My Official Free RPG Day 2014 Report

Steve Chenault a.k.a. The Troll Lord behind the screen and in action!

 

How was MY Free RPG Day 2014?

 

Awesome.

 

Why? Because this wasn't your average day of just picking up free stuff and playing in a couple one-shot games.

 

THE Troll Lord of Troll Lord Games was in the house at All Things Fun in West Berlin, New Jersey this weekend! Steve Chenault ran a session of the company's flagship game Castles & Crusades on Saturday night!

 

I'm considering Saturday night a convention, folks, and I don't care what you think! The last time I had the great pleasure of gaming with the Troll Lord was back in March 2011, for the TrollCon East event. Any time I'm gaming with the Trolls, it's a convention!

 

At the table Saturday was a collection of the ATF regulars (some who I've gamed with for a long time on Wednesday nights) and some folks who were new to C&C (and who, I think, aren't regular roleplayers at the store). There were about a dozen players in all.

 

 

Steve let me use my half-elf paladin Drance, and I found myself a part of a fairly well-rounded party that consisted of a druid, an elven ranger, a halfling rogue, a dwarven cleric, a gnome illusionist (I'll give that one a pass, but *blech*), and another paladin besides myself, just to name a few of the participants.

 

Steve was in his usual gregarious form. He's always entertaining and challenging, and his love for the art and hobby of roleplaying is palpable. You can always tell that he loves the game and is having as much fun as his players.

 

Note the requisite stash of Dr. Pepper on the table! A Troll RPG staple!

The session culminated in the party facing a strange dragon-type creature that could turn you to stone with its breath weapon, and could spread its wings to reveal a scintillating pattern of light. If you looked at the light, you were immediately caught in a charm that made you feel all warm and fuzzy about the dragon!

We fought valiantly against the beast, and several of us were devoured by the thing, and Steve described their demise with his usual flair for description and gory details! Drance the half-elf paladin fought well that night, especially when the helmeted head of one of his fallen comrades was momentarily stuck in the throat of the dragon-thing!

However, ultimately, we were getting our butts handed to us, and we decided to flee. The dragon-thing managed to escape, but we dealt it a blow it would never forget!
 

As for the swag, what free stuff did I grab? The DCC RPG/Xcrawl offering, and Mr. Raggi's The Doom Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children (which is apparently a big "eff you" to people who protested his Free RPG Day 2013 offering, Better Than Any Man). I was surprised I was able to get my hands on anything, as I didn't make it to the store until about 7:30 PM. Those two were the last two freebies sitting on the table, so I snatched them up.

 

I'm a bit bummed that I couldn't get ahold of a copy of The Godsfall quick start rules, though I figured that would be hard to get since there was only one copy per box given to retailers. I'm really intrigued about the Godsfall RPG, and can't wait for a better look at the system and the world. 

 

But, all that aside, it was a great time! Thanks to Steve and fellow Troll Tim Burns for coming out to the East Coast once again, and bringing along some good gaming memories!