Do you recall that blog post some time back when I mentioned finding a place to play Dungeons and Dragons? I realized I never said what happened. Here it is.
So I found this café that has a weekly D&D night. The full place fills up with players in their own campaigns. I started at what is basically "beginner hour", the hour before this happens. The Dungeon Masters were already there and hanging out, waiting for new players like me to drop by. One of them helped me create my creature.
I couldn't decide between a dwarf paladin or a gnome ranger so I asked the dice. It decided on the former. So I made a dwarf paladin, and specifically a Hill Dwarf paladin because it had better specs than the mountain one in regards to paladins. Then we got further into backstory and starting equipment. I decided on a War hammer as primary and a mace as a back up (I would come to regret not choosing the throwing spears). Then I choose metal working and leather working to be skills, because I wanted this dwarf to be able to maintain his equipment or make upgrades. This might have influenced my decision to chose Guild Artisan as his profession, which enabled me to choose a bonus language and some other stuff.
The DM I worked with talked up the fifth edition as one where the character's backstory contributed to game mechanics instead of just being fluff. He didn't ignore it entirely (referring to the skills as "what did dad do?" to justify my character having them) but I still noticed a distinction. For instance, there is the Character Traits and Flaws section which he seemed far less interested in than other aspects of character creation (specifically, I think he referred to them as being optional) but he was still helpful there. On a humorous note, we came to a part that he said was "the hardest part of all" and something that "the guide couldn't help me with", naming the character. I smiled because I already decided on Kagen Holystone.
It turned out to be a VERY full night. For a while, I was afraid I wouldn't get to play at all. See, there is a sign-up page on the cafe's website and they had little room for walk-ins like me. Ultimately, the DM that helped me with character creation got a table and pulled together four other players. One was a new player like me, a third was more experienced as was the fourth, and I think the fifth might have been another DM.
We played what I think was a pre-built scenario. It involved goblins raiding a country farm. The DM set the stage and I was ready for roleplaying but there wasn't much there. I had to ask for clarification that all our characters had already met and were traveling together. He skipped over that so I only got one person's character name, and none of the player's names. I remember them by their classes: another paladin, two rangers, and a bard.
On the other hand, there was still a fun moment where the party stopped by the farm in question and heal those who were injured. My character, Kagen, and a ranger did medicine rolls on two of the family members and I used Lay On Hands to make sure the second would survive.
Then we went into the forest. At the entrance, the other paladin did this "come out evil spirits!" challenge from his horse, which was cool. Then we ventured inside. One of the rangers had a favored territory of "forest" which meant he couldn't get lost. The DM was really mad/frustrated about this because it was an obstacle that was auto-removed, and thus unavailable.
At the first encounter I showed my noob-ness. We found goblins on the other side of a river. I ran across the bridge shouting "DIE GOBLINS!" It took all of my movement to get to them so I couldn't attack that turn. The others kept their distance with ranged attacks, and even the other new player made good use of Faerie Light to aid the others. I, on the other hand, got knocked out on a critical hit. Fortunately, our bard healed me before I died. The battle ended in our favor and we continued.
The next encounter was at an old campsite. We were attacked by plant creatures over night. I double-teamed with the DM ranger to hack one of them up ("You've got firewood" as the DM said). We rested the night and arrived at the final location in the morning.
It was more goblins and a hobgoblins. This was the climax and it was fun. There was an added element of danger in the poison the hobgoblin was cooking up because he would throw it at us. The DM ranger got poisoned immediately but I/Kagen used Lay On Hands to cure him just as quickly. The other paladin moved to attack, the bard used music magic to make some of the goblins flee and the ranger used more Faerie Light.
Learning from my previous mistake, I advanced cautiously. I moved only half the distance instead of all of it and ended my turn in a defense posture (the technical word is "dodge). This granted me Advantage against all attacks until my next turn. Caution rewarded me by seeing me through unscathed.
Oh yeah, I forget to mention that these goblins exploded when killed. Part of this scenario was the hobgoblin experimenting on the other goblins with the poison and it made them explode, which required a dexterity saving throw to avoid damage. I don't recall any of us dying from it; even Kagen made a saving throw. I was surprised because he is a dwarf, in mail, with dexterity as a dump stat.
The Café was closing soon so the DM had to cut the game short. By this time we had killed or routed all of the goblins (I killed the one that was hasted) and we were still in good shape so defeating the hobgoblin was likely. He skipped forward to the reward phase.
There were potions of healing and a magic item that granted a bonus on saving throws. We rolled for that and I think the other new player got it. I was given a potion of healing because I used one recovering from my initial stupidity. Kagen also levelled up, which means he can use 1st level spells in his next campaign.
I left the café at 10:00 PM or so. Because of "beginner hour", I was there all afternoon and evening. I wasn't expecting to be as noisy as it was. I had trouble hearing what the DM was saying at times. Regardless, I had fun.
Brian Wilkerson is a freelance book reviewer, writing advice blogger and independent novelist. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
So I found this café that has a weekly D&D night. The full place fills up with players in their own campaigns. I started at what is basically "beginner hour", the hour before this happens. The Dungeon Masters were already there and hanging out, waiting for new players like me to drop by. One of them helped me create my creature.
I couldn't decide between a dwarf paladin or a gnome ranger so I asked the dice. It decided on the former. So I made a dwarf paladin, and specifically a Hill Dwarf paladin because it had better specs than the mountain one in regards to paladins. Then we got further into backstory and starting equipment. I decided on a War hammer as primary and a mace as a back up (I would come to regret not choosing the throwing spears). Then I choose metal working and leather working to be skills, because I wanted this dwarf to be able to maintain his equipment or make upgrades. This might have influenced my decision to chose Guild Artisan as his profession, which enabled me to choose a bonus language and some other stuff.
The DM I worked with talked up the fifth edition as one where the character's backstory contributed to game mechanics instead of just being fluff. He didn't ignore it entirely (referring to the skills as "what did dad do?" to justify my character having them) but I still noticed a distinction. For instance, there is the Character Traits and Flaws section which he seemed far less interested in than other aspects of character creation (specifically, I think he referred to them as being optional) but he was still helpful there. On a humorous note, we came to a part that he said was "the hardest part of all" and something that "the guide couldn't help me with", naming the character. I smiled because I already decided on Kagen Holystone.
It turned out to be a VERY full night. For a while, I was afraid I wouldn't get to play at all. See, there is a sign-up page on the cafe's website and they had little room for walk-ins like me. Ultimately, the DM that helped me with character creation got a table and pulled together four other players. One was a new player like me, a third was more experienced as was the fourth, and I think the fifth might have been another DM.
We played what I think was a pre-built scenario. It involved goblins raiding a country farm. The DM set the stage and I was ready for roleplaying but there wasn't much there. I had to ask for clarification that all our characters had already met and were traveling together. He skipped over that so I only got one person's character name, and none of the player's names. I remember them by their classes: another paladin, two rangers, and a bard.
On the other hand, there was still a fun moment where the party stopped by the farm in question and heal those who were injured. My character, Kagen, and a ranger did medicine rolls on two of the family members and I used Lay On Hands to make sure the second would survive.
Then we went into the forest. At the entrance, the other paladin did this "come out evil spirits!" challenge from his horse, which was cool. Then we ventured inside. One of the rangers had a favored territory of "forest" which meant he couldn't get lost. The DM was really mad/frustrated about this because it was an obstacle that was auto-removed, and thus unavailable.
At the first encounter I showed my noob-ness. We found goblins on the other side of a river. I ran across the bridge shouting "DIE GOBLINS!" It took all of my movement to get to them so I couldn't attack that turn. The others kept their distance with ranged attacks, and even the other new player made good use of Faerie Light to aid the others. I, on the other hand, got knocked out on a critical hit. Fortunately, our bard healed me before I died. The battle ended in our favor and we continued.
The next encounter was at an old campsite. We were attacked by plant creatures over night. I double-teamed with the DM ranger to hack one of them up ("You've got firewood" as the DM said). We rested the night and arrived at the final location in the morning.
It was more goblins and a hobgoblins. This was the climax and it was fun. There was an added element of danger in the poison the hobgoblin was cooking up because he would throw it at us. The DM ranger got poisoned immediately but I/Kagen used Lay On Hands to cure him just as quickly. The other paladin moved to attack, the bard used music magic to make some of the goblins flee and the ranger used more Faerie Light.
Learning from my previous mistake, I advanced cautiously. I moved only half the distance instead of all of it and ended my turn in a defense posture (the technical word is "dodge). This granted me Advantage against all attacks until my next turn. Caution rewarded me by seeing me through unscathed.
Oh yeah, I forget to mention that these goblins exploded when killed. Part of this scenario was the hobgoblin experimenting on the other goblins with the poison and it made them explode, which required a dexterity saving throw to avoid damage. I don't recall any of us dying from it; even Kagen made a saving throw. I was surprised because he is a dwarf, in mail, with dexterity as a dump stat.
The Café was closing soon so the DM had to cut the game short. By this time we had killed or routed all of the goblins (I killed the one that was hasted) and we were still in good shape so defeating the hobgoblin was likely. He skipped forward to the reward phase.
There were potions of healing and a magic item that granted a bonus on saving throws. We rolled for that and I think the other new player got it. I was given a potion of healing because I used one recovering from my initial stupidity. Kagen also levelled up, which means he can use 1st level spells in his next campaign.
I left the café at 10:00 PM or so. Because of "beginner hour", I was there all afternoon and evening. I wasn't expecting to be as noisy as it was. I had trouble hearing what the DM was saying at times. Regardless, I had fun.
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