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Lost Lair of the Manticore Special Events
2022-2023 End-of-Year Celebration
As the year draws to a close, we plan to reflect on the amazing journey we’ve shared as members of Dungeons & Toast. Let’s celebrate our triumphs, toast to our growth, and revel in the camaraderie that binds us together. Join us Friday, June 23 7-9PM PT for an unforgettable End-of-Year Celebration!
Trivia Challenge: Brush up on your Manticore-campaign trivia by re-reading some of the many wonderful stories written by your guildmates for an opportunity to start the Harengon campaign with XP earned answering trivia questions!
A Feast Fit for Heroes: What better way to honor our legendary achievements than by indulging in a feast fit for heroes? Our End-of-Year Celebration will feature an array of recipes curated by our very own Guild Master, Andrew, and inspired by the fantastical adventures we’ve had during the Lost Lair of the Manticore campaign.
Tavern Board (5 XP)
SIMPLE VERSION
- Buy a pack of Lunchables.
- Arrange crackers, meat, and cheese on plate.
- Eat.
LESS SIMPLE VERSION
- Purchase a variety of meats, cheeses, crackers, spreads, cornichons, preserves, and veggies/fruits.
- Arrange items fancily on your serving tray or board.
- Mix and match to enjoy.
Manticore’s Sting Cocktail (25XP)
Making the Sting
- Combine 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, and 1 cup of Sichuan Peppercorns into a small pot.
- Bring to a simmer stirring frequently .
- Remove from heat and let cool.
- Strain into separate container to be used for cocktail (bonus, keep the candied peppercorns and toast them in the oven for garnish).
Making your cocktail
- Combine 2 oz bourbon, 1 oz of “Sting,” 1/2 oz of lemon juice, and an eggwhite in a shaker.
- Dry shake for 30 seconds.
- Add ice.
- Shake to chill.
- Strain and serve over ice (or one large block). Garnish w/ lemon peel and candied peppercorn.
Burning of the Prince Andrew (15 XP)
Ingredients: Pre-cooked pack of chicken sausages, pack of cream cheese, 1 red bell pepper, 1 yellow bell pepper, 1 orange bell pepper (you can swap for red jalapenos for more of a kick), fresh basil for garnish
- Let the cream cheese sit out for 10-15 minutes to soften (makes it easier).
- Preheat oven to 350 F and non stick spray or parchment paper a baking sheet.
- Slice sausage length wise to create a seam that goes about 2/3 through the sauasage and gently flatten.
- Dice the peppers and mix with cream cheese. The colored peppers are the fire!
- Spoon cream cheese into each sausage, you may have leftovers depending on how many sausages you buy.
- Cook sausages in the oven until you see cream cheese bubbling but not so much that it is melting/dripping off the sausages.
- Garnish with the basil “sails” and enjoy!
Strahd’s Nightcap (10 XP)
Ingredients: Half & half, pomegranate juice, grenadine
- Fill your choice of glass with crushed ice.
- Add 1 oz of pomegranate juice.
- Drizzle/drop grenadine on surface for extra bloody effect.
Deviled Dragon Eggs (20 XP)
Ingredients: Eggs, green food coloring, mayo, dijon mustard, salt, pepper, paprika, relish, **optional**: serrano/jalapeno to add “fire”
- Hard boil your eggs.
- Roll them around on a cutting board but don’t peel to create cracks.
- Place egg in ziploc baggies or tupperware filled with green food coloring for 30 minutes.
- Remove and peel eggs.
- Cut in half and place yolks in bowl.
- Add mayo, dijon mustard, and relish to the yolks and mix (also add diced peppers if using). I like to use a rough 3:2:1 ration – 3 parts mayo, 2 parts dijon, 1 part relish. So 3 tablespoons of mayo, 2 of mustard, 1 relish. You can scale up or down depending on how many eggs you use.
- Salt and pepper to taste. If you like a little more brine, add some vinegar. If you like some heat, add some Sriracha or hot sauce.
- Fill egg white halves with your mixture; don’t be shy!
- Garnish with paprika. If you made it spicy, use sriracha or a thin, round slice of pepper in lieu of paprika.
- Enjoy!
Awards Ceremony – Celebrating Our Champions: No celebration would be complete without recognizing the exceptional achievements of our members. At our End-of-Year Celebration, we will hold an Awards Ceremony, where we’ll honor individuals who have demonstrated exceptional growth, leadership, and public speaking prowess throughout the year. This is a moment to applaud dedication and celebrate the milestones they’ve conquered on their personal quests.
In Dungeons & Toast, every story matters and every voice has the power to inspire. We can’t wait to raise our goblets with you at our End-of-Year Celebration. Let the adventure begin!
Members can sign up to fill a role here (all XP to be awarded toward the Harengon campaign)
Site Update: Increased Theme Visibility
We in Dungeons & Toast strive for the highest quality weekly meetings, and one of the things that helps set us apart are our extraordinary meeting themes. These themes not only provide an immersive framework for Table Topics but also ignite inspiration for virtual backgrounds, costumes, and sometimes even entire speeches. In celebration of this fact, a new feature has been added to weekly meeting entries, allowing the currently assigned Topics Master (or any officer) to set the meeting theme. When a meeting theme is assigned, it is shared to the front page and to our Discord server.
Along these same lines, the currently assigned Grammarian (or any officer) can set the Word of the Day. Note, however, that the Word of the Day is not shared on Discord or the front page.
The Sinking of the Pirate Ship Andrew
In further evidence of the eligibility of young Thorn as a member of the Gnomish High Council, we present a personally written account of his role in the presumed defeat of Captain Yellowbeard and the destruction of his notorious galleon, the Prince Andrew.
Community Content Photos and Video
D&T Movie Night
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.
The Polymorphed Kobold Conspiracy
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.
Lost Lair of the Manticore Roleplaying
A Thank You and an Explanation
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:
Election Results
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 Gamers – YouTube Link
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
Dungeons & Toast Club Officer Elections
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
Site Updates
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).
