Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Playing D&D with Pub Stars





I guess if a fortune teller told me a couple of years ago that I would be running a Dungeons and Dragons session in a busy pub, I would have told her not to listen to those spirits again, because they were full of shit. But there I was, at a Santa Ana British Pub, running a sort of Tegel Manor prequel game for seven players, and drinking pint after pint of delicious Elvish brew (Bass Ale).

Cyclopeatron put this together, and it was an interesting experiment. Basically, we took over a back area, slid some tables together, and I did the 5 hour session while Trent Foster ran at another table nearby. It was a stormy day in Southern California, and I really thought I might face the prospect of this falling through if a lot of players decided not to forge out into the weather. I told my regular player and designated driver Terry, and great trooper, to bring along her Mythos card sets in case I had to go ahead and fold whatever players showed up for me into Trent’s session (who was willing to have up to 12 people play).

But as it turned out, I had a full boat. Seven players including Terry. Wow. I think Trent ended up with a couple players less than I had, which surprised me. I think some kind of word of mouth, somewhere, is getting around about the breezy little OD&D sessions I’ve been doing since last year. It was really gratifying to me to have such a great showing.

At Around 11AM the pub was filled with hollering and shouting soccer hooligans, but before long the TV matches were over and it quieted down a bit. We took our time getting characters set up, I ordered up two pints at a time, and tore into some delicious Cod and Chips when it finally showed up. I had a nice cozy booth type seat to adjudicate from, and it was the perfect amount of players for the space we had. Just enough room for everything and everybody.

The pub manager was a hilarious Manchester lady names Jackie, and her often mean and sarcastic attitude in the morning blended nicely with her more warm and friendly chatting in the afternoon when things quieted down a bit. Personally, I think she had tilted a few herself in the back, which is always a bringer of cheery feelings. One of my players that day was also English, from the London area (there was an old London map in the bathroom that he could see his old neighborhood on), so the combination of the Euro accents, pub atmosphere, and rainy day was super conducive to good gaming feelings. It was all quite perfect. After making sure of taking care of Terry’s Cod lunch and a couple of pints for being my designated driver, the day cost me around 90 bucks, but it was well worth it for a great day out. To me this was more fun than a day at Disneyland or Knott’s. Limey manager Jackie said that for next time she might arrange a buffet and some booze discounts to cut back on costs a little.

As far as the scenario, I did a sort of Tegel Manor prequel, set in a time before that mansion become the most haunted place in the world. I used some of the Tegel personalities from the 100 portraits in the Tegel Manor adventure, and had them still be alive, and a family trying to hold off the encroaching curse of the area.

Later this week I’ll post a bit about that Tegel Manor Prequel session, and also about tomorrows Night Below session, which I think will be quite brutal and very likely the last game of the campaign.

Meanwhile, go to Cylcopeatron’s site to see a couple of photos of the sessions from that day.

7 comments:

  1. Looks like a lot of fun was had! My local bar is a biker bar. Sounds like a challenge, what would they do there when the funny shaped dice are brought out?

    However, coincidentally, I am thinking of running a few public games at a local coffeeshop/beer&wine/"Bohemian" style place, and will see how that goes.

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  2. Saw Cyclo's post and it made wish I was So Cal that day. Congrats on very well-received game at a very unusual setting.

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  3. Ancient: I ran a session in the 80's for some biker druggies up in the hills of Crestline, California (my oldest bro was their pot dealer) and it was insane. They totally "got it" as far as how to play, but their group of mostly fighters never even got out of town to the adventure before they did violent things in the local tavern. The city watch showed up, there was a fight, and whoever did not die went to jail. These guys were hilarious. Best one shot I ever did, and I was still pretty much a kid!

    Risus: totally love to have you next time, bro.

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  4. Had a great time playing and knocking down pints of delicious English ale. I made it out with a bill of merely $55. I had a shepherds pie plate, 5 pints, and covered one of your later Newcastles. I hope they didn't accidentally charge us both! (They were totally cool so I have no reason to believe they did...)

    Thanks for the great game, B. Looking forward to another in the near future.

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  5. Alex:thanks for making it bro, and for being a great player. Yeah, kind of pricy in that place (I can get a 12 pack of Bass Ale at Rite Aid for 12.99, comparing that to around 8 bucks a pint at the pub), but if we can't get any kind of discount next time, me and you'll go out in the lot and tailgate a couple bottles in between our nice pints inside!

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  6. A great day of gaming, indeed. I'm looking forward to reading your session report! I'm still trying to figure out how japanese porn fits into tegel manor...?

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