Dungeon Master of None

Lot going on here! Matt and Rob chat about the news of the week, talk elf phrenology, discuss the end of our recent campaign arcs, follow-up on a listener e-mail, and give some more unasked-for advice, addressing staying organized, homebrew content, and, of course, how to freedom. RPG Round-up 2:20 How to end a campaign arc and deal with players leaving 10:00 Follow-up letter 29:30 How to Stay Organized? 32:30 DnDWiki Homebrew troubles 39:00 How to create freedom 49:00

Sure, D&D is fun, but have you ever severed an orc street sam's head with a monofilament whip, or confronted the eldritch horrors of the universe with nothing but your service revolver and a flashlight? Matt and Rob talk a little bit about the other systems that they've played and run, what makes them fun, and why you might want to branch out from D&D and 5e, and how to approach a different system and setting. Expand your horizons players, there's a whole world of RPGs out there!

This week's episode takes us into uncharted territory, with a sweeping discussion of TTRPGs, crafting unique worlds, and exploring themes within your games, featuring our first guest, Michelle Nickolaisen, DM and host of Serendipity City. Michelle talks to us about Powered by the Apocalypse and what you can draw from it, how to run a game that's going to be shared online, creating interesting and compelling worlds, and how to approach complicated themes in your games. We lost some audio, but soldiered on, and covered a ton of ground nonetheless. Find Michelle and her many projects @_ChelleShock and her PbtA podcast at https://www.serendipitypod.com/.

Your favorite DM duo finally get down to the business of published modules -- what good are they, how can you use them, when should you use them, and which ones are the best for new and experienced players? Matt and Rob use Paizo's signature AP, Kingmaker, as an instructive example as to what works, what doesn't, and how to make modifications of your own.

Matt and Rob get around to their month-log backlog of listener questions (sorry) and dispense some dubious, but explicitly wanted advice. (3:03) Gordon writes in asking about how to find a D&D group to play with. Matt and Rob have some suggestions, some of which might even be useful! (9:30) Adrian writes in about how to reduce prep time and for advice on being comfortable improvising. We wisely advise Adrian to stop doing so much work. (18:15) Brian asks about dealing with a *Gob Bluth voice* huge mistake with his wide-reaching homebrew world. (30:22) Sid's got a 3-part question (that's cheating Sid) that deals with metagaming, tuning the challenge of encounters, and learning when to let go. (46:00) David wants to know how to make his human and humanoid NPCs more diverse. Matt and Rob try not to be racist!

Matt and Rob set out to do a full episode with lots of moving parts but end up spending the whole time giving dubious advice. Listen to some of our general tips for DMing, hear some new unwanted advice, and hopefully come away enlightened about the process of becoming a good DM. And sorry about all the dick jokes.

Let's homebrew some classes! Wizards has set their sights on two iconic classes: the Mystic (aka the Psion) and the Artificer. These classes are essential for running games in Dark Sun or Eberron. However, the playtest classes for the Mystic and the Artificer are not quite there yet. We dig into why these proposed classes fall short and how we would fix them. Our "crunchiest" episode yet! Links: Rob's Artificer homebrew. Matt's Psimple Psion (Mystic) homebrew.

Matt and Rob put on their dueling gloves and throw down with a couple of games that claim to be historically accurate — but are in fact, nothing of the sort (also, uh, "historically accurate" isn't really a thing, but we'll get to that). Your fearless DMs get to the root of what people are REALLY talking about when they talk about authenticity and historical accuracy, and as you might imagine, it's not what they say it's about. Come for a frank discussion of Kingdom Come: Deliverance and its RPG counterpart, stay for the part where we both get unreasonably worked up about the misuse of history.

In "Couatls Conquer Europe" Matt and Rob discuss the re-launch of the Dragons Conquer America Kickstarter. Your DMs plunge headfirst into the jungle of, uh, problems that arose during the kickstarter's initial failed run. After tackling the basics of "How to Train Your Dragon to Conquer America," the DMs get into successes, challenges, and opportunities of setting a fantasy game during the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs. Come for a summary of the game's glaring historical omissions, stay for Matt and Rob's bewilderment at Burning Games' inability to make meaningful changes in response to some very reasonable suggestions from critics. Matt and Rob then grapple with the complexities of writing an anti-colonial or post-colonial RPG. Bonus! If you are are game designer, this kickstarter is a masterclass in how NOT to respond to criticism. Link to Dia Lacina's article on Vice: https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/a37a34/it-takes-more-than-a-tolerance-mechanic-to-make-an-anti-colonial-rpg

Matt talks about how to handle intra-party disputes by ending your sessions at the right time (00:30) and Rob shares tips on how to run games for a large number of players (05:00). Then, the duo discusses campaign settings. Specifically, why D&D's "default" setting in 5th edition, the Forgotten Realms, a.k.a. Faerun, is so frustrating and boring (14:00). Matt and Rob break down the bad (and good) of Elminster's favorite reality. Then, stick around to hear why the Eberron campaign setting, another official WotC world, is great place to run and play D&D (33:00). Fact: All good campaign settings ask an interesting question about the world and have a strong theme. Fight us! Finally, we close out with some thoughts about what we don't like about Eberron and how to start porting it over to 5th edition. (54:15)