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| Image I made at the beginning of 2024 with the idea of making and running an OD&D dungeon with a dragon in the middle |
I don't have a very clever angle to this post other than reflecting on my 2024 in terms of Dungeons & Dragons. A reflection appropriate given it was D&D's 50th anniversary.
I CAST LIGHT!
I'll end this year with about ~37-38 posts. Slightly down from previous years (~44/year), but IRL work got much busier and took some energy away from creating. However, I did happen to do a fair amount of creating for my own Nightwick Abbey campaign and I think if that material was posted I'd have hit my average.
In all I'm very appreciative of the readership here at ICL!. Its been wonderful to see that a few posts resonate with the large D&D hobby and also nice to have connected with a few of the "celebrities" I used to read about in the G+ era (RIP) when I was learning in those circles. But I'm just as pleased that posts here have also helped other DMs to just run games. A driving force of this blog as always been to put play above all else.
Of the posts written in 2024, here are the three that seem to garner the most interest:
NIGHTWICK ABBEY
Certainly, no other RPG material has cast a shadow over this blog than Miranda Elkins' Nightwick Abbey megadungeon. And that will not change in 2025, when those hell-haunted halls will continue their horrific howling.
The Weeknights in Nightwick group completed their 100th delve in October of 2024! A milestone, I think, in the modern age where old-school megadungeons are still a rarely glimpsed coelacanth. Our Weeknights party earned an important distinction too this year, as the first group to travel to Level 4 of the Nightwick Abbey. In the ~13 years that Miranda has been running it this was a first. On a more individual level, my magic user, Mayfly, reached 6th level (warlock) and might have also sold his soul (positive). Our group is still strong at 9-10 players and shows no signs of flagging- so here's to 50 more delves in 2025!
Flipping to the other side of the DM screen, my Where Hell Comes To Prey campaign reached its 24 delve in 2024. Very respectable and even some of the PCs have made it to level 3 and 4 at a pace similar to what we experienced in the Weeknights group so I am pleased. I find that running a campaign, even one I play in, has been good opportunity for me to generate material for running a game much of which I've not yet put on this blog. In running Nightwick I've had to think about:
- If 100-minute megadungeon sessions are enough to run a consistent campaign
- How to transform random encounters into noteworthy villains
- Alternative forms of carousing beyond "orgies, inc"
- What is needed to make a "boss" monster threatening
- Where do all these cultists come from and what do they want?
- Secret societies from materials and treasures in Nightwick
- How do you run a megadungeon setting as a 3-hour one-shot at a convention?
And you know what? Even with playing and DMing Nightwick, I still get excited to run/play more! Deepest bow to Miranda's horrible (good) creation.
And if you want to learn more about the world of Nightwick from Miranda? You can follow her blog here and the ongoing development of Nightwick Abbey at her Patreon here. And even play here at Start Playing.
CONVENTIONS
I attended two conventions in 2024: Reaper CON and GameHole CON. I DM'ed at both I think a total of 21 hours of Nightwick Abbey. It was interesting to come up with a scenario that hopefully showed off the Abbey, provided some of the same choices that would naturally be made exploring a megadungeon, and was an exciting 3 hours of old-school play. Over 7 games, the forces of Law were able to escape with the vicar 3x while the Abbey racked up 4 TKO of most of the party (not a TPK, but 85% death).
I enjoy running games at conventions, but it is really exhausting! DMing takes energy and there is a little bit of stress the comes along with hoping complete strangers are having fun with your style of D&D. And while each con certainly has its own flavor and vibes, running con games is a very similar experience no matter which con I go too. I think in the long run, I might favor more local cons over traveling too far. But who knows, I'd like to hit up GaryCon.
LOOKING FORWARD TO 2025
Post more "good-enough" adventures here on ICL!. I am far too precious with my creations. And would like to work toward writing stuff for myself, not publication, and getting interesting ideas circulating among the hobby.
Finish Serpent Psalms to compliment The Serpent Song Hymnal. Having the Hymnal when I run games has been fantastic, so I'd like my players to have a complimentary version.
Run a game with friends and family who have expressed an interest in D&D and are always curious about exactly what I am doing. Its hard deciding on how I want to do this. Maybe an OD&D campaign using my dreamlands material? Maybe a Dolmenwood campaign? Maybe just a BX dungeon with a dragon at the center?
Running Daisy Chainsaw which seems like a ripping good time.
Learn to pain miniature better and run more minature skirmish games like Brawl Arcane
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