A Gaggle of Teens by Trent Naclerio (MS Paint, Mouse. 2020.) As you may know, I'm a pretty seasoned tabletop rpg gamer. I've played D&D since I was thirteen, played Vampire the Masquerade and other World of Darkness games since just a bit before then, and ever since I've been exposed to other tabletop games like Honey Heist, GURPS, Shadowrun, and so on. I have been the Dungeon/Game Master for multiple oneshots, but I have only personally DM'd three campaigns in my lifetime. The latest campaign is what my players and I like to call 'Us Campaign'-- essentially, the players play as themselves... but in a DND setting, aka Faerun. Since I was a child and dipped my toes into the creative world, I was never good at finishing things besides illustrations. Fully colored, sure. Background and fully colored, shaded? That was a triumph I am still struggling to jump over. Longform stories whether it be fanfiction or my own original work, however? NaNoWriMo was the closest I ever got before I eventually lost interest in my ideas and stopped. I am a constant font of new, fresh ideas that seem more and more exciting than the last. I hyperfixate on a concept until my attention burns and fizzles out, like a candle flickering away due to the chilly winds. I've been trying to work on this admittedly, but the hobjob of creative, mental, and physical burnout is a pain in the @ss to deal with. The idea of US campaign comes from my stupidly self indulgent habit of well, reading self-insert fanfiction. It was a hobby I picked up as a wee little child on the internet, and I never truly kicked it. In the chaos that is my life, a good immersive story where I could just pretend to be someone, something else was irresistible. In the midst of our current campaign at the time, I had a fleeting thought: "What if there was a campaign where WE, the players, were sent into DnD land? What if we were in essentially an isekai anime?" Immediately, all of our other players were on board as our current Dungeon Master at the time was busy and could not hold sessions. Soon, we had a cohesive party, and henceforth I ran a few oneshots to begin what would be the very first incarnation of Us Campaign. Trouble in New ChorkI was pretty new to DMing in general, with multiple oneshots and a failed homebrew campaign under my belt. Naturally, with this first round of oneshots, I planned very strictly albeit messily. The party, which were my players playing as well, themselves but with D&D equipment, languages, proficiencies and so on, were suddenly warped to New York. After wandering around for a bit, they realized that the worlds of New York and Chult (the setting of our main campaign at the time) were melding together, and soon a tarrasque would attack! Panicking, our party members needed to find a way to fix the rift in their dimension and the Forgotten Realms quickly, lest their world be lost to the raging impossible to defeat monster. They stumbled upon a lolita cat cleric, a party of adventurers sent to kidnap NPC Jay (aka me, which was placed at the behest of my players), and eventually their own Dungeon Master, who was transported to the land of Chult, given a set of glorious armor after accidentally saving a major lord, and returning once he found the rift in the dimensional space. It was all very messy and convoluted honestly; eventually after pulling a deck of cards and turning NPC Jay against the party, the party discovered an arcane rift portal that was destroyed. Seeking to repair it, the party quickly got to work as the tarrasque began to manifest into existence. If I remember correctly (sue me, this was freshman year) the party had failed and were sucked into the world of Faerun, their own NPC Jay being turned into one of the "nephilium"-- monstrous humanoids who ingested a serum to gain unholy powers. In spite of its messiness, my players thoroughly enjoyed the game and its concept. I vowed to return to the idea eventually, and once our normal Dungeon Master returned we sought to complete our current Tomb of Annihilation Campaign at the time. Us Campaign V2?In the beginning of 2020, we had well finished the Tomb of Annihilation and inevitably, the story of the Fatally Fortunate... for now. We moved onto a new homebrew campaign with new characters that sadly had less chemistry than the Fatally Fortunate, and even turned into a few bumps along the way. On top of that, Covid-19 had struck and in late March, we were sent home to finish remote learning and accomplish quarantine. Our normal Dungeon Master, Thomas M (who we'll just call M), was not fond of the idea of DMing remotely. And in all honesty, we weren't either. I was frustrated mentally with remote learning and was just getting used to its structure; I can guess with pretty good confidence everyone else felt the same. Most notably, our D&D party was not moving as smoothly as we'd like. Our characters got into conflict, and what progress was made felt like pushing cart wheels through harsh, cold clay. Elayna, one of our members heavily suggested a break, and we agreed. That break would yawn on from spring to late summer. At that point, quarantine restrictions had no sign of letting up. The risk of Covid-19 was still very apparent. Two of us were forced to work, and many of us had immunocompromised family members or other persons living with them. It was not practical to play D&D in person with all these risks. There were talks of playing D&D remotely. With the oneshots still fresh on her mind, Eliza suggested US Campaign; an idea I toyed with in the chats. I decided to step up to the challenge, and agreed. Within a few months, I had whipped up a basic plot for US Campaign after dealing with a brutal but usual battle of depression, creative stagnation, and schooling. Within late summer, we were ready. The ResultUs :3 by Trent Naclerio (MS Paint, Mouse. 2020.) Quickly, everyone kicked into gear to roll up their characters. I had created a hefty Google document detailing the specific rules for character creation. This time, I wanted things to make sense, things to go right. Our players only knew common, had no standard starting equipment (and instead had to gather things in their actual rooms), and were locked into the human race. But there was one perk: meta-knowledge. Due to their otherworldly nature, they had knowledge no other creatures or persons of Faerun had... or did they? Regardless, this gave them a great advantage as even if they lacked the tangible skills or items, they knew what they were straight away. The party started in a forest which they would later know to be the Woods of Sharp Teeth, being suddenly forced through a rift in their rooms on Earth by an unknown force. Naturally I had to install some 80s horrors vibes, complete with pack of howling wolves, dryads, and an abandoned village filled with mushrooms. It was in this forest that most of the party found their "class" abilities. The druid, Xander, discovered his powers after getting high off of mushrooms, the warlock Eliza discovered hers after making a pact with a demon locked inside the naginata she found in the village, and even the artificer Thomas found he could channel magic through the conduit he found within an ancient mythal. Once the party got situated, they began their first watch. Once that went through as smoothly as they could, they progressed using the scraps of their bloodstained map to head towards the nearest city: Baldur's Gate. Along the way, they discovered a gaggle of drunken bandits and promptly knocked them out and stole their cart. Using the cart, the party traversed a day or so towards Baldur's Gate, finally reaching Wyrm's Crossing. Much to their dismay, the guards were checking each and every cart. With quick use of the party's face, Trent and his deception skills, they were able to enter Baldur's Gate as smoothly as they could with minimal mishap. The city of Baldur's Gate quickly overwhelmed the party. There was much to do and coincidentally, they were in the midst of Highharvestide, the city's version of Thanksgiving. (Coincidentally, the party had been transported around the same time Thanksgiving was happening). After investigating the city, they quickly found themselves with a job, and sooner or later they were registering themselves as an adventuring party titled "The Seven Exiled".... The ConclusionDMing is hard work. Reward is found in the smallest, most discreet of places. I find myself working hard every night to make sure my players are having fun and that every detail is exactly what it should be.
But US campaign fills me with such inspiration that I could get lost in it for hours; and hopefully, this time, I won't lose interest. Citations...
1 Comment
Trent Naclerio
12/30/2020 10:37:35 am
yo that's me
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AuthorHey, Jay Phung here. This is my blog where I reflect on various assignments from Game Design! Please enjoy your stay (´・ω・`). Archives
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