April 19, 2023.

I spent 4 days running Dungeons & Dragons games at Franklin Elementary. It is amazing to be able to do this work with young people in an educational setting. I am so appreciative of the teachers and administration at Franklin for their recognition of the value of 'playing pretend.'  It was loads of fun. The shiny math rocks were appealing to a lot of the budding dice goblins too.

A highlight was a new player crashing a horse drawn wagon through the woods to take out a goblin, and then later using a Message spell to wig out some goblin guards and then convince them to bring her into their cave as a travelling entertainer to meet their leader, Chief Klarg.

The photo is not from that adventure with Division 2, but was part of a game I ran for the ExSEL (Excellence in Social Emotional Learning) program, as they raided a temple to rescue a bronze dragon egg from a Dragon Cult.

I especially liked the creative team work the ExSEL students did, such as when one of the students had their Sorcerer use Chill Touch to freeze a lock before another student had his Barbarian burst through the door and knock it off the hinges. It was also nice to see their actions tempered by mercy as they tamed guard drakes and liberated reluctant recruits of the cult.

February 26, 2023

I just got a new drawing tablet, an XP Pen Artist 12, since my ancient Wacom won't work on Apple's current OS, and started to think about retouching old paintings to make prints.

Teddy Bear Soldier is the first painting I tackled. The original was sold during the East Van Culture Crawl, back when I had a studio at 1000 Parker. It was around 2 x 3 feet if I remember correctly.

I have only done a few original paintings in the last 10 years. Kids are awesome, but my creative output took a dive after becoming a parent.  It is also easier to pull out digital tools for whatever chunk of time I manage to carve out.  Much easier to clean up after too!

What do you think of the touch ups compared with the original? 

Are there any of my paintings you would want to buy a print of if I touched it up and made it available?

Send me a message or leave a comment to let me know what you think.

At its heart, Dungeons & Dragons is a game that focuses on storytelling. The dice just help you along. Everything is your decision, from what you look like, to how you act, to what happens next.

The collective creativity in your D&D game builds stories that you’ll tell again and again—ranging from the stuff of legend to absurd incidents that’ll make you laugh years later.

Have you been curious about Dungeons & Dragons? 

To find out more, check out the D&D Beyond website, or send me a message and I would be happy to connect you with what you need to get a game going .

www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1480-what-is-dungeons-dragons