Biggus Geekus

Episode 131 Streamed Live Tuesday March 21, 2023 Main Topic: 10 games You can and Should Play if you don’t want no stink’in D&D! Randy’s List: (will populate asap) Joe’s List: Hyperborea Shadowrun Dungeons and Delvers Stars Without Number Mutants and Masterminds Chronicles of Aeres Rifts Earthdawn Scarlet Heroes Castles and Crusades We briefly discuss each one listing its merits and sometimes...

Episode 130 Streamed Live Tuesday March 14, 2023 (National Pi Day!) Main Topic: Monster Mash #9 - using NPCs as Monsters 1) NPCs & their most common types, characteristics & powers throughout the editions. OD&D: Page 15 Book III dungeon encountered Monsters (NPC’s?) all couldto see in the dark BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia: RC p.155 and humanoids by alphabetical order 1e & 2e: alphabetica...

Episode 129 Streamed Live Tuesday, March 7, 2023 Weekly WOTC Crap Wrap-Up : Emasculating the Men ... obviously. Main Topic: Controlling the Narrative in D&D and other Games GM tool/responsibility Is concern for the Narrative just story time? Is there value to giving opportunities for motivation to the PCs and NPCs. Thinking a bit about protagonists and antagonists. Sharing with the players: Na...

Episode 128 Streamed Live Tuesday, February 28, 2023 Weekly WOTC Crap Wrap-Up: Dark Sun is problematic, according to WOTC's Kyle Brinks https://www.wargamer.com/dnd/dark-sun-problematic Main Topic:  MASTER YOUR GAME PREP - Randy has a game prep Masterclass! His evolution through the editions of play from little more than drawing a dungeon to 6 - 8 hrs for one session of play. Randy has been o...

Episode 127 Streamed Live Tuesday, February 21, 2023   The Red Room Redacted:  The Red Room has been booted from DriveThru RPG  following posting their book "Men", in a fit of inconsistent application  of "Standards" ... or some such.   BGE was down due to a tech error AND potential hosting shenanigans.  We  hope we do not have to move hosts AGAIN.  (up the...

Episode 126 Streamed Live Tuesday February 14, 2023 Nerdcognito: https://www.nerdcognito.com/ Weekly WoTC crap round up: State of the Hobby- the DnD movie, playing 5e & MtG, etc. Are most folks still that concerned about the issues? Jenny Di - https://twitter.com/TheBasicExpert1/status/1623383430963810304?t=JBaz148u05SXj8vjG6-twg&s=01 DM’s not wanted https://youtu.be/yFaAHc8Qye4 Monster Ma...

Episode 125 Streamed Live Tuesday February 7, 2023 Be sure to check out Nerdcognito: https://www.nerdcognito.com/ WoTC Trash Again x2 D&D Beyond shut down for a while this past weekend https://youtu.be/_n0zdSCzkB8 WotC’s Kyle Brink says White Men can’t leave the hobby fast enough Diversity and Dragons: https://youtu.be/yVjRJdBXA4M Mr. Max Boivin: https://youtu.be/UtywtAOWRLE Done with WoTC TTR...

Episode 124 Streamed Live Tuesday January 31, 2023 Main Topic: DM Blackwall and Horde Wars D12 System Questions/Comments Related to the Game Where does the game fall on the OSR-Modern-Indie scale? Is it simulationist/gamist/narrativist? High/low Fantasy or grim gritty? P.2 Rule zero without using rule zero is alive in this game it seems? Why the d12? Auto success on a 12, but no auto fail? The clo...

Episode 123 Streamed Live Tuesday January 24, 2023 Tired of OGL stuff yet? Recent news and thoughts: DnD Shorts https://youtu.be/J4kGMsZSdbY T-shirted Historian https://youtu.be/jP2JLWPX_LI Done with WoTC so maybe we should just move Dungeoncraft https://youtu.be/4oV9Fnkyyfc Grim's Project: https://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/2023/01/24/opendnd-public-domain-roleplaying-panza-draft-1-0 Main To...

Much Ado about D&D w/special guest Grim Jim Episode 122 Streamed Live Tuesday January 17, 2022 Shout out to Nerdcognito!   Twitter: @Nerdcognito, https://www.nerdcognito.com/ Merch at Big Geek Emporium! https://biggeekemporium.com/big-geek-merch/ Main Topic: Much Ado About D&D w/Special Guest- Grim Jim Grim details his background from picking up Fighting Fantasy adventure books at the...

Episode 121 Streamed Live Tuesday January 10, 2023 Main Topic: Done with D&D With the OGL 1.1 “leaked”, where does that leave the true fans and indie creators in our hobby?  Where does that leave many traditional publishers who use OGL 1.0 for their works? It seems to us that we must look to new games and new ideas in the hobby and away from Wizards of the Coast whether or not the new “st...

Episode 120 Streamed Live Tuesday, January 3 2023 Main Topic: Learning New Rpgs This new years we plan on on covering more tabletop RPGs that aren’t Dungeons and Dragons How many times do you play a game before you know if it is for you? Do you prefer to watch a ‘how to” video on Youtube or elsewhere? be taught by an experienced play/gm? dive in with friends and see what happens? read it yourself...

Year End Review Episode 119 Streamed Live Thursday, December 29, 2022 Main Topic: Highlights Of The Year Deep Dive into 13thage Lots of Guests: Bruce Lombardo, T-Shirted Historian, Shadow of Shadow And Son, Legacy Gamemaster, Patrick (Potpourri with) Monster Mash episodes began Revisited some topics: Stats/Attributes, High Level, OSR, Alignment, Ending a Campaign The Satanic Panic Contests: 100th...

We discuss at least ten words folks wag their fingers at.  And why they  are good for your game.  In addition, we take a tour of other  "problematic" nerd issues.   master, slave, barbarian, savage, oriental, exotic, race, species,  gypsy, no Links to resources discussed: Articles: https://screenrant.com/dungeons-dragons-lore-changes-removed-dd-5e-why/ http://www.lise...

Episode 117 Streamed Live Tuesday, December 13, 2022 Main Topic: Demons & Devils In Dungeons and Dragons Mythological etymology: Demons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon Devils: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil Demons and Devils have been in Dungeons and Dragons since the beginning and continuing to the current edition.  They have been forces of evil all along until the current edit...

Episode 116 Streamed Live Tuesday, December 6, 2022 Our condolences to Kevin Siembeida https://www.palladiumbooks.com/ Our Recent Gaming: OSE- The Black River Valley Campaign now on hiatus Randyplayed Rifts on Legion of Myth this past Friday Dec 2, 2022 Big Geek Emporium gets a server upgrade, site upgrades coming soon! Main Topic: Monster Mash #6-The Drow Mythological etymology: https://en.wikipe...

House Rules in D&D: Yea or Nay? Episode 115 Streamed Live Tuesday, November 29, 2022 Main Topic: House Rules in D&D and other RPGs What is a House Rule? Definition: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/house-rule Does  removing a rule, class, feature, spell, etc count as a house rule? Is there a difference between a house rule and homemade setting? Is filling in the gaps of the rules sys...

Joe started out solo, but was joined by Bruce Lombardo of Dix Division, Hungar the Starvarian, then Randy joined in.   links: Bruce: https://youtube.com/@YourBuddy75 Hungar: https://youtube.com/channel/UCHmL5dT_lLONt5ZnJ2eA1Nw Scrying Dutchman's Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scryingdutchman/the-modern-adventurers-guide-to-guns-and-gear-a-5e-add-on   If you would like...

Episode 114 Streamed Live Tuesday November 15, 2022 Main Topic: Attributed to Attributes The attributes of a character: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribute_%28role-playing_games%29 Compare and contrast the DnD attributes: STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA Other systems: Target Number systems- DnD 3.X +Savage Worlds: https://www.uptofourplayers.com/ready-to-roll/savage-worlds-rules/ Marvel Superhero...

Episode 113 Streamed Live Tuesday November 8, 2022 Main Topic: Monster Mash: Giants, Ogres, and Trolls, oh my! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_giants_in_mythology_and_folklore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons) Giants have a long history in Dungeons and Dragons, likely due to its creators’ love of mythology. Beings of large size (typically 7 feet or larger) feature in...

Episode 112 Streamed Live Tuesday November 1, 2022 With Surprise guest: TShirted Historian The edition wars can be heated, especially considering the “That’s not DnD” refrain. This just shuts down discussion of one or more “problematic” versions of the game. Most if not all of these “editions” have something good to contribute, even if the game design went in a direction you don’t like (3rd, 4th,...

Episode 111 Streamed Live Tuesday October 25, 2022 Main Topic: The Many Faces of Evil in D&D See Episodes #38: What does evil do? & 80: Evil Campaigns and PCs 1. What is evil: https://www.britannica.com/topic/seven-deadly-sins 2. D&D evil vs Real World evil. Should we stray from the definition of evil in D&D. How evil do you get with Monsters or NPCs? Is there a line short of graph...

Ravenloft - The Spooky D&D Setting Episode 110 Streamed Live Tuesday October 18, 2022 Main Topic: Ravenloft - The Spooky D&D Setting Ravenloft was released October 1983. This is a very popular module that spawned sequels, a setting, and many supplements over the various editions for Dungeons and Dragons. Set in the fictional region called Barovia, the PCs must find a way to defeat the vamp...

Creating Engaging DnD Encounters Episode 109 Streamed Live Tuesday, October 11, 2022 Main Topic: Creating Engaging DnD Encounters 1. Types of Encounters Combat: primarily concerned with fighting Puzzle/Skill Challenge: challenge the PCs’ skills or the players’ wits Social/RP: roleplay and interaction with NPCs 2. Random vs pre-set 3. Making them good 4. The use of professionally created adventure...

Retro review of D&D’s White Plume Mountain Episode 108 Streamed Live Tuesday, October 4, 2022 Main Topic (Part 1): Retro-Review: White Plume Mountain Summary of the module WoTC 3.5e version vs. TSR 1e Favorite and not-so favorite parts What changes or additions might you make? how would you rate it? Main Topic (Part 2): D&D - Pushing Boundaries (Settings and Adventure Modules) Original Set...