Deep in the mountains west of Bagradoor their is a gate covered in runes from a forgotten civilization. Dust has layered thick over the halls of this dead civilization but stories of what lie’s beyond have lived in its stead. Tales of a valley hidden away from the world outside with a treasure trove a magical artifacts and according to some the largest dragon known to man. The Black Winged Terror, The Mountain Breaker, Seirol the Dark, the first dragon and the last immortal. Supposedly the dragon’s priest’s keep it slumbering with their pleasant songs. Keeping the last violent relic of the Age of Dragons locked away from the Age of Man. But now the dust has shifted and an old curse has lifted. The doors will open again and an ancient prophecy will arrive. 

As all you explored the buried city you found it more forgiving than the other crypts and tombs they had explored. Stairwells that shouldn’t hold a penny lasted long enough for them to get safely down, doors that should be locked weren’t, and adventurers before them had been happy enough to leave some longstore provisions for them, on their corpses but still. As the first of you reached it’s darkest room a new rune lit upon the door. Until all of them were and it opened and you all stepped forward unto a hidden world. 

Old dust shall be shifted, and an old curse shall be lifted. 

Bones that slumber, will roar and thunder. 

And Man’s Age will be torn asunder.

So this is the opening of the new campaign I start on Saturday 11/23/19. While the crowd isn’t big their is a level of public speaking involved since I run it. I make an effort to do things that I know my players will think is cool. So whenever I start a new campaign I start by looking at what I know they’ve liked in the past. OH they think dragons are cool great then their getting a whole campaign about a big dragon locked in a mountain. After my last session one of my players said they like a little puzzle I had made so I made sure that one of the first bits of information they are given is a puzzle with that incomplete prophecy. And finally because several of them heard me singing in the freezer in McDonald’s and said they liked my singing I recorded myself doing “Through the Valley” for their first visit to a tavern. While it’s not malicious like a politicians carefully polished speech I do target my audience.

I also make use of the spatial organizational structure when describing places that aren’t the entire setting of the campaign. The caves on the eastern part of the map are only discovered if the party is captured by the druids who occupy them so they only get the layout from the room they wake up in and the two rooms they can see from from the start. But if they meet the druid turncoat in the dungeons he tells them the layout of the cave from the dungeon out, going from the lowest cells to the higher ones, then back down to the mushroom fields in the depths and back up the under city.

I used some of the public speaking tips the other night while talking to my manager at work. I was handling kitchen and she was running up front and I was talking the game plan ( it’s essentially planning out how we’re going to survive from the bus arriving at five to when the dinner rush ends around seven) and I thought to myself about standing more confidently instead of fidgeting like usual I even used some gestures towards the people I was going to send on break when and I even prepared it mentally right before I actually approached my manager. That night I had to break down the freezers, get four breaks done, and get ready for bus. So around three after I’ve had time to look around I asked Shelly (the shift leader and the manager running up front) I told her I wanted to start with the easiest breaks first because those people had less of an impact in kitchen and do the more difficult ones like myself when we got more people at seven. Breaks are the hardest thing to do so I started with that despite that I would have to do prep for bus first. I told her that should only take fifteen to twenty minutes to get everything out and ready so we wouldn’t have to run to the walk in in the middle of a rush. Then lastly I told her we would start breaking down freezers at eight because by then they would have less stock to move and we would have enough time to defrost them and put everything back together before third shift came In at ten. It wasn’t a formal speech and it was really only one on one but I felt better about presenting my plan for how I was going to get everything done that night. It defiantly made my night run more smoothly and it was good practice for class.

Definitely could have gone better. I felt good about my energy and I feel like a couple of my jokes landed okay. But I panicked and entirely forgot to move as I went and blanked on my conclusion. In short I probably need to practice my transitions so I have more concrete points to jump to.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

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