Crit Academy: A Dungeons and Dragons Podcast

As DM's we always do our best to attempt to have the most interesting of villains. Cool motivations, relatable morals, and so much more. But when it comes to the characters engaging the big bad enemy guy, that is where we want our villains to shine. We want to give the players an encounter they will never forget! This can be a challenging task sometimes, luckily, DNDSpeak has you covered! They rel...

This week each of us brought a custom monster to the table. Built using the instructions in the Dungeon Masters Guide. We walk through our build process, design decisions and flavor of our new babies. All the while the other two savagely rip them apart like a couple of ravenous hyena's over a dead carcass. Follow us on https://www.twitch.tv/critacademy and join us live on Sundays at 7pm est. Show...

We interview Andrew Dempz, one of the creators of the @dungeon masters guild supplement Dungeoneer's Pack: Storm King's Barrow! A DnD supplement that contains ten unexplored dungeons in the north of the Sword Coast and a party of eager adventurers is the recipe for an exciting evening. Delve into abandoned chapels, beleaguered mines, haunted barrows and demon-infested crypts. Put an end to evil ma...

This week we discuss best selling DMsguild product "The Dog Fighter's Handbook". Air combat can be a large and important part of the world of Dungeons and Dragons. Pirates, traders, military powers and fantastical creatures all often have some element of flying combat, with many memorable battles of a campaign taking place in the air. This rule set aims to bring those combats to new adventuring pa...

We cover the Captains and Cannons a DMsguild product that provides a rule set that explains how to run a ship battle in your campaign. Whether you want to fight on lashed-together longships, blast enemies with the cannons of your carrack, or just ram rowboats, this ruleset has everything you need. Designed to be scalable, flexible, fast, and easy to learn, Captains and Cannons is here to make your...

Call from the Deep DMsguild creator JVC Parry joins to talk his mindflayer inspired dungeons and dragons campaign book designed to take your heroes from levels 1-12. After crash-landing onto the Material Plane, a strange, otherworldly ship brings with it an unexpected wave of piracy, hideous mutated creatures from the bottom of the Trackless Sea, and a notorious foe who has been awakened from the...

We interview Darrin Scott on his amazing best selling Dungeons and Dragons supplement "Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to Combat". A powerful resource to help you run the most fun combats you ever have, no matter your DMing style. It is the distillation of knowledge from the masters of the hobby (listed in the credits page) as well as the years of experience held by each of the contributors. Get your copy...

We interview DMsguild.com Adebt M.T Black on his amazing best selling Dungeons and Dragons supplement "The Art of War for D&D Players". Over two thousand years ago, a philosopher-general named Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War, the seminal work on military strategy. Discover how you can use these ancient secrets to master the game of Dungeons & Dragons! Get your copy here! https://bit.ly/2X8pD3i Visit...

This week we interview best selling DMsguild.com creator Jeff Stevens about his "Encounters on the Savage Seas". An amazing supplement for those who wish to embark on an adventure on the high seas! Encounters on the Savage Seas  is a  100-page  supplement containing mini-adventures, NPCs, new ships, locations, and magic items. In all, the writers have produced 19 unique encounters, NPCs, and locat...

This week we interview the amazing adventuring party from the DnD actual play podcast One-Shot Onslaught. They share with us some of their most memorable Dungeons and Dragons moments, give us a peek into what it takes to run a successful actual play podcast, as well as sharing with us their favorite aspects of running adventures from the DMsguild.com. Support us by picking up one of our DnD supple...

Follow us on www.twitch.tv/critacademy and join our show live on Sundays at 7pm est. This we special guest Anne Gregersen joins us to talk about her best selling Dmsguild DnD supplement.  Sir Alkian's Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse is a guidebook for those who are looking to run apocalyptic scenarios in their 5e D&D games, ranging from an immediate danger that threatens the very structure of th...

The word barbarians brings to mind certain images. Snowbound brutes with fur cloaks and broad swords, their long hair whipping in the wind as they howl savage battle cries, undeterred by the exhaustion and pain that would plague mortal men. Hulking tribesmen on the endless tundra, their spears and hands bloody from the long day's hunt for game and enemies alike. Or, if you're a cultured sort of ga...

Follow us on www.twitch.tv/critacademy and join our show live on Sundays at 7pm est. This episode was brought to you by Kobold Press! www.critacademy.com/koboldpress Back by popular demand, Jason Bakos & Themis Paraskevas  bring you the Malady Workshop! This is a Dungeons and Dragons supplement written with the intent to give you, the DM, the power to create your own fantastical diseases, like the...

Follow us on www.twitch.tv/critacademy and join us live on Sundays at 7pm est. This week Alan Tucker and Terry Herc  join us to talk about the massive dungeons and dragons community project and Platinum Best Selling DMsguild product Artifacts of the Guild!    Artifacts of the Guild product gives your more magic items to use at your table. From minor trinkets to ancient relics, these items will ent...

Follow us on www.twitch.tv/critacademy and join us live on Sundays at 7pm est. This week we cover the DMsguild supplement Wombo's Guide to Combos! DnD supplement for pulling off combo attacks with your allies! Has the Barbarian ever wished they could throw the Rogue at the enemy? This and so much more is possible with 27 Combo Actions ready for your game from the awesome guys over at the DnD Chara...

This week we cover the amazing DMsguild supplement Nerzugal's Dungeon Master Tool Kit from author Steven Williams! This incredible toolkit includes an assortment of dungeon maps, puzzles, fully detailed dungeons, random encounters, entire one-shot adventures, and tables to create hundreds of fun magic items. Most of these are able to be dropped in any campaign setting with just a small amount of w...

This week we discuss Matt Mercer's Corruption: An adaptation of corruption rules of 5th edition DnD gives you the tools you need to inject some of this menace into your games. Certain landscapes house deeply evil places or artifacts that corrupt the very nature of people who spend time around them. Sites where the presence of such terrible wickedness can slowly twist and infect the physical forms...

This week we cover the must have Dungeons and Dragons supplement from Alex Clippinger "100 Ways to Excuse a Character Absence" a must have DMsguild supplement. "I'm so sorry, I can't make it this week." We've been there. We've  all  been there. The dreaded session drop-out. Someone can't make it. But your other players are ready to continue. How do you explain why one of their companions is sudden...

We discuss the amazing 5e supplement "Go for the Eyes" by Alex Clippinger In  Go for the Eyes , you'll find ways to throw curveballs at players who thought they knew monster stat blocks by heart. Targeted Body Parts.   Ever cripple a dragon's wing? Destroyed a beholder's central eye? Smashed a bone devil's stinger? Your players can overcome precise targeting and damage thresholds to inhibit a crea...

This week we discuss and break down our sorcerous origin the GUN Mage. A D&D character option on the DMsguild. While many sorcerers find themselves able to naturally tap into the well of magic inside of them, some are not so lucky. Their search for a way to tap into this power has lead them into using artificially enhanced arcane focuses that pull the power inside within their reach. These special...

This week we discuss Ancestral Weapons by Dungeon Rollers. A Dungeons and Dragons 5e supplement with rules for creating powerful heirloom weapons that evolve and grow with your players. A noble blade wielded in the blood wars, an axe used to protect the great city of Mirabar  from orc invasions, or a powerful staff passed down through the eons. Ancestral weapons,  heirlooms, are iconic within role...

This week we delve into DMsguild creator Tyler Kamstra's Dungeons and Dragons 5e supplement Monstrous Races. Whether you're playing an all-monster party or just want to play a monstrous race in an otherwise normal party, this document presents rules for playing every creature in the Monster Manual, new feats and backgrounds for monstrous characters, analysis of officially published races, highly d...

We interview DMsguild.com creator Christopher Willet on his D&D supplement "Planeswalkers of Ravnica". It provides Dungeon Masters and Players with tools for incorporating Planeswalkers into their Ravnica campaigns. It includes; A new Planeswalker background with a color based alignment system. Your color grants you access to exclusive spells.  Every spell in the Players Handbook is categorized by...

This week we discuss a new supplement setting book for Dungeons and Dragons, Ravnica. Ravnica originally appeared as a setting for the MTG trading card game Ravnica is one of the most popular settings, in part because the world's ten guilds strongly support the way players build MAGIC decks. Ravnica is a whole new world for your D&D campaign to explore. A vast, sprawling city that covers the whole...

This week we discuss player made structures with Fortress, Temples, and Strongholds. A guide to player made structures by Walrock Homebrew The world is a wild and scary place, full of monsters, malevolence, and myriad evils to be expunged. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a place to unwind? A place to hang your hat, build and customize, and to call your home? Wouldn't it be nice to leave your mark...