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.

September 10, 2021

Streaming

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 , ...

DM Advice Meta

August 20, 2021

Failure

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 ...

DM Advice Player Advice

August 13, 2021

Puzzles

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...

DM Advice Homebrewing

August 06, 2021

Magic

" 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 ...

DM Advice Homebrewing World Building

July 30, 2021

Pressure

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...

DM Advice World Building

July 16, 2021

Voices

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...

DM Advice Player Advice

July 02, 2021

Random

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...

DM Advice Role Playing Meta

June 25, 2021

Style

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...

DM Advice Meta

June 04, 2021

Planning

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...

DM Advice

May 21, 2021

Environment

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...

DM Advice Meta World Building

May 14, 2021

Tactics

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 ...

DM Advice Player Advice

May 07, 2021

Disaster

This episode I am joined by Heath, a.k.a Dag of Dahgda's Cauldron , and we discuss the surprisingly vast topic of "Disaster". With we start with how, much like conflict , it's an essential part of any adventure whether it's s...

DM Advice Meta

April 30, 2021

Lore

Welcome to the season 2 opener! We are flying out of the gate with a super interesting discussion all about lore with Steven from The Travel Log . This episode will be useful for both DMs and players looking to flesh out thei...

DM Advice Homebrewing World Building

April 09, 2021

Health

CW: In-game, player-character death, injury, harm, sexual identity, allusions to suicide and euthanasia. Player mental health & disorders and physical exhaustion. For this season finale, I'm joined by Cal a.k.a The Baron to t...

DM Advice Rules

April 02, 2021

Fudging

This episode is (unfortunately?) not about the delicious sugary treat, but instead the DM tool of "fudging dice"; changing the outcome of a roll behind the screen. For this discussion, I'm joined by Bart Wynants, a.k.a @crito...

DM Advice