Introduction
New year, new name, (slightly) new focus
 |
| When you take the Dash action, you gain extra movement for the current turn Image by Larian Studios from Baldur's Gate 3 |
[2 min read]
Welcome to The Dash Action - the artist formerly known as A Dash of RPG.
After over three years of writing articles once or twice a month, my blog has largely centred on my own Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, exploits into many other tabletop role-playing games, and more general musings about the broader tabletop industry and preserving my burgeoning collection of purchases therein. But the cadence of articles at the end of 2024 and early 2025 has dropped off significantly.
I suspect the reason for this slow-down is two-fold: one, I have been running multiple, medium-level preparation, role-playing games at once (2x D&D campaigns still ongoing, 1x The One Ring campaign which has recently concluded); and two, I have burned out a little creatively on the topics I had been covering.
After some soul-searching, I've decided to try and inject a little of my other passion - the business of publishing creative products - into my blog, to see if I can better make sense of the commercial side of my preferred hobby. I have been voraciously devouring all types of content about the tabletop business for some time now, so why not try and bring some of the more interesting industry insights to the fore?
What you can expect in the way of changes for The Dash Action content moving forward:
- A broader exploration of the tabletop industry - my impressions stepping into board games, card games and miniature war games
- Some light industry analysis with any relevant data I can find to help others passionate about tabletop games learn more about their favourite companies and creators
- All wrapped up in an easier-to-read design template - less artsy, more to the point, and (hopefully) on a more regular cadence (Dash. Action. See how I am trying to create momentum there?)
Update [January 2024]
[2 min read]
So, this blog has officially passed two years of age, with 52 articles in that time. That is one article every fortnight! Although the winter holiday periods see more posts, and summer less, I am happy with the consistency overall. Not that there is some arbitrary objective mind you, since this blog is mostly for my own gratification, and occasionally shared with my friends and fellow players.
What has changed since I started the blog? The pandemic is over, thankfully. My boys are a couple of years older, making life that little bit easier. Apart from my long running D&D 5E campaigns that I play in, I am running Curse of Strahd one-on-one, and have also joined a local face-to-face roleplaying group that is cycling through various systems. The Wizards of the Coast Open Gaming Licence fiasco accelerated my exploration of non D&D systems, which I dubbed my 2023 RPG Crawl. That will continue in 2024. I am a lot more focused on solo roleplaying than I was, allowing for me to spend more time in the hobby I love.
Branching out from D&D has seen me run or play in over ten other games: The One Ring, Savage Worlds, Dune, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Pathfinder 2E, Blades in the Dark, Old School Essentials and Alien RPG being the most well known. I've also experimented with some smaller, indie titles, such as Detect or Die, Rune, and Four Against Darkness.
Games on my hitlist to run or play in 2024 include: Forbidden Lands, The Walking Dead RPG, Ironsworn, Shadow of a Demon Lord, Ruins of Symbaroum, and I'd love to dip back into The One Ring, or its 5E adapation, Lord of the Rings Roleplaying. No doubt I'll add a bunch of other games through my local roleplaying group, with the next game slated being City of Mist. Lots to look forward to!
I hope this update finds you rested and relaxed after the conclusion of 2023, and you have at least a dash of RPG planned for 2024, maybe even more than that. Enjoy.
Dashmeister
Yet another RPG and/or D&D blog?! [Dec 2021]
[2 min read]
In June 2021, in the midst of a global pandemic, one of my oldest friends reached out and asked if I wanted to moonlight in their Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition campaign. Since Australia, my home country and where these friends are located, was under some of the harshest lockdown conditions in the world at the time, the group couldn't meet physically. Adding me via Zoom, thousands of kilometers away and minus eight hours of time difference in Switzerland, seemed like a fun temporary distraction during what should have been weeks of lockdown and that ended up being months.
Not having played D&D for a couple of decades (and 3.5 Edition being the last ruleset I played), I was excited but also a little daunted. I rolled up a 5th level character, Tomas of Tyr, using D&D Beyond and min-maxing the hell out of my stats, which were very generous from our Dungeon Master. I basically wanted to do a lot of damage, so a Vengeance Paladin was a good choice.
The magic of adventuring in the well-trodden fantasy setting of Forgotten Realms came flooding back to me and I was hooked! Over the following months, I dove heavily into bringing myself back up to speed on 5th Edition, consuming a copious amount of content from online videos and podcasts. But best of all, playing D&D again awoke in me a creative spark, something outside my regular corporate job that uses a different side of my brain. That creative spark, coupled with a love of writing, has led to this blog!
And while this blog is mostly an outlet for me to capture my thoughts and assuage my need to write, I hope you find some value in living the journey with me as I rekindle my love of roleplaying through D&D, board games, and other tabletop role-playing games. Given the time constraints of being a father of two small boys, this blog is intended to be written and consumed in small quantities. But I believe that A Dash of RPG makes for a more fun and more fulfilling life! If you agree, read on...
Dashmeister
