Showing posts with label AdD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AdD. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

This Geeks Favored Class....Ranger.


The first ever D&D game I played in, I was a freshman in High School, I played a Fighter/ Magic User named Zimbad... I know, not the best name but I figured for a half elf it was’nt half-bad. It wasnt long after we started delving deep into dungeons at the White’s dinner table that I soon discovered my favorite class, and it has remained so through various media to this day... The Ranger.


Maybe it was a early love of the tale of Robin Hood, but I’d like to think it was my first reading of “Lord Of The Rings”. Aragorn, the Ranger of North, was one of my favorite characters, but surprisingly it was Faramir and the Rangers of Ithilien that i really ended up falling in love with, clad in their green and browns, striking from their secret hideouts and fighting the evil of Mordor while the rest of the world ignored the growing evil (from my Ranger Biased point of view). From that first reading... and a Game in a friends basement the Ranger was it for me.


With Bow and Bastard sword my Rangers battled evil minions from Greyhawk to Forgotten Realms from the Old empire to Galoran. When Computer games became the fad, every game that let me, I played a Ranger ( or Hunter in some games). My friends made (and make) fun of me, when ever we start a new game or MMORPG and we are deciding on classes to play they always say “Let me guess Kendall... A Ranger” why yes, dont mind if I do.


The image I have had in my mind, since my first introduction has only been captured in the Art of Angus Mcbride. I hated the depictions of Faramir and Rangers in Peter Jackson’s LOTR’s ( yes I do like the Movies...most of them at least). The Ranger in my mind is a simply clad fellow, longbow in hand, sword at his waist, little to no metal armor. He is Swift of foot and true of aim, virtually invisible in the wild. He would carry little, as he lives off the land, maybe a belt pouch a snapsack and a blanket roll at most. His weathered stained cloak shadowing his face as he stalks his prey. Cool on two feet is how I like to think of them.


Thats one of the things I hate about most MMORPG’s the higher up you go in level the more gaudy your Ranger looks, I look at my Avatar and say “Id never look like that” but Alias the games say you would.