Return to Ravenloft turns 50

Back when the first Covid Lockdown got going my old roleplaying group decided to get together online to resume playing 5th Edition D&D. We'd all drifted to different parts of the globe making face-to-face gaming difficult, Covid just underlined our inability to get together for games.

Thanks to Zoom we had finally found a way to play again, regardless of where in the world we found ourselves. Almost immediately we fell effortlessly back into our bi-weekly cycle of games as if nothing had happened. My old schoolmate Andrew took the reins as DM this time around and for the last two years, we have been playing a long-running campaign set in the dark and horror-filled domain of Ravenloft. A couple of nights ago we had our 50th game of this particular campaign, and sure enough, it didn't disappoint. We have brokered a deal with the probably corrupt town guard; won over the trust of some locals; learned a few of the town's mysteries; and fought a vampire which had killed the blacksmith.

Our characters for this campaign have been nurtured from 1st level, slowly gaining in abilities and power. With each passing game, their personalities are being developed and after two years I feel like I know these characters as real people. In particular, I have come to have an abiding affection for my Gnome Wizard, Brocc Dargal. He is a former reclusive librarian who has been forced into the world and finds he rather likes it. He is still a bit anti-social which has manifested itself as a slightly pyromaniacal penchant for fire spells. His ability to 'blow shit up' has become legendary. Like all the best characters he is deeply flawed and at the same time bravely epic! He has definitely earned his place in my D&D Hall of Fame alongside some of my other favorite characters from 40+ years of D&D.