#eric sorenson

[oldschoolfrp]

Alarums & Excursions 139, March 1987, with Ward Miller's cover illustration -- This issue included the first printed appearance of Richard Aronson's tale "Eric and the Dread Gazebo," which quickly made its way to the early Internet:

The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo by Richard Aronson [[email protected]]

In the early seventies, Ed Whitchurch ran "his game", and one of the participants was Eric Sorenson. Eric plays something like a computer. When he games, he methodically considers each possibility before choosing his preferred option. If given time, he will invariably pick the optimal solution. It has been known to take weeks. He is otherwise, in all respects, a superior gamer. Eric was playing a Neutral Paladin in Ed's game. He was on some lord's lands when the following exchange occurred:

ED: You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo. ERIC: A gazebo? What color is it? ED: [pause] It's white, Eric. ERIC: How far away is it? ED: About 50 yards. ERIC: How big is it? ED: [pause] It's about 30 ft across, 15 ft high, with a pointed top. ERIC: I use my sword to detect good on it. ED: It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. ERIC: [pause] I call out to it. ED: It won't answer. It's a gazebo. ERIC: [pause] I sheathe my sword and draw my bow and arrows. Does it respond in any way? ED: No, Eric, it's a gazebo! ERIC: I shoot it with my bow. [roll to hit] What happened? ED: There is now a gazebo with an arrow sticking out of it. ERIC: [pause] Wasn't it wounded? ED: OF COURSE NOT, ERIC! IT'S A GAZEBO! ERIC: [whimper] But that was a +3 arrow! ED: It's a gazebo, Eric, a GAZEBO! If you really want to try to destroy it, you could try to chop it with an axe, I suppose, or you could try to burn it, but I don't know why anybody would even try. It's a @#$%!! gazebo! ERIC: [long pause. He has no axe or fire spells.] I run away. ED: [thoroughly frustrated] It's too late. You've awakened the gazebo. It catches you and eats you. ERIC: [reaching for his dice] Maybe I'll roll up a fire-using mage so I can avenge my Paladin.

At this point, the increasingly amused fellow party members restored a modicum of order by explaining to Eric what a gazebo is. Thus ends the tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo. It could have been worse; at least the gazebo wasn't on a grassy gnoll. Thus ends the tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo. A little vocabulary is a dangerous thing.

The above is Copyright © 1989 by Richard Aronson. Reprinted with permission. The author grants permission to reprint as long as all copyright notices remain with the text.

[stargate365]

[oldschoolfrp]

“You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo.“

Since Matt made passing mention of it in Critical Role’s C2E73 live show, it’s worth noting that “Eric and the Gazebo” is one of the oldest surviving widespread legends of early D&D play, long predating the references to it in Knights of the Dinner Table or Munchkin.  It first appeared in print in the Alarums and Excursions zine in March 1987, quickly was reprinted in other zines, and spread to the Internet as early as 1989.

The Internet Archive preserves Richard Aronson’s original version from the now-defunct www.dreadgazebo.com

Wikipedia has a good summary of the tale’s origins and spread.

[usanewsstudio]

Minnesota Valley Lutheran Crowns Homecoming Queen and King 2025

Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School celebrated its annual homecoming with energy, school spirit, and memorable moments, culminating in the crowning of the Homecoming Queen and King. The event drew students, families, and the local community together for a night full of excitement, pride, and tradition. Marley Schauer and Eric Sorenson Named Minnesota Valley Lutheran Homecoming Queen and…

Minnesota Valley Lutheran Crowns Homecoming Queen and King 2025

[sports360az]

Eric Sorenson | Pinnacle Adds Updates | Sports360az

Late last month news broke of 5-star quarterback Dylan Raiola transferring from Chandler to Pinnacle. Now Raiola, widely considered the top prospect at his position in the 2024 class, will…

Find all the latest sports updates about Arizona. Eric Sorenson represents a story for the preps category in which how pinnacle adds another transfer key. Pinnacle finished last season 9-5. Get dive into the complete story at Sports360az.

[sports360az]

Zone Read: All About the West Side - Preps - Eric Sorenson

Source - Sports360az

Raise your hand if you knew Tolleson Union High School has a three-star senior quarterback. A Valley native, Eric has had a passion for the Arizona sports scene since an early age. He has covered some of the biggest events including Super Bowls, national championships and the NBA and MLB playoffs in his near 20 years in local media.

[4sensesplusascarf]

There once was a man who taught music classes at a public high school where a number of the kids only took the classes because their parents said they had to keep playing their instrument. This attitude rarely bred in these kids a passion for music, so sometimes the band or the orchestra or what have you wouldn't sound quite right. I always thought that being a music teacher at a public high school would drive me crazy for this reason, but the man whose job it really was to teach these classes proved to me that not everyone who did so went mad because, in these times of cacophony, he would stop. He wouldn't yell, he wouldn't make a show out of his frustration (if he even felt any), he would just stop. He knew that was what the class needed. He'd stop and tell a story for about 10 minutes because, clearly, playing instruments was not the right thing to do that day.

And he had so many great stories, because he was fairly old and he had lived long enough to accumulate great stories. They weren't all great in the sense that he had done something amazing or heroic, though - they were just great because of the way in which he told them. Everyone in the class, regardless of their reason for taking it, always loved his stories. Maybe that's why he sometimes used the time for telling them instead of making us play.

 He was a big man and he fit his size, not in the quantity of words he spoke or in the level of exuberance in his actions (anyone who'd taken any of his classes could tell you that there was none), but in the significance of what he was. He knew a lot, because he thought a lot, but he didn't boast this. And yet we all seemed to be aware of it, and while it would have been easy to take advantage of him whenever it seemed beneficial, no one ever did. Everyone just seemed to know that he was to be respected, not because he commanded or demanded it, but because there was no reason not to. You simply wanted to do it.

He didn't punish people. Though there were various occasions on which some students failed to meet certain requirements, he never lashed out at them. He treated us like younger, growing people, not children. And that was so rare at that age because most teachers were older and had forgotten what it felt like to be young and they seemed to believe that teenagers were rowdy and forceful and therefore needed to be disciplined with equal force. They were wrong, of course, but this man knew. I don't know how. He just did.

He died, though. I want to be angry about that because I often feel like he was not done being a part of my life, yet, but there is no one for me to be angry with except maybe himself, for not going to the doctor sooner. But to be angry with him would be a futile anger, so I choose not to be angry, but to be saddened. It's a deeply penetrating sadness because I don't know what kinds of conversations I could have had with him or why I never had them when I was able to. And I think of how he is now either a skeleton or a pile of ashes, and that is upsetting because so many other things look like that. Skeletons look like other skeletons, ash looks like dust. But that's just the way he is now and that's all he will ever be.

But I will still think of him, because I remember him and I know that he is important to me. I don't know exactly how, yet, but I will know someday. That's all I need for now.

[radsimplicity]