The Heart Monitor

$10,000 raised for Extra Life
Karington Hess Karington Hess

$10,000 raised for Extra Life

Open Heart Games just passed a major milestone and it is all thanks to you, our generous donors. It is my honor to announce that since the creation of Open Heart Games in 2020, together we have raised over $10,000 directly benefiting our local children’s hospital, Carilion Children’s right here in Roanoke, Virginia!

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New Incentives for our Extra Life United Marathon!
Karington Hess Karington Hess

New Incentives for our Extra Life United Marathon!

For our next 12-Hour Charity D&D Marathon we are introducing new incentives, which players and viewers can purchase in order to help (or hurt) our party and of course, the biggest reason of all, to help us raise more money for Extra Life and meet our year-end goal for 2023 of $5,000!

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A Veteran Game Master’s Review of “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”
Karington Hess Karington Hess

A Veteran Game Master’s Review of “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”

Last weekend I was fortunate to be able to attend an early showing of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves which releases in theaters March 31st. Before we get into any spoilers–and there will be spoilers!--I want to say that I really enjoyed the movie. . . .I highly recommend the movie and think that everyone should go see it as it is the best D&D movie we have had to date.

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Adventurers Wanted! (Or how you can help raise money for Extra Life and our local children’s hospital!)
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Adventurers Wanted! (Or how you can help raise money for Extra Life and our local children’s hospital!)

For 2023 we were inspired to set the bar even higher—we hope to raise $5, 000 for our Extra Life Charity—and we can only do it with your help! We are adding an additional 12-Hour Charity Marathon this year in honor of Extra Life United. On April 8, from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, I will run one of my favorite modules: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and will live-stream it on our Twitch channel.

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The Revenant Society Review
Karington Hess Karington Hess

The Revenant Society Review

Hey, friends! We are back from Hoop & Stick Con and while we were there, Abby and I had the pleasure of being introduced to The Revenant Society. As of the writing of this blog, The Revenant Society is live on Kickstarter, has reached its initial funding goal, and has unlocked several stretch goals. . . .We were honored by the opportunity to play this game hosted by Julie Ahern, Project Manager for Van Ryder Games–publisher of The Revenant Society.

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Our Hearts Are Full of Gratitude
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Our Hearts Are Full of Gratitude

It means so much to us, as small business owners with big dreams, to build this community with you all and we are so thankful. We hope that the weeks ahead bring you peace and joy and, of course, opportunities for playing games! Thank you.

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Extra Life Game Day Recap!
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Extra Life Game Day Recap!

Extra Life Game Day 2022 is officially in the books! Thanks to a very generous last minute donation, we have exceeded our goal for 2022 by raising over $4,000 for our local children’s hospital, Carillion Children’s.

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Spooky Spaces: 5 Settings for your Spooky Season RPG Session
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Spooky Spaces: 5 Settings for your Spooky Season RPG Session

Location! Location! Location! In this latest episode of our spooky season series, we focus on some spooky locations for your players to visit. In previous blogs we have discussed some monsters and villains that you can use to ramp up the spookiness and, now, with these location suggestions–you can have the spookiest RPG session for this Halloween!

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10 Spooky Monster Villains for your October Games
Karington Hess Karington Hess

10 Spooky Monster Villains for your October Games

It’s October and we are fully immersed in the spooky time of the year! In celebration, I am dedicating the rest of the blog posts in October to everything that is ooky, cooky, or downright spooky. . .This blog suggests some monsters you could use as main villains in your spooky game, either as an overarching nemesis or an end-of-dungeon boss.

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10 Spooky D&D Creatures for Your Heroes to Face
Karington Hess Karington Hess

10 Spooky D&D Creatures for Your Heroes to Face

It’s October and we are fully immersed in the spooky time of the year! In celebration, I am dedicating the rest of the blog posts in October to everything that is ooky, cooky, or downright spooky. . . .I will be covering content that includes common phobias and fears as we cover some unique monsters you can throw at your party this October.

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Extra Life Game Day 2022
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Extra Life Game Day 2022

In honor of Extra Life Game Day, and by popular demand, we are bringing back our 12 Hour Marathon and continuing Against the Giants (the classic Dungeons & Dragons module [updated for 5E])! This module is an adventure pitting players against several giants whom the players have been hired to defeat, and this time we will be continuing our battle against the Fire Giants!

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It’s My Party and I’ll Blog if I Want to.
Karington Hess Karington Hess

It’s My Party and I’ll Blog if I Want to.

Is this going to be a sappy thank you note from me to all of our fans? Yes. Is this going to be a shameless plug for our Extra Life fundraiser? Also yes. Is this blog also going to have an interesting suggestion as to how to tie birthdays into your roleplaying campaigns? Unsurprisingly, yes.

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These Characters Live Rent-Free in My Head: 10 Characters I’d Love to Roleplay (Part 1)
Karington Hess Karington Hess

These Characters Live Rent-Free in My Head: 10 Characters I’d Love to Roleplay (Part 1)

My day job in the gaming industry, running games for Open Heart Games, hosting game nights for local friends, and other side projects all keep me very busy. So busy that like the cobbler whose children run around without shoes or the carpenter whose roof is never finished, I never really find the time to commit to playing in a campaign of my own. However, this does not prevent me from having a healthy flow of new character ideas. . .especially when new content comes out. So, I have compiled a list of my top 10 Characters that live rent-free in my head. I will likely not be able to play them anytime soon, but I think they are really neat.

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Story So Far: Why You Should Keep A Campaign Record
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Story So Far: Why You Should Keep A Campaign Record

Running a campaign has many parallels with live theater. The show runs for a period of time, sometimes months, all the while entertaining its audiences. The cast of characters grows close and makes lasting memories. But eventually, the curtain falls for the final time, the cast and crew say their final goodbyes, the set is dismantled, and with that the story is over. The only thing that remains is our memories of the show, perhaps some photos, and a souvenir playbill. Similarly, wrapping up a campaign can feel the same; aside from some character sheets, there is often not much left other than the fond memories those who played in the campaign now share. This got me thinking about how I could preserve a telling of the story for myself and my friends that we could look back on in the future

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Extra Life Tabletop Appreciation Day Recap!
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Extra Life Tabletop Appreciation Day Recap!

It’s official! Extra Life Tabletop Appreciation Day 2022 is in the books! As of the writing of this blog, we are just shy of the halfway point to beat last year’s total of $4,061! All of the funds donated benefit Extra Life and our local children’s Hospital Carilion Children’s here in Roanoke, VA!

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Help Wanted! Adventurers in Peril! (Or how you can help us raise money for Extra Life!)
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Help Wanted! Adventurers in Peril! (Or how you can help us raise money for Extra Life!)

Our brave adventurers need your help in their assault on the Castle of the Fire Giant King!

Our third Charity Marathon is scheduled for Saturday, August 20th from 10AM to 10PM. You can find more information here! One of the things we wanted to add for this Charity Marathon was the ability for those watching at home to help join in the fun! So I am proud to announce that for the first time ever we will be offering a host of incentives that you can purchase from the comfort of your own home via our Extra Life Page to help (or potentially hinder) the party!

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A Diabolic Dissection of Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
Karington Hess Karington Hess

A Diabolic Dissection of Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus

The party stood in the brimstone filled streets of Elturel as the river Chionthar reflected the warm light of the morning sun. They had succeeded where lesser heroes would have failed. They had redeemed a fallen angel, defeated multiple demon lords, and returned their beloved city from the nine hells to the material plane and most importantly, they were home at last…

This is how we wrapped up our campaign for Descent into Avernus this past weekend. I was very pleased with the results of an 18 month campaign and felt that it was a satisfying conclusion. This is actually the second campaign Open Heart Games launched and, due to scheduling, it was the first to wrap up. From here on out, expect heavy spoilers! Ye be warned!

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Why I ❤️ Call of the Netherdeep
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Why I ❤️ Call of the Netherdeep

It has been over a year and a half since we launched our first campaigns and now those campaigns are coming to a close. . . .Next month, on August 21, we will be launching our next campaign Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep and I look forward to sharing this unique world with our community! I am excited today to share my spoiler-free thoughts on this module.

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