Like any good dungeon master, you want to give your players at your table the best possible experience. You bought the miniatures, hand selected atmospheric music, practiced your voices, and designed intrigue and mayhem for your players to explore. But now, you want to switch it up a bit and host a session outdoors. How does one go from being a game master to a power station wizard?

Well, let’s approach it like you would when designing an enemy encounter for your players. First thing, let’s plan the battlefield your power station will be tested on. Roll initiative, lets get started.

Planning the Encounter (Planning Your Power Station Needs)

Dancing Lights

You plan on festivals festooning the large tree in your backyard with several strands of outdoor color changing LED light strings, thus mimicking Bilbo’s party tree in the Lord of the Rings (sadly, your players miss that easter egg, but I see you. And so does Sauron). Three 30’ strings out to sufficiently light up the tree and the area around your table. On second thought, your eyes aren’t as young as they once were so a small lamp to light up all your notes would be welcome.

Enthrall

Next, you know you can’t have a session without your atmospheric music. How will the players catch that sense of adventure, the sense chilling notes of danger (one player in my party once blurted, “Do you really want to go that way? Don’t you hear the music?”), or the feel heated beats of battle without your playlists. You need your soundbar outside to really help set the scene. 

Shocking Grasp

Next, you plan on how many laptops you will need to charge. Your party consists of five players and yourself as the dungeon master. Most of the players including yourself use laptops and a version of an online character management program. Planning for 3 out of the 6 laptops charging at once seems fair.

Make a Wisdom Save

Now each of the players need an internet connection because, frankly, they don’t have a clue how their characters actually work without the many tool tips and tutorials online. Your WIFI doesn't quite reach this far out so you will need to power a WIFI extender as well. Your bedroom won’t need super fast internet this night so you take the one from there, your spouse shooting you dark looks like the Dark Lord BBEG (big bad evil guy/gal) of your story. 

Greater Illusion

The last thing you have to set up is the tv screen your battle maps loops on. You don’t even think about taking the nice screen from your bedroom for fear of a divine smite from your spouse but you grab the spare, lug it out, and lay it out on the table. You assume the fight will last 2 hours.

Setting the CR (How Much Power and For How Long)

So how big of a power station do you need to power all of that stuff? Well, make an intelligence check for me. What, natural 1? Well, shoot. Guess I’ll just have to explain it to you. 

First, let’s rewind and add up all the watts of the devices and appliances you are using.

• 3 laptops chargers = 195W (full time)
  
• 3 String Lights = 54W (full time)
  
• Sound Bar = 80W (full time)
  
• LCD 40’ Screen = 75W (2 Hours)
  
• WIFI Extender = 10W (full time)

To discover your final power needs (or the CR of this power challenge), let’s find the total wattage and watt hours your game needs. Your power needed when not in battle is 339W. For a bit of buffer, let’s say it is an even 350W.

When in combat, your needs jump to 420W (with a bit of rounding). Your total watt hour needs are (350W * 3 hours) + (420 * 2 hours) = 1890Wh but for safety sake, let’s make it an even 2000Wh in case the combat runs long.

So your power station needs to handle at least 420W and have 2000Wh.

Shopping Session (Which Power Stations We Recommend)

Now, obviously, you aren’t buying a power station for this one time game...or at least that is what you told your wife when she saw the receipt for it. You plan on using it to back up other things as well and this game is just a, how did you say it, ah, yes, a “athletics check” for it. 

Let’s get you some recommendations with the idea that these indeed will power your dungeon crawl but also be useful in your real life. After each recommendation, we will give you a convincing argument to use on your spouse on why this particular power station is practical outside of D&D. These convincing arguments are even more convincing when paired with dinner at a fancy restaurant. 

Ranger Recommendation 

Ecoflow DELTA 2 Max Portable Power Station

A unit that is portable and perfect for a little exploration, the Delta 2 Max is easy to not only use in your game, but to pack off to the mountains, the lake, or any other outside excursion where you want some power.

Convincing Arguments for Spouse

“Just think how much fun camping will be when we can string lights all around the campsite. Plus, this baby will power our important appliances when the power goes out! All that meat we just bought? It won’t go bad so this protects our investment.”

Artificer Recommendation

Anker SOLIX F2600 Portable Power Station

Just like the class, this is a flexible, powerful unit. It is portable, expandable, and recharges quickly. It can handle a surprising amount and with it’s ability to expand, it can become a whole home solution.

Convincing Arguments for Spouse

“This setup is a great initial investment in keep our home powered during an outage. We can keep expanding it as well, making sure that our devices and appliances stay on when the neighborhood goes dark!”

The High Elf Wizard Recommendation

Ecoflow Delta Pro 3 Portable Power Station

This is the option for those who are a bit extra, need the best gear, and force a shopping session between quests. While it is clearly an overkill for just powering your game, so is fireball when facing goblins but that never stopped you. It's clear digital display will help you monitor your power and help keep your mind where it should be…on how to TPK this party of murderhobos. 

Convincing Arguments for Spouse

“This thing is a beast and can even power our AC! It's expandable clear up to 12kWh so we can build on our initial investment and eventually power the whole house! Plus, it pairs with the Ecoflow Smart Generator or Solar Panels to make sure the batteries are always charged so we are never in the dark!”

Scaling the Encounter (Adjusting Your Power Needs)

While the above are great options for powering a game night, these are also big systems. Let’s scale our evening down a bit to give an example of assessing and adjusting your power needs.

For starters, we will assume the laptops will only need to be charging half of the time. We will use a map made of 3d printed terrain so we can also forget the screen. Instead of the speaker system, we will use a Bluetooth power speaker whose charge can last the whole evening. And we are going to hard stop the game after 4 hours because you are all adults and have to get up the next morning for work.

With just those adjustments, we now have our power needs down to 259W (280W to be safe) which means we now only need 1120wh. 

Scaled Power Station Recommendations

Suddenly, options like the Anker SOLIX F15000 Portable Power Station or  Jackery Explorer 1000 Plus Portable Power Station are great options for a smaller investment. However, these power stations don't pack in as much power and will be less useful outside of your D&D game. 

To learn more about scaling and assessing your power station needs, make an investigation check here.

Drive Back the Darkness

We at Green Forge Power want to be your helpful NPC that gives you the clues you need to successfully power your world. Our advice and helpful guides will give you advantage on your search.

Sure, its not as fun as casting Message, but if you need any help, hit that chat icon or shoot us an email. 

Happy gaming and remember to thank your DM. He puts in a lot of work and has crippling imposter syndrome.