A Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience

We received this letter from one of our guests after our July 2023 castle. This guest’s story moved us so much, we had to share. Thank you, Doug, for sharing this special time with us at D&D in a Castle.

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“...truly one of the best experiences of my life.”

I don’t remember when I first heard of “D&D in a Castle”. It was some time before the pandemic, when the world shut down. I do remember thinking, “Wow! Here are some of my ‘bucket list’ Dungeon Masters running extended D&D games in an actual castle! That would be so cool! Maybe someday.”

Every time I saw an announcement or one of the live play DM’s I followed would bring it up, I would tell myself, “Maybe someday.” It was always a dream and never did I think it might be a reality.

I’m not a traveler. My ideal vacation involves a tent, a fishing rod, and enough food to not starve to death if my fishing skills failed me. But, even then, I did not travel. “Too many responsibilities!”, I’d tell myself. “Family vacations first!”, I’d say. “It was too expensive for a trip for just me.”, I reasoned. Then, the world closed.

My solo camping trip was canceled before it was even booked. Our annual migration to the East Coast did not happen. We spent two years going nowhere.

When 2022 rolled around, D&D in a Castle announced 8 events throughout the year. So many great DMs were going to be there. My excitement that had waned somewhat during the pandemic resurged. But still, the response was, “Maybe someday.”

Then the 2023 events were announced: Three events. And so, in November of 2022, I put down my deposit. I was going to the castle in 2023.

I spoke with my family. They were beyond supportive. D&D had gotten me through the pandemic. It made sense I should go. Plus, I was turning 50 at the end of 2023, and what better 50th birthday present than to go to England to play D&D? Coming from Canada, between the exchange rate and the cost of flights, it was not going to be cheap. But we figured out that hurdle as well. Then, it was just a matter of waiting.

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I’ve had a Bucket List of game masters that I would love to play with for years. The March sessions had several of them attending. But March weather in Canada is far too unpredictable to fly across the ocean. November would be worse. So, it was going to be July. A live play streamer I follow attended one of the March sessions and I bombarded her with questions. The initial July lineup was announced. I recognized many of the DMs, but I was not familiar with their DM styles. Then Mark Hulmes was announced. I jumped at the opportunity. I completed my registration. I was going to play D&D with Mark Hulmes in July.

HOLY CRUD I WAS GOING TO PLAY D&D WITH MARK HULMES IN JULY! Panic set in. This was big. I mean REALLY big. I’d never done anything like this on my own in my 49 years on the planet. My brain needs plans and I had none. I needed flights. I needed an itinerary. Thankfully, I had a friend. I had met her through my wife, and she was a travel agent. I explained my anxieties. The thought of a metal tube hurtling through the air over the Atlantic Ocean didn’t worry me. It was the airlines and the airports that freaked me out. We came up with an itinerary that would be the least stressful getting to the castle, and even tacked on a couple of extra days to site-see in Newcastle. Forever a planner, I completely booked my first day in Newcastle and half of the second. I even discovered an old high school friend was now living in Durham and arranged to meet with them for a pub trivia night.

I’ll never forget sitting on the shuttle from the airport, rounding a corner and seeing Lumley Castle in all of its glory. I was here. I’d made it.

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There was a brief panic attack when one of my bags went missing, but the staff of the castle and the event staff were phenomenal. They found it had been missed when the bus was unloaded and arranged to get it to me before the opening banquet. It was fortuitous because it was through that accident that I met Lawren, one of the event staff. We had many chats throughout the weekend, and he was responsible for one of my fondest memories of the event, involving being blindsided by a room full of DMs singing “Happy Birthday” to me.

It's interesting, because my favorite memories were not from the games themselves. The games were amazing, don’t get me wrong, but it was the periphery that shone the most. For instance, I had made little Magic: The Gathering cards with the DMs and Guests on them for them to sign. Seeing their reactions and excitement that someone would do that for them was a delight.

Another of my favorite memories was from the shuttle itself. Normally, if I start talking about my Order of Scribes, human variant wizard with the meta-magic adept feat, the people around me would have a blank stare trying to figure out what strange language I was speaking. But here, EVERYONE knew what I was talking about. Further to that, everyone was speaking this language, and D&D was the small talk as we got to know each other. This continued through the event. D&D was our common bond. It was a surreal experience.

For me, this was likely a once in a lifetime trip. I will not likely be able to attend the event a second time. But it was truly one of the best experiences of my life. It’s been a month, and I am still processing. My DM bucket list has doubled, not based on seeing their past games, but based on the personal interactions I had with them. I hope to keep in touch with Mark and my tablemates in the future, at least occasionally. My 50th birthday gift to me was truly great. If you can manage it, I highly recommend you make the journey.