By Jackson Preston-Werner, 12
Long before geeks were cool, there was D&D. This is a game that can be played with anything! And needs very little. Thankfully, we no longer live in the dark days of D&D. Now, there are rule books, tokens, mats, sheets, and more! Since The Yearly WriCampian covers the Film Track’s movies, this article will talk about the RPG Track’s campaigns.The first DM interviewed by this reporter was Zach Kern, who has some awesome 3d-printed terrain. Zach’s Daily-time campaign started out as a carnival mayhem adventure, which then turned into a thrilling treasure hunt. The player party comprised a halfling rogue, a human monk, a half-elf bard, a human druid, another half-elf bard, and a dwarf cleric. Zach’s Track-time campaign was a Star Wars reskin of D&D, with complicated rules such as battle mechanics with spaceships; the player’s characters were a half-human engineer, and three alien Jedi. His final campaign was a nightly, featuring his 3d-printed inn, in an adventure about protecting the inn and its inhabitants from bandits. The characters of the players in this campaign were a tiefling warlock, a dragonborn paladin, a half-elf bard, another dragonborn paladin, an elf sorcerer, and a dwarf cleric. Asked for his favorite part about D&D, Zach said that the creative ideas players come up with, and their random surprises never fail to entertain.
Another DM we interviewed was Peter Quinn-Jacobs, the head of RPG at WriCampia. Peter’s campaign for Track was a sequel to a game started last year. Last summer, a DM ran a campaign about cannibal chefs; this year the nightly campaign is about the cannibal chef’s children, who now own a restaurant. The long arm of the law had lately come for the restaurant in the form of knights, who had taken it over. The daily track campaign was a quest to capture the dragonborn convict known as Garfagield, who had lately fled to the blighted lands of Warda. The party members of that adventure were a halfling ranger, a human cleric, a half-elf bard, a tiefling paladin, a catfolk rogue, and a firbolg sorcerer. When it comes to Peter’s DM style, he loves to see players think up creative solutions to problems.
Another member of the D&D squad is Iris Yu, a DM in not only D&D, but also Kids On Bikes. Her D&D adventure took place during Waterfront, centered around the players attempting to steal the Silver Raven. Throughout this daring mission, multiple heart attacks have been faked in the game. The game Iris ran during Track, though, was a game of Kids On Bikes. All of these sessions of Kids On Bikes take place in Appendix, Delaware, with the quest of trying to figure out why all of the water is suddenly sweet. The four characters being played in the game were two kids, and two teenagers (all human). By the way, Iris’s favorite thing about D&D is how much players can influence the narrative.
The next DM is Alek Ramseur, whose Track campaign took place in IceWind Dale, a snowy tundra in the far North that is constantly under assault by the godlike Frost Maiden, who is the embodiment of winter itself. Her icy powers were starting to make it hard for even the natives of IceWind Dale to properly live in the conditions. So, five heroes (played by the players), consisting of an elf monk, gnome wizard, elf cleric, changeling druid, and a tiefling sorcerer, stepped up to confront the Frost Maiden. Another one of Alek’s many campaigns involves a caravan of heroes who had to eat their camel, and are now going insane, which then led some of the players to try and drive Alek insane himself. Along with that campaign, Alek also ran a campaign where several characters got grabbed by a winged creature of unknown origin, and dumped in the savage beast’s lair, deep in the mountains, and then had to get out before they were eaten. His final campaign was a non-D&D game known as Honey Heist, in which the party members were bears on a quest to intercept a convoy full of honey owned by Honey.com. Alek’s favorite aspect of D&D is that you don’t have to “win” the game in order to have fun. Additionally, the characters in D&D are often more realistic than in other games, leading to opportunities for character growth.
Sadly, due to time restraints, The Yearly WriCampian was not able to interview RPG instructor Thomas Khan and CIT Henry A. about their respective campaigns (though you should definitely ask about them). This reporter hopes that this article has helped you understand the world of RPGs a little bit more.
