Last-Minute Guest Finds Fulfilment at D&D in a Castle

Have you ever wondered who attends our D&D in a Castle events? 

View our blog posts, new and old, in the Castle Blog Archive

What kinds of people get drawn to the castle?  Are they adventurous or shy, experienced gamers or new to D&D? As anticipation builds for our next event, here’s a chance to see what it might be like, and to look forward to your own chance to roll dice in a castle. 

Hi Steve, thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us.

No problem.

We’re hoping to hear about your story with D&D, and how you ended up at D&D in a Castle.   To start us off, how did you get into playing D&D? And how long have you been playing for?

I got into D&D about a year before the Castle—I am a member of a large online gaming community and there was a sizeable core of people who wanted to try the game.  So I found a base copy of the rules, and then did the unthinkable and made a homebrew adventure via Roll20 using Johnn Four's 5 Room Dungeon! I learned a lot of lessons about DMing from that.

Wow, that’s pretty bold and daring of you.  So you’re a relatively new D&D player?

Funnily enough, D&D in a Castle was not only my first experience as a player in D&D, it was also my first experience of physically sitting at a table to play with real dice!

I’m just sitting here imagining you rolling dice for the first time in a 600 year-old castle—what a beginning.  Were you a gamer before that?

I was a bit of a nerd for video game design growing up; whether it was drawing concept art for flying simulators or dreaming about the headsets and trackpads of today whilst playing Police 911 in the numerous arcades in nearby Southend, it is likely fair to say that games have had a very formative effect on my childhood. 

Games definitely had a big impact on so many of us growing up.  Do you have any other favourites that stand out to you?

I was also a bit of a fanboy for Games Workshop growing up, namely Blood Bowl and Necromunda. Personally I preferred the grand tactics of Warhammer but everyone I grew up with only wanted to play 40K so I settled for practicing my painting skills on my High Elf army.

What’s the coolest thing you have done with D&D, or tabletop role-play generally?

Oh without a doubt, D&D in a Castle is my grandest experience with tabletop roleplaying! Between the pandemic and being a relative newcomer to the game, I have a lot of cool moments to experience once I can get round a table again.

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Meet Steve, a relatively new D&D player who came to D&D in a Castle at the very last minute, and who now wants to come back for more.

As a relative newcomer to D&D, how did you end up coming to D&D in a Castle?

At the absolute last minute on a complete and utter whim!

Yes, I remember your email.  We had one ticket left, and it was such a busy time, since we were in the middle of switching between castles for our next round of D&D.  How did that come about?

I stumbled upon an advert for the event on social media on a lunch break at work on the Thursday and everything about it just struck me as a brilliant idea! I checked in to see what availability they still had and they had the one seat available running from Saturday to Tuesday, Round 3 at Lumley Castle, and after a quick check to get some staff to cover, I was introduced to the group.

You just seized the opportunity and didn’t hesitate—what was it like arranging to come at the last minute?

Everything after that was just a blur as I quickly learned to use D&D Beyond, made a quick token to use as I had missed the boat on the Heroforge minis (understandable as we were 48 hours away from starting) and set off to drive cross-country to meet everybody!

What did you appreciate the most about your DM at the Castle? 

His enthusiasm for pretty much everything about the event was amazing! Whether it was at the table or taking a walk of the grounds between sessions, the energy he put into it and the genuine excitement and enjoyment was borderline intoxicating. Not to mention the sheer size of the man and the way he used martial arts to measure the width of doors!

Interior doors of Langley Castle, location of D&D in a Castle, 2019.

I know!  Aren’t those doors incredible?  The energy and excitement you felt permeates every one of our events at the Castle—-it must be the combination of setting, passionate DMs and players.  Tell us a bit about your gaming preferences.  What kinds of characters do you like to play?

I generally tend to lean towards one of two character types; the cocky idiot or the meek genius. I like to vary the classes, races and motivations as much as I can to keep out of the pigeonhole but their personalities tend to take heavily from these tropes.

Those two character personalities are good contrasts to each other, it sounds like you look for variation in your characters.  What gets you really excited about a campaign?

I like a good bit of storytelling in my games with a tendency towards more high fantasy. Combat is great and can create amazing moments, but it's the stakes that really get me involved in a campaign.

You say you’re new to D&D, but it seems to me like you’ve already figured out what motivates you as a player.  Since all the DMs at the Castle custom-plan the campaigns, what was your campaign like?

For the campaign, the DM created a sort of League of Legends crossover in the Forgotten Realm, particularly in and around Thay.  The setting itself was like nothing I had tried before, which is easy to say with my very limited experience at the time, that consisted of DMing in a patch of land east of Baldur's Gate for five sessions. 

Working with a completely new setting sounds like an adventure you enjoyed.  What was the most unique thing about your campaign at the Castle?

The one thing I would say that was hands-down the most unique thing was the DM’s inventive use of a hoard of MTG cards to add extra chaos and narrative flair into the campaign, making 1s and 20s something even more exciting to watch unfold!

Wow, that sounds pretty creative.  Speaking as a relative newcomer to D&D, would you come back to the Castle?

Absolutely, in fact I paid my full deposit for the 2020 event as soon as I could! I had to pull out of the event and focus on keeping my business going through last year, but I hope to be back next year once things are a little less hectic.

Yes, many of us put things on pause in 2020.  You enjoyed your time at the castle—what stands out for you and draws you back?

Short of winning the lottery and buying my own castle, I would struggle to find a setting such as this! The commitment by everybody was amazing, plus I got to meet some truly wonderful people and share in some fantastic stories which one would struggle to hear about in most other communities.

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It sounds like you found a great community to connect with at D&D in a Castle and with D&D in general.  What’s one thing you’ve learned from playing D&D so far?

The biggest lesson I would say I have learned from D&D is that it's okay to fail, sometimes failure even presents opportunities that you wouldn't have even expected—-after all, we're all human.

So True. Thanks for sharing so much about yourself and your time at the Castle today, Steve.  I hope we can game with you again soon. 

Steve attended D&D in a Castle in 2019 at Langley Castle, UK. His opinions are his own, and he has received no incentive or consideration for this interview.