Ask Me Anything: Valdus

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Valdus

bowlofspinach

Jul 7, 2022 7:29 pm
In an attempt to get to know the community and other users on GP better, we want to allow a different member each week to step into the spotlight.
You can find more information here.
About me:

Name: Valdus
Joined: November 25, 2016
Age: 53
Pronouns: He/him
From: New Orleans
RPG Interests: OSR rules-lite, just about any good ol' RPG that has sleek lite rules with a lot of imagination and improvisation. Perhaps my favorite of all time is a little one known as 'Donjon' now extinct (like all the good stuff). But I always seem to default to Risus.
Non-RPG Interests: Fantasy and science fiction, cooking, sourdough bread baking, video games, tai-chi, history, reading, New Orleans history.


I am an ancient role-player. Back in the 80's I could spout all the AD&D lore with ease. But these days it is a bit more taxing to these tired eyes. Thus recently I prefer simple (and free) old school emulations. All the fun, but one rarely needs a book or a table to play them.

Recently, however, I have fallen for Whitebox FMAG, a simple emulation of OD&D that has just enough crunchy bits so that I still feel like I am playing. Yet the system is so open-ended that improvisation and imagination still come through.

This AMA will run until 14 July 2022.
Valdus
Jul 7, 2022 7:49 pm
Valdus, which Modiphius 2d20 RPG is best in life? And why?
Jul 7, 2022 8:07 pm
What types of tobacco blend do you favour (surely perique blends)? Do you have a favourite?

Is there a blend that you keep trying, even though you know it'll disappoint?

A lot has changed over the years as pipe smoking becomes less popular. Are there any blends that are no longer produced that you miss? Are there any other changes that make you feel nostalgic?
Jul 7, 2022 8:08 pm
Oh, I should probably include some RPG ones too. Umm... what sort of tobaccos do characters smoke in your games?
Jul 7, 2022 8:13 pm
Qralloq says:
Valdus, which Modiphius 2d20 RPG is best in life? And why?
Star Trek Adventures because Star Trek, the closest thing I have to an organized religion!
Jul 7, 2022 8:20 pm
Adam says:
What types of tobacco blend do you favour (surely perique blends)? Do you have a favourite?

Is there a blend that you keep trying, even though you know it'll disappoint?

A lot has changed over the years as pipe smoking becomes less popular. Are there any blends that are no longer produced that you miss? Are there any other changes that make you feel nostalgic?
Unlike most of my brethren, I detest sweet-smell goody tobacco (great today but the tongue bite tomorrow is deadly). I like perique but in a blend. I once saw a friend turn as green as an Orion slave girl when he tried to smoke full-on perique. I judge a tobacco simply, if it smells like smoked sausage, it is good enough to be smoked. You feel less tongue-bite the next day too.

My steady every day tobacco is Virginia Cream, it might be sweet but smooth and tasty. The ones I keep coming back to are Escudo, Presbyterian and just about anything by GL Pease.

As far as nostalgia, in the cigar world I still really really miss Royal Jamaican Maduros.

Damn, I can't believe I didn't put tobacco in my interest list!
Jul 7, 2022 8:21 pm
Adam says:
Oh, I should probably include some RPG ones too. Umm... what sort of tobaccos do characters smoke in your games?
Whatever I smoke, but in fantasy the tobacco usually gives special abilities and powers. Maybe even some hallucinations.
Last edited July 7, 2022 8:22 pm
Jul 7, 2022 8:21 pm
What is 'tongue bite'?
Jul 7, 2022 8:23 pm
What are your favorite video games Arcade or console?
Jul 7, 2022 8:24 pm
witchdoctor says:
What is 'tongue bite'?
Basically tobacco hangover. When you smoke a sweet tobacco, a cheap one, or just smoke too fast you get tongue bite- dry mouth, stingy tongue, maybe some cotton balls thrown in for good measure. Nasty stuff.
Jul 7, 2022 8:28 pm
Amberthegirlgeekgamer87 says:
What are your favorite video games Arcade or console?
I am a computer gamer. My favorite game of all time is perhaps Neverwinter Nights (the only tattoo I would ever get)...
[ +- ] Neverwinter
Fallout 3 & 4 runs in there as well, along with the beautiful and nostalgic Tropico series.
Last edited July 7, 2022 8:29 pm
Jul 7, 2022 8:38 pm
How did you come to PbP gaming?
Do you prefer to GM or PC in TTRPGs?
Have you ever taken a character to a level high enough and had the motivation to build a stronghold/wizard tower/shire/etc?
What are some of your favorite dishes to cook?
What period of history interests you the most?
How long have you been practicing tai chi and what is most appealing about it to you?
Jul 7, 2022 11:22 pm
Zagrave says:
How did you come to PbP gaming?
Do you prefer to GM or PC in TTRPGs?
Have you ever taken a character to a level high enough and had the motivation to build a stronghold/wizard tower/shire/etc?
What are some of your favorite dishes to cook?
What period of history interests you the most?
How long have you been practicing tai chi and what is most appealing about it to you?
I got into PbP gaming because here in New Orleans, people do little role-playing on table top- they do it in the streets.

GM a system I know and love, PC if I don't know the system

I always thought retirement was ridiculous in the fantasy world. But if fantasy were real, wouldn't we be clawing to retire? So, no, I never did.

Gumbo, Picadillo, Jambalaya, any kind of bread, red beans and rice (or any bean recipe), big stews various noodle experiments, beef Boy-oh-boy (never learned the real name), big-time cast iron cooking ("It's Brown, its hot, and there is plenty of it!)

Right now my favorite era of history is early New Orleans and when the Americans came in. I also loved the age of exploration/conquest, late 19th century Latin America, the Gilded Age. My historical tastes are varied and moody. I also enjoyed Rome under Augustus.

I have been practicing tai chi for about four months. I like the concept of moving meditation.
Jul 8, 2022 12:22 am
What's the story behind the name and profile picture?

What was the worst game session you ever had?
Jul 8, 2022 12:34 am
nezzeraj says:
What's the story behind the name and profile picture?

What was the worst game session you ever had?
The bald guy with the ship on his head is from 'Time Bandits' one of my favorite movies. Valdus is a bastardized-Romanized version of my name- Osvaldo.

The worst game session ever was the last meeting of the Dungeons & Dragons club at my school. Tom Hanks and his fanatics got our club cancelled way back when.

Everything else, live or die, has been fun.
Jul 8, 2022 1:09 pm
Valdus says:


Right now my favorite era of history is early New Orleans and when the Americans came in. I also loved the age of exploration/conquest, late 19th century Latin America, the Gilded Age. My historical tastes are varied and moody. I also enjoyed Rome under Augustus.

I did a very little bit of reading on the history of New Orleans when I was prepping a Deadlands game. Pretty interesting stuff what with all the pirates. Might be worth revisiting, do you have any books in particular you would recommend?

and on a related note

What was the last book you read?
Jul 8, 2022 1:46 pm
Have you kept notes from all your years of gaming? If so, do you ever refer back to them for material in your current games?
Jul 8, 2022 1:58 pm
Phil_Ozzy_Fer says:
Have you kept notes from all your years of gaming? If so, do you ever refer back to them for material in your current games?
I damn well never wrote a word about my adventures. But memories of them and their characters have produced some musing fiction.
Jul 9, 2022 12:39 am
Quote:
I did a very little bit of reading on the history of New Orleans when I was prepping a Deadlands game. Pretty interesting stuff what with all the pirates. Might be worth revisiting, do you have any books in particular you would recommend?

and on a related note

What was the last book you read?
Books by Lyle Saxon are good and Cafe Des Exiles by Cable is good. I came across a book of folk-tales called Gumbo Yaya. In my humble, I think the best books on New Orleans are cookbooks.

Last book I read was The French Quarter by Asbury (he also wrote Gangs of New York) and I am finishing the last Travis McGee novel 'The Lonely Silver Rain". McGee is easily my favorite hard-boiled first person detective.
Jul 10, 2022 7:02 am
Were you talking about that crazy parody 'Donjon'? Or at least I remember it to be a parody. With hindsight I can see why its intention to go the opposite way of early D&D is a precursor to more modern rules-lite systems which favour narrative flexibility. How did you manage to see its value way back then, when presumably the rest of us (me) were blinded by straight-shooting OSRs?
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