LAN and Extra-Life

When I was asked to help set up a LAN event in my local community, I foresaw that it would take too much effort. Since I was already planning on running some D&D for Extra-Life, I thought that I could simply combine the two events and simply create one event. This changed yesterday.

LAN
There's a lot of planning when it comes to setting up a LAN, and I therefore sought a partner to handle the computer part, main part, of the event. I found an IT shop in Kalundborg, which hosted LANs and asked if he was interested in a partnership. He was very interested, but as the planning progressed it became clear that he had more than enough on his plate. He didn't take his phone, he didn't reply to emails, and he didn't attend meetings. He always apologized and explained about all the other things he was doing, and we therefore decided to look for another partner.

I was therefore put in contact with Sorby esports, and we are now working hard on setting up two LAN events in Dalmose, my local community. Setting up such an event takes time, and due to the change in partners, we decided to postpone both events. This means that I won't be running Extra-Life at our LAN event, and it also means that I suddenly have a lot more work.

Extra-Life
I'm not sure what I'm going to do about Extra-Life 2016. Extra-Life 2014 was held as an experience to try and play 24 hours D&D. Extra-Life 2015 was held because we had done so the previous year and it was fun. We spiced up 2015 by adding prizes, sponsors, and more advertisement. Unfortunately it wasn't an improvement, which has gotten me thinking about Extra-Life 2016 for the past ½ year now.

Right now, I'm thinking about the following:

• Should I run Extra-Life 2016?
• Should I maybe run another charity instead?
• Should I run a competition?
• How do I attract more viewers?
• How do I get more donations?
• What adventure should I run?

So if anyone reading this have any ideas or answers, please leave a comment.

Gaming Event

Last time I gave you a project update, I mentioned that we were working on a local LAN event for Extra-Life 2016. Much has happened with this project, but the latest development requires a bit of an explanation.

We decided to seek out other pastures when it came to collaboration with a group to sort out the computer part of the event. We have decided to go with Sorby esport, who is hosting the largest Fifa event here in Denmark in May. The event will take place in Sorbyhallen, Kirkerupvej 16 4200 Slagelse. It is presented by Sorby esport, which is part of Sorbymagle Idraetsforening. It is sponsored by Elgiganten and EA sports. Sports-gaming.dk handles a lot of the technical aspects of the event and you can get more info and buy tickets online.

Conflict amongst Gamemasters

I would like to start by quoting something I wrote when we started the project in December: "how to handle internal and external conflicts, etc. The answer to all of it was quite simple. We would take a mature talk about it if it ever became an issue. This may seem like a dangerous plan"

Unfortunately it was the most dangerous plan. After this weekend's session, we have entered an internal and external conflict that isn't being resolved.

The Conflict
The conflict has mainly started internally. The characters are very different, they are members of the order for different reasons, they do quests for different reasons, they complete the quests in different ways, which is all things I appreciate about TRPGs. Difference in opinion and playstyle is quite alright, but in this latest session I experienced that half the party wanted to play a game with internal conflicts, meaning that our characters fought each other, both verbally and physically.

Example 1: At one point our half-orc rogue goes over to sniff an old man. The old man perceives this as weird and pushes him away by knocking on his head with his rod. Our rogue perceives this as a physical attack and smacks the old man on the head. This escalates into a fight where the rogue disarms the old man completely. Our druid is already uncomfortable about the situation, which has gone beyond her limit. I simply ignore the situation, but when the old man says that none of us or our order is welcome anymore, I become uncomfortable, since another player is ruining things for me.

Example 2: Our friend has been captured but after investigating the situation it appears that he's safe and amongst family. The rest of the party decides to leave without him while I stay to wait for him. I don't understand why the others are simply leaving, and by staying I also uncover a plot where our friend is trying to secretly destroy a family heirloom. We fail, but at least we get the heirloom and escape his family, but without the help of the rest of the party.

The Solution
I mentioned out game that I was unhappy about the situation for several reasons. Some of these reasons were the internal conflicts and I wanted to talk about them, as we agreed we would. After mentioning some of the situations, the answers I got was simply that it was role play and that it was too bad that I or anyone else was uncomfortable with the situation. I then mentioned that I didn't externally like to play a game with internal conflicts, but half the party said that it was the fun part about it, which was not something they had mentioned before. The final solution was that we all told each other what would trigger our characters' discomfort, but I don't see how that will help in the long run.


The Future
We have decided to continue playing, and personally I have decided to try to simply play with the group, avoid any conflicts even if it means playing my character wrong, and try to enjoy the game as much as possible. Internal conflicts will eventually split the group and cause more external conflicts, but hopefully now that we've gone over to the 3rd Dungeon Master, then we'll play a few sessions where conflict doesn't play as large a role and everything will become fun again. If not, then we'll have to split the group in two. 

D&D Maps

Over the past decades I have created countless maps for Dungeons and Dragons. At first I simply created maps on paper but as the digital age expanded I started using Paint, and then Campaign Cartographer, and now I'm using Gimp. Photoshop is also a perfectly good program to use, but in my case it has always been a program I've had to pay for, and I've therefore never gotten around to learning to use it.

Recently a danish publisher was on the lookout for someone who could make fantasy maps for three of their new fantasy books. I sent in the following three maps:

This first map was created in Campaign Cartographer. Originally, I had created an assortment of islands for a D&D 3.5 game but when the players turned evil they wanted to raise the land to create a single island. I allowed this and drew a map on paper first, and since then I've created this map to illustrate the lands that they conquered since that fateful day when they raised it from the bottom of the sea. Note that the names are a mixture of Elvish and names that the players gave the various places. Only The Tower of Magic and Dun are names from the original map.

This next map was also created in Campaign Cartographer. It was the map I created for my first D&D 4e game. I took a map of Mars (near Terra Cimmeria) and then I started modifying it. Once complete, I made the central part of the map the human lands with the Points of Light from the Dungeon Masters Guide, and added a few extra names, including names from Mars. I then added various other nations, such as the dwarven mountains of Dawnforge, the elven forest of Winterbole, the halfling jungle of Harken, the ruined empire of Ma'adim, and the goliath lands of Chronium.

The last map I sent was created in Gimp and inspired by maps I have of Faerun from Forgotten Realms. Although I mainly play 5e now, I have a 3.5 game running, and this is the map that the players will play on from June and forth. It is the last vestige of life in the world. The game takes place at the end of the 3rd Age, and the players will fight in an Elemental War against forces of chaos and temporal magic. This map will eventually change over time. It is currently the map I'm most proud of, and I look forward to using it, and modifying it as the war progresses.