How to continue playing TTRPGs during the summer.
It's too nice outside to stay indoors.
If you’ve been reading my Substack for any length of time or if you know me in real life, you know how much I love playing Table Top Role-Playing Games (THAT’S what that means!) like Dungeons & Dragons, PathFinder, Monster of the Week, the list goes on.
It’s always difficult to meet a schedule for a group of busy adults to set aside time to meet outside of work, family, and just time you set aside to recharge your social battery. With summer on us in the northern hemisphere (ignoring the effects of climate change, if I get started I’ll have another breakdown) the time to hike trails, bike around the city, go to the beach, and anything else you would do outside is now. Especially for those in the Pacific Northwest, where this is when we recharge after a gray October into early May.
That means we now have yet another obligation to work around. Or do we?
I figured out how to do both things; enjoy the outdoors AND play TTRPGs! How is that possible, you may ask, to which I say, stop asking questions out loud by yourself and read on!
Play something light on rules and materials while at the park.
Most games like D&D and PathFinder require dice, pencils, the paper on which the character sheets are printed, or at least an electronic device to do everything digitally. The Game Master has even more to prepare, with at least an outline of a story to tell with the players. The easy fix is to find a game that only needs a small handful of dice, or a deck of cards as the randomized mechanic, or rock, paper, scissors to determine success and failure.
You can sit on a blanket, or on a bench, keeping it a linear story with a smaller group, and you’re playing games at the park, baby! You can even steal from the movie “The Usual Suspects” and craft your narrative around what you see at the park.
GM: You walk into the, uhh- (they see a couple on a tandem bicycle) Two-headed dragon’s cave, they roar simultaneously. What do you do?”
Player: I walk up and, (they see a dog catch a frisbee) I hurl a discus at the left head!
GM: Ok, Rock, Paper, Scissors, shoot!
Wow, I just made that up but it sounds amazing. I’m really good at this. What’s the next thing?
Plan the session while on a hike.
You’re on a dirt trail. The sunlight barely gets through the canopy of trees, the dappling gives off a fantasy aesthetic. As you take a pull from your water canteen you spent $35 on you turn to your hiking compatriot and say “I think we should make a deal with the Elven pirates when we reach the Basilisk Sea.” Your compatriot says “What? I asked how far the path goes until it loops.”
Miscommunication aside, it’s been proven by science, probably, that taking walks in nature make you calmer and more creative. Which is why your D&D party should take hikes together and plan the next part of the adventure. The exercise will inspire something, and the fresh air will invigorate your lungs and brain.
The only pitfall to watch out for, aside from the actual pitfalls if you hike in a dangerous area, is that everything revolves around your characters hiking. It’s not the worst thing to happen but it would be pretty silly if you got to the game session where you’re in a cave and you ask the GM “Where is the nearest tree?” Unless tress grow in caves, oh! I’m going to make that note, be right back.
Group rent an Air BnB on the beach.
You and your group pool your resources, rent a beach house, bring grill food, drinks, your gaming supplies, and the thirst for adventure and light beer. You set up the table on the second story porch that oversees the ocean, you’re all wearing linen, the smell of hamburgers wafts past as you declare “My dwarven Barbarian swing her great ax in to the neck of the beast!”
The added bonus is you all went to the beach that morning, played Frisbee, swam around, and chatted about the upcoming session that night. Then you’re all hungry from the salt air and a little drunk, a perfect combination for role-playing hungry drunk adventurers. A sort of ‘method acting’ if you will.
I know what you’re going to say. “But Blake, what if the sharks figure out how to walk onto land and invade the surface world as revenge for the evils we’ve done to the ocean?” And I’m way ahead of you.
The sharks don’t have that technology…yet. It will be a long time beofre sharks can get onto land, and when they do, they’ll be the last of our worries. Jellyfish with Terminator like exoskeletons will be the main threat. But that’s not what this article is about. I don’t remember what it’s about, but not that.
So there you have it, a flawless list of how to enjoy the summer weather while still pretending to be a gnome with an insane name like Grizbo Funglefart.