In honor of another cycle around the sun for our Master of Coin (is that what the cool kids say?) some members (and their spouse) went to enjoy the latest masterpiece from the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3. Please… hug your pets, people. Hug your pets.

Happy birthday, Kelly.

And before anyone gives me crap about Shana being on the floor, that was HER choice. I tried to stop her.

Alluded to in Michael A’s speech and subsequent in-character Q&A session, the Report on the Polymorphed Kobold Conspiracy vignette has been published in The Story So Far and demonstrates that even the smallest persons (or creatures) can make a difference.

I want to thank the club for the wonderful challenge you provided me last night (May 5).  I have done the Q&A project before, both with real things I actually knew about (in fact, as an expert witness, this is what I did for a living on the witness stand, with real dollars on the line), and some which were completely open to the audience’s whim, but one’s where I could simply answer whimsically –

“Can you explain Calculus?”

“Yes, I can.  Next question.”

But, this one was an interesting challenge, needing to stay in character and realizing that while I was making things up, I had to be true to the role and story, and I would have to live with what I said (unlike Table Topics, where there are no repercussions for just going wild).

When I started, I wasn’t sure how it would go, but, I used the techniques I had learned as a witness to prepare.  Still, when Andrew told you all to go hard on me, and you did, I knew I was up for a challenge.

It was a lot of fun.  Thanks everyone!

Many of you will recall that a few meetings ago, in Table Topics, I (as Thorn) asked the fortune tellers questions designed to advance the story.  My idea was that we could get (or create) information that the GM’s had not had bandwidth to create or to share, which would enrich the experience.  It would also let us fill in backstory and become involved in a new way with the story.

My Q&A session was the flip side of that.  It struck me that normally an adventurer says, “I want to research [fill in the blank].”

The GM says “Give me a D20…”  and then gives the players information (or not) based purely on a roll.

But, as someone who does research in real life, I know there is more to it.  I have to find books, look things up in the index, scan, (or ask Chat GPT the right prompts), and try to organize everything I see/read.  I also know that some of the things I find will be wrong, so I have to check for inconsistencies.  A Q&A with a GM could be like that (although he might roll the D20 for you and then decide whether to answer “information not available,” or to give you a bogus answer (hopefully one which will lead the adventure in an interesting and fun way, not just get you killed…)

The general idea, here, is that we can use Table Topics and Q&A to change the nature of the game.  In the future, the VPE and a small committee will be looking at other ways to take the club past simple “Icebreaker” style storytelling and into the full Pathways experience, but with the idea of gamification, and using Pathways to advance our role-play, and role-play to educate us about how to do well in the real world at the same time.

Until later, may you always make your saving throws against ignorance.

You can view a recording of last night’s in-character “Q&A” session below:

As the outgoing Vice President of Education and the one who cast yesterday’s “unanimous consent” officer election vote, I am pleased to announce your 2023-2024 officer slate:

President Loni Huff, IP5
Vice President Education Michael Alexander, DTM
Vice President Membership Lucas Ramsey
Vice President Public Relations Kait Ramsey
Secretary Angel Larena, DTM
Treasurer Kelly Sclafani, LD3
Sgt At Arms Cameron Pedersen
Immediate Past President Andrew Brewer, VC4

Please join me in congratulating and supporting each of them in their roles over the coming year!

Art is “Fantasy Council” by Renu (@Renusartthingie on Twitter)

The last meeting of the 2022-2023 Toastmaster Year will be a viewing of Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising, which is the sequel of The Gamers.

If you haven’t seen The Gamers, it’s not required to see the sequel, but there are a few references, plus it’s an outstanding 1 hour movie filmed by college students during finals week.

It’s free to watch on YouTube WITH the explicit permission of Zombie Orpheus Entertainment and Dead Gentlemen Productions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSynJyq2RRo

Hello, Adventurers.

Adventure has found you! Are you ready to answer its call!?!

Are you ready to undertake an epic quest to improve your leadership and communication skills? Of course you are!? You’re a Dungeons & Toast guild member! Brave, fearless, and true!

Let me unfurl the Ancient Scroll of Journeys and read you the relevant sections about guild leadership (club officer elections):

Starting on July 1, 2023, the term of office for our party leaders (club officers) will change from semi-annual to annual. Thus, in order to get service credit with the lords and ladies of our realm (Toastmasters International) for your term of service, you must complete the entire year in the club officer role.

Names of candidates were announced at the 4/21 meeting. The deadline to declare candidacy was 11:59 PM PT, on Thursday, 4/20. After this time, interested parties can run from the floor on the night of the elections.

Elections will take place at the 5/5 meeting, during the Business portion of our meeting. We need a quorum of 51% of our active members who are in good standing in order to hold the elections, so please save the date.

If you are running for a club officer position, in case of a contested election (meaning, more than one person is running for a club officer position), please have a two minute campaign speech prepared.

You can self-nominate or nominate another person, who then can either accept or decline the nomination.

If you’d like to be a party leader (club officer) but would like to know more or undertake an apprenticeship (aka be on a club officer’s committee so you can see what being a club officer in that role is all about), reach out to any party leader at a guild meeting, via the aether (email), or on our guild’s Discord server–

• Guildmaster (President) Andrew B.
• Quest Master (Vice President of Education) Greg S.
• Recruitment Master (Vice President of Membership) Beth G.
• Master Bard (Vice President of Public Relations) Loni H.
• Master of Coin (Treasurer) Kelly S.
• Master Scribe (Secretary) — This club officer position is open
• Sergeant-at-Arms Lucas R.
• or myself, the club’s Former Guild Master (Immediate Past President) Patrick V. for more information

You can also go here or here for more info. about the club officer roles. (You must be logged in to see the materials in the second link.)

All guild members are welcome to join the party leaders in the guild council chambers (aka the club officers meeting), which occurs right after the guild meeting on the first Friday of every month. Members who attend are silent–including in the chat–observers and can hold any questions or comments they may have until the end of the meeting, time permitting, or reach out to any party leader (club officer) directly.

The format for voting in contested elections will occur via a secret ballot (aka a Google Form).

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Patrick V.

Former Guild Master (Immediate Past President) and Club Leadership Committee

Image by macrovector on Freepik

Members may notice some recent changes to the guild web site, changes made both in an effort to improve functionality as well as to prepare for the impending transition from the Lost Lair of the Manticore campaign to next year’s Warrens of the Harengon campaign:

Birthday Announcements on Discord

The site will now automatically check for any daily birthdays and announce them in the #town-crier channel of our guild Discord. Be sure to add your birthday to your user profile (under the Background section) so we can all celebrate with you!

Front-End Profile Editing

Elements of a member profile can now be entirely edited through the front-end of the web site, eliminating the need to navigate the cumbersome user profile screen provided by WordPress. Simply click the Edit button in a given section of your profile to open a modal window in which you can make changes.

In a related change, a Reset Password utility is now also available through the guild site front-end, which hopefully eliminates the need to use the old user profile screen altogether.

New Utilities

Members will now find additional utilities listed in the Cog menu that appears at the top right for logged in users. These utilities include a link to the user profile page, all previous achievements, and a progress report of previous roles filled and speeches given during meetings (assuming they were entered into the agenda).

Dungeons & Toast was happy to have two members competing at the District 100 Tall Tales speech contest this year: Andrew B and Loni H.

Andrew’s haunting speech about a late Ama and her widower — entitled “The Sea Giveth and Taketh Away” — placed second:

And Loni’s energetic tale about a circus seamstress and her commitment to her craft — entitled “The Price of Silk” — placed third:

In unrelated but also exciting news, Dungeons & Toast is happy to announce the recent election of new member Angel L to the position of Club Growth Director for District 100! Angel’s commitment to the Toastmasters community and proven leadership skills made them the ideal candidate for this role, and we all look forward to seeing the positive impact they will have on the District in the coming year.

Performed live during our St. Patrick’s Day celebration, “A Visit with a Stranger” features member Greg S expressing appreciation to the listener on their upkeep of his former home and their decision to maintain seating arrangements in “their proper place.” An in-character look at a mischief spirit from Irish folklore — the Pooka — and its modern (and not so modern) analogs. Watch till the end for a fun twist.