Inspiration from The Defenders and Site News

First, a bit of site news. You may have noticed that the ROFLInitiative URL reverted to its original Blogspot path. Unfortunately, due to some credit card updates, my domain payment failed, and I neglected to update my license until a week after the domain was dropped. In that week, someone snatched up www.roflinitiative.com and repurposed it for some poorly organized Florida-based law blog? Hopefully they enjoy questions and comments about D&D.

My wife and I finished watching Marvel's The Defenders on Netflix last night. Though the quality felt like it was down from Daredevil, Jessica Jones, or Luke Cage, I personally still really enjoyed my time with it. I found it especially inspiring as a GM. The structure of the first few episodes felt like an almost perfectly executed D&D campaign introduction. The writers did a great job of weaving the motivations of each hero into the main storyline, and in establishing existing relationships between different pairs of the heroes (PCs) and several of the supporting characters (NPCs.)

Be warned, thar be spoilers below:

How-to: Under-bed Play Board

Happy Holidays everyone! This year, for Christmas, I undertook my first real woodworking project- meaning one that starts with boards and ends up with something that actually feels finished. My son is nearing the magic age of three when choking hazards become less of a problem and toy franchises really start vying for his attention. In preparation for this transition, I built him a play board that could serve as a base for train sets, LEGO, car tracks or really any sort of world-building toy.

I had a couple of these when I was a kid, but they were much simpler... just single sheets of decent quality scrap wood. I wouldn't say I was excited about having them, but I recognized their invaluable utility. I wanted to provide something similar for my son, but I also felt like taking it to the next level.

A board like this can also be useful for gamers in need of a stowable play surface. The 3ft x 4ft board I built is a little too big to easily cart around, but would still be handy for those without a good playing surface.

When I was finished, I posted pics to my Facebook page and immediately started receiving comments asking for instructions on how I built it. So, here they are. If you have a little one with a penchant for building toys, a board like this will serve you well.