the weather that day (it was hot), what weather we hoped for that summer (cool), and what we each had planned for Mother’s Day.

We said goodbye and each went our separate ways, both a little brighter and happier for the conversation.  A little friendliness can bring big happiness to both you and the people around you.

In my monthly Cubmaster Minutes I would talk to my Cubs about easy and practical ways to be Friendly.  Helping a teacher is easy for Cubs to understand.  I would also talk to them about being a friend to someone who needed it.  Find someone who was playing or eating alone.  Be their friend – especially if they don’t look like you.  Simple yet concrete actions for young minds.

Courteous takes things one step further.  It moves from first impressions to actions.  Being courteous often means to delay (waiting to hold a door) or deny (giving up your seat or allowing someone to merge in traffic) yourself.  Being courteous means you slow down and begin to think of others needs in the immediate moment.

We live in an extremely fast paced world, with the world’s information at our fingertips.  (The world’s information, and cat GIFs.)  We have instant access to friends and family around the globe via phone calls, texts, video calls and various social media platforms.

We can order virtually anything to our doors within days, if not hours.  And we often measure time in the Chick-Fil-A drive-through in seconds, not minutes.  We are not a society that embraces delayed satisfaction – even in the slightest.

But courtesy calls us to deny ourselves just in the slightest ways, to put others before ourselves.  It’s the slightest of actions, but it could mean the world to the person on the receiving end. 

Courteous acts help people be seen, to know that they aren’t invisible in the world.  I’ve often told Scouts that simply holding a door open shows other people that you recognize you aren’t the only person in the world.

I recently heard an analogy describing the differences between Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:

I think giving a seat is friendly.  It doesn’t cost the giver anything.  We usually have extra chairs and adding one to the table is easy.  But giving someone a plate recognizes someone and makes them feel seen.  It requires the giver to provide not only the plate and food, but also space at the table, and the time to eat.

When I became Cubmaster of Pack 404, the unit had shrunk to only 25 Cubs.  In the next year half of that group would be crossing over into Scouts BSA, and only one Cub on the entire roster was black.

I began working diligently on a recruiting plan that would bolster the unit’s numbers and increase our diversity.  At that time, and since, I’ve had Scouting volunteers tell me that it’s not possible to directly recruit diverse Scouts from underserved populations.

I respectfully disagree, because that is exactly what I did.  When we held recruiting events, I as Cubmaster would specifically spend time talking to black families.  I would speak openly and plainly. 

I would say, “Scouting has historically underserved black families and black communities.  I am trying to change that.  I recognize that your family may be the only one in that looks like you in the den.  But if you join and stay, when the next black family visits, they will see faces that look like theirs.”

To return to the table analogy, I was setting a place for these families.  I was being intentional about creating space and sending invitations for the meal. 

And we were successful in our efforts.  Initially we had one black Scout out of 25 – just 4% of our pack.  Six weeks later our pack had grown to 65 Cubs, with seven black Scouts on the roster – now representing more than 10% of our Cubs.

I also recruited neurodiverse Scouts and girls into the program with the same intentionality. Of the 22 girls to join Cub Scouts in our district, half were part of my pack. (This was the first year girls could join Cub Scouts.)

In the end it’s still a small thing, but sharing a table with someone can be life-changing. Most every faith tradition teaches that sharing a table is the path to understanding, peace and reconciliation.  You just have to be intentional.

Kindness is where Friendly and Courteous really take up residence as part of your character.  Beyond considering people’s immediate needs, Kindness means you begin to “walk a mile in their shoes” and strive for a deeper understanding of people – particularly people whom you don’t know, are different than you, or with whom you don’t agree. 

Kindness becomes a way of life, not just spur of the moment ideas and actions.  Living a life of kindness results in you allowing grace to lead you.  You will always assume that people have good intentions and are worth the “benefit of the doubt.”

Kindness recognizes that we all have our own struggles, and that many times, if not most times, those struggles aren’t visible to those around us.  Kindness draws us into fellowship with others and calls us to create community where we care for each other.  Community where we sacrifice for each other, and where we forgive each other.

Going back to my table analogy, kindness calls us to be inclusive.  It calls us to stop seeing people different from us as “the other” but to include them as equals at our table.  Kindness calls us to bring them in before the table is set to help design the space and the menu and to help ensure their needs are met.

In Scouting menu planning is something that we literally do.  As my Cub Scout pack recruited Indian families, we needed to ensure that we had vegetarian options available for meals while camping and at events.   

At our spring campout the Webelos den made both a traditional lasagna and a veggie lasagna.  And guess which one the Scouts liked better?  The vegetarian. 

My last year as Cubmaster we offered classes for our Cubs to earn their religious awards.  This was easy to do for my Christian Scouts, as the books are at the Scout Shop.  But when my Indian families confirmed their Scouts wanted to earn their awards as well, I was determined to make that happen – even though I didn’t know how.

After finding the program information and course materials online, I visited the Sri Meenakshi Temple in Pearland, and found people who could help.  I was able to develop a relationship with teachers at the Vedic Heritage School. 

The school knew it had Scouts in attendance at its school but didn’t know a Hindu religious awards were available.  The school now offers both the Cub Scout Dharma and Scouts BSA Karma awards to Hindu scouts in the area.  That first year I was invited to their end of school program to present my Cubs with their awards.  It was an amazing experience.

Did you know that Pearland is home to one of the largest and most famous Hindu temples in the US, and only one of three built since the 1970s?  The complex sits on five acres and has a large peacock enclosure.  They also serve amazing South Indian vegetarian food in their cafeteria on the weekends.

I was already a fan of Indian food but enjoyed sharing it with my Scouting friends.  I also enjoyed their surprise as I handled the spice and pickled items without issue.  (My family hails from Louisiana and I attended college there.)

My twins enjoyed the experience of trying new foods and sharing new experiences with their friends.  When I visited by myself and found myself in the midst of a puja prayer service, or when I went with my kids, we were the only white people there – but we were always welcomed and met with smiles and friendly faces.

Kindness and inclusion serve not only to make everyone feel welcome at our tables, but they expose those already in attendance to new cultures, new ideas, and wonderful new cuisines.  Scouting always seems to come back to food, doesn’t it?

D&D used to be a big part of summer camp staff life here at Camp K, and many of our Scouts and leaders play today.  My first exposure to D&D and roleplaying games were from hanging out with staff in the old dining hall after OA tap outs

It was friends in college, who were also Eagle Scouts, that welcomed me into their gaming and faith communities.  I could regale you with the tales of my dwarven paladin Gilmor Silverbeard, but those are adventures for another day.

With our Cub Scouts, we begin with the ideal of Friendly.  It is something that they can easily do and practice.  As they grow through the Cub Scouting ranks and move into Scouts BSA, Ships and Venturing Crews, we set ahead of them the goals of becoming Courteous and Kind.

As parents, Scouters and volunteers, it is our duty to model these behaviors for our Scouts.  And we’ll make the world a better place in the process – if only we’re brave enough.

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I’d like to tell you about my favorite book that I had never read.

Dune.

I grew up in a small Texas town.  One of the few things to do there was go to the local library.  I remember going with my mother when I was young and walking up and down the aisles in the “adult” section looking at the books that were beyond my comprehension.

I would wander the fiction section looking at the covers of sci-if and fantasy novels.  One of my favorite books to pull off the shelf and stare at was Dune.  I remember going week after week to the library and gravitating directly to that particular shelf and pulling out that book to stare at its cover.

This was my favorite book, and I had never read it.  I didn’t know what was contained within the covers of Dune1.  I just know that I was transfixed.

The library itself was small and had that “old dusty book” smell to it - that special mixture of old paper, aging carpet and dust.  Taking novels that had sat dormant on the shelf and bringing them to your face intensified that smell.  I still love that smell.

To this day the smell of a dusty book takes me back to that library, wandering the aisles, and staring in wonder at book covers.  And that book cover reminds me of that library smell.

It would be years before I would finally read Dune, though I did get exposure to the story through the 1984 film by David Lynch.  I remember watching the movie - which I quite enjoyed, and still enjoy - on a small TV at my grandmother’s house.  For years this was my only exposure to Dune, and the movie always reminded me of the library, its smell and staring at the cover of Dune.

My college years did bring me the Dune II game - the mother of the RTS genre.  Hundreds of hours were spent on the digital sands.  I finally did read Dune in 2017.  I really enjoyed the book.  It is a masterpiece.  But since then, I’ve learned so much more about the little library I visited as a kid.

My father was my Scouting leader, and continued to serve for decades after I earned my Eagle Scout rank and aged out of the program.  He also started a program to feed children who received free school lunches during the school year, while they were at home on summer break.  My father served for years in the “Jaycees” (the Jr. Chamber of Commerce), on the Session in our church, and in the Texas Woodcarvers Guild (where he served as President).

In short, my father was my role model for public service.  I thought I had heard about everything he had done and seen all the awards and accolades he had received.  I figured if I did half as much as he did to serve my community, I would have done well (and some good).

But a couple of years ago at another awards banquet, I heard a new story about my father’s community service.  It was a story that surpassed anything I’d heard of him and wrapped up everything about who he was.  It was a story about how he helped to build that library that I had loved so much.

I knew that my dad had been a member of the Library Board, but I hadn’t realized that he was instrumental in actually organizing and building the structure.  Citizens of the town had come together and decided that they wanted a library for the community.  They came together, organization and planned the building of the library.

The community wasn’t one of great means, so they fundraised, used donated materials and donated labor.  The library board wanted everyone in the community involved in the planning and the building, as they wanted everyone in the community to have a stake in library and feel welcome.

The library board wanted someone to reach out to African American members of the community to invite them to be part of the process, and of the building of library.  My father volunteered and visited every black church in the area, speaking to ministers and congregants, inviting them to be a part of the effort.

My father succeeded in bringing the entire community together to build the library, and to ensure that everyone felt welcome.  He organized an inclusive community to build the library - literally.  He worked at build days where they literally raised that building by hand - framing, masonry, dry wall.  And apparently, I walked around as a three- or four-year-old handing out nails to workers building a place of learning and community for everyone.

So now, when I think of Dune, I think of not only a book cover that I poured over, or the dusty smell of that library.  I think of my father who reached out to black congregations in the community to build a place where everyone felt ownership and felt welcome.  I think of old school library cards with metal number plates and a loud mechanical machine that stamped book cards, that the librarians would let me play with.

I think of a Halloween event where I dressed up as Dracula and came out of a coffin, scaring a bunch of preschoolers.  I wore a handmade black cape with red lining and had the classic plastic teeth, and the librarian was dressed as the Cat in the Hat.  But more than anything I think of the inclusive legacy that my father built and the behavior he modeled for me - even though it has taken me decades to fully realize it.

Years later I would help lead fundraising efforts for the library to purchase a new larger building, where it sits today.  Even made the paper for it.  Even then, my father never talked about what he had done to build the original library, and how I was following in his footsteps.

Dune is a masterpiece of a novel.  I’m not sure it’s my favorite novel I’ve read; I’m not sure what that would be.  But it still is my favorite novel that I had never read.  It’s amazing how an unread book can weave through your entire life and bring you full circle to see the legacy being laid before you.

I haven’t seen the new Dune movie from Denis Villeneuve yet, but I’m looking forward to it.  My wife just recently asked to watch the trailer again because she “loves Zendaya.”  So, hopefully I’ll be immersing myself in the sands of Arrakis soon.

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You might not guess looking at me, but my favorite genre of music is funk.  My favorite musical artist (by a longshot) is Prince1, but my favorite genre is funk.  There’s just something about a funky groove, with a deep pocket, then gets your head bobbing.

Fans of funk also recognize that funk is a state of mind, and that there are life lessons to be found in the lyrics, the music, and the musicians.  One elder statesman of funk, Bootsy Collins, stands out with his insight and wisdom on music and life.

Bootsy first gained notoriety as the bass player for James Brown’s backing band “The J.B.’s”. He later joined foundational funk pioneers Parliament-Funkadelic, and led his own P-Funk side project, Bootsy’s Rubber Band.

Bootsy’s life experiences, and role in shaping vast amounts of American pop culture, make him uniquely suited to offer us insights today.  Here are five pearls of wisdom from Bootsy Collins, that have spoken to me over the years.

This is the first bit of wisdom that I found from Bootsy, and it has stuck with me.  I found this years ago when I was trying to get more parents involved in the Cub Scout Pack that I was leading.  We had a lot of parents that showed up with their kids, expecting a great program, and leaving all the work of delivering that program to a few dedicated people.

I put this quote (along with a picture) of Bootsy up on the screen and explained that if you wanted a good Scouting program for your kids – you had to contribute to that program.  It wasn’t feasible or fair to simply be a consumer of the program and expect others to do all the heavy lifting.

This is the same in our families, places of worship and work.  If you want to work in a “high reliability” team, you must do your part in modeling that behavior and driving change.  If you want to see improvements in diversity, equity, and inclusion, you must be willing to put in the work yourself. If you want a peaceful environment, you have to bring peace with you.

You can’t go through life with a consumer mindset and expect to have the world you want.  You need to be a contributor.

The first quote actually ends with this quote, but I wanted to call it out separately.  To me, this one line speaks to authenticity.  When “bringing the funk” (or the good attitude, or the desire to see your team succeed) you have to be authentic. 

If you “fake the funk” those around you will notice.  Your nose won’t physically grow like Pinocchio, but you will stand out similarly in a crowd.  As I shared in the “Leadership Frameworks” class, there is no one single model or style of leadership.

Find your own style.  Find your own leadership voice and lean into that.  Be your authentic self.  Always be open to coaching, growth and self-improvement – but don’t fake who you are.

Bootsy has recently collaborated with Snoop Dogg, so I’ll close here with a quote from Snoop on this subject:

“Be you.  Because once you be you, who can be you, but you?”

-Snoop Dogg

This is the most recent quote that I’ve found from Bootsy, and it’s really speaking to me at this point in my life and career.  I’ve been with my company almost 25 years, and I’m closing in on 50 years old. 

I’m at a place where I realize that I don’t want or need to be out front all the time.  I’m also in a place where I can use my seniority and position to elevate those around me.  At some point I will retire from work, and at some point after that I will retire from Scouting. 

The smaller part of my legacy will be the programs that I ran, and the improvements that I made.  The larger part of my legacy will be the people that I equipped and evangelized for, who will do greater things than I did.

This is a cornerstone of what we do in Scouting – we train and equip people to be better leaders and make moral choices.  We train our youth to be the next generation of leaders, and we train our adults to be better leaders now to the youth and expand the program’s reach.  If we’re only worried about our own spotlight, the program will fail.

In Scouting I use a choir analogy to explain the “secret” of the Scouting program: 

"My singular voice trying to mold and teach my own kids is like a soloist singing, but an array of voices reinforcing the lessons in their own unique way is like a powerful choir."

-Skip Clarke

Hopefully we see this in practice at our places of work, worship and community.  We know that diverse voices carry our message farther and better than any one single voice.  It is our job to ensure we’re actively adding to the choir. 

Sharing the stage and letting others shine will ensure that I’m rested and ready when my voice is truly needed.

The idea of walking on water is to do something that is impossible.  Bootsy shares that the secret to accomplishing the impossible is knowing where the “rocks” are.  So, what are the “rocks”?  In my mind they are your strengths and your support system.

Accomplishing the impossible – or even accomplishing just the amazing, is only going to happen when we leverage our personal strengths.  For some of us that may be motivational speaking, for others it may be team building, and for others it may be detailed analytical work.

Rather than focus on areas where we are weaker, we should focus on honing our strengths, and on building relationships and teams with those who shore up our weaknesses.  These peer relationships and teams, along with our coaches and mentors, form our support system which is vital to success.

Impossible tasks are rarely completed alone.  Even if a singular piece of work is completed solo, that person was trained, encouraged, and coached by a host of people inside and outside of work.

Building a support system diverse in experience and thought, that will help develop and support you, is key to firm footing while walking on water.

Bootsy’s most enduring lesson, and the one has shaped his career the most, is “the power of the one”.  This lesson originated during his tenure backing James Brown.  After a show, James would critique the backing band saying, “You’re the baddest band around, but you’re not giving me the one.”

Prior to Bootsy’s arrival on the music scene, bass lines were generally simple things.  Bootsy brought much more complexity and flair to the instrument, thinking that his more involved style would win everyone over.  While James Brown did indeed like Bootsy’s playing, his critique was that Bootsy wasn’t providing the proper emphasis on the first beat of the measure (“the one”) to lock in the groove.

James’ advice was essentially, “Give me the one, and you can do all those other things”.  This emphasis “on the one” was powerful enough to completely reinvent James Brown’s sound and would form the basis of funk rhythm.

Bootsy carried this musical and life lesson into his work with George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, where staying “on the one” was essential to coalescing the on-stage chaos of 20+ musicians and singers into a cohesive sound.

“The one” provided singular direction for the collective to express themselves, both inside of Parliament-Funkadelic, and in their own side projects.  Each musician was given the freedom to be their authentic selves, and to unleash their musical strengths, in service to the collective vision.

I see this at work, where we have 50k+ employees working in their own way to achieving our purpose of “advancing the way people live and work”. I see it in my church where our mission is to "Follow Jesus. Lead Others to Jesus. Change the World."

I also see it in Scouting where our mission is to "prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law."

We each have our own way of “playing our part”.  As long as we keep our eye on “the one” and ensure what we are doing syncs with our larger purpose, we are free to be our authentic selves, lean into our strengths, and set out to walk on water.

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We just wrapped up the “dungeon” layer of the moat house. In going through the dungeon I had felt that the combat was cramped, and just too “close quarters”. It wasn’t until after the last fight, and reading the last room description that I figured out why.

The last room they searched was an offshoot of a larger room, which was used to store supplies. The room was 2 x 4 squares on the map. Coming from a 2e AD&D background (and subsequently 3e and 4e), I mapped this room out with 5′ squares as 10′ x 20′. Much to my surprise the room description listed it as a 20′ x 40′ room. I reviewed the map again, and skimmed through the entire description in the module. At no place did it ever give a scale.

The overland maps each have a scale. The map of Hommlet is 30′ squares, and the map of Nulb is 20′ squares, and the map of the Temple exterior goes back to 30′ squares. I found a scale note in the page corner of the map that detailed the Church of St. Cuthbert in Hommlet, and it says “Scale: 1 square equals 10 feet”.

I never would have guessed that the scale note on the one map would apply to all interior maps. And maybe the 1e AD&D standard is 10′ squares, and I just didn’t realize. At least I’ve gotten this figured out for the rest of the grand trek, and combat will be all the better since everyone will have more room to maneuver and plan tactics. I know the thief and ranged fighters will certainly appreciate it…

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So this week the party finished the ground floor of the old moat house. The finished out in the southeast corner and I stumbled across a unique situation – at least in my experience as a player or as a DM.

The party’s gnome thief/illusionist decided to reconnoiter down the southern hallway and see what he could find. He felt that he was successfully being quiet and sticking so the shadows, so he proceeded with caution. He made his way into the last room and proceeded to scout the last room. He was using is infravision to scout for enemies in the darkness – and found none.

What occurred next was a unique situation, fueled by my fleeting memories of 9th grade Biology. The gnome was searching without torch or lantern, and using his infravision to search out enemies. Unfortunately he didn’t see the giant snake – a cold-blooded creature – hidden in the rubble of the southeast corner, in the rubble of room 12. Fortunately (for the snake) it senses prey purely by heat, and readily “saw” the morsel sneaking into it’s layer.

The gnome was duly surprised by the snake, but was able to call in reinforcements. What transpired was a rather quick and uneventful fight. However, it was a good learning experience for the gnome that even a successful Move Silently and Hide in Shadows aren’t assurances of being undetected.

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The party left from Hommlet and proceeded toward the town of Nulb and the Temple of Elemental Evil. Along the way they came across the ruins of the old moat house, which had been the forward post for Nulb and the Temple. Their approach and entry into the moat house saw them defeat a set of giant frogs (luckily the halfling didn’t get swallowed), and a poisonous giant spider (luckily the tank saved versus poison AND remembered to lead the spider into the open so the whole party could engage).

Between these two encounters the party ended up low on hit points and low on magic. They ended up resting to heal in the main entry room (#5). They were summarily ambushed by the brigands which had been holed up in the northeast corner of the boat house. Though the fight was arduous, they triumphed due to good tactics and quick thinking. The party ended up loosing the healing they had gained, and were still without any offensive or healing magic.

At the end of the day (literally), they were left with one party member down, two near unconsciousness and their sole healer out of healing magic. With a large pool of hit points to recover, and only one healer, the party ended up spending three complete eight hour cycles of “cast – rest – pray” in healing the party. Full resting only allows for 2hp to be recovered each day per character (3hp if someone has Healing and Herbalism), thus the healing load is carried by the loan (gypsy) priest.

The party held up in the hallway between rooms 15 & 16. But to even feel comfortable doing that, they had to push through and clear out room 17. Though they were already battered and bruised, the party didn’t want to leave an unknown at their backs – whatever was lurking behind the double doors of room 17. While they ultimately defeated this obstacle as well, it was this final push that brought the resident tank to his knees.

In 4e characters could have used their own Healing Surges to regain hit points during battle, and the party healer could have used their own skills and spells to activate more Healing Surges after the fact. Considering each Surge provides 1/4 of a character’s hit points, a short rest and everyone is ready for action in short order.

While this may keep the play going, it’s not realistic (for as much as AD&D is realistic). The party was worn-out (in the simplest terms), with one or two characters suffering actual injuries. I would imagine it would take at least 24 hours for everyone to recover and rest from exertion. And taking a day for healing prayers to knit skin and bone back together isn’t beyond the realm of fantasy.

It also didn’t slow down play to quickly run through the cycles, and have the healer roll 1d8 for each Cure Light Wounds he could muster. However, the players did watch with baited breath as I rolled random encounters during each rest. While they luckily escaped any “wandering damage”, I feel the extended rest established a feeling of worry and of not wanting to become “sitting ducks”.

4e would have had the characters pulling a series of Second Winds like “Hulk Hogan” in the glory days of the WWF, but is it really in keeping with young heroes that are fighting tooth and nail through a hostile dungeon? I don’t think so. And I don’t think my players would have it any other way.

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While translating AD&D 2nd Edition into a d20 OGL styled combat was easy, the translation of Non-Weapon Proficiencies is proving to be a bit more difficult.  The mechanic itself is easy – the DM assigns a target result, and the player rolls d20 and adds their modifiers.  The DM’s target is easy, as it’s laid out very plainly in the d20 ruleset.  Additionally, it is easy to assign a +1 for each NWP slot a character has put into a proficiency.  The problem comes in applying an ability modifier.

In the d20 implementation of the 3e ruleset, WotC created a single modifier table for all abilities.  An ability score of 10 or 11 was considered to be perfectly average, with no bonus or minus.  For each pair of points about that, the character received a +1 to their Skill Check (the 3e version of an NWP).  So, a character with a 12 or 13 receiving a +1 to the appropriate skill check, and a character with an 18 or 19 received a +4.

For comparison sake, below is a table of the d20 OGL 3e ability score bonus and the various 2e AD&D bonuses:

From here the question becomes, which bonuses to use. Rather than move to a single bonus table (as in 3e), I am choosing to keep with stat specific bonuses. This keep the inherent balance (or imbalance, as per your opinion) in 2e.

I’m assuming a max stat of 18, and figuring it’s a rarity in 2e, since stats don’t increase with levels. So, an exceptionally high bonus would be rare indeed. Most stats have a bonus that falls in line with the +4 bonus granted at an 18 in 3e.

For strength, I would choose the damage modifier, and take exceptional strength into account. This exceptionally high bonus would be rare, and only available to fighter classes. Additionally, I would use the exceptional hit point bonus for fighters, when considering a constitution-based bonus.

My only real concerns are with intelligence and charisma.  Using the number of languages for intelligence means that almost everyone would get a bonus.  Even an intelligence of 10 would have a +2 modifier.  And, it would mean an intelligence of 18 would get a +7 – quite high indeed.

One option is to subtract two from this value.  It would start the bonus with a stat of 12, and max out at a +5 with the 18.  This would fall in line with an assumption that most people know two languages.  They would know common and a racial language (for demi-humans), or common and a regional language (for humans).  Anything beyond that is truly excpetional.

Charisma is all that is left.  Number of henchmen is out, based purely on the scope of the bonuses.  Loyalty Base doesn’t appeal to me either, due to its non-linear nature and the high end-state.  Reaction adjustment is a bit more linear, and falls in line with using either “adjustments” or “reaction” modifiers from other stats.

So, we have a basic d20 mechanic:  Roll + # slots + ability bonus.  Now, it’s just a matter of settling on the final bonuses.  I will be playtesting the different options in my current campaign.

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This post is an archive from my old D&D blog/site, Alden Minor. It was a campaign update post written by our college DM, Richard Markley, in anticipation of us gathering again to play. Sadly, Richard passed away (unexpectedly to many of us) from Lewy Body Dementia. This post is saved in his memory, as the good times are saved in all of our memories.

A quick post to update those who been playing the same campaign we played many years ago.

The story so far…..

as far back as I can remember the party enters a village with the idea to take shelter from a brewing storm in the Inn.

Fully clad in adventuring gear, the party walks up and enters the inn, glad to be inside from their travels.  They order food and drink and sit around the table talking and just relaxing.  Soon enough the party is drinking and having a good time.  They spy a medium build man drinking at the bar who is eying the party and their weapons.  The man disengages from his drink, and saunters over to stand in front of one of the party’s fighters, Graston Oldwell.  He speaks with Graston a bit, until Graston becomes agitated.

The party then notices a bear-of-a-man enter the inn, who immediately goes to the bar for a drink.  Graston decides he has had enough and tells the man to back off and the two dwarven fighters in the party (battleragers, yeah in bar…. bad news huh) start to pay more attention to this dude messing with their buddy.

Graston gets up and reaches for his hilt and the man very quickly grabs Graston’s hand and tells him, “You don’t want to do that”.  Graston thinks on that for a second.  Upon hearing the chairs behind and around him begin to slide across the floor (and dwarves beginning to hum), and he sits down.  The man laughs in Graston’s face, turns and heads for the door.

Just as he reaches the door a mug (mostly empty) smacks into the back of his head.  The man whirls around in anger.  Graston looks to see which of his friends tossed the mug  At that point the bear-of-a-man speaks to Graston from his left, “Son, you do not want to antagonize Neil, he is not as nice a person as me.”

At this point the dwarves are eyeing the big guy and the wet one at the door trying to decide which to charge, when Graston speaks up, “No, we will just take this matter up with the Sheriff.”  The big man turn back to the bar laughing and the other man starts to leave when one of the dwarves lobs another mug at the man.  It misses, but it gets the attention of the bear-like man.  He walks over and demands the weapons of the dwarves and Graston.  Graston spurts “No way, you are not the law!”  The man moves back his vest to show the Sheriff emblem.  Graston groans and pulls his bastard sword out and puts it on the table.

A dwarven battlerager charges off after the man at the door as the sheriff picks up Graston’s sword and heads after the dwarves.  A bar brawl is unleashed.  The remaining dwarf charges the Sheriff to be swatted away to slam into the bar, stunning the dwarf.  Graston sighs and enters combat with the bear with only a mug and his shield.  Graston winces each time he blocks the man’s attacks with HIS weapon.  His shield arm is going numb from the force this guy applies in a one handed attack, Graston starts to give ground to the sheriff, moving toward the tables and chairs.

As Graston backs over a chair, then dodges a blow just to see a table broken in half by this man, he is concerned for the well being of his companions.  At the door, he notices that Neil has Gilmor disarmed and down.  Kilru has gotten up and is diving for the Sheriff’s knees.  The Sheriff moves aside quickly and his focus is now on the back-attacking battlerager.

Graston mentally goes over his options and decides only one thing can stop this man.  So, as the Sheriff is knocking the battlerager around casually, Graston jumps onto the Sheriff’s back and grabs the man about the neck with his hands.  The man roars and slams his back into the wall causing Graston to almost blackout.  After what seemed like minutes the Sheriff finally collapses to the floor. Again Graston is crushed by the man falling back onto him.

After some words are exchanged, Neil still has Gilmor at swordpoint and the two groups decide to leave at a standoff.  The party, bruised and wet – but in possession of Graston’s sword – leave town quickly escaping from the frontier town lawman and his friend.

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We played The Outsiders campaign this last Saturday and the initial Simplified 2e was a huge success.  Combat ran much smoother, with fewer questions or pauses for clarification.  Additionally, the newer players said that it was a much more enjoyable experience.

The implementation itself was quite easy.  As each player arrived, I explained what we were going to be changing and then made two adjustments to their character sheet.  First, I “inverted” their Armor Class; adding the armor and dexterity benefits to the base AC of 10.  Second, I added their “attack adjustment” modifier to any additional ability bonuses from dexterity or strength.

This created one set of bonuses for the “Attack Adj / Damage Adj” on the character sheet, and left the THAC0 field blank.  During combat this new “To Hit” modifier is simply added to attack rolls.

The fighter classes get +1 each level, and the cleric classes get +2 every three levels.  Additionally the thief classes get +1 every other level, and wizard classes get +1 every three levels.

Attack adjustments for the first ten levels:

Class / Lvl  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10
Fighter     +0   +1   +2   +3   +4   +5   +6   +7   +8   +9
Cleric      +0   +0   +0   +2   +2   +2   +4   +4   +4   +6
Thief       +0   +0   +1   +1   +2   +2   +3   +3   +4   +4
Wizard      +0   +0   +0   +1   +1   +1   +2   +2   +2   +3

Armor bonuses:

Robes         +0
Shield 	      +1
Leather       +2
Padded        +2
S. Leather    +3
Ring Mail     +3
Scale Mail    +4
Hide Armor    +4
Chain Mail    +5
Splint Mail   +6
Banded Mail   +6
Plate Mail    +7
Field Plate   +8
Full Plate    +9

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After years of playing the different versions of Dungeons & Dragons, I am back playing an AD&D campaign.  I always realized the game was complex, but after years of playing 3e/4e and other (d20 OGL games) I’ve finally realized how needlessly complex the AD&D ruleset is.

I searched for existing systems or conversions that would simplify the AD&D rules while allowing me to use existing products and adventures.  The most promising were the Microlite20 and Microlite74, which focus on simplified rules and “OD&D flavor”.  However, these rules strip things down too far for my taste, and remove compatibility with the printed AD&D products.  While the AD&D products could be converted for the Microlite system, I have no desire to convert all the products and resources I use.

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We played another session of The Outsiders campaign last Saturday, and we kept having issues keeping combat rolls straight.  The whole “rolling high to hit a low number” caused confusion on multiple occasions.  While this was particularly true for players new to AD&D, even I (the DM) had a hard time explaining it and keeping it straight.

I have decades of experience with AD&D, RPGs and negative Armor Classes – but I’m out of practice and routine play.  When planning the upcoming gaming weekend for our college group, Richard (“EvilDM” here) and I talked about how we were all probably rusty on the mechanics and the rules.  We used to be able to quote rules “chapter and verse”, and instantly find passages in any rulebook.  But those days are long gone.

The problem with new players, is that they have yet to have those days.  And, in the current stage of our lives (work, kids, wives, mortgages, responsibilities…) where we only get to play one Saturday evening every couple of weeks, we probably won’t have those days anytime soon.  We played a bit of 4e early on, and while there are things about it I don’t like (see post below); it is certainly more accessible from a mechanics standpoint.

There are already enough “new things” to understand when learning how to play an RPG – we shouldn’t make it any harder than need-be. OD&D and AD&D would have been much easier to learn if we used AC:20 instead of AC:0.  I don’t know if there was an inherent desire to create a system that remained “exclusive” to the geeks and wargamers it was targeted at, but overly-complex rules certainly kept people from playing.

We all like “belonging” to a group, where we share a particular knowledge and language; whether that be cars, football, computers or cooking.  These items help create a certain culture amongst people who share these similar interests.  However, should those of us on the “inside” be saddled with an overly complex lexicon and rules of engagement?

This is really the beauty of the d20 OGL System.  It lowers the bar of entry for new players, and streamlines play for everyone.  For what it’s worth (and I hope it’s worth a bit for my players), I’ve decided to put together a “Simplified 2nd Edition” based on the d20 OGL rules.  It won’t be a massive overhaul of 2e (that was 3e).  The goal will be to streamline the existing rule set with a few tweaks (with a minimum impact for both players and DMs), while maintaining compatibility with existing AD&D rules and content.

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Last summer we started playing a 4e campaign, beginning with H1: Keep on the Shadowfell.  Having a pre-made module is essential to our campaign, as I don’t have the time to create my own adventures.  We made our way through the module, and it was rather enjoyable.  However, by the time we were finishing, we were by and large disillusioned with 4th Edition:

• Combat seems to be the sole focus of 4e. Game mechanics such as non-weapon proficiencies (2e) or crafting skills (3e) are basically non-existent in 4e Core Rules.  These aspects of D&D have always been a large part of my games.  Additionally, the module had very little in the way of traps, puzzles or uses for the party’s skills.

• Combat was extremely slow. This has been a major point of discussion in the #dnd Twitter world, and is a generally accepted fact.  A single encounter would take an hour or two, with much of the time spent picking which power to use (for both players and DM).

• Combat is an exercise in micro-management. There are simply too many conditions to keep track of – Marked, Bloodied, Eye-bitten, etc.

• Classes are so balanced they become homogeneous. Basically they all have the same mechanics wrapped up in different flavor text.  All of these Class Features basically produce the same effect: fighter’s “Combat Challenge”, thief’s “Hunter’s Quarry” paladin’s “Divine Challenge”.  Additionally, numerous Powers end up with the same or similar effects – all just with different flavor text (i.e., “Shift  >1 sqaures before/after attack.”).  None of the classes end up feeling different, and it appears to be done on purpose based on the fact that “Power” platform the new rules are based.

• Everyone is expected to be a bad-ass of some sort. I’ve had a rogue-like character I’ve wanted to play (and attempted to play) several times.  He is a reluctant hero, much like Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit.  I originally created him in 2e using the Guide and Cartographer classes from Sages & Specialists.  The closest I could get in 4e was a Rogue.  However, he wasn’t the type of character who wanted to leave his foes “reeling from the pain” (Dazzling Strike) or make his enemy “howl in pain” (Torturous Strike).  The theme of character I wanted to play wasn’t a 4e character.

At some point I heard that Wizards had released 4e versions of Village of Hommlet and Tomb of Horrors to people who DM’d D&D Encounters.  Wanted to try my hand at these old modules I picked them up on eBay.  Village of Hommlet looked great, but where was the Temple of Elemental Evil conversion that should follow after?

Also, the reviews and discussions I read about Tomb of Horrors said that most all of the traps and puzzles had been replaced with combat encounters.  If I was going to play Tomb of Horrors, I wanted it to have the original feel.  If I was going to played Village of Hommlet, I wanted to be able to transition into The Temple.

So, why not 3e?  I really love 3e and 3.5e.  Look in the 3e PHB and you’ll find my name in the list of playtesters.  My group was the only “virtual” playtest group allowed during the 3e testing, and it’s great to see our imprint on that product in specific areas like critical hits and multi-classing.  I also met Dave Cline (creator of Alden Minor, and DM of the Hammers of Justice campaign) at a 3e demo that I ran.

At the end of the day, my group had decided that they wanted to play the old classic modules we never got to play while growing up.  Running a 3e campaign would mean needing to convert everything into 3e, something I don’t have time to do.

Additionally, there is a wealth of 1e/2e info already out there in the form of modules, books and a surprisingly vibrate online OD&D / AD&D community.  Many books are also readily available for relatively cheap on Amazon.com and eBay.

I have a stack of “classic” AD&D modules that I never sold, along with my core books and Dragon Magazine Archive CD-ROMs.  After picking up sets of the Encyclopedia Magica, Priest’s Spell Compendium and Wizards Spell Compendium, I don’t think I’ll ever need to buy another D&D book.  Conversely with 4e, I was still purchasing new books and paying for a yearly DDI subscription.

So, after marching along with TSR/Wizards for the last 20 years of AD&D development, I’ve decided to take a time warp back to where it began.  For as broken as AD&D ever was, it has a charm that I still yearn for.  And besides, I’ve got a stack of classic adventures I’ve yet to experience…

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