BX OOC I

[VonAlric]

Buzar will take the rear and guard it.

[Lance]

Haelan will take second rear, unless he's needed in front of the squishy middle.

[roryb]

Oh dear.

[dmw71]

Oh dear.

Indeed.

Especially considering she only has two hit points.

[Rex]

Not looking good, failed the save.

[Rex]

Sir Ramic, Human Ranger is posted. We will see how long he will last. I will be out until Sunday night so no rush to get me in.

[dmw71]

Apologies for my absence over the last week or so. Life has been crazy with work and the holidays.

I will do my best to check in on my games when the opportunity presents itself, but it's probably safe to expect more of the same the rest of the year (which is only two more weeks ).

Happy holidays in advance!
- Dave

[Lance]

Happy holidays to all of you!

[roryb]

Been busy for me too.

[Rex]

No problem. Happy Holidays Everyone!

[kalstone]

Happy Holidays!

[dmw71]

The following is being shared in all my games:

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A year or two ago I established a dedicated "rpg" email address, which is where I would receive all my notifications from this site (and other gaming-specific "stuff"). I would check this address daily, or multiple times throughout the day as notifications arrived.

Until yesterday, I went 13 days without checking in on this email account. Definitely a new record.

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In very large part due to the fact that I got a new phone and did not link my "rpg" email address when I installed the Gmail app.

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I have not been "feeling" D&D lately.

Like, no interest or motivation to jump back in... at all.

This has happened to me before (many times since I've joined this site, in fact) so this current spell is just the latest episode.

But, I have been trying to subtly restore this lost interest by engaging in other things:

• Browsing (and, who am I kidding, buying) on DriveThruRPG.
• Listening to fantasy podcasts.
• Watching YouTube videos from D&D-related streamers.
• Playing fantasy-themed games (I've had a lot of fun with 'Dragon Age: Origins' so far!).

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Tangent Time
The first official campaign setting I ever played in was Greyhawk, from the boxed set. The use of the words "played in" is a bit misleading, however. We barely touched the books that came in the boxed set and primarily just spread out the four map sections across our dining room table, pick a random spot, and run an impromptu adventure.

There might have been a random table in one of the books to determine a place of birth that we'd use during character generation. And we would occasionally use the Greyhawk calendar (which meant, a casual reference to the fantasy day (e.g. starday) or month (e.g. Readying) name instead of the actual day (e.g. Saturday) or month (e.g. late January or Early February).

It wasn't until yesterday -- when I read this post from max_vale and the reply from hedgeknight -- that I even began to understand what the 'Greyhawk Wars' even were (and, in all honestly, I still don't fully appreciate the significance of this history).

Aside from using their maps, and maybe noting the location where a published adventure module (which we rarely used) took place, the lore of any campaign setting was largely inconsequential in my gaming background.

That's, sadly, how I still run my games to this day.

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• I'm running a game in Undermountain, yet know embarrassingly little about the Yawning Portal (and even less about Waterdeep itself).
• I'm about to launch a new game in Greyhawk, but know next to nothing when it comes to actual details or formal lore about it.

I've been feeling guilt, shame, imposter syndrome, all of the above over these facts lately (which has also contributed to my slower than normal return back to gaming).


I haven't been able to shake the feeling that I would be far better off as just a player instead of a DM, where my ignorance will be less impactful.


Anyway...

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My motivation to dive back into gaming hasn't fully returned yet, but it's getting there.

I'm finding the motivation to return to my various games being restored at different paces, with my interest in 1e seemingly coming on the strongest, followed by BX, then 5e lagging significantly behind.

My plan is to jump-start progress in all of my games again this week, but bear with me as I continue to work through these motivational struggles.

[roryb]

Can relate! Don’t worry about us. Take the time you need without obliging yourself. We’ll be here when you return, and we’ll understand if you don’t wish to continue. My table mates will forgive me for speaking on their behalf.

[VonAlric]

Oh yeah, the ennui can be strong. Seems like you are heading back in the right direction. We'll be here when you are ready to kick it back into gear.

[Lance]

I just ended such a dry spell recently (thus my first campaign) so I can relate. As for impostor syndrome, all you have to do is file the serial numbers off (something Gygax did several times due to losing his rights to the setting) and you're off. That said, maybe reading the damn books would do more to get you back in the mindset than watching youtube?

[dmw71]

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Originally posted in 5e game. Reposting.


I'm really sorry!

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I made the decision a couple of nights ago (and have been sleeping on it to make sure I wouldn't regret it), but I am going to put a halt on all of my current games.

They will be moved into the 'archived' section immediately (but feel free to continue to post or ask questions or whatever in them from their new homes).


First, an apology to all my players.


This is not a decision I'm making lightly, but I have a new D&D-related project that I've started working on that is just massive in scope. Beyond massive when I truly stop to think about it.

I just sent an email to my brother -- an avid D&D player -- trying to share my "discovery" and the extent of my plans and it was honestly nerve-wracking to even think about.

But, it's something that I'm very excited to start working on.

And this project will eventually benefit all of my future games.

But especially 1e.

I'm still trying to conceptualize everything I'm hoping to eventually accomplish (my to-do/wish list is long!), but I can share some high-level details now:

Essentially, I want to "build" D&D in OneNote.

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In a way, I want to almost use OneNote to emulate what D&D Beyond does for 5e. (Only, with the editions having been released under different licenses, this OneNote project is not something that could be marketed or sold publicly, but certainly used for my own personal purposes.)

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I didn't create my first ever Notebook in OneNote until yesterday, and I'm still completely lost on how to do anything, but I see so much potential in that organizational tool that I'm going to dive head-first into it.

I might start small.

My "big" plan is to import a map (in pieces) of the entire Flanaess into OneNote and create hyperlinked labels to every keyed area on the map (every hill, mountain, sea, river, city, town, etc...). These hyperlinked labels will create a corresponding page for that area, so step two will be to populate these pages with details about whatever the page is for.

It might be easiest to just share this:

Using OneNote to make an interactive DnD campaign map!

In a "test" Notebook, I was able to duplicate what this guy did.

And it's awesome!

This whole idea stemmed from all the brainstorming (and researching, and preparations, etc...) I was making for the 1e game I was planning on launching (and still will -- but later).

Not only do I want to import the starting region of the Greyhawk map into OneNote (and add details about all the different areas and features), I also want to "build" published modules into OneNote as well.

Take T1 (or T1-4) which I was planning on running in my forthcoming 1e game.

1. Import all the different maps from the module (or modules) into OneNote;
2. Create hyperlinks for every keyed area; and
3. Detail each area on its own page.

Not only will this make running the actual adventure so much easier, doing this sort of prep work in advance will make sure that I actually understand the module I'm about to run and allow me to make any customizations and/or tweaks to it ahead of time.

Pages could be created to fully detail existing NPCs, and monsters, and treasures, and pretty much anything.


So, while I'm temporarily resigning my DM duties here on the site, I will remain an active presence on the site and will obviously continue to monitor for any admin requests that come in.

I may actually create a space here on the forums to document my plans and track my progress as I work. I'll need to see how the other admins feel about this.

But, apologies again to all my current players!

I do, however, fully believe that once I really dive into using OneNote and exploring its capabilities, it will benefit all my future games.

[roryb]

No worries. Good luck on the project. I'll loiter in case you re-open later.

[dmw71]

No worries. Good luck on the project. I'll loiter in case you re-open later.

Thank you.

If/when I do decide to re-launch this game, I will send a PM out to the group. I do expect the delay (especially for this and my 5e game) to be considerable, but I definitely am not ruling it out for some point in the future.

[Rex]

Good Luck Dave!