How does a weekend getaway at a castle bed & breakfast where you play D&D all weekend long sound to you? Like the best weekend ever, right? Well today, you will get to learn all about Wayne and Apple, who offer that exact experience to small groups in Maryland. Wayne is the Head Dungeon Master and Co-founder of Adventure Away, a D&D B&B. Guests check in on Friday, enjoy some local cuisine while playing a session zero, and then spend all day Saturday playing an ultra-long one-shot before wrapping up their stay Sunday night. We talked about taking this business from concept to needing to hire additional DMS, all of the logistics that go into running each one of these weekends, Wayne’s goals for the future, and a lot more. Spending a weekend with them is now absolutely a top item on my bucket list, and I hope you enjoy learning about the struggles and insights of a completely different kind of business than what we’ve met so far.
Before we dive into the interview, if this is your first time tuning in to the show, welcome! This podcast is a part of Lightheart Adventures, which is a small company I co-founded with my husband. We offer a weekly blog on our website where you’ll find tips for running games, free monthly one-shot adventures, product reviews, and more. You’ll find that blog at lightheartadventures.com. Brenton also creates beautiful dungeon maps, both on DM’s Guild and on a commission basis.
Some other ways you can support us and this show are by checking out our Patreon, subscribing to this show, leaving a review, and checking out our affiliate links. The affiliate i’m going to highlight today is Found Familiar Coffee, the most delicious and nerdy coffee you’ll ever taste, and you’ll get to collect some pretty cool D&D themed art on every package. Go to foundfamiliar.com and enter code LightheartADV to get 10% off your order, enjoy delicious coffee, and help me keep this show running.
That is all for now, so please sit back and enjoy this conversation with Wayne.
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Time Stamps & Screenshots
- 00:00:00 Introduction & Updates
- 00:02:55 Wayne Introduction
- 00:08:55 What is Adventure Away?
- 00:12:44 How did this D&D Bed and Breakfast start?
- 00:17:15 Partnering with properties & vendors
- 00:19:05 Working towards a 5 year goal
- 00:23:36 All about the venue
- 00:27:42 How they got through Covid
- 00:32:15 Divvying up responsibilities & what a typical stay looks like
- 00:39:15 Knowing when to hire help
- 00:47:02 Themed weekends
- 00:50:29 What has been the most challenging part?
- 00:56:08 What has been the most rewarding part?
- 00:57:47 Where can people find you?
- 00:59:51 Wrap-up
Thanks for dropping by! We would love to know who would like us to interview, so please drop a comment here on the blog, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Discord to let us know who your favorite creators are! If you’d like access to more maps and content, including downloadable PDFs of our adventures, check out our Patreon. We’re able to do what we do because of all our amazing Patrons!
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