By: Steven Utter
At 5 p.m. on Sept. 26 in the McCasland Ballroom of the McMahon Centennial Complex, the Association of Computing and Technology Students (ACTS) hosted its game night event open to any Cameron student.
ACTS provided free pizza and drinks, but attendees could also offer donations to pay for baked goods.
Donations helped raise funds with the goal of sending ACTS members to the U.S. Information Technology Collegiate Conference competition in November.
ACTS President Belinda Foley said there is always something for everyone each year, and many students bring their own games.
This year students brought games such as Magic: The Gathering, Uno, Sorry and Guess Who and played them throughout the three-hour event, which created an energetic, yet relaxing atmosphere.
“We try to keep our game nights, since it’s more introductory, to get members to come and have a good time,” Foley said.
The featured games this year included Super Smash Brothers, Dungeons and Dragons, Settlers of Catan, and Jackbox Party Games.
ACTS Vice President Jordan Pack has been acting as Dungeon Master for roughly six years in online campaigns.
Pack ran the one-shot Dungeons and Dragons campaign for game night, which was his first time running one in person.
“So, the campaign is actually going to be set in a custom world that I built,” Pack said, “It’s called Landorum. The specific area that we will be visiting tonight is called the Duskmire.”
There were five players who joined the campaign. Each player chose a character premade by Pack who said he also makes his own maps for his games.
Pack placed a game mat and miniature character figurines on the table as players looked at their character sheets to get familiar with their abilities and readied their dice.
Due to the limited time available, players needed to have previous experience, and Pack quickened the plot of the story to reach the climax.
Pack introduced the group to the setting and major characters before preparing their party for battle against a vampire lord and his army who were laying siege to a town called Woodhaerst.
The players fought with creative tactics and teamwork to hold back the attack for as long as they could. They quickly fortified the town with what they had available to them.
During the attack, they used alcohol as an improvised explosive and wiped out most of the first wave of vampires.
Unfortunately, after this point in the battle, Pack needed to bring the campaign to a close as game night wrapped up, so he left the fight on a cliffhanger: The vampire lord taunted the players from the shadows, suggesting they would see him again soon for another game.
Pack still gave players a summary of how the world changes after the events of the battle, so they could have an ending.
The players seemed to enjoy their time in Pack’s world. Pack said he got some laughs out of everyone which made the game worth his effort, although he would have liked to include more of the plot.