What’s in a name?

eru-dite – an adjective having or showing great knowledge or learning.

Why do I call myself, the EruditeDM? What’s it supposed to mean? Sounds cocky and presumptuous.

I chose “erudite” because in my education and personal background, I have spent 50+ years playing wargames and studying or reading history, philosophy, language, and literature. I am the consummate Jack of All Trades. Among friends I am notorious for recalling obscure Shakespeare passages or regaling exhausting anecdotes of long forgotten military campaigns. This bores them immensely, but I balance this diversity book-learning with an expansive and somewhat useless knowledge of 1970s TV. My superpower is instantly identifying old episodes of The Flintstones, Gilligan’s Island, or Andy Griffith Show within the first 3 seconds of their start.. a skill that fails to impress my wife. Still, I feel sure that I can trounce many of you in any game of Trivial Pursuit, at least in the blue, brown, or yellow categories.

In 1977, my parents bought me Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy in paperback for Christmas. In 1978 I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons and years of fun began with roleplaying games at the kitchen table. I was what you call a “forever DM”, always writing up the adventures and playing the game referee. Hell, you all know what a DM or GM is by now. Something about rolling the weirdly shaped dice, the grid paper and pencil, and the fancy rulebooks with the artsy covers grabbed me and pulled me in. It appealed to my creativity and imagination. For years, we played among a close group of childhood friends in the neighborhood until college when I thought I left D&D behind in 1986. Over those years, I dabbled with the space RPG, Traveller from Game Designers’ Workshop (GDW), and the modern spy game Top Secret, written by Merle M. Rasmussen and first published in 1980 by TSR, Inc.

Fast forward to 2023, when I offered to serve as DM aka GM for a D&D 5e group made up of family and friends in their 30’s, all newbies to D&D and ttrpgs but veterans of video games such as Baldur’s Gate. That game went on for a year and I rediscovered the joys of fantasy roleplaying games and began reading some old fantasy favorites as well as new books. I have watched countless hours of YouTube videos, played virtual RPG games online, and begun forging a strong community of mentors and knowledgeable friends in the hobby, some you may know. I thank each of them for what I have learned along the way. I will share these names and their channels for you in an upcoming post or feature here on the website.

All this to say that the past two years lit a spark inside me. I found an old itch that needed scratching, and I found that I enjoy sharing ideas and inspirations for my games with other like-minded people, not all veteran grognards* of the hobby either.

Forgive my egotistical-sounding EruditeDM but I hope to earn it by humbly helping make you better at the game table.

*Les Grognards was a French nickname for the experienced and older grenadiers of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard. It meant “grumblers” for they often complained of the long, forced marches, harsh weather conditions, scarcity of good meals, limited billets on campaigns across Europe, and anything else under the sun. To learn more read The Anatomy of Glory by Henry Lachouque and Anne S. K. Brown, or borrow mine. See what I mean? Erudite.