After far too long, I’m getting to game again.
My gaming group is still back in Texas. They’ve been continuing to game since we moved away. They started up a new campaign about two months ago.
So, what changed? Matt, our DM, backed a Kickstarter campaign for a new gaming table. Fulfillment happened last November and he has it in his game room now. It has lots of nifty features, like cup holders, and individual spots for each player to keep their dice, character sheets and things like that. Most importantly, it has a computer screen in the table, which can display a Virtual Table Top. The great thing about it is that I can connect to the same VTT and participate in the game. We open a Discord channel so I can hear / talk to the DM and other players, and I can see what is going on in the game through the VTT maps. It shows the environment the characters are in, where they are in relation to everything, and even plays sound effects. Yes, the wonders of modern technology.
We’re playing Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons (2014 version). We’ve played together as a group sine way back in our college days. Back then, we played 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. (Still the best edition, in my opinion, but 2014 Fifth Edition ain’t too bad). Over four and a half decades later, we’re still going on epic quests, saving the day, and trying not to screw things up too much.
You know that scene in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, where they are getting ready to cross the bridge with the fiendish gnome trap, the Paladin is explaining how to get across safely when the party’s mage steps on the wrong part of the bridge, then the whole thing collapses? Yeah. We do things like that in our games.
Matt came up with a interesting way for me to join the adventuring party. My character, a gnome sage, who is also a sorcerer, was exploring the dungeon the party is currently working through, with his own adventuring party, but ten years earlier. My character ended up getting stuck in a stasis chamber, spending the intervening decade frozen in time. The current party found him and pulled him out of the stasis chamber, thinking he might be a statue and possibly worth selling to make some coin from it. After spending that much time in stasis, my gnome is a little scatter-brained. He has trouble remembering things and tends to space out in the middle of a conversation. This works well, since I, the player, haven’t gone through the dungeon Matt is running, so I don’t know what is happening most of the time anyway. My gnome is generally a fan of gathering information and abhors violence, but is willing to defend himself and the party if need be. Also, he’s got a pseudodragon as a familiar, which is cool.
I’ve only gotten to play for the last two sessions, but I’m having fun so far. When my party went through the dungeon we were looking for information and treasure. It seems that in the intervening decade, a villain named Dark Cowl has arisen. He’s very powerful and somehow the current party has taken it upon themselves to put an end to his evil ways so they can save the world. They are in the dungeon to find a way to stop him (and get treasure).
Role-playing games are my jam. I’d like to be able to get more gaming in but I haven’t had the time to try to find a gaming group to play an ongoing game with. Taking care of the wife takes a lot of my time, and even the few hours I’m getting each week with this game takes me away from caring for her. It’s a delicate balance, trying to do both. I’ll keep walking that line, though. Sometimes, you just need a break from caretaker duties, you know?
What do you do for fun, my Hordeling? Leave a comment and let me know.
If you’d like to support my efforts, why not buy me a chocolate chip cookie through my Ko-Fi page? https://ko-fi.com/jhusum