A few months back Ash posted about his experience of finding and finally playing D&D in London. Well it’s been a year since he started playing and Bob mostly listening to his exploits and problems and playing tiny bit. So today’s post is what he has learnt and what he now knows to be his preferences and requirements at a table playing D&D.
I filled out the ‘History and Experience’ on the London DndLFG Discord in the 1st week of September last year. Looking back at it the other day I realised a lot has changed, so it felt like time for an update. So I took to rewriting that Profile Description and here is what i wrote…
Having known of D&D for most of my life, but having not played it, (I had always wanted to but trying to convince friends to play proved futile). But with the surge of DnD into the mainstream and so many more people involved in it, it seemed the perfect time to find some like minded people to play with. So, finding the Server, I decided to share my wish to join in.
As I said a year has passed and I have lost my cherry and have found myself involved in a regular game, having found the ‘Dragons on the Hill’ Server through this one. I managed to get a new table formed and we started playing last October, at the pub in Bloomsbury. Myself and Bob (my moral support human) went along with little and no idea (respectively) of what to expect or do. But the rest of the guys (as they were all male) were all experienced and very experienced at that. But they helped us Newbs and a one-shot to get us started on the experience curve. Once I realised I was safe and not going to be eaten as a sacrifice Bob, got to stay home each week and didn’t have to accompany me any longer.
So, now I am here, a year down the line and this is what I have discovered/learned;
Experience; A year of playing nearly every week (except for May due to a knee operation), One intro mini campaign of D&D and then about 15-20 weeks of a full campaign of Ice Wind Dale. Plus a couple of other systems, namely Monster of the Week and my first attempt at DM’ing with a Cogent Dungeon Crawl. That really gave me the taste and confidence to want to do more.
A year has taught me a lot, from the absolute basics of dice and character creation to knowing where to look on the Character Sheet for the right stat (I still get lost). With the campaign I even took on a random Character – a female Drow Outcast who is dressed as a French Maid! There is a YouTube video about her if you need to know why!
Player style; A year of playing has taught me more than just how to play, it’s taught me what I like and what annoys me! I am a Role Player, I introduce myself as the character saying ‘I attempt to kill him’ not “she tries to… or ‘my character tries to…’ and I much prefer it that way. I want to get lost in the game, thrown in to a new world and not be sitting around a table describing a fictional event, I’m a writer, my characters and NPCs (there are a few) have backstories, voices, mannerisms. My current game is very much the latter, when I talked in the gravelly voice as Scrimshaw the Bone Merchant, I just got funny looks from the rest of the table! I need a table of Creative types, gender is not an issue, I would just wish that there were all genders as it seems mostly a male dominating thing.
Bob felt uncomfortable at the table, too many ‘Straight White Nerdy Men’, there are a few female players in ‘Dragons on The Hill’, but not on our table and the players we got are typical and limited, a pair of very British guys, nicknamed ‘White Guy 1 & 2’ An Exiled American with 20 years of experience and one of those know-it-all players who seems to have every spell memorised and down on his sheet as available to him in game. An Asian Brit who only ever plays one character, no matter the game and a weird one at that! There was a cool Swiss Guy who RP’d (Role Played) and I got along with even if I had his name wrong for most of the 3 months when he was playing with us! But he left at the end of his year studying here and another couple of players have turned up, one vanished without a trace (literally) and the other is a bit more on my level.
I want to play a game where it’s heavy on the RP, where the character’s name is called rather than the player, I’m happy for on table romance, character development and death, even resurrection, but beyond a slash and grab combat heavy pre-made story, I want to push the limits.
Basically I want to be on Critical Role!
DM Style; As I just said I want immersion, so a DM leading the narrative with description and detail, voices and nuisance, or to be the DM myself. I have too many characters in my head to be healthy, they need to be let out once in a while! I am working on a Home Brew mini that could just grow into a Campaign, if I found a group to try it. So obviously Home Brewed Creatures, objects, equipment, NPCs and the rest would be great! I make terrain for the table as well as models, props, NPCs with Backstories and the rest, anything for a ‘whole experience’.
Triggers; Aside from the obvious SA, which is not needed, (in a backstory sure it’s a good vengeance plot), but anyone wanting to act that out in detail should seek help elsewhere.
But aside from those sorts of things, having played for year at a table where people play the same character no matter what the game (literally the same character!) Or play a way too powerful Artifacer for the level and basically cheat, by bringing a machine gun to a sword fight (again literally!) Or a holier than thou player that won’t do anything wrong, even if his Rogue Assassin needs to. I now know I am triggered by lack of commitment, hence the long post on what I need! Also ‘Theatre of the Mind’ really grinds me up the wrong way, as soon as White Guy 2 says I prefer that over figures and terrain, then proceeds to invent something completely different than what the DM described, I start fidgeting and getting anxious. It’s so annoying!
Availability; For me this is a social interaction, I want to talk to the other players beforehand and ask how their cat is or how their holiday was (eventually, maybe not at the first couple of sessions, first off i’ll be the anxious, shy person not saying much in the corner). Not sit around for 20 minutes in complete silence waiting for the DM to show up, only then talk about the game and the moment we end stop all interactions and run for the bus. Bob may play again (if the party are the right people), she’s still interested but just overwhelmed at the ‘too many Straight White Nerdy Men at one table’ issue! or the maths side of things – to much brain not enough game.
Also, I will never be playing on a Sunday Morning, let alone at 8am on any morning, I want to play in a pub with a beer, or (if the group becomes comfortable) in someone’s house (even mine!) and have an evening of fun. So, I am available most evenings (except Thursday). I’m not travelling to Putney or Croydon (actually I’m never going to Croydon if I can help it!)
So, having spent a year playing in the wrong group I really need to find the Right Group, so if this makes sense to you and you too want this sort of gameplay get in contact and let’s roll some dice!
Well there you go, if you are looking for Dnd Players in London and need extra players let us know. or if you read this from the London DnD LFG Discord do say hey and come talk! We will be back soon with more posts about KPop, KStyle, KDramas or just Coffee, who knows?!
Climbing Moss 