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.
This full house episode I'm joined by the cast of The Fourth Leg podcast: Joe, Hunter, & Kelci. And we talk all about motion, momentum, and movement in your TTRPGs. One way you can keep the game moving as both a GM and player...
This episode I'm joined by Mike from Games Played Badly , to chat about story hooks in your TTRPGs! Ultimately, hooks are the main way to keep players engaged, with the GM acting as a kind of circus master; organised chaos. H...
This episode I'm joined by the GM of the Negative Modifier podcast, Charley, to discuss horror in our TTRGPs. Horror is variable and subjective, and so has unique challenges when attempting to introduce it into your setting. ...
This episode features David Weinberger from the Shonen Flop podcast to talk all about introducing magical items into your Dungeons & Dragons campaign. It becomes apparent quickly that David and I run very different games when...
For this episode I'm joined by Sam Cheung, known online as the Educational DM , who takes us through his years of experience in the educational and pastoral applications of Dungeons & Dragons. We discuss the various ways play...
For this mixed up episode I'm joined by Jeff Greiner, the DM of potentially the longest running actual play podcast, The Tome Show . Jeff & I talk about mashups not only within our favourite TTRPG, but within the hobby at lar...
I am once again joined by Manny a.k.a. Growed Up Geek to talk about adaptation. One great way to kill two birds with one stone is by integrating player character backstories into published adventure modules; not only do you g...
This episode features the "Bard Killer" Seven from the 7th Roll podcast, and we talk all about the concept of death in our Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. We coin the phrase "murderhobo DM"; a DM who is more than comfortable wi...
This episode I'm joined by Mike "The Birdman" Dodd from This Week in Geek to discuss all about how TTRPGs make us feel . Part of the Game Master's job is to elicit emotions from their players, so we discuss a few ways this ca...
This week I am joined by Lucas Zellers, host of the 'Making a Monster' podcast to talk, unsurprisingly, about monsters! This episode is broadly split into two halves, the first focusing on mechanical minutia of running stat b...
Jon from the 'Tale of the Manticore' ( @ManticoreTale ) actual-play podcast joins me to talk about creating stories in Dungeons and Dragons. We open by tackling the academic: the seven story archetypes and how to crack the "c...
This episode I'm joined by Aaron Preuss ( @Primus_Casts ) to discuss growth within Dungeons & Dragons, and there's a lot to unpack here. Most people find their own character designs evolve and mature over time, and Aaron take...
This episode I'm joined by Adam from Snyder's Return to debate the pros and cons of narrative focused TTRPG systems. Such an interesting topic overflowing with meaning, subjectivity, and design intent; this episode covers it ...
CW: A fictional anecdote containing references to NPC children dying and descriptions of gore & bodily harm to children, all within a Dungeons & Dragons context. This episode Robert Hartley , the DM for Viva La Dirt League , ...
I'm joined by one of the hosts of the Double DM podcast , Emil Auerbach, to talk all about failure: how it comes about, how to mitigate it, and most importantly, how to learn from it. Failure is an intrinsic part of Dungeons ...
Puzzles, the marmite of Dungeons & Dragons! I'm joined by Michael Wu, a.k.a. DM Micycle , to discuss the nuances of designing puzzles for TTRPGs. Certain considerations have to made during the design process, as puzzles are a...
" Perpetuating the success of fireball. " Cat McDonald of Peach Garden Games brings her perspective of being an indie TTRPG designer and knowledge of the occult to this talk about magic in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. She ...
For this discussion I'm joined by Matt Perkins, DM/podcaster/YouTuber extraordinaire, to talk all about pressure in your TTRPGs! We split the term down the middle by differentiating narrative (in-game) from "meta" (OoG) press...
This episode I'm joined by Pete, a.k.a. @BadDMPete , to discuss all about voices! If I can start off by apologising for the embarrassing mistake of confusing the Akira Kurosawa epic Seven Samurai with the Tom Cruise bombast o...
This episode I'm joined by Nikki from Beholder to No One , the award winning TTRPG podcast featuring discussions and one-shots. Broadly this episode can be summed up as "how random elements affect gameplay", however as we qui...
This episode I'm joined by Joe Dunn ( @jcd0818 ) to talk about a very stylish topic. Joe has 17 years TTRPG experience across multiple systems including D&D, Pathfinder, and Powered by the Apocalypse, so is exceptionally qual...
This episode is all about "Planning" campaigns, chapters, sessions, calendars, and characters. I'm joined by Jeff Nabors, the DM for the Reroll Expectations actual-play podcast and media director for Chasing XP . We discuss o...
I am joined once more by Karim, a.k.a. FeverDreamStudios , and we talk about the environments we create, play in, and maintain. Again, a surprisingly broad topic with varied interpretations and connotations. We begin with the...
This episode I'm joined by Kyle, a.k.a. @Kibidiko , and we talk all things tactical. Broadly, the episode is split down between tactics for PCs and NPCs. To start, we talk about how PCs can work together, and by using little ...