For the past three years, Orlando gaming enthusiasts have gathered regularly to roll dice, drink beer and raise money for local charities.
Nick Larson and Cami Wooley co-founded event company Adventures on Tap in 2021 after realizing tabletop roleplaying organizations in their area tended to emphasize profit, not community.
“We say we’re here to do good, not well,” Larson said. “The RPG [roleplaying game] space as a whole seems to be heavily monetized, and we wanted to do something different.”
The self-proclaimed “beer geeks” and “game geeks” had a vision: inclusive events where players could drink beer, play tabletop games, buy crafts from local artisans and raffle on baskets for local charities.
Today, Adventures on Tap hosts three to four events per month at a rotating roster of local spots including Oviedo Brewing, Conduit in Winter Park and Ten10 Brewing. It raises about $1,200 to $1,200 monthly for exclusively local charities. Beneficiaries have included nonprofits like Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando and Child’s Play Charity, which donates video games to pediatric hospitals.
“We never send the money out … we always make sure it’s local,” Wooley said.
Adventures on Tap specializes in “one shot” gaming sessions, or single adventures completed in a few hours, like a sold-out Dungeons & Dragons event at Conduit on Saturday, Aug. 3. But it also offers miniature painting lessons, including one happening Monday, Aug. 5, at Twelve Talons Beerworks on East South Street, and ongoing campaign meetups.
At each one-shot session, the company holds a charity raffle. Prizes range from crafts that Adventures on Tap buys from local vendors, like dice bags and homemade shirts, to tickets to Kissimmee's Medieval Times. Proceeds go entirely to charity.
But ticket sales, which equal about $20 per player, go to internal funding — including paying the dungeon masters, or DMs, responsible for organizing each game.
“We're one of the only D&D [Dungeons & Dragons] groups in town that pays our DMs,” Wooley said. “We don't pay them a huge amount, but we do make sure that they're not out for their supplies and travel and beer.”
One of the most popular draws is Dungeons & Dragons, a popular fantasy game first published in 1974. But players also have the opportunity to try out lesser-known games. Those include the Harry Potter-esque “Kids on Brooms” or sinister “Blades in the Dark” — Wooley and Larson’s respective favorites.
Larson said he also hoped to bolster another community: local breweries, which he said suffered after the pandemic. Adventures on Tap has a “symbiotic relationship” with the restaurants where it hosts events, the former service industry worker said.
“We want to put butts in seats for six hours and have them buy beer,” he said. “And we’re not going to charge the brewery anything, and the brewery is not going to charge us anything.”
Adventures on Tap holds most of its events during time spots when breweries are traditionally “absolutely empty,” like midday on Sundays.
As far as the interaction between beer drinking and gameplay, Wooley said the combination affects each player differently.
“If somebody says, ‘I want to do something,’ and they describe it and it sounds dope, One Beer Cami is more likely to be like, ‘well, let’s try and maybe think about that,’” she said. “Five Beer Cami is like, ‘yeah, that sounds awesome, let’s do it.’”
Both Larson and Wooley hold day jobs, as an engineer and software marketer, respectively. They consider Adventures on Tap a “labor of love” that they’ve enjoyed seeing grow from a small, one-event-per-month group to a company hosting three to four events per month as far north as Mount Dora and Sanford.
Larson and Wooley have tried for the last two years to register their company as a nonprofit, but without the money to pay for legal assistance, they haven’t been able to navigate the “legal rat’s nest” required to do so, Larson said.
But Larson said he still looks forward to seeing the group expand and encourages those looking for community to give it a try.
“If you have any experience whatsoever, you’re overqualified,” he said. “We’re not here to make a million dollars … we try and keep everything open, welcome and cheap.”
As mentioned, Saturday's Dungeons & Dragons event at Conduit is sold out, but tickets are still available for its September campaign session Sept. 14 at Ten10 Brewing on Virginia Drive. There are also some spots still available for Sip and Paint at Twelve Talons at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5. Tickets are available through Adventures on Tap's website.
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Nick Larson and Cami Wooley co-founded event company Adventures on Tap in 2021 after realizing tabletop roleplaying organizations in their area tended to emphasize profit, not community.
“We say we’re here to do good, not well,” Larson said. “The RPG [roleplaying game] space as a whole seems to be heavily monetized, and we wanted to do something different.”
The self-proclaimed “beer geeks” and “game geeks” had a vision: inclusive events where players could drink beer, play tabletop games, buy crafts from local artisans and raffle on baskets for local charities.
Today, Adventures on Tap hosts three to four events per month at a rotating roster of local spots including Oviedo Brewing, Conduit in Winter Park and Ten10 Brewing. It raises about $1,200 to $1,200 monthly for exclusively local charities. Beneficiaries have included nonprofits like Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando and Child’s Play Charity, which donates video games to pediatric hospitals.
“We never send the money out … we always make sure it’s local,” Wooley said.
Adventures on Tap specializes in “one shot” gaming sessions, or single adventures completed in a few hours, like a sold-out Dungeons & Dragons event at Conduit on Saturday, Aug. 3. But it also offers miniature painting lessons, including one happening Monday, Aug. 5, at Twelve Talons Beerworks on East South Street, and ongoing campaign meetups.
At each one-shot session, the company holds a charity raffle. Prizes range from crafts that Adventures on Tap buys from local vendors, like dice bags and homemade shirts, to tickets to Kissimmee's Medieval Times. Proceeds go entirely to charity.
But ticket sales, which equal about $20 per player, go to internal funding — including paying the dungeon masters, or DMs, responsible for organizing each game.
“We're one of the only D&D [Dungeons & Dragons] groups in town that pays our DMs,” Wooley said. “We don't pay them a huge amount, but we do make sure that they're not out for their supplies and travel and beer.”
One of the most popular draws is Dungeons & Dragons, a popular fantasy game first published in 1974. But players also have the opportunity to try out lesser-known games. Those include the Harry Potter-esque “Kids on Brooms” or sinister “Blades in the Dark” — Wooley and Larson’s respective favorites.
Larson said he also hoped to bolster another community: local breweries, which he said suffered after the pandemic. Adventures on Tap has a “symbiotic relationship” with the restaurants where it hosts events, the former service industry worker said.
“We want to put butts in seats for six hours and have them buy beer,” he said. “And we’re not going to charge the brewery anything, and the brewery is not going to charge us anything.”
Adventures on Tap holds most of its events during time spots when breweries are traditionally “absolutely empty,” like midday on Sundays.
As far as the interaction between beer drinking and gameplay, Wooley said the combination affects each player differently.
“If somebody says, ‘I want to do something,’ and they describe it and it sounds dope, One Beer Cami is more likely to be like, ‘well, let’s try and maybe think about that,’” she said. “Five Beer Cami is like, ‘yeah, that sounds awesome, let’s do it.’”
Both Larson and Wooley hold day jobs, as an engineer and software marketer, respectively. They consider Adventures on Tap a “labor of love” that they’ve enjoyed seeing grow from a small, one-event-per-month group to a company hosting three to four events per month as far north as Mount Dora and Sanford.
Larson and Wooley have tried for the last two years to register their company as a nonprofit, but without the money to pay for legal assistance, they haven’t been able to navigate the “legal rat’s nest” required to do so, Larson said.
But Larson said he still looks forward to seeing the group expand and encourages those looking for community to give it a try.
“If you have any experience whatsoever, you’re overqualified,” he said. “We’re not here to make a million dollars … we try and keep everything open, welcome and cheap.”
As mentioned, Saturday's Dungeons & Dragons event at Conduit is sold out, but tickets are still available for its September campaign session Sept. 14 at Ten10 Brewing on Virginia Drive. There are also some spots still available for Sip and Paint at Twelve Talons at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5. Tickets are available through Adventures on Tap's website.
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