Knights of the Dinner Table #236
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COMIC STRIPS KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE ® 11 Alley Chat 14 Let’s All Go to the Movies PUBLISHER Kenzer and Company The Nudge EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 16 Jolly R. Blackburn • [email protected] 18 Settle for the Moon ASSISTANT EDITOR Barbara Blackburn • [email protected] 20 Secret Angel KODT DEVELOPMENT TEAM 22 Midnight Crawler Jolly R. Blackburn • Steve Johansson David S. Kenzer • Brian Jelke • Barbara Blackburn (+1) 24 The War Council HACKMASTER EDITOR Steve Johansson • [email protected] 29 Piddle Patter KODT STRIP ART Jolly R. Blackburn 31 The Mapless One COVER ART Luke Ahearn 63 One-Two Punches CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Brendon Fraim • Brian Fraim Larry Elmore • Carolyn Stogdill Bill “Indy” Cavalier • Kurt Wilcken CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kenneth Newquist • Bill Cavalier • Nate Parker OTHER TOONS Noah Chinn • Barbara Blackburn • Benjamin Lomax Jolly R. Blackburn • Larry Elmore • 50 Fuzzy Knights J.L. Duncan • Alan Hume • Beth Martin Noah Chinn SALES/MARKETING/ADVERTISING SnarfQuest™ Steve Johansson • [email protected] • 847-858-6847 61 Larry Elmore Additional Cartoons SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES [email protected] 64 Kurt Wilcken, Bill “Indy” Cavalier, CHARMED PERSONS Carolyn Stogdill, Jolly Blackburn Sample file Kevin Vance • Jack Grayson • Craig Zipse PRINTED IN U.S.A. Postmaster: Send address changes to: ABOUT Knights of the Dinner Table THE COVER 1659 N CLAREMONT AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60647 E-Mail: [email protected] • Phone: 847.858.6847 This month’s cover World Wide Web: www.kenzerco.com is another awesome Submissions: We accept submissions for strip ideas, jokes, cartoons, retro tribute by the etc. We are interested in running anything that other gamers and fans Fraim Brothers. would enjoy. Check out our website for writer’s guidelines. Subscriptions: A standard 12-issue monthly subscription is only $77.99 (or $65.99 for slower bulk mail shipping). [US $92.99 for Canada or US $117.99 for other foreign locations.] 6- and 24-issue subscriptions are also available. To subscribe, order by credit card at our online store at HTTP://WWW.KENZERCO.COM or send a check or money order (made payable to Kenzer and Company) to: NIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE™ was accidentally created by Jolly R. Blackburn Kway back in 1990 as ‘filler’ for his small press magazine, Shadis. It was Kenzer & Company KODT Subscriptions, something of a ‘creative burp’ and Jolly really didn’t give it much thought. 1659 N Claremont Ave, Chicago, IL 60647 Perhaps that’s why he was just as surprised as anyone that soon KODT was overshadowing everything else he’d ever done and that the created was now Back Issues: Older issues and other KODT merchandise are avail- able for direct purchase on our website at HTTP://WWW.KENZERCO.COM controlling the creator. The Knights have gone far beyond anything Jolly or the D-Team (David Kenzer, Brian Jelke, Steve Johansson and Barbara Blackburn) ever imagined. In 2006, Jolly was ATTENTION RETAILERS: If you are having difficulty getting our inducted into the Hall of Fame. Now, with over 236 issues and over 60 trade paper backs under product (including back issues and RPGs) please call or e-mail us. their belts, it’s been a wild ride and we look forward to seeing where the Knights take us next. Knights of the Dinner Table® #236 3 THE EMPTY CHAIR his isn’t the editorial you were supposed to read. A few Will had taken to calling himself “The Gaming Nomad” and was days ago while readying this issue for press, I logged onto a man with a mad plan. Explaining he could do his job ‘from any- TFacebook and was blindsided by the news that one of my where” he had hit the road. friends had passed unexpectedly. He was driving from con to con, gameshop to gameshop, across I’m going to confess, this one hit me pretty hard. Not just the country. Running demos of Aces and Eights and Hackmaster, because it was out of the blue. But because..., well, taking in the country and sights. Rubbing elbows more on that later. with other gamers. His eyes lit up as he explained Will Duty, aka Greylond (on the KenzerCo forums) how much he was enjoying his life of adventure. He was a gamer at heart through and through. And had even started a Road Blog chronicling his travels. one of his passions was HackMaster, along with Will told me he had learned to ‘let things go’ and Aces and Eights. not take things so serious. I tested him by bringing We met virtually years ago on the KenzerCo up the latest new Star Trek movie. forums and eventually face to face. I ran several “Haven’t seen it...” he said, holding up the palm of games for him. He ran quite a few for me. his hand. “And I won’t!” he added with a laugh, “But Now Greylond was a man with a lot of opinions I’m glad people love it” and he was as passionate about giving them as he He shared some other things and the more he was about tossing dice. talked the more I realized this was no doppelganger. RAW (rules as written) was one of his mantras — It was clear, Will was genuinely happy and looking play by the rules!!! He was a huge Star Trek fan but forward to life and his new outlook on things. He hated the new Trek movies (I happen to love them). Long story was also looking forward to reconnecting with old friends. short, Will loved a good debate and he butted heads with myself And it was contagious. It was inspiring. When we parted, Will and many others frequently. had taken up my offer to stay with us the following month and run In fact there is still a Trouble Ticket folder in the admin section of games at our Open House at the warehouse. our forums detailing infractions incurred from some of the heated Sadly that wasn’t to be. debates that he was both involved in and often helps start. Now I can’t say I knew, Will well. My only contact with him was Regardless, he was a nice guy at heart and despite the occasion- online, at cons and at the gaming table on rare occasion. But I al head butting, Will always seemed to rally and was a valuedSample part wanted file to talk about him here because he touched me. of our community. And he is right — life is too short. So much of our lives as geeks Then, suddenly, a few years ago, I noticed Will had begun to and gamers is wrapped up with arguing and tearing down and los- change. He didn’t seem happy. At time he even seemed bitter. It ing sight of the fact that what REALLY draws us together — is each was clear he had troubles in his real life. And when he dropped other. It’s not the game you’re playing, but those you are tossing from sight and we hadn’t heard from him in months, friends began dice with. reaching out to see if he was okay. I’m glad Will found a good place at the end and I wish he had There were assurances he was — but Will essentially dropped had an opportunity to continue his travels and waking up each day out of sight for most of us who weren’t local to him and didn’t have with a new view outside his window. a window into his life. And that’s why news of his passing hit me harder than I would Fast forward two years... have imagined it would. Recently, Will popped in again. He posted, “I’m Back” on our I said above he was inspirational to me, and he was. He’s a boards. After reading it, I immediately issued a doppelganger reminder that we’re never finished growing as human beings. And check — this wasn’t the Will I knew. He was happy, upbeat.. He that our actions and attitude toward life can influence others in a was optimistic. positive way. When Will told me he was going to GenCon this year, I was And there we are — I had planned on running the Empty Chair excited. I was anxious to see him and curious about what was poem for Will on this page but I suppose my thoughts on him will going on with him. In Indy he hung out at our booth quite a bit. I suffice. even had lunch with him — and later dinner. We even managed to get in a game of Zombie Dice. Game on, folks. Hope your dice are true and the company at your table is good. The new Will was a pleasure to be around. He explained to me he had gone through a very rough patch (details aren’t important) and that he reached a point where he decided, life is too short. “I’m Jolly Blackburn not that guy any more he said.” August 26, 2016 4 Knights of the Dinner Table® #236 I SAID GET w-wait... OFF MY WAIT!! PORCH¡¡¡ you WHAT...?!!! \-\ BROUGHT GAAAAA¡¡¡ BEAT IT¡¡ ya a CHECK!! I love how Gordo was driven to tears after Pete for his Dawg games, while Brian is not only giving tore the big guy a new one in 233. And I loved out more refunds, but also buying a disguise (fat how Pete built him back up a wee bit in 234 telling Deadpool: hardly a rarity at conventions) to avoid EDITOR’S NOTE: The mail just never him to do the right thing.