We finally get to the really good stuff, the Dungeon Master sections of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything : how to use Group Patrons, Tasha's magic items and artifacts, and a delightful section of supernatural manifest zones. Then, DM Matt and Rob force themselves to discuss the puzzle section at the end of the book and how to create better puzzles that won't make your players hate you.
DM Rob and Matt continue deep diving into the new player options for Dungeons and Dragons presented in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything . Monks, Sorcerers, Rangers, Rogues, Paladins, Wizards, Warlocks, feats, and spells! Links: ThinkDM - "Blade Cantrip Changes" Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Mott the Hoople & David Bowie - All the Young Dudes.
DM Matt and Rob are back and diving deep into each tasty bit of the newest Dungeons and Dragons supplement: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Thurston Harris and the Sharps - Little Bitty Pretty One; David Bowie - Oh! You Pretty Things.
DM Rob is England and DM Matt's school is fighting a COVID outbreak, so here is our first ever replay of one of our favorite episodes, "82 - Anyone Can DM." There is a lot we can all learn from the basics and some good Dungeon Master thinking here. We hope to bring you more of these types of episodes in the near future. See you next week! Episode 82 - Anyone Can DM DMs Matt and Rob discuss the basics of what a Dungeon Master is and what a Dungeon Master does. Today, we review the DM advice prese...
Special OSR Correspondent Andy explains the joy of hexcrawls in Dungeons & Dragons! Learn how to build a sandbox exploration game, one hex at a time. Links: Hex TML Hexographer US GIS Maps Swordfish Islands, a system neutral hexcrawl Arcana of the Ancients X1 The Isle of Dread Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps....
It's the return of the classic Dungeons Master of None reading series as we go back, back to the future, to 1984 and read one of the most bizarre articles ever published in Dragon Magazine. Then, your hosts head to into the 9th Layer of #DnD TikTok Hell. Here are the accompanying equations and tables you will need to master to play D&D: Links: https://thealexandrian.net/ https://slyflourish.com/index.html https://thinkdm.org/ https://writingexcuses.com/ http://oneshotpodcast.com/ http://ones...
DM Matt and Special Legal Correspondent Brent discuss Dragonlance authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's lawsuit against Wizards of the Coast. Links: Margaret Weis, LLC and Tracy Hickman v. Wizards of The Coast LLC Brent's Twitter Story first reported by Cecilia D'Anastasio of Wired Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Belle and Sebastian - Legal Man....
Dungeon Master advice served hot and fresh, plus our rule of three wish list. Questions : Do I need to make my party roll some healers? Can I design my own monster for the Shadowfell? Why do the geeks love fascism so much? Is offline one-to-one communication with players a good thing? Is my worldbuilding idea too much for my players to handle? Will you review Against the Giants? What is your advice for getting back into D&D? Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Nickel Creek - In the House of Tom ...
Rob reviews the newest edition of Shadowrun, Sixth World , a book that was definitely not rushed out unfinished by a bunch of amoral grifters!
It's 2 Frost, 2 Maidens as DMs Rob and Matt return to Icewind Dale for the second part of the newest Dungeons and Dragons adventure module.
Matt and Rob talk about the new WotC release, Rime of the Frostmaiden , and get a little carried away. This one's a doozie folks!
It's Dungeons and Dragons....IN SPAAAACE! Finally, DMs Matt and Rob take a look at their favorite but flawed campaign setting: Spelljammer ! Links: Spelljammer Books Wildspace Commercial Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Bob Marley & The Wailers - Jamming; David Bowie - Space Oddity.
Oh, you like Dungeons and Dragons? Then, name five dragons. We'll wait. DMs Rob and Matt are here to prove the uselessness of lore knowledge by beating the nerds at their own game...the most dangerous game...the game of trivia. But first, a discussion of what to except from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and the coming of Magic: The Gathering to Toril. And last, should I adapt my favorite novel into a D&D game? Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; The Meters - Hand Clapping Song; Funkadelic - Can...
Writer and designer Mikayla Ebel joins Matt and Rob to talk about the upcoming WotC release, Icewind Dale: Rime of Frostmaiden , and how they ended up writing for the big leagues. Goats, labor relations, anxiety -- folks, this interview has it all. Follow Mikayla on Twitter or visit their website !
Another week of piping hot Dungeon Master advice, served with a smile! Plus, join us for a discussion of Kate Welch's departure from WotC and some amazing analysis of fascism and 40k from Special Warhammer Correspondent CthulhuBen ! What is the best old UA subclass? How should I build a campaign around a city in the Feywild? What is the deal fascism in Warhammer 40k? How to create some great homebrew subclasses for the monk and sorcerer? How does a DM deal with role-playing multiple NPCs in one ...
Rob is back with a functioning microphone, and the DMs are talking about WotC surveys, APPS, and of course, encounter design. If you're mad that Matt said "WILLIAM Dafoe", don't worry, so am I. https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/dd-survey-2020 Inclusive TTRPG List Music: Pac Div -- Roll the Dice Nightwish - Wishmaster Imagine Dragons - Warriors...
Is T1 - The Village of Hommlet by Gary Gygax the best adventure for novice players and new Dungeon Masters? Should you run it or adapt it for your group? Is it even any good? DM Matt and Special OSR Correspondent Andy do a deep dive into this classic of grognardia. Your hosts go into the history of Hommlet, the reasons why you might want to play T1, and how to learn DM skills by converting and putting your own spin on this old school adventure. The Village of Hommlet by Gary Gygax on the DMsGuil...
In a special bonus episode, DM Matt reviews two new big, stompy robot RPG systems: Mechwarrior: Destiny and Lancer . Matt explains why the Battletech Universe kicks ass (01:50), how Mechwarrior: Destiny fails to harmonize its narrative and simulationist mechanics (22:20), and why you should play the Lancer RPG (36:00). Spoilers: there is a free version of the Lancer rules and it does what Mechwarrior fails to do, combine rules-light play and fun tactical combat mechanics. Links : Lancer RPG Mech...
How many hobgoblins are too many? How can you mix up antagonists so your players aren't bored? What is the best system for a Last Airbender game? How can you get your foot in the door if your group is all experienced Dungeon Masters? DMs Matt and Rob do their best to answer these and other questions! Plus, they discuss a refutation of the erasure of people of color in medieval Europe from a fan, new RPGs on the horizon, the joy of one of your players taking over as Dungeon Master, a pro-D&D ...
It's our favorite Dungeons and Dragons world-builder himself, Keith Baker! Keith is here to talk about his awesome new book, Exploring Eberron , out now! We discuss Keith's "Rule of Three" for world-building details, how to include fairy tales in your lore, how to fight a war with magic, what 5th edition gets right, why you should start small and build out, how to plan history with random tables, when to follow your players, and more Eberron advice from the Hellcow himself! Links: Exploring Eber...
DMs Matt and Rob are joined by special guest Olivia Hill to discuss her new tabletop RPG, iHunt: Killing Monsters in the Gig Economy . Stay tuned for a discussion of RPG design, FATE mechanics, writing games for working and marginalized people, and some great game master insights from our guest! Can you guess who the real monster is? (Hint: It begins with "capitalist..." and ends with "...mode of production.") Links: iHunt the Tabletop RPG: Killing Monsters in the Gig Economy by Olivia Hill and ...
DMs Matt and Rob discuss the character options in the most recent Dungeons and Dragons Unearthed Arcana on Feats ! Links: Unearthed Arcana - Feats Matt's Half-Feat Rules Music Pac Div - Roll the Dice Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow...
Welcome to the World of Tomorrow! DMs Matt and Rob take you on a tour of both host and listener created one-page Role-Playing games. Thank you to everyone who submitted a game! Then, it's on to some Dungeon Master advice: how to deal with a party that has a magical solution to every problem, how to set prices for magical stuff in 5e, and how should we think about Tolkien's racism and colonialism? One-Page RPGs : Guns & Butter by Rob Suplexes & Sliders by Matt Pomp & Circumstance by S...
DMs Matt and Rob attempt to take stock of the failures of the corporations that control Dungeons and Dragons (Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, and OneBookShelf) over the past decade and discuss recent goings on in both D&D and Magic: The Gathering. Then, we answer your letters on dealing with overpowered homebrew classes and speeding up combat with large parties! Links of stuff discussed: Orion D. Black's Itch Page Eat the Rich Anthology Asians Represent Podcast Oliver Clegg's DMG Page Olivia H...
DMs Matt and Rob journey to the mystic realm of Avatar: The Last Airbender for inspiration for world building and characters. Time to get bent!
DMs Matt and Rob discuss successes and limitations of Wizards of the Coast's recent statement . Then, we discuss One Page Role-Playing Games ! Perfect for breaking you out of a quarantine Dungeon Mastering rut. Share your One Page RPG with us here: dmofnone@gmail.com Links: BIG GAY ORCS Lasers and Feelings Everyone is John Honey Heist All Outta Bubblegum Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Fight Like Apes - I'm Beginning to Think You Prefer Beverly Hills 90210 to Me David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the...
Matt & Rob answer more letters! We've got fire! We've got edition wars! We've got cool initiative stuff! Plus your regular tangents on vaguely related topics. Also make sure to check out the Black AF Roundtable ! Fate Worlds Volume One: Worlds on Fire Perilous Wilds Music: Pac Div -- Roll the Dice Billy Bragg -- The World Turned Upside Down Anna Mae - Can't Knock Me Down...
Howdy Dungeon Masters, in this bonus episode, DM Matt walks listeners through some homebrew magic item (0:02:45), spell (0:25:30), and monster (0:44:00) creation before reflecting on revising the Advanced Artificer (0:57:00) and reviewing a listener undead supplement (1:11:00) and adventure anthology (1:18:00). It's a MEGA-EPISODE. Let us know if you like it! Links: BlackAF Round Table Throne of the Crescent Moon Items, Spells, and Monsters The Advanced Artificer 2.0 : Revised and Upgraded Restl...
Dungeons and Dragons is back with another Magic: The Gathering crossover campaign setting: Mythic Odysseys of Theros . Dungeon Masters Matt and Rob review the ideas that we love and critique the executions of those ideas that falls woeful short. Strap on your winged sandals, burnish your shield to a mirror shine, and grab your friendly Bubo, because it's time to get Greek with D&D! Links: Mystic Odysseys of Theros Odyssey of the Dragonlords Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Hedwig & the Ang...
This week DMs Matt and Rob read Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. Dungeon Master of None highly recommends this excellent novel! Come for a discussion of action and adventure in a world modeled on D&D ideas, and stay for the great characters, items, and world-building to steal for your own campaigns. Links: Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed "Judgement of Swords and Souls" by Saladin Ahmed Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Dick Dale - Misirlou...
