DMs After Dark

On this week's Modified Rolls, the DMs After Dark finally talk about what is, essentially, our mission statement as a gaming group putting things on the interwebz - Why you should PLAY. MORE. GAMES.  And by that we mean play different RPG systems.  Every new game you play offers an opportunity to experience a new kind of story, to learn other methods of storytelling, understand different resolutio...

Good day and salutations, my fine fellow members of Good Society, and welcome to the visitation episode before the grand finale.  In this episode, the DMs pay visits (make calls in the parlance of the era) to one another and scheme, sleaze, and schmooze their way deeper into drama as the Harvest Festival ramps up to a climactic finish.   Unfortunately, it will be a month before we finish the story...

Welcome to a new mini-show idea from the mind of our own DM Sara, a short little podcast where [[1d6]] members of the DMs After Dark crew talk about a chosen topic for [[1d4]] minutes each.  These episodes will be brief little informal discussions mostly just us chatting about random things in our experiences as fledgling streamers, podcasters, and long-time gamers.  Hopefully, if we're any good a...

Sirs, Madams, and all other gentlefolk, we are please to have you joining us for another episode of the Jane Austen RPG Good Society.  We here at the DMs After Dark are loving the system, the story that is coming together under the expert guidance of our Storyteller Sara, and hope that you'll enjoy listening as the people of our small English village come together to celebrate the harvest.  Romanc...

In this episode of Modified Rolls, the DMs discuss what makes a good player in an RPG group despite none of us really being qualified if you've listened to any of our Twitch streams. But, as we are all DMs, we do know what we like in players at our tables, so we attempt to offer up some advice to people looking to get into roleplaying games, newer or inexperienced players, or even veterans who may...

Good day, sirs and madams, and welcome to the first session of Good Society, the Jane Austen RPG that Sara's been gushing about since, well, since she first encountered it. We are super excited to dive into the world of Regency-Era England and play through this undoubtedly romantic, dramatic, and (the DMs After Dark guarantee) raucous series of all things proper. In this episode we go through the...

Our second Modified Rolls episode of 2022 leading up to (yes, really this time) our Good Society series to start off the year with class and juicy drama is all about Romance!  No matter what game you're playing, what genre you enjoy, or what you're into, most games will brush up against some PC / NPC or even PC / PC romantic tension.  How do you do this at the table without making it awkward? How...

Hello and sorry for the delay on the podcast, we hired out some freelancers to edit the episode and they sent the following excuse via handwritten message on a discarded fast food burger wrapper: "Peeplz, we ragert to anform u dat 3 raccoonz in tranchcote be late in getting posted today on pudcast for u laufs. Is due to peeplz beeing bzy and totlly not becaz we is 3 racoonz in Tranchcote. We iz a...

For our first stream of 2022, we decided to hop on and just chat about the first few months of DMs After Dark as a group, turning our hobby into a stream, and, technically, celebrating our one-year anniversary of gaming together in one way or another.   We briefly discuss our goals for 2022, as well as talk about our favorite moments thus far, games we're looking forward to running soon, and ways...

In the first Modified Rolls episode of 2022, we talk about gender as it's represented in RPGs!  This is NOT a deep dive into the mistakes that have been made over the decades, but rather a discussion about strides that have been made in RPG game design lately and our opinions on why we like playing genders not our own. When you make characters, do you prefer playing the gender you identify as, ano...

Happy Holidays and to a happy new year! Jess's first time running a game for the DMs is our 2021 holiday one-shot and our last stream of the year.  The game is 'Twas - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas and our player DMs assume the roles of toys tasked with saving Christmas from something threatening to take over Santa's operation!  Will the toys be able to stop this powerful figure?  Will the...

Hello and happy holidays to all of you out in podcast land!  The DMs are back with a short one this week discussing how to approach running games when your players are a bit younger than your average group.  We discuss session length, different dice systems, learning moments, reinforcing good behavior, and, as always, give recommendations for good RPGs aimed at younger players.   Have you ever pla...

Avatar Aang and friends have come together to end the Hundred Year War and stop Fire Lord Ozai's campaign to impose Fire Nation rule on the Four Nations.  With the Air Nomads effectively wiped out, Avatar Aang and crew decide to build a new place in the world where all are welcome to cooperate and work toward a future where everyone comes together for a greater cause.  They choose the coastal vill...

Just in time for that wonderful time of year where you're worrying about what to get who and what you're going to do with the gifts you'll undoubtedly never use, we've got some recommendations for games that may be what you're looking to play in 2022! Christian, Rene, and Sara gush over their favorite games within multiple genres, available and upcoming, to get you hyped up for some new tabletop r...

Air. Water. Earth. Fire. Avatar Aang and friends have come together to end the Hundred Year War and stop Fire Lord Ozai's campaign to impose Fire Nation rule on the Four Nations.  With the Air Nomads effectively wiped out, Avatar Aang and crew decide to build a new place in the world where all are welcome to cooperate and work toward a future where everyone comes together for a greater cause.  The...

In this episode of Modified Rolls, the DMs discuss their ideas and approaches to running games in popular fictional worlds with established lore.  From Disney, Pokemon, Avatar, and Conan to middle age book series and, technically, even Dungeons & Dragons itself, the DMs break down ways to make sure your games don't feel like second rate stories in beloved worlds.   Have you ever played or run a ga...

Air. Water. Earth. Fire. Avatar Aang and friends have come together to end the Hundred Year War and stop Fire Lord Ozai's campaign to impose Fire Nation rule on the Four Nations.  With the Air Nomads effectively wiped out, Avatar Aang and crew decide to build a new place in the world where all are welcome to cooperate and work toward a future where everyone comes together for a greater cause.  The...

The last in our October spooky horror & (not-so-horrific) Halloween one-shot series here at DMs After Dark sees the DMs playing Renegade Game Studios' Kids on Bikes , a nostalgic tabletop RPG where the players assume the roles of kids, teens, and adults in small towns experiencing strange happenings.  Reminiscent of 80s movies like The Goonies, the 90s' Hocus Pocus, and, more recently, series like...

The DMs (& Deb!) discuss their experience playing Bluebeard's Bride and cope with the incredible tone and terror set upon them by Amber!  I don't think any of the players slept much after this episode, and it's a testament to how well written and designed this game is.  Hopefully you enjoy our suffering and can take something away for your own game of Bluebeard's!  Stay disloyal, DMs.   Please con...

Continuing our horror-themed October one-shot series, DM Amber runs the group through the feminine horror game Bluebeard's Bride by Whitney “Strix” Beltrán, Marissa Kelly, and Sarah Richardson published by Magpie Games .  The group (and our first special guest appearance from friend of the show Deb) play the various aspects of one person - Bluebeard's Bride, a simple woman newly wed to the mysteri...

In this episode of Modified Rolls, the DMs discuss how to make those tricky mysteries that pop up in games work!  We talk about how mysteries can be implemented into whatever genre you like to run, how to avoid leading your characters on a set of rails, flexing your improv muscles, and, as always, share our favorite games for running mystery series.  Sara even pitches an amazing idea for a new gam...

In this quick little bonus episode, Christian gives us a behind-the-screen look at how he approached his scenario for our Mothership one-shot.  He discusses his take on the system, his inspirations, and hopefully gives advice you can use if you want to run Mothership in the future! Find out more about Mothership and their upcoming Kickstarter here . As always, follow us and catch our live streams...

The first in our October spooky horror & Halloween themed one-shots, Christian runs us through a scenario of Tuesday Knight Games' space horror survival RPG Mothership.  Follow the crew as they investigate an unresponsive research vessel out in the reaches of space and visit a solar system orbiting a red giant that may have once held life...  Find out more about Mothership and their upcoming Kicks...

A quick (and, admittedly overdue) chat about our experience with our first ever DMs After Dark series with Shadows of Esteren! The DMs talk about what they liked about the system, how the game captures the setting and themes of the world of Esteren, and look forward to more in the future. Shadows of Esteren  is a Celtic horror RPG published by  Studio Agate , learn more and try it for yourself, le...

In this episode of Modified Rolls, the DMs discuss how to approach running horror games at the table.  We talk about how using language is key in the horror genre, how to strike fear into the hearts of your players, and the mechanics that make horror games work so well.  Amber, Christian, and for the first time, Troy all weigh in with their experience, while Jess, Sara, and Rene frantically take n...