Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m still in the process of unpacking the diverse refuse of my life into my new apartment, and thereby admiring the mix of grids, maps, borrowed miniatures, plastic dinosaurs, and legos with which I’ve been furnishing my playing party’s D&D campaign. That in turn got me thinking back to how all this nonsense began, with a handful of sample quests and vague aspirations of some eventual regional conflict. I wouldn’t be able to sustain my writing output this long if I weren’t translating my every idle thought into Content, so I guess what I’m saying is to take a seat folks, as we once again delve into the triumphs and tribulations of my dubious dungeon mastering!
Tag Archives: Dungeons & Dragons
Misadventures in Dungeons & Dragons
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m trying something a little different from our usual fare, building off my recent articles on the continuing adventures of Vox Machina. A few readers have expressed interest in reflections on my own misadventures with tabletop gaming, and so that’s what I’d like to bring you today: an earnest, undoubtedly embarrassing look into my own attempt at collaborative storytelling, complete with both the original text I was working off and my own retrospective reflections on how it all went down. If that doesn’t sound like your jam, don’t worry, I’ll be back to our regularly scheduled reviews and essays next time. But if you are interested in tabletop storytelling, or at least eager to laugh at how bad I am at it, feel free to stick around!
The Legend of Vox Machina S2 – Episode 7
Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am eager to dive back into The Legend of Vox Machina, and follow up on the chilling conclusion of last episode. After over half a season of gradually nurturing the “Grog is wielding a cursed sword” narrative, all those bad dreams and grim portents were finally paid off, with Grog stabbing right through his best buddy Pike. And with a member of the Chroma Conclave literally breathing (acid) down their necks, Keyleth was forced to cast a hasty teleportation spell, leaving our heroes stranded across multiple realms.
All that made for some delightfully crunchy mechanical drama, and I’m eager to see how these smaller sub-parties illustrate their unique relational dynamics. Though splitting the party can be risky, Mercer’s players are clearly perfectly comfortable riffing off each other in smaller groups – and at this point, I’ve gained enough experience as a DM myself to appreciate just how much flexibility splitting the group provides, as well as its potential for letting individual players shine. Two sessions ago, my team conducted a heist that involved an interrogation on one floor, an infiltration on another, and a charismatic distraction on a third, and it was probably one of the best sessions we’ve ever had. As it turns out, structural ambition is only really limited by confidence – if you can keep the flow going and make sure everyone’s engaged, there’s no limit to what stories you can construct. I’m eager to steal more of Mercer’s excellent ideas, so let’s see what drama’s cooking in the Fey Realm!