Big Game Hunting - D&D Encounters: A new adventure begins!

By Rae

For the last six months, Proud Lion has been leading two groups of would-be heroes through burning villages, enemy camps, and evil creature-infested caves in our first ever season of Dungeons & Dragons: Encounters. This casual-style gaming event allows players to grab a character and join in the adventure at almost any time, and is particularly suited to those new to D&D or role-playing games in general.

We're pleased to let you all know that the new season of Encounters is about to begin! This month we will start a brand new adventure, Elemental Evil. This will feature content from the upcoming Princes of the Apocalypse. Once again we will be inviting players to join in and have fun as we battle minions, acquire allies, and defeat evil every week!

We will kick off this season with a session devoted to developing characters. On March 18th, we will be supporting players in building a character that is uniquely their own, and creating a background that will get them off to a running start. If you want to make a character but have no idea how to get going, this is a good place to begin. Experienced DMs (Dungeon Masters, the leaders of the game) will be on hand to answer questions and help generate your character.

On March 25th, we will being the adventure itself! Bring your newly created character (or grab a pre-generated character if you'd prefer) and get stuck in! Spaces for D&D Encounters are on a first-come, first-served basis, and we currently have enough space for a maximum of 14 players (2 groups of 7 players each). These do tend to fill up fast, particularly in the first few weeks, so don't be disappointed if we can't fit you in straight away!

To keep up to date with D&D Encounters, please keep an eye on the event pages on Facebook: the character building session, and the first play session.

Rae is planning and plotting for an epic TableTop Day this year!

Big Game Hunting - D&D Encounters: extra player spaces!

by Rae

Last Wednesday was our first D&D Encounters night. Several characters were brought together to engage in the beginning of an epic adventure. Combat was waged, townsfolk were rescued, and the heroes successfully accomplished their first goal: to get to their target location in one piece!

There was one major issue with our first Encounter, though - there weren't enough player spaces! We managed to fill every available seat very quickly, and unfortunately we had to turn a number of people away. I am happy to announce that we have a solution! We have recruited a second DM to accommodate the extra people, so everyone has a chance to play!

This does present us with a new challenge: location. While the new Proud Lion store can just about cope with one group of adventurers, two is a bit of a stretch. With that in mind, this week we will all assemble at Proud Lion for 6:30pm. From there, we will move to Boston Tea Party. This is a trial run to test a change in venue, and may not be permanent.

We'll be able to support 12-14 people with our second DM in action, so join us this Wednesday at 6:30pm!

Big Game Hunting: D&D Encounters - On Creating Characters

As previously announced, D&D Encounters will be starting this week! D&D Encounters is a casual D&D weekly event, running every Wednesday at Proud Lion from 6:30pm, that allows players to drop in and drop out freely. Participation is on a first-come, first-served basis, and the event allows for a maximum of 7 players. If we find ourselves continuously oversubscribed, we will look to add a second game.

In our original announcement, we said we would only be allowing pre-generated characters provided by Wizards of the Coast. However, since receiving the materials for the first adventure, we have discovered that custom characters are allowed - with some limitations. If you wish to create your own character, you may, so long as these rules are followed.

Any characters that players wish to create themselves must be new characters at level 1. Rolling for ability scores is not allowed, and all characters must use the standard set of ability scores (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) or the customising ability scores variant (as described in the Player's Handbook).

The most notable rule that players will need to be aware of is that of character alignment. For the D&D Encounters adventures, characters are not allowed to have a Neutral Evil or Chaotic Evil alignment. Lawful Evil alignment is only permitted if the character is a member of the Lords' Alliance or Zhentarim factions. (All characters have the option of joining one of five factions. It is not required, but does have benefits that may help the characters in their adventures!)

If you wish to read the character creation event-specific rules in full, please email us at shop@proudlion.co.uk and we will provide them for you. A hard copy of the rules will be available to read on the day. Pre-generated characters will still be available! See you all Wednesday.

Big Game Hunting: Dungeons & Dragons Encounters

by Rae

From October, Wednesday nights at Proud Lion are about to get a bit more adventurous! Starting 1st October, the shop will be open until 8pm every Wednesday, allowing us to invite players to join in for Dungeons & Dragons Encounters!

D&D Encounters is an ongoing event designed for casual play, allowing you to drop in and play whenever you like. Using pre-generated characters, players are able to take part in individual episodes that make up a larger adventure. While traditional D&D focuses on levelling up individual characters, in these adventures you will be building up a faction. The benefit of this is that, even if you miss a few weeks, you won't find yourself falling behind other players.

Each episode will run from 6:30pm to 8pm. As said above, we will be using pre-made characters, so please leave your custom characters at home for these events. Participation will be first-come, first-served. There are no sign up sheets, just turn up before the start time. More details can be found here on the Wizards Of The Coast store locator.

The adventure we will be featuring for the encounters will be Tyranny of Dragons! You and your companions will struggle against the Cult of the Dragon in their attempt to free the multi-headed dragon Tiamat from the Nine Hells!

See you in October!

Rae's obsession with dragons seems to be growing over time.