This final week of the hashtag seems to be focusing on players and the characters they are playing.

Which as a DM/GM only at the moment makes these soul searching questions very hard to answer.

“What situation are they currently in?”

I’m going to go back to the last time I played as a player and my halfling character Dram.

In the last session Dram appeared this is how he left.

“As dawn approached Dram was was sitting on a stump wrapped in his fur blanket, cuddling his glass staff, lost in thought.

“I bet Sarmyar is having a boring time without me.” With that thought lingering in his head Dram mumbled some words and disappeared.”

I like to think that Dram did catch up with Sarmyar and for a while they had travelled together and had an adventure or two. But now that he is out there getting himself into trouble and Misty stepping his way to safety.

Today has been a chill day catching up on sleep.

So I shouldn’t be falling asleep whilst writing the post. Yep that’s how boring these posts are they even send me to sleep!

Let’s see which theme will put me to sleep today…

“Who is your current character?”

I don’t actually have a current character!

Well I don’t I just DM at the moment.

The last character I played was Dram the halfling wizard. Who was last seen near Phandelver.

But if I was to play in a D&D campaign now, I’d probably want to play Tye Reedfellow Halfling Monk. However whatever I played it would be a halfling of some description.

I like halflings. Sorry. Not sorry.

“Setting Sunday: Share an intriguing detail from a game setting you enjoy.”

Our current campaign (when we can get together to play it, life is currently throwing obstacles in the way at the moment) is set in Mike Shea’s City of Arches.

The intriguing thing about this setting for me are the titular arches.

“Dozens of arches of all different shapes, sizes, and
ages can be found in, around, and under the city. Some have lain dormant for centuries while others still radiate magic.

None know how to control the arches. Occasionally, creatures from other lands or other worlds step through the archways from the other side. They enter the city often disoriented and often with little memory of where they came from.” City of Arches pdf by Mike Shea

I just love the story opportunities this opens up. From a rich, colourful population of the city that can be from anywhere in the D&D multiverse. To the adventurers visiting anywhere in the multiverse via one of those arches.

The different tones and themes that open up are limitless. Want to make use of the soon to be released Spelljammer? Not a problem there is an arch for that in the City of Arches just waiting to take the adventurers there.

It’s why Harengon will be turning up soon in our game, and maybe the odd Slaad or two.

Yes the arches in the City of Arches setting are definitely it’s most intriguing feature.

Bugger my day counts are all out. Yesterday wasn’t day 20. Don’t worry I’ve edited the posts title to be correct.

“How long do your games last?”

Our D&D sessions last around three hours.

There was a longer session very early on. I want to say it was nearly five hours.

But we found the sweet spot was three hours.

So that’s what it’s been ever since.

The has been a session or two that would have finished a little earlier than that. But that was because we reached a natural break point.

I’d like to have the life style to do longer sessions. But I think those days are long behind me.

See you tomorrow.

We are back, fully rested. But I can’t promise the same for tomorrow’s post. It’s another late, early shift pattern.

“Why has your favourite game stayed with you?”

I’ve already said in a previous post I don’t really have a favourite RPG. However if we went with my most played game instead (which by implication would be a game I enjoy playing). Then we will for this answer go with D&D.

I love fantasy. Whether it’s the rich depth of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Dragonlance, The Witcher, and so on.

So there is that hook into why D&D has stayed with me.

There is also a nostalgia reason.

D&D as I have said previously, was my first ever RPG that I purchased. So there is that whole emotional link there.

I also like how well the game is supported not only by WotC and third parties. There is such amazing third party products out there, from adventures, to DM tools such as the Lazy DM books.

On the whole the D&D community is great, and supportive. Which also makes a big difference when you need advice or help.

See you in tomorrows post.

I’m knackered.

A late shift, followed by an early shift will do that.

Todays post will be very tweet like. By that I mean short and to the point!

“Where is you favourite place to play?”

Regular visitors to this blog know we play our sessions in a public place.

I really do like our current hosts as we can be as public or private as we like.

Let’s rock todays question.

“Past, Present, or Future? When is your favourite game set?”

I really don’t have a favourite game, as I’ve not played everything I own to make that decision.

I play D&D mainly. There has been a session of Paranoia. But I’ve not got Twilight 2000, The One Ring, or any of the others to the table. Games I really want to play.

Now we know I am a fan of the cyberpunk genre. I have Cyberpunk Red and The Shadow of the Beanstalk sourcebook for Genesys, just waiting to get to the table one day.

But if there is one setting I’m a bigger fan of then that is Middle Earth. I’m a Tolkien fan. I love Lord of the Rings.

I think you would answer for this question it is more a mythical past than the past.

A mythical past that has heavy Middle Ages influences granted.

But still a mythical past.

“What would be your perfect game?”

For me the perfect game would be one where everyone is having fun.

One where each players character gets to do something cool.

It wouldn’t matter if there are rules mistakes as long as everyone is having fun.

Yesterday I had a chance to get Portal the Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game to the table. But you will have to wait to hear about that.

In the meantime it’s time to look at todays navel gazing question, “Who would you like to Gamemaster for you?”

An interesting but difficult question. A variation of the who would you have at a dinner party if you could chose anyone?

A lot would I’m sure say one of the two Matt’s (Mercer and Colville), or maybe Jim Murphy or Sly Flourish.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a large number going the big Hollywood celeb route with Joe Manganiello, Vin Diesel, or Jack Black.

If there weren’t some out there going the Wil Wheaton route with their answer I’d be shocked.

I suppose I could go with Deborah Ann Woll or Becca Scott as a tip to the RPG celeb route.

Although I’m pretty sure I’d have a fun time at their tables this isn’t my answer to the question.

I’d like my friend Cameron who first GM’d for me back in my days at Brighton Polytechnic.

We lost contact decades ago.

I hope he kept his interest in RPGs over the years, and life has been kind and generous to him.

But it’d be super cool to reconnect and start crafting stories together again. Especially if it was using The One Ring second edition so once more we were in Middle Earth, and Dram the hobbit would once more be wandering the hills and meadows of the Shire.