Introduction

Dear reader,

You are welcome to what this house holds.  These are the first words spoken by the Lord Bercilac to Sir Gawain as he entered his great hall.  For those of you who are not familiar with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I thoroughly recommend it.  I chose the nom de plume Bercilac for my online gaming persona for a couple of reasons.  First, my obsession with Arthurian myth in general.  But, of course, all of the well-known names are taken, so I couldn't be Lancelot, Arthur, Tristram, Gawain, or Merlin.  I had to pick something relatively obscure.

Second, I read and loved the above-mentioned poem.  It's a great example of the English language.  In particular, it features one of my favourite knights, Sir Gawain (Tristram and Gareth are runners-up).  It also has a great feel to it, the structure of the poem being a mix of medieval romance and Celtic myth.

Third, the character of Bercilac himself.  He is simultaneously the welcoming lord, and the Green Knight that tests the hero.  This idea of a dual nature appeals to me (and green is my favourite colour).  So, yes, you are welcome to what this house holds.  Hopefully it will both nourish and challenge you.

The purpose of this blog is to reconcile a bad habit of mine.  I've been posting on Play This Thing, Enworld, The Forge, and Gnome Stew on and off for a while now.  But I often get carried away in responding to what others have written, producing vast tracts that have little relation to the subject at hand.  So I'm writing this in the spirit of organisation, more than anything else.  This is a place for my ideas about gaming, primarily Dungeons and Dragons, but also whatever else strikes my fancy.

Bercilac