Earn 5 XP for use during the Year of the Harengon for using one of these special event wallpapers, celebrating the conclusion of the Lost Lair of the Manticore TTRPG campaign!

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.

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)

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.

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.

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