Team Mayhem Secret Dragon What?!

Team Mayhem has been at it again! And guys, I have to tell you something super cool – Dis turned out to be something even cooler than part of the Keebler Coalition. She’s a dragon!

Yes! A dragon! A baby gold dragon!!! SQUEE!!!

It was a plot twist that our incredible DM threw at my character. It has been an absolute roller coaster from the hatching process with a dragon killer sword to squaring off against an ancient gold female dragon. This whole thing has completely thrown me as a player into a very uncomfortable situation and thereby strengthening my roleplaying and improv skills.

So. Epic!

Dis is starting to make an effort to trust her companions and honestly, I am proud of her for that, even will all this new dragon stuff happening.

Now, let’s see if I can keep her alive long enough to really mess some enemy NPC’s up!

So excited to be the dragon!

Kira

Team Mayhem: Meta Gaming

I want to take a moment and talk about something fairly serious in the gaming community. It’s something that tends to kill the creativity and free thought in any role playing game. That is something called Meta Gaming. It’s when another person/character who is not in scene with you tells you “Oh! You should totally do this instead of what you are doing now!” Or variants of that.

In a nutshell, Meta Gaming is just not cool.

Now, I have been guilty of Meta Gaming myself. I’ve for sure opened my mouth when it was not my turn and I have influenced other characters to do things they might not have done otherwise.

Conversely, I have also been Meta Gamed. I am easily susceptible to it because I have a hard time thinking on my feet when it comes to my character (more on this topic later).

And I get it. Sometimes it’s super fun and in the spirit of “teamwork” it’s tempting to make suggestions for gameplay. But I am telling you it is better to keep your mouth shut.

The first step of stopping Meta Gaming is to know it’s happening. Be aware of those who aren’t in your character’s area who are giving unsolicited advice. Remind the person doing such things that it is your turn and it’s not cool to Meta Game. That usually is the end of it. However, if they do persist, take it to the DM. Odds are they are fully aware and have a contingency/ punishment plan for when it happens next.

But most of all, don’t let it ruin your game time. Lean into the creativity and bolster your free thought in game play. The main objective for D&D is to have fun. Part of that is not ruining it for others.

Striving to be a respectable gamer,

Kira

Team Mayhem: I Think Our DM is Trying to Kill Us

Team Mayhem has been at it again. Though despite the profusion of snack offerings and dice sacrifices, I fear something horrible is happening.

I think our DM is trying to kill us.

The signs are subtle, but definitely there. In the last couple of games, there have been quite a few “encounters” (read- battles) that have been devastating. I mean, we’ve been outnumbered and out classed by the “bad guys” consistently. Our little group of homicidal maniacs have been ganged up on by hordes of goblins, baby dragons, swamp hags, unstable elementals, and our own burning distrust of any and every NPC (non-playable character) our DM throws at us (this little nugget deserves a separate blog post, so I will leave it at that).

Now, I understand that the point of the game is not to go through the adventure without risks or danger. I mean, D&D is not “chill at the tavern and get groovy things by walking down a street.” The name of the game is literally Dungeons and Dragons indicating a certain level of danger should be expected. But that being said, there’s something a bit... more about these encounters we’ve had.

Granted, our team isn’t the most innocent. We’ve probably provoked a good number of these fights and probably refused to commit to a fair amount more (again, another blog post discussion). I am not saying these dangerous situations and fights are undeserved, but it’s odd that in all of the battles one, if not all of us, have almost died.

Did I mention the Wendigo?

Did I also mention that we are level 3’s?

Yeah. She’s trying to kill us.

Pray for us, friends. We do not know what we have done to offend our great DM, but apparently snacks, mead, and dice offerings will not appease her. I am not sure what will...

Kira

Team Mayhem: The Right Snacks

One of the most important parts of D&D games are the snacks. Without the right nibbles, it can make sessions downright hostile. Additionally, it is said that if there’s not the appropriate offerings, DM’s will display their wrath upon the players by making things like ordering a pint from the tavern way more difficult than they need to be (like you’ll need to roll a DC 50 to order a pint from the tavern your troop has holed up in).

So what does Team Mayhem do for their snackage? We do full on dinner parties for our games.

We rotate whose home we are playing at and typically, the hosts will prepare a meal. Some of our past game day foods include lasagna, Indian tacos, pot stickers and eggrolls, venison roast, pizza, and chili. On top of those really delicious meals, the others will bring along desserts, chips, veggie trays, and alcohol (usually mead).

Is it over the top? Sure. Could we just all bring bags of chips and soda and call it a day? Eh. Not really. We tend to play for a really long time (seriously, 7-8 hour sessions is the average for our group) and most of us really like to cook. A homemade lasagna sounds better than take out any day for us.

Having a full on meal before we start playing also gives us a chance to catch up and re-establish our connections not only to each other, but our characters too. It makes for more engaging interactions, in my humble.

What does your group do for food on game day?

Kira

Team Mayhem- Adding New Players

While I haven’t necessarily been blogging about our continued D&D adventures, I assure you they are still happening. Team Mayhem has made it back to Water Deep and saw it being ravaged by the opposing forces (and a huge red dragon). To which the group said “F*&$ that!” and promptly went the opposite direction to Never Winter.

Along the way, we picked up a couple more players- our friends Jill and Ryan, fresh from their honeymoon. The Keebler Coalition now has a Dragon Born Paladin of Bahamut named Narexius Balthazar and a dwarf druid named Keelya (so sorry if I didn’t get these right...) with an affinity for hand carved trees.

While I was super happy about Jill and Ryan joining our group, I was also kinda nervous about integrating new players. I didn’t want to overwhelm our DM and I wasn’t sure how the game play would change with two more people. Turns out, I was worried about nothing. Having them in the game feels natural and, honestly, it’s like they’ve always been a part of the group.

We’ve successfully not killed them like the murder hobos we tend to be. My fingers are crossed that they stick around and adventure with us for a while because they both add much amusement and dynamic depth to our intrepid group. Who knows? Maybe with them along for the ride, our group will grow out of the murder hobo phase.

Team Mayhem! Marathon Gaming and Team Building

The last time we left our Keebler Coalition of Misfits, we were about to set off on our adventure to Oak Hurst. The next time we gathered, it was for an incredible 10 hours of game time. Now, I didn’t think anything of it. I know that a single session of D&D can take hours. However, I’ve since heard from a couple of friends who do separate games and, apparently, our group’s second time playing was tantamount to a long distance marathon. Go us!

As far as learning the actual game, I’ve discovered that it’s a process of understanding your character and their motivations and then not being afraid of improvising.

That being said, I am not a good at improv. True, I am a writer and I can get the character down, but the on the spot action throws me for a loop. It takes a while for me to get going when it’s time to take action. I find that there’s not a whole lot of time to think through a coherent strategy. This results in more than a few missteps. Like not following up on a blatant plot point from your DM or being extra dumb in your actions and almost getting killed twice. Yeah. That was me. I am still too embarrassed to talk about it.

Another crucial part of D&D is learning how to play as a team while in character. That means getting to know your fellow characters while you are in character. This is proving to be a rather interesting experience since most of the team doesn’t really talk to each other. Most team work at this early stage in the game is negligible. Our characters simply don’t trust each other too much yet. I am told that will come with time. For my character’s sake, I hope so. She’s too inquisitive to be stuck with a ton of non-friendly people. But then she is young, so maybe this is just shaping her up for the world in which she lives.

 I will say that all of these prolonged gaming sessions are very fun. I am really enjoying getting to know my characters as they grow and learn.

By the end of our 10 hour long escapade, we made it all the way to Oak Hurst and we met Marl. Here we will learn about the magic apple that seems to heal the dismembered and disfigured, and we will try to help find the other guards that have been lost out of this garrison.

In other words, LOTS of team building exercises for Team Mayhem!

Game On!

Kira