How TTRPGs took over Trivandrum.

'How do you wannna do this?'

"My Greatsword held high, i look the creature in the eye and then bring it down"

These words, yelled out at a cafe in Trivandrum was the culmination of months of effort. years worth of backstory, and the collective passion of dozens of people. During October 24, 25, 26, Eve's became a conclave for those who were passionate or curious about the art of narrative storytelling.

TTRPGs ie Table Top RolePlaying Games are games in which people get together around a table and go on fantasy adventures together all in through collective imagination and creativity. 'Dungeons and Dragons' is the most popular TTRPG game that has been brewing in the cultural consciences, A game that brought together people.

Many know TTRPGs only by reference in various TV shows, even then, the appeal of this phenomenon hadn't found much groundswell in India. Shows like Stranger Things or Big Bang Theory may have mentioned it but knowledge about the game was limited.

But Passion finds a way, Small communities had popped up in colleges and cities, and the progenitor of the TTRPG club at EFLU, Arshith, returned to his home city and decided to build a TTRPG club here as well. The first session had only 2 new players, and only one became a regular member, but through small events such as this, new passionate people found a space which they have been dreaming about, a space where they could come together and tell fascinating stories, make friends and go on fantasy adventures. After Campaigns and Oneshots that trained new Dungeon Masters ie the Narrator, the community had grown to around 100+ members, Multiple Campaigns running concurrently, OneShot adventures for beginners nearly every week.

The Dragon's Vault became a hoard of creativity, storytelling, passion and shared joy. As the community passed its first year of creation, The community wanted to realize its biggest dream, An Event that brought together every system of TTRPGs that we played, Multiple Games at the same time, A shared world where the narrative could happen in the same world. A Game where people to join in and leave as they pleased. An Event that would put the community on the map. An Event for new people to learn about TTRPGs and community regulars to get together.

Pulling off this event, meant that the community had to come together. To Decorate Eve's and turn the usually calm Cafe into a Fantasy Tavern of legend. To Share the news about our Event and to work on the logistics and timing of various Events, Talks and Discussions.

Decor was the most time consuming yet rewarding part of the experience, as the whole community came together, to glue and craft. Ideas turned to reality as craft paper turned into trees, shadows and more. Our Volunteers painted and crafted till the day of, converting Eve's into The Dragon's Vault's HQ.

Our Promo team was fundamental in the success of the event, Explaining this passion to others and helping the public understand what TTRPG is and drawing them to the event. Multiple videos shot during breaks and off days from work, we created a catalogue of media that could connect with people. that could communicate the culture we've built and to make it accessible

A visitor to Eve's Coffee on the days our event would be greeted with a curated tavern music and our members at the welcome desk, who would talk to them about the world of TTRPGs, after which they could take a sip of the special menu items we've created with the help of Eve's. Going through the portal door, they would be teleported to the the fey forest that held our small stall, the dungeon which held the continuous game, and the tavern styled top floor which held all our events.

A Small Summary of Our Events

Our Event started off on Friday with a Movie Night, a screening and discussion of "Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves" and we talked about how it captured the energy of the game in movie form and a workshop of Artifice Mini's our sister community focused on 3D printing and mini painting. Sanjo, our Resident Artificer, broke down the mechanics and magic of 3D printing.

The Event kickstarted on Saturday morning with a oneshot on CYborg, x, taking players into a cyberpunk adventure world , and A ShadowDark based Room of Infinite arrivals that people could join and leave as they like. Infinite Arrivals would continue into the night, with different DMs and different Players all trying to end the evil minotaur.

Shifting Shores, 2 continuous games happening in the same universe of Shesha started in the afternoon, adventuring till evening, when the Logo of our community was revealed and community founder Arshith took the stage to talk about the community which was followed by a workshop for beginners and a mini painting workshop.

To close it off, the DMs and Players came together to take a peek behind the DM Screen and to learn their secrets in DM 101.

The Event kickstarted on Saturday morning with a oneshot on CY_borg, taking players into a cyberpunk adventure world , and A ShadowDark based Room of Infinite arrivals that people could join and leave as they like. Infinite Arrivals would continue into the night, with different DMs and different Players all trying to end the evil minotaur.

Shifting Shores, 2 continuous games happening in the same universe of Shesha started in the afternoon, adventuring till evening, when the Logo of our community was revealed and community founder Arshith took the stage to talk about the community which was followed by a workshop for beginners and a mini painting workshop.

To close it off, the DMs and Players came together to take a peek behind the DM Screen and to learn their secrets in DM 101.

On the last day of the event, we continued Room of Infinite Arrivals and Shifting Shores with the much awaited game of Daggerheart taking center stage. We close off the night with a discussion on TTRPGs as Therapy and with a collaboration with the Trivandrum Board Game Community with a game of Blood on the ClockTower. We shared our love for the game with a Dice Giveaway.

A weekend full of games, stories and memories to have in our bag of holding, to return soon to share.