Campaign Spotlight

In our very first episode of Season 2, we chat with Perry about running a campaign motivated by spite, building a griot PC class, and becoming a cleric by eating another cleric. Spoiler warnings for the D&D 5e Tomb of Annihilation module - although, honestly, this episode is a great primer for running any campaign set in Chult. This is our first time back in the studio after a big break since...

 In this week's Flashlight, we talk about the experience of making a podcast about the creativity and uniqueness of home TTRPGs! Jake describes the terrible initial plan for this project, Reilly recounts an incident of subpar DMing, and we go wildly off the rails by the end. It's been a real privilege to get to hear about the wild fun games our friends are running. We discuss why we started this s...

In this week's episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Chris about healthcare crowdfunding, LARPing on a remote island, and the virtues of small-scale personal stories. No spoilers this week, although we do discuss quite a few old D&D modules in general terms. Also, it's not clear why Chris and Jake are so dead-set on winning sponsorships from the knife store at the mall. This is the very...

In this week's Flashlight, we explore the game Dallas, based on the TV series from the 1970s and 1980s! Reilly leaves in a hot-mic moment, Jake tries to sound knowledgeable about buying horses, and neither one of us can sustain a Texas accent. Here's the link to SPI Wargame Resources , where you can find the ruleset for Dallas if you really want to try playing it. We also mention a few other old-s...

In this week's episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Jesse about the Mophidius 2d20 system, the information flow between players, and improving the lot of your noble house. Spoiler warning for Dune , because Jesse's using the Dune TTRPG system. Also, spoiler warning for Game of Thrones, we guess. What's going on with all the sirens in the background in this episode? Not entirely sure, but ma...

In this week's Flashlight, we explore a very old ruleset for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, First Edition! Reilly attempts to befriend a sloth, Jake covets Reilly's dice, and we speculate on the role of a sociologist in a Tolkienesque fantasy world. Finding an old copy of the rules can be tricky. OSRIC has compiled a set of first-edition rules (excluding the flavour text, which is subject to copyr...

In this week's episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Kyros about making your own story out of a pre-existing module, adding too many NPCs to the party, and flesh golem weddings. Spoiler alerts for the Curse of Strahd module - although, as we learn, this isn't necessarily a great choice for your next campaign. Talking about this module with Kyros got us morbidly curious about old-school Dunge...

In this week's Flashlight, we explore a rules-light tabletop game called Radical Catgirl Anarchy! Reilly displays a profiency for catgirl name generation, Jake learns about rollerskates, and we ponitificate on the difference between catgirlism and radicalism. Here are the rules for Radical Catgirl Anarchy , here are the rules for the original game Lasers and Feelings , and here's a list of other L...

In this week's episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Jake about making the most of players' busy schedules, dealing with important story beats happening offscreen, and Philadelphia energy. (This is our third guest this season from the Delaware Valley and yet somehow this is the first episode where Wawa comes up.) Very light spoilers for Neon Genesis Evangelion . This conversation got us thin...

In this week's Flashlight, we explore everyone's favourite minis wargame, Warhammer 40k! Reilly deploys a tape measure to manifest a smite, Jake repents for overly sweaty final showdowns in past campaigns, and we begin to wonder if playing a minis wargame on a podcast was a mistake. Here's the link to the publisher's website for the Warhammer 40k system and here's the wiki if you're feeling like a...

In this week's episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Sam about running novel and interesting combat encounters, raising the stakes by putting everyone's favourite NPC in danger, and ethically nonmonogamous orc throuples. Spoiler warning for Sam's campaign - although we recorded this a while ago, and we're pretty sure the players have already encountered that set filled with traps. This inter...

In this week's Flashlight, we explore the Genesys TTRPG system! Reilly expounds a new definition for sports, Jake gets a little heated about private equity, and we seriously damage our chances that Spirit Airlines will ever sponsor the show. Here's the link to the publisher's website for the Genesys system and here's the dice roller we use in the episode . We mention a few flavour packs, including...

In this week's episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Chris about his DM PC, Disney movie monarchies, and the wonders of extremely crunchy combat sessions. Spoiler warning for The Emperor's New Groove , I guess? Although it's not the topic of the episode, this is the first time that Jake and Chris have chatted about the campaign they played together since it wrapped up, so it comes up a few t...

In this week's Flashlight, we explore Dungeon World and chat about Powered by the Apocalypse-based games! Reilly gets some serious firepower, Jake approves of biblical plagues, and we both struggle to recall basic facts about modern American history. Here's the link to the publisher's website for the Dungeon World system, and here are the other Powered by the Apocalypse systems we discuss: Apocaly...

In this week's episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Prim about sharing narrative control with your players, hitting dragons with sticks, and the joys of being a deeply adversarial GM. Very light spoiler warning for Fullmetal Alchemist . Will Jake ever get on board with a TTRPG system that doesn't let you roll big chunky handfuls of dice every couple minutes? Prim makes a compelling case for...

In our very first Flashlight, we explore the worldbuilding game Microscope! Reilly shows off his voice-acting abilities, Jake is very enthusiastic about a curse, and we both realize we much we rely on the randomness of a dice roll to drive a story forward. Throughout this episode Jake used a very squeaky whiteboard market to track our decisions, which Reilly had to edit out from the audio. Thanks...

In our very first episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Mike about building a vibrant and realistic world for your campaign, NPCs who just want to be messy, and the importance of learning AutoCAD. Spoiler warning - especially for Annihiliation but also for 3:10 to Yuma and maybe Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Does Jake's mic discipline get any better as the season goes on? Stay tuned to fin...