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.

DM Summit @ Veggie Grill

Brian and I went to Veggie Grill in Irvine to get organized for D&D Encounters.

Things have been kind of slow and disorganized since the Holiday. We spent most of the lunch talking about soft skills and the horrors of corporate IT. And then we started eating--the food was really good.

Veggie Grill is super nice--the staff there is fantastic, the food is vegan, and it is served up quick and easy.

The Module is starting to pick up speeds--there are 9 weeks until we are done and five more sections--the final sections look like they may take a few weeks so we agreed to move quickly for the next few weeks just to get towards the end.

We also got some scary tea news!

Recounting Encounters: Adventurer's League Pilot Play

Recounting Encounters is one of the best and longest running D&D Encounters podcasts--generally they just review what happened at the table the week before. This is an awesome asset to DM's but it is often a little to spoilery for players.

In any event, this week they take a critical look at the Adventure League & provide some very balanced views. 

I strongly encourage everyone to take a quick listen.

Round Table 51 - D&D Encounters Wrap-Up

I seriously love this podcast. The topic this week was the state of D&D Encounters which is obviously something very close to my heart!

The guests were Topher Kohan, Joe Lastowski, and Mike Loewnau who were awesome--even if only one of them correctly answered the opening question--"what is your favorite Faction"?

As always, James does a great job of thanking everyone for volunteering their time & supporting the hobby. His conversation is laid back  and things move along smoothly with a lot of agreement & audio head bobbing. A good listen.

D&D Encounters is very messy at a lot of shops these days due to a lack of direction, a failure to communicate the plan, and a general lack of focus. Players are leaving tables mad, stores are not prepared, DMs are not sure what to run. The added complexity of the Adventure League is not helping--my current thought is that, like project Morning Star, the Adventure League should be shut down or renamed "D&D Expeditions", This would end confusion and D&D Encounters could go back to being what it was designed to be--weekly introduction to D&D run in shops.

Of course, that is just my opinion & the guys on this cast have different opinions and experiences which they share in a wonderfullly positive way. 

Pancake Breakfast

Bikes are in the bushes

Back Packs are piled on the landing

Muffins are out

And Tuesday is getting ready for some Magic!

Jack, who was skipping school to go to Disneyland, was in a great mood.

Preston was ready to go bright and early

My work station was well appointed!

We had the entire Tuesday team in attendance today which has been rare this year: Preston, Jack, Derek, Alexander:

Evan, Matt, Dylan, and Andrew

I played two matches against Preston whose deck needed some tuning--he ramped up quickly, but could not close.

Matt ripped his deck apart & tried to clean up his mana--which was mostly the problem--he had to many fixers...

We had two questions--the first one I do not really understand what the issue is...

Preston asked "Would you consider mana as land"? He was playing Mana Confluence 

But I am not sure what he was trying to do.

The next question, is yet another in the series of "what does protection mean" questions!

Andrew plays Storm Breath Dragon [again, and obviously] and swings

Matt has Mantis Rider out and wants to block

But he cannot even block because of the SBD's protection.