RPG veterans and game designers Teos Abadía and Shawn Merwin look at the game and the hobby of D&D from a variety of viewpoints: reporting the news, understanding the business, reviewing the products, and illuminating the design. Whether you’re a fan, a player, a DM, or a designer, Shawn and Teos cover topics of interest to you!
Episodes
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Episode 153 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: Shadow of the Weird Wizard with Rob Schwalb!
Rob Schwalb talks about his fantastic Kickstarter for Weird Wizard, his days at Wizards and insights into 5E’s creation, and what makes for a fantastic RPG.
News: Tal’Dorei Reborn is the first 3rd party product on D&D Beyond, WotC Playtest Experiments, New D&D Beyond Survey, and more!
Contents
00:00 Mr. Funny
01:39 Weird Design?
07:15 Design for Streams?
10:23 Short Design?
13:12 Prescription vs Teaching?
23:14 Tal’Dorei on Beyond
28:06 Crawford on Playtest Experiments
38:24 Beyond Survey
40:45 Eldritch 100
41:23 Seize the Means
43:39 Weird Wizard!
45:06 Glorious Rob
48:50 Exorcising Demons
50:06 5E’s Compromises
54:27 Preparation
1:00:01 Session Length
1:03:24 Why Weird Wizard
1:08:25 Project Rewards
1:14:51 Weird Setting
1:19:34 Find Rob and Weird Wizard
1:21:10 Kim Mohan’s Impact
1:24:26 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Episode 152 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 8 – Running the Game!
Seven chapters later, the DM finally is told how to run the game! Was the wait worth it? Shawn and Teos review which parts hit the mark and which fall short.
News: Hasbro’s Rough Q2, Gen Con Breaks Records, Crawford on Settings, 2024 More Like 2014, and more!
Contents
00:00 Gooooooool
02:02 Lite DnD?
07:25 Level vs Custom?
12:08 Redo Lost Mines?
16:16 Free Art?
19:23 Downtime Minigame?
23:47 Hasbro Q2 Report
35:23 WotC Updates AI Policy
37:10 Gen Con Attendance Record
38:41 Baldman at PAX
39:55 BG3 Play Data
41:33 2024 Playtest Survey Results
46:11 Crawford on Settings
53:02 Shadow of the Weird Wizard
53:43 Aberration board game
55:49 DMG Running the Game
57:23 Table Rules
1:02:23 Prescriptions vs Teaching
1:04:11 Table Talk
1:06:41 Die Rolling
1:11:28 Metagaming
1:14:33 Missing Players
1:15:50 Role of the Dice
1:19:03 Ability Scores
1:31:09 DC and Proficiency
1:37:01 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
Episode 151 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 6 – Treasure!
Shawn and Teos ponder treasure. How much to give out, and how often? What is the role of treasure and its implications? From attunement to sentient items, we dig into the 2014 5E DMG and what we might want to see in 2024.
News: A giant problem for D&D, Free League rocks ENnies, Cthulhu Saved, and more!
Contents
00:00 Gen Con Glow
04:19 Subclass Variance?
10:45 Higher Level Complexity?
17:06 Valiant Playtesting?
20:56 Know Rules to Break Them?
28:54 Psychological Horror?
30:42 Giant Freebies
32:04 Giant AI Debacle
45:07 Free League Rocks ENnies
48:27 Storytelling Collective
49:45 Where Evil Lives
50:29 Cthulhu Saved
52:18 DMG Ch7 Treasure
55:17 Role and Impact of Treasure
59:09 Across Editions
1:02:21 How Much Treasure?
1:08:11 Swingy Results
1:10:05 Xanthar’s
1:11:06 No Magic?
1:14:52 Attunement
1:22:33 Resilience
1:24:25 Special Features
1:30:40 Artifacts and Sentient Magic
1:35:26 Other Rewards
1:37:05 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Episode 150 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 6 – Downtime!
Shawn and Teos are huge fans of Downtime, introduced in the 2014 5E DMG. However, the material in Chapter 6 has been changed greatly by Xanathar’s and Acquisitions Incorporated. What would Shawn and Teos want from the 2024 DMG?
News: Translated SRD, Sales Figures for D&D, D&D Movie Sequel, Top Crowdfunders, and more!
Contents
00:00 Head Check
02:33 DMG Strategy?
09:55 DM Focus?
17:57 Tech Writing?
20:56 Agents of X?
22:15 Horror Appeal?
32:12 Translated SRD!
35:06 Movie Sequel
38:46 Gen Con D&D Update
41:05 Guild AI Policy
43:22 Top Crowdfunders
47:41 D&D Big Box Store Sales
55:51 DMG Ch6 Downtime
58:21 Downtime’s Introduction
1:01:32 Downtime’s Potential
1:11:39 Story Aspects
1:16:40 DMG Activities
1:30:59 Running Downtime
1:36:04 On the Clock
1:39:24 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Jul 26, 2023
Wednesday Jul 26, 2023
Episode 149 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 5 – Urban and Unusual Environments!
Shawn and Teos revisit the 2014 5E DMG by following Chapter 5. The rest of the chapter covers Urban and Unusual Environments, plus Traps. What would Shawn and Teos add to the 2024 DMG?
News: WotC closes eOne in the UK, Paizo closes office, D&D Gen Con events sort of, and more!
Contents
00:00 Swiftness
02:10 Wrong Hook?
07:55 Replay Characters?
12:40 Low High Level Play?
16:41 Editions Inevitable?
24:55 Dungeon Generator!
26:46 Gen Con Events
33:55 Hasbro Closes UK eOne
37:16 Paizo Closes Redmond Office
39:29 KP Hiring Media Manager
40:28 Shadow of the Weird Wizard
41:30 Jungles of Kuauhtla
42:10 Where Evil Lives
42:41 DMG Ch6 Between Adventures
45:56 5E vs Older Approaches
50:03 Overarching Story
57:36 Adventure Seeds and Foreshadowing
1:03:34 Campaign Tracking
1:13:07 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Jul 19, 2023
Wednesday Jul 19, 2023
Episode 148 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 5 – Urban and Unusual Environments!
Shawn and Teos revisit the 2014 5E DMG by following Chapter 5. The rest of the chapter covers Urban and Unusual Environments, plus Traps. What would Shawn and Teos add to the 2024 DMG?
News: Critical Role heads to London, Free HeroQuest, D&D at SDCC, and more!
Contents
00:00 Italian PHB
02:57 Effective Clues?
10:42 Not Enough Coverage?
17:32 Session Highlight?
19:55 Campaign Planning?
24:51 D&D at SDCC
26:26 Critical Role in London!
28:59 Blog Comeback
31:11 Aquatic Campaigns
31:40 Wandering Monsters
32:37 One-Shot Worldbuilding
33:24 Free HeroQuest
35:22 Gloomhaven RPG
40:42 Urban Environments
47:28 Law and Order
53:42 Underwater
1:00:21 The Sea
1:06:05 The Sky
1:08:46 Traps
1:23:23 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Episode 147 of Mastering Dungeons
This week's main topic: James Introcaso of MCDM joins Shawn to discuss the difference between writing a custom RPG vs creating for 5E!
News: Owlbear Love, ENnies, Gen Con Online, and more!
Contents
00:00 James Introcaso!
01:57 Creating for WotC
06:22 Success Failure Spectrum?
13:29 Character Arcs?
22:26 True Owlbears?
24:41 New Systems?
29:41 Ennies
35:16 Gen Con
37:40 Bear Love in BG3
42:18 Dragonlance Shadow
44:06 Aetherial last call!
44:34 Flee Mortals Comes
48:48 5E Content vs Custom RPGs
51:47 Business Considerations
56:13 Does 5E Fit Bear Romance?
58:04 Audience
1:01:59 Setting and Genre
1:06:28 Conflict Resolution
1:12:11 Character Creation
1:17:07 Story Flow
1:23:41 Game Loop
1:34:10 Pillars
1:38:48 Jim’s Question
1:41:15 Shout-Outs
1:42:49 Find James
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
Episode 146 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: Mike Shea joins Shawn to compare the benefits of Organized Play vs Home Games!
News: D&D Playtest 6, Baldur’s Gate Date, Final ORC License, and more!
Contents
00:00 Swimming
01:07 5E Splinter?
10:24 Adventure Design?
27:45 Playtest Packet 6
30:26 Final Orcs
39:06 Beadle & Grimm’s
44:16 Baldur’s Gate Date
45:39 Savage Worlds
46:39 Aetherial Expanse
47:30 Forge of Foes!
48:30 Home vs Org Play
49:18 Mike’s Experience
51:01 Comparing the Two
59:21 Skill Differences
1:02:55 Variance
1:05:32 Teachers
1:07:21 Fan of Players
1:09:10 Learn from Home
1:14:50 Writing
1:22:39 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
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