Dungeons and Dragons? In a Castle?
Hell. Yes.
2019 marked a milestone for Quinn and me, as it was our 15th anniversary together. Finding D&D in a Castle is the one and only time a Facebook ad ever got it right, because as soon as I read about the event, I was hooked. Stay in an English castle for 3 days of D&D and related activities with a well-known dungeon master?
In 2019, when I saw the ad, they were sold out.
So, I stuck us on the mailing list, and we had a wonderful anniversary dinner.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MOAR CASTLES? WUT?
YUP! The D&D in a Castle coordinators scheduled several more castles for the event, and we signed up for Caverswall Castle, near Stoke-on-Trent, UK.
A week or so before we left for our trip, however, Caverswall was seized by the authorities and put up for sale. Luckily, the D&D in a Castle brother/sister coordinators Tara and Cameron Rout, along with Ash and all the others working their magic behind the scenes, snagged the amazing Lumley Castle, where the event will be repeated in full in 2021, pandemic allowing.
Quinn and I were grouped with Andrew, Steven, Miriam and Mike, and we had the illustrious Amy Vorpahl as our Dungeon Master. Our group has since kept in touch on Discord, and we run monthly one-shots together on Twitch and YouTube.
Flying in Style
We’ve never flown business class before, but for our 15-year anniversary, we decided to splurge and see what it was like. It’s awesome, obviously. We had champagne or mimosas on every flight (including short, connecting flights), the food was pretty good, there was a bar on board our overnight flight, and the stewards were incredibly nice. That said, while I thoroughly enjoyed the waking experience of Virgin Airlines, Delta ended up being far more comfortable for sleeping. Virgin’s “beds” were a bit like our camping cots, but with walls and really shallow pillows. I realized later I probably could’ve asked for another pillow, but…y’know…first time.
The view was also pretty great!
Arrived: Manchester, UK
We arrived a day early in hopes that we would be *just* early enough to get through the jet lag. For me, the jet lag hit on the 3rd day…so…you can’t plan everything.
After googling ‘things to do in Manchester’, I really wanted to see the John Rylands library, and Quinn wanted to check out the Harley Davidson shop (it’s become a “thing” we do when we travel anywhere), so we did both on our first day. No test rides were available, which was a good thing, given driving on the other side of the road + all the construction going on. We’ll get that motorcycle tour in someday…where there are fewer people and cars.
“Castle Day” at Lumley Castle
“Castle Day” was a crossover day before the main D&D event where a round of players ending their stay, and us starting ours, got to mingle and do all sorts of fun things at the castle together.
For reference, Lumley Castle is gorgeous, inside and out. It also has a built-in escape room based on the history of the castle, so…of course we did that! Our group, I believe, was the fastest of the summer (at that time), without clues. We also tried all sorts of archery, electronic skeet shooting (Quinn was awesome at that), miniature painting lessons, attended a concert by the Library Bards, and enjoyed an entertaining 1970’s themed murder mystery dinner put on by the castle.
By the way, it’s not just the castle that is beautiful – the grounds are worth hiking around for as well.
DAY 1: Zero Session & Barovian Ball
The rest of of the people in our round (each 4-day session was a “round”) arrived later the next day. We met our D&D group, collected our 3d printed mini’s for our session, and we all attended a “Barovian” Ball, put on by the castle!
Oh, we also attended high tea (our first ever) with dungeon master Jason Carl, Shayne, and several others. I, personally, don’t like tea, but if you put enough milk and sugar in it, the barley taste is barely noticeable! Yeah, I know, I murdered it. Sorrynotsorry. The pastry/sandwich experience, however, was TO DIE FOR. Thank you, Jason and Shayne, for that wonderful adventure!
Before dinner, we attended happy hour in the castle’s dungeon, then learned a “Barovian” dance to be allowed into the dining hall. Our D&D group and the rest of the round’s attendees enjoyed a wonderful presentation of singing and comedy while we ate our tasty courses sans flatware (hence the towel-bib). Most of these pictures were taken by the event photographers, who are amazing.
After the dinner, we were given the chance to learn how to paint (tiny) miniatures. Pro Tip: next time (now that I’ve painted dozens of minis), I’m bringing a battery operated lamp with a magnifying glass that clips onto a table. Also, this was the first *tiny* miniature I’d ever painted, and second one total. I repainted my little Gimmer when I got home to better suit his fiery nature, but at this point I was stuck on “sorcerer colors” being blues and purples.
To be honest, his derpy eye didn’t get much better on the second go-around, even with a magnifying glass and decent light.
Day 2: 1st D&D Session with Dungeon Master Amy Vorpahl
Day 1 started in the red curtain room (actually called the Bede room).
Here’s an official event picture of another group in the same room, so you have an idea of just how cool it looked (my photos don’t do it justice):
To reintroduce our players, here’s our group photo, the Castle Continuum bunch: Lauren (Hanley Brady), Andrew, Mike, Steven, Amy (DM), Quinn, and Miriam.
We played a 5E Dungeons and Dragons campaign called Twilight’s Edge, based in part on a campaign originally written by Amy Vorpahl and David Crennen for Dungeon in a Box.
Player/Character Line Up:
Character art by the awesome Jacob Grimoire.
The Campaign: Twilight’s Edge
Our campaign starts off with our characters all working in a fantasy-esque insane asylum, where the main research is on extracting patients’ inner demons into physical manifestations via a special Rod of Demens, whereby our characters are employed to then kill those inner demons. Unlike most ‘meet in a tavern’ starts, this campaign allowed us to choose what our characters did at the asylum, thus setting the tone for our characters’ personalities for the rest of the game.
Takari Naïlo – Patient Intake Admin studying for her PhD in Abjuration, developing a new protection spell as her thesis. Usually studies on the job. Sometimes actually checks patients in.
Bert Brenard – Head Chef and all-around cheerful bard-with-a-dad-bod. Totally *not* suppressing a traumatic backstory. Often claps too loud.
Sir Aslac, Knight of the Four Stars – Asylum Patient and (somehow) Chief of Security. Will kill demons dead, whether they exist or not.
Gimmer – Celebrity Guest, Master Illusionist. Mostly a celebrity in his own mind, but occasionally people like him. Okay, rarely. Changelings are hard.
Dr. Smith (aka Designated Registration 53174) – Mechanical Psychiatrist with a demeanor like Aziraphale, a long memory, and a thirst for knowledge. Will also stab storm clouds in the buttocks with his arm-daggers.
Xhalarr Nemmonsdottir – Activities Director hell-bent on honoring her draconic lineage and earning Chieftain status from her village, despite being a *little* cursed.
Character art by the awesome Jacob Grimoire.
We abounded on a wild adventure after learning that the Rod of Demens might be sourced from something far more sinister, potentially resulting in an extra-planar demonic invasion! Upon meeting the derpy cloud chickens, we headed to the Overbright realm to investigate, and it only got stranger and more awesome from there.
In addition, Bonnie Gordon and Curtis Armstrong came by twice as traveling NPCs, which was awesome. Here, they’re playing an old (and I mean Elven old) married couple of librarians arguing over book sorting procedures.
Due to the short-notice change from Caverswall castle to Lumley, we only got to stay in the Lumley castle suite for two nights, and thereafter traveled between a hotel in Newcastle to the castle on a shuttle bus with everyone else. It turned out fine because each evening, the groups would share a summary of their day’s session, and each morning the Library Bards would sing us parody songs from their album. It was pretty cool. Also, the D&D in a Castle management team’s ability to roll with the punches (and not cancel the event) is seriously impressive.
After D&D: Vampire the Masquerade with Jason Carl
After two four-hour sessions of D&D and dinner, we were offered a variety of other TTRPG or crafts to do for the remaining 4 hours of the day’s event. Several from my group (including me) attended a Vampire the Masquerade session with Jason Carl (L.A. By Night and White Wolf). Quinn’s character nearly killed the Baron of the Valley (B.Dave Walter’s World of Darkness character) with a broken toilet plunger! I mean, not really, as this wasn’t a true WOD game, but it was still hilarious–especially after Quinn joined B. Dave’s WOD Discord.
Other options included a different TTRPG with Gina DeVivo (something to do with goblins, I think? –I was too tired on day 3 to attend but everyone who played had a great time), making dice jails, staining and decorating dice rolling trays, and more miniature painting.
Day 3: 2nd Day of D&D
We played in a different room on day 2, and here’s an official event picture of another group in the room so you can see what it looked like, as my own pictures are (again) terrible.
Not only did this session include some massive maps and unexpected player sacrifices that nearly broke the game, we also had an audience! Some guests of the castle decided to hang out watching us play for a bit, and they had a great camera. Playing for a live audience is pretty friggin’ cool, even if it’s just 2 people.
Day 4: Final Day of D&D
On our final day, after my character sacrificed himself and became mind controlled for the remainder of the campaign, I got to play him as a monster with some pretty awesome stats, and I even ultimately played one of the Big Bad Bosses! If trying to kill your own party members isn’t peak D&D, I don’t know what is.
That night, Quinn had a crazy (good) idea to write up a one shot for the shuttle ride to Manchester, which he wrote while also staining and decorating a dice tray. Mine’s the blue one.
One-Shot by Quinn Sellers on the way to Manchester Airport
Our group took advantage of the shuttle offered by the event to drive us from Newcastle to Manchester, which is a few hours’ drive. We used that time to play Quinn’s one shot on the bus–including after we arrived at the airport! We even enlisted one of the #DaftMonk players (@jonnyjonsen) and ensured Andrew (a local in the UK) could play via Discord through to the end.
Finally Going Home
After seeing a movie I can’t remember anymore with some of our group members for our final night in Manchester, Quinn and I finally headed home. All my pictures are blurry.
By the way, the Delta business lounge is the BEST. We had a flight hiccup with our travel agency and they had to switch some of our return flights at the last minute, resulting in a 4 hour layover in Seattle after flying from Manchester. We were exhausted and just felt gross. The Delta lounge in Seattle had, of all things, A FULL SPA. They had full-on showers. For free. Well, with a business class or above ticket. Hells. Yeah. ALWAYS make sure you have a change of clothes in your carry on. My clothes may not have matched for sh*t, but I was finally and fully clean and felt a million times better. Also, the lounge had free breakfast/lunch/dinner buffet (all at the same time), beer, and wine.
The Holiday One Shot
Upon our group’s return to our respective homes and countries, we decided to stick together and stream a monthly one-shot, alternating each other as dungeon masters. When it was Quinn’s turn, he decided to do a holiday one shot with our D&D in a Castle characters! You can watch the video here, and read Gimmer’s parody song of Toss a Coin to your Witcher about his favorite person: himself.
The Book
Oh, and because I’m a HUGE nerd, I took detailed notes during our campaign and then novelized our D&D in a Castle game, as well as Quinn’s two one-shots (courtesy of procrastinating writing my own book). That, along with Andrew’s awesome short stories and poems, made for a honking 415 page lunk of pretty paper.
I wrote all about my book writing/printing process here. Because of third party copyright issues, we can’t publish the book, but we’ll have these copies to forever remind us of our amazing experience with D&D in a Castle.
D&D in a Castle. If you can, DO IT.
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