Who are the Dangerous Boys?

The Dangerous Boys are the D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) characters My Friends and I have been adventuring with regularly for a while now.  I joined the others with my Character in early 2011 but the other guys had been running their characters for a little while already.  I guess the Dangerous Boys (DB’s) are essentially just your garden variety escapism, Overblown caricatures we can live vicariously through and use to blow off steam.  Adventuring with them is also a fabulous opportunity to get stuck into a few beers and some good whisky (Booze and D&D are a very complimentary combination).  The Dangerous boys have been adventuring mainly in the ancient and morally corrupt city of Lankhmire (introduced to us and re-worked a little by a very dear old friend of mine who is of course one of the DB’s and the guy who got me back into D&D).  It’s a bit like Zamora from Robert E. Howard’s Conan chronicles but with plenty of renaissance  Florence thrown into the Mix.  It’s a great open source gaming backdrop which gives us plenty of scope to get creative and get the most out of our characters and the Games as a whole.

Anyway I started this blog so I could share with everybody all the DB related illustrations that came pouring out of me soon after joining the party (mostly during down time at work and mostly on post-it paper).  The idea is to gradually piece together a sort of visual history of the dangerous boys using the drawings I’ve already done and the ones I will do in the future along with little descriptions of the events depicted (hopefully people other than the DB’s will enjoy some of the work).  With this in mind I have compiled below an Illustrated summary of the members of the Dangerous boys and how they came about their infamous name.

Hope you enjoy it.

Chris.

Here is the first party portrait I did, the characters appearances have all evolved since this drawing but it still captures the essence of the Dangerous boys. This  drawing shows the DB’s Chilling out in their regular Boozer “The Blue Boar”.  This Exemplary establishment is were most of their adventures began (until the last adventure when a cowardly Gnome business leader/super Villain had it burnt to the ground).

The Dangerous Boys down the Blue Boar

Starting at the left end of the table and going clockwise around the table the characters are;

Grim, a heavily armoured, bad tempered, tight fisted, gold obsessed, rather mercinary and mostly self serving ex-merchant, Dwarf Cleric.  He is a proud God botherer, a great party negotiator/strategist always haggling for the highest price for our ham fisted and unecessarily violent services and is invariably figuring out whats really going down.  An endless quest to increase his personal wealth of gold and knowledge, puntuated with regular prayers to his God are the cornerstones of Grims existence.   He is also quite a helpful walking field hospital. and can on accasion pound undesirables to dust with alarming prowess.

Next up is Garibaldi Aldente (My Character), A reasonably dimwitted yet overconfident and fearless, extreamly lucky and eccentric Half Orc Fighter.   A former elite houshold guard for a recently anihilated merchant family he consistantly excels at violently dispatching all sorts of foes.  He is an enthusiastic but flawed “Master of Disguise” however still occasionally succeds in achieving (mostly unimportant) goals with outrageous yet poorly costumed bluffs.  He is choc full of what generally turn out to be “impractacle” ideas which he usually still acts on.  Gari is also constantly trying to develop a “badass” clothing label wasting plenty of money on prototype garments that he proudly models.

Garouk, is the Dangerous Boys resident Fighter/Rogue,  a  fierce fried chicken eating Half Orc ex-pirate orphan.  Raised in an abusive boys home (Non-sexual abuse only, according to Garouk) and later honing his rib smashing, lock busting talents on the high seas, his hobbies (apart from eating LFC or Lankhmire Fried Chicken of course)  include catching freshly severed heads “Backstabbing suckers” sneakin’ and jumpin’ about and like many of his comrades (with the exclusion of Grim who is too disciplined) drinking heavily and enjoying the services on offer down “pleasure Boulevard.”  He also owns a characteristicly awsome skeletal parrot.

Next is Flint, a mysterious, alluring and very private Half Elf Ranger.  He is deeply angst ridden with a pathalogical hatred of “institutionalised Humans” (as in those sheep thoughlessly following the rules and etiquette of society, as well as anyone associated with authority) This is a driving force in the viscious cycle of self loathing he finds himself trapped in as he struggles to reconcile the Human and Elf within.  He is also a cracking archer and solid in a “Punch on” as well as being the Dangerous Boy most favoured by the Ladies of Lankhmire (must be the silent rebellious bad boy appeal).

Last but not least is William Greenhem AKA Billy The Drunk, a hard drinking, face smashing Fighter/Ranger problem gambler.  A tormented Lankhmire army veteran Billy loves a fight, loves a drink, loves a game of dice and loves the ladies.  He struggles through life with the grit and determination of a Clint Eastwood character  taking all the bad hands life deals him on the chin and holding his battered head high.  His tale is a dramatic one filled with violence, Booze, Love, Violence, Love lost, booze, gambling, violence and so on.  Since becoming a Dangerous boy this story seems to have continued very much unchanged (although so far with more love denied than love or love lost).

The Party’s “Gang Name” “The Dangerous Boys” originated at the climax of a particularly animated adventure when Billy (our stoic, violent and slightly alchoholic fighter/ranger) followed closely (but clumsily) by Garouk (Our fried chicken addicted, considerably violent, severed head catching half orc fighter/Rogue) attempted to give chase to an infuriatingly “invisible” Gnome illusionist super villian who had been cowardly toying with the boys all adventure from behind the scenes.

After being lured into a trap by the Afore mentioned Gnome the DB’s soon found themselves confronted by an enormous Barbarian  “problem solver” who was of course having his mind controlled by the repugnant little gnome.  This Gnome showed himself long enough to insult the boys, cop a throwing knife in the arse (curteousy of Billy I think), turn invisible and flee. Billy and Garouk followed his blood trail  all the way to the city rooftops were the trail went cold causing Billy (and his enraged player) to declare at full volume that “you’ll never escape….The Dangerous Boys”.  Like all genuine nicknames it was lame yet apt that it instantly stuck (we even have a logo and T-shirts now).

Here’s the illustration of how it went down.

A Moment in History, The Dangerous Boys are born

Of course while Billy and Garouk were being dramatic on the Seady rooftops of Lankhmire Garibaldi and Grim were battling for their very lives against the Enormous Mind controlled Barbarian slave the Gnome had left behind as he made his escape.  Garibaldi Foolishly but very characteristically claimed he could take out the Barbarian easily and Billy and Garouk should give chase to the impertenant Heameroid of a Gnome  that had been responsible for all our headaches that day.  Luckily Grim stayed behind with his book of healing spells because Garibaldi was comotosed within an inch of his life three times during the ensuing combat and had to be quickly healed over and over again before he finally slew his enemy.

Heres how that went down

Grim and Garibaldi VS the Barbarian Mind Slave

To see more Illustrations and their associated stories please refer to the Blogs.