This week we’ll take a break from the adventure to talk about the people in the group. For the first time in my 15 years of role-playing, I am in a group where there is an even split between male and female players! Much like video games, men are seen as the dominating gender in role-playing. This is a nice change of pace.

The regular members of the party:

• Nadia plays Amalana, an elven swashbuckler. She excels at quick movement and avoiding attacks. Her character is the most accurate (i.e. she has the highest base attack bonus).
• Guillaume plays Elian, a halfling druid that rides atop a wolf. He has taken the leadership role of our group, and is the only spellcaster, making him our healer, buffer and blaster. His wolf (I can’t remember his name) is also an effective combatant.
• Terra plays Madeira, a half-elf monk. She often fights along side Amalana; the two start combat with a volley of arrows and bolts, then move in to the front line to meet the enemy head on.
• Jess plays Cadfel, a gnomish monk, the one the Soren refers to as “the bald guy.” She is the only player in the group who plays a character of the opposite gender. Cadfel is a pacifist, and spends as much time parlaying as she does condemning us for “killing everything we see.”
• I play Soren, a human barbarian. The primary damage dealer, he is the focus of Elian’s healing goodberries to keep him alive.

The occassional members of the party:

• Katrina plays Freiya, the half-elf sorcerer. The presence of her character exposed a gaping hole in our group - arcane spellcasting. Freiya facilitated a number of encounters we had, which Soren would have settled with extreme violence.
• Pete plays Sam, the human rogue. I should probably put his class in quotes, since nothing about his character suggests that he is actually a rogue. In an adventuring party, one expects a rogue to find and disarm traps, amongst other things, but Sam doesn’t do that sort of thing.

Matthew, our DM, rounds out the group, making it an even 4/4 split. Very nice!