We are starting the year off at full speed for 2025! So many great things coming up - check out what we've got in the hopper:
Highlights and hyperlinks:
Jan 4th
Let the Games... Resume!
We're back from Winter Break and ready for adventure starting January 4th! All of our regular games will be back on, starting with our Saturday morning crew on the 4th.
Jan 8th
Painter's Parlor
4:00-6:00pm
Bring your unpainted minis in to our Painter's Parlor and get them ready for action! You are welcome to use our paints, brushes, and super glue - we'll have a volunteer on hand who can provide expert guidance and demonstrate mini painting techniques to get your mini collection looking pro. Painter's Parlor will be held every Wednesday from 2:00-4:00 (we are looking for more volunteers to enable us to extend the hours a bit - stay tuned!).
Jan 9th
Thursday Night Magic
6:00-8:00pm
Every Thursday night come to The Hero Workshop to experience Thursday Night Magic! It's a gathering of fans of Magic: the Gathering, where we can get together and test our deck against any and all challengers. This is unofficial, non-tournament play meant to have fun, meet other Magic nerds, and maybe get a little practice in before your next big Magic event.
Hosted by our official Magic referee, Randy Rhodes. If you do not have a deck of your own and just want to come in and play, come on down! We've got plenty of loaner decks that you can try out.
Jan 14th
Game Master Workshop Info Night
6:00-7:00pm
January is New Game Master Month, so we thought there is no better time to start our brand new Game Master Workshop series!
We've been talking about this for a long time, and we're finally able to start our long awaited Game Master program. This will be a series of class modules designed to train the next generation of professional Game Masters.
A Game Master is the person responsible for running the game. If a game of Dungeons and Dragons (or Kids on Bikes, or Daggerheart) is an interactive story, the Game Master is the narrator for the story, and the referee who adjudicates the game's mechanics.
If this sounds interesting to you, but you want to learn more before you commit to a four week course, please join us on Tuesday, January 14th at 6:00 for a Q&A and information evening. We will outline the GM Workshop, and discuss what we want to get out of taking our first steps towards becoming a Game Master!
Jan 21st
Game Master Workshop!
6:00-8:00pm
Our first four week course in becoming a Game Master is titled "Level 1 Game Master Training". In this course, we will come to understand the role of the Game Master, and we will prepare for our first session of running a game of our own design.
Each 4 week class will be a module focused on different aspects of running a table top role playing game. We will start, well, at the beginning:
Level 1 Game Master Training: Running your First Adventure
Week 1: Introduction to Game Mastering
Week 2: Crafting a Great Adventure
Week 3: Preparing your First Session
Week 4: Running a Mini Session
By the end of this course, participants will have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of game mastering and will be ready to run their first session of Dungeons & Dragons. We will establish fundamentals that will serve your game for years (literally, I've been playing for over 40 years now!), and we will build upon these fundamentals in future modules of the Game Master's Workshop.
The Game Master's Workshop will run each Tuesday from 6:00-8:00 from January 21st to February 11th. In honor of New Game Master Month, each Game Master that signs up in January will receive a FREE copy of "The Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master" - an excellent resource into prepping your tabletop games.
Jan 18th
SWORD FIGHTING CLASSES!
10:00-11:00 Ages 8-10
11:30-12:30 Ages 10-12
1:00-2:00 Ages 12-15
2:30-3:30 All Ages
We are building up a one-of-a-kind Story Based Athletics Program at The Hero Workshop, and we're kicking it off with Sword Fighting classes that we will offer once a month. In these classes, you will get outside and learn the ins and outs of fighting with a sword and shield. We will begin by offering sword fighting one day out of the month, and by April we will have a weekly story based athletics program that will feature sword fighting and fitness classes to keep all of our heroes in excellent shape for their adventures!
So get ready to channel your inner knight! In this exciting program, heroes will learn to wield a sword with skill and defend themselves with a shield, mastering the basics of combat in a safe and fun environment. Whether you’re a budding warrior or simply looking for an adventurous new activity, this is your chance to step into the arena and discover the art of swordplay. Don’t miss out—grab your gear and join the adventure!
This will eventually be a weekly class that you can sign up for with an upgraded membership, but to get things started we are going to just do it once a month. Our first classes will be on January 18th, and will be a one hour class offered for $50.
We will provide the sword and shield (as loaners). If your hero has a bike helmet and you can bring it, that would be a huge help, Otherwise we will have helmets we can rent out for an additional $5. Helmets are required!
Jan 23rd
Above the Table with Jasmine Chiong
7:00-8:00pm
We recorded a conversation with Jasmine a couple months ago, but due to technical limitations at the time the quality of the recording wasn't great. So we're going to do it again! Join us as we speak with Jasmine Chiong, who is not only one of the Game Masters at The Hero Workshop, but an accomplished screenwriter and producer - and a cast member on the kid-friendly actual play sponsored by Critical Role "The ReSlayer's Take".
Above the Table is a podcast series where we speak with people who are working in the industry, about the industry. Not only how did they get to transition from loving games and content to making games and content, but what do they love about our shared hobby? Our monthly podcast series is available on YouTube, and you are invited to attend a live taping of each episode at The Hero Workshop. We record from 7:00-8:00 on the 4th Thursday of each month.
Jan 24th
HiLite Parent Information Night
6:00-7:00pm
We want to help you help your teen. Teens and young adults have it rough these days: navigating new technologies and increasing demands on their time while still prioritizing school, preparing for college and looking towards a sometimes scary future. It's a lot!The Hero Workshop is teaming up with HiLite to offer their first Success Coaching program for teens and young adults in the state of California. HiLite is a coaching and consulting service that started in Winter Garden, Florida and has since gained a national presence with groups currently meeting in Chicago, Orlando, Atlanta, and online. This represents a chance to bring the successful HiLite program to Los Angeles, starting right here at The Hero Workshop!We're looking for a group of teens to meet weekly for 3 months (starting in February) to workshop life's challenges together in a supportive environment... and we'll make it fun! (Definitely worth setting down your screens for a couple hours!)The Family Info Night is free, hosted by our local Youth Success Coach, Erika Stich, and open to your teen too. We'll be able to talk about how the program works and you can ask any questions you might have.Â
If you're interested in learning more, Â
1) check out our website.Â
2) fill out our interest formÂ
3) join our Info Session + Q&A on Friday, January 24th from 6-7pm.Â
Erika will review your interest forms and keep you posted on next steps.
BONUS SECTION!
Adult Campaigns are starting!
Are you over 18 and interested in joining a campaign? We have new Adult Campaigns starting all the time, and we are always open to more new players. Whether you've been playing for 50 years or less than 5 minutes, we've got a table full of friendly folks ready for adventure!
If you are interested in joining a campaign, please contact us at info@heroworkshop.org today, and we'll find a table that's perfect for you that fits your schedule.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Our Adult Campaigns pricing depends on a few factors and can vary slightly from table to table. Here is how pricing is calculated, and what you can expect when you join a campaign:
ROOM:
We charge $20/hr for the room rental. If you already have a group and you'd like to meet at a space dedicated to creating the best environment we can for tabletop gaming, we're here for you. You'll get access to one of our private game rooms, our complete library of Dungeons and Dragons reference materials (we have every book published, and you're welcome to use them while you're here), our BattleMats and markers, heck you can even check out any of our minis for your session - many of which are hand painted by one of our staff members.
GAME MASTER:
If you are looking for a Game Master, or are looking to join a table run by one of our professional Game Masters - we've got you covered. To add one of our Game Masters to your session will come to $25/hr, with an additional hour needed for prep. So for a three hour session (our recommended session length), that's 4 hours of a GM's time for a total of $100. This is a great option if you and your friends are looking for a game night and you guys just want to show up and have a good time. Many of us are too busy with "real life" to prepare a great session of DnD each week. Let our professionals prepare a custom adventure for you and your friends!
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
So with the above considerations in mind, we are looking at a total cost of $160 per session (assuming a three hour session). For our adult games, this is divided up equally by the number of players at the table. The more people who join the party, the less each party member is paying for the session.
This means if you have 4 players, each player will pay $40 for a session. Five players pay $32 each, and so on to our table limit of 8 players paying $20 per session.
The next decision your table will make is how often to play. You guys can meet every week, or twice a month. Once a group finds their normal, we can get everyone signed up for automatic payments so you wont have to worry about the cost of the game changing every week due to players coming and going or missing sessions.
BENEFITS OF HIRING A PROFESSIONAL GAME MASTER
Let's talk briefly about why you might want to hire a professional game master instead of just buying the core rulebooks and running games at home.
It's true, first of all, that you could buy all of the core rulebooks for Dungeons and Dragons for about the cost of a single session at The Hero Workshop. If you have a friend in your group who has played before or is currently running other games then that's probably all you'd need to have a great time telling stories together. It's the best, and I highly recommend it if you are lucky enough to have a dedicated group who can meet regularly.
"THE FINAL BOSS OF EVERY CAMPAIGN IS SCHEDULING"
In my experience, and the experience of many people that I've talked to about playing this wonderful game, most campaigns end not when the Big Bad Evil Guy is defeated, but when schedule conflicts crop up and the group ends up just kind of fizzling out. This is very typical, and a huge bummer. I've been playing this game for more than 40 years, and I can count on one hand the number of campaigns that I've actually finished.
This dynamic changes dramatically when the players are literally invested in the game. When it's the GM's actual job to run the campaign - you can bet they'll be there, prepared for the session, and ready to spin an epic yarn. And if they can't make it - we can sub in another GM who can pick up the reigns and ensure the story continues. Games will not get canceled because the GM can't make it or gets sick.
When the other players at the table are paying for their seats, that level of investment tends to have a positive impact on attendance. Of course sometimes a work deadline prevents someone from coming one week, or a family vacation means one or two other players wont be there for a session - but no one is going to flake when they are paying for a game night!
So hopefully this transparency of how much it costs to host a professional game demonstrates the value you get when you play at The Hero Workshop. There are other game stores in the area where you can show up, pay a $5 or $10 table fee, and sit down and roll some dice. It's great fun, and you should try it out sometime! I will say these kinds of experiences tend to be "one shots", or one time games with little continuity. You might sit down to totally different players every week, or you'll be playing a new character for each game. That is super fun - it's just a different kind of fun than what you find when you are able to join a campaign, meet with the same GM and the same gaming group each week, and embark on an epic journey where you get to play as one of the heroes in the story.
If you find yourself craving adventure, and you're ready to start - contact us today at info@heroworkshop.org and we'll get started on finding a table that will fit your schedule.
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