D&D Encounters Was Totally Fun

Well, color me surprised. Pretty much every time I go to play D&D at a store with strangers, things can get a little... well, awkward. My friends are all well-versed in the tale of Dwarftosser the Catpissman, the first catpissman I'd ever met, who tossed my dwarf because he hit some monsters with a magic missile. My S.O. and I had a very uncomfortable game at the comic store in the dirt mall near us, and we vowed to never go back again.

But we've been hankering for some D&D, so tonight we went to Game Masters in Pittsburgh for Encounters.

Shit was awesome.

While we were a little upset at being restricted to Essentials material for characters, we had some fun, and my Elf Slayer, Tyrinbaine the Fell, scored a massive 27 points of damage on one of the monsters in one hit. Ratcheting up those Renown points was a ton of fun, and our group was really nice. There was a little awkwardness at the table, but we were all in a light-hearted mood, so everyone laughed at the idea of racist horses and sewer-dwelling hipsters that the DM ad-libbed into the game.

I am totally going back next week. It's a little sad that the game is, well, one encounter, but we had a great group dynamic, and everyone shook hands at the end of the game. Nobody died, and we kicked total ass.

Now, if only it wasn't set in the Forgotten Realms...