Gencon countdown, win free D&D stuff!

Gencon countdown, win free D&D stuff!

Nerdy never looked so cuteWell there’s four days till GenCon and I don’t think I’ve been this excited about anything since I was a kid. Don’t worry I’m not here to list my itinerary as if I’m someone noteworthy but I am saying that I hope to see you there! I’m looking forward to hopefully meeting some of you awesome folks face to face, and maybe play a game or two.

This is going to be not only my first GenCon but also my first convention ever, so I’m pretty pumped and a little frightened all at once. On top of it being my first of many, I get to pimp Obsidian Portal by wearing their awesome shirt (my lovely wife modeling it seen here) and hand out stickers/flyers to unsuspecting folks who are unaware how simple and fun their campaign note-keeping and organizing can truly be! The fliers might even have a little incentive printed on the backs of them for those who want to check Obsidian Portal out further. But you’ll have to find me or one of my other fellow emissaries at the con if you wanna’ get you hands on them, I’m not giving away any more details here.

Wife and Son in tow we’re making this a bit of a family vacation at the same time, probably take a small break from the con to pay a visit to the childrens museum too. I really want to instill the values of gaming in my son at a young age so what better place to take him than one of the biggest gaming conventions ever! My wife is super excited as well, sometimes I think perhaps maybe even a little bit more than myself.

Humor amidst the tension

Humor amidst the tension

Personally I didn’t know what to think of these new D&D rule announcements earlier today, and in regards to the essentials products I’ll just have to wait and see if they’re for me I suppose. I’m always for improving, balancing and making games more fun for everyone and after spending almost the entire day looking into these things, and reading angry posts on ENworld to enlightened twitter posts I think I fall into the “I’m totally stoked about this” crowd. I also happen to belong to the “Magic Missle changes are rad” (also – Dispel Magic) crowd – just to put that out there.

I still think it would be nice to see a digital version of some of the sourcebooks be made available to DDI subscribers but that’s a whole other post. (Yes I know the compendium prettymuch does it, but as always- I want more)

Anyway in an efforts to move away from the heavy hearted version debate going on I’d like to share something I made for fun over the weekend.

Dire elephant at the game table

Dire elephant at the game table

Once a week we invite everyone over into our home to play D&D. Everyone just walks right on in, takes their shoes off and we sit down together for a good friendly game – hell my players don’t even knock. My gaming group has remained the same for some time now; my wife, my best friend, his fiance, his dad and his fiance’s dad whom both have been playing since their teenage years. More often than not on game night we provide food and beverages for everyone, and most of the time someone brings beer or something else to drink or eat, it’s communal and no one keeps tabs or anything and there’s never been a problem.

Everyone really gets along swimmingly and the party plays well together – they always manage to find a less than obvious way around things and I’m never prepared however good times always ensue. I prepare our campaign with heart and soul each week, I have no co-dm and I painstakingly set up our game to be as fun as efficient as possible, and I’m always looking for ways to bring the experience to a new level. I attempt to cater to my players needs and wants to achieve maximum fun for all.

I wish all of the above said was true, which actually it is mostly with the exception of one of those players. They are downright rude there’s no other way to put it, at first their demeanor was a minor snag in the flow of our game sessions. I can put up with a few comments here and there or shrug off the inappropriate mentions of my wifes breasts.

Teaching my 3 year old D&D

Teaching my 3 year old D&D

Ive "played D&D" with my son on many occasions - we sit down with minis, dice and some dungeon tiles. He rolls his very own set of dice with no purpose other than the noise they make and then I tell him awesome things happen. He uses his imagination, and the bad guys lose so everyone wins. However this weeks many twitter posts regarding the Heroes of Hesiod kids module got me motivated.