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 Sep 20, 2023
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Episode 157 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: DMG Chapter 9 part 2: Firearms, Plot Points, Initiative and Action Variants!
The 2014 DMG provides many optional rules. Which ones would we use, and what should the 2024 DMG bring forward or change?
News: Latest Playtest Backtracks, Prison Wish Lists, D&D Upcoming Release News, and more!
Contents
00:00 Chainsaw Runner
02:59 What’s Up with Mounts?
11:11 WotC Non-D&D?
15:55 Slog Tactics?
23:14 Daisy Goes Missing
28:57 Perkins Secrets of DMing
30:36 Roll20 Adding Dungeon Scrawl
33:09 DM David Ranks Controversies
37:28 Acq Inc Murders Babies
38:54 Thunder Road at Gamehole
40:43 Festival of Tombs
41:50 Bone Stone and Obsidian
42:57 DMG Chapter 9 part 2
44:08 Firearms, Explosives and Alien Tech
49:58 Plot Points
56:00 Initiative Variants
1:03:56 Action Options
1:14:44 Injuries
1:15:59 Morale
1:18:50 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Episode 156 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: DMG Chapter 9: Dungeon Master’s Workshop!
The 2014 DMG provides many optional rules. Which ones would we use, and what should the 2024 DMG bring forward or change?
News: Latest Playtest Backtracks, Prison Wish Lists, D&D Upcoming Release News, and more!
Contents
00:00 Dark
03:51 Poisoner?
12:52 2024 Adventure?
19:45 UA 7 Released
31:46 Upcoming Releases
35:58 Prison RPG Wishlist
37:43 Aberration Board Game
39:41 Crowdfunding
40:17 Getting Started Writing
40:46 DMG Chapter 9
46:11 Skill and Check Options
59:06 Hero Points
1:03:23 New Ability Scores
1:07:35 Fear and Horror
1:09:33 Healing Options
1:18:30 Rest Variants
1:21:24 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Episode 155 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: DMG Running the Game part 3!
How well does the DMG help us track initiative, improvise damage, run chases, fire siege weapons, and give out XP? Shawn and Teos have some good laughs as they investigate the 2018 DMG.
News: Demiplane 5E Surprise, Phandelver Previews, Hiring and Pay, and more!
Contents
00:00 PAX
03:36 Too Many Products?
09:19 Everything Else?
17:01 Phandelver Previews
18:23 Demiplane 5E Nexus Surprises
21:06 EN World Freelance Pay Survey
25:28 Pelgrane Hiring Project Editor
32:23 Choices, Information, and Meaning
34:38 Weapons of Legend
35:19 The Folk from Harrowthorpe
36:26 DMG Chapter 8 Part 3
37:16 Tracking Initiative
40:29 HP and Conditions
45:56 Crits and Improvising Damage
48:44 AoE and Mobs
54:11 Chases
57:11 Siege Equipment
1:01:20 Disease, Poison, Madness
1:04:24 XP
1:07:40 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Episode 154 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 8 – Running the Game, part 2!
Shawn and Teos continue examining Chapter 8 of the 2014 DMG. From optional ways to handle close die rolls, to social interactions, to exploration, we look at fascinating topics.
News: D&D Movie Really Losing Money? Free Gazetteer, BG3 Reviews, Phandelver Sneak Peeks, and more!
Contents
00:00 Working for the Weekend
02:36 Setting Products?
24:23 Phandelver and Below
26:59 Baldur’s Gate 3 Reviews
28:58 Free Gazetteer
29:52 Movie Losing Money?
33:14 Greenwood’s Vampires
35:52 DMG Ch8 Running the Game
36:21 Advantage and Disad
40:02 Resolutions and Consequences
47:34 Do the Rob
54:52 Exploration
59:04 Social Interaction
1:08:06 Objects
1:13:38 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
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.
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