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
Thursday Jan 12, 2023
Thursday Jan 12, 2023
Episode 121 of Mastering Dungeons!
News Segment and Listener Questions
00:00 Newly Minted
01:19 Unconscious Design?
17:26 OGL Leaks
21:04 WotC Cancels Video Games
25:16 LEGO Winner
26:20 Winter Fantasy
27:29 Neverwinter Flumph
Main Segment:
5E Revisited - Chapter 10: Spellcasting!
28:41 Chapter 10 Spellcasting
30:57 Defining a Spell
33:29 New Players
36:31 Utility and Resources
41:17 Cantrip Goals
44:05 Spell Slots
47:24 Casting in Armor
49:27 Rituals and Wands
52:30 Casting Details
57:35 Components Outdated?
1:03:18 Concentration
1:06:27 Grid vs ToTM
1:11:00 Saving Throw Woes
1:17:11 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Thursday Jan 05, 2023
Thursday Jan 05, 2023
Episode 120 of Mastering Dungeons!
News Segment and Listener Questions
00:00 Fireworks
01:11 5E GM Improvements?
11:45 Dungeon23?
18:06 OGL Elephant
29:23 Playtest Survey
30:12 AL and Winter Fantasy
32:30 Vote for Us!
33:09 ENWorld Columnist
34:13 Core20 Preview
35:32 GMs Magazine
36:59 NDAs and Social Media
Main Segment:
5E Revisited - Chapter 9: Combat, Part 2!
38:20 Attacks!
42:22 Unseen Attackers
44:50 Ranged and Melee
48:25 Simplicity vs Complexity
50:30 Cover
54:28 Healing and Damage
1:06:57 Resistance and Vulnerability
1:09:11 Healing
1:21:26 Mounts and Underwater
1:26:25 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Thursday Dec 22, 2022
Thursday Dec 22, 2022
Episode 119 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: 5E Revisited - Chapter 9 Combat! We look back at the 2014 5E Player's Handbook. What have we learned, what would we change, and what might the next edition of D&D hold? In our News segment we remember Kim Mohan and review news about the DMs Guild and Roll20 integration in February, a comic of the D&D cartoon, Arcadia in Print, and the Swinginess of the D20! Listeners ask us about Spell Balance.
News Segment and Listener Questions
00:00 Flumph Heroics
01:31 Spell Balance?
12:25 Kim Mohan
16:10 DMs Guild Roll20
17:49 DnD Cartoon Comic
19:32 Arcadia in Print
20:10 Swingy D20
Main Segment:
5E Revisited - Chapter 9: Combat!
26:54 Chapter 9 Combat
27:29 Surprise
32:12 Initiative
35:37 Your Turn
45:30 Movement
47:06 Actions in Combat
52:42 Hide
55:32 Ready
58:43 Search
1:07:17 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Thursday Dec 15, 2022
Thursday Dec 15, 2022
Episode 118 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: We finish our look at the Cleric playtest. We take a look at epic feats and changes to the rule glossary!
In our News segment we look at WotC hiring a Creative Lead, Hasbro fireside chat, Baldur's Gate 3, and more.
News Segment and Listener Questions
00:00 Werewolf Soccer
01:31 Designers Play?
11:33 Spell Schools?
16:28 WotC Creative Lead
22:50 Hasbro Fireside Chat
42:54 Baldur’s Gate 3 Date
45:00 Manual of Gainful Exercise
46:51 Tasselhoff’s Pouches of Everything
48:32 Epic Boons and Feats
54:42 Glossary and Actions
59:14 DCs and Aid
1:03:48 Amor and Attacks
1:06:57 Banishment, Barkskin
1:09:11 Dazed, Difficult Terrain
1:11:14 Grappling, Guidance
1:13:59 Final Glossary Thoughts
1:19:29 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Thursday Dec 08, 2022
Thursday Dec 08, 2022
Episode 117 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: A shiny new playtest packet features a revised cleric class, three species, and a rule glossary!
In our News segment we look at free Dragonlance monsters, new D&D Movie Trailer, Race retired as a term, the end of Acq Inc, and more.
News Segment and Listener Questions
00:00 Snow Time
01:24 Community Split?
12:15 AL Storylines?
22:07 Spell Schools?
22:47 Free DL Monsters
24:26 Movie Update
26:30 Race Retired
28:27 First Survey Recap
37:29 Acq Inc Ends
40:53 Stormwreck AL Adaptation
41:54 Citadel of the Unseen Sun
Main Segment:
Clerics and Species - One D&D Playtest
45:09 Clerics and Turning
47:59 Domain Critique
52:42 Feature Analysis
59:17 Holy Order
1:04:25 Blessed Strikes
1:06:57 Life Domain
1:09:11 Ardling
1:15:45 Dragonborn
1:17:00 Goliath
1:21:23 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Thursday Dec 01, 2022
Thursday Dec 01, 2022
Episode 116 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: 5E Revisited - Chapter 8 Adventuring! We look back at the 2014 5E Player's Handbook. What have we learned, what would we change, and what might the next edition of D&D hold? In our News segment we look at WotC's OGL Response, LEGO and Trivial Pursuit, Mongoose Innovation, and more! Listeners ask us about Compatibility and Settings, the Challenge of Designing for Compatibility, and Adventure-Specific Backgrounds.
News Segment and Listener Questions
00:00 5E Number 17
02:32 Compatible Setting?
08:45 Compatibility Design Challenge?
12:45 Adventure Backgrounds?
17:07 WotC OGL
25:29 LEGO D&D
27:00 Trivial Pursuit
28:33 Radical Mongoose
31:51 Dicebreaker Finalists
33:06 Winter Fantasy
34:22 Esper Genesis
35:06 Free Elven Tower
Main Segment:
5E Revisited - Chapter 8: Adventuring!
35:37 Chapter 8 Adventuring
37:30 What Should Be Here?
47:39 Time
48:55 Overland Travel
1:00:37 Travel Activities
1:05:10 Falling and Suffocating
1:11:40 Vision and Light
1:14:16 Social Interaction
1:16:05 Short + Long Rests
1:20:43 Lifestyle + Downtime
1:26:58 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
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.
Each show typically has three segments:
- Listener Questions
- Industry News
- Main Segment (review, interview, or focused topic)
Each episode is one podcast on your podcast listening app. On YouTube, we provide each episode as two videos, so you can enjoy the Questions/News and Main segment separately if desired.
Find our show notes and support our podcast and YouTube efforts:
https://www.patreon.com/MasteringDnD
Listen to us on your favorite podcast device:
https://MasteringDungeons.podbean.com
Chat with us on Twitter or Mastodon:
https://twitter.com/MasteringDnD
https://dice.camp/@MasteringDnD
Find Shawn:
https://twitter.com/shawnmerwin
https://ghostfiregaming.com/
Find Teos:
https://alphastream.org/
https://youtube.com/@AlphastreamRPG
https://dice.camp/@Alphastream
https://twitter.com/Alphastream
Mastering Dungeons is a weekly podcast, made with care for your enjoyment.
Thursday Nov 24, 2022
Thursday Nov 24, 2022
Episode 115 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: 5E Revisited - Chapter 7 Using Ability Scores! We look back at the 2014 5E Player's Handbook. What have we learned, what would we change, and what might the next edition of D&D hold? In our News segment we look at Dragon+ removal, Hasbro selling eOne, 6E OGL rumors, landing a job with Paizo/WotC, and more! Listeners ask us about crafting rules, useful backgrounds, and playtesting.
News Segment and Listener Questions
00:00 Happy Tofurkey
01:35 Crafting Rules?
09:52 Useful Backgrounds?
14:04 Playtesting?
23:55 Dragon+ Removed
31:51 Hasbro Selling eOne
35:12 6E OGL Rumor
43:21 Landing Paizo/WotC Jobs
48:16 WizKids Movie Minis
Main Segment:
5E Revisited - Chapter 7: Using Ability Scores!
50:31 Ability Scores
54:33 Dump Stats
1:03:13 Advantage/Disadvantage
1:09:26 Proficiency Bonus
1:14:19 Passive Checks
1:18:10 Checks and Saving Throws
1:20:00 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Mastering Dungeons
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