David Given Schwarm

Married, Father, United

Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

  • Murder in Baldur’s Gate–D&D Encounters S15 S10

    Another great week of D&D Next at Mercenary Market. 

    This was the second week that Jack, Brian, Scott, and I had played there and it was loads of fun. DM Nick was again behind the screen doing an awesome job. Eric and Sara were there again–Eric is a fun roll player and really gets into his characters drunkenness. 

    All of the other players at the table were new–which was awesome. 


    MM has a ton of space and a lot of very interesting players–I am very glad that I found this shop. I do miss Tuan and the Dice House as well as Brookhurst Hobbies, but the fact that this shop is 10 minutes from my house does make a big difference.

    One down side is that D&D Encounters starts at 7:00 PM so Jack is not getting home and to bed until almost 11:00 PM which is late for a seventh grader. When I run at MM next season I may try to start a little bit earlier.


    Brian, who is playing Elspeth the Human Cleric, had a great week with some of the best Role Playing I have ever seen.


     

    Jack was laid back and mellow playing Garruk, an Elf Ranger to great effect. 



    Scott was totally into it with his Wood Elf Bard named something absurd like Throckmorton Elderberry–he spent a lot of time on his character and it really showed. 


    I played Xenagos the Usurper, a Tiefling Mage Sage.

    Eric was still playing his Drunk Human Monk and Sara has a raging Dwarf Fighter.

    Will [who has been DMing this season and really knows the rules] was playing a Human Barbarian, Jake was playing a Human Monk, Diem was playing a Human Cleric, & Cody was playing an Elf Ranger.


    A really big table with a lot of good diversity. It was a fun week & I cannot wait for next week.

  • Penny Arcade/PvP Series 6: Ark of the Mad Mage

    I listened to this podcast at work while typing.




    Chris Perkins is a Great DM. 

    His relationship to other great DM’s–in fact, legendary DMs like Gygax & Cook is well documented, but his influence on every living  DM cannot be stressed enough. When one listens to Perkins run a game, every DM I have ever meet has the same response–they want to become a better DM!


    Perkins is just a stud and his table is absolutely fantastic. For this adventure of Acquisitions Inc, Wil Wheaton is absent, which allows the other players to really stand out.  Mike Krahulik & Jerry Holkins are able to run out gags longer and Scott Kurtz’s trademarked one liners are delivered with even more impact. Combined with the amazing addition of author Patrick Rothfuss and you have just about the dream table.

    The adventure is solid. The recording is incredible. This is a very very good actual play podcast.


    I think one of the goals of these is to introduce people to the D&D Next mechanics. I am not sure that goal is meet, mostly because these players are not really the kind of people tied to rule sets, which is likely a good thing, but the fact that WotC is making these available is awesome.

  • Actual Play Murder in Baldur’s Gate–D&D Encounters S15 S9

  • Murder in Baldur’s Gate–D&D Encounters S15 S9

    Rain in Southern California is amazing–we all know about STORM WATCH and the absurdity of a little rain being treated as a natural disaster in an age of rapidly expanding natural disasters. But what is not so intuitive is that in Southern California a little rain actually does turn a 20 minute drive into a 45 minute battle with frustration–freeways just stop. For no reason. I mean in Minnesota people drive in the Snow without a huge issue–I know, I have seen it. In CA a little rain destroys everyone’s commute. Forever.
    And thus, because of this, last night we went to Mercenary Market in Costa Mesa rather than driving to Fullerton’s Dice House for D&D Encounters.
    Mercenary Market is a fairly new shop in the Southern California Gaming Store world, but they have a great staff & clearly are interested in growing the community of gaming for all the right reasons. The shop has a fantastic gaming area with a ton of space. The retail section feels like it is still maturing, there are things on racks but the focus just does not seem to be there yet–I have faith it will come.
    The store had a great collection of people playing Magic and just hanging out–very friendly and accommodating. A really great space, though there were signs of concern:
    One of the greatest advantages to MM is the amazing about of space in the shop.
    Jack was pretty happy to be there–I think he missing the MtG community at Dice House.
    But he was stoked to meet one of the greatest role players that has ever lived!
    I was playing a Gnome Druid pre-gen. It needs a lot of work.
     
        
      
    Jack had a massive crit 
    The D&DNext crit rules are week, but the confirmed head shot did make it rather sweet
    This week I plan to improve my druid & come more up to speed on the D&D Next combat rules–opp attacks, shifting, and parts of a turn are all things that I need a better understanding of before I play again.

  • Actual Play Murder in Baldur’s Gate–D&D Encounters S15 S8

  • Murder in Baldur’s Gate–D&D Encounters S15 S8

    This week got off to a horrible start–Jack moved up to level three with his Mater Eating Lad character, but we could not figure out how to print from his laptop–so we had to move files around and get things to print from the old Mac, which means we started out about 30 minutes late.
    This image perfectly captures my mood & reinforces the basic fact that I am and continue to be a photographic genius.
    Brian had a friend that was meeting us at the shop & since we were running so late we needed to text him from the road with status. When Brian uses his speech recognition software on his phone he talks like a member of Star Fleet.
    and my new iPhone is going to take some time to get used to–these videos are horrible.
    The drive to Fullerton started to pick up when we saw this amazing Cos Play car–someone actually driving around the OC like a deranged Joker–I really love this!
    We got food at Pick Up Stix to go–which was awesome–they now ask if you want your tofu extra cooked, which we did–however, they said that Vegetable Fried Brown Rice would be an extra $2.50; so, we got regular brown rice.

    Because it is good for you. It has more fiber. And it is more natural, too. Just ask anyone. Everyone knows that Brown Rice is good for you–better than white rice. I mean it is just obvious. I added packaged spicy mustard which grossed out most of the table–I had no idea people reacted so strongly to spicy Asian mustard.
    DM Michael was again a no show, so DM Gerard had to run for like 11 people at his table! DM Gerard is really doing a fantastic job running for a very difficult group of players–this season of Encounters the players seem much more interested in fighting each other & creating general uninformed chaos. It is a lot of fun.

    Here is Brian enjoying his Pick Up Stix, his new friends elbow, snaggletooth, and a guy playing Hawkeye who is likely having more fun than the rest of us put together.
     A converted Magic player, Jack, and V2 were at the other side of the table.

    I like this kid in the Superman Shirt–his thief character is actually having internal conflict & growing as a character. This week he saved a child & protected the crowd–likely the only two heroic acts of the entire session. Haley’s Professor X is still dominating the party as the moral compass and generally the only character that actually seems to have a grasp about what our actual goals may be.

    The Silver Path Avenger had a difficult week this week–he stayed out of the main fray and did not seem as engaged as he usually is. There was some fantastic Gygaxing of the bodies.

    This week, again, we never got out the battle mat–it was all theater of the mind stuff which is very rare for Encounters.

    The kids continue to stay much more focused this season–V2 actually used a power to complete a useful act–the first time ever.
    Dice House, the shop where we play, is still very busy on Wednesdays. We had to move a lot of Magic players to make room for our game & those guys were not that happy this week–generally, it is not an issue, but with the crowds continuing to swell & a bit of a late start we are running into some general crowding issues.
    The game was great, as I am sure is obvious in the video, and I cannot wait until next week.

  • Crit Juice draws Frog with Demon Head

    During last nights D&D Encounters, the Heroes broke into the morgue, stole a Bhaalspawn Demon’s Head, tied it the back of a Giant Frog & escaped. The fine folks at Crit Juice have drawn it for us & captured the process on film.
    http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/EIsOIuS11F8&source=uds
    So awesome!

  • Murder in Baldur’s Gate–D&D Encounters S15 S7

     
    Another great week of D&D Encounters at Dice House in Fullerton.
    This week DM Michael could not make it so DM Gerard had to deal with a combined table of 10 players. He did an amazing job of keeping the story going while setting up a player versus player type duel situation–there was still some great investigation and other role playing.
    This is the best encounter season we have played since at Dark Sun–it is just face moving, funny, and almost identical to a ‘real’ home game type situation. I am really loving it & would love to tell WotC but with the current state of their forums I am afraid to try.

     Snaggletooth was player of the week, with his constant refrain of “you suck”! I think he dead panned this to just about every single player at one point or another–just fantastic & funny…

     The Opposite Fence was strong and having a blast–V2 spent his time firing Magic Missile at my PC, Doctor Druid, for no apparent reason–I responded by Storm Spiking the guard that had him restrained.

    Very fun!

    Other guy, bought a flying carpet! Really good stuff.

    Brian was distracted and spent much of the week playing Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull–which really is as good as you remember.

    The table was very crowded, but DM Gerard was high energy and kept things moving quickly–a really awesome textbook job of improvisational DM’ing–this kid is very good.

    I captured the entire event on video and got some great photos of some of the players dice–these red Baldur’s Gate’s D20’s are really awesome.

    Even with 10 players and a DM and a visitor at the table, I really felt like I had enough space.

    I continue to take good notes on our sessions.

    We did get Mini’s and maps out for the dueling section of the Encounter. That is me, Doctor Druid, surrounded by Guard Tokens and some other PC’s watching as a Halfling Firework Salesman kicks my ass.

     It was another ‘big map’ encounter which I really do think work much better for encounters–players have more freedom, DM’s have more room to adjust, and the fights just seem to flow more smoothly.

    Here are my notes as I try sketching a Bhalspawn Skull tied with rope onto a giant frog. I am not the best artist, so I will contact the Crit Juice crew and see if I can get this commissioned. 

    and a second attempt.

    but I was really going for something more spooky like this, but more cartoony & with old rope connecting the two.

    A very fun week was had by all & I cannot wait for next week.

  • Actual Play Murder in Baldur’s Gate–D&D Encounters S15 S6

  • Murder in Baldur’s Gate–D&D Encounters S15 S6

    Another great week of D&D Encounters at Dice House in Fullerton. 

    Brian and I went solo–Jack stayed home to do home work and perhaps recover from his late night snack the night before which was two veggie patties, a handful of cheese, and more Frank’s sauce than any reasonable person would apply.
    Brian and I skipped this & had sushi. It was great.
    DM Gerard is still running our table–he thinks that the adventure is one of the worst in the Encounters series because he does not get much information. I think it is one of the best because there is so much great roll playing and so little combat.

    I am playing Doctor Druid, but unfortunately he has none of the skills that I keep trying to use–I am hitting all the right notes with his insanity and paranoia, but I keep having to make diplomacy or bluff checks instead of arcana or nature.

    I love the image that I used for the character–green and creepy and covered with bugs.

    I have a fun mini and a frog that I hope to use–so far it has not come up.

    I am also using a great laser pointer that Brian bought for me–I love this thing!

    We did not use minis or maps–in fact the only combat at all came very late when I was frustrated and attacked a Halfling firework dealer mostly out of boredom.
    I have successfully developed a theory of Bhaal Spawn conspiracy that I plan to bring to the table for the last three weeks just to be whacky.
    On the drive home Brian and I stopped for gas and saw this giant grass hopper bug on the pump.