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 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.
Thursday Nov 17, 2022
Thursday Nov 17, 2022
Episode 114 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: 5E Revisited - Chapter 6 Customization Options! 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 new Inclusion Review, Neverwinter's Drow, Kobold Press Hiring, Hasbro Overproducing, and more! Listeners ask us about Art and Subversion, Concise Adventures, and 6E's Audience.
News Segment and Listener Questions
00:00 Grace and Dignity
01:03 Paranoia Gear?
02:58 Concise Adventures?
10:34 Art and Cooperation?
20:31 6E’s Audience?
26:03 WotC inclusion Review
33:16 Dragonlance on Guild
34:16 Neverwinter Drow
36:24 Monty Python RPG
38:47 Game Master’s Books
41:29 Innsmouth Garden Society
42:28 Kobold Press Hiring
43:06 Hasbro Overproducing?
46:17 Collville on Equipment
Main Segment:
5E Revisited - Chapter 6: Customization Options!
We look back at the 2014 5E's Feats and Multiclassing.
50:11 Is Customization Optional?
53:59 Multiclassing’s Past
56:03 6E Goals?
58:00 5E Multiclassing
1:02:54 Proficiency Bonus
1:04:23 Spellcasting
1:08:22 Feats in 5E
1:12:54 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Thursday Nov 10, 2022
Thursday Nov 10, 2022
Episode 113 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: 5E Revisited - Equipment! 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 the D&D Movie rescheduling, the first FR map, NFL player on the DMs Guild, and more! Listeners ask us about non-D&D RPGs and fulfilling campaigns.
News Segment and Listener Questions
00:00 Thank you
02:00 Other RPGs?
09:00 Alex Kammer on Campaigns
12:23 Movie Rescheduled
13:40 Original FR Map
16:18 Roll20 Looks Back
19:20 Johnny Stanton
22:52 Sandy Pug School
24:21 Eternal Night
Main Segment:
5E Revisited - Chapter 5: Equipment!
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?
27:57 Why Equipment?
38:25 Starting Equipment
43:09 6E Options
47:38 Living Accounting
49:40 Wealth
53:41 Armor and Weapons
01:06:10 Adventuring Gear
01:10:50 Lifestyle
01:12:41 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Thursday Nov 03, 2022
Thursday Nov 03, 2022
Episode 112 of Mastering Dungeons!
This week's main topic: 5E Revisited - Inspiration and Backgrounds! 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 new D&D movie toys, D&D digital bundles, Flumph shirts, Dragonlance sneak peak, and more! Listeners ask us about Inspiration and One D&D's design audience.
News Segment and Listener Questions
00:00 MD Goes Indy!
03:53 Inspiration Problem?
07:18 Design for Players?
14:06 Expert Survey Live
17:25 New Digital Bundles
22:50 Flumph Shirt!
24:22 Dragonlance Preview
25:50 Movie Toys
28:37 Tabletop in Iran
29:47 Dicebreaker Awards
Main Segment:
5E Revisited - Inspiration and Backgrounds!
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?
31:52 Intro
33:09 Inspiration
57:10 Backgrounds
1:10:40 Where to Find Us
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Shawn and Teos’ live Mastering Dungeons seminar from GameHoleCon! News! Questions! Clapping! Smells! This one has it all! Breaking News Links Wes Schneider Reveals Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen […]
Mastering Dungeons
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