Hello, humans of Dungeons & Toast,

The time has passed for saving money, yet money is still due. Toastmasters and club dues for the period
of October 2023 through March 2024 are due September 30, 2023. The total cost of dues for 6 months
is $65 ($60 to Toastmasters International and $5 to the club). As always, we don’t want to wait last
minute and battle with the internet gremlins. Therefore, if you pay your dues on or before August 31,
2023, you will receive 20 bonus XP.

Early Dues Renewal
Service Quest

20 XP

Renew your dues within the month of February or August.

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Until next time,
Kelly / Maj, Master of Coin

P.S. You may note that this was addressed to the humans only. All species are welcome to pay, but only human currency will be accepted. Any karats sent my way will be retained without benefit to you.

In (belated) celebration of International Cosplay Day, Dungeons & Toast will host a cosplay-themed meeting at 7PM PT on Friday, September 8. Members are encouraged to dress in a costume to represent their character for the 2023-2024 TTRPG campaign, Warrens of the Harengon. Members’ choice* of costumes will win $25 in Amazon credit, intended to be used toward further costumes or accessories.

*While I will be making an appearance in the costume of Hana, my kitsune Warlock, I won’t be participating in the contest itself.

Harvey and the 3 Little Pigs, written by Dr. Michael and illustrated by Kait R. is now available online. Something for the children…

Last week, I attended my 29th GenCon (“The Best Four Days in Gaming”) in Indianapolis, IN. As always, it was a delightful whirlwind of games, shopping, and friends, though this year you could really feel the crowds with a record 70,000 attendees. I wore a mask for the exhibit hall and any movement through big crowds in the hallways, because that’s 69,992 people around me that I don’t know.

One of the things I really enjoy at GenCon is seeing how the industry is changing, year-over-year. The biggest theme in the exhibit hall this year was definitely new dice. I found that surprising since there are always numerous dice vendors, with wide assortments of must-have shiny math rocks.  But this year, with people able to make their own dice with resin and other materials, it really seemed a step beyond. 

It’s All About the Dice

There were probably 10-12 new dice exhibitors this year. Chessex, Crystal Caste and Q Workshop all had 3-4 booths with their traditional, beautiful dice. I got the free GenCon die from Crystal Caste (and ended up buying the set). From Chessex, I purchased 4d8. This was a utility purchase. Somehow, over the last five years or so, I’ve found that I’m running low on d8’s in my standard gaming set. Rather than find them, I just bought some. This impulse buy cost me $2.56, including tax; this seemed quite the deal, given that there were polished resin dice that were upwards of $30 per die.

As for the rest, I always look at dice, but don’t think I’d purchased any in 10 years or so. I’m at the point of measuring dice by the pound, so it’s hard for me to really *need* new ones. I’m as much a die goblin as the next person, but when you almost never play in person, and don’t even get to look at the dice you have, there’s less incentive to get new ones. That said, this year, I bought some new ones.

My big find was these “Stained Glass” dice, by Gate Keeper Games. They had an amazing collection of “pretty” dice, including several glow-in-the-dark models. Firefly dice were sold out before I found them, sadly, but these were must-owns, anyway. 

This article is continued on my blog, DiceDeliberations.com

In the meantime, here are a couple of other pictures I took of the convention.