David Given Schwarm

Married, Father, United

Tag: Public Play

  • Naga with no where left to Hide

  • Make Up Day? Free RPG Day 2014



    I totally botched it this year–I was way over committed in June & just could not find a way to make it work. I love the Pathfinder adventure that came out & will likely try to run a make up session.

    There is a good general review of the event from a shops perspective here.

  • Extra Life Orange County Guild Kick Off Meeting



    Last night I drove over to CHOC 


    parked on the Third Floor


    and instead of the Outpatient Infusion Center, I went to the main Hospital to meet with the ELOCG.



    This was a meet and greet type meeting for the Extra Life charity event that was very well attended–around 40 people I would guess. 



    A lot of them were from the OCC Gamers Guild, but there were also some pod-casters & gamers who were very connected to the community.



    Last year, Jack & I participated in this with some friends, but we did not raise much money or get all that involved, so this year we plan to connect with other gamers in the area and try to participate in their events.

    Also, after CHOC Walk this year, I know that Jack has a lot of friends who want to show him support and events like Extra Life provide an awesome opportunity for that. 



    I have set up a Team Page and will update with more event information as it becomes available.

  • Krakens? On the night I miss!?!

    Last night I could not make it to Comic Quest, so I missed D&D Encounters…and they fought KRAKENS!

    That will teach me to go to  my daughters Dance Recitals! 

    The Snow Whites look like they had a blast without me & appear to have rolled a crit or two.

  • Actual Play Dead in Thay–D&D Encounters S18 S5

  • The Room is a Living Sentient Ooze? Dead in Thay–D&D Encounters S18


    I was late to encounters tonight–Kate had a singing performance.

    The Snow Whites had split into two parties–I joined Chris, Bobby, 


    & Brian [who ran iPad video that I cannot wait to see]


    at DM Scott’s table.

    DM Scott appeared to have been just finishing up when I got there and I talked them into trying one more room….turns out it was a giant living ooze room that attacked & almost killed all of us.

     The shop was very full of Magic players–but the D&D Tables are growing.

     Bobby had a fantastic night with his Dwarf Fighter.

  • Vampires Suck Dead in Thay–D&D Encounters S18 S4


    We started this Wednesday by dropping Kate off at a Book Club party–they read Three Muskateers.

    Then we took out my Father-in-Laws trash cans.

    We got food at Pei Wei–I got the veggie lettuce wraps which were roll your own & I did not see the secret sauce until too late–not a good order. The Lemon Salad was recommended by the women sorting Reaper Mini’s at the shop, so I will try that next time.


    Scott was planning on DM’ing this week, but Brian, Chris, Jordan, John, & Trevor did not show–so we only needed one table this week. 



    DM Alan ran a fantastic game & there was tons of space.


    Thomas was back! He played the Bard and seemed to have a lot of fun.



    Jack’s pyromancer wizard was killed by a vampire–37 points in one round– a straight up slaughter!



    John & Bobby were back this week–they were the guys who decided to attack the vampire who was fine with letting us pass–evidently the vampire had our stuff.


    Victoria is back as well–she is playing an elf ranger who choose to pitch a tent during battle.



    Graph paper notes–I am out of paper on my legal pad.


    There are still a lot of Magic players at the shop. Legacy Wednesday.


    But we really did have a fantastic amount of space.




    Bobby did get a crit, but I did not get a picture of it.

  • Free RPG Day 2014 Update

    So I am planning to play the Paizo Pathfinder Module, Risen from Sands at Free RPG Day.




    In preparation I sent an email to the author, Rob McCreary,  of the module asking for a things I could buy in preparation for the event–minis, map packs, etc–just about anything that would make the game more awesome at the table.

    Here is his response:

    Thanks for your interest in Risen From the Sands. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of tie-in products for this year’s Free RPG Day adventure. It’s only thematically tied to the Mummy’s Mask Adventure Path, so there’s not really much from those adventures that would help with running Risen From the Sands. The Mummy’s Mask Poster Map Folio will not be released until July, but its maps wouldn’t really help for the adventure anyway. Most of the cards and pawns associated with the Adventure Path will also not be released by this time, though the Mummy’s Mask Item Cards have been released, and you might be able to repurpose some of those cards for treasures in the adventure. 

    Otherwise, the following minis could be useful for running the adventure:
    Mummies
    Scarab or insect swarms
    Skeletons
    Burning skeletons
    Zombies
    Medium elementals
    Animated statues     

    Lastly, the adventure contains four pregenerated characters, using the new classes coming out in August in the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide. If you want to use these characters in your game, I’d suggest downloading the free Advanced Class Guide pdf from paizo.com so that you’re familiar with their abilities.


    I will start getting the mini’s & have downloaded this

  • Actual Play Dead in Thay–D&D Encounters S18 S3

  • Enter the Doomvault! Dead in Thay–D&D Encounters S18 S3

    Another fun week of D&D Encounters at Comic Quest with DM Alan.

    Jack & I had dinner at home and drove down with plenty of time–the shop was very crowded with Magic players. We were able to snag the pole position table, but with three new players this week we may need to get more DM’s and table started for next week.

    DM Alan had some player hand out maps for this session & they were amazing!

    The table was very crowded.

    We did have some great mini’s and DM Alan’s continued use of paper constructed minis is fantastic!

    The shop sells Skittles & we went through a bunch of them–we are using the ‘new guy buys’ rule which really worked out this week.