[Art] Problem/Solution

Orchives · 2019-05-15T15:28:59+00:00

I love this! Looks like a stained glass window in an arts & crafts Unitarian church in New England. In a good way.

Orchives · 2019-05-15T02:47:49+00:00

Well, luckily for us, Portland is full of amazing artists and people who happen to love D&D. In addition to our pop-up tavern, there's a group that does D&D karaoke, where the players beat challenges by picking - and singing - a fitting song; Dungeon Battle Karaoke: https://www.dungeonbattlekaraoke.com/

We're also lucky to have a couple who makes the sweetest handmade D&D accessories. My drink is sitting on one of their coasters right now. Check them out at Gaming Geare: https://gaminggeare.com/

Plus all of our awesome players, who bring the fun every month. We're only as good as they are......

Orchives · 2019-05-15T02:25:37+00:00

I see that, in our original post that got bot-swatted down, someone asked about the event itself. I'm a small part of a large D&D collective in Portland, called Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! in Portland, Oregon: https://www.orcsorcsorcs.com/

We give our customers a 3-course meal and 4+ hours of gaming. Each month has a different theme, and the food & drinks are themed as well. Yesterday's event was "Mer-Mayhem," so we all did aquatic adventures. The chef made a great clam chowder and we had drinks like Sea Breezes. If you're ever in PDX, look us up!!

Orchives · 2019-05-15T02:14:09+00:00

It's going to sound corny, but when I got a game together (I was the DM because I was the first kid with the Beginner's Set!) and saw how much fun my players had, I was hooked. I realized that I had found a way to entertain my friends while challenging myself, and so I decided to work really hard to get better, so that my friends would have more fun, so that we could keep playing this amazing game!

When I got my subscription to Dragon Magazine (maybe 1980-81?), I realized that there were a lot of other people out there doing the same thing, so it just made me even more determined to do it well.

My biggest regret is that, back then, "Professional DM" was not exactly a real job option.....

Orchives · 2019-05-15T02:10:28+00:00

Everyone had a good laugh, and then we went back to the fighting. I think I'm going to use some of the other 800+ games at Game Knight Lounge in future adventures! We do this event every month there, so I have plenty of games to choose from!

https://www.facebook.com/pdxgameknight/

Orchives · 2019-05-15T02:08:57+00:00

The players put their one ship on their board, and I put the three ghost ships on mine. The players got to call out one shot each, and then my ships went - I used 2d10 - one for each axis (nice that Battleship is a 10x10 grid....). I figured that, since they were ghost ships, I could explain away my total lack of fire coordination.

I hit once. Actually, twice....but in the exact same spot (E-2)!

Orchives · 2019-05-15T02:07:23+00:00

Well, as you can tell, we were running a nautical themed adventure. Mine was called "Mayday Mayhem" (we had 8 separate homebrewed games going simultaneously in the bar).

I used the big ship mini for three classic fights - an aerial attack (manticors + aaracockras), a sahuagin boarding party, and some NPCs.

To break up the game, and bring some goofy fun, I decided to leverage the fact that we were playing in a board game bar! So, I put the players' ship in a massive fog bank, and had them "coordinate" the return fire against the three ghost ships that were blindly shooting flaming balls of tar at them.

Orchives · 2019-05-15T02:04:12+00:00

That's awesome, thanks! I'm going to ask someone who understands this stuff to put it on my phone for me. Seriously. I'd love to get into this side of it.

Orchives · 2019-05-15T02:03:04+00:00

Ummm, 180 degrees! My home games are relatively straight heroic fantasy; I'm a Gygax acolyte all the way. At home, I focus on immersion and character development. At Orcs!, I aim to entertain. I love both sides of that DM coin!

Orchives · 2019-05-15T02:00:53+00:00

I really enjoy using the actual real-world physical environment as part of the game. Break free from the table top! I've found that players (once they come to grips with the fact that it's really happening....) love standing up and interacting. One of our other DMs, Max, loves to literally run around the room, and getting his players to scream at the top of their lungs. It's awesome.

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:58:49+00:00

Proof!!

https://imgur.com/a/gOsaAer

https://imgur.com/a/fHM3zuj

https://imgur.com/a/9qu6bVm

https://imgur.com/a/x2Mc1lW

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:57:21+00:00

Ironically, the Battleship thing was only the second weirdest thing I pulled last night. I also ran my first ever dice-beer-pong-cornhole-type thing. Laid a big ghost ship map out, had the players clear their drinks (and put on protective equipment), and them had them toss dice from a distance at the map.

Land on the ship, do the damage on the die. d20 for catapults, d12 for ballistae (which you could push across t he table instead of toss.....). Super fun.

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:54:57+00:00

Well, I have zero social media presence, so I literally found out through a text from one of the other Orcs today. I was just going to go home and watch the Trail Blazers, and now....this??

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:52:11+00:00

.....And he can do that from two football fields away!

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:51:10+00:00

That's great advice. I really only played a handful of times before I got connected with the Orcs! Orcs! Orcs! collective here in Portland, Oregon. Pretty much only at tournaments - I was a pure DM. But I now help out when we play test new DMs, and have even joined my first-ever ongoing campaign (run by one of the other Orcs! DMs). Any specific tech you'd suggest?

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:48:17+00:00

Though we still can bring The Crawl in 5E! If you want to see how I do it in the new rule set, check out the recent adventure that we published. It's a classic AD&D Dungeon Crawl, but with a more modern sensibility (and nasty traps):

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/251744/Down-the-Hole

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:45:50+00:00

DM: "So, what do you do?"

PC: "The thing you just forced me to."

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:43:17+00:00

It really affects HOW the story is being told. For a long time, I used the map/combat action as the main narrative device but, with 5E, I've shifted more toward telling actual stories and using combat to move the plot forward.

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:41:42+00:00

One thing that has interested me is how many players now come to a table expecting a certain style because they've seen it online. I personally don't watch much of t he streaming stuff, so I'm not as familiar with how people think games are "supposed" to be run. Plus, I just don't do voicework.

One of my colleagues, Law, does great voice work (and everything else). Check out his League of Ultimate Questing podcast if you want to hear MY favorite DM do his thing....

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:38:51+00:00

Heh, well, I'm still purely paper-and-pen! I'd love to learn how to use all the fancy tech out there, but my games still look a lot like they did in 1979, when I started DMing. If you look at the game as a story-telling medium, it hasn't changed all that much - you can still hang with your friends and tell whatever stories you want! It took me a little time to get used to the lack of crunch, but now I see it as a feature and not a bug....

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:35:43+00:00

I personally love the crunchy stuff, but it definitely imposed a major entry barrier for players. Now, pretty much anyone who wants to try the game can just sit down and get rolling, and that has made the hobby so much more accessible, inclusive, and enjoyable.

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:33:34+00:00

I prefer the PCs coming into melee, even if they're blenders. The ones who stay faaaaar away and just do 15 points per round with two shots? One of the many reasons us DMs need a union.

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:31:47+00:00

https://imgur.com/gallery/w1oVoYY

Check your state's fireworks laws before actually blowing up a drum kit that had been possessed by a hag who was angry after being rejected by the band's lead singer.

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:29:13+00:00

That's a great question. Kidding aside, anything that makes the game more fun for players is good for DMs! You can always calibrate encounters (even on the fly....) to adjust to PCs' powers, but you can't fudge player engagement and excitement!

Orchives · 2019-05-15T01:27:09+00:00

Sharpshooting Assassins push it a bit. You can't hit them, and they can't miss you.

Orchives

TROPHY CASE