Baldman Games

Baldman Games is proud to be offering official D&D Adventurers League content on the DMs Guild

You can now find our first Adventure Trilogy on DMsGuild.com for purchase. It is very exciting to be able to offer this first trilogy of adventures to you outside of the summer Baldman Games convention schedule. They are fully Adventurers League legal for play according to the rules set in place for Wizards of the Coast for D&D Organized play. The three adventures in the Trilogy that are available are: A Scream in the Night, A Cog in the Wheel, and A Hole in the World. You can find details about the adventures below.

We are getting ready to offer more adventures as this month progresses, so be sure to keep an eye out for more Baldman Games Adventures on the DMsGuild.com

Welcome to The Moonsea. The northern frontiers of the Realms. Bitter, cold, and harsh to those unprepared but full of ruins, magic, and wealth to those that know where to look.

The Moonsea is rich indeed . . . gold and jewels, valuable pelts, and old ruins ripe for plundering. But it is a hard place to live – cold, brutal, and dangerous, and it makes those who live there into something much the same, tempering the soft iron of their spirits into cold, sharp steel. The people of the Moonsea are hard and unforgiving because if they weren’t they’d be dead at the hands of monsters, tyrants, or the cruel turns of nature itself. ~ Khelben “Blackstaff” Arunsun 

CORE 1-1 A Scream in the Night: The City of a Thousand Forges, Melvaunt, is one of the most prosperous and stable on the Moonsea. All that is about to change, as a series of strange murders perplexes local law enforcement agents. The threat of a crazed murderer might be the least of Melvaunt’s worries. A D&D Adventurers League adventure for character level 1 to 4 set in Melvaunt.

CORE 1-2 A Cog in the Wheel: With the identity of the murdered confirmed, heroes are needed to track it down to its home. As it turns out, it might be a longer journey than first imagined. A D&D Adventurers League adventure for character level 1 to 4 set in Melvaunt.

CORE 1-3 A Hole in the World: Threats from outside Melvaunt and within push heroes to the brink as a terrified populace counts on the bravery of a few heroes to avert total disaster. A D&D Adventurers League adventure for character level 1 to 4 set in Melvaunt.

Origins Updates:

We’ve made a ton of updates to the Origins page on the Baldman Games Website. This includes slot times, blurbs for the conclusion to the Curse of Strahd Season 4 storyline, the D&D Open, the new BMG Premiere AL convention content, and the D&D eXPerience @ Origins program. If you still have questions just drop us a line through the Contact form or the Forums. Thanks

D&D Adventurers League Call for Volunteers:

Welcome adventurer. After our exciting announcement of all the cool things we have going on this summer it is now time to buckle down and bring some additional help onboard to help make that, and future awesome things <trademark pending> happen. You can help make that happen. We are looking for additional authors (yes we do pay), social media / community guru’s, and website code monkeys (if you can update WordPress and not make it look like Dave did it on 90 minutes of sleep after 3 days of late night baseball games in a row you have the needed skillset). As we said earlier we have lots of cool and exciting things planned and you might be the next superstar. I myself was sucked in by an announcement just like this one 17 years ago and now I am bald, married, and have two great kids. Really who could ask for more????

These positions require a couple hours a week (little more during busy season and almost none during slow times) and does come with a compensation package that we do our best to custom fit to each volunteer to make sure they feel appreciated and rewarded for the work they are doing. If you are still reading, and interested, then head here to see what happens next.

What is that? Dave finally found the time to get Gen Con DM registration open?  I know. Once your failed save vs. shock and awe wears off head over to – http://baldmangames.com/gen-con/gencon/ and fill out the form. We will need a few hundred helpers this summer as always to make this show rock like Winger. We have our great benefits (hotel rooms within walking distance to the convention center you do say) as always. We will be processing these applications fast and furious as they roll in to make sure you are all setup in the system ready for event registration when it goes live in May.

Thanks

Welcome to The Moonsea. The northern frontiers of the Realms. Bitter, cold, and harsh to those unprepared but full of ruins, magic, and wealth to those that know where to look.

The Moonsea is rich indeed . . . gold and jewels, valuable pelts, and old ruins ripe for plundering. But it is a hard place to live – cold, brutal, and dangerous, and it makes those who live there into something much the same, tempering the soft iron of their spirits into cold, sharp steel. The people of the Moonsea are hard and unforgiving because if they weren’t they’d be dead at the hands of monsters, tyrants, or the cruel turns of nature itself. ~ Khelben “Blackstaff” Arunsun 

Hail and well met adventurer,

Baldman Games is proud to be the first group outside of Wizards to expand upon the great work that the D&D Adventurers League team has done over the first four seasons of the campaign, and we hope to be worthy contributors going forward. We have a lot of exciting things rolling out over the next 12 months, and we really hope you’ll join us for the journey.

We are working with the D&D team at Wizards and the D&D Adventurers League campaign administrators to create official D&D Adventurers League content that will premiere at conventions where Baldman Games is present. We use the D&D Adventurers League Player’s Guides, the campaign rules and errata, log sheets, the works. You can use your existing character and play away. It’s all D&D Adventurers League legal!

Additionally, the adventures created by Baldman Games will be on the Dungeon Masters Guild right alongside all the great D&D Adventurers League adventures that are already available. Our plan is to offer short, independent trilogies that focus on specific locations in the Moonsea and provide you with more chances to play.

Highlights:

• Moonsea-Based Stories: While upcoming D&D Adventurers League seasons might move around the Forgotten Realms as their stories unfold, our stories will always be based in and around the Moonsea. You may romp up and down the Sword Coast, saving the day (or not), but for these adventures, your home will always be back in the Moonsea. And your home will be changing around you, because of you!
• Trilogy-Based Story Telling: Each of our releases will be in the form of a trilogy. They will be released through the Dungeon Masters Guild after their premiere period has passed. This means you will get an entire story to play at one time.
• Convention/Gameday Support: Each of those trilogies will also have a special adaptable adventure attached to it for larger public events to run. This gives public shows the ability to band together their players to make lasting changes to the Moonsea. More details on these adaptable adventures and how to apply to run them at your convention/game day are coming soon.
• Character Driven Stories: Our adventures provide you with the ability to affect the story in a permanent and noticeable fashion. Throw your support behind the throne, or join in with those trying to pull the chair out from under the current leader. You choose. Special events around the Moonsea give players the ability to make a choice and see the immediate consequences unfold.

So where do you go from here? Check out the website. You’ll find our plans for this summer, our campaign staff to date, the ability to subscribe to our mailing lists, and forums to chat with your fellow adventurers waiting to strike their claim to fame.

Origins 2016 Updates and Judge Registration

Origins is going to be an exciting show this year. We have a lot of exciting events for the show and will be announcing details on many of them in the coming weeks.

There is a lot of construction going on this year at the show but we will once again be located in the Regency Ballroom on the 3rd Floor of the Hyatt. We are expanding our offerings and table counts this year across the board to include more games and more premiere content than ever before! The highlight of our show is the return of the D&D Open in its brand new format! This event will start at 2pm on Saturday and run until 11pm that night (with a one hour dinner break). This is THE D&D event of the year. Superstar guest DM’s, prizes (for winners, losers, and just that unlucky person who opened the wrong door) abound. This event is limited to 180 participants so be ready when registration goes live!

We are also pleased to announce the premiere of Season 5 at the show!!! That’s right. If you want your first sneak peek, once again, Origins is the place to be.

DM sign-ups for the show will go live the afternoon of March 14th. With our expanded offerings we will need more volunteers than ever. Hotels rooms, badges, and swag await those willing to join us in the fun. All sign-ups will be through the Baldman Games website at http://www.baldmangames.com)

Gen Con 2016 Updates

Preparing for summer convention season never ends – especially when it comes to Gen Con and The Best Four Days in Gaming!  We solicited and received a lot of great feedback last year and have been working with Gen Con Event staff to address some of the concerns expressed.  One of the most common complaints was the noise level. We pursued several options, including the use of air-walls, moving to the center or edges of the room, but none of these sufficiently reduced noise level. The show has gotten so big, and so crowded, that it is no longer feasible for us to remain in the main hall any longer. We want to provide a great quality gaming experience and we do not believe it is possible for us to do that with a tabletop game in our old location.

We are happy to announce our relocation to the attached Hyatt hotel and the Regency Ballroom on the 2nd floor (immediately in front of you when cross over the sky-bridge into the hotel). The entire ballroom will be dedicated to D&D tabletop games. We will have a separate area for our D&D eXPerience program @ Gen Con as well as a main hall area for our normal 4-hour games.

Some, I am sure, will express concerns regarding our move. The change is not requested by Gen Con nor is it due to Wizards of the Coast changing their convention presence. Continuing to be in Hall D was an option if we wanted it. We requested Gen Con Events to present us with options on how we could reduce noise levels and general chaos around our play space. After carefully reviewing those options, this move was by far the best choice. Our desire to give you, the players, a quality gaming experience far outweighs the visibility brought to us by remaining in the main hall.

News for Gen Con Volunteers

Badge registration and housing has opened for Gen Con 2016, along with all the chaos and disappointment of not getting a hotel within walking distance of the convention center. When that happens, Baldman Games always get an influx of inquiries about volunteering for BMG at Gen Con. Well, here are some details.

The call for volunteers will not go out for another a couple of months, as details and schedules are hammered out among Baldman Games, Gen Con, and other parties. However, below is some information to help you decide if you want to volunteer:

• Baldman Games uses a specific schedule at Gen Con. Between Thursday morning and Sunday afternoon, Baldman Games divides the time in 14 four-hour slots. Thursday through Saturday, the days are divided into 4 slots: 8am – 12pm (noon), 12pm – 4pm, 4pm – 8pm, and 8pm – 12am (midnight). On Sunday, only the first two slots of the day occur: 8am – 12pm (noon), 12pm – 4pm.
• If you volunteer to run games for Baldman Games in at least 4 slots, you get a free 4-day Badge ($90 value). If you have already purchased a badge, that’s OK. You will get a refund on your badge if you volunteer! As you can see, volunteering for 4 slots is less than 1/3rd of your time at Gen Con.
• If you volunteer to run games for Baldman Games in at least 8 slots, you get a free 4-day Badge ($90 value) and a share of a hotel room. The hotel(s) housing BMG’s volunteer block are always within easy walking distance of the Convention Center. Rooms are shared with other BMG volunteers, and generally we put 3-5 people in a room. Volunteers at least have ½ of a double bed. If there are other BMG volunteers you wish to room with, those preferences are taken into account whenever possible.
• When possible, other perks are provided for BMG volunteers. The perks are an extra and never promised, but we will announce those as we know more.

Origins News

Based on announcements from Wizards of the Coast, we are expecting Origins to be at least as busy as Gen Con this year. We will be reaching out for Origins volunteers AFTER asking for Gen Con volunteers, even though Origins takes place 2 months before. (Just the way scheduling works.)

The schedule for Origins is often different from Gen Con, so the perks for volunteering are different as well. As the Origins schedule is finalized, those perks and requirements will be announced.

Winter Fantasy Has Arrived!

Winter Fantasy begins on Wednesday, February 3rd. We are set for volunteers and registration is closed, but it is not too late to attend. Badges and tickets can be purchased onsite, and this convention is a great place to learn more about BMG offerings and talk to leaders in the gaming industry in a more intimate environment. Wizards of the Coast staffers Mike Mearls and Chris Lindsay will be on hand to talk about topics like the DMs Guild and run games. Adventurers League staff will be attending as well to run games and answer campaign questions.