Work has been a bear, and a few things came up besides, so I’m a little behind on my D&December posts. So today is a little bit of catch up, with another catch up post tomorrow to get me up to date.

Day #5: A Moment of Triumph

This might be slightly different than what was intended for the question, but one of the moments I had around characters was the day I outgrew the “lone wolf” style of character. As a young gamer and a lover of fantasy and sci-fi film, the stoic character who makes his own path was well-known to me. And on the screen it looks like an exciting character to play. The problem, of course, is that D&D is a group activity. If you’re playing a loner (or as was often the case, everyone in the group is trying to play a loner) you don’t really fit with the dynamic needed for a successful adventuring party. So the day I figured out how annoying and boring the lone wolf character is for the other players and the GM, was the day I really started to grow as a player and GM.

Day #6: A Moment of Despair

About two years ago, I almost gave up the hobby for good. I was having health issues, both medical and mental. There were health issues elsewhere in my family that were a drain on my time and energy as well. My work was suffering as a result of all this, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to fix that. Tabletop gaming, which had been my escape from all of this, was becoming harder and harder to organize, and I couldn’t work up enthusiasm for it anymore.

It was around this time that I discovered the show Critical Role, and got hooked on watching the adventures of Vox Machina. It didn’t happen all at once, but over multiple episodes I felt my enthusiasm for gaming return. I was reminded of what was truly important about the hobby: shared experience and friendship. It wasn’t a magic bullet, and I still had a bunch of other things to fix. But I was saved from giving up on the hobby which gave me support and strength through the bad times.

Day #7: Your Player Character

I have a longer piece planned for this, so stay tuned. I’ll post it out of order later on.

Day #8: Favourite Creature

I talked about them in another post, but I’m really fond of slipping mimics into my campaigns. I enjoy the idea of the “classic” mimic, disguised as a treasure chest to gorge on the greedy adventurer. But I also love the idea that, like other ambush predators, mimics will use whatever works best for their current environment. So a mimic could potentially show up as any inanimate object that might attract prey. And the strength of the creature can be pretty easily adjusted for any party, so they are a wonderful “evergreen” monster to throw at your party at whatever level.

Day #9: Draconic

I don’t think dragons get used nearly as often as they should, as an encounter, NPC, or main villain. You have a creature which, barring mishap, will live for centuries and likely has done prior to meeting the adventurers. They are stronger, faster, more cunning, and generally smarter than the party. They can prepare their lair to “properly” receive visitors, and have usually hired or bullied a screen of lesser beings to wear down the party. My favourite way to reveal a dragon in a campaign is to have the characters interact with an NPC who they think is humanoid  for a while, and eventually learn that that NPC is actually a dragon in disguise. Always fun!

See you tomorrow, as I get myself up to day twelve.