Today, we get to highlight a fantastic organization that runs epic TTRPG events in support for good causes: Twinheim Gaming, a non-profit founded on gaming for good!
What is Twinheim Gaming?
Over the past few years, amidst my multiple exploits in TTRPG game mastering, I’ve had the privilege to be a recurring volunteer for Twinheim Gaming.
In a nutshell, Twinheim Gaming is a TTRPG event-hosting non-profit founded on a love of games, and the need to be a force of good in the world, raising money for charities, supporting underrepresented groups in the gaming community, and partnering with various sponsors, venues, and game masters to organize such events.
For the past few years, they and their volunteers have dedicated their talents toward entertaining groups of adventurers across many different tables with stories of sword, sorcery, and fighting evildoers in fantastical realms centered within Dungeons and Dragons lore, and TTRPG games beyond.
As a volunteer myself, Twinheim has been one of the chief ways I’ve been able to provide that same experience over the past handful of years!
As a matter of fact, yours truly has just become a writer and editor for their website! If you’re interested, I highly recommend checking out my first person experience of Con of the North 2024!
Zombies, Red Wizards, and Fun! – My Con of the North 2024 Experience!
DnD Adventurers League and Epic Adventures
Granted, I’ve run plenty of organized Dungeons and Dragons sessions across a handful of game shops, and amongst different batches of players at different times of my journey. Those individual adventures, or regular campaigns were fun, if not simply an embrace of a severe case of character schenanigans, as DMs are mutually familiar with the joys and pains of running DnD.
However, Twinheim events are different! … Not simply do players from across the region gather for a weekend of playing in sessions with DMs and growing their characters, but they get the opportunity to engage in something truly special; something that elevates the DnD experience to a level that surpasses what is possible in normal play.
I’m talking about epics! … Singular, synchronized, multi-table events spanning entire conference rooms of tables, with characters encompassing the broader range of character levels and background, as large groups of adventurers fight against a major threat to the lands of Faerun!
Where can I find Twinheim Gaming events?
Twinheim Gaming has multiple events that happen during the calendar year, but its most prominent are the Summer Revel, Fall Harvest, and its partnership with Con of the North.
All Twinheim events are booked in advance, so make sure to purchase tickets and sign up for your table here!
Summer Revel and Fall Harvest
Twinheim Gamings self-hosted event in the Twin Cities area is filled with the fervor and adventuring spirit the organization is known for. Epic adventures are run across multiple tables, volunteer DMs and staff are ready to bring on their performance, and the hub is filled with auction items, merchandise, and buyable re-roll tickets.
Con of the North
Con of the North is a Midwest tabletop gaming convention hosted annually in Plymouth Minnesota. It’s an event full of spaces for art vendors, local game shops, TTRPG game devs, and publishers revealing their latest products and supplements. Most of all, players from around the region come to play board games, card games, and tabletop RPGs!
Twinheims corner of the convention is laser-focused on TTRPG experiences, bringing the same format to their conference rooms as their self-hosted events.
What does a Twinheim Gaming event look like?
Imagine sitting at an assigned table, your fellow players updating their characters, preparing their dice and figurines, and waiting for the adventure to begin. Other players span across a handful of conference rooms, each with 10+ tables headed by a volunteer Dungeon Master. Everyone is here to play the same epic adventure.
The event administrator speaks on the microphone, thanking everyone for their donations, providing opening announcements, and then… engaging in a grand speech as the adventures leading NPC, warning them of the threats on the horizon, and stirring the room with excitement and thirst for glory.
Everyone cheers, and then… the game begins!
Let the adventures begin!
Each DM runs in synchrony with the host, immersing the players at their table, and providing their official briefing by their resident NPC.
A series of challenges. A choice of missions. An emerging danger. Event volunteers dressed as noteworthy NPCs from the adventure will travel from table to table, providing a boon to the party,… or… if it is the villain, complicating the adventure.
The adventure consists of multiple missions, separated by Tiers of players, those of similar tiers at the same table to keep balance. As tables complete each mission, tallies are gathered by the administrators. A series of cross-table happenings may take place, further merging the experience of one table with another. One table’s success may mean fewer monsters at the neighboring table, or a special buff for all tables. One table’s failure could mean dire complications for everyone.
The announcer chimes in through different parts of the adventure, announcing the progress of each mission, and… perhaps (along with the event volunteer dressed as the villain) raises the stakes for everyone.
Timed. Tense. Teamwork. Topsy-Turvy. Torrential. Triumphant!
The adventurers battle through trials and tribulations over the course or three to four hours. After many fights, puzzles, blows, and epic moments,… if we all played our cards correctly, we collectively reach the crest of the peak, and victory is at hand!
The administrator announces the aftermath, whether victory or partial defeat, and congratulates the adventurers for their hard work in defeating evil!
Gaming for Good
Twinheim hosts its events not just for the love of the game, but also as an engine for positivity in the world. 80% of the money raised goes towards charities, such as Gillette Childrens, through Extra Life.
Not only is Twinheim a force for good, but they ensure everyone at their event is part of the valiant mission of raising money for children in need.
It’s an often refrain when a player uses a purchased re-roll ticket during a game session that the entire table joins in shouting “For the children!!” in their most Huzzah voice! … This can sometimes become a bit of a contest between tables to be the most boisterous about their donations.
Interested in learning more?
You can find Twinheim Gaming at its website, and across social media at the following links:
Happy rolling!
- How the IGDN Supports Diverse Voices in Tabletop Gaming - November 13, 2024
- Storytelling: Three Act Structure, and How it Works! (Act Two) - September 30, 2024
- 5 Awesome Fantasy Map-Making Tools on Steam - September 9, 2024
