Hello again everyone. It has been a busy few weeks here at Casa DM Eric V, spring is springing, and change is in the air! I've announced some server perks in the discord group but worth mentioning again here.
Guest Star Program:
Sometimes a player can't make a game, which is a bummer, but life happens, and we are all busy. Some groups can keep trucking with one down, but a table of 3 or 4 may opt to wait a week until they are full strength.
I am introducing "Guest Stars" to help those folks and give my loyal players a little extra value, as they can get notified when a table could use an extra hand. It's a win-win, a player from a different table gets to vibe with a new group for a while, and the table doesn't have to wait another week to play.
All you have to do is sign up for the role, and when an opportunity is available, I will ping the folks who have expressed interest. Being a Guest Star is free, first come, first serve, and open to current players.
Monthly Community One-Shots:
I am also launching Community One Shots! Current customers can now play in a one-shot that I will host once a month for free. I want to run a one-shot each month free of charge to say thanks for being here and add value for my community members playing weekly games. Current players can play for free; current community members get the next consideration at a reduced rate. Sign up for the one-shot role to get notifications of the monthly game.
Our first one-shot will be on April 23, at 7 PM Central. In celebration of the D&D movie, I will take a group to the Underdark to fight Themberchaud, the chonkiest of chonks. Look to Discord for sign-ups, and remember this is free for current players as a thank you for hanging out and playing tabletop games with us!
Youth Game Week:
Y'all probably heard me talk about this at length in our pre-game chit-chat time, but I had so much fun I will ramble on a bit more about it here. Last week I hosted a group of Freshmen and Sophomores who wanted to experience D&D as their experience learning week. I had a blast playing with their creative minds and ran into many kobolds. So many kobolds. So much wow. I plopped them down in the Free City of Zobeck, and we did an old-school "let's see what they get into" format as they chased down some kobolds up to no good. They did stop the magical soup and the mech-kobold from taking over Kobold town! Did I mention there were a lot of kobolds?
Game Recaps:
Family Table Mad Mage:
Xanathar added another soul to his belt of lost adventurers. (Wait, does Xanathar wear a belt?) Either way, the team was on a get-in and get-out mission where they were told to run if they saw this ugly mug. They risked it all to disable the dream machine, and 2/4 of the group died; the other two emerged as heroes of Skullport and impressed the likes of the Harpers. It is fun having a reoccurring baddie we know is bad news, but it is always a bummer when one of those rays spells the end for one of our adventurers. This week we fast forward, in an alternate timeline, all the way down to Halaster himself to see what this group can do at level 20. It should be fun, and I look forward to our next adventure together. If you want to play at a multigenerational table, hit me up, as our team will be rolling new characters to start something new in two weeks.
Picnic Hoboes:
Team PH broke camp with the hobgoblins, who are off to investigate better working conditions and benefits than their current giant overlords offer. We will see if Azerok on level 3 can set them straight. They found a neat d12 that may or may not explode when thrown and took on some mighty constructs in this "Mad Max" style level of the Undermountain. The Brave warlord did what he did best, which is to disappear and run while the rest of the crew took on electrifying baddies. We reconvene this week in the aftermath of the battle.
Tuesday Night Drakkenheim:
We said goodbye to team Rat Taco as two players had to step aside for life things. Darn that BBEG, Life! The group agreed it would honor their story best if we paused there and did a soft restart where we rolled up new level 5 characters to continue a new tale in Drakkenheim. I had fun working with everyone to roll up a group with a theme - treasure hunters. We hit the ruins of Drakkenheim again this Tuesday with the new team, who also picked up another treasure hunter along the way!
Thursday playtesting:
I mention briefly that I am playtesting a neat roleplaying game on Thursday afternoons with a very innovative and ambitious goal. The NDA won't let me share much, but I will share what I can with y'all as things develop. Getting out of my comfort zone and guiding something new has been fun!
Laughing Head Insurance Company:
The LHIC said goodbye to their long-time Splooshball Hyper-Back Ursan with a pickup game of the world's mightiest full-contact sport. The rules are made up, and the points don't matter! We had a blast splooshing, shooting down the radio man, lifting towers, and blocking defenses before our friend walked off into the sunset in search of softer rugs.
This group is responsible for Canon in the Forgotten Realms related to Owlbears! No joke! Ursan and the squad have been obsessed with owlbear rugs, and we have always wondered if there were feathers, fur, or both at play here. Ed Greenwood himself elaborated for us on Twitter.
There you have it. Canon. The softest owlbear rugs are made with underbelly fur. Thanks, Ed, for being a stand-up dude and humoring our nonsense.
Friday (REDACTED) Group.
Once a month, I host a game for a corporate client working on one of the next big things for Dungeons and Dragons. We had a blast in the Feywild chasing down a Quickling who ran off with a crucial key fragment this week. This plane-hopping adventure picks up again next month when they will find themselves in the universe of Theros.
Saturday Bounty Hunters:
Our Saturday crew was down a person in our cypher-powered wild west setting, so we hung out and character workshopped for guest appearances and our new friend on Tuesday nights. It wasn't what I had planned for the day, but it was a good time, and I appreciate the fellas for going with the flow and getting creative.
The Goodberry Group:
It has been a rough go in the ruins of Drakkenheim for our friends on Saturday night. They didn't make it out of the undercroft with all lives intact. Losing another halfling in ruins was off the table for our group, so they took the chance to walk with some followers of a peculiar splinter group. Their leader Lucrecia offered her healing hand and brought Torune back to life, but at what cost? And more importantly, what if she is right? Dice games were played, and the team reorganized for an assault on the ruins to try and scrape up some gold for a little extra firepower on their adventures.
I have instances of Drakkenheim open and some exciting adventures in Midgard, ready to go! I love the excitement of a new game, but I sure would love to tell the folks signed up thus far that we play this week! Now would be a great time to tell a friend about how awesome it is here and share the love for tabletop gaming!
That is all for this week; thanks for playing and adventure in courage!