RPG TABLE

Very few folks know that most of my life, I’ve been an avid tabletop gamer… I’ve mastered thousands (that’s plural) of hours worth of RPG sessions in home games over my lifetime.

 

* I bought my first D&D set when I was 9. Actually I bought 2 of them pink boxes.

I have vivid memories of girls in elementary school taking my D&D books off my desk and me lashing out at them in a strange voice, “Give me back my precious!!!” #truestory. I was ultra-super-anal about my gaming books and comics back then.

* About 20 years ago, I hired a FLASH developer to develop a “dynamic lighting” virtual table top for gaming.  This was WAY before any virtual table tops existed. Sadly, I didn’t have the money and resources to bring that project to market–but it’s crazy to see all the virtual table tops now (NOT in Flash, lol) that do exactly what I was trying to accomplish all those years ago.

* When I launched my fantasy comic series in the early 90’s, I was honored to get Gary Gygax himself to edit. Sadly, I never got the chance to table with him…

* I owned the domains SciFiWargaming and FantasyWargaming for years. (I lost them when Godaddy expired them out from under me without warning after the auto pay failed. They were nice enough to offer them back to me for like $10,000 each. Pffft, such a scam.)

These are just a few examples of how gaming has been a part of my life since, well, just about forever…

 

This year, I’ve decided to dust off the books, upgrade my computer camera and Mic and run a few pay-to-play virtual D&D tables.

    • At this time, I’m open to running as many as 4 tables.
    • Each table can run any one of the campaign settings showcased below.
    • Tables are set for 4-6 players.
    • When 3 people join a table, the table goes live. (I’ll push on my end to fill any remaining seats.)
    • These tables are open to any players (21+), new or experienced, willing to commit to the campaign.
    • Anyone looking for a single session game, or to be on the ongoing pick-up game list, just shoot me an email.

PRICING:

$24 – 3 Hour Game

$32 – 4 Hour Game

$40 – 5 Hour Game

$48 – 6 Hour Game

  • Pricing is per player/per session.
  • 5 and 6 hour games include a 30 minute break mid-game within that time frame.
  • If y’all are a bunch of broke jabronis but otherwise have your shit together and really want to commit to a table long-term, let me know.

TIMING:

  • Weekly or Bi-weekly tables are available.
  • If your party is looking for a specific time, let me know, I can try to accommodate you. Otherwise, the gaming times I have slotted are:

[night game] Weekly 3 hour game – Wednesday 9:30pm-12:30am – TAKEN

[night game] Weekly 3 hour game –  Fridays 8pm-11pm

[day game] Bi-weekly 4 hour game – Mondays 3pm-7pm

[day game] Bi-weekly – 6 hour game – Saturdays 1:00-7pm

 

As my work writing schedule fluctuates I ultimately may decide to limit the number of tables. Rest assured, whatever tables do go live, will have my full commitment moving forward, at least through the end of 2024. The idea of running long-term gaming tables wasn’t a decision I made on a whim.

If you’re interested in playing in one of the campaigns or have questions, email me:  mac@nickmacari.com

 

 

DEVELOPING THE CAMPAIGNS

All the campaigns are custom campaigns created by me from the ground up.

Designing a single campaign is an undertaking. It’s actually quite similar to building an entirely new t.v. or anime series from the ground up.

  • You need to discover and develop the concept that’s going to span the entire life of the game (seasons in teleplay lingo).
  • You need to discover and develop each individual episode or adventure.
  • You need to discover and flesh out the world map, the physical geography the contains the campaign story. Can’t have no Lord of the Rings, without Mordor, yo!
  • Beyond the geography, you need to discover and develop all the rest of campaign setting elements. This includes all the role playing and gaming elements unique to the campaign. Classes, races, items, monsters, the list is nearly endless.
  • Finally, you need to develop and flesh out the cast of characters. While certainly a part of the setting I just mentioned, the characters are so critical and require so much attention to detail, it’s only right to give them their own bullet point.

As I said, designing a single campaign is an undertaking. Building out four campaigns at once, well, it’s really full-time work.

At least at the level of detail I develop and write.

Right now, I’m casually jumping between all four campaigns laying down the structure, story and support materials as my free time permits.

If you want to pick up a table and are worried that you don’t see much material, don’t stress. I have a ton of written notes on all of these campaigns. Just like when working on a comic or anime series, you aren’t expected to have every script to the series finished when you start production. I can crank out and polish off the initial material and get a table up-and-running quite fast. Having players actively working on their character backgrounds actually helps speed up the process.

Here are some poorly articulated descriptions of each campaign. No, I genuinely mean that.

These really are shite descriptions. Nothing more than place holders if you will.

They definitely won’t inspire you with burning desire to play, but, hopefully, they’ll reveal a glimmer of their full potential and plant a seed of intrigue and interest.

 

————————————————- THE CAMPAIGNS

The Beasts of Möna-Dü

TO JOIN:  mac@nickmacari.com

Brief Synopsis: A once prosperous land, two large sea-side mountains stood as a natural gate to a large river feeding the rich forests beyond. Some 150,000 humans populated Gate City, a thriving city of commerce, with a well-trained standing army. In the forests, an Elven empire of equally impressive size. Relations between the two races were tight and all was well… for many generations… until…  the unspeakable horror arrived. It blew through Gate City laying waste to everything in its path. In the end, only darkness and lands drained of their life remained. Eventually the darkness vanished and the lands have slowly been trying to recover. Gate City, mostly in ruins, is once again home to humans… but life is no longer flourishing and thriving. People just get by, usually at the expense of someone else. The elves are no more and the land is mostly desolate and lifeless.

Game Insight: I wanted to pull something from the past and update it for 5e. I have quite a few to choose from, finally settling on Mona-Du from 2001. The flavor of the campaign centers around a ruined human city, Gate City, carrying an overall gritty and rough feel. Reminds me something of Mad Max with Dark Sun vibes. The original adventures also have a horror vibe to them. I’m not sure yet how much of that I’m going to keep in the updated version.

Campaign Info: History, Towns, Regions, Points of Interest and more.

 

Terra Incognita

TO JOIN:  mac@nickmacari.com

Brief Synopsis: This is a new setting/campaign I’m creating from scratch. Terra Incognita, meaning Unknown or Unexplored Territory, revolves around a ship at sea, getting knocked off course and finding itself wrecked on the beaches of an unknown island… well very large island, maybe more like a small continental mass… Pretty standard Hollow/Lost World territory.

Game Insight: I look at this campaign as more genuine adventure, like Raiders of  the Lost Ark. I’m excited to work on this one, ironically, this setting is not something I’ve visited often over the years. Really looking forward to developing some unexpected arcs and story material in a complete wild setting. Lots of creative freedom here. As I’ve been working on the story discovery on this one, it’s really interesting, because with no realistic way to leave the island, when you really start to consider the long term implications of being permanently stranded, the typical campaign goals sort of go out the window. This setting also presents an opportunity to really focus on character development and character driven storyline, both from a PC and NPC perspective. Fun times.

Campaign Info: RCS Lady Penndragon, People of the Voyage and more.

 

Faywind

HOW TO JOIN:  mac@nickmacari.com.

Brief Synopsis: Welcome to Feywind, a picturesque rural land governed by a benevolent king and his noble soldiers. The land, divided by inner Feywind where the castle and wealthy city resides and outer Feywind made up of numerous farming and agricultural towns and villages. Named after the FEYWIND, a legendary wind that would blow forth transporting those caught within its draft to the ever twilight world of the Fey. Though the Feywind has long since appeared, the legend persists throughout the land of a secret world within the world. A world of unsurpassed beauty, fantastic treasures, immeasurable mischief, and wonderous danger.

Game Insight: I wanted to setting that was hyper-magical and wondrous. Inspired heavily by Studio Ghibli anime, this campaign is one of the few campaigns I’ve worked on that focuses on a thriving, happy, resource rich center. Usually, as you can see with the other settings, there’s some sort of core conflict or trouble to a campaign setting that the party has to deal with. Of course the adventure won’t lack conflict or danger, but the core concept of a thriving, good place as the center, a place that remains as such for quite a stretch, is a really nice and fun change of pace. I’m also psyched to do some really fantastical adventures, pushing the dimensional boundaries of the surreal and abstract.

Campaign Info: History, Towns, Regions, Points of Interest and more.

Adventure #1: Return of Baba Yaga.

 

Beyond the Grey Forest (working title)

HOW TO JOIN: I’m running this table through startplaying.games please connect over there. The name of the game is JOSHUA. (At startplaying this game is listed as table 1, you have to set a specific time and date to post there. If folks want to run this campaign on one of the other tables above, just reach out to me.)

Brief Synopsis: Wars, pestilence, economic collapse, a cloud of despair hangs in the air. Imagine your typical gothic horror setting village under the oppression of such hard times. Well things are about to get a lot worse.

“You hear the raven’s eerie cry,
On a fencepost withered doth it lie,
Its beak deep within a carcass dead,
A bloodied parchment beneath its head,
With a screech and flutter it bids you farewell,
Leaving behind a tale of hell.”

You take up the parchment and find a tattered, blood-stained journal page that reads…

Beneath a twisted Beech tree at the water’s edge, I watch a smoky white mist seep across the lake before me. The forest bleeds away to nothingness with each passing moment. The water perfectly still. No ripples, no reflections, a single dark pane of glass… dwindling… dwindling…

It looks much as my mind feels as of late. <continue reading setting intro.>

Game Insight: I consider this the main table, a Ravenloft/Curse of Strahd style game.  I have big expectations for this one. As some of you might know, Horror is my jam… For the first time in my life, pretty crazy to say that, I feel like I’ve learned enough as a writer and story teller to really weave a horrific playable horror story… something that will leave an impression and hopefully make some hearts race as we play. Survival Horror. Dread. Real fear. Cold sweaty palms… and then that feeling of euphoria when you make it through to the other side. Shooting to deliver all that in spades.

Campaign Info: Castle Larouche, Viceroy Frey, Barbarians of Thule and more.

Adventure #1: Eyes without a Face, Souls without Grace.

 

 

  • Newcomers or veterans welcome.

  • 21+ please.

 

* House Rules

* Terms

* Play Requirements

 

If you game, you must certainly have an old adventure lying around…

But do you have an old adventure from the 90’s printed out on a dot matrix printer?

Hey I’ve got even older, lots of hand written ones… but none of those guys have actual dates on em. This one was kind of fun to pull out and take a look through. The papers are old and yellowed enough to be one of the scrolls in the adventure!

 

 

If anyone has any questions or is interested in playing, shoot me an email mac@nickmacari.com.

If VTTRPG (Virtual Table Top Role Playing Games) manages to demand a chunk of significant time… I may even break out the custom RPG system I started developing a million years ago. A super ambitious system that I never found  time to complete. Hey, you never know.

OP ED:

Quality over Quantity?

The big companies (and even some indie publishers) take the approach of flooding the market with content. Often the content isn’t even well developed and the art relies heavily on the same generic AI generated works.

Look, a guide to being a werewolf! and here’s a guide to monsters in the ice realm! and here’s a guide to giants! and here’s a guide to metal polearms and jousting!

If you look back to the very beginning, when there was only one or two monster manuals and overall an extremely limited amount of source material, we somehow managed to have just as much fun.

How could that be?

You see, the game earlier on wasn’t about the newest monster, ability, or item.

The quantity of content didn’t define our experience.

Quality did.

The game in its simpler days put the focus on the way we used what we had… not on what we actually had.

We didn’t need a guide for every fantasy possibility, we needed core mechanics, an imagination, and a passion to develop everything else on our own.

Today (arguably for some time), there is a distinct push toward streamlining the game toward a digital video-game experience. The more options they give, the more quantity they give, the more monetization opportunities arise. And this is where the problem arises. For the most part the tremendous amount of content flooding into the TTRPG space comes from a place of making money…

I hate to say it, but not from a love of the material.

I’m certainly not trying to throw every content creator under the bus here, but the truth is, the best TTRPG experience is the opposite of what Wizards would try to convince you it is.

Back in the day when I used to barhop around Manhattan, the most popular bars and clubs were ALWAYS the ones we avoided. The best bars and clubs, were the ones off the beaten path, the ones hardly anybody knew about. The ones where the folks that were there weren’t there to be seen, weren’t there because it was the hip place to be, they were strictly for the booze, the atmosphere, the music, and the people.

Quality over quantity wins every time.

 

PV 535