In Memoriam: Piper Bennett
This is a post about a dog who, were she a human, would be rolling her eyes at me right about now.
Ever since our friendly local game store shut down a few years back, my Friday night tabletop group has been meeting at the home of our oldest and youngest members. This means that we have been greeted at the door by the ever-cheerful and rather loud Canine Welcome Chorus as their collection of domestic canine companions have always been swift to share the traditional songs of their people. Of these, the loudest voice belonged to Piper, the lone female in the troupe.
In spite of her somewhat intimidating size, which cannot be helped when you are a Saint Bernard and German Shepherd mix, and a bark that could rattle the neighbors' windows, Piper was a big softy. Just a big bundle of happy, friendly, playful doggy goodness who was always eager for a headskritch or a belly rub, at least once she got the impulse to greet you vocally out of her system. She was always glad to see everybody.
Unfortunately, her health recently failed and her family made the painful decision to let her go. Game just isn't the same without her booming hello, her massive head coming to rest on my knee, her flopping over onto one side on their couch as if to say "I can haz belly rubz?", or just her general presence as a mobile bit of furniture...because she and her siblings are most of my "dog time" these days.
Piper was not the sort of dog to whom you could teach physics. She was too playful to sit still for all that. The only picture of her that I had on my cell phone did not do this side of her justice, but her family were kind enough to send me these.
One of her favorite places to hang out was the couch, mostly because it was so much easier to flop onto her side for belly rubs from the humans while she was a bit up off the floor.
Lookit dat fayce! Just lookit! She's so pleased with herself! Such a silly, soppy, lovable puppy.
I had already made plans to write Piper up as a playable character for this thing called Pugmire, and I hope she would appreciate being given the role of a great-hearted and heroic defender of smaller persons that emerged when I was first puttering around with what is essentially 5th Ed D&D, the Dog Version. This of course also means that I'm playing around with HeroForge to find a suitable build there...but since one cannot adjust the 'breed' of the anthro-canine miniature, everybody I do will come out looking kind of like a Doberman. Here's version 1--longsword, shield, heavy armor, and the full-throated Bark of Great Alarm on her lips.
And here is the current version of Piper the Guardian for Pugmire. I will be tweaking this as I get feedback from her humans, who have final veto.
Ever since our friendly local game store shut down a few years back, my Friday night tabletop group has been meeting at the home of our oldest and youngest members. This means that we have been greeted at the door by the ever-cheerful and rather loud Canine Welcome Chorus as their collection of domestic canine companions have always been swift to share the traditional songs of their people. Of these, the loudest voice belonged to Piper, the lone female in the troupe.
In spite of her somewhat intimidating size, which cannot be helped when you are a Saint Bernard and German Shepherd mix, and a bark that could rattle the neighbors' windows, Piper was a big softy. Just a big bundle of happy, friendly, playful doggy goodness who was always eager for a headskritch or a belly rub, at least once she got the impulse to greet you vocally out of her system. She was always glad to see everybody.
Unfortunately, her health recently failed and her family made the painful decision to let her go. Game just isn't the same without her booming hello, her massive head coming to rest on my knee, her flopping over onto one side on their couch as if to say "I can haz belly rubz?", or just her general presence as a mobile bit of furniture...because she and her siblings are most of my "dog time" these days.
Piper was not the sort of dog to whom you could teach physics. She was too playful to sit still for all that. The only picture of her that I had on my cell phone did not do this side of her justice, but her family were kind enough to send me these.
One of her favorite places to hang out was the couch, mostly because it was so much easier to flop onto her side for belly rubs from the humans while she was a bit up off the floor.
Lookit dat fayce! Just lookit! She's so pleased with herself! Such a silly, soppy, lovable puppy.
I had already made plans to write Piper up as a playable character for this thing called Pugmire, and I hope she would appreciate being given the role of a great-hearted and heroic defender of smaller persons that emerged when I was first puttering around with what is essentially 5th Ed D&D, the Dog Version. This of course also means that I'm playing around with HeroForge to find a suitable build there...but since one cannot adjust the 'breed' of the anthro-canine miniature, everybody I do will come out looking kind of like a Doberman. Here's version 1--longsword, shield, heavy armor, and the full-throated Bark of Great Alarm on her lips.
And here is the current version of Piper the Guardian for Pugmire. I will be tweaking this as I get feedback from her humans, who have final veto.
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