Beyond “Yes And…” – LARCH

It will likely be no surprise for any of you to learn I was in an improv troupe in college.

Me being hilarious (clearly) with my pal Vegas Lancaster back in 2008.

I know many of us Game Masters heard or read the old piece of advice to say, “Yes, and…” when a player throws out an idea as a way to build story cooperatively. That advice is often immediately followed up or preceded by the person telling you that this idea is a basic rule of improv comedy.

Why not apply improv comedy advice to RPGs? It makes sense. D&D is basically improv fantasy. Dread is basically improv horror. Night’s Black Agents is basically improv super spies vs vampires. And so on. It’s all collaborative storytelling.

The “Yes and…” technique is a handy piece of advice that I employ in my games (to a point, but that’s another post). It got me thinking, “Are there other improv comedy techniques or tips we can steal for our games?” Yes. A lot.

Today I want to share one mnemonic I learned in improv that helps establish scenes and brings NPCs to life. It helps when I need to create an NPC on the spot and breathes pizzaz into any generic shopkeeper or street urchin. It helps give named NPC 41 in a published adventure a personality and backstory without panic. It keeps you calm when the players zig and you expected them to zag. All you need to do is think, “LARCH.” That’s Location, Action, Relationship, Characterization, and History.

Location

When it comes to meeting an NPC, the first thing you should establish is their location. Where an NPC meet the player characters says a lot about that NPC. For instance, if the characters get an invitation to meet the NPC for a meal, do they dine in the common room of a run down tavern, the private club room of an upscale establishment, or the NPC’s home (which could be a home-cooked meal in a shack or a feast prepared by servants in a mansion)? Do they meet for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or afternoon tea? If the characters meet the NPC on the street, is a shadowy alley, paved main street, or trail in the wilderness? All of these details say quite a bit about the NPC by showing the characters where they feel most comfortable. Before you get into describing the NPC, describe their location.

Action

NPCs do not stand around and wait for the characters to approach them. They’re busy people! The evil cult leader is in performing a sacrificial ritual or reading an ancient tome or taking a nap when the characters roll up to her hidden swamp cave. A busy noble asks the characters to join him in his carriage as he rides from one appointment to the next. An urchin begs passersby for copper pieces as she shares rumors with the characters. A scientist browses through some album covers in a record shop as she casually passes the player characters her secret formula. Actions speak louder than words and clue the players into each NPC’s personality. By deciding what actions your NPCs are taking when they meet with PCs, it helps you as the GM settle into that particular character as well.

Relationships

NPCs should know other people and places in the world beyond the player characters. During conversations with the PCs they should mention friends, acquaintances, enemies, rivals, family, celebrities, favorite dining establishments, inns to avoid, and more.It is most fun to connect new NPCs to people and places already known by the characters. If the adventurers are referred to the NPC A by NPC B, NPC A should mention NPC B’s name and how they feel about that person.

You start to fill out your world with new connections and interesting relationships and plots when you do this. If NPC C hates NPC B who is friends with NPC A, then odds are NPC C also hates NPC A… but maybe not! (Wouldn’t that be interesting?) Forming these relationships helps establish an NPCs character by connecting them to the world and simultaneously builds out your world. It also helps the characters get an idea of who your NPCs are beyond their presented self. If the kindly grandma hates the noble paladin, someone is probably not what they seem.

Characterization

Personality and mannerisms are two important components to your NPC. When you’re making a new NPC write down an adjective and an character archetype and play to those ideas (e.g. Upstanding Criminal, Cowardly Clerk, Noble Henchmen, Loyal Politician, Mad Scientist). These words should have no strict interpretation. You are the only one who will ever see them. You decide what they mean. For instance “Mad Scientist” could mean an inventor who is angry, or a crazy supervillain with no post-graduate degree of any kind. By writing two words down next to the NPC’s name, you’ll remember more details about the character the next time they cross paths with the PCs.

If you need to create an NPC on the fly, choose or roll on the table below. If you want to take things a step further, use the tables in my NPC mannerisms post.

d20	Adjective	d20	Noun
1	Noble	1	Sodlier
2	Sleazy	2	Criminal
3	Reluctant	3	Henchman
4	Pious	4	Scientist
5	Cowardly	5	Politician
6	Stoic	6	Youth
7	Mad	7	Hermit
8	Exhausted	8	Spy
9	Worldly	9	Artist
10	Powerful	10	Scholar
11	Polite	11	Clerk
12	Rude	12	Urchin
13	Excitable	13	Devotee
14	Competitive	14	Outsider
15	Broken	15	Merchant
16	Optimistic	16	Parent
17	Bored	17	Laborer
18	Curious	18	Hunter
19	Cursed	19	Liar
20	Lonely	20	Leader

History

Your NPCs didn’t just suddenly appear in the world. They have been living in it their entire life (probably). What accomplishments do they still talk about that exist in the world at present? How do they feel about big world-shaking events of the past, or even smaller events, like what the PCs did on their last quest? NPCs should have feelings about events that transpired before they met the characters and should have an impact of their own (no matter how small) on the world. If the merchant up and leaves town because the PCs threatened him, how does the rest of the community react to see their favorite bait and tackle shop close its doors after 20 years because some hooligans scared Mr. Potter? Just like relationships, when you create history, you’re defining your NPC and worldbuilding at the same time.

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

Table Top Babble 014 – Campaign Settings and Organized Play with Paradigm Concepts

A new episode of Table Top Babble is now available!

James Introcaso sits down with Pedro Barrenechea and Henry Lopez of Paradigm Concepts to discuss their rich campaign world of Arcanis, its organized play program, and the Kickstarter that brings the setting into 5th Edition D&D.

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If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

BJ Hensley on Playground Adventures and Writing Adventures for Kids

This is an interview I conducted with BJ Hensley of Playground Adventures as part of the AetherCon V Convention Program.

JI: I love any product that introduces kids to RPGs. What makes Playground Adventures’ modules uniquely suited towards younger gamers?

BH: PGA’s adventures are created beginning to end with children in mind! We include rewards for good moral decisions, puzzles geared toward learning, and explanations that make it easy for children to get into the game. Many of our adventures also include small aids like recommendations for “brain break” times or even hands on projects that keep little hands busy as they wait their turns.

JI: A lot of the Playground Adventures have hands on components that allow kids to do puzzles and science experiments. What are some of your favorite examples of this and where do the ideas come from?

BH: That would be our Fun & Facts line. These are made specifically for children to learn important educational facts as they play. My favorite adventure that we have available to the public at this time is For the Hive! It’s a fun adventure all about bees. The PCs get to shrink down to the size of a bee and venture forth to save the queen! I love the bee facts spread throughout the adventure. It’s fantastic that children can learn about the very real hardships facing the bees in our own world today.

The ideas come from our own children, teachers, schools, and our various developers. We have a pile of requests from teachers for example, that we are wading through to help various after school and in school programs.

JI: Why is it important to you personally that kids play RPGs?

BH: RPGs have a limitless ability to teach us things. They make a wonderful interactive classroom for problem solving, arithmetic, reading, writing, creative thought, social skills, and more. I have spent many years working with both my own children as well as others. One thing that has always stood out to me is how easily kids learn when the education is a side effect of a game they love. Very specifically, these games speak to children who otherwise struggle to learn, who struggle to focus, sit still, or just aren’t quite adept at social niceties.

I have seen children who hated math happily adding and subtracting to account for the mechanical nature of the game. Those who shun novels are somehow more easily inspired to read the rulebooks or campaign settings lying around the house (and every now and again develop a love for novels in the process). I’ve used RPGs to teach social skills to my own and other autistic children. Tabletop roleplaying games make learning fun! They are fantastic tools for teaching, togetherness, and providing safe after school activities for children. It is very important to me that other children benefit from these opportunities as much as my own and local children have.

JI: Beyond the obvious, what are some good tips when writing an adventure for kids?

BH: I believe the three most important factors beyond the obvious ones such as avoiding adult themes are:

Brain breaks: I am a huge fan of brain breaks, everyone has a limit to how much they can absorb before their brain gets tired and begins to wander off. For the small ones this time frame is pretty short. I love adventures that keep that in mind. Whether it’s a timeout for a themed snack (yes some of our adventures have recipes in them!) or a pause while everyone acts out a silly song or meme, these breaks where the table gets up and moves around a bit are important. It gives them time to be less intense and brings them back to the table ready to focus.

Hands on items: Children do well with hands on projects. Including items such as puzzles, craft projects, or even just a coloring sheet for everyone to make use of as they wait their turn can make the whole experience better for everyone.

Good moral choices: Sure, a lot of people love hack and slash (and there is nothing wrong with that) but remember small children are still learning what is right and wrong, and these games are a perfect opportunity to reinforce good moral choices. Allow for options that go beyond kill the monster, loot the stuff. Allow for the salvation of a creature, the ability to make friends with those they wouldn’t normally befriend, alternative problem solving, and then reward those choices with new items or higher experience and praise them for finding creative solutions.

JI: I’ve heard a lot of all adult gaming groups also love to play through the Playground Adventures modules. Why do you think that is?

BH: They do! I suspect there are two reasons. First, many of us are just as in need of lighter themes as the young ones are. It’s surprisingly refreshing to play a not-so-serious game or better yet play from the perspective of a child. Children can do things outside the normal constraints, think outside the box, because they don’t have predefined imaginations. They think of something and see no reason why they shouldn’t be able to do it, and so they try. They don’t care if they look silly and they don’t think, “Oh that won’t work.”

Also, some of our adventures are a bit like beloved fairy tales and they can be played in the lighter tones, as they are written, or surprisingly dark ones with a few minor alterations. Pixies on Parade is a perfect example of this!

JI: What are some of your favorite Playground Adventures’ modules and why?

BH: Pixies on Parade is one of my absolute favorites. It’s a fairy tale adventure with amusing and fun side treks but it has a dark side as well. That adventure can be geared to teach children good choices, have fun, and use their imagination with imagination magic but it isn’t all fluffy bunnies. In fact, some of the dark sides if given a more serious tone are perfect for adults. For example, I find the baby teeth section to be just creepy, and the nightmare king could easily scare some adults if you choose to spin it in a darker tone. (Note: James also finds the baby teeth section WONDERFULLY creepy.)

I’m also quite fond of the Wonderland adventure path. It’s perfect for teaching new gamers the ins and outs of the game and offers some fantastic hands on adventuring. Chapter one is actually an adventure board game!

JI: What’s next for Playground Adventures?

BH: We are always working on a dozen or so items but our newest line is 12 & up! We just launched Creature Components, our first book in the 12 & up line, that allows you to make stronger spells and items by adding creature components to the mix. It received 5 stars and pretty much every recommendation available and we couldn’t be happier about it!

For the younger crowd we will be releasing a guide book soon with a plethora of options for little gamers, such as classes, magic items, spells, feats, and more. Keep an eye out for Toolkits and Toyboxes (some assembly required)!

JI: Finally, as a person in the gaming industry who works with many companies and gets tons of new players into the game, what can publishers do to make the community feel welcoming and inclusive of all people?

BH: I think the simplest answer is to make content that is inclusive of all people. People want to see themselves in their games. Keep that in mind when you create. Listen to your fan base, and where you can, make adjustments to accommodate them. I personally always try to be kind and remember that I too was once new to the game.

Check out more great interviews like this one by grabbing your copy of the AetherCon V Convention Program being released Nov/1/2016 here: www.aethercon.com.

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

Character Backstory Writing Tips

One of my Exploration Age campaigns is coming to an end… and a new one is about to start! My friend Andrew Kane is DMing us through a campaign based in Exploration Age’s South Pole. The story deals with a cult he created that’s devoted to The Lingering Havoc. Badass! I finally get to step into the role of player which will give me time to focus on publishing the Exploration Age Campaign Guide and allow me to be engaged with the game in a new way. It’s been more than six years since I was a player in a sustained D&D campaign!

As our current campaign ends, Andrew has asked us to submit character backstories so he can begin working those details into the story of the campaign. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to discuss what makes a great character backstories. Here’s a few tips followed by character’s backstory as an example!

Ask the DM

Before you put any work into creating a character’s backstory, ask the person running the game if there are any parameters. Are the character options (like races and classes) restricted? What sort of world are you playing in? A jolly halfling rogue with a passion for lemon cakes and celebrity gossip isn’t something you’d find in a post-apocalyptic setting. Once you have that information from your DM, give them a quick description of your character. It doesn’t have to be more than a sentence or two. Mine was something like, “My character is a half-elf bard who travels the world searching for ancient troves of lost knowledge. He loves discovering new or forgotten ideas and is particularly interested in necromancy and magic that can extend a person’s life.” This got the approval from Andrew. (Side note: I figured having a knowledgable character would help me roleplay since we’re playing in a campaign setting I created.)

Use What the DM Gave Ya!

Once you know about the world your character inhabits, think about how you can tie your character into the setting. As a DM I find it a lot easier to work a character’s backstory into the game if they already have some connection to the story I’m trying to tell. In my case, I picked a character that has an interest in necromancy because Andrew has told us his campaign is centered around a cult of The Lingering Havoc (which is a massive pile of bodies with one mind). This makes it much easier to draw my PC and other elements of his backstory into the campaign. For instance, if my PC is in The South Pole looking for The Lingering Havoc and an old enemy shows up with an axe to grind, it makes sense that the enemy would know to find him there, since my character has a known interest in necromancy.

Just how did I know The Lingering Havoc and South Pole are playing a big part in this campaign? Why the DM told us of course! In fact he sent us an awesome map and campaign primer. Check out both below!

The South Pole: A Primer

All the dark gray hexes are unexplored terrain. This map made using Hexographer.

Closed Point of View

It’s best to use either first person or limited third person points of view (as opposed to omniscient) when writing a character backstory. This allows for the DM to harvest your story for hooks and adventure ideas more easily than if you provide every detail.

Consider this example. Your PC is fighting their nemesis and mortally wounds the enemy before the baddy gets away. An omniscient narrator might then inform us that the nemesis drank a potion of healing and swore to get vengeance on the PC someday. That’s a good hook, but wouldn’t it be more interesting if you as a player don’t know the outcome and leave it to the DM? Then the possibilities are endless. Maybe the nemesis was healed, or maybe with their dying breath the enemy swore an oath of vengeance to a dark god is now an undead revenant stalking the land! Or maybe the nemesis’ much worse sibling or parent found the body and is coming after the PC. Maybe law enforcement found the body and the PC is wanted for murder and doesn’t know it! Maybe the PC is wanted for murder because the body was found AND the nemesis rose as a vengeful wraith (a double surprise). Heck, the DM could tie this thread into another PC’s backstory or the main story! Maybe your nemesis is now a henchmen of the campaign’s main villain! As you can see, a closed point of view allows for more interest storytelling possibilities.

You might consider getting creative and writing your PC’s backstory from another character’s point of view. Maybe a spouse, lover, best friend, parent, or bard tells the tale. Whatever you do, keep the point of view closed so the DM can have a little fun.

Dangle A Few Threads

Leave a few plot threads hanging for your DM to pull on and weave into the story. Your character’s story is just beginning. If all your problems are taken care of at the start of the adventure, then there’s nothing from your backstory to work into the campaign. There’s many possible open threads! Maybe your character agreed to take over the thieves’ guild once an ailing parent/guild leader dies. Maybe someone stole a family heirloom. Maybe your PC wants to learn more about magic so they can return to their farming village to end a years-long drought. Don’t go overboard here. Your DM has other characters and their own story they’re trying to tell. One to three open threads should be enough.

Stick To The Basics And Defining Events

Don’t feel like you need to describe every detail of your character’s life. Answer the basics. Where are they from? Who is close to them? How did they get their talent for fighting, magic, roguing, rangering, etc?

After you answer those questions, you need only describe the defining events in your character’s life. What events made them the person they are today? In fifth edition D&D you might look to your personality traits, bond, ideal, and flaw and ask “When did my character develop these?” Put those moments into words and use those events to leave your dangling threads. That way when your past comes back at you during a game, it’ll be even more meaningful.

Secrets Are Fun

It helps your party members if they know a bit of your backstory, but keep a secret or two for just you and the DM. The secret should be something important that your PC wouldn’t readily share, even with the other party members. Maybe your character is secretly royalty, was once part of a demonic cult, has a secret love child, or accidentally murdered someone. Many of these secrets are shameful to characters, but there’s other reasons a person could keep a secret.

Maybe your PC keeps a public figure’s shameful secret in order to extort them for money. Maybe your PC keeps ties to certain friend or family a secret so enemies don’t exploit loved ones. Maybe they have to keep a relationship a secret because if their father finds out, they’ll lose their inheritance. There’s tons of reasons to keep secrets out there! Give your character a good one… and don’t be surprised when the secret becomes exposed!

Heroes Are Good, Chosen Ones Not So Much

Your character should have some fantastic deeds or moments in their backstory. The first time they cast a spell. The first monster they vanquished. Though remember that this PC is meant to be a part of a group of heroes that is stronger together. You’re character should not be the only person on earth who can slay a world-consuming monster. Not only will it be sad for the world when your PC is killed by a kobold at level 1, it also takes too much importance away from the other characters!

We Knew Each Other Before This

It’s always a good idea to tie your backstory into at least one other PC’s backstory. This makes it easier on the DM to bring people together. Plus it gives you another character you already trust and care about! You might even consider sharing any secrets in your backstory with them.

A Word on Length

When it comes to character backstories, I don’t care much about length as a DM. I’ll read one paragraph (or a list of bullet points) and I’ll read a 30+ page history. Check with your DM before you write a novel. They may not have the time to read it all while they’re worldbuilding and living life, no matter how well it’s written.

Example Backstory: Ramus Verbosa

The link below is the example backstory for my PC, Ramus Verbosa. I’m keeping it in a link since it’s got secrets and I don’t want my fellow players (who sometimes read this blog) to get any spoilers. Happy writing friends!

Ramus Verbosa Backstory

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

Have Spellbook, Will Travel BTS #11

A new behind-the-scenes episode of the podcast Rudy Basso and I make, Have Spellbook, Will Travel, is up on the show’s site!

 

It’s Alex Basso!  Younger brother of Rudy Basso, and the go-to “omg I need a voice NOW” guy!  Take a listen and learn about Alex’s love for fourth edition, how to be THE BEST at D&D, and a two-pronged fraternal attack on 4E’s weird Essentials rules.

This week’s Levels Question was submitted by Ally Burnham.  Thanks Ally! Tweet your own Levels Question of the Week at us or #levelsq on Twitter! 

Send your mailbag questions via the Contact page.

VISIT AND CONTRIBUTE TO OUR WIKI!

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

Have Spellbook, Will Travel: Episode 0-1: Downtime

A new episode of the podcast Rudy Basso and I make, Have Spellbook, Will Travel, is up on the show’s site!

Behold!  The oft-mentioned “Night at the X-Mansion” or “Bottle Episode” episode!  Enjoy some character development as our adventurers take a much needed break to drink, cook, and… date?!

If you’ve enjoyed listening to the show, do us a big ol’ favor and write a review on ouriTunes page, or just tell a friend about it.

Tweet your Levels Question of the Week at us or #levelsq on Twitter!  

Send your mailbag questions via the Contact page.  We want to hear from you!

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

Round Table 129 – Actual Play and Deep Magic

A new episode of my podcast, The Round Table, is up on The Tome Show’s website.

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I sit down with Liz Theis, Dave Gibson, James Haeck, and Chris Sniezak to compare, contrast, and review the Dungeons and Dragons actual play series Dice, Camera, Action, Force Grey: Giant Hunters, and Acquisitions Incorporated: The Series. Then it’s an interview with game designer Chris Harris to discuss his rune magic chapter of Kobold Press‘ Deep Magic for fifth edition. This podcast was recorded on July 3 and 24, 2016.

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Please rate and review The Tome Show on iTunes. It takes 30 seconds and helps us a bunch!

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Noble Knight Pick of the Episode: The Gamers Live – Indianapolis 2012

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DMs Guild Pick of the Episode: 5 Minute Workday Presents: The Beast Master Companion

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Links:

The Tome Show on Facebook

The Round Table Live at Gen Con

Knight Birds at Gen Con

Digital Future of D&D 5th Edition at Gen Con

5 Minute Workday

Misdirected Mark

Adventure A Week

Encounter Roleplay

Geek and Sundry

EN5ider

Gnome Stew

Encoded Designs

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If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

Live Hangout With Brian Fitzpatrick and Gen Con update!

Just a quick note to let you know that tomorrow (Wednesday 6/29) I’ll be doing a live Google Hangout with Brian Fitzpatrick to talk about designing RPGs. Check out the event! Hope to see you there as we talk Dungeons and Dragons and more!

Also if you want to see me at Gen Con, I’ll be moderating the Digital Future of D&D 5th Edition panel with tons of awesome people. Syrinscape, Lone Wolf Development, Mesa Mundi, Smiteworks, and DriveThruRPG will all be there so come check us out!

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

DM-Nastics #46 Getcha Guild On!

I was on a recent episode of the Dungeon Master’s Block DM-Nastics podcast! Thanks, Neal Powell!

Welcome back to DM-Nastics – the gym for Dungeon Masters to work out their minds! 

Content: We build a guild, but what kind?

In the gym: DM Neal and DM James Introcaso 

Tie Back Episode: Episode #66: Bringing the Magic of Magic to D&D; If You Guild it They Will Come

Forum Post: DM-Nastics #54 – Gildi, Gegyld, Geld, Gild

 

Intro & Outro Music in this episode is Rock Instrumental Music №20 (creative commons) by DigitalSh0ck is licensed under a Creative Common License. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ0CADTjLdU 

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

More Uses For Your Tarokka Deck

My Tarokka deck needs something to do.

It’s not that I don’t love the purchase. It’s a wonderful item with a lot of great art. Worth every penny. But I feel like I can make it worth more.

As I mentioned in my one-shot Strahd post, I’m not currently playing Curse of Strahd. Even if I were, I’d want to make expanded use of the Tarokka deck. It’s great for readings, but wouldn’t it be awesome if it could be used for random encounters, treasure tables, and more? It totally can.

Tarokka deck from Gale Force Nine

Tarokkas and Random Tables

Whether you’re playing Curse of Strahd or not, you can draw cards from your Tarokka deck instead of rolling dice on a random table for encounters, treasure, and more. I’ve made it super easy for you and myself by writing out the numbers on a table below.

I’m aware that other than the d6 column, these cards don’t perfectly correspond to the same probability as a throw of an actual die. If this were a saving throw, ability check, attack or damage roll, I wouldn’t allow it. For a DM’s random table this is close enough. It’s as good as it’s going to get without adding extra cards to the deck!

Making players draw these cards themselves for treasure and encounters is especially fun. It adds a moment of drama at the table as you whip out the cards and ask them to draw. Psychologically it also shifts the onus of the result on the player as the others watch, hoping for a good result.

Check out the table below, or grab it in the link below as a PDF or from the Free Game Resources section of this site.

Tarokka Deck as Dice

A Little Preview

This post is actually a little preview of an upcoming DMs Guild product I’m working on. It’s a recurring encounter for Curse of Strahd that involves a magic Tarokka deck. To learn more about this side trek, you’ll have to wait for next week and watch my game with Chris Perkins during…

Roll20CON

If you haven’t heard about Roll20CON yet, the info is below!

The free, online-only celebration of the Roll20 Community will take place on June 3rd, 2016 for just 24 hours – but you can start preparing, listing, and joining games now! From 12AM – 11:59PM Pacific time, there will be games galore played on my favorite virtual table. You’ll want to join in the action and get to try some of the Plus and Pro subscription features for free. That’s right. Dynamic Lighting (and tons of other awesome features) will be free during Roll20CON.

During the convention, some of your favorite streamers, publishers, podcasters, and I will be live on Twitch helping raise money for Cybersmile, the international non-profit supporting victims of cyberbullying.

If you haven’t seen the schedule for Roll20CON check it out below. You’ll notice I’m running two games during the 24-hour live stream with some of the biggest names in Dungeons and Dragons including my good friend Rudy Basso of the Tome Show’s D&D V&G podcast and Have Spellbook, Will Travel, Nadja Otikor of Misscliks D&D Prophecy, Greg Bilsland of Wizards of the Coast and member of the Dungeons and Dragons team, and, oh yeah, Chris Freakin’ Perkins, a Wizards of the Coast D&D employee who needs no introduction.

Needless to say I am thrilled about this and nervous. I’d love your support and love on game day. So if you’re around at 5AM or 2PM Pacific time on June 3, 2016, check out Twitch and watch us play D&D!

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!