"You find yourselves in a tavern...again..." - D&D&D Night

A couple weeks back, Totty posted a seemingly innocuous announcement from Facebook into our Discord chat. It was from Polyrhythm Brewing, a microbrewery close to the habitats of one of our number that many of us have become quite fond of:  

🎶How years ago in days of old When magic filled the air🎶 ⚔️Calling all adventurers⚔️The best quests start in a tavern, so come on down to the taproom October 5 @6pm for some DnD action. We'll be offering free popcorn for all groups playing DnD, and we'll of course have our Thursday $5 Wit special as well. DMs get bonus drink discount as well! We'll have one session for anyone interested in a one shot, but seating is limited so first come, first served! So bring your best pals and favourite dice out to the taproom. Cheers! It took surprisingly little convincing to get a half-dozen of us to actually commit to this, and knowing I had some short adventures, I volunteered to be Dungeon Master (DM) as well.

And then I thought, heck, I might as well roll up the characters on Roll20 since they support printed character sheets now.

And when trying to choose races and classes, I thought, hey, this is a great opportunity to paint some of my many, many unpainted adventurer models!

And among the grey multitudes, in my long-delayed but often appreciated selection from Blacklist Miniatures were many, many adventurers representing the less stature-oriented peoples of the Players Handbook, including a fairly tough-looking halfling monk and a dwarf wizard in a pose highly reminiscent of the Street Fighter video games...

And thus all my friends' character options were under five feet tall.

Jebbedo Glintcassel, Wenryn Flintshadow, Beryl Hawthorne, Balthazar Smeltriver and Daxil Boldhammer

I offered an Inspiration point (free re-roll) to anyone who could come up with a relevant name by consensus with the rest of the group, and with a little prodding from Totty and an accompanying poll, The Half Pints arose as the name of choice (although Five By Five was also in the running, and I myself enjoyed Vertically Challengers quite a bit).

We sent Pete in early to grab a spot, thinking there could be a crowd, but we needn't have worried; there was only one other person there with books, and only one person came to sit with them over the evening, and they either chatted or perhaps rolled up characters, I am unsure. 

This sat well with me, not just because it made it a little quieter and easier to hear my own players, but in all honesty, I was a little apprehensive about playing D&D in a public place for the first time in my life.

That probably sounds a little weird from someone who is not only a proudly self-labeled nerd but also experienced in public speaking and who used to host Mega Battles at the Games Workshops stores he managed on a regular basis. But role-playing games have always felt more... personal. They are a bit theatrical and are at their best when the participants feel comfortable enough to let a few of their inhibitions go.

And not too deep inside this hefty middle-aged bloke is an insecure adolescent hoping that no one notices the comic books and Monster Manual inside his bookbag. I was fully aware of his presence, but still, a bit surprised at his proximity.

Anyhow, I was set up for success to be sure: I had recently purchased a very cool DM's bag so I could easily carry all my books, dice, miniatures, and other accouterments. I was well prepared with a very fun-looking adventure called "Wild Sheep Chase" that had come very highly recommended, and most importantly of all, I had a wonderful group of stout-hearted fellows with me, fully committed to having a good time with some make-believe and some dice.

(And the half-priced drinks for DMs didn't hurt either, I will have you know.)

We ordered some sandwiches and some drinks and got underway about 6:30, learning only later that the taproom closed at 9 pm and last call was at 8:15! Thankfully the lovely staff were very accommodating and let us stay until half-past wrapping up our adventure.

It was a great time wrapped around a silly tale about an arrogant wizard turned into a sheep by his thieving apprentice, and kicked off with a fight in a pub (natch!) as a half-orc thug and the apprentice's guards (polymorphed into wolves and an enormous bear) tried to bring back the escaped wizard.

Despite the close confines of the tavern and the collateral damage spells like fireball would have caused, the Half Pints did manage to best the half-orc and the bear, and prevent the wolves from dragging the sheep out the door - if only just.

The wizard/sheep then led the party to his own absconded tower, where they quickly made short work of the guards polymorphed into apes, but while fighting another bear, the apprentice Noke burst out of the tower riding a fearsome polymorphed creation -  a dragon he had created out of the nearest thing available - his bed! (Tragically we were not able to obtain a miniature for this in time for play, but rest assured, there is one!)

The fight was a pretty decent one, but in retrospect, five 5th-level characters might have been a bit strong for this opposition, even if not played by a smart team that loves tactical thinking, but the real crescendo came when Sean, playing not one, but two unfamiliar roles (rogue and spellcaster as an Arcane Trickster), asked if he could use Mage Hand to snatch away the polymorph wand that had transfigured the wizard (and which I was going to turn on the players next turn).

"Sure," I said, "it will be an opposed sleight-of-hand roll..." as Sean rolled one of his ice-cream-looking dice:

And that roll produced a mighty and fearless cheer if ever you'd heard one.

It did not take long after that to dispatch both the traitorous apprentice and the ersatz dragon he rode, and afterward they were able to successfully use the wand to transform the wizard back to his original form. And he was grateful to be sure but explained he might have overstated his ability to enchant items for the party in exchange for their services. If they could perhaps leave the items in question while he conducted more research...

We cleaned up pretty quickly after and thanked Jason, our server for giving us the extra time to finish up. After the others had left and I waited for my ride (again, half-price drinks for the DM!), we chatted about gaming, and how he hoped a bit more promotion might get more people out when they do D&D&D again.

He asked how often we played, and how we knew each other. I talked about some of the campaigns we'd played in, and about how many of us get together once a year for Gaming & Guinness, and showed him my challenge coin and explained how it works and how everyone there was expected to have theirs on their person. 

I talked about how all of us have made fellowship and gaming a big part of our lives for over a decade and a half, and how grateful I was for this strange opportunity to get together in a public space with these fellows.

Jason nodded, and said, "a friend group like that, it doesn't just happen - you have to make time and space for it, right?"

Abso-friggin'-lutely.

And thanks again to Jason and the folks at Polyrhythm for making it happen -  hope to see more of you there next time around!