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Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > Out of the Box D&D Encounters  > Out of the Box D&D Encounters turns a year old
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Out of the Box D&D Encounters turns a year old

"All That Glitters" - Out of the Box D&D Encounters #50
Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #1: Stick in the Mud

Free Out of the Box D&D Encounters adventure

“Out of The Box” is now over a year old. It’s hard to believe that it’s been that long. From ship-to-ship Cockatrice invasions, to Mimic and Otyugh BFFs, Flying Goblins, Bullywug cavalry, Medusa bounty hunters, and young Dragons smitten with false bards. There have been puzzles, a few traps, a lot of monsters, and no lack of “Complications.”

In tribute to the fine folks at Nerdarchy, and as a present to any fans out there, I offer something a little special. Instead of the usual one-off encounters, I have written an entire starting adventure – “The Parish of Lost Souls” is for starting characters levels 1-2 (just click the link or the image below for the pdf). It will contain all the maps, encounters, a monster index, a starting community, and one more thing … It’s free. I’m posting this to Nerdarchy and not other sites like the DM’s Guild (etc. …) because I want all the Nerdarchs out there to have what I have always provided – free content to play.

I have run this very adventure at my table in 2014. It was set in my world of Tholl. The Kobolds were instead my Tholl Goblins, just as crafty and inventive, lead by a Gobliness Eldritch Knight. With the introduction of Volo’s, though, it became just as easy to change the monsters to give the players and DMs some context without more home-brew rules.

My thanks to Nerdarchy, my editor Ty Johnston, my fellow DM “Crash” Loveless, as well as all the Nerdarchs out there who roll funny dice in the name of fun and creativity.

I hope that you find this as fun to play and DM as I did.

Mike Gould

(click the image below for the pdf)

D&D Out of the Box Encounters

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Mike Gould

I fell into gaming in the oddest of ways. Coming out of a bad divorce, my mom tried a lot of different things to keep my brother and I busy and out of trouble. It didn't always work. One thing that I didn't really want to do, but did because my mom asked, was enroll in Venturers. As an older Scout-type movement, I wasn't really really for the whole camping-out thing. Canoe trips and clean language were not my forte. Drag racing, BMX and foul language were. What surprised me though was one change of pace our Scout leader tried. He DMed a game of the original D&D that came out after Chainmail (and even preceedd the Red Box). All the weapons just did 1d6 damage, and the three main demi-humans (Elf, Dwarf and Halfling) were not only races, but classes. There were three alignments (Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic). It was very basic. I played all the way through high school and met a lot of new people through gaming. My expected awkwardness around the opposite sex disappeared when I had one game that was seven girls playing. They, too, never thought that they would do this, and it was a great experiement. But it got me hooked. I loved gaming, and my passion for it became infectious. Despite hanging with a very rough crowd who typically spent Fridays scoring drugs, getting into fights, and whatnot, I got them all equally hooked on my polyhedral addiction. I DMed guys around my table that had been involved in the fast-living/die young street culture of the 80s, yet they took to D&D like it was second nature. They still talk to me about those days, even when one wore a rival patch on his back to the one I was wearing. We just talked D&D. It was our language. Dungeons and Dragons opened up a whole new world too. I met lots off oddballs along with some great people. I played games like Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Car Wars, Battletech, lots of GURPS products, Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, Twilight 2000, Rolemaster, Champions, Marvel Superheroes, Earth Dawn...the list goes on. There was even a time while I was risiding with a patch on my back and I would show up for Mechwarrior (the clix kind) tournaments. I was the odd man out there. Gaming lead to me attending a D&D tournament at a local convention, which lead to being introduced to my paintball team, called Black Company (named after the book), which lead to meeting my wife. She was the sister of my 2iC (Second in Command), and I fell in love at first sight. Gaming lead to me meeting my best friend, who was my best man at my wedding and is the godfather of my youngest daughter. Life being what it is, there was some drama with my paintball team/D&D group, and we parted ways for a number of years. In that time I tried out two LARP systems, which taught me a lot about public speaking, improvisation, and confidence. There was a silver lining. I didn't play D&D again for a very long time, though. Then 5E came out. I discovered the Adventurer's League, and made a whole new group of friends. I discovered Acquisitions Incorporated, Dwarven Tavern, and Nerdarchy. I was hooked again. And now my daughter is playing. I introduced her to 5E and my style of DMing, and we talk in "gamer speak" a lot to each other (much to the shagrin of my wife/her mother...who still doesn't "get it"). It's my hope that one day she'll be behind the screen DMing her kids through an amazing adventure. Time will tell.

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