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 Jun 28, 2023
Wednesday Jun 28, 2023
Episode 145 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 5 – Wilderness and Settlements!
Shawn and Teos revisit the 2014 5E DMG by following Chapter 5. Do they get lost in creating and traversing a wilderness? Do they find the worst settlement table ever?
News: America is Neutral Good, Blood in Baldur’s Gate, Origins Awards, Diana Jones Finalists, and more!
Contents
00:00 Origins
05:13 Slowing the Game?
22:00 Blood in Baldur’s Gate
25:27 Origins Awards
26:35 Diana Jones Finalists
31:48 NG Americans
34:24 Art Costs
39:29 Congrats Kobolds
40:28 Aetherial Expanse
41:29 DMG Wilderness
43:12 Montage vs Hourly
44:58 Hemingway vs. Faulkner
49:22 Key Questions
56:55 Mapping Wilderness
1:00:55 Wilderness Features
1:04:55 Wilderness Survival
1:07:21 Settlements
1:11:33 Buildings
1:13:52 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Jun 21, 2023
Wednesday Jun 21, 2023
Episode 144 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 5 – Adventure Environments!
Shawn and Teos revisit the 2014 5E DMG by following Chapter 5 and rolling up a random dungeon. Is the result satisfying or does it fall apart?
News: Reddit Woes, Renegade Oversteps, Freelancer Pay Survey, Gamehole Events, and more!
Contents
00:00 Whole Enchilada
02:11 Memorable Campaign?
08:42 Swingy d20?
15:43 Dice Design?
20:40 Shine as a Player?
24:35 Favorite RPGs?
25:54 Raiding Mechanics?
27:27 Gamehole Events
29:08 Reddit Woes
24:38 Renegade Oversteps
38:56 Freelancer Pay Surveys
41:38 Aetherial Expanse
42:48 DMG Adventure Environments
44:52 Dungeons
49:07 Let’s Roll
55:55 Inhabitants
58:33 Ecology
1:02:15 Mapping a Dungeon
1:06:55 Left Out
1:12:35 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Jun 14, 2023
Wednesday Jun 14, 2023
Episode 143 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: Celeste Conowitch on Designing Tales of the Valiant!
What does it take to design a new variant of D&D? Hear the valiant tales of Celeste Conowitch, Senior Game Designer at Kobold Press!
News: Upper Deck Sues Ravensburger, 2024 Update, Final Rivals Stream, Creator Spotlight, and more!
Contents
00:00 Shawn Issues
00:55 DM Fiat?
04:59 2024 Concern?
11:10 Go-To Adventure?
14:15 Community Update and Video
18:54 AL Stream
20:34 Upper Deck Lawsuit
22:27 Final Rivals Stream
24:02 Creator Spotlight
24:38 Core20 RPG
25:52 Last Caravan
27:07 Curse of Vecna
28:25 Celeste Conowitch!
35:12 Valiant Kickstarter
37:00 Project Inception
43:38 Playtest Lessons
49:00 Teamwork
51:25 Goals and Targets
55:54 Kickstarter Success
59:01 What Comes Next?
1:05:42 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday Jun 07, 2023
Wednesday Jun 07, 2023
Episode 142 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 3 – Creating Nonplayer Characters!
Shawn and Teos revisit the 2014 5E DMG. From ideals and bonds tables, to hirelings, to villain motives, does this tell a would-be-author how to craft a great NPC?
News: Candela Obscura, Valiant Kickstarter, Sharkadia, D&D Pride Gear, and more!
Contents
00:00 Across the Masterverse
03:42 Other Genres?
10:00 Martial vs Spell?
19:02 DriveThru to Roll20
23:50 D&D Pride Gear
24:19 Sharkadia
25:54 Astral Ethereal
27:35 Valiant Surges
32:20 Girl by Moonlight
33:55 Illrigger
34:25 Candela Obscura
39:44 DMG Chapter 4 NPCs
41:09 NPCs as DM Tools
42:17 History of NPCs
46:52 Characterization
49:28 Designing NPCs
01:08:18 Hirelings and Patrons
01:18:54 Villains
01:27:02 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Episode 141 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 3 – Creating Adventures, part 2!
Shawn and Teos revisit the 2014 5E DMG. From event-based adventures to the encounter building rules, does this tell a would-be-author how to craft a great adventure?
News: D&D Marketing Summit, 2023 Product Reveals, Price Increases, Planescape Hopes, and more!
Contents
00:00 Geeky Guardians
01:42 Limit or Oversight?
11:23 Homebrew vs Published?
17:42 D&D Marketing Summit
23:50 Demographics
27:32 5E is 2E
30:23 Staggering for Printers
32:04 Price Increases
37:35 Bigygnome Presents
39:07 Guide to Dragons
40:36 Phandelver
41:49 Planescape
49:52 Deck of Many Things
50:46 DMG Chapter 3
51:22 Event-Based Adventures
59:09 Mysteries
01:05:00 Intrigue
01:08:05 Complications
01:09:51 Creating Encounters
01:21:23 Random Encounters
01:30:20 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Episode 140 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 3 – Creating Adventures!
Shawn and Teos revisit the 2014 5E DMG. We look at Creating Adventures. Does this tell a would-be-author how to craft a great adventure?
News: UA Survey, D&D Producer Job, Russ Nicholson Remembered, Flummox, Dungeon Secrets, and more!
Contents
00:00 Speaking of Geeks
02:19 Automating Complexity?
07:33 Weapon Persona?
14:26 Weapon Templates?
26:04 UA Survey and Videos
37:47 D&D Producer Job
39:34 Russ Nicholson RIP
40:47 Secrets to Dungeon Fun
41:35 Jeff Stevens Flummox Heist
43:26 Crowdfunding Round-Up
45:18 DMG Chapter 3
46:10 Creating Adventures Intro
51:03 Great Elements
54:53 Published Adventures
56:48 Adventure Structure
58:47 What is a Story?
01:03:54 Location-Based
01:14:58 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday May 17, 2023
Wednesday May 17, 2023
Episode 139 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: The 2014 DMG Chapter 2 – The Multiverse!
Shawn and Teos revisit the 2014 5E DMG. We look at Creating a Multiverse and whether it even belongs in Chapter 2. If it does, what should it look like in the 2024 DMG?
News: Unearthed Barbarians, New Hasbro eOne Streaming Channel, Critical Role Launches New Stream and RPG, and more!
Contents
00:00 Hydration
00:57 Rejoin at Level 1?
06:22 Golf Bag?
17:03 2024 Barbarian
29:56 Community Update
39:04 D&D Streaming Channel
45:17 CR New RPG and Stream
47:57 Crowdfunding Round-Up
48:57 DMG Chapter 2 across Editions
51:09 Creating a Useful Multiverse
01:02:23 Planar Travel
01:04:25 Astral and Ethereal
01:06:56 Feywild and Shadowfell
01:09:30 Inner Planes
01:10:47 Outer Planes
01:12:26 Other Planes
01:13:58 Closing Thoughts
01:16:20 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Wednesday May 10, 2023
Wednesday May 10, 2023
Episode 138 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: Looking Back at the 2014 DMG – Chapter 1!
Shawn and Teos revisit the 2014 5E DMG. How well does it help DMs and what would we change for 2024?
News: Weapon Mastery analysis, Keith Baker closes KB Presents, Diana Jones awards, Crowdfunding Spotlight, and more!
Contents
00:00 Kids Am I Right?
01:52 Valiant Resistance?
06:07 Polymorph Woes?
13:20 Weapon Mastery
46:01 D&D Movie in Digital
46:34 Diana Jones Emerging Designers
47:20 Keith Baker Closes KBP
49:17 Crowdfunding Round-Up
52:29 2014 DMG Chapter 1
55:07 Worldbuilding
57:04 Core Assumptions
58:04 Utility?
01:03:53 World vs Encounter
01:10:36 Session Focus
01:15:15 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Mastering Dungeons
Join our adventure as a supporter on Patreon at patreon.com/MasteringDnD, helping us level up our podcast! Gain access to our show notes with links, help us choose upcoming topics, and share your questions for the show!