Episodes
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Metagaming. It’s one of the many topics that will spark controversy among those in the hobby. A listener wrote in explaining that they love making terrain and minis and have offered their services to their DM. Unfortunately, the DMs are reluctant, as they don’t want the player to have metaknowledge or spoil the reveals of the campaign.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave bring on our return special Wise DM, the Wizard Washburn, from our Terrain and Minis episode, to discuss how we have leaned into the inevitability of metagaming to enhance our campaigns by letting Scott build out a ton of our terrain, maps, and minis and how we have let it not spoil the fun for the DM, Scott, or any of the other players.
3:40 Our return special guest… Scott “The Wizard” Washburn from Paper Terrain!
5:05 The overview of how we approach compartmentalizing the knowledge of the player and the knowledge of the character.
7:05 The fact of the matter – once you’ve played once, you now have “meta” knowledge.
10:15 The Wizard Washburn reveals his general approach to planning with the DM in multiple campaigns he’s been a player in.
13:35 The idea of context in metagaming.
18:22 Terrain is one thing… but what about miniatures and seeing what the other team is playing with?
25:50 Always remember that RPG means roleplaying GAME.
30:05 Leaning on players to help decrease the level of prep necessary for your game.
32:07 Final Thoughts.
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Several listener questions came in that were spiraling around the same general idea, and one that DMs have fielded since the very beginning of the game: how, and when, to exert the unlimited level of power that you possess as the DM.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave, take part in a grab bag of listener questions that deal with players constantly interrupting, as well as how to best approach using, or not using, the newest 2024 version of the Player’s Handbook. For any DM who has wrestled with how and when to exert their God-level power, this is the episode for you.
3:30 The first listener question that deals with the player that constantly interrupts the BBEGs monologues.
4:25 The pro is that you have an excited and engaged player as well as DM Tony’s idea of the “cutscene.”
5:40 Exerting your control to set a scene.
10:00 Teaching players how your world works and allowing the players to adjust the setup of the scene.
13:15 “We’ll get to that” – a bookmark for all the actions players want to take because it is still a turn-based game.
17:20 We delve deeper into DM Tony’s idea of the “cutscene.” What is it and how to use it.
21:10 The awesomeness of the hero punching the villain in the jaw and not caring about their speech.
24:07 The second listener question regarding using the new 2024 update to 5e.
26:00 We already decide what races, classes, and rules we allow in our campaigns – this is no different.
29:15 5e.tools – a great digital resource for DMs and the new Mastery properties of weapons.
34:00 Changing rulesets halfway through a campaign.
38:50 Final Thoughts.
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Missing episodes?
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Low Magic. We’ve discussed it before and, in last weeks article, DM Chris delved into ideas of how to make magic rare and special in your D&D campaigns. In our discussion online regarding the article, there was a debate over what low magic means. The issue seemed to revolve around confusing Low Magic with Low Fantasy. Middle-Earth, while being a High Fantasy setting, is, in terms of D&D, a Low Magic setting for the simple fact that there are no spellcasting classes.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss the preparations for the upcoming LOTR campaign; how magic will work, the lack of spellcasters as a class, the types of characters that we’re thinking of developing, among many other topics. For anyone that is hoping to really approach magic differently in their home games, this is the episode for you.
1:50 Our continuing discussion about our upcoming Lord of the Rings campaign and how we’re approaching a setting with low access to magic.
4:01 What are you going to do now? Trying to top your previous campaigns.
7:15 DM Chris delves into his thoughts surrounding how to lessen access to magic as he began preparing and planning his Lord of the Rings campaign.
11:55 Middle-Earth as a world is highly magical, but how that plays at the table changes it significantly from all other D&D settings – Bilbo and the Dwarves didn’t have a Boss Battle with Smaug.
17:35 How much Meteor Swarm would change the Arthurian Tales.
19:05 How rare magic will turn everything into significant encounters: healing, journeys, rests, etc.
22:52 A rare Rock and Roll DM story about short rests and long rests.
24:55 DM Chris explains the idea of the “Fellowship Phase” and “Shadow Points” in LOTR, like Call of Cthulhu Sanity points in Middle-Earth.
32:05 What’s the economy of Middle-Earth?
37:50 How to build characters that will hook into the setting of Middle-Earth.
40:30 Final Thoughts.
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We’re getting geared up for some new campaigns to begin. Both our Dragonlance and Journey to Ragnarok campaigns are coming near their finale, so we’ve begun thinking about what’s next up. Just in time, DM Chris sent out his Player’s Guides for the upcoming Lord of the Rings campaign that he’s going to be running in the new year.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss what makes a good Player’s Guide, what to include, what to leave out, and how they can help to start your campaign off on the right foot before your players ever get to the table.
2:53 What’s different in this campaign from other campaigns?
3:23 Session Negative One; giving your players time before Session Zero to reflect on choices.
8:30 The types of choices in different settings that the players might want to reflect on. Including the one-sheet Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign guide.
11:45 Some campaign settings, like Lord of the Rings, require a lot of information prior to starting the campaign. These Player Guides can also be helpful as fodder for character backstories.
13:55 Depending on how experienced your group is will provide how much additional information you send along. Don’t send a 20-page Player Guide to the newbie player, the PHB is MORE than enough.
15:50 Building excitement about the new campaign.
18:30 Assembling the Player’s Guide can serve as a focusing mechanism for you as you build out the campaign.
23:50 Setting the flavor, tone, and rules of the road before players ever come to the table.
25:05 The excitement for the campaign is not just for the players, it’s for the DM as well. Injecting something new keeps your game table fresh.
30:20 Final Thoughts.
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Play through an adventure and you’ll realize how strangely time can move in your D&D campaign. Longtime friend of the show, Dr. DM (Jason) returns with a question about his ocean-based campaign that we discussed in Episode 148. His question revolves around how quickly leveling can affect the passage of time in the adventure.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss the strange way time can move in your campaign and how to best handle that. Is your game a non-stop march towards the inevitability of the BBEG or is it more a classic-type of campaign with a bunch of adventures linked together? As DM Tony wisely states, “The passage of time is not nearly as important as the passage of good sessions.”
1:25 Dr. DM returns with the ongoing ocean-based campaign that started from our Shipping Up To Boston episode!
4:08 How does time work in your campaign? One crazy summer or lasting over decades of the characters lives? How fast, or slow, are you leveling?
6:45 Using a campaign calendar and how it shows how quickly time can move in D&D.
9:45 Many adventures don’t allow for a lot of “downtime” or times when you’re not actively adventuring.
11:40 Structuring your campaign to allow for time to pass. DM Chris explains the Fellowship phase in the Lord of the Rings 5e campaign he’s preparing.
18:25 Does training and time really matter in your campaign? The Luke Skywalker example.
23:05 Hiring crew, guides, and hirelings for your keep. How much do your players want control in this? DM Chris reviews the hiring of guides in Tomb of Annihilation.
32:12 Using your NPC hirelings and townspeople to hook the characters deeper into the story… the Invasion of Vogler in Dragonlance.
37:09 A slight aside to an addendum of Dr. DMs question: paying dues in game… yes or no?
42:35 Final Thoughts.
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Bad sessions. We’ve all dealt with them and we’ll continue to have them periodically. It’s all part of running TTRPGs. But how to you deal with them when they happen? What do you do to salvage the game at the next session? DM Dave offers a question to his fellow Wise DMs regarding a recent session that he felt he could have run better, smoother, better improv. But he got stuck. Hey, it happens.
In this episode, Tony and Chris help Dave talk it out and, in the process, reveal what we all deal with… sometimes, everything just goes south in the game and it isn’t fun. It’s even tougher to deal with when you’ve handled these kinds of issues successfully before. So what are you going to do about it?
2:20 DM Dave gives a high overview of his Melora’s Light campaign that led to the recent game that went awry.
9:25 Disrupting the DMs plans. How new players are great for this.
11:20 Wait, the players just walked straight to the Big Boss? How to deal with it when they walk right up to the front door.
12:35 The forever debate between sandbox and rails.
18:12 It’s important to be honest about how you’re feeling about the game and what is fun for you and your group.
21:05 “Back in the Day” with DM Tony.
24:25 The unlikely team-up with the arch-nemesis.
27:05 Always remember to prep enough for you to feel comfortable improving through anything.
28:22 DM Chris reviews his recent issue with releasing an overpowered weapon and how to properly retcon it. Also, Baghtru.
35:05 There’s always the next session.
42:25 Final Thoughts.
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Running the adventure outside of the game session? Yes, that’s right. Starting back in DM Dave’s Curse of Strahd campaign, we began to develop characters and backstories with narrative side quests via text, email, and online documents (like Google Docs). In our Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign, we have utilized them from the very beginning for each character individually, as well as the whole party, to further flesh out the characters, world, and story.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss their strategies for running narrative side quests outside the game as well as completely text-based campaigns.
Episode 358 of Dragon Talk.
DM Tony’s article on running narrative side quests outside the game.
3:08 What do we mean when we’re talking about a narrative side quest?
4:55 Our most recent use of narrative side quests in our Dragonlance campaign.
7:25 There must be an active give and take for narrative side quests and campaigns to work.
13:00 DM Chris’ Days of Future Past text-based Marvel Super Heroes campaign.
14:35 Narrative side quests for individual characters are a time to build out backstory and character, not for leveling and gaining experience.
16:48 DM Chris literally “Squirrels”!
20:12 Narrative, or “Descriptive”, side quests. What is your threat level? Will the character die while away?
22:40 How narrative side quests can help spur roleplay moments in-game.
23:55 How to build out actual side quests with monsters, loot, and experience for individual characters.
25:26 How far away are your characters and how long will they be gone? How many players are you currently juggling with side quests?
32:20 Narrative side quests allow players who miss a session to not feel like they missed out.
34:35 Excellent method for important plot drops… when they find it, they’ll want to shout it from the rooftops.
39:32 Final Thoughts.
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Pirates. It doesn’t take long for a D&D group to want to play as pirates, swashbucklers, privateers, and sailors. In our modern day, we can blame Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. But how do you approach running a seafaring adventure? Is it just a fancy travel mechanic? Is it just a vehicle to get from town to town? Or is it the basis of the whole campaign?
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down to answer a question from a longtime friend of the show, Dr. DM himself, Jason, on how to run a great, epic, and memorable ocean-themed campaign outside of just being evil pirates who rob everything.
4:00 How is this different from every other setting? Taking care of the business of a sailing vessel.
6:30 DM Dave reviews how he has been approaching this in his Melora’s Light all-girl campaign. Including the idea of generating backstories and campaign settings through Call to Adventure.
9:10 Playing with resources: water, food, rests, etc.
11:55 Lean into the danger of setting sail in a wooden ship.
14:05 Using sourcebooks, like Ghosts of Saltmarsh, to stimulate your imagination.
16:25 The unique ability to travel to vastly different adventure locales when in a ship.
18:45 Focus in on the theme of the campaign that makes it different.
20:30 What happens when the ship is commandeered or stolen?
22:40 An ocean-themed campaign can be any type of campaign – High Fantasy, Pirates, Political, etc.
23:40 DM Tony using the airship in Storm King’s Thunder.
25:25 What are the character’s goals in this ocean-themed campaign? Will that change over the whole campaign?
35:30 We discuss how we made hex crawl travel interesting with our homebrewed Journey Cards.
39:15 Final Thoughts.
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Movies like The Godfather, The Lord of the Rings, Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Gladiator, Goodfellas… the list is inexhaustible. Movies that are “must-see” movies, classics that are nearly required viewing. Many published adventures, like Curse of Strahd, Storm King’s Thunder, Dragonlance, The Keep on the Borderlands, Against the Cult of the Reptile God, Tomb of Annihilation… they’re classic adventures that you want to experience, just like a classic movie.
So what do you do if your players want to experience one of these “classic movies” and you’ve been running all homebrewed worlds? In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down to answer a listener question about what their top tips are for approaching running a published adventure for the first time.
3:45 Tip #1: Know the general plot of the adventure – the “elevator pitch.”
4:50 Tip #2: Think of the adventure more like a sourcebook, rather than the gospel.
8:10 Tip #3: How to manage a giant adventure? One session at a time.
10:40 Tip #4: Focus on the plots in the adventure that will be fun for your players.
13:00 Tip #5: Lean on your fellow internet DMs… every published adventure has tons of hacks.
15:00 Tip #6: Approach these longform adventures as multiple adventures in your overarching campaign.
22:30 Tip #7: Make sure your initial hook is solid. Often, the published adventure hooks are “ehhh.”
26:06 PSA: Stop listening to “Tough Guy” DMs who use Railroad as an insult. Do what makes you and your table have fun.
36:40 Final Thoughts.
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The 3 Wise DMs are all approaching campaign finales: DM Tony’s Journey to Ragnarok, DM Chris’ “Wednesday-Nighters” campaign in our homebrewed world of The Further, and DM Dave’s Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign.
Just like the start of a campaign, the end only comes along once. So what should you focus on when your campaign is coming to a climax? What questions should you ask yourself? What do you have to make sure you do? How do you create something that will be talked about for years to come?
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down to continue our discussions from the last two episodes about tying elements of the game together to share their pro tips about designing and executing a great finale that will be the capstone for the game that has gone on for weeks, months, or years!
1:10 3WD is Big in Algeria!
3:40 What do you mean by the end of a “campaign”?
6:40 What has been the Theme of the campaign?
8:05 Lessons learned for your games, good and bad, from the ending of Loki.
12:00 Does a campaign or campaign ending need to be “epic”?
13:45 How our Curse of Strahd campaign really had 2 separate finales.
16:40 Does every character’s story need to be tied up by the end? Does the campaign actually end?
28:25 The story ends when the story ends, whether it’s 10 sessions or 100.
33:10 The pros and cons of running a “Resolutions” session after the finale.
43:00 Final Thoughts.
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Immersion in your D&D game. It’s one of the most sought after and asked about topics in the whole DMing Multiverse. The real trick always lies in how well you can tie together all the seemingly disparate pieces of your group – characters, backstories, motivations, and adventures – into one cohesive, epic story.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave answer a listener question about how to best tie their characters into their newest campaign, Tomb of Annihilation, following the finale of their Curse of Strahd campaign. Along the way, we brainstorm how to tie these two adventures together into one large epic story.
4:02 We delve into what we thought the question really was… how do you tie Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation together?
7:15 What to do with Curse of Strahd’s Megaliths?
8:00 Published material, like Curse of Strahd, is great fodder for ideas of how and where to tie characters into the story.
9:10 The heavy lift of some published material, like Tomb of Annihilation, in hooking the characters into the story.
11:05 Detailed backstories vs the blank slate as well as DM Tony’s idea of “Reactive” backstories.
15:20 Tying in the characters, backstories, motivations, and adventures in the same way as you plan your sessions… one session at a time.
24:40 Providing the characters with stakes that really matter.
26:15 Weak hooks with adventures that were meant to be from tournament modules and how we’ve tied characters in.
29:25 Remembering the perspective of the characters, not the audience.
32:00 Creating a one-sheet Campaign Guide (like Mike Shea’s) to help players tie the characters in at creation.
38:35 Final Thoughts.
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2:05 A listener question regarding how to run episodic adventures that serves as a jumping off point for Matt Colville’s recent video asking the question, “How long should an adventure be?”
3:40 DM Tony’s lead-off question… what is your table hungry for?
5:25 The classic Monster of the Week theme and DM Chris’ love of The X-Files.
7:25 Episodic Adventures can easily become a railroad.
8:25 How epic, longform stories are the current zeitgeist and how that affects the adventures we create.
10:15 Whether a longform campaign or a one-shot, every adventure needs to be self-contained with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
20:05 The issue of players remembering ALL the lore and information gleaned over longform adventures.
22:45 The adventure should be as long as it needs to be to feel complete.
27:40 The level of prep needed between short and longform adventures.
30:50 Creating episodic adventures even in longform adventures, like DM Tony’s Storm Kings Thunder and Journey to Ragnarok campaigns.
40:30 Final Thoughts.
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On July 3rd of 2024, D&D 5e will turn 10! While it has taken some hits in those ten years, no one can deny the positive effect it has had on our TTRPG hobby, bringing in an entire generation of new players.
With this anniversary, we started to reflect on what we have loved, what we’ve hated, what we would change, and what we look to for the future. And, as opposed to most of the posts we see on social media (like the DM who stated that a 1st level character could kill a Tarrasque?!?), this is coming from players and DMs who have been playing weekly, not just pontificating from their armchair.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave see where the rubber hit the road in 5e as they discuss how it has affected some of their campaigns over the last 10 years: Storm King’s Thunder, Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation, Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, and their homebrewed world of The Further!
2:55 Bardic Inspiration as a Reaction from the One D&D Playtest.
9:00 Counterspell… a DMs Bane!
14:00 The UA Tunnel Fighter build… one man holding off the armies of Mordor!
18:40 Leomund’s Tiny Hut… 5e’s “Save” Function.
23:45 Looking to the future: Making Rests Better.
29:50 We need to have some real talk about Find Familiar…
36:45 Looking to the Past for the Future: 3rd Editions Change to Magic Items.
40:55 3WD Homebrew: Stacking Inspiration.
43:45 Looking to the Future: Feats!
45:00 Final Thoughts.
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As we learned from the AD&D release, Deities & Demigods, “If you stat it, players will kill it.” So, what do you do if you want to place an unbeatable Kaiju-type monster, like Godzilla, into your game world? Something way more fearsome than a Tarrasque. A complete force of nature that shapes the entire world and every adventure in it. Something that you can’t just “punch really hard.”
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave respond to a listener’s question, “have you ever put a monster in your campaign that cannot be defeated?” and enter into a real time brainstorming session as we discuss how we’ve used it as DMs as well as played with it as players in our own games.
1:45 DM Jim’s Brainstorm Topic
2:25 Are these the seeds of where the endgame of your campaign is or are you just hazing your players?
3:50 Think less about defeating the unbeatable monster and more about foiling their plans.
5:55 The Scroll of Tarrasque Summoning from Rime of the Frostmaiden and our tangent into the idea of WOTC playtesting adventures before they release them.
8:10 “If you stat it, players will kill it.”
8:55 Our return to the Woodstock Wanderers campaign and the unkillable, flying spaghetti monster that was Ghatanothoa.
12:15 Be careful dropping this type of monster into your game if your players singular idea is “Frontal Assault!”
17:45 The idea that this type of creature is not “good” or “evil” but just a force of nature. How do you fill this story and adventure out without it becoming monotonous?
22:05 The trick of revealing the BBEG and their nefarious schemes early in the campaign… how do you do this with Godzilla who doesn’t really have plans?
29:00 The adventure is in realizing that this “oncoming storm” is coming and what are the heroes going to do about it.
34:45 “Can you write a campaign for Superman?” Dealing with problems that you can’t just punch in the nose.
37:30 Final Thoughts.
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We’ve done several episodes and articles about how to best onboard new DMs and GMs to the hobby, including episode 113: Just Do It, with DM Lenny, about running his first game ever. But what about all the Grognards and OG DMs that were playing it out of the White Boxes assembled by Gary Gygax in his own home?
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down with our good friend, Scott Washburn of Paper Terrain, to discuss his recent return to the DM chair with his homebrewed campaign “World of the Five Gods.” True to form, Scott kitbashed together the original White Box D&D with some flair from 5e.
For all the DMs who have thought that “Retirement Sucks,” whether its been 40 days or 40 years, this is the episode for you.
2:15 Our very Special Guest DM, the Scott “Wizard” Washburn, from our Terrain, Maps, and Minis episode, who recently returned to the DM chair after a FORTY YEAR HIATUS, and a brief review of the recent game.
9:10 What would Scott have done differently, or what would he have prepped more (or less) having finally ran a game again?
14:25 Don’t get lost in the worldbuilding and the introduction of the massive breadth of your setting, get the players rolling dice as soon as possible.
16:40 Make the adventure objective clear.
17:10 How Scott made adventuring in dungeons a significant driver of the economy and commerce (including taxes!)
19:45 Scott shares his thought process in how he approached running his first game back, as well as leaning into some of his skill sets from an unlikely source, and some of the changes he would make.
27:15 Some of the things we enjoyed about the system, including the return to OD&D, 1e, and the OSR – including removing initiative as we know it!
32:30 Final Thoughts.
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What do you do when your player is unhappy with the direction of their class and wants to change over into a new class mid-campaign, but with the same character?
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave answer a listener question about their player that wants to change their character’s class from Paladin to Sorcerer at 5th level. We delve into not just the narrative components of a change like this, but also the mechanical effects that such a change would inevitably bring. Along the way, we offer tips, tricks, and questions you should ask yourself if you’re planning on something like this in your own games.
3:45 First questions: will this completely break immersion and is this an offer you’re ready to make for all the players?
4:30 DM Chris fondly remembers Clyde from Every Which Way But Loose and discusses the “Buyer’s Remorse” of character choices and how to work with it.
7:00 The benefit of starting at lower levels and the character building that comes with it. How a 5th level character might feel a little more “pregen”, as DM Tony refers to it.
8:45 The benefits of One-shots, Session Zeroes, and Playtests to understand better the choices you’re making. What if Aragorn never leaves Bree?
12:30 DM Tony’s workaround for swapping power sets in 4th edition.
13:14 Learning the rules of the class as you level… the kid who hates the elite sports car they just got.
16:30 How we have and would narratively approach changes like this in our own games.
18:00 How do you handle the mechanical changes that would come with such a change?
28:50 DM Tony recounts how DM Thorin had narratively and mechanically done this very thing in a 4th edition game… the return of Cassidus, the wizard made of a pile of undead bugs!
30:35 “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to”.… the time needed to evolve the character and how to balance realism and fantasy.
34:05 Final Thoughts
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The tavern. It’s the start of 23 different campaigns that DM Tony has been in over the last three decades. It’s a fantasy adventure trope and gets a lot of hate out there for being basic and unimaginative, but is that necessarily a bad thing?
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave return to our RPG Mythbusters series and test the myth, “Is a tavern the best place to start an adventure?” Will it be confirmed, plausible, or busted?
0:49 The return of RPG Mythbusters, all the way back to Episodes 39 and 42.
1:56 Everyone knows what a tavern is as opposed to, let’s say, a Paladin’s Chapel.
3:50 Taverns are a historically accurate meeting place; the true “town square.”
6:45 DM Dave returns to the Lord of the Rings novel and reminds us that Gandalf drops lore in Bilbo’s house for 25 pages. Taverns can be much more organic to reveal the plot.
9:50 The tavern affords an easy, stress-free environment to introduce the players and their characters to the story and the world – which can be especially helpful with new players.
14:15 Session Zero could be a “tavern” by providing an intro to introduce the adventure.
15:40 The type of game can change whether a tavern is a good or a bad idea; in can be a phenomenal time sink.
17:20 Our tangent into 7-11 and Denny’s being modern-day taverns when we were teenagers.
18:10 Implied consent: the unsaid agreement between DM and players that you’re ready to go on an adventure for the session.
24:55 What type of adventure/campaign are you running? That should guide how and where you’re starting.
33:08 Lore Tolerance: how Taverns and “In Media Res” starts allow you to control the flow of lore dumps.
36:45 DM Chris’ idea that combat is the best way to bring characters together: A Band of Brothers. And how DM Dave leaned into this for our Dragonlance campaign.
43:15 Final Thoughts: Myth Confirmed, Plausible, or Busted?
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With our recent Forged in Fire article series, DM Chris realized how many Conditions that monsters have resistance and immunity to, especially in 5e. With that, we began to discuss how much (or little) we play with Conditions in our home games, and how that might be limiting what we can do to craft engaging, thrilling, and challenging encounters.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave delve into the Conditions mechanic (both in and out of 5e), the issues we have with some of them, what ones we find to be somewhat limp, and the ones we would love to use
more. We also delve into what we have found is a Condition we often times inflict on ourselves as DMs: Expectations.
3:00 DM Tony returns to his problem with Stun mechanics… all the way back from Episode #4!
4:00 Making your game challenging without having them turn into “Gotcha” moments for your players.
6:20 Developing encounters with certain Conditions in mind. DM Dave’s Lair of Dragansalor from DM Chris’ 12 person Birthday game.
7:45 Seeing Advantage and Disadvantage as a Condition.
8:35 The power of Conditions through multiple systems and editions.
11:10 Using Conditions to control combat… more interesting than bags of hit points.
13:15 How Conditions, like Stun, have the players control the combat. Should you change it?
21:40 Skills, Saves, and the Rule of Cool article link.
22:45 Expectations: Conditions we place on ourselves as DMs.
32:45 Heroes of the Realm (including our Star Wars analogy): Be excited when the players mop the floor with the bad guys, regardless of the Conditions.
42:05 Resource management, Short, and Long Rests as Conditions.
46:15 Final Thoughts
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One of the beauties of TTRPGs is the ability to not just watch or read an amazing story, but to experience it… to create it. The mystery, the action, the climactic battle between good and evil; D&D gives us the ability to create our favorite stories.
One of the most important aspects of that, as the DM, is creating a level of mystery to the story that the players get the chance to uncover as they delve deeper into the adventure.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss a listener question about the mystery that they’re planning on having last for 10 levels and ask, “am I being cruel by leaving them in mystery so long?”
4:05 3 ways it can go: 1) your plot twist becomes campaign defining, 2) players will rage quit, or 3) it falls flat.
4:55 Your campaign is not a novel.
7:30 New players might not even understand what they’re choosing when they’re still trying to understand the game mechanics.
9:40 If you have something to get through to the players: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.
11:00 The difficulties of conveying the story in a spoken medium.
12:30 DM Tony discusses his difficulties in conveying lore-heavy campaigns.
14:08 What will the player’s choose? How this can affect the overarching campaign if its too set in stone.
16:25 New players might not be as new as you think with the advent of live-play games. But, then again, they might not remember what all the different dice are either.
19:05 DM Chris’ analogy of trying to teach something to someone and the lessons we can learn for in-game use. Listen for when the players begin to “parrot back” your plot drops.
23:50 The difference between YOUR reveal and THEIR reveal… tie the reveal to the characters. Matt Colville’s “A Tale of Two Campaigns” video.
28:40 For a campaign-defining mystery like “Mystara is dying,” there are infinite ways to create a breadcrumb trail for the players to pick up on.
35:55 Final Thoughts
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Homebrewing has been part of the game since its inception. Hell, the game itself is a homebrew of wargames! We’ve discussed homebrewing in previous episodes and articles, but a listener asks the question about how to homebrew magic items and monsters from well-known pop culture sources (like Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere Universe.)
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss their top nine tips to pulling in objects and ideas from existing beloved pop culture properties and making them have the same level of gravitas as the book, series, or movie that they come from.
1:00 A Rock and Roll DM Tour Story.
2:05 A listener question about homebrewing monsters and items from The Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson from longtime listener Dr. DM, Jason.
4:30 Tip #1: Scaling homebrew to the tier that your campaign is in, for leveling systems like 5e.
5:30 Tip #2: Kitbashing from existing items, spells, monsters, etc. (like a Balor that turns into a demonic Bob Ross…)
8:10 Tip #3: Ask yourself 2 questions. 1) What is the world you’re pulling from? and, 2) How does the object, magic, or idea work in that world?
9:45 Tip #4: Benchmarking the magic, items, spells, etc. to what your players have and what the enemies have access to.
12:45 Our experience with this when we crafted He-Man’s Sword of Power for our Curse of Strahd campaign. Click here for the stats on DM Dave’s unique weapon for Strahd, Lament, the Impaler.
16:35 Tip #5: You can have it… you just can’t have it now.
21:45 Tip #6: Powerful objects don’t exist in a vacuum. The wars fought over Shardblades and the Spice Melange.
24:40 A tangent into how DM Tony’s famous barbarian, Hawk Morgan, has become “The Most Powerful Man in the Universe.”
26:20 Tip #7: Take into account how the object affects the campaign world (i.e. the Sun Sword in Barovia).
28:05 An example of Tip #5… the quest that needed to happen to craft Takal Aestar, the “Dragon’s Union” (our Sword of Power.)
30:50 Tip #8: Scaling up existing magic items and having them grow with the character (DM Chris’ Sun Sword/Holy Avenger, Drakmar Venges, the “Dragon’s Vengeance.”)
36:45 DM Dave’s Unique Paladin Longsword, Morthwyl O Duw.
40:00 Tip #9: Give powerful items and weapons some history, legends, and gravitas.
41:10 Final Thoughts
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