The Jade Letters

For four years, six friends of mine and I gathered up on every other Saturday and played Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I wrote The Jade Letters as a log of the events of each gaming session; it was a good way to help everyone get back in synch with what happened the last time we played.

You don't have to be a role-playing gamer to enjoy these. It's not a bunch of game mechanics; the logs concentrate on the story, since that's the important part of playing these games. Think of the game as getting the chance to control your own characters in a book: this is the novel my friends and I created.

The writing is my own, but the credit for the characters and the stories are shared with:

Jim Leitzel, our illustrious game master. The head storyteller.
Stu Collins, who plays the gnome, Nory, so well it frightens us all.
Jim Gaynor, the creator of the reluctant adventurer, Telaran.
Vaughan Herron, who plays the rather mysterious, don't-say-monk monk, Lorivar.
Kent Jenkins, he of the continually-bemused priest of magic, Verence.
Brian Smith, who plays the amazingly studly Borreau. (Pronounce his name with the accent on the e, or bear the wrath of Brian's French expertise.)

Check out our pictures!

To give the background leading up to the beginning of the letters, Jade is a woman who begins the stories at about 20 years of age. She's not sure what her true age is; as she understands it, she was born to a gypsy family, and then sold at a young age as a servant to a man named Garen. Garen is a great priest of Mielikki, the forest goddess, and has brought up Jade not only as his housemaid, but also as a ranger of the forest. When the first letter is written, Garen has gone missing for some time now, and so Jade has begun to write as a way of reporting all that has happened for the time she's sure she'll see Garen again.

Select a log to begin reading!

3 March, 1995	Jade meets some newcomers.
18 March, 1995	The party forms.
1 April, 1995	Adventuring's not all fun and games.
29 April, 1995	A woman is rescued.
27 May, 1995	The group gets a lesson in humility.
24 June, 1995	A visit to the big city.
8 July, 1995	City life: training and... romance?
21 July, 1995	The party hires itself to a magician.
5 August, 1995	The hunt for a cursed book.
2 September, 1995	The company is named: The Wayfarers
16 September, 1995	The Wayfarers investigate a haunted house.
30 September, 1995	The secret of the haunted house - and a new friend - are discovered.
14 October, 1995	A battle to the source of the problem.
28 October, 1995	Jade's comeuppance and the return home.
11 November, 1995	The romance blooms, and word from Garen is found.
25 November, 1995	Bear hunting, and suspicions within the party.
6 January, 1996	Jade receives a mysterious visitor.
20 January, 1996	The assault on Cloud Tower.
3 February, 1996	Down into the depths of the mountains.
17 February, 1996	Jade finds her purpose.
3 March, 1996	The Wayfarers find a haven in the midst of evil.
27 April, 1996	The end is found, only to have to go back again.
11 May, 1996	The party fights their way to the drow leader.
25 May, 1996	The mission is finally completed.
8 June, 1996	Jade is reunited with Garen.
20 July, 1996	The Wayfarers go skinnydipping!
3 August, 1996	The mist mystery continues.
17 August, 1996	The Wayfarers join a posh club.
31 August, 1996	A demon's trial shakes everyone up.
14 September, 1996	Gnolls mix it up with the Wayfarers.
28 September, 1996	Terror - and age! - come knocking.
12 October, 1996	Bartering for years.
9 November, 1996	Travel via a magic platter.
23 November, 1996	The Wayfarers hunt for couatl feathers.
7 December, 1996	Encountering a strange band of old adventurers.
4 January, 1997	Facing gods, wizards, and dragons.
18 January, 1997	Protecting a demon artifact from thieves?
1 February, 1997	Taking to the High Seas.
15 February, 1997	Battling underwater.
15 March, 1997	The Wayfarers enjoy a carnival.
29 March, 1997	A mage tries vengeance on the Wayfarers.
24 May, 1997	Journey with precious cargo.
7 June, 1997	Jade makes a monumental purchase.
27 June, 1997	The Wayfarers play highway patrol.
5 July, 1997	Taking care of the remains of an egomaniac.
16 August, 1997	The party is cursed to parts unknown.
30 August, 1997	Borreau and Jade: hitched at last.
13 September, 1997	The Wayfarers have a territory dispute with a dragon.
8 November, 1997	Exploring a haunted house.
6 December, 1997	A quiet winter on the moors.
3 January, 1998	Defending the homeland.
17 January, 1998	Jade duels with a giant.
31 January, 1998	The giants return home early - with drow help.
14 March, 1998	The Wayfarers get some R&R, then get refrigerated.
28 March, 1998	A plot to destroy a nation is discovered.
23 May, 1998	Giant royalty meet the Wayfarers.
6 June, 1998	The Wayfarers find an unexpected exit from the ice caverns.
20 June, 1998	A desperate canyon charge.
18 July, 1998	An audience with the king, and a rude surprise for Jade.
15 August, 1998	The Fire Giants get a healthy dose of the Wayfarers.
12 September, 1998	The Wayfarers learn that a fire giant queen is not a pretty sight.
26 September, 1998	A small herd of drow prisoners gain their freedom.
7 November, 1998	Jade fights her nemesis and meets her goddess.
21 November, 1998	The dragon! The dragon!
16 January, 1999	The Wayfarers find an old "friend"... and make new ones.
27 February, 1999	Hunting a golem-maker.
27 March, 1999	The Wayfarers square off against an angry demon.
27 March, 1999	Endgame: In which we find out how it all turns out.

In December '96, Kent treated us with a supplement to the Jade Letters: a letter to home from Verence. It was written in a fitful attempt to escape finals, and provides some great reading. Check it out!

The Wayfarers' sigil. We know where we're going - really!

The Jade Letters are finished, long live the Jade Letters
In March, we decided that we had gone as far with this group of characters as we wanted; we were ready to move on to new things. So the Jade Letters are now finished, and the "Endgame" notes at the very end was our collaborative effort to decide how everybody ended up. As you can see, we're a sucker for happy endings.

My thanks to the people who have told me that they've enjoyed reading the Jade Letters here. I'm going to leave these online; I'm very happy with the story we made. And I'll continue to share any feedback our group gets, so feel free to write with any questions or comments. The Jade Letters may be done, but the group that created them is still around.

Our continuing adventures!
Our gaming group's adventures continue: we have created a new party of characters and Kent (formerly of Verence fame) is the new log-meister. He's writing the logs as the journal entries of his oh-so-eager adventuring chracter. Check out Penninan Graymantle's journal to see what we're up to these days.

Jim has put the logs he wrote for our last set of adventures, before Jade and her friends came along, onto the web. Check out The Company of the Keg's adventures for a slightly more rowdy group than the poor befuddled Wayfarers.

I'd love feedback on the Jade Letters! Have a question you want me to ask one of the players? Want Leitzel to give you salacious tidbits on what's next for our intrepid crew? Just let me know!

Or, if you'd prefer, head on back to my home page.