DM Advice Episodes

Anything which will help DMs in the macro and micro of managing games. Including organising your notes, the minutia of balancing encounters on the fly, and managing problematic players.
Dec. 22, 2023

Translation

Welcome back! I'm joined by fellow Englishman Austin, a.k.a. AC Whikcom , to discuss how to translate concepts and ideas into your TTRPG settings. Austin takes us through how to take those errant thoughts you have at 3am and ...
Aug. 4, 2023

Immersion

We're back! And this time joined by Anya, a.k.a. La Lionne Cosplay , to discuss immersion in your TTRPGs. Anya shares her experience as a Pro-GM on ways to truly pull your players into the game, no matter the system or medium...
Guest: Anya
June 9, 2023

Ravenloft

John Gent, DM of our D&D one-shot from the RPGaming Faversham event, joins us to discuss everything and anything about his favourite Dungeons & Dragons setting. 03:04 - History of Ravenloft 21:42 - Responsive Bleakness 33:53 ...
Guest: John Gent
May 19, 2023

Experimentation

I'm once again joined by Philippa Mort who previously joined us on the Aesthetic ⁠ episode back in season 2. This time it's to chat about confidence and taking risks when it comes to experimenting with new systems, characters...
Guest: Philippa Mort
May 5, 2023

Factions

It's my pleasure to welcome back to the show Josh, Lewanika, and Glen, the inimitable hosts of my sister podcast Tabletop Journeys . They share their wealth of experience with building engaging and interesting factions, enabl...
April 21, 2023

Burnout

We're back after a short, unscheduled break to discuss burnout with fan of the show and Warhammer sensei, Harry Cowdrey. Having both suffered from DM burnout in the past, as I'm sure most DMs have, we talk through what we can...
Guest: Harry Cowdrey
March 10, 2023

Mystery

*Minor Outer Wilds spoilers in this episode* I'm joined by Michael K. Ross from The RPG Academy to talk how to design enthralling and fair mysteries, puzzles, and enigmas. Action 12 Cinema Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter...
Feb. 24, 2023

Integrity

CW: Slavery I'm joined by Ben, Ewan, and Luke from the Boys from the Baltic Star Traveller stream to discuss some of the many different definitions of integrity in TTRPGs. Nothing is off the table as we share tips on building...
Feb. 10, 2023

Adventure

“I found them all. I won." Finally, I welcome George from our ' Dungeons, Dice, and Dudes ' actual play podcast to discuss how to build adventures, and why it's important to define one. No matter if you're top-down or bottom-...
Guest: George Putnam
Jan. 27, 2023

Worldbuilding

This episode I'm joined by Harlen Ogni, DM of previous guest Aaron's Games and prolific worldbuilder, with a staggering 250,000 words on World Anvil ! Harlen joins me to to chat about our approaches to worldbuilding and what ...
Guest: Harlen Ogni
Dec. 9, 2022

Spells

This mystical episode I'm joined by Jack Weighill of Dice Average RPG to discuss the minutia of the magical. The way WOTC have designed spells is an interesting insight into how they view D&D and how they suggest it should be...
Guest: Jack Weighill
Nov. 25, 2022

Variety

This episode I'm joined by Ty Moore from Adventure Slang productions to talk about variety and diversity in TTRPGs. We discuss how having an open mind and trying different systems affects not only your approach to playing TTR...
Guest: Ty Moore
Oct. 14, 2022

Process

This week I'm joined by friend and table mate Sam Henry to talk about our processes used for playing D&D, and how we use our professional backgrounds to improve our experiences. 05:21 - A Process Oriented Approach 15:46 - Dif...
Guest: Sam Henry
Sept. 30, 2022

Quality

This week I'm joined by Cyle Durkee from Play-Nerd Allies and Foundation for Inclusivity in Gaming , to talk about how to have a quality gaming session. Running a TTRPG is more an art than it is science, and as such involves ...
Guest: Cyle Durkee
Sept. 2, 2022

More Mistakes

Minor ' Lost Mine Of Phandelver ' spoilers in this episode. This week I host Derrick from the How Not To DM podcast (HN2DM), to once again talk about all the glorious mistakes we make! the most value from these kinds of discu...
Aug. 5, 2022

Extinction

Once again I welcome Lucas Zellers, a.k.a @SparkOtter , as we continue our theme from the Monster episode. We discuss a critical topic as Lucas takes us through his new project: Book of Extinction . The book gives game statis...
Guest: Lucas Zellers
June 24, 2022

Canon

This episode features Eli Royall from the We Play RPGs podcast family! We discuss how to establish canon in your setting, and the implications of having a standardised fiction. The second problem is how to communicate this to...
Guest: Eli Royall
May 13, 2022

New

Welcome back! Season 4 opens with a self-indulgent, naval gazing look at the new player experience through the eyes of one my players: Matt Street. Matt joined my homebrew campaign in session 0 way back at the beginning of 20...
April 8, 2022

Community

This episode features Hope of the eponymous HopeForTTRPGs who shares with me how to build and maintain an active and safe community. She goes through some personal pitfalls and anecdotes of that growth, and the unique challen...
Guest: Hope4TTRPGS
April 1, 2022

Dynamics

Once again I'm joined by Ian a.k.a TheFoolishSwarmi , this time to talk about the different kind of dynamics in D&D. Most of the episode is focused on the discussion of how D&D is inherently a human experience, and how realis...
March 25, 2022

Assemble

This episode stars Michael Kesavan, a.k.a. Dead Aussie Gamer, to talk about assembling the best game. Turns out, diversity and versatility are key, both in-universe and out of game. The types of players you have, and the char...
March 18, 2022

Continuity

This episode I host Jarrod Jahoda and Matt Morris of Mid-Level Adventurers to talk all about maintaining continuity in your TTRPGs. We share many tips DMs can use to maintain internal consistency within their campaigns, as to...
March 11, 2022

Storytelling

Minor Spider-Man: No Way Home spoilers in this episode! I'm joined by Sam Bradley from Starter Set Studios to talk all how to tell, or be told, a good story. We dissect a couple of common storytelling tools such as 'show, don...
Guest: Sam Bradley
March 4, 2022

Consequences

This episode I'm joined by Rev from The CritShow , the Powered by the Apocalypse podcast, to talk about the consequences of our actions. We agree that any consequence, positive or negative, must fit the the scale and scope of...
Guest: Rev