By Lani "Gwen" Grayson
Feast of Blackwood is this weekend--are you ready for some great questing and food? I hope so, because the staff is ready to give it to you. First of all, can we talk a little bit about events that feature both feasting and questing? It still blows my mind that there are EH teams crazy enough to provide both experiences in one weekend. But thank goodness for us, because that means that we get to enjoy both of these in one weekend. After a weekend full of questing, you know you will be hungry anyway, and the staff is excited to bring you a comforting, family-style meal that you can enjoy with all of your friends without having to make reservations for 20 while you are still smelly from questing, wearing questionable clothing choices out in public. If you have questions about feasting fashion, please refer to Lady Zarine, who has written about the topic before in her weekly “I Can’t Even” series (pro-tip--don’t be a pleb). I’m excited to see what Blackwood cooks up for us this weekend, and you should be too.
The prelude to the feast is a weekend full of questing, featuring plot from the Folkewood Initiative. By bringing together two experienced event-holding teams, this initiative is bursting full of exciting ideas that are sure to engage you throughout the weekend. Pay close attention at each turn, because the staff has designed a weekend of challenges for you and you don’t want to miss anything that could help you along the way. Also, fun fact, our friends in Blackwood know that you get hungry more than once in a weekend, so they will be providing dinner for you on Saturday night as well.
Last, but certainly not least, Feast of Blackwood is bringing back a regular feature, play-testing. They put out a call and you responded--there will be several new ideas in play this year at the quest. If you are someone who loves to come up with ways to improve our game, if you’ve already planned what you are bringing to the Players Meeting Potluck, and you love seeing how new rules fit in with our current structure, than Blackwood has you covered. This year you can try out a new version of Seed of Life, and two new spells: Chain Healing and Fighter’s Stance. In addition, there will be play-testing of new weapons and arrows, as well as a new call, double strike (specifically for archers).
This is a staple event on our yearly calendar friends, don’t miss it!