D&D On the Deck

Back in 2014 I started an "Old Guys D&D" group in celebration of the 40th anniversary of D&D. I called upon some of my friends from high school who used to play D&D. It started as a lark - an excuse to get together for a weekend and re-live the glory days. We enjoyed the game so much - and loved the 5th Edition rules so well - that we decided to start a campaign.  On our second outing, one of my friends brought his high school aged daughter along. She had never played, but enjoyed the game even though she was playing with a bunch of "old guys". After that we decided to include all of our daughters and call it "Dads and Daughters D&D", or "D&DD&D". It has been a tremendous way to introduce new players to the game, spend time with good friends, and enjoy our families.

We've only been playing every few months since we live a few hours away from one another. I've been DMing us through The Hoard of the Dragon Queen and it has been pure delight. This past weekend my friend who lives in the Hocking Hills area of southern Ohio hosted us. We had beautiful weather, a beautiful setting and an entire Saturday...

Desk space set for a day of gaming.
The tents in the background were accommodation for a couple of us heartier types.

View from the DM's chair.
You'll notice dragon mugs among the "old guys".
I bought them as gifts for our first game.
Good thing too, since our host is a master brewer!

The Dwarvenforge Caverns tiles were a big hit.
For a group so large, it was good to have something people could play with while waiting for their turn.
You can also see how well the clear acrylic bases look on the character models.

Mid-afternoon. The sun is taking a toll on the players, but they soldier on.
The party has been trying to get a long rest but keeps getting interrupted. 

Deep in the cave complex a Roper attacks!
The kids were having fun with the pipe cleaners.
The white area is 15 feet below the cavern shelf to the left.

The paladin is dragged into the pit!
Our host's daughter brought her boyfriend along and he joined the party as a paladin.
I can assure you her father had nothing to do with his character being nearly killed.

Smiling players and a pensive DM.
A good time was had by all.

As you can see, the party is huge! 9 characters for this game, 8 players on the day. My daughter was not able to be there this time, but we kept in touch with her via text throughout the day and kept her character in the game.

It can be a challenge running a game this large, but we all get along very well and cooperation makes it fun. Also, one of my friends has created an awesome spreadsheet that tracks everyone's abilities. He is sitting to my right in the above photo and acts as secretary throughout the game. It works very well and frees me to focus on the story telling.

The moral of the story here is:  Get out and play! If you're thinking you'd like to get a game going, ask! People may be more interested than you think. Keep it light and fun and about spending time with people you love and you can't go wrong.

Until next time, carry on!