The last time I played in Adventurer’s League was before the holidays. Zehiri, my Tiefling Paladin, almost died because I kept rolling so poorly. I played Adventurer’s League at Red 6 Games in St. Paul. I like the DM who leads the sessions, and I don’t get to go to St. Paul that often, so I find playing at Red 6 is a treat. I’m happy to say that Zehiri did so much better in this session, and I didn’t die.

Our session took place in the village of Parnast. Our contact, Regnar, said thefts and other petty crimes were occurring in the town. Regnar accused a local carpenter, Gundolin Cartwright, of being the suspected culprit, as he had refused to build a watchtower to protect the town. Regnar offered our group fifty gold if we could apprehend the person responsible. As our group conversed with Gundolin, we interpreted that he was innocent and another individual, Tove, was responsible. As our group followed Tove into the forest, a battle ensued with numerous orcs and an ogre coming to greet us.

In this session, I earned my first inspiration from the DM. Inspiration is when the DM feels there’s roleplaying or character development that’s worth recognizing. Inspiration allows the character who received inspiration to re-roll a die. I received inspiration because Zehiri helped get the group together. Our group was a bit all over the place, and I cast a cantrip called Thaumaturgy, which allows for my voice to become a megaphone of sorts. I told the group to calm down and think for a second. The DM liked that I did that, hence I got inspiration.

Another cool moment for Zehiri was in the big battle. There was a female orc champion named Korgath who was targeting me. I had Zehiri taunt her a bit into attacking me. She dealt thirteen damage to Zehiri, but I was ready. As a reaction, I have Hellish Rebuke. Hellish Rebuke is a reaction spell, meaning I can cast it even if it’s not on my turn if my character is targeted. As I cast Hellish Rebuke, I rolled three D10s of damage, which was enough to kill her. Korgath attacked me, I taunted her, and I used Hellish Rebuke to turn her to ash. How cool is that?

Along with the role-playing session, one of the players brought his son. He was playing a Rogue, so he would do sneak attack damage. As he rolled the dice, his dad was helping him add up all his damage. It was the cutest thing. We all knew the answer, but we didn’t tell him until he could add it all up for himself. It goes to show that D&D can be educational, as there’s a lot of math involved, whether it be in combat situations or skill checks.

From this session, Zehiri is now level #4. I’m on the cusp of leaving the beginner’s session and moving into the advanced session for levels #5 – #9. I’m thrilled that Zehiri lived throughout the session, and I’m excited to fit another Adventurer’s League session into my schedule.

It’s March! This means spring is right around the corner. I tend to do most of my gaming in winter as there’s not a whole lot going on otherwise. I’m looking forward to writing these gaming updates to keep me on track for gaming throughout spring. I wanted to spring into my latest gaming update.

Consoles

I’m currently playing through Far Cry 5 on my PS4. Far Cry 5 takes place in Montana and focuses on the main character taking on a cult. This cult is impulsive, and I have no shame in overtaking an outpost to help the resistance. Far Cry 5 makes me want to visit Montana, as the world is so pretty.

In my last update, I mentioned playing Animal Crossing. I’m in another lull; I don’t think I played at all throughout February. I have so much to do with my island, so I do want to get back into playing regularly.

PC

I had some issues with loading Steam. Thanks to a quick Google search, I was able to fix the issue I was having. I started playing Coffee Talk. Coffee Talk is a visual novel about a coffee shop owner who sees a variety of supernatural customers coming to order coffee. This feels like D&D took place in a coffee shop; that’s what Coffee Talk reminds me of. I’m liking it so far! During the week, I tend to play more cozy games, so Coffee Talk and Animal Crossing are a perfect fit to play after work.

I still have Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy to complete. I haven’t had any desire to play the Nancy Drew PC games. If I’m feeling it, I might return to the game this month.

Board Games

For my mom’s birthday, we played a few games at my apartment. My brother and I taught my mom Exploding Kittens, and she loved it! She wanted my brother to buy a copy of the game. My mom has been getting into board games more, which is fun to see. She likes simple games, nothing too complicated. Exploding Kittens is a great game for those who like simplicity, and a game that doesn’t take long to play.

Roleplaying

Curse of Strahd is still ongoing and fun. In one of our latest sessions, our barbarian got bit by a vampire, and fortunately, I rolled high on a blood hunter check, so we were able to prevent him from being turned. Our group still has no process if we get bitten by vampires, so that’s something we have to figure out, or we won’t last through this campaign. I’m playing at Badwolf Adventure Studios, and once Curse of Strahd is complete, I plan on hopping into another campaign, as I think Badwolf does a great job at professional DMing.

Tomorrow I’m playing in Adventurer’s League with Zehiri, my Tiefling Paladin. She’s the character I reserve for Adventurer’s League sessions. I haven’t played Adventurer’s League since December, so I’m excited to play.

Miscellaneous

For gaming news, the new Pokémon starters have been released. I’m partial to Sprigatito because it’s a grass cat! As a cat person, I’m happy. However, Fuecoco is growing on me. It’s a cute fire gator. While I think Quaxly is adorable, Sprigatito and Fuecoco have grown on me. Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet are set to release late this year on the Switch.

My goal for March is to get farther into Far Cry 5, complete Coffee Talk, and level up Zehiri in Adventurer’s League. Let me know in the comments what you’re playing through.

I’m currently in a Curse of Strahd campaign that meets every other Thursday. For those unfamiliar, Curse of Strahd is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure where players come to Barovia to confront Strahd, the ruler of Barovia. When I first started the campaign, I debated writing weekly posts about our sessions, but decided against it. Instead, I wanted to write an occasional post where something big happens in our campaign. In this post, I wanted to recap how our group killed our first vampire.

Our group finished defeating a few black tentacle creatures before reaching this church. As a side note, my character, Levenia, nearly got mauled to death, so I was not looking too well. Our group arrived at this church to lay to rest an NPC’s father. As we arrive, the priest is acting like a creep, and we hear screaming from the floorboards. Our group determines that there is someone underneath and through investigation checks, this screaming is from the priest’s son who was turned into a vampire.

Our group debated for a long time as to what we wanted to do. There were two options that we went back and forth on:

1. Do nothing. Let the vampire trapped underground stay there and hope he doesn’t escape.
2. Kill the vampire and put it out of its misery.

After a long conversation, it was decided to kill the vampire. One member of the party stayed above the floor, while the rest of us went downstairs to confront the vampire with our stakes. The vampire, instead of attacking us, attacked the member of our party who stayed upstairs. She was pulled underneath and bitten by the vampire, which was really bad. If our group didn’t do something, she would have become a vampire that we would have had to kill. Our clerics, fortunately, were able to remove her vampirism. It took five of us to hold on to the stake, and I used a cantrip called Eldritch Blast to magically shove the stake further into the vampire, which dealt the killing blow. Levenia got the killing blow on the vampire, which is easily one of the coolest moments I have ever had playing D&D.

This was easily one of my favorite role-playing sessions I have ever been a part of. The stakes were high (no pun intended), and my character got to do some badass stuff. I’m enjoying Curse of Strahd so far, and I hope that my character gets to live through the adventure, although it’s all up to the roll of the die.

SQUARE ENIX had a rough start with their superhero games. I reviewed Marvel’s Avengers at the end of 2020, and it was such a letdown. I was adamant that I didn’t want anything to do with SQUARE ENIX and superhero video games. Last year, SQUARE ENIX released Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and I was astonished to hear the game was getting rave reviews, with Google stating 95% liked the game. While I was apprehensive, I figured if other gamers liked the game, it can’t be that bad. It certainly couldn’t be worse than Marvel’s Avengers. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was an entertaining space saga that I would absolutely re-play.

The game opens with Star-Lord aka. Peter Quill is leading the Guardians to collect items to sell and gain credits. As the Guardians explore, Peter stumbles upon a yellow stone, and much to Peter’s immature personality, he uses the stone to accidentally release an alien into space. As the Guardians flee, they are captured by Nova Corp and forced to pay a fine for illegal contraband. Once the Guardians have the credits to pay their fine, they head back to Nova Corp, and clearly, something is wrong. Nova Corp seems corrupted, and they viciously attack the Guardians. Whatever Peter released is setting off a chain of events that could lead to the entire galaxy being mind-controlled. The Guardians of the Galaxy are ready to take on this all-encompassing alien being.

To start off, I like the look of the Guardians. Peter is sporting a buzz mohawk of sorts, which I think fits with his persona. Do I dare say that I prefer Star-Lord in the game to Chris Pratt’s film version? Star-Lord is the only playable character, yet since he’s the leader, I can use him to direct the other Guardians to attack. Another fun way this game uses the Guardians is through a huddle. A pink meter is filled as the Guardians unleash their attacks, and once the meter is filled, Star-Lord can call for a huddle. As the Guardians express their thoughts, Star-Lord can give an enticing speech. If done correctly, the Guardians are given temporary health protection. Additionally, 80s music is played once a huddle is completed. Nothing creates more energy during a tough combat sequence than 80s music playing throughout. This was a great way to incorporate the energy of the Guardians in their own video game.

Another intriguing aspect of the game was the choices. For example, in one chapter, the Guardians come up with a plan to scam Lady Hellbender by pretending to sell one of their own. The player can choose whether to pretend to sell Groot or Rocket. I chose Rocket. Since I made this choice, the plan ended up failing, and I ended up having to fight my way out. However, if I had chosen Groot, the plan would have worked; it would have eliminated the need for combat. While most of the choices are harmless, they can allow for galactic assistance throughout the chapters. I thought it was a neat idea to include something like this in a superhero game.

Throughout the chapters, there are various collectibles, gear, and character outfits to collect. As a completionist, I plan on going through the game again and collecting everything I missed. My personal favorite is the outfits because, as they are unlocked, it’s shown which comics displayed that particular character’s outfit. As someone who hasn’t read many Guardians of the Galaxy comics, I liked learning more about each outfit and the outfit that it corresponds with.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a surprisingly well-made game. I was not expecting SQUARE ENIX to do a great job, as their track record isn’t great. I’m happy to say that this game is worth playing. I’d rate Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy 9/10.

The toughest part of playing Dungeons & Dragons is finding the time. I have joined several D&D campaigns that fizzled out. I joined some campaigns where I didn’t connect with the players, and another campaign that fell apart because we couldn’t find a time that worked for everyone. Professional D&D is on the rise, where you can pay a Dungeon Master to coordinate your gaming group. In Minneapolis, Badwolf Adventure Studios is a professional D&D studio that will run games for you.

I found out about Badwolf through a Facebook ad. I figured I’d contact the studio and find out what this all involves. I was contacted right away and put into a group that met every other Thursday. This was perfect for me because it didn’t feel like a full-time commitment. There was a session zero where I worked with someone to develop my character. I didn’t feel uncomfortable asking questions, and while I have been roleplaying for a while, 5e D&D rules still confuse me, so I wanted to be in an environment for beginners. Badwolf is a great place to learn how to play, whether you’re a beginner or have been roleplaying for years.

Since this is professional DMing, there is a cost. Each session costs $25. For some, this may seem expensive; however, I find that it’s worth it. When players invest in their session, everyone is more than likely to show up. The most frustrating part of D&D is when players don’t show up for their sessions. Since everyone is committing financially, this has removed this frustration from gameplay.

In my limited experience with Badwolf, I can’t recommend them enough. Everyone was kind and friendly to beginners. It’s clear our DM knows a lot about the game and doesn’t have to constantly look up the rules. Once my group is finished playing through Curse of Strahd, I immediately want to dive into another campaign. If your area doesn’t have professional DMing, it might be worthwhile to talk to a friend and pay them for their time. Professional D&D is a game-changer for roleplaying, and I’m happy to have found a long-term D&D campaign.

2022 so far has been a strong gaming year. I have set gaming goals for myself to achieve this year as I want to tackle my video game backlog. Additionally, there are a few games I’d like to re-play, such as Life is Strange, as there have been two new games released that I haven’t played yet. I wanted to share my latest gaming update, starting off 2022.

Consoles

I have been mainly playing Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy on my PS4. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this game has been a blast to play. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is made by SQUARE ENIX, who produced Marvel’s Avengers, which was mediocre. I only bought Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy because the game was highly rated. This would be the perfect game to play next year before the next Guardians of the Galaxy film is released.

I have also gotten back into Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I played for two months straight last year, and then I took a hiatus. Animal Crossing can get repetitive, especially because I still owe 400,000 bells on my house. I ended up missing the game, so I have been playing regularly throughout January. I named my island MaplePeaks as I love fall. I want to make a spooky/autumn-themed island. I still have a lot of work to do to make my island what I want.

PC

I have been playing through Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy. Whenever I play a Nancy Drew PC game, I like to play it in one sitting. I haven’t had a chance to finish the game, but I hope to in the next week. Besides Nancy Drew, I did try playing Parkasaurus, which is a simulation game in which the player builds a zoo with Dinosaurs. Unfortunately, the game lagged on my PC, so I ended up uninstalling it from my laptop. If I upgrade to a gaming computer, I may give this game another shot.

Board Games

With the current spikes of COVID-19, I haven’t been out with friends playing board games. I hope to have a board game night soon. This is the one section of my gaming updates that I haven’t been able to share anything new, which makes me sad. I love board games as it’s a huge part of my gaming identity.

Roleplaying

I shared in my last gaming update, but I’m in an ongoing D&D campaign. My group is playing through Curse of Strahd, which is a campaign centered on a cursed prince who is a vampire. My character is named Levenia Monterro and she’s a half-elf Blood Hunter. She is a blood mage, meaning she uses her own blood to cast spells. I love playing with her. I selected Eldritch Blast as a cantrip, and I have been wreaking havoc in battle. I haven’t been in an ongoing D&D campaign since 2019.

I want to get back into Adventurer’s League as well with my other character, Zehiri, a level #3 Tiefling Paladin.

Miscellaneous

My husband, for Christmas, bought me a handheld Dig Dug electronic game. Dig Dug is my favorite arcade game, and I played it a lot when I was a kid. I tend to play Dig Dug a few nights a week before I go to bed.

I love sharing these gaming updates. Gaming has been one hobby that I have found decreased over the past few years, and I feel that sharing these updates has helped get me back into gaming regularly.

I started playing through the Nancy Drew games by Her Interactive during the height of the pandemic in 2020. My husband gets a kick out of watching me play because either there’s a jump scare or I’m stuck on a puzzle for a long time. While playing through Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock, my husband peered over my shoulder and started offering suggestions for a word puzzle. He and I sat there for a bit until finally, we were able to solve it together. He asked me why I liked these types of games, and that’s exactly it. The Nancy Drew games are some of the most challenging PC games I have played, yet once I finish a game, I feel a sense of accomplishment. Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock wasn’t my favorite Nancy Drew outing; however, this is the perfect game for beginners to the Nancy Drew PC games.

Nancy Drew is summoned to Lilac Inn by a mutual friend named Emily Crandall. Emily alerts Nancy to strange happenings at Lilac Inn and the fear of running the inn by herself. Emily’s mother passed away, and Emily was banking on receiving money from Emily’s mom’s friend, Josiah Crowley. However, in Josiah’s will, he leaves his money to Richard Topham instead. Nancy decides to investigate not only the occurrences at Lilac Inn but also the whereabouts of Josiah’s real will, if there is one.

The mystery in Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock was okay. There were only two suspects who could be responsible, so it left little to the imagination of who could be causing all of this. Although the reveal wasn’t all that, I did like the finale. In each Nancy Drew game, there’s what I call a finale, where Nancy has to chase after the suspect in some way. In this game, Nancy has to hop in her car and chase the suspect to ensure they don’t escape. I can’t help but enjoy a little car chase every now and then.

One of the best things about playing Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock is the mini-games. There’s a Shakespeare-themed mini-game requiring Nancy to slide various wooden blocks into their proper place. I found this mini-game to be fun. Another mini-game was found in an old clock where Nancy has to slide a bird through the clock, along with pushing blocks out of the way. It was basically a version of Rush Hour except with a bird and various obstacles. Finally, the last mini-game was a miniature golf course where Nancy had to hit par on each hole. This mini-game took me a bit because the last few courses were difficult. I think I played through this mini-game at least seven times before finally hitting par.

Another important aspect of the Nancy Drew games is the setting. In this outing, most of the in-game story takes place at Lilac Inn; however, Nancy often needs to drive around town to progress through the game. Another Nancy Drew game similar to this was Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes, which took place in Nancy’s hometown of River Heights. I liked this aspect of the game because it shakes up the story, and it shows how each location in the town serves a purpose to Nancy at some point in the game.

Out of all the Nancy Drew games I played, I would recommend Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock as a great game to start with. It’s one of the less convoluted games in the franchise. Some of the Nancy Drew games have mazes, which I don’t like as much because I always get lost. Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock features none of that, and it’s a straightforward game.

I’m all for a Steam sale! Steam had a Holiday sale from December 22nd through January 5th. This worked out perfectly for me because I’m planning my year, which includes determining what games I’m going to play in 2022. In addition to purchasing new games, I organized my Steam wishlist to ensure it was filled with games I wanted to play. Here’s what I purchased during the sale.

An Abundance of Nancy Drew Games

I purchased so many Nancy Drew PC games to play. The first one I played and finished this year was Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock. I’m writing my review for this game, which should be posted sometime next week. I also purchased Nancy Drew: The Final Scene, Nancy Drew: Last Train to Blue Moon, Nancy Drew: Treasure in the Royal Tower, and Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy.

Blacksad

Blacksad is a video game adaptation of a best-selling comic series. Blacksad follows John Blacksad, a private detective who gets involved in some nefarious investigations. I have high hopes for this game as it seems like something I would like.

Calico

Calico is a simulation game where the player helps rebuild the town’s cat cafe. How cute does this game look?? As a cat lady, I was immediately intrigued.

Coffee Talk

Coffee Talk follows a barista who works at a coffee shop in a fantasy world where this shop is frequented by elves, orcs, and other fantasy creatures. This seems like a D&D-inspired coffee shop video game, and I’m here for it.

Pumpkin Jack

This was a game that I saw and purchased because I thought it was a cool concept. If you have followed BizarreBrunette for a while, you would know that I’m a big fan of anything spooky and Halloween. I’m excited to play this!

Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York

The final game I purchased was Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York. Last year, I played Vampire: The Masquerade Shadows of New York, and I liked it a lot. Coteries of New York was released before Shadows of New York, so I’m not sure if this serves as more of a prequel. Regardless, I’m looking forward to getting back into the darkness of a vampire-populated NYC.

Through the Steam sale, I ended up with ten new games to play in 2022. I’m looking forward to seeing what I can play throughout the year. As mentioned, I already played through Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock, so I intend on posting my review in the next week or so. Did you pick up anything in the Steam sale? Let me know in the comments below.

Two weeks ago, I played in my first Adventurer’s League session for D&D 5e. Adventurer’s League is an ongoing campaign where you can play at any game store that runs an Adventurer’s League session. The benefit of playing in Adventurer’s League is not having to commit to a weekly game and being able to take your character to each session with the experiences from the previous sessions. I specifically created Zehiri, a level #2 (now a level #3) Tiefling Paladin, whom I intend to play anytime I play Adventurer’s League. In the session I had two weeks ago, the party almost died, and I wanted to relive this because it’s a funny story now, since my character ended up being healed.

My group was securing a payload of a statue and transporting it across the plane to a woman named Chandra. During our journey, we encountered two sets of enemies. The first set of enemies featured goblins and a wolf. Within the first round of combat, the Dungeon Master (DM) had his goblin attack me. The DM rolled a natural 20, which doubles the damage my character would take. This led to me taking 11 damage from a goblin who threw a rock at me. How rude. I eventually killed the goblin with a Divine Smite, which may have been overkill, but the goblin deserved it. Divine Smite is a spell specific to the Paladin class, which allows for extra damage to be dealt to a creature if that creature was hit by a melee attack. I ended up killing one more goblin before combat ended. It was the second round of combat where things were intense.

After surviving the round of goblins, our group was attacked by another wolf and two Bugbears. One of the Bugbears kicked a log at my group, and I rolled poorly to move out of the way. I was dealt 11 points of damage there. In all of my turns, I kept rolling so low that I wouldn’t hit any of the enemies in our way. One of the party members rushed into battle and was knocked down within a turn or two. As the only healer, I was going to heal him, except I got knocked down in battle because I rolled poorly. Two out of the five members were unconscious, including the only healer, and I genuinely was concerned we were not going to get through this. There were several turns where the remaining three heroes rolled so low that they didn’t hit any of the enemies. Eventually, the battle turned to our favor when two of the remaining players cast several cantrips with a natural 20 to help kill the remaining enemies. Eventually, I was healed with medical supplies from the payload we were guarding, and I was able to level up Zehiri to level #3. The DM felt so bad for us because we kept rolling so poorly.

As I review this session, I realize things could have gone way worse. I ended up rolling well on my death saves and didn’t roll a failure. When a character loses their hit points, they roll a death save. Rolling a 1-9 is a failed roll, while rolling 10-20 is a success. If you roll three failed saves, your character dies for good. If you roll a natural one on a death save, it counts as two failures.

Overall, it was a fun session, and now I want to find more Adventurers’ Leagues to play in. In the meantime, I want to write a thorough backstory for Zehiri, so I can have it prepared when playing in future sessions. Being new to playing D&D 5e, Adventurer’s League was a great place to get back to in-person roleplaying, and I’m looking forward to roleplaying Zehiri in the future.