There is a new D&D game going on in these here parts and it is shaping up to be quite the blast. For those that are familiar with the Stephen King series “The Dark Tower” will be pleased to know that one of my closest friends has developed a similar sort of magic and real world gaming experience wherein wizards and gunfighters share equal billing. My pal is blissfully unaware of this particular work by the American master of horror, so it isn’t as though any ideas have been stolen. Perhaps it is just a universally intriguing notion to have Dungeons & Dragons meet up with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I’d watch that.

For this adventure I get to play a character, which is a relief for everyone involved. Thinking back upon my vast knowledge of westerns, both American and spaghetti, I came up with what I thought would be a fun character to play. The preacher that has a propensity towards violence when fighting evil. Taking a page (pardon the pun) from one of Robert Mitchum’s films “5 Card Stud” where he played a preacher who kept a revolver in a hollowed out Bible, as well as the lead character in the film “Pale Rider” who plays a preacher but isn’t afraid to start settling scores on behalf of the innocent, I rolled up a cleric. This guy is the perfect stereotype of the kind of fellow that nobody really wanted showing up to ruin things but yet appeared to be so harmless, perhaps even fragile, that getting rid of him was too much bother.

My fellow player in this adventure is a ranger who is playing a Texas Ranger. Because obviously that is how that should work. He is going to be a sniper, picking off targets at long range. All I know so far is that this guy is quick to pull a gun and just as likely to light up a stick of dynamite and toss it in for good measure as well. Between the two of us I am not sure that there will be anyone left standing, be they good, bad, or ugly.

I don’t anticipate putting much in this blog about the game itself because I am not GMing it so it isn’t my place to try and work out what is going on or how things are unravelling in the background. However, I wanted to share that D&D doesn’t have to seclude itself in a dark ages or medieval setting. You can just as easily cast fireball against orcish banditos in the west Texas wilderness. I also wanted to lay the groundwork for some stories I might want to write in this genre. I am sure my GM has got some good ideas of his own, but golly if my creative gears aren’t whirring away.