Back in 1990-1991, I ran a Lankhmar campaign in which I required everyone to dual-class as a thief/SOMETHING or just play a plain old thief. I felt it met the mood of the game. Since this was 2nd Edition AD&D, humans could not dual-class, though they could change to a different class, and multi-class (or do I have the terms dual-class and multi-class mixed up?) Anway, I bent the rules, as is my right as the GM, and allowed humans to go the route of demi-humans.

The game was a hoot as the group of thieves wandered the city streets thinking up all sorts of wonderful trouble to get into, including selling a boat they didn’t own.

Part of this game was Matt R.’s character, who was a heavily muscled gnome thief/fighter. He had maxed out his strength with some lucky dice rolls and played it to a ‘T’. He disdained armor as it hid his “beautiful physique”. He would constantly go around flexing and prancing to anyone that would pay attention. Being a gnome, this was not many people, but when he did catch someone’s eye, it was quite impressive. One especially gratifying role playing encounter was when the group was trying to get hired on as caravan guards. They had need of traveling a great distance and didn’t feel like footing the bill themselves. Instead, they figured they could get paid for the trip by hiring on as guards. Seems fairly logical except when you have a gnome and a halfling in your group that the caravan master wants nothing to do with as guards.

That’s when the gnome (I wish I could remember the character’s name!) hauled off and gut punched the halfing on the spot. Without missing a beat, the Mike B. declared that he used his Ring of Jumping to leap backwards over a nearby building with arms flailing like the gnome really had caused him to fly over the building. Now, a Ring of Jumping isn’t quite that powerful, but in the interest of a good story for all involved, I allowed it to happen. We all laughed over the way things unfolded as the caravan master agreed to hire the powerfully built gnome, but not the halfing. That’s when Matt R. declared that he needed a punching bag to work out on, and that the caravan’s oxen and cattle would do in place of the halfing. The sweaty and nervous caravan master hastily agreed to bring on the halfing in exchange for the gnome staying away from the beasts of burden.

All-in-all, not one die was rolled, but the role playing experience was one of my favorite ones. I still remember the entire campaign, and that day’s events, with great fondness.

What tales from around the table do you have? Please share them in the comments.