Enthusiastic Amateur

I don’t know how some people do it. Our last session of Dungeons & Dragons ran for 13 gruelling hours. Well, I say gruelling. I actually mean quite pleasant given that I spent it with my partner, my two best friends and our Maine Coon; Eisen. This was an experiment, a chance to test out a long held theory of mine and an opportunity to make some progress on Princes of the Apocalypse. So what did we do and what did we learn? Breakfast Theory I am most productive earlier in the day. Not first thing, it usually takes me about an hour or so to reach running speed on the day, maybe a little longer if I don’t shower, but once I’m there I will keep firing on all cylinders until mid-afternoon. When I get up early I feel good, I feel energised and I can get stuff done. The day feels longer and often I feel like I get more done in it, even if that’s not always true. I wondered if it was just me, or if everyone was like that? My partner, for example, is by her own admissi...

[Disclaimer: There are no spoilers for Pandemic Legacy in this little love letter to the game.] We don’t go to Lima anymore. In a single month the city tore itself apart in a furious panic. Panic turned to riots, riots full of people, people just waiting to become infected. As September came to a close the riots exploded, the Peruvian government fell and the city went with it. In a makeshift hospital in Karachi I injected patient after patient and watch helplessly until the stations went dark and the call came through: We don’t go to Lima anymore. Pandemic Legacy is a game about consequence. Regular Pandemic will have you raging across the world, racing the clock and virulent strains to prevent outbreaks and cure four contagions of varying colours before they get beyond the point of control. You grab your character and rush around the world building matching sets of cards and curing disease wherever you can until you draw the wrong cards in the wrong order and ever...

Our last session of Princes of the Apocalypse was in November, and we hadn’t done much more than the adventure intro, so we returned to the Dessarin Valley after the events of Red Larch, in which our bold heroes had found a cult with an unusual symbol… [This promises to be a long one, we got a lot done. This post contains spoilers for Princes of the Apocalypse.] Our party consists of: David Maltman as Reed Tosscobble, Halfling Rogues Swashbuckler David Longbottom as Ulfang Strackhelm, Dwarf Cleric of Helm Amanda Hewitt as Eva Dawnfell, Human Monk Necromancer Dak’kon of the unbroken circle of Zerthimon a Githzerai and NPC Companion. This session was a trial at starting our sessions earlier in the morning. We convened at about 9am and shared a hearty breakfast of pancakes with crispy bacon and slathered in maple syrup. If you’ve never run a roleplaying session in the morning I heartily recommend it. This might be a point considering for your own group but there...

The Carnival of Lights moved down the main street of Abylona, wending its way from the Shambles all the way down to the Catedral Enfant. A sea of torches like stars flowing downstream accompanied the jesters and jugglers and fools. In amongst them with concentrated faces were the Illusionists who, in time with the music and to much cheering from the crowd, raised wand and stave and grimoire and forth from them sprang etched figures of dancing light. Dogs and cats and men, knights and princesses in tall towers and beasts most fanciful. Those who had ranged further on their tall schooners called out at the sight of baleful red Tigron from the jungles, of Naga and monsters even they could not name, that danced wickedly before more noble lights cut them down to much applause and raised voice. A smile crept across the face of the Smoke Mage, sat high on the basilica of the Catedral Enfant. He set down his eye glass on the cloth spread beside him and brought the lantern close. With ...