Midwest D&D Raid

In October of 2019, I participated in the most epic D&D game ever. A luxury loft in a historical part of town. Tons of food and drinks. More than a dozen players. Two Dungeon Masters. One epic raid.

Unfortunately, the story has a sad beginning. One of our dear friends and fellow D&D players had booked an amazing venue for his wedding and reception. We’ll call him Jake. His fiance called the wedding off a little over a month before the set date. Our friend couldn’t get out of his deal for the venue. So we decided to use it. For Dungeons & Dragons.

I was the Dungeon Master for a campaign that last from 2010 to 2017. In that group, was a friend we’ll call Moax. He was the Dungeon Master for many other groups. Some of those players were in my game as well. A Venn diagram of games and gamers with our friend Jake at the center. The perfect opportunity to support him and turn a sad event into one to remember. The planning began.

We were going to run an MMO raid-style, one-shot adventure. Hard as hell. Players chose their favorite character from previous campaigns to bring back. Heroes called across time and space to face the threat of annihilation. The “Architects of Annihilation” went into planning.

I’ll skip the major details of the raid and say that Moax designed one killer adventure. I took his ideas and helped him flesh them out with battle maps and props and we were off. The night before, a few of us met at the venue to prepare. Moax and I finalized the monsters we’d be using and did a run-through of the raid. After that, we all went out for drinks.

The next day around mid-day, the raid began. More than a dozen players showed up. They experienced massive encounters as one group. They experienced split encounters where we’d divide up into two tables. At the split encounters, the actions of one group affected what happened to the other group. Puzzles and combat filled the day.

They raced across crumbling bridges over the abyss. They fought a lich while one group found and destroyed his phylactery. The heroes overcame some deadly encounters. In the end, they came face to face with familiar enemies that had fused into one giant dragon. With some help from an old ally, they were able to win the day. After that, only darkness…

I guess we’ll have to get together again to find out what happens next.

In the end, the raid was an absolute blast. What’s better than a day filled with snacks, drinks, D&D, and friends?