Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 24th August 2024.

24th August, 2024.

It’s officially official: I’ve had a haircut!

Or, at least, just about managed to afford a haircut, a jar of Marmite from Amazon, and an electric screwdriver.

Sometimes?

You really need to work to unscrew a lid!

~≈🪛≈~

Let’s move on.


Yesterday’s Teaser saw Mum*, Olga† and Debbi‡ putting in their answers: with Olga scoring fifteen out of fifteen, Debbi on thirteen and Mum on nine.

Let’s see how everyone does with today’s questions, shall we?

Here they are, along with the How To, License and video.

Q1)        24th August is Nostalgia Night. Where: Suriname, Uruguay or Venezuela?

Q2)        24th August, AD394, saw the writing of the Graffito of Esmet-Akhom.   The Graffito is the last known writing in what: Old Tamil, Egyptian Hieroglyphs or Linear B?

Q3)        24th August, 1482, saw English capture a Scottish town: a town that’s now in England.   Which town?

Q4)        24th August, 1950, saw Edith Sampson appointed as the first African American, US delegate to where: the UN, the League of Nations or the International Court of Human Rights?

Q5)        Finally … ?   24th August is the feast day of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle.   He’s the patron saint of whom: brick layers, plasterers or carpenters?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers … 

Q1)        Dungeons and Dragons went on sale on 23rd August.   In which years of the 1970s?

A1)        1974.

Q2)        The game was originally published by TSR, Inc.   TSR stood for Tactical Studies … what?

A2)        Tactical Studies Rules.

Q3)        It was on sale at which convention: GenCon, WorldCon or the Penny Arcade Expo?

A3)        Gencon.   (WorldCon is a science fiction convention.   The Penny Arcade Expo is now called PAX.)

Q4)        Those early conventions were held at Lake Geneva.   Lake Geneva, where: Wisconsin, Switzerland or Geneva College in Pennsylvania?

A4)        Wisconsin.

Q5)        This first version of the game had how many rulebooks: two, three or four?

A5)        Three.   Volume 1 was called Men and Magic, Volume 2 was Monsters and Treasure and Volume 3 was The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures.

Q6)        The game was co-designed by Gary Gygax.   Working with whom: Ken St. Andre, Dave Arneson or Richard Garfield?

A6)        Dave Arneson.   St. Andre worked on Tunnels and Trolls: Garfield designed Magic: The Gathering.

Q7)        The players of the game, played PCs.   In other words, played player … whats?

A7)        Player characters.

Q8)        The original game had three character classes.   Fighting man, magic user, and what else: cleric, assassin or druid?

A8)        Cleric.   (Later supplements and editions included others.)

Q9)        The original game introduced hobbits as playable races.   The game now calls these characters what: halflings, quarterlings or dwarfs?

A9)        Halflings.   (The game’s writers had to change it for copyright reasons: the term ‘hobbit’ is from The Lord of the Rings.)

Q10)        A character could lawful, neutral or chaotic.   In other words, would have a what: alignment, arrangement or allegation?

A10)        Alignment.   Later versions of the game would expand to nine different alignments: lawful good, neutral good, chaotic good, lawful neutral, true neutral, chaotic neutral, lawful evil, neutral evil and chaotic evil.   I believe the original game borrowed the alignment system from Micheal Moorcock’s Eternal Champion novels.



Q11)        Early Dungeons and Dragons had background worlds: ranging from Blackmoor and Greyhawk, to Forgotten Realms and Lankhmar.   These worlds are known as what: backgrounds, worlds or campaign settings?

A11)        Campaign settings.   (The late Sir Terry Pratchett played Dungeons and Dragons: I believe the Lieber-based Lankhmar setting provided a look of early influence on Sir Terry’s Discworld novels: Bravd the Hublander and the Weasel — the first people we met in The Colour of Magic — are almost direct lifts from Fritz Leiber’s setting.)

Q12)        The game’s referee is a what: games-master, dungeon master or referee?

A12)        Dungeon master.

Q13)        The game also uses sets of multi-sided what: dice, teetotums or fidget spinners?

A13)        Dice.   These commonly include four, six, eight, ten, twelve, twenty and one-hundred sided dice. I have seven and five sided dice, ones I got with this set: they definitely look odd.

Q14)        Characters play Dungeons and Dragons in which TV show: Dr Who, The Bill or Stranger Things?

A14)        Stranger Things.

Q15)        Finally … ?   Dungeons and Dragons is a what playing game?

A15)        Role playing game.

Here’s a thought …

“I never lost an argument and my parents assumed I would be a lawyer.   They cast me in that role.”

Jared Harris, born 24th August, 1961.

And a song …


Today’s questions will be answered in tomorrow’s Teaser.

Decisions about scores are final.

Thank you for coming: have a good day.

*        Hello, Mum!

†        Yes, I knew about the January release, Olga: but couldn’t find a specific date in January, one I could hang a set on.   And I knew about the ’73 release, as well.   That — I think — was what gets called an Alpha release: one that’s usually released only to play-testers.   I went with the GenCon date as that was the one, certain date I could find.

        About all I can tell you about the game, beyond that?   Is it’s a touch influential … !

        At ANY rate … ?   Good luck this week!

‡        What can I tell you, Debbi?   I got artistic with this one!   (I preferred Tunnels and Trolls, myself.   And RuneQuest.   T&T was cheaper and simpler, and only need six-sided dice: and Greg Stafford, the man who created RuneQuest, made one hell of a background world!)