In our second episode of Tabletop for Two, we talk about fun and creative ideas for “date night” duet sessions! You can incorporate these special sessions for birthdays, holidays, or other special occasions across the year!
And just to clarify, we cover ideas for all sorts of duets during our conversation, not just for couples or romantic relationships.
Watch the Episode
You can find the show notes for Tabletop for Two, episode two below, along with links to related posts!
Join us Friday nights at 8pm EST for Tabletop for Two on Twitch!
Part One: Special Occasion Sessions
For the first part of our video, we talk about some creative ways to go about celebrating special occasions at the duet gaming table.
Switching GM and Player Roles
If you’re searching for a special way to treat your “forever DM” gaming partner, look no further than running a special one-on-one session, just for them!
Switching GM and player roles is something we advocate for in almost every duet. It’s really fun for the DM to have the chance to sit in the player’s seat.
There are a few strategies for this session type that you can employ to make the switch easier without derailing anything in your primary campaign:
- Use a dream sequence—then, nothing that happens in the session is “real”
- Dive into a character backstory—this can be a great way to help the GM get to know their character better!
- Take the party to a new plane of existence. You can always time warp their absence so that it doesn’t affect the timeline of your primary campaign
Adventure Recommendations
You might also consider celebrating “actual” holidays inside your fantasy world!
A Spring Court Quest could be really fun here, or adventures like In the Heart of the Forest* or Totems of the Svalich Woods* if you’re in the mood for something darker!
Special Occasions to Celebrate
A few special occasions to celebrate along with adventure recommendations!
- Birthdays
- Valentine’s Day and Romantic Date Nights
- Cupid’s Sparrow* adventure
- Date night
- Festivals can be really fun for these! I love this list of ideas from DnDSpeak!
- Winter Holidays
- There’s Snow Place Like Home* adventure
- This is a great time to consider special gifts for your GM like source books or resources (Inkarnate, Syrinscape, dice, dice boxes)
- Milestones inside your duet campaign
- Consider in-game gifts that go with out-of-game gifts or something the player enjoys such as an interest they share with their PC
Part Two: Out-of-Game Additions for More Fun at the Table
Special Additions to Consider
Food
- We love doing a charcuterie platter or some sort of snacky food that we can have at the table, especially during a festival (which seems to occur in our games really often)
- We’ve recently picked up the D&D Cookbook* too!
Music
- I have a few go-to playlists saved, and I’ll make new ones for characters or special occasions in our games.
- Just like the DM expresses their care in prepping the session, the player gets to express their care by preparing the music, and this can also help you dive really deep into your character’s psyche or the session’s setting or location
- You can also have songs made specifically for your PC!
Atmosphere
- Lighting and candles
- The recording of the fire log burning down
- Maps
- Minis (we love HeroForge for this!)
What are some memorable moments or additions to your D&D date nights? We’d love to hear in the comments below!
This post may contain affiliate links which means that—at no cost to you—we receive a commission when you follow the link and make a purchase.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider supporting the blog by purchasing our adventures and supplements in our shop or sponsoring us on Patreon. We appreciate you so much! Thank you for joining us on this adventure! – Beth and Jonathan
We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions!