Eric and the Dread Gazebo

A role-playing game before Dungeons and Dragons
That didn’t have even a title
Has nevertheless left its mark with a story
That’s worth a poetic recital.

A game master spoke of a garden that had
A gazebo upon a small hill.
A player named Eric requested more details.
The master obliged him, but still

It soon was apparent that Eric assumed
A gazebo was some sort of creature.
He tried to detect any goodness with magic.
In objects, that just doesn’t feature.

He called the gazebo; it didn’t respond,
So he fired an arrow right in it.
The master suggested an axe or some flames.
(This all happened in less than a minute.)

Since Eric had neither, he opted to flee,
But the master had had quite enough.
He said the gazebo awoke, chased down Eric,
And ate him. That structure was tough!

Poor Eric was planning to make a new mage
To avenge his dead paladin then.
The rest of the players defined a gazebo.
He wouldn’t attack one again.

Some 15 years later, the story got published
In amateur press magazines.
It’s led to some 21st-century jokes
Among folks in the RPG scene.