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“And so continue the tales of Table Top Role Playing as your trusty hero (that’s me btw) recounts the experiences of new 5D game experiences, new & old 5D collaborations (whether they like it or not) as well as the chronicles of perhaps the finest role-playing group in this or any other land…..The Black Table.”
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It was in the dim and distant days of March 2021 when the initial buds of our Role-playing group tentatively began to flower. The Black Table was born out of the need for a couple of individuals to revisit long past table top roleplaying experiences (or ’reclaiming my lost youth” as my wife referred to it). This brave and hardy collection of individuals also included a number of lesser experienced, but very keen, players. The focus was going to be on D&D for the most part – and the planning that took place ensured that a splendid time was being had by all. The rumours cannot be confirmed that a certain individual became completely obsessed with character creation after character creation (often based around a Drow), to the extent now that I have he has a back-catalogue of characters that could fill a shelf or two in the Black Library.
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However, as so often happens in people’s everyday existence, the planning and preparation had to be put on hold while our individual lives took precedence over (albeit almost as the equally important) roleplaying activities. Books were shelved, adventure writing was put on hold, dice were unrolled and most of (apart from a certain aforementioned obsessive) the group’s character creations were halted for the time being.
Days became weeks, weeks became months…..
”And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring Black Table passed out of all knowledge.”
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Well all right, with apologies to my fellow LOTR obsessives, it wasn’t quite two and a half thousand years – because 18 months later The Black Table has returned.
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The time the plan isn’t to restrict ourselves to the wonderful D&D universe, because the aim is to explore and play a variety of TTRPG. One of the joys of the past 18 months has been the reigniting of my love for all things role playing, so much so that the work the 5D Pop Culture Website has done in 2022 with all manner of roleplaying creatives and publishers has resulted in a veritable Tsunami of materials sent my eager way.
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Thanks to the generosity of companies such as Free League Publishing, Chaosium, Exalted Funeral, Evil Genius Games and many other fine people, we have received and reviewed numerous products and games over the past year. If you feel so inclined, feel free to check out any of the TTRPG press releases and reviews from the last 12 months here on the website.
I won’t bore you with links to all the articles we’ve produced in 2022 (there is a LOT) – but the most recent and exciting one relates to the Everyday Heroes release from Evil Genius Games.
The Everyday Heroes core rule book and two cinematic expansions are pretty much a flawless example in how to introduce new and past players into a game’s revised world. The level of thought, work and talent that has gone into this product, in terms of visuals, mechanics and narrative, is as high as any that I’ve recently come into contact with. When the physical versions are released in March/April 2023 I will be at the front of the queue to get my eager hands on them and run some games with my buddies. For the digital versions now on release check out the Evil Genius website for more information.
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My reconnection with the world of roleplaying has also manifested itself in reading, watching and talking about anything and everything that I could lay my eager eyes and hands on. For example, theres an inordinately high amount of YouTube hours that have overtaken my life in watching reviews, unboxings, gameplay sessions from the likes of The Glass Cannon Network, Seth Skorkowsky, The Gaming Gang, WASD20 and numerous others.
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So due in part to the wealth of products at our disposal, as well as the desire from the group to be more expansive in our roleplaying choices, we’ve initially had a plentiful amount of game options to say the least. Some notable possibilities included;
Call of Cthulhu
The One Ring
RuneQuest
Blade Runner
Vaesen
Star Wars
The list goes on………. and on.
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Here’s the plan; each one of the group chooses a game to prepare and then DM/GM it, then this role is then rotated until the world ends (which according to the news might not be too long away). Unusually for me I was quick to actually make any form of clear decision and immediately decided upon creating a number of campaigns for The One Ring. I wouldn’t be so bold to say as yet what the other group choices are until definite decisions are made – but the ones muted so far are very exciting and the first of which that we’ll probably be playing is a beauty from Free League Publishing…… more to come on that in the near future. That doesn’t mean to say that D&D has been jettisoned, no far from it. After all, I have a library of character sheets already prepared.
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The first Black Table face to face session is pencilled in for early January, though I must be slipping because so far I’ve only created two potential characters for the first game.
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Of course, apart from myself the identities of the rest of the group will remain anonymous – after all, I’m not sure what restraining orders, Police warrants and court appearances are still outstanding. So for now I’ll refer to them as ’Big D’ – the aforementioned D&D, Call of Cthulhu lover and the GM of the first Black Table game coming soon; and ’Big C’ – the less experienced, bewildered by all the new detail but keen nubie who has potential science fiction role-playing leanings.
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I hope that you stay with us for this roleplaying ride as I chronicle the experiences of our sessions……successes, mistakes, confusion and all! I’ll also be signposting some of the upcoming TTRPG delights coming 5D’s way in 2023. Comments, thoughts and opinions are mostly always welcome!
If you wish to get more details and insights than the casual visitor to the website sees, then click on the link below and become a member of the 5D Pop Culture Army – you’ll be made very welcome!
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If you would like to donate & support the 5D Pop Culture website & keep informed of more features like this as well as some additional treats for supporters only – go here: https://ko-fi.com/5dpopculturewebsite
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