Show notes This week, Fiona and guest cohost Nathan from the RPG Reanimators Podcast discuss ' Improv For Gamers 2nd Edition ' by Karen Twelves, published by Evil Hat Productions. From the ' Improv For Gamers 2nd Edition ' blurb: 'Based on hundreds of hours of professional workshops, Improv for Gamers provides fun and easy exercises designed to take your tabletop or live-action gaming group to the next level. Play one or two before your next session to get players warmed up and engaged, or take ...
Jul 02, 2025•56 min•Season 7Ep. 8
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton head back into Unearthed Arcana and check out the recently released ' Horror Subclasses ' which explores horror themed subclasses using the rules from the 2024 Player’s Handbook. This playtest document presents revised subclasses for the Bard (College of Spirits), Cleric (Grave Domain), Rogue (Phantom), Sorcerer (Shadow Sorcery), and Warlock (Hexblade Patron and Undead Patron) as well as new subclasses for the Artificer (Reanimator) and Ranger (Hollow War...
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr 44 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Show notes Welcome to The GM's Book Club, from the hosts of The DM's Book club! A new(ish) monthly(ish) show where hosts Fiona and Hamilton take a roleplaying game, read it cover to cover, and rate, review and discuss what they think about it. In this episode, Fiona and Hamilton discuss ' Mothership ® , the award-winning sci-fi horror RPG where you and your crew try to survive in the most inhospitable environment in the universe: outer space! Grab your copy on the Tuesday Knight Games website! C...
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 1 min
Show Notes This week, Fiona and guest co host Benjamin Gray , from Roleplay Retcon , take a gander at ' Silverplate Campaign Setting ': A tasty 5E campaign setting that includes edible and tasty player options, and adventures! Chapter discussed: 'Chapter 2: The Land of Silverplate' Book discussed: ' Silverplate Campaign Setting ' published by DRS Publishing (August 2023) Consider using our affiliate link when using DM's Guild! #SupportyourFLGS Credits The DM's Book Club is hosted, recorded, edit...
Jun 11, 2025•48 min
Show Notes This week, Fiona and guest co host Benjamin Gray , from Roleplay Retcon , take a gander at ' Silverplate Campaign Setting ': A tasty 5E campaign setting that includes edible and tasty player options, and adventures! Chapter discussed: 'Chapter 1: Character Options' Book discussed: ' Silverplate Campaign Setting ' published by DRS Publishing (August 2023) Consider using our affiliate link when using DM's Guild! #SupportyourFLGS Credits The DM's Book Club is hosted, recorded, edited, an...
Jun 04, 2025•43 min
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton finish their deep dive into ' Thay Land Of The Red Wizards ', a regional sourcebook about the land of Thay, a mysterious and terribly powerful magocratic nation in east Faerûn, that was long-governed by the Zulkirs of the Red Wizards and ruled by the necromancer lich Szass Tam. From the ' Thay Land Of The Red Wizards ' bio: 'Known to the wider Forgotten Realms® as a sinister land of Red Wizards, slavers, and marching undead armies, Thay is the distant—or ...
May 28, 2025•1 hr 56 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton continue their deep dive into ' Thay Land Of The Red Wizards ', a regional sourcebook about the land of Thay, a mysterious and terribly powerful magocratic nation in east Faerûn, that was long-governed by the Zulkirs of the Red Wizards and ruled by the necromancer lich Szass Tam. From the ' Thay Land Of The Red Wizards ' bio: 'Known to the wider Forgotten Realms® as a sinister land of Red Wizards, slavers, and marching undead armies, Thay is the distant—o...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton continue their deep dive into ' Thay Land Of The Red Wizards ', a regional sourcebook about the land of Thay, a mysterious and terribly powerful magocratic nation in east Faerûn, that was long-governed by the Zulkirs of the Red Wizards and ruled by the necromancer lich Szass Tam. From the ' Thay Land Of The Red Wizards ' bio: 'Known to the wider Forgotten Realms® as a sinister land of Red Wizards, slavers, and marching undead armies, Thay is the distant—o...
May 14, 2025•48 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton start their deep dive into ' Thay Land Of The Red Wizards ', a regional sourcebook about the land of Thay, a mysterious and terribly powerful magocratic nation in east Faerûn, that was long-governed by the Zulkirs of the Red Wizards and ruled by the necromancer lich Szass Tam. From the ' Thay Land Of The Red Wizards ' bio: 'Known to the wider Forgotten Realms® as a sinister land of Red Wizards, slavers, and marching undead armies, Thay is the distant—or u...
May 07, 2025•56 min•Season 7Ep. 3
Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton look at one of Hamilton's favourite prompt tools for creating character backstories: ' Better Backstories '. Better Backstories is a card-based brainstorming system for authors, role-players, educators, songwriters, and more! Created by Jay Stilipec, Better Backstories is genre-neutral and system independent, so it works it can provide inspiration for any setting or any role-playing game. Find out more on the Better Backstories website! Check out Dragon's...
Apr 30, 2025•43 min
Show notes Welcome to The GM's Book Club, from the hosts of The DM's Book club! A new(ish) monthly(ish) show where hosts Fiona and Hamilton take a roleplaying game, read it cover to cover, and rate, review and discuss what they think about it. In this episode, Fiona and Hamilton discuss ' Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP) ': a role-playing game set in the Warhammer Fantasy setting, originally published by Games Workshop (with the current/4th edition published by Cubicle 7) Prepare yourself for t...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton go through one of the most recent Unearthed Arcana playtest document, ' Forgetten Realms Subclasses ', featuring eight new Dungeons & Dragons subclasses that will appear in the upcoming Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. From the ' Forgetten Realms Subclasses ' bio: ' In this new Unearthed Arcana document, we explore material designed for upcoming books, using rules from the 2024 Player’s Handbook. This playtest presents revised subclasses for the Cleri...
Apr 16, 2025•2 hr 9 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Show notes To start of our latest season, co hosts Fiona and Hamilton check out ' Hold Back the Dead ': a promotional adventure for 5th-edition Dungeons & Dragons released on February 5, 2025, as a free digital-only product on D&D Beyond (as of this episode's release - it is no longer available to download) From ' Hold Back The Dead ' bio: ' Ironspine Keep is all that stands before a monstrous horde sent by the villainous lich Szass Tam. The heroes must defend a section of the fortress w...
Apr 09, 2025•44 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Show notes This week, Fiona and guest co-host Shaghik delve into the dungeon-crawling, story-forward TTRPG Heart: The City Beneath ! From the award-winning designers which brought you Spire , Heart is a roleplaying game about delving into a nightmare undercity that will give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of – or kill you in the process. It focuses on what characters have to lose in pursuit of their dreams in the chaotic darkness beneath the world. Sharing a setting with Spire , Heart expand...
Apr 02, 2025•1 hr 14 min
Content Warning: Fascism, War, Nazis, Blood, Ultraviolent and Vampires. Show notes Welcome to The GM's Book Club, from the hosts of The DM's Book club! A new(ish) monthly(ish) show where hosts Fiona and Hamilton take a roleplaying game, read it cover to cover, and rate, review and discuss what they think about it. In this first episode, Fiona and Hamilton discuss ' Eat the Reich ': a tabletop roleplaying game in which you, a vampire commando, are coffin-dropped into occupied Paris and must cut a...
Mar 26, 2025•1 hr 8 min
Show notes Note: Yes Hamilton's mic gain was indeed set too high and could not be fixed in post. Apologies for the audio quality in advance. This week, Fiona and Hamilton check out a land full of fairytale creatures great and small with ' Monstrous Compendium Vol. 4: Eldraine Creatures ', based on the Magic the Gathering set: ' Wilds of Eldraine '. From the ' Monstrous Compendium Vol. 4: Eldraine Creatures ' bio: 'Enter the Storybook World of Eldraine! Add 25 new and unique creatures inspired by...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Season 6Ep. 26
Show notes Note: This episode was recorded prior to the updated Unearthed Arcana 2025: Eberron Update release. This week, Fiona and Hamilton head back to Unearthed Arcana to look at one of the latest playtest document: The Artificer , which presents a revised Artificer article to go with the 2024 Rulebooks. From The Artificer Unearthed Arcana bio: ' This playtest document presents a revised Artificer, along with 4 revised subclasses: Alchemist, Armorer, Artillerist, and Battle Smith. It also pre...
Mar 12, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 6Ep. 25
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton read through ' Scions of Elemental Evil ', one of the free adventures made available as part of a yearlong celebration of Dungeons & Dragons and its 50th anniversary. Spoilers: They didn't like it. From the ' Scions of Elemental Evil ' bio: 'Beneath the Temple of Elemental Evil lies a labyrinth of tombs and ritual chambers. For years, these dungeons have lain in ruin. Now forsaken souls return, raising an army of evil to destroy the world. Scions of E...
Mar 05, 2025•57 min•Season 6Ep. 24
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton wrap up warm and head out to explore Ten-Towns, a loose confederation of frontier villages found in Icewind Dale in the western Frozenfar, as described in ' Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden '. The communities of the Ten Towns attracted those people of Faerûn determined to find a life for themselves, and those desperate to leave their former lives behind. Chapter discussed: 'Chapter 1: Ten-Towns' Book discussed: ' Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 6Ep. 23
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton continue their actual book club of The Legend of Drizzt series of fantasy novels by R.A Salvatore . Starting in chronological order, our hosts continue with ' Sojourn ', the third book in The Dark Elf Trilogy , a prequel to The Icewind Dale Trilogy . Published in 1991, ' Sojourn ' follows Drizzt as he travels to the surface to escape the Underdark and his past. There he met with much adversity because of his race, but also found his true calling in life a...
Feb 19, 2025•58 min•Season 6Ep. 22
Show notes This week, Fiona is joined by guest cohost Michelle Kelly to talk about her love of ' Blades in the Dark ': a tabletop role-playing game about a crew of daring scoundrels seeking their fortunes on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city. Written by John Harper and published by Evil Hat Productions, ' Blades in the Dark ' tells tales of heists, chases, occult mysteries, dangerous bargains, bloody skirmishes, and, above all, riches to be had—if your crew is bold enough to seiz...
Feb 12, 2025•58 min
Show notes This week, Fiona is joined by guest cohost Benjamin Gray from Roleplay Recon to talk about how the Perception Check, the go to information gathering move in D&D and other TTRPGs, isn't all it's cracked up to be! They discuss their thoughts on ways such sight based checks could be improved, thanks to 3 articles which focus on making both D&D more accessible and manageable, and how to portray blind and partially sighted characters sensitively. Articles discussed: '“ You Don’t No...
Feb 05, 2025•50 min
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton take a moment to reflect on the 2024 WotC releases tied to the 50th anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons, as well as look ahead to what is in store for upcoming D&D release schedule. Consider using our affiliate link when using DM's Guild! #SupportyourFLGS Credits The DM's Book Club is hosted, recorded, edited, and produced by Fiona Howat and Hamilton . The DM’s Book Club Logo was designed by Sam Robins ( @Bobhatstand ). The theme music is ' The Story ...
Jan 29, 2025•47 min•Season 6Ep. 21
Show notes This week, following on from their read through of ' Lost Laboratory of Kwalish ', Fiona and Hamilton check out ' Infernal Machine Rebuild ', a D&D 5e supplement which was published as part of Extra Life Fundraiser 2019. Extra Life unites thousands of gamers around the world to play games in support of their local Children's Miracle Network Hospital. Since its inception in 2008, Extra Life has raised more than $30 million for sick and injured kids. From the ' Infernal Machine Rebu...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 6Ep. 20
Show notes This week, Fiona and guest cohost Michael , creator of ' The Thief ' podcast, check out ' Grits & Glory ', a free rules compendium for realistic, low fantasy, historical, survival, hardboiled 5E roleplaying! From the Grits & Glory bio: 'Realistic, historic and low fantasy are among the most difficult to fit in the D&D ruleset. When heroes grow in power and become legends, they are no longer bound to the laws of reality. They no longer fear injury or death. This supplement ...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr
Show notes This week, Fiona and guest co-host Shaghik explore how artisan tools have changed in the 2024 Player's Handbook and compare such changes to some of the homebrew creations over developed by Dump Stat . We pick out top 3 new/updated tools and consider their usage in our games. Shaghik's Dump Stat picks Glassblowing Tools Cartographer's Tools Forgery Kit Fiona's Dump Stat picks Corpse Stitcher's Kit Gemologist's Supplies Fishing Tackle Check out Dump Stat's 'Tool Craft' - your guide for ...
Jan 08, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 6Ep. 19
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton continue their actual book club of The Legend of Drizzt series of fantasy novels by R.A Salvatore . Starting in chronological order, our hosts set off with ' Exile ', the second book in The Dark Elf Trilogy , a prequel to The Icewind Dale Trilogy . Published in 1990, ' Exile ' follows Drizzt Do'Urden to the wilds of the Underdark. For the ten years following his abandoning his house, he is left with no one but his faithful Guenhwyvar, a magical Panther. F...
Jan 01, 2025•58 min•Season 6Ep. 18
Show notes As a festive treat, please enjoy for your listening pleasure: Theatre Macabre Presents: The 3 Nightmares of the Cthulu Stole Christmas! A PodcastZone Live Show ran by Hamilton for Dragonmeet 2023! GM: Hamilton Cast: Dan and Tay from Backwater Bastards and Will and Chloe from Rendezvous With Destiny ! Content warnings for Horror themes (12A rated) A group of beings from the hellish realm of MÖRK BORG , seek escape and salvation from their tortured existence. Following the ritual laid d...
Dec 25, 2024•1 hr 29 min
Show notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton head back to the Barrier Peaks to check out the sights in ' Lost Laboratory of Kwalish ', a D&D 5e supplement which was published as part of Extra Life Fundraiser 2018. Extra Life unites thousands of gamers around the world to play games in support of their local Children's Miracle Network Hospital. Since its inception in 2008, Extra Life has raised more than $30 million for sick and injured kids. From the ' Lost Laboratory of Kwalish ' bio: 'Laborato...
Dec 18, 2024•58 min•Season 6Ep. 17
Show notes Whilst Fiona and Hamilton recover from Dragonmeet shenanigans (and are currently away from their mics), we are sharing WAIR's most recent bonus episode on the feed (which Fiona recorded live at Dragonmeet 2024). WAIR Show Notes To tide us over til our next one-shot, here's a bonus episode where our host and GM Fiona chats to Brian Nisbet about his work as the organiser of Dragonmeet's charity auction and how such charity events enhance a convention's reputation as a whole! Recorded li...
Dec 11, 2024•29 min
