David Given Schwarm

Married, Father, United

Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

  • Hoard of the Dragon Queen–D&D Encounters S19 S15

























  • Yeenoghu’s Temple

    Time again for the Bake Game Night!


    But not that Game Night–this Game Night

    at the Dunlap’s Game Night happens more than once a week!

    This week the Bake headed into the very shady neighborhood of Long Beach where James lives.



    As the video clearly shows, the Peach Cisco was flowing


    It felt like the first time we had played in a long time–and all of the players were there!

    Vandale and Watson are striking so hard that KUBA’s current monk form is mostly useless & I will likely try to rebuild him as something more leaderish.

    There were plenty of Crits!





  • Hoard of the Dragon Queen–D&D Encounters S19 S14

    Another big turn out at D&D Encounters at Comic Quest

    I got called into a work thing and could not attend

    So DM Brian and DM David had to carry the load


    looks like everyone had a great time.


    Ideally I will be there next week.

  • Waterdeep, Trolls, Roads, and Wonder Hoard of the Dragon Queen–D&D Encounters S19 S14

    So where I play D&D Encounters there are Magic Players. Sometimes these guys get all drewery on me!


    mostly because the shop can get a little crowded.


    My table was fired up and ready to roll.



    Brian had a young co-DM with him and they were running a super great table! In fact, Brian had larger dice then I did!


    DM Brian’s table was totally into it



    My table was very fired up as well & spent a lot of time checking rules in the book–we are getting at actually playing D&D and not a generic game based on some beta release rule set.


    I ran a random encouter with a troll–it was awesome! I am totally in love with the new Monster Manual.


    The art in particular is gold.


    I am still using the Pathfinder iCrit & iFumble tools–which the players are starting to get tired of–I, however, will never get bored of this thing!



    Comic Quest has also started selling some very disturbing product!



    I did forget to bring my video camera last night, so there is no video of a very normal session.

  • Actual Play Hoard of the Dragon Queen–D&D Encounters S19 S13

  • Hoard of the Dragon Queen–D&D Encounters S19 S13




    Comic Quest was packed again this week–we have a fantastic crew of players right now. Super stoked to be able to DM at this shop.



    Brendan was new & playing for his first time–he had a well tabbed PHB that I friend had helped him with & he was playing a fantastic Ranger build. It was great to get to know him.


    Nathan is running some awesome Portal Magic Puzzle session–totally off book! It is nice to see Organized Play supporting more DM Freedom this season.



    The table was fairly crowded–I ran the combat without mini’s because there was no where to set out the mat–this edition supports free wheeling play very well.


    The other table was also running a largely minitureless session which is good to see!


    Jack has very ugly dice.


    I had a very good cup of coffee–which was nice to see


    We fought some Hobgoblins–the art in the Monster Manual for these guys is amazing! I had not really read up on them before the session so I ran them as basically orcs, but it looked like the book had a lot of good information on them and their background–I plan to go back and read that stuff.


    Also, Chelsea built me this amazing dice bag because I had supported her in the Linen contest she did a while back–I love this thing! Note that the beads or whatever on the tie’s have DM letters–so rad!

  • Next D&D Books

  • Actual Play Defiance in Phlan

  • Defiance in Phlan

    D&D During Break! 


    Is there anything better? Yes, I am comparing this to Christmas!


    The Christmas decorations were still up when the bikes starting lining up outside our house for some Winter Break D&D–I am not sure if there is anything better in the entire world.


    I was using Spotify to play some appropriate D&D Music; in this case, the amazing soundtrack to the Battle of Five Armies which is simply incredible.

    Lisa had put out a ton of snacks.


    And the boys brought over some treats as well


    And the table was set


    We had some celebration balls for the boys to open.


    And I had a camera ready to record the proceedings–which are available on youtube.


    Behind the screen I had a ton of room



    Cody had found some necklaces in the garage which he wanted to give to the best player!


    Opening the Celebration Balls was very exciting




    the kids really loved the surprise of the activity & the mess that it made.


    Once that was complete we started the game



    We used the Trinket table to give the characters some starting items–I used these pretty well throughout the adventure




    Dylan attached the Celebration Ball token to his forehead for extra awesome.


    Alexander drew this amazing Zhentarim Faction Logo


    I was running from this amazing notebook that my mom gave me–it is from Obereon Studios





    The game moved very quickly & the kids were may more focused than the last few times that we played.



    I had selected mini for all five of the mini-adventures, but in four and a half hoursI was only able to run three–we did spend one hour on set up.





    there were a ton of crits during this game & only one fumble.



    and yes, we know this is a counter!










  • Gamer to Gamer – Jeremy Crawford


    James Introcaso continues his amazing work on the Tome Show with this fantastic interview with Jeremy Crawford as part of his Gamer to Gamer series, but unlike the others in that series this is more of a review of the DMG. 


    It is very well produced, amazingly easy to listen to, and very informative. My favorite part is when James asks Jeremy for advice on how to take down Tiamat in Mike Shea’s game.