WRUP: It’s Friday the 13th and we’re in for a weekend of RPGs and D&Ds — what are you playing?

I always love Friday the 13th. Even if it results in a not-surprisingly unlucky day, it’s always fun to celebrate anything even spooky adjacent. This particular Friday the 13th, the Blizzard Watch crew is hoping for good luck, especially when it comes to dice rolls. But there’s also a little thing called the Diablo 2: Resurrected beta a few of us will be playing, along with a whole lot more gaming.

Join us below as we talk about D&D, Diablo, and the rest of our weekend plans on this week’s WRUP (What Are You Playing?)

Matthew Rossi: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Siege of Paris DLC is tomorrow so I expect I will be playing that.

Yes, I’m still hopelessly addicted to Cyberpunk 2077

In TTRPG news, I picked up the new version of Aberrant, a storyteller system superhero RPG, and the Avatar Quickstart.

Phil Xavier: I’m playing Gnosia. It’s a social deduction roguelike game. Imagine if Among Us was a single player game and had a story mode, where you slowly but surely start finding out just why the heck that ship is being invaded by those aliens (and if that’s even what they are), through multiple loops, trying to find out who’s infected (or kill everyone else if you’ve been infected yourself that time). That’s the game, and I can’t stop playing it, it’s so addictive.

Elizabeth Harper: I’m running a D&D game tonight with a chaotic crew of Blizzard Watchers who have just strolled into a Meenlock nest.. I’m playing D&D tomorrow afternoon with the fantastic Joe Perez and more Blizzard Watchers, and I’m a little concerned about what he may have planned for us. And on Sunday I’m playing Call of Cthulhu with some friends from WoW. There’s gonna be a lot of dice rolling going on.

Also: Diablo 2: Resurrected. I haven’t been back to D2 in a very long time and I’m looking forward to diving face-first into the nostalgia and throwing a bunch of javelins at demons.

Ted Atchley: I’m so excited about this upcoming weekend. I’ve got my D&D game with my fellow Blizzard Watch writers where we’re exploring an abandoned mine infested with meenlocks. After our game, I’ll be watching the season finale of “The Bad Batch”. The show has been fantastic, and last week’s episode might have been the best of them all. Dave Filoni continues to show his mastery of both storytelling and Star Wars lore. We’ve also got the proper start of the NFL preseason—I don’t really count the Hall of Fame game. Between all that and continuing to edit my sci-fi novel, I don’t think I’ll have much time for gaming outside of a few Hearthstone Battlegrounds, and maybe some games of Retro Bowl.

Anna Washenko: I am a huge fan of pro League of Legends, so I’ll be watching the LEC playoffs this weekend. In those few hours that I’m not watching games, it’ll be more Mass Effect 2 for me!

Andrew Powers: I discovered the YouTuber Josh Strife Hayes, and binge watched his series Worst MMO Ever? […] I watched the short series on Netflix, Nightmare High, that was well done. The last half of my week is all D&D, with D&D Qe on Thursday, Liz’s game which I’m not sure has a name on Friday, and the Blizzard Watch streamed game on Saturday.

Deb Montague: Still wandering around Azeroth on a random schedule. My PVP Officer and I have discovered we are finding joy in the game having chucked the overwhelmingness of Shadowlands in favor of random destinations. I’m still working on mounts. Dang you, Attumen! But I also made a list of achievements I’d love to have. And, I’m going to say it out loud, “Comp Stomp is fantastic! I wish it was available for more BGs.” I’m so glad it’s back.

[I’m also] reading “Grammar Geek” by Michael Powell.

Joe Perez: Been diving into a lot of Dreamscaper this week. An absolutely gorgeous Roguelite ARP with an incredible art style, intuitive gameplay, and a game that attempts to tell you the story by showing it to you rather than just dumping a bunch of dialogue or text boxes on you.

You play as Cassidy, as she balances coping with Life, while diving deep into her dream world and processing her emotions. The game is a Roguelike, and so as you progress you can unlock permanent upgrades, but dying in the game just forces you out of the dream and back to reality, where you can spend your resources for more inspiration that will affect your next run.

While in the same vein as games like Hades, it is distinct in it’s lack of dialogue, the combat system is much more considered and it tells a genuine story of dealing with trauma and navigating grief. This game is brilliant, and I am very much enjoying it.

Liz Patt: D2R early access beta. That’s it. No eating, no sleeping. Okay, maybe a little eating and sleeping. Even Yogg cannot run on video games alone. [Editor’s note: Yogg can do anything and everything he wants. Always.]

OH! And of course, a few hours for our D&D campaign. My druid has so much learning to do about the dry world!

Cory Taylor: I’ve got a busy weekend of gaming ahead of me. First, there’s the Diablo 2 beta on the Xbox to really dive into. I haven’t played Diablo 2 since I was a wee lad, so I’m really looking forward to making a character and knowing halfway what I’m doing with my skill points. We also have the Blizzard Watch D&D game on Saturday, which is always a blast. And after that I’m going to be watching the Heroes of the Storm tournament put on by Girls Gank Squad. They’re raising money in support of RAINN and I’m betting the competition is going to be fierce.

Mitch “Mitch” Mitchell: Oh wow, is it my turn already? I know that last week, I said I’d be plowing through the Dark Souls 2 DLC and moving onto Dark Souls 3, but… well, the DLC is taking me just about as long to burn through as the entire base game did. It’s a challenge, but in a good way. That said, I actually DID manage to get the last boss within 1 hit of dying, and then I did the same thing on my next attempt (X_X) So that was painful, but I at least have it for sure.

Other than that, I actually have a bit more free time than most weekends lately, so I’m hoping I can also relax and watch my girlfriend play through Mass Effect. She started her first playthrough back when the Legendary Edition launched, but real life has been pretty chaotic, so the going has been slow. I seriously can’t wait for her to finish, though, and I’m just happy to see someone else experience the series for the first time, no matter how little playtime we actually are able to get in on any given week.

That’s it for us here at Blizzard Watch! Thanks for joining us on another WRUP. And if you have any exciting plans (gaming or otherwise) coming up? We’d love to hear ’em! Otherwise, see you all next week!