The day is here (one of them, at least), the hour almost upon us (or way past if you're not reading this immediately after I post it). The online, free, basic Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition has arrived!
It's HERE!!!
Even though I've been or mirrored a mix of emotions about this latest iteration, I'm still excited to see, run, and tinker around with it. The following is my 5e schedule so far...
- On July 17th, I'll be running two back-to-back demos at the Madison Central Public Library using the Starter Set intro adventure.
- On July 26th, I'm running 5e for my home game group (which I haven't seen much of, let alone gamed with in months). Not sure if I'll use Lost Mine of Phandelver or something else... probably something else since I've got a ton of unused modules and it would be cool to see how she flies using an OSR scenario.
- Sometime in September, I'll be starting my weekly home game up again. Not sure what system will be the core of this campaign but 5e will surely play a part. If there are empty seats at the table, well, there's no better way of finding players than to run D&D.
- There's a new (this will be their 2nd year) tabletop gaming convention in my home town, Madison, WI - Game Hole Con. November 7th - 9th. I ran a bunch of Liberation of the Demon Slayer games last year and this year I'll be doing a single session of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, Saturday at noon for six hours! Originally, I had posted the event using Swords & Wizardry, but since D&D 5e can be scaled down to an old school flavor, I reckoned D&D would be more inviting. And this time I'll take pictures, damn it!
During all those D&D games, I'll do what I do with every roleplaying game I Game Master - experiment! I'll try out new and very familiar house rules, swamp one game mechanic out for another, modify little bits here and there, and just see what happens, improvising as best I can. The library demos will probably be the purest form of "basic" 5e because each session is only 2 hours; it will be a true test of the new system both for myself and all the casual RPG or 5e noobs who signed up to play.
There's no doubt I'll incorporate my critical hit table from Purple, dark secrets from Liberation, several awesome innovations from 13th Age, perhaps something from Dungeon World (amazon doesn't know where the fuck it is at the moment!), spells from Space-Age Sorcery, and that idea I had about outside-the-box combat stunts. Probably lots more in varying degrees...
That's how I game. As soon as the world and characters take shape, they change from what's written down in some book or on some character sheet. It's purely subjective, moments of another reality. Just as real as our everyday experiences... occasionally more so.
VS
p.s. Probably goes without saying, but I'll be blogging about my experience after every 5e session listed above. Stay tuned!
