Dungeons and Dragons with Brian
Hi Guys!
My name is Brian. I've known Jack and Laura since they were junior counselors at a wonderful little place called Camp Stella Maris. We all went there as kids, and we worked there as young adults. Jack, Laura, and I grew up loving Camp - and we still do - maybe now more than ever.
That's why people like us, and Ray, and Klee, and all the other incredible people that deserve to be listed in this sentence - are trying to bring Camp to you during these difficult and unfamiliar times.
Brian is amazing.
While I've known the Stomping Ground crew for a long time, these days, I'm most associated with their Creative Residency Program. I think I was even in charge of it one summer. If you pressured me to give you a somewhat definitive answer, I suppose I could tell you I was an artist. Right now, I'm working on my Masters in Fine Art, but I would be lying if I told you I was working on it really hard. To anyone else who struggles to focus on big projects and long-term goals during this pandemic - you are not alone.
Thankfully, I've been able to escape the well of existential dread that is my Master's thesis by doing one of my favorite things - playing Dungeons and Dragons. As a writer and a fantasy/sci- fi aficionado - much of my art practice revolves around narrative. Designing a DnD campaign is quite possibly my favorite creative exercise. I get to dream-up a fictional universe - and then my friends get to play in it. It's the human capacity for imagination turned up to eleven.
Over the past few weeks, I have been extremely fortunate to be able to run DnD online as a part of Hometown Stomping Ground. I've been able to share some ridiculous stories with some incredible campers. To give you an idea of all the fun we're having - I'd like to offer you this list of some things that we have done during our campaigns...
In no particular order and without any context...
• Rescued a dark elf princess who didn't really need any rescuing.
• Ended a centuries-old feud between the dwarf pirates and the snow elves.
• Met a spooky Halloween-Santa-Claus-Druid responsible for causing the "Schism of the Seasons."
• Stopped an undead priestess from unleashing an army of ghost vampires.
• Followed a dream-demon hellbent on destroying everything in its path through an insane, genre-bending whirlwind adventure - that is still ongoing at the time of this post.
• Dealt with a lot of confusing time-travel nonsense.
• Got rescued from certain death by Captain Jean Luc Picard and the USS Enterprise on more than one occasion.
• Stopped Elton John from being assassinated by an alien dictator.
DnD with Brian as Elton John. Chaos. Imagination. Fun!
• Flew on Elton John's spaceship. Also, Freddy Mercury and Stevie Nicks were there.
• Aided the Ents with the siege of Isengard.
• Appeared on David Letterman.
See!? Anything is possible in Dungeons and Dragons! And what's more - if you can tell a story - you can be a Dungeon Master too!
I've put together a guide so that all of you at home can bring the magic of DnD to your friends and family during these crazy times. It's simple - and I'm sure you'll find it a welcome escape from the crazy world we live in...
It's All About Narrative
My version of DnD is entirely about telling a story. I don't bother with lots of math or complicated rule books. Everything is dictated by the story and what the characters in it decide to do.
The Dungeon Master tells the players what happens in the story.
The players tell the DM what their characters do in the story.
A player, for example, cannot say something like...
"Okay, I walk away from the battle and go find a magic dog who then solves all our problems."
...because then that player would be describing something that happens instead of describing an action that their character takes. Instead, if that player is really set on having a magical animal solve their problems, they should express their actions like this...
"I look around for magic dogs."
...then the person telling the story gets to decide whether or not that character finds a magic dog. Who knows, maybe the story is about magic dogs, and they see a great dog in the window of the local magic-dog-store.
Brian brings these characters to camp, the computer screen, and just about wherever his creativity lands.
For all the DM's out there - putting together a good story can be a lot of work! But it's also a lot of fun. Chances are you wanted to DM because you wanted this kind of challenge. You get to build an entire world for your friends to explore. Draw inspiration from things that interest you personally, and you'll find that sharing your passions within your narrative can be rewarding. Have a basic idea of where you want your story to go, but remember to be flexible with your players. They may do something you don't expect! Be ready to improvise!
Making Characters
Keep it simple. When I'm starting a new campaign, I have my players come up with just four details...
• Race. What is your character? Elf? Dwarf? Robot?
• Class. What does your character do? Thief? Fighter? Wizard? Rock Star?
• First weapon/spell
• Second weapon/spell
House Rules
Tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, or pretty much any board game - are usually the most fun when you follow your own unique "house rules". House rules are a set of general agreements made before the game begins (hmmm, pre-made agreements - that sounds familiar). They allow you to format the game to best fit the expectations of everyone playing.
So, the first thing you should do is sit with your family and see what everyone wants to get out of your DnD experience. Then, figure out how the mechanics of your game can reflect what people want. After running many DnD games over the years - here are some "house rules" I've discovered that really help keep your story moving.
• Once the DM has started the story, the players don't talk anymore unless they have something to add to it. If a player has an action or a comment, they just raise their hand, and the DM will call on them! This is how the game functions at its core.
• Combat (if that kind of thing is a part of your story) is done on a turn by turn basis. If you want to - figure out a fun way to determine turn order - like rolling dice across the floor or having a mini rock paper scissors tournament. The winner gets to be the first to charge through the door with their sword!
• The players cannot split up in the story. The party sticks together. If you allow characters to go separate ways, then you'd essentially be telling two different stories at once - and that sounds hard. If the group is conflicted as to what they should do, a decision must be reached democratically. Voting is conducted by the DM. In the event of a tie, I sometimes have a fictional character from the story cast their vote as well. Why shouldn't their voices be heard?
Making Things Random
When a character makes an action, in most situations, the DM doesn't get to decide if they are successful. That's up to the lords of chaos.
Instead of rolling a bunch of different dice, which is probably what most people imagine when they think of DnD, I use a deck of cards. When a player wants to make an action, I'll flip over the top card of the deck - and that determines the outcome. I do the same for fictional characters within the story (like to see if an enemy attack hits). Cards are an excellent tool for this kind of game. You probably have a standard deck of playing cards lying around the house, whereas you might not have your own compliment of 20 sided dice.
Every story and situation calls for different considerations, but this is roughly the scale that I use to determine what is successful and what is not. Feel free to adopt it and make any changes you want.
Flip over a 2-4
• Critical Failure. Something bad happens as a result of the action.
Flip over a 5-6
• Failure. Nothing terrible happens, though.
Flip over a 7-9
• Success, but not a very exciting one.
Flip over a 10-King
• Success, which gets more and more awesome based on how high the face card is. If it's a King, something amazing happens.
Flip over an Ace
• Success, resulting in an incredible, world-defining moment.
Flip over a Joker
• Something absolutely ridiculous and silly happens.
That's all there is to it! If you can tell a story - you and your friends can play DnD! As for me, I can't wait until Hometown Stomping Ground comes back better than ever for Season 2! There are countless adventures left to unfold.