Zendikar Episode 4

I run a game of Zendikar 5E D&D for 7 year olds

As you can imagine it is a bit off the rails at all times

The players are organized

And there is plenty of room at the table

The party is currently on a mission from the king to rescue his daughter from the Kobold Queen.

They killed a Hill Giant.  Then the party tracked the hill giant back to its lair, which they explored  & found full of Kobolds.

They know that Kobolds love dragons & hate giants so this is all very weird. But of course they would rather be killing Eldarizi Titans at first level!

Free RPG Day 2016 -- We B4 Goblins!

This year looks like another banner year for Free RPG Day!

I am likely going to run at Comic Quest again this year. And, once again, Paizo is releasing a Goblin themed adventure--We B4 Goblins.

This one has yet another amazing cover!

The adventure was written by Crystal Frasier--which is awesome, she has been doing a ton of great work lately & I am glad that her design will be seen outside of the Pathfinder Society stuff she seems to focus on.

The blurb has:

All goblins have to start somewhere!
As whelps of the Licktoad tribe just out of their swaddling cages, the goblins Chuffy, Mogmurch, Poog, and Reta must prove themselves by undergoing a series of challenges, from tying a string to a large spider and shouting insults with hot rocks in their mouths to facing off against a goblin bully and his dimwitted minions. As a final test of their mettle, they must make a dangerous (and smelly) trek to claim a toad from the nearby swamp and present it to the terrifying presence that lurks within the Cave of Darkfear, only after which can they truly call themselves goblins!
But as the goblins return to the Licktoad village, they come across a brightly colored, jingling human carrying a map to a small farm up the river where a family of halflings are celebrating a wedding—the perfect setup for a goblin raid! Will the heroes acquit themselves in the finest goblin fashion by wreaking havoc upon the nuptials? Or will they be bitten by ferocious dogs and smashed by frying pans?
We B4 Goblins is an adventure for four goblin characters just beginning their careers of mischief and mayhem, written for the award-winning Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The adventure takes place in Brinestump Marsh and the surrounding areas of Varisia in the Pathfinder campaign setting, and serves as a prequel to We Be Goblins!, We Be Goblins Too!, and We Be Goblins Free!, Paizo's popular 2011, 2013, and 2015 Free RPG Day adventures!
Pathfinder Society: This module is sanctioned for play in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.
Download the rules and Chronicle sheet (371kb zip/PDF)Download the Free RPG Day Boon (143kb zip/PDF)Pregenerated Characters: This module include four 1st-level goblin characters: Chuffy Lickwound, Mogumurch, Poog, and Reta Bigbad.
Download the pregenerated characters (666kb zip/PDF)Release: This special 16-page Pathfinder Module was created for Free RPG Day on June 18, 2016. The print edition will be available for sale and a free download will be available on paizo.com beginning July 1, 2016.
Note: Due to the special nature of this product, it is NOT part of the Pathfinder Modules Subscription.

I am glad we are playing low level again--generally makes the table move more rapidly.

The pregens look awesome!

Actual Play Curse of Strahd--D&D Encounters S22 S12

Curse of Strahd--D&D Encounters S22 S12

Cody & I drove to Kingslayer Comics for some Wednesday night D&D Encounters. I am DM'ing and Cody is playing Talon the Gnome Illusionist. Talon is from a Zendkar game that I am running and Cody uses that in his RP during the Encounters game which makes him sound hillarious has the rest of the party battles werewolves and he is off in the woods fighting Eldarazi--it is seriously gold!

Melissa & Jack were not there because it was the premier of Warcraft at the Spectrum--Jack took Alexander and they had a total blast! 

The guacamole  she sent was off the chart! I may start a guacamole recipe thread on pinterest or something it was so good!

The table is very cluttered with snacks, dice, camera's, mini's, etc

I ran without a screen last night which I think did save a ton of space.

And gave Cody more room to draw plans and climb over the board.

Our miniature collection is starting to straighten out.

I spent the first part of the night on character review and plot points--I am confused by the PC's and they are confused on their mission. I am not sure if the review helped at all or just served to further confuse them.

At the end of the day, the decided to return to the Hags at the Bonegrinder & kill them to take the orb which they think will help the Wizards of the Wine restore the vineyard to health. They always say that I told them to do this & I never ever do.

We did not have much rolling, but we did have some critical hits

Cody received this horrible fumble!

But quickly overcame it with this show of strength!

Why Dungeons & Dragons is Good for You (In Real Life) | Ethan Gilsdorf | TEDxPiscataquaRiver

This is a very interesting talk.

There is nothing new here. The speaker is not that charismatic. The points that are made are not that strong. The frothy emotional appeal is not that endearing.

The reason I enjoy this is because it clearly demonstrates the challanges of the current hipster talk over of the RPG community. Ethan does not speak hipster--he is completely incapable of capturing why D&D is currently gaining popularity. 

By focusing on historically important D&D Fandom Tropes he may actually be marganalizgin the current batch of fans, which I find very interesting & relate to a lot. 

D&D has changed, but the majority of our commentators either have not noticed or assumed that the changes of popularity are based on more people suddenly realize that the grognards were correct. Which is not true. In fact, is likely the opposite of true.