Crit Academy: A Dungeons and Dragons Podcast

Becoming a paid Dungeon Master is a bit of a dream for many Dungeons & Dragons players. While others think that it is just ridiculous. Today we discuss how to become a professional Dungeon Master with Devon Chulick of Start Playing Games . Devon shares with us the details of what exactly is Start Playing Games and how it can be used to help gamers deliver a fantastic service to those who don't hav...

How do you write a D&D Campaign Your Players will LOVE? Everyone wants to be the Dungeon Master (DM), but writing a Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) campaign can be intimidating. As long-time players and game designers, we want to share with you our tips for ensuring your adventure is fun for everyone. By the end, you will be writing adventures that your players will be talking about for years. Whether...

Monster Manual Expanded III is a fantastic must-have supplement for any Dungeon Master. Not only does it assist DMs by cutting their prep time and providing them additional bestiary options to dress up their adventures. Many creatures in this tome are archetypes and variants found in the Monster Manual, Volo's Guide to Monsters, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, and other official 5E adventure books. T...

The hexcrawl is a game structure for running wilderness exploration scenarios. Although it was initially a core component of the D&D experience, the hexcrawl slowly faded away. Robbins' West Marches campaign went viral that people started to rediscover the lost art of the hexcrawl. The format has returned to prominence in one of Dungeons & Dragons newest releases Tomb of Annihilation for D&D 5th E...

The world of Dungeons & Dragons has hundreds, even thousands of monsters for a Dungeon Master to choose from. But, we can often find ourselves using some of the same monsters on a regular basis. A goblin, kobold, and orcs to name a few. But there are so many more interesting monsters to flesh out your adventures and stories with. We polled our audience and discovered what are some of the most unde...

What is the difference between an adventurer and a soldier? The answer is simple, one seeks out to change or influence the world in some fashion. The other just takes commands and lets others decide what is best. Regardless if the PCs seek to be heroes or tyrants, they seek to be agents of change. A change they hope to steer to their desired change. Enter plot or in other words the outline or scri...

Do you ever second guess a ruling in your Dungeons & Dragons? Do you want help ensuring you make the best ruling possible? If so, then check out these Top 5 Questions to Ask to Make Good Rulings in D&D. As Dungeon Masters, we often find ourselves having to make rulings on the fly. Either because it isn't covered in the rules, we don't fully know all the rules, or we just don't have a way to look u...

Crit Academy interviews Zac Harrison, one of the staff of the fantastic website Obsidian Portal. Obsidian Portal was created by gamers, for gamers. it exists to help take the pain out of managing your tabletop RPG. They are an award-winning, anytime, anywhere campaign notebook that you can your players can build together. Their small but committed team works hard so that you can focus on the fun a...

"We love playing RPGs because they offer an escape from the mundane. One of the biggest components of our enjoyment is getting the chance to encounter and interact with incredible creatures. Learning about what makes a creature tick--whether we're engaged in combat with it or negotiating a price for goods--stimulates our brains and keeps us interested in the game and the world we create through ou...

💜 Back Capes and Crooks: A 5e Superhero RPG on Kickstarter Today! https://www.critacademy.com/capesandcrooks ENDs 7/29/21 The fantastic Youtuber and Dungeons and Dragons content creator Zipperon Disney joins us to talk Galder's Gazetteer ! This is a close personal project of his and we are excited to have him on to share details on the project's journey and contents. Galder's Gazetteer is a 5e su...

The legendary Dungeon Dudes joins Crit Academy to talk about their homebrew world Dungeons of Drakkenheim and its record breaking Kickstarter project! If you don't know, Dungeons of Drakkenheim follows the conflict and comedy-filled adventures of a brash prince, a streetwise survivor, and a meddlesome mage as they confront monsters and mystery in the meteor-blasted ruins of a fantasy city. A Dunge...

Do you love superheroes? Do you want to play your favorite classic hero or build a unique hero of your own design? Then Capes & Crooks is for you! We are super excited to spend this episode talking about our Kickstarter Capes & Crooks: A 5e Superhero RPG. NOW AVAILABLE! https://www.critacademy.com/product-page/capes-crooks Let's be honest, many of us have watched cartoons, movies or read comic boo...

What is the most versatile class in D&D? We asked ourselves this question. As there are many subclasses builds in D&D5e, we decided to look at the classes from a high level to determine which class was most versatile in the game. For this, we needed to define some criteria on what it means to be versatile in Dungeons & Dragons. We opted for 5 key categories: Damage, Defense, Battlefield Control, M...

Crit Academy discusses the Top 5 Alternative Ways to use Dungeons & Dragons Spells. Whether as a player character or as a monster, there is a multitude of alternative ways to use D&D spells. Thinking outside the box helps us come up with new and interesting ways to enhance our stories and campaigns. 📒 Show Notes: www.critacademy.com/post/episode223 ❤️ Subscribe! We've reached 1,000 subscribers! T...

Crit Academy discusses Plane Shifting in D&D 5elive from Dungeon Con Online. This event was hosted and sponsored by Goodman Games , Kobold Press and DMsguild . What is Plane Shift? Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering are two different games, but that doesn't mean their multiverses can't meet. In fact, Wizards has already started plane shifting with the release of two of its official books....

The Complete Armorer's Handbook is a 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons supplement for upgrading weapons and armor. Inside this best-selling DMsguild product is a comprehensive modular framework that allows characters to improve their equipment as they see fit by seeking out craftsmen and spending some coin! Chapter 1 covers nonmagical upgrades, which approximate the basic +1-3 progression of magic...

Crit Academy dives into the article 7 Most Common Mistakes DMs and Players Make in 5e D&D from https://dungeonsmaster.com/ We are also joined by Aelx Bomb to get her thoughts on this article as well as a sneak peek into the new Initiative & intrigue actual play podcast that launches Friday May 21st. Watch the first episode here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y63esgGHeTU 📒 Show Notes: www.critac...

Crit Academy is joined by special guest Anthony Thomas. Creator of the Sages of Forgotten Realms Community a Dungeons and Dragons Facebook group focused on the sharing of the D&D Forgotten Realms Setting. Today we talk about one of D&D's most notorious monsters, the Hag. 📢 Visit Sages of Forgotten Realms 📒 Show Notes: www.critacademy.com/post/episode219 ❤️ Subscribe! We've reached 1,000 subscrib...

The Homebrew is a Dungeons and Dragons actual play podcast that takes their game into the future. Filled with veteran Dungeons & Dragons players who love phenomenal stories, endearing characters, and a good adventure. They are currently engaged in a slightly re-imagined 5th Edition Sci-Fi campaign called "Absurdism & A Millennium Abroad". 📢 Product Covered: https://twitter.com/thehomebrewdnd 📒 S...

Crit Academy discusses the myriad of different Roleplaying Adventures types. Fortunately for us, Martin Rayla over at the Gnome Stew Gaming Blog already tossed a great list for us to delve into. Below is a list of some of our favorite types. You can find the full list from Martin's post here. 📒 Show Notes: www.critacademy.com/post/episode217 Sponsor: Cast Party! ❤️ Subscribe! We've reached 1,000...

Witiker's Well of Wondrous Magic Items Magic permeates the fantasy world and is at the core of sword and sorcery games. Magic comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, from powerful artifacts that keep cities afloat in the sky, to a magical blade that bursts into flame with a simple command word. Adventuring is dangerous work, and it is almost a guarantee, no matter how powerful, agile, or tactful a...

Foundry VTT What is a virtual tabletop, or "VTT"? For our purposes, is an all-in-one solution for using the internet to play tabletop RPGs. When you use a VTT, you can play Dungeons and Dragons or almost any other RPG with your friends without needing to be sitting at the same table. This makes it viable to play with long-distance or socially distanced people. Let's be honest. The pandemic has bee...

Candlekeep Mysteries: Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Book Candlekeep attracts scholars like a flame attracts moths. Historians, sages, and others who crave knowledge flock to this library fortress to peruse its vast collection of books, scribbled into which are the answers to the mysteries that bedevil them. Many of these books contain their own mysteries, each one a doorway to adventure. Dare you c...

In Dungeons and Dragons the game transitions from local problems to national problems to global problems. Eventually, your characters build renown and recognition with those around the world. Strongholds and Followers seeks to recreate an old-school style of play, giving the players reasons to build strongholds such as castles and interact with those who follow your characters. In this book you wi...

Let's be honest, there are few who haven't heard of Star Wars. Whether you're an older fan of the originals or a new fan brought in by some of the newest movies and games. Either way, the world and setting are pretty well known. A story and setting set in a galaxy far far away. The fantastic thing about D&D 5e is that it is so versatile. Well, a superfan named Galiphile decided to use this fantast...