#my dnd campaign was going to meet her old party/friends but I don't think that thing's ever coming back so alas

[ace-malarky]

Happy Blorbo Blursday!

No question today, just give us a ramble about a character you don't usually get a chance to ramble about!

Beloved, I have so many characters I have never rambled about but also ok we're doing side characters with Relevance now so it's Drassa's turn

by the time of any story we see her in, she's a retired adventurer, well respected if distant member of society, definitely nobility if a bit strange, and

of course

our boy Jasper's mother

(and also the character I played in the game that spawned them both. No I don't know why Jasper then got the limelight but it's better this way because I can just allude to all of Drassa's stuff rather than having to write it)

Except! no one knows she is Jasper's mother because she is Unwed and Respectable and Surely Drassa Would Never so he's obviously just like. a foster child or a distant relative's because she is so Sweet and Noble, of course she would Help Out to give him a good start in life

but anyway. She starts life as like. almost a normal kid, actually! She's friendly, she has a family! There's no tragic backstory here, she's just kinda bored with it all. She just has a hankering for something more and, being stubborn and unwilling to listen to people telling her to cool her jets and also No, she just strikes out with whatever group is going and learns fast how to fake everything. She isn't a fighter but my god can she talk her way into and out of everything! In a world of elves and orcs and lizardfolk where they haven't quite forgotten that humans are only so many generations out of being colonisers, with no access to the magic of the world, she's got to be smart about it and she is. She moonlights as a thief for a little bit (this is how she meets her main party/friends) but rather than stealth, her strategy is to act like she owns the place and not give anyone an opening to suggest that she doesn't

Her main party/friends are a lizardfolk & elf couple who have their own enemies-to-lovers arc already sorted by the time they meet Drassa, and they become very ride-or-die in the... ten or so years that they hang out together. despite claiming that they themselves are retired at that point. they couldn't resist Drassa's charm either

I am still somewhat hazy on how she meets Jasper's dad. it was probably just for a good time! Jasper definitely wasn't planned! (and had she known about the curse, she probably wouldn't have gone there but my god she would have liked to have known before it all explosively comes to light)

but when she realises she's pregnant, she figures she's got to make sure the kid isn't like. caught in the little circle of enemies she's getting known by? So she enlists her friends to help her get off world (fraud is committed), sets herself up as Rich Aristocrat (crimes are committed, but politely), and settles herself in for a life of refined ease. There is absolutely never a moment where she goes "ha this kid is going to be someone else's problem I'm too busy" she just fully adapts to being a single parent

but ok yes, she's looking after a kid and settling into her place in society with her big house and her garden and the servants that she pays to help out when she has to, and as Jasper grows up she finds she's just. she's missing it all! She wasn't aiming for retirement this early, but she's got a kid, man, and by god is he going to grow up in safety and with the freedom to get into whatever the fuck he wants!

so she might still be doing some light facilitating and blackmail and information gathering on the side. Oh I need to write in her and Nuvian knowing each other, that's a necessity. You know she's working with our travelling crime merchant! He's definitely fencing stuff for her!

and she doesn't exactly keep this quiet from Jasper & Llinos but I think they're definitely mostly laboring under the idea that she's retired (or at least only still has like the vaguest of historic links to it all), so when they come back to find that her past has come back to bite, they're a little surprised to find that she's holding her own in whatever form the fight has taken haha

Tamhas and Tadhg do not know any of it, and this is for everyone's safety. It's bad enough that they wriggled their way into crime as it is, but at least it's where Drassa can keep an eye on them. This is why they panic when they realise that Drassa is in trouble, and like while she appreciates the back up it was not entirely necessary! She'd got herself out of tighter fixes before and she'll do it again

[givemethesleep]

Kay, I read the post about your DnD OC's and I am SO INVESTED! That is one HECK of a traumatic backstory! I guess my biggest question is, what's kind of the endgame in your head for these characters? Because they are SO COOL and SO FULL of potential!

Do you want them to reconcile? To physically fight it out? To become an immovable object and unstoppable force, doomed to constantly butt heads?

Is there any sort of plan for either of them to address their trauma and/or get themselves in a healthier environment? Will Boreal ever find someone who loves him just for him and not for what he can do? Will he ever be able to conquer his constant need for validation? Will Australis ever find someone who isn't afraid of her and cares about her, even past her rude and snappy defense mechanisms?

Or are we going for more of a negative character development angle where they go in increasingly darker paths, with Australis eventually succumbing to her patron or Boreal's savior complex becoming much larger scale?

And please tell me anything else about them too, because holy heck, this is juicy!

I ADORE YOU. THIS IS THE BEST ASK EVER. YOU'RE INCREDIBLE MWAH<333

Answering these questions and more + some random picrews and images I have for them under the cut (when I add the cut tomorrow because idk how to do it from the web browser) <3 And grab some popcorn because this is probably gonna get long AND juicier.

SO as far as their endgames, I'm not entirely sure. I use them in a variety of contexts (D&D with my friends from highschool, Australis is my Tav for BG3, discord rp ect.) So their endings are sort of fluid but.

They don't reconcile. They miss each other terribly. Australis offends Boreal's desperate attempts to be "good" and "pure" in spite of the magic that made him the way that he is. Australis cannot forgive him for driving her into exile and building his reputation by painting her a ghastly villain. Every time they meet, they tear each other apart. More often than not, though, Boreal is the antagonist in these meetings. More on this later!

Australis gets a lot of comfort from her pact, drawing her magic and knowledge from the pool of those that came before her. Even if it's confronting, she grows a better understanding of who she is, and why she is how she is. And that, at least, is a comfort. It doesn't change the fact that a 9 year old child was tortured as she was, it doesn't change the fact that she was forcefully stripped of both her human and elven heritage in exchange for crystal-coated horns and otherworldly blue skin. But she understands it, and understanding is the first step to accepting it. Her patron is careless in how knowledge is accrued, so long as Australis contributes it's happy

I think, be it platonic, familial or romantic, Australis does have the capacity to love and be loved. How this will come about is up for debate - I'm using her in an upcoming campaign with friends, and (when I get the hardware to properly play) she's my Tav in BG3, so she has the companions from that game to play into this idea too. I'm also super keen in mushing my ocs together with friends and mutuals so. if you see this. hit me up if you like fucked up and mildly unnerving undead tieflings that turn into a creature of nightmares and explodes sometimes. She does have a pretty big heart, under that spiky exterior.

But, naturally, her story/ies are unfinished, so whether she finds a proper support system in one of her parties (or even one or more partners) is something that is still to come!

Boreal is the one that has the negative arc, with the help of @waffles5588. And his need for validation and the steps he takes to achieve it aren't specifically combatted. He does chance across an adventurer. An orc, looking for work in the more rural towns to help build his portfolio for bigger jobs. The two hit it off right away, and Boreal tags along on one or two jobs as the local guide and emergency healer should Mal take too much damage. They kind of end up in a sort of fwb bordering on romantic relationship. Mal adores Boreal. He's funny, he's someone who sees Mal as something more than a weapon, and who cares about his safety. He's also illiterate and not particularly bright, so he doesn't really pick up on the fact that most of the incidents in the general vicinity Mal and Boreal are asked to help with were incidents that Boreal himself setup. He's open to the idea of sharing his fame with Mal. It's a sort of intimacy, and he doesn't feel like Mal is a threat to him and his persona.

Though we haven't really gone into specifics, it's probably not going to be a happy ending for a long time, if at all. Boreal has to do some introspection and fix himself, which is going to be an unpleasant experience, but losing Mal due to his conniving nature would probably hurt just as much, if not more. Boreal's kind of dug himself into a lose lose situation that nothing short of a full rehaul of his entire person can fix. Sucks to be him, I guess. (All jokes aside, Boreal has two major forces that would force him to change for the better. One would be Mal threatening to leave or leaving him and ruining his reputation, the other being Helm directly stepping in and stripping Boreal of his divine power. Both of these would destroy him, but it'd be the wakeup call he needs)

That should answer your questions re: arcs, so now for some more fun facts (mostly about Australis she's the girl ever)

- Australis is an undead warlock with the pact of the tome, meaning she has her Book of Shadows to learn spells from, does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, and can turn herself into her form of dread - with a grotesquely twisted face, distended limbs and cold sharp crystals covering her body. When she hits 0 HP, she explodes into a fine powder littered with small shards of crystal, dealing considerable necrotic damage to those in her vicinity. From the dust, she regenerates with 1 HP and 1 level of exhaustion.

- Australis' pact has had a noticeable impact on her appearance. Her sclera are a very dark blue and her irises a startling pink. Her horns, once barely ridged, are slowly being encased in the same crystals that encase and hold her patron and it's vast knowledge. Her and her brother both had faint purple markings where they had once had normal birthmarks, but Australis' grew and wove elaborate patterns that darkened and pulsated.

- Every time she uses her warlock skill set, it widens her connection to her patron and the souls that make up it. Often, the voices of her patron question her actions and bombard her with alternate actions, sometimes even downright berating her. It's very very overwhelming, and she can't make it stop. Most of the time, after battles or fights where she has to take the lead, she has to shut herself in her tent and just completely shut down and endure it. She'll often emerge exhausted and with bloodied fingers from trying to claw the crystals growing on her horns off. Hence why she may come off a tad cowardly, insisting others try and carry the brunt of a fight.

- To flex his righteousness, Boreal sends Mal and some other mercenaries up the mountain to find Australis, claiming she's a witch spreading misfortune to the communities on the mountainside. Boreal helps as Mal and the crew attack and destroy the crystals in the cavern. Attacking Australis' Archivist and, indirectly, her. It's agonizing for her, her patron screaming at her in its thousands of voices to protect it, her mind and her vision swimming. She can't fight off her brother, the other half of her, and the pain Boreal and his friends are inflicting make focusing a spell nearly impossible. Her patron channels its power through her and drives the mercenaries from the cave injured, and nearly kills Australis a second time. Boreal tells the others that they must have killed the witch, or at least deterred her from attacking the villages again. They are hailed as heroes. Australis is almost fried from the inside out, lying half-dead in her damaged cavern with so many of the souls that made up her patron just... gone.

Besides, Australis had not once attacked the villages.

- Boreal is a bartender at the town he and Australis spent their late teens and early 20s in. People come to him for comfort and support, for healing and advice. That's where his people skills come from, and how his network and influence became what it is. He's a gossip and a busybody, sure, but he uses it to his advantage! The more he knows, the more damage he can cause and then ultimately fix!

Images are from picrew + a photo from BG3

[littleladymab]

FebruarOC - Larel

Larel, like Damaris, is a DND character that has gone through a few different campaigns. Why make a new one when I can rehash an old one that never got to go anywhere on the first try? 

Her first version was when I was invited to join in a campaign as a guest, as I was visiting some people when they were going to have a session. We were playing 4e which, like, this is why I enjoyed pathfinder so much (I know pathfinder is more 3.5e)! It's so much more crunchy and branching than 5e is. So when I say that Larel was an Eladrin, it's so much different for vibes than the 5e Eladrin. She was a Druid, though I don't remember the details from there for specifics. They didn't do "circles" the same way that 5e does; her role in the setting was to act as guardians for the last few remaining doors to the fey wild. 

As water became more scarce and the desert expanding, the portals to the fey wild needed to be guarded as people fled back across the planes. She was technically in the same guild as the ranger of the party was, but I didn't talk to him much prior to that, it was just a good way to get Larel involved with the plot when the party was in town. 

She had a huge distrust of anyone who used arcane magic, because it was magic users that were destroying the world, so she clashed with one of the party members right off the bat (the character was played by one of my friends). There also was a Wizard but I think we only had like one session cross over, so it was mostly the warlock that Larel butted up against. 

I was invited back to be recurring, but since I am in Cali and they're in PA, i had to skype in and couldn't always make it because of timing, and the priority was their party's regular meetings instead of finding a time we all met up. Which was fine. I won't go into details on the campaign here suffice to say it was the weirdest way a campaign could end, blows a kiss to the ethereal plane I think they're floating through space???? 

After that campaign, friend was going to do their own campaign and was inviting me to it originally. So I remade Larel, this time as an aasimar and using this homebrew Circle of the Furies. We had some pretty cool vibes going on for how she would be in the plot, etc etc until friend decided no. They wanted it to be an in-person game only, and they were changing the plot. So I was uninvited. Okay.

Years later, Kalina invited me to join her Taldorei campaign so I decided to brush Larel back off and bring her in! She's back to being an Eladrin, and she's sort of emotionally stuck in Summer. Circle of Wildfire, because I really enjoyed Fearne in ExU/CR3. I never DID quite hammer out her backstory fully in this setting, except that she had stolen a bird from an Archfey, jumped through a portal to the material plane, and then just kept running. I think she might have killed the archfey? Or at least thought she did. Hence the running. 

The bird is her wildfire spirit, Emrys! Her goal was to get him back to the Fire Plane, which she didn't quite know how to do until the party ran into some Air Ashari and they told her about the Fire Ashari and she just went HMM!! 

I began to realize, though, that I created her as a character who was kind of single-minded in her own personal quest that she was fine with going along with the main quest, but I didn't feel like she was engaging in a way that was beneficial. Kalina and I discussed the possibility of her leaving after the current plot-hook, to go do her personal things, and I'd bring in a new character. Unfortunately, spring/summer 2023 turned into an absolute emotional shitshow for both Kalina and myself in our personal lives, and everyone was so busy that it was hard to schedule games. So it's sort of on an indefinite pause. 

We played on Roll20 so I don't have an up-to-date version of the character sheet with her skills and the spells I mostly used a phone app for, but attached are her level 3 starting details (and some notes at the bottom from when I missed a session and was listening to the recording lmao). I posted the art i got from my friend Lauren during OC-tober (sorry no twitter mirror I'm too lazy to look for it). 

Here is her original pin-board; I can't remember if she could summon a jackal and she turned into a caracal or if it was the other way around?? I think she turned into the caracal. Yeah I never settled on an official appearance for her, but she did wear clothes that were very Rey-esque. Here is her newer pin-board; when I started to rebuild her as the circle of furies aasimar, I settled on the late model Raudha Athif, and kept it for the circle of wildfire version. 

PS: Her original name was Larel Havrel, but then when I was rebuilding her for the Taldorei campaign, I kept spelling it wrong and also I didn't like the way that it rhymed so I changed it to Larel Havar. Except then I kept typing Havrel. So, who fucking knows what her last name is LMAO

You can find her (out of date) character sheet on patreon! (Unfortunately I think I threw out her 4e one as I just had no need of a laminated DND 4e character sheet I'd never use again LMAO)

[bubblelliot]

Here's my second character! I will also present their teammates a bit since the crew is much more like a family this time! (Might also add pics of the others in following posts and MAYBE of his animals too)

Særos Sandiel and The zookeepers

(This art is a picrew which I do not have the rights on, here is the link to it: https://picrew.me/image_maker/62745)

The name of the team mostly comes from a joke saying that "Mama Lyræ is our zookeeper and that we are the Zookeepers to a ton of pets. Also, Yarina can shapeshift into beasts sooooooo yeah.

Technicalities:

Særos is my very first character played in D&D. We actually started playing on the other game I talked about last time, but we switched to D&D. His character sheet is actually available on DND beyond, but I'm still gonna give details here.

Those are his attributes. (He actually got an additional point of charisma after I wrote this and was too lazy to take another screenshot sorry x) )

He is recorded as a high Elf, but is actually of two different bloodlines. He is VERY young for an elf, but his exact age is unknown (well yes but know, you'll see). He has 5 wizard and 2 cleric levels, making him currently level 7.

Equipment:

I am NOT gonna go through everything Særos has, cause that would be VERY long. He has a heavy armor, he has a staff of healing and a shortsword, but he mostly uses his magic. He also has, in his spellbook, a collection of dried flowers.

Familiars:

Særos has a TON of pets he acquired through the different quests the party went on. The first one is a frog named Lepiota he found wounded and saved. He then bought an old black cat he named Persephone (even if the cat is a male 😂). Finally, he also bought two ferrets (fluffy noodles ❤️❤️) which he named Elton and Freddy (this one was as a reference to one of our former player who really loves Elton John and Freddy Mercury). He loves them with all his heart and will absolutely kill anyone who tries to hurt his babies.

Allies:

Særos' main ally is, obviously, his twin, Edran. They are very similar, but Særos is usually pretty well kept with his short hair always brushed and his braids made every morning, whereas Edran is a bit shorter, more immature, usually pretty dirty with blood all over their clothes (which are poofy dressed he hides poison in 😂) and messy hair. There is also Lyræ. She is a paladin coming from far away lands. She is a human with elf ancestors and dragon blood. She has a wife and children and thus, she is pretty much the mom of the group. (The DM literally gave her two custom attacks she can use in RP: the flick of anger that gives 1pt of bludgeoning + 1pt of psychic damage and the disapproving look that gives 2pts of psychic damage everytime she does it + makes the target intimidated). Then, there is Finian, a human assassin. Finian and Særos are pretty neutral about each other, but Edran is in absolute admiration of him, so Særos is grateful that Finian doesn't just shatter his sibling's trust. The last member, who was actually someone that was rescued by the party, is Yarina. She is a very shy aasimar and is pretty much the definition of being pure EXCEPT she is obsessed with daggers (no joke, she has 23 of them). They were recently joined by a rogue elf called Adressin who actually attacked them at first.

Appearance:

This picrew is already pretty accurate. Særos (as well as Edran actually) has blond almost white hair, but it's actually fluffier than on the picture. He has two braids, one in front of each ear, a few freckles and red-pink eyes. He is very pale, quite small and very frail. He looks pretty androgynous and rather young, though he usually passes as a bit older since he is an elf.

Backstory and campaign:

So the campaign isn't really a big story like in Rhodrag's case, so I'll tell the party's story, but not the quests.

The twins' first memory is waking up in a bed, only knowing their name. They meet with the lovely wood elf lady who save them, and learn they were found in the sand by a nearby river. For that reason, they are given the last name "Sandiel".

They live a relatively normal life with her, for around 10 years, until they are attacked by drows. Their adopted mother successfully hides them by using magic and they learn they are wanted because they are part drow and part high-elf, meaning pretty much every every elven races will want to kill them. The woman successfully protects the twins. She is taken out of the house and, to this day, the twins don't know what happened of her, whether she was killed or taken.

They left and reached a nearby city. There, they survived by stealing and being street entertainers (for example, even if he has no rogue level, Særos is proefficient in stealth, sleight of hands, deception, etc. He also is proefficient in performance. He learned to sing, the art of divination and a bit of magic.)

One night though, Særos came back to their hiding place to find his sibling dead. All he could understand was that they died of both malnutrition and hypothermia.

Out of desperation, he tried every spell he knew, but nothing happened. He tried reanimation, but it had been to long. Out of despair, he prayed any god possible to help him, saying he couldn't live in this unfair world without Edran.

A god did answer. He is actually a god from the other game we started the campaign in before switching to DND.

He is called Nuodai the Trickster.

He offered a deal to Særos: he would bring back Edran and even guarantee him power and success, and in exchange, when Særos would be powerful enough, the Trickster would take his elven traits which hold part of his powers, as well as 200 years of his life. Out of desperation, Særos accepted.

He woke up the next morning. His sibling was by his side, clearly not dead, but not entirely alive. They were now a revived.

Things went on, Edran not knowing, and Særos eventually stopped thinking about the deal, only happy to have his twin back. They moved from the city, trying to reach a bigger one, and were, once again, attacked by drows. He used a spell to put his twin in safety and attacked the drows, but was, if course, neutralized.

He was taken and they made him a slave while they tried to capture Edran to kill them together.

Fast forward, Edran is taken into an underdark prison. He meets again with his brother and both if them are beaten up. They successfully defend though and they are thrown in a cell as it is decided they're are to be executed the next day. This is where they meet Lyræ and Finian.

They plan to escape as well as a few other NPCs. They are able to leave the cell and steal a bit of stuff while a vrock attacks the guards. They escape and reach a teleporter. There, Særos successfully brings everyone back to the surface. Newly free, they all start to look for a village. After properly introducing each others, they finally reach a tiny elf village. The twins stay as stealthy as possible but end up being noticed and attacked by guards. They then have a choice: they could be changed into simple would elves or they have to leave. Særos knows it's not gonna work on Edran, and bargains to be able to stay. At first, the headmaster threatens to kill him for that, but he ends up agreeing to let them in the city, guarded, until the night falls.

They then shop and leave the city.

They end up in a forrest Særos realizes is corrupted. There, they were attacked by a HUGE snake touched by the corruption. At first, everyone tries to kill it except Edran and quickly, Særos and Finian join them. Særos finally cuts the tip of it's tail where the corruption was and Edran and Finian calm it.

Lyræ is terrified of it and finally lets them all know that her best friend was killed by a giant snake who ate her alive. (This is freaking terrifying yo.)

In the end, a fight starts and Særos, enraged, leaves everyone and runs towards the center of the corruption. There he is attacked by corrupted elves and tree creatures we happily called Groots. Edran joins him and Særos basically rages (he used they most powerful spell he had and literally exploded them.

Edran, while attacking, starts gaining weird memories.

Fast forward to the end of the quest, Særos is happily searching for animals and flowers when he and Edran hear strange noises coming from a tree. Edran climbs it and a wood elf girl falls from the tree, before Edran jumps on her from the too of the tree.

The team introduced themselves to her and she happily talks to them. So yeah, that's how we met Nayhru.

The team reaches a weird village and after the whole snake incident, leaves the party for a while, promising to find them again soon and assuring she would always be closer than they think.

They reach the village which reveals to be a village of gnomes and there they meet with a gnome (who's player inspired the names of my furrets x) ) and a Goliath travelling together. They all find the village empty before being attacked by a troll and... Metal gnomes?

They kill them, uneager to die, and search the village. They find flowers in the middle of the village and Særos takes one for his collection. Særos and Edran are attacked by an ooze and at some point, the ooze attacks Edran just before being killed by Nayrhu. At that moment, Edran starts turning into a robot as well, with the corruption growing from their arm. Særos tries to cut off the arm, but us unable and the corruption takes Edran's whole body.

They leave the village and are able to find a Druid eager to help them make a cure for Edran and the gnomes, but he needs Elder sage. He describes it and Særos shows his flower to the Druid, who confirms it is Elder sage. They go back to the village to get flowers, cane back and turned Edran back into a flesh being.

And that's when they remembered dying and being brought back to life. Edran and Særos cried in each other's arms and then continued on.

They got in a cavern near the village from where the trolls always came. There, the found a girl, chained, with glowing wings. They freed her and she introduced herself as Yarina. (Fun fact: Yarina's player is my SO, and both Yarina and Særos have the spell suggestion, so when the crew found a the boss hiding something, we just made it run away. Nice. )

The team found a clockwork dragon and helped it. They then left again. Finian had to leave a couple times, and at some point, the team realized that, even if they are young, the twins were actually a lot older than they thought: They assumed Edran's death happened when they were around 13 and that it had been around 6 years, meaning Særos was actually around 19.

They were reunited with Lyræ and began other quests. In one of them, the team encountered a wishing fountain that filled any wish you had under certain conditions. Særos asked to know his whole story, from the lives of his parents up to now. The fountain gave him a magic book that tells his story and updates. It has no name so Særos just calls it The story book.

Some time passed and the team continued on. They were traveling to the capital until one night, Nayrhu and Edran caught a thief about to steal their stuff. They quickly stopped him and realized he was very young. Instead of kicking his butt, they woke up the whole team and decided together to bring him to the capital and help him make money to survive there. And that's how they met Adressin.

The zookeepers reached the capital where they are supposed to find Finian who joined outlaws he met in another quest.

Before finding Finian, they decided to do a few quests to earn money with Adressin.

Everyone through the day kept noticing Særos bring super bold, a lot bolder than he usually is, for example, telling Yarina who was wearing a magic dress that she looked "Incredibly beautiful" as if she was "made if pure light". No one really thought anything of it though and just shoved it away.

One night, they decided a drinking contest was a good idea and everyone joined except Adressin. The next morning, everyone was doing good, maybe a tad nauseous, except for Lyræ and Særos who were absolutely fucked up. They both used spells to heal their hangover, but Særos remained mildly unwell, choosing to go on their quest anyways.

Symptoms were the following:

-A headache that was mostly located to the top front of his head

-His low back itching and hurting a LOT

-His eyes feeling dry

No one really knew what was going on, some didn't even really notice.

As they went on with their first quest, they started noticing weird stuff about Særos' appearance: His hair looked more golden than white, as they used to, there were two bumps appearing on his forehead around the location of his headache, his eyes looked.... Weird...? But no one really saw anything peculiar, his skin, usually also white, now looked kinda pink.

He doesn't really notice the changes and doesn't understand what is happening which utterly FRIGHTENS him, but he hides it. Yarina started understanding what was happening and Edran out all the pieces together and now they know everything.

To be continued...

[dungeons-and-danis]

Oh, neat! If you don't mind me asking, how did you meet your players? I know you said at a convention, but i'm just wondering about the details. It's always nice to hear how dnd teams meet.

Well I have five players right now, and we’re all sort of connected in a way! This is gonna be a bit of a long one just becos i love them so much and i want yall to know the weird string of events that lead to us all playing dnd together lol. So you’re invited to visit my lil story time beneath the cut!

The first one of my players that I met was Taylor at an anime convention in like… 2013 or 2014 i think. We were around 14-15 years old at the time. I met her because I was the first person in my city’s cosplay community to cosplay titan annie from attack on titan (literally 2 weeks or so after the episode first came out) and all the AoT cosplayers literally flocked to me, including Taylor who was cosplaying Armin. We later followed each other on tumblr and started hanging out casually maybe a year later.

Then, I hung out with and became mildly acquainted with some of Taylor’s friends at another anime convention in maybe spring 2015 when I was cosplaying the witch from L4D. It was there that I met Tayler (yes we have a tayler and a taylor. yes they are two different people lol) amongst the group I was hanging out with. But we didn’t really talk that much after that.

In the summer of 2015, I met Sam at yet ANOTHER convention (i know… i was a con fiend back in my teens) where I was cosplaying Queen Beryl from Sailor Moon and Gogo from Big Hero Six, also met via Taylor. Again, we didn’t really talk that much at the time.

It was toward the end of 2015, during my senior year in high school where I was having an incredibly rough time emotionally and academically. The first girl I ever dated broke up with me, my friends were treating me poorly, and I was barely going to school. I was posting on my personal tumblr about how miserable I was, when Taylor sent me a text inviting me to her ugly-sweater-themed Christmas party.

I. Hated. Parties. I didn’t want to go at all because all I knew parties to be was obnoxious, loud, annoying, and full of boys who would hit on me. But my mom saw how much I was suffering and managed to convince me to go anyways. I was so nervous, but when I knocked on her door that night, I was invited into one of the most loving, caring, and kind friendship groups i’ve ever come to know. Taylor, Tayler, and Sam were there, as well as my other players Madisen and Christine who I met for the first time right there.

This party was like nothing I ever experienced, yall. These girls were so nice and kind and had similar worldviews as me. This was the first friend circle I ever had where almost everyone was gay like me as well. So that was a huge comfort after struggling with my sexuality in high school and feeling isolated. Ever since this party, we became the best of friends throughout the years.

Cut to spring of 2018 when I finally broke up with my last ex girlfriend. I was in a terrible mood and crying my eyes out, when Madisen and Taylor decided to come over and bring me some comfort and a shoulder to cry on. While we talked about my breakup and my feelings and all that sappy stuff, I remember seeing my little D&D starter set on my desk that I had gotten from Christmas a few months prior. And I’m not sure how, but I kind of just got around to mentioning how I wish I could still play dnd (cos i played it with my ex a lot) but that I had nobody to play with. And they were ON IT. They immediately said they’d LOVE to play a game DM’ed by me, which is something i’d also mentioned wanting to do previously. I texted our group chat to see if the rest of them would be interested, and they were all ecstatic about it. So give or take a couple months of preparation, and we finally started our first game in August of 2018 with Madisen, Tayler, Taylor, and Sam.

A few months later, Christine (who hadnt yet become SUPER close with our circle yet) came to me saying she’d really love to join our campaign and thus, I gave her a heroic entrance into our campaign on a night in which the rest of the players thought she was simply present to spectate. She also joined our group chat and we’ve all gotten to be closer than we ever were before.

All in all, I would give the world for my players who are also coincidentally my best friends. They make me so super happy and D&D has allowed us to bond even more than we once did. I love working closely with each one of them on their characters and also being able to incorporate my love of writing and fiction and share that joy with my best friends who react so wonderfully to my stories. It’s truly the biggest blessing thats ever been laid upon me. I thank the stars every day for my friends and for D&D!

TL;DR: I met most of my players through anime conventions, and became much closer to them after a christmas party in december of 2015. I love them more than anything and also im really sappy and gross abt it toward the end.