Pens and Papers

[Ruki]

The best way would likely be in local game stores, the kind that sell board games and Magic cards and the like. They will likely be able to point you in the right direction, or might even host games themselves. (I actually met my wife responding to a posting on a local store's Facebook page).

 

Other options are playing online (there'sa reddit for looking for games,  there's discord servers, etc). Much more flexible, but you do lose that element of friends sitting around a table rolling dice.

[Twist]

Okay, there's a few games shops locally so I'll check that out.

Would prefer local for sure although online might not be bad for figuring out what the hell I'm doing in the mean time.

[Ruki]

If you have any rules or build questions, don't hesitate to ask! I love that stuff.

[Twist]

8 hours ago, Ruki said:

If you have any rules or build questions, don't hesitate to ask! I love that stuff.

I will absolutely be taking you up on this. I'm going to play around with the Beyond character build feature just to get a feel for it.

[Twist]

Finished my first character build. Given I don't have a bloody clue of the world and I somewhat winged it I think I've got a decent character there (if likely a little stereotypical).

So I've gone with:

Human paladin who previously served in the military but has now pledged himself to the Girded Healers. Reserved, a bit of a grouch but Lawful Good. Proficient in intimidation and athletics.

[9 to 5]

Yeah I think I will be getting back into D&D over the summer in some form or other.

[Ruki]

Everyone should!

[Twist]

If someone wants to run an online game manageable for GMTime then let me know!

Looking elsewhere but it's all very daunting!

[lanky316]

Speaking of online things... Critical Role are booked to do a live show in October at Wembley Arena. Decided to click the presale link in my email out of curiosity to see what sort of prices and it would appear that what was available for presale has already sold out. Next up a stadium D&D show? 

[Benji]

On 13/07/2023 at 05:58, 9 to 5 said:

Yeah I think I will be getting back into D&D over the summer in some form or other.

I'm still willing to pay a DM for a group of us if we can agree on a regular day and time, even if it's fortnightly or something.

[Ruki]

2 hours ago, Benji said:

I'm still willing to pay a DM for a group of us if we can agree on a regular day and time, even if it's fortnightly or something.

if y'all weren't in the wrong timezone! 

 

But, I've heard of people paying for DMing (and I'd be lying if I haven't thought about trying my hand at it)... I know of the site https://startplaying.games/search , which would probably work if you all are willing to play online. And one of our former members @Chris the Human does that now on Roll20. 

 

But when it comes to scheduling, having a regular day/time is what works best. And running even if you are missing a person or two. But that set schedule is what has lead to me being able to complete a bunch of campaigns. 

[9 to 5]

15 hours ago, Benji said:

I'm still willing to pay a DM for a group of us if we can agree on a regular day and time, even if it's fortnightly or something.

Who needs that? Besides my "days off" are usually too busy to do much unless I play at 7am. Enjoy yourself.

[Twist]

Turns out there's an Adventure League where I live with one off games 4 times a week. So I guess I'm trying D&D.

[Ruki]

It took a year, but I got to play Alice Is Missing tonight! It's a text based RPG, designed with a group text in mind, we used discord. You start off with making the characters and secrets and deciding why certain people or places are suspicious. And then a clock starts counting down from 90 minutes. Then every 10 or so minutes, someone flips a card (secretly to themselves) and reveal new information.

 

Somehow we ended up with a cult theme, and the cards and RP just kept playing into it. We ended up with Alice's brother finding the kidnapper and getting chased. Their fates left to the imagination. This was the last message I sent to the brother & from the group chat:

 

[Toe]

Had a new player at the table for our game last night, and I had to actually stop them from killing an important NPC and blowing up the story for the rest of the players who had been playing this campaign for over a year. 

I told them "in-game, you can absolutely do this... but out of character, you have to talk to the other players about this". He had a ring of invisibility and was essentially trying to play the game by himself through texting me.

[Ruki]

Played in a campaign that didn't run in almost 2 months over the weekend. That kind of break makes it hard for me to feel invested in the character or the world and get extra nit-picky. Like... the DM threw Intellect Devourers at us, which can completely destroy a character by sapping their intelligence. Me, being a barbarian and having no Intelligence, it happened! I'm fine with it... but there was a potion in the same room to fix what had happened. Like... boo. If you're gonna throw a threat at us, let us handle the threat and deal with the consequences. Don't have a 'make everything better' potion because you didn't expect the monster to do what the monster does. 

[Ruki]

Someone in my group is an artist, and has drawn my character multiple times! That's so cool! 

[Ruki]

Decided to bin my Abomination Vault campaign (wasn't gelling with it), but then we switched to Blood Lords, which is a lot more fun. Lawful evil campaign in an undead country. Starts off with the PCs going to a zombie farm to fix things. The wizard got fucking GORED from a zombie cow for 34 damage. He had 15hp. Since it was the first session, I let him off easy. 

[thepunkrockicon]

Played D&D again for the first time in a month and a half. Party wandered into a forest and got attacked by some stirges that I used from the MCDM monster book Flee, Mortals. Fun little encounter. No one went down, but pairing it with a bird of prey from the same book offered some really fun opportunities to mess with positioning. It's good to be back behind the screen

[Toe]

Ran my Strahd campaign on the weekend. Party finally had dinner with Strahd, who gave them an ultimatum - deliver Tatyanna to him in 72 hours, or be destroyed. They quickly left and are really feeling the time crunch. 

I am starting to feel some fatigue with the setting, so I am happy that this feels like the final stretch. The party is now is a rush to get the final weapon they need to face Strahd, pick up some of their allies, and return to the castle. 

Once this is done, I think I want to jump into the new Phandelver book. Playing the Faerun instead of this dark and dreary demi-plane should be a great change of pace.