Last weekend was the inaugural ‘D&D at Elvaston Castle’; a day of playing the tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) at Elvaston Castle. In total, there were nine DMs, each running games of D&D for five players. As such, tickets were strictly limited.
Elvaston Castle had set aside several rooms for the event, with tables covered in black cloth and decorated with stuffed animals and battery-powered lanterns. DMs also brought further props to accompany their games. Costuming was encouraged, ergo there were dozens of people in a variety of costumes, which added to the atmosphere.
The gothic grandeur of Elvaston Castle is an amazing venue for events involving the fantastical. The vaulted ceilings and delicate woodwork of the rooms are incredibly atmospheric. It is the finishing touches, like the pillars and double doors, which reinforce that it is no ordinary stately home.
This was my first time professionally running a game of D&D for paying attendees, but I have a lot of experience with roleplaying games (such as Geek Pride’s ongoing campaign). My peer-reviewed essay on the psychological benefits of roleplaying games was published last year in the academic journal Deviant Leisure and Events of Deviance: A Transgressive Compendium, edited by Dr Ian Lamond and Rosie Garland.
As this was my first time as a professional DM, I suspect that I over-prepared the adventure. We had six hours in which to run a mini-campaign, which needed to have a beginning, a middle and an end.
A core design decision for the adventure was that it needed to be accessible for all players, regardless of how inexperienced they may be. Therefore, the scenario avoided established lore within the settings (of which there are many) and the use of complex characters. Instead, it incorporated local folklore, such as the Drakelow Vampires and the history of Elvaston Castle. It was there that I discovered how Charles Stanhope, the fourth Earl of Harrington, caused scandal when he married the much younger actress Maria Foote, how he became a recluse after they lost their young son and it is rumoured imprisoned his wife.
I took these historical elements to weave into a tale about grief and how it could be exploited; in this case by a vampire, as Derby is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Dracula being performed on stage for the first time.
The operations team at Elvaston Castle were kind enough to share a copy of the floorplans of Elvaston Castle, which I printed off and aged (using a teabag) as a prop for the players. This allowed me to set the game within Elvaston Castle itself, adding to the immersion of the game.
The player characters were created in advance, rather than spending time at the start creating characters, thereby reducing the amount of time to tell the story. Classic archetypes were used, such the half-elf wizard or halfling rogue, in order for the game to be accessible for all. A valid criticism could be that the characters were overly generic, but characters are defined by their actions during play rather than their character sheets.
Each player character was distinct from the others, with limited skills and abilities overlap, but did not delve too deep into specialist character classes or rare species. Magic items or weapons were also minimally used, as the focus of the game was on the characters’ actions, rather than items. Each character was Level 4, allowing them a degree of survivability, but without any of the powerful abilities from Level 5 onwards.
An additional element is that the player characters were an elite branch of the city watch, called SWAT (Special Wizardry And Tactics). This allowed me to give them direction and focus via their commanding officer (based on the Lord Lieutenant John Manners).
Before starting the scenario, there was a discussion of the themes and content of the story, which included historical child mortality and grief. When playing with friends, you already know what is and is not acceptable, but when running a game for complete strangers, we do not have that understanding.
It was initially nerve-wracking running a game for people that had never met each other. But, as everyone became familiar with each other and settled into the game, we started to relax. The game was structured into three acts. A short mini-adventure acted as an introduction to the style of play. This was followed by the core storyline, which kicked off with the players needing to infiltrate a black-market auction taking place at a high-society ball. A natural pause in the storyline allowed a break for lunch, before concluding the story as the player characters raced to retrieve a powerful magical item.
All of the games needed to finish by 4.00pm, as Elvaston Castle closes its doors at 5.00pm and time was needed to pack everything away. The later battles were streamlined and dropped a few hints in order to guide the players, but without doing it overtly so that it was leading the players, rather than letting the players lead the story. The encounter with the main villain commenced with fifteen minutes left, which meant there was time for the player characters to interact with the villain before combat. The game concluded with just a few minutes to spare, allowing us time to be there for the raffle.
There were some amazing prizes on offer from the raffle, including sword-fighting lessons from a local HEMA group and fantastic head pieces that would not have looked out of place in Lord of the Rings.
The staff of Elvaston Castle and volunteers helping at the event were all fantastic, providing a relaxed atmosphere to play D&D. Wyatt’s café at Elvaston Castle soon became busy, but there was a food festival on site, which came highly recommended.
The question is whether I would do it again and the answer is; most definitely. Where else could you play D&D in a venue as rich in atmosphere and history? Would I run the game any differently? Absolutely.
The whole event was a learning experience and I am already considering how the game could have been improved, as well as exciting new stories that could be told.
All photos are by Simone Stocks and are used with permission.
