Dungeons and Dragons

[Slartibartfast]

Are you doing in person or do you do remote? I'm working on trying to do in person plus remote in my niece using roll20.

We do it in person, but we are all vaccinated and tend to be introverted.

 

[gdgyva]

Yes it was. If I recall correctly there were three "pamphlet" types with hand drawn cover art.

In fact I just found a picture of them:

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I forgot about the "reference" sheets.

For those of you like me who started at the beginning, D&D arose from Chain Mail....

The game morphed very quickly as the rules began to be assembled through all the books

Certain things worked well, and certain things didnt work at all....and the community actually helped determine what would be in the final edited versions

I remember the first gaming convention that i attended...Pacific Origins in San Mateo (san jose Ca) 1981....it was the epic....some of the guys who helped Gygax build and write the game DM'ed....learned more about the game that four days than i had the previous three years

I cant remember what books were even out then....maybe the DM guide , monster manual, and players handbook

Some great times and great memories.....thanks!

 

[cpwill]

I have a niece that wants to get in on it with us and I found a website called roll20 that does it all virtually and it's free. I started messing around with it. It includes dungeon building tools and a video chat, so you can see all the other players' faces.

I've also been dinking around in some Facebook groups and there are people who group up for virtual games, so you could probably get back into it, since you don't have to be in person now.

I've used roll20 with my brother and his kids to play with my kids. Introducing our boys to it has been fun - the girls mostly seem to want to draw their elvish princess characters in various dresses...

 

[Captain Adverse]

So I've just started getting into Dungeons and Dragons recently. I only played a little when I was younger because that was the era of "your kids are going to get demon possessed" or w/e that made parents freak out about it in the 80s. I'm working on a campaign for my daughters, and it's a lot of work but I'm enjoying it so far.

I have a lot of rules to learn, dungeons to build, and some boards to make to get it all going. I have a rough storyline in my head. I'm kinda into painting the miniatures as well. Something about having little game pieces just does it for me and painting them is a bit frustrating as I'm just starting out there too, but very satisfying.

Here are some pictures from what I've done so far, the monk is my player character lined up next to an imp, a quasit, and an ogre. The unpainted one is a pit fiend and will be the final boss of the campaign. I initially bought the pit fiend because he looked like he would be a cool end boss but after research I've discovered that this campaign will have to be pretty long as his challenge rating is 20 (meaning to be on good footing it takes a group of 4 level 20 characters to take him down)...

You know what's cool about this thread?

I just realized some of the members I can't seem to communicate with also share this positive experience.

It's a small thing, but it makes me remember that people don't have to agree with each other all of the time. That disagreement does not necessarily make someone "one dimensional," preventing any possibility of reaching an understanding on some things, even if not everything.

That there are things we can see eye to eye on, and that's always a good start.

 

[Fishking]

You know what's cool about this thread?

I just realized some of the members I can't seem to communicate with also share this positive experience.

It's a small thing, but it makes me remember that people don't have to agree with each other all of the time. That disagreement does not necessarily make someone "one dimensional," preventing any possibility of reaching an understanding on some things, even if not everything.

That there are things we can see eye to eye on, and that's always a good start.

I suspect that most of us, no matter political affiliation, agree on things in life more than disagree by a decent margin. I think D&D just highlights that as it's one of those things that has fostered a culture of inclusion of all kinds of people, so it highlights that better.

For example, I've come to dislike the political part of Stephen Colbert but just look at his face doing a short with Matt Mercer. You can't dislike him.

 

[Peter]

Yep, D&D really can transcend politics.
It's just about fun and being with people.
I'd gladly watch anyone play the game if they put everything else aside and just dive in.

 

[Peter]

You know what's cool about this thread?

I just realized some of the members I can't seem to communicate with also share this positive experience.

It's a small thing, but it makes me remember that people don't have to agree with each other all of the time. That disagreement does not necessarily make someone "one dimensional," preventing any possibility of reaching an understanding on some things, even if not everything.

That there are things we can see eye to eye on, and that's always a good start.

This is sometimes missing here.
Just because I may not agree with you on some political issues doesn't mean I have to hate you.

A famous example was during the signing of the Good Friday Agreement 2 political adversaries became friends even though they disagreed on a whole lot.

 

[Taylor]

What!?? No Demogorgon??

 

[Felis Leo]

What!?? No Demogorgon??

Jesus Christ, man, let's us not go nuts.

 

[Fishking]

I'm close to the point where I'm comfortable with the rules for running the campaign so I'm now creating makeshift stuff to use for now. I created a board using Microsoft Xcel (made sure to get them 1" square) and mounted a 4 sheets on a piece of cardboard and cut out some background pieces. Also painted two of my daughter's characters.

 

[Evilroddy]

I've used roll20 with my brother and his kids to play with my kids. Introducing our boys to it has been fun - the girls mostly seem to want to draw their elvish princess characters in various dresses...

Wow!

This is a dimension of cpwill which I never imagined! I'm impressed! Imagining you running "My Little Dungeon" for elven princesses has put a big smile on my face! Good on you, sir, for sparking the imaginations of your family's kids and nephews/nieces.

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy.

 

[Evilroddy]

So I've just started getting into Dungeons and Dragons recently. I only played a little when I was younger because that was the era of "your kids are going to get demon possessed" or w/e that made parents freak out about it in the 80s. I'm working on a campaign for my daughters, and it's a lot of work but I'm enjoying it so far.

I have a lot of rules to learn, dungeons to build, and some boards to make to get it all going. I have a rough storyline in my head. I'm kinda into painting the miniatures as well. Something about having little game pieces just does it for me and painting them is a bit frustrating as I'm just starting out there too, but very satisfying.

Here are some pictures from what I've done so far, the monk is my player character lined up next to an imp, a quasit, and an ogre. The unpainted one is a pit fiend and will be the final boss of the campaign. I initially bought the pit fiend because he looked like he would be a cool end boss but after research I've discovered that this campaign will have to be pretty long as his challenge rating is 20 (meaning to be on good footing it takes a group of 4 level 20 characters to take him down).
View attachment 67349040
View attachment 67349042
View attachment 67349043

Fishking:

Good painting so far. The monk is very nice indeed. The ogre is well done. The imp and quasit are a bit hard to see in the photos but look good nonetheless. Well done.

Three points for consideration.

One - basing: any miniature can look a lot better if the base is decorated nicely. For outdoor bases I use either very fine bird-grit or very fine aquarium sand. This is glued over the base with diluted white glue, allowed to dry, then a second application put on and finally painted with diluted acrylic paints in various shades of earth tones. When the paint dries, then a dilute wash of a darker earth tone is applied to give the ground shadows, depth and texture. Then a light dry-brush of a lighter earth tone to make the lighted surfaces stand out. Finally decoration with some flocking, static grass, some tufts or clump foliage, some kitty litter for larger rocks and perhaps a piece of crushed gravel if there is room on the stand. Then a couple of coats of acrylic water-based varnish brushed on and a couple of coats of Dull-coat sprayed over the whole miniature and base in order to protect your mini for years to come!

Two - Washes and Dry-brushing: These two painting techniques can give depth and definition to a painted miniature. They cut down on eye-jarring contrasts of colours and can make colour transitions seem more gradual. Rather than me describing these techniques, I would recommend you have a look at some YouTube videos on washing and dry-brushing.

Three - Varnishing and Dull-coating miniatures. This protects your minis and your paint job which you worked so hard at applying. Two coats of varnish and two coats of dull-coat is a good level of protection. Apply one spray-on dull-coat layer first, then two layers of brush-on, water-based acrylic varnish and then a final layer of spray-on dull-coat for best results. Use acrylic, water based varnishes for ease of application and clean-up.

Keep up the great work and enjoy the many adventures ahead of you and your fellow players.

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy.

 

[gdgyva]

I'm close to the point where I'm comfortable with the rules for running the campaign so I'm now creating makeshift stuff to use for now. I created a board using Microsoft Xcel (made sure to get them 1" square) and mounted a 4 sheets on a piece of cardboard and cut out some background pieces. Also painted two of my daughter's characters.

View attachment 67349648
View attachment 67349649

you can go this route of course....but using words to describe a scene was the way we went....

"you enter a smoke filled cavern....feels very warm, and your sight is hindered by the all the gas and smoke coming out crevaces throughout what little you can see. It is rough, approx 25 feet high at the entrance and approx 35 feet across. You can see maybe 30 feet ahead.....what actions do you take?"

 

[Fishking]

you can go this route of course....but using words to describe a scene was the way we went....

"you enter a smoke filled cavern....feels very warm, and your sight is hindered by the all the gas and smoke coming out crevaces throughout what little you can see. It is rough, approx 25 feet high at the entrance and approx 35 feet across. You can see maybe 30 feet ahead.....what actions do you take?"

I'll try and do that as well. My youngest that's playing is 11, so I'm trying to get something more concrete for them to reference as well. It will also help me as a DM until I get a little better at rules and verbal world building.

 

[Fishking]

Fishking:

Good painting so far. The monk is very nice indeed. The ogre is well done. The imp and quasit are a bit hard to see in the photos but look good nonetheless. Well done.

Three points for consideration.

One - basing: any miniature can look a lot better if the base is decorated nicely. For outdoor bases I use either very fine bird-grit or very fine aquarium sand. This is glued over the base with diluted white glue, allowed to dry, then a second application put on and finally painted with diluted acrylic paints in various shades of earth tones. When the paint dries, then a dilute wash of a darker earth tone is applied to give the ground shadows, depth and texture. Then a light dry-brush of a lighter earth tone to make the lighted surfaces stand out. Finally decoration with some flocking, static grass, some tufts or clump foliage, some kitty litter for larger rocks and perhaps a piece of crushed gravel if there is room on the stand. Then a couple of coats of acrylic water-based varnish brushed on and a couple of coats of Dull-coat sprayed over the whole miniature and base in order to protect your mini for years to come!

Two - Washes and Dry-brushing: These two painting techniques can give depth and definition to a painted miniature. They cut down on eye-jarring contrasts of colours and can make colour transitions seem more gradual. Rather than me describing these techniques, I would recommend you have a look at some YouTube videos on washing and dry-brushing.

Three - Varnishing and Dull-coating miniatures. This protects your minis and your paint job which you worked so hard at applying. Two coats of varnish and two coats of dull-coat is a good level of protection. Apply one spray-on dull-coat layer first, then two layers of brush-on, water-based acrylic varnish and then a final layer of spray-on dull-coat for best results. Use acrylic, water based varnishes for ease of application and clean-up.

Keep up the great work and enjoy the many adventures ahead of you and your fellow players.

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy.

Thanks for the tips. I'll have to check out more videos. I've only watched a few so far. So many things I have to learn about and I'm not sure all of this isn't mostly an excuse to paint minis in the first place. I'm going to have to get a display shelf or something eventually, some shelves for my minis and some for my architecture Legos.

 

[Peter]

you can go this route of course....but using words to describe a scene was the way we went....

"you enter a smoke filled cavern....feels very warm, and your sight is hindered by the all the gas and smoke coming out crevaces throughout what little you can see. It is rough, approx 25 feet high at the entrance and approx 35 feet across. You can see maybe 30 feet ahead.....what actions do you take?"

Theatre of the mind is much better than anything you can make or build for settings.
It's much easier to describe an epic scene that you want to portray or just a spooky hallway with shadows and hidden traps.
Even Critical Role where they all have decent money to buy all that stuff if they wanted had ages with just basic paper maps and basic mini's and it still managed to be fantastic fun to watch.

D&D can be run just as well on a shoestring budget as it can with a moneybags buy everything style. It's about the people, not the stuff.
It's the same way soccer is just as fun with a crappy cheap ball and jumpers for goalposts than it is with all the best kit.

 

[Peter]

I'll try and do that as well. My youngest that's playing is 11, so I'm trying to get something more concrete for them to reference as well. It will also help me as a DM until I get a little better at rules and verbal world building.

The good thing about the game is that it can be made to fit all ages.
I've never played in games where any adult situations are part of them and the violence can always be toned down if you think that's a bit much. I have a feeling I'd be much happier in a family-friendly game than anything hardcore but maybe that's just me.

 

[Fishking]

The good thing about the game is that it can be made to fit all ages.
I've never played in games where any adult situations are part of them and the violence can always be toned down if you think that's a bit much. I have a feeling I'd be much happier in a family-friendly game than anything hardcore but maybe that's just me.

Rofl...the violence I still try to keep ramped up. I described an arrow going into an eye socket and coming out the back of the skull with the eyeball hanging off the tip and a hammer smash on top of a goblin head that crushed the skull into it's neck while shooting brain matter out each side, lololol.

I think the table stuff is just more of some visual ques to help them, and myself as a DM, generally frame things so I don't lose track of what's going on. I did buy a book of graph paper to build things on as well, that I'll hopefully be able to use more as we all get more comfortable.

 

[gdgyva]

I played with a number of kids (ages 12-16) for a few years....

these were kids that would come to the rec center on base and their parents would drop off on a saturday morning, and we would run all day until around dinner

i found in running the younger players, i had to keep them involved more....get them talking more....whereas with my older group, i wanted them talking less as they were all always trying to talk at one time

So i would set the scene as above....and then let them decide how they would proceed....making them think, solve puzzles, and figure out how to get through difficult situations that couldnt be solved with a mace or a sword

Some of the best ingenuity and thinking came out of the younger group....trying things the "older and more experienced" players would never try in a million years.....kept me on my toes

Never forget a 13 year old completely trashing 2 weeks work of mine with an enlarge spell.....caved in the entire complex.....screwed me completely up

what is the old saying.....out of the mouths of babes.....

 

[Evilroddy]

@Fishking

Any new minis painted up since the four you posted earlier?

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy.

 

[Nomad4Ever]

Here are some pictures from what I've done so far, the monk is my player character lined up next to an imp, a quasit, and an ogre. The unpainted one is a pit fiend and will be the final boss of the campaign.

Those are amazing! I've been wanting to get into painting miniatures for a while. Those look beautiful.

I've also been dinking around in some Facebook groups and there are people who group up for virtual games, so you could probably get back into it, since you don't have to be in person now.

I just starting messing with using Table Top Simulator and VR to playing DnD virtually. So that is another cool option.

 

[Fishking]

Those are amazing! I've been wanting to get into painting miniatures for a while. Those look beautiful.

I just starting messing with using Table Top Simulator and VR to playing DnD virtually. So that is another cool option.

Check out roll20.com

 

[Fishking]

Not sure how well the picture will turn out, but this is what my kids' group will be walking into at the end of their supply delivery to a mining camp in the desert. The camp will be under attack and however many guards they can save will go with them to the hive they will have to clear afterwards. All of this is homemade stuff printed off, cut out, and using my wife's laminator on all the tokens and background piece.

 

[Fishking]

I plan on running the first mini-arc of the campaign tomorrow sometime. I'll post some pictures of the kiddos at it. The actual tough part is that I still have to build the hive and all, but I actually don't want to railroad them, as I want to give a better illusion of choice, so they actually could choose an entire different job that ends up going against humanoids and all of this stuff won't actually be used.

I'll see if I can turn it into something that can be used as a one-shot or two-shot campaign to throw in later so it's not wasted work.

 

[Fishking]

I want to also add that I think DMing is going to be my preference. I like playing but I think I like creating and storytelling more. I'm going to be using this experience with my kids to get a handle on things and also work on using online resources, like roll20, to eventually DM online with other adults.

I was thinking, once I get to a better spot, I could open up a D&D campaign with some (probably 4 slots) DPers here. It doesn't matter if we fight about politics here, that will be 100% gone and it will be all about playing. No judgement on how deep people want to RP it out (I plan on working on voicing NPCs and such myself) or anything. If you're not super comfortable with RPing (I'm not), but you want to try, it can be a place to practice. I'll say something if it does get to that point, and we'll see if we can get something going.