Dungeon Master of None

Matt and Rob review a curated selection of the remaining Candlekeep Mysteries adventures.

Your hosts are joined by special guest and Candlekeep Mystery author, Daniel Kwan. Join us for a discussion about leaving the academy, thoughtful world-building, deconstructing Kara-Tur, learning from other games, and Daniel's adventure "The Book of Inner Alchemy."  Links: Daniel's Patreon   Daniel's itch.io Ross Rifles Asians Represent! Podcast The Wrap Up on Twitch Candlekeep Mysteries Music: Pa...

Matt and Rob review the new WotC adventure anthology, Candlekeep Mysteries ! It's spooky! Also we don't get very far. But there's some cool stuff here! Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice

DMs Matt and Rob answer your Dungeon Master questions. But first! The most ridiculous DM cease & desist letter plus a brief discussion of a new Feywild-themed Unearthed Arcana. Also, let your players start a union.  The questions: What is thac0? How do you calculate damage in Mutants & Masterminds ? How do I describe diverse NPCs? How should I best transition from the virtual tabletop to in-person...

Matt and Rob sit down and go through the process of designing a Call of Cthulhu investigation, based on Matt's con-based one-shot, At the Monongahela's of Madness! The final adventure is here on our Patreon ! Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Big Rock Candy Mountain Take Me Home, Country Roads Sinnerman

This episode is flat circle. It's time to discuss your problematic faves: H.P. Lovecraft and the Call of Cthulhu  role-playing game. DMs Rob and Matt get into the racism and legacy of all-time weirdo H.P. Lovecraft, the good (great Dungeon Master advice) and the bad (the sanity system) of the world's second most popular RPG.  Links: "Lovecraftian Horror — and the Racism at its Core — Explained" by...

Matt solo reviews the brilliant solo role-playing game,  Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings. Thousand Year Old Vampire

Power's back! DMs Matt and Rob answer your mailbag questions about house rules, Genesys, creating trans-friendly worlds, new plane-touched races, and counterspells. Links : Trans Inclusivity from Monster Darlings: Creating a Safe Table and Running Trans/NB Characters   Stuff We Like: The Dread Dome and the Wagadu Chronicles Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Lineages and Dragon Subclasses   Non-European His...

They say lightning never strikes twice... They were wrong. DMs Matt and Rob are back for part 2 of their John McClain-inspired adventure: Dice Hard! Come down to the Wizards of the Coast and have a few laughs as the actual prep continues.  You can access the adventure here on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/dice-hard-54603904  

Rob rambles about why he's disappointed in recent cyberpunk media and why the genre is interesting or useful as a storyteller or gamemaster. CD Projekt Red Catered to Its Edgiest Fans Confessions of an Ex-Cyberpunk The Role-Playing Game That Predicted the Future

Another episode of actual prep! Matt and Rob work on the outline for a one-shot loosely inspired by DIE HARD. Ten stories of sheer adventure! You can access the adventure here on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/dice-hard-54603904   Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Beethoven -  Ode to Joy Guyz Nite - Die Hard

DM Matt takes a look  Arcadia , MCDM Productions' new magazine for 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. What is  Arcadia ? It ain't in Greece, Louisiana, or the plane of Peaceable Kingdoms in the Great Wheel cosmology. Knowing Matt Colville it's probably a Duran Duran reference. Confusing name aside, this magazine rules. Check out the review! Links: Arcadia #1 Strongholds and Followers DMofNone Eyes...

Our house...our rules. DMs Matt and Rob go through the most popular, and the most hated, house rules for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons.  Links: Half-Feats (Updated with Tasha's )   Inspiration by the Apocalypse (D&D 5e Houser Rule) That GWM / SS Fix by Think DM   Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Talking Heads - Burning Down the House. 

New year, same Dungeon Master of None.  DMs Matt and Rob reflect on the best of 2020. Good vibes only! Then, they dive into the generic narrative Roleplaying System from Fantasy Flight Games: Genesys ! Here's some pictures below, because it's hard to understand the system without looking at the dice, the outcome symbols, and the probability chart. Stick around for DM Matt's Goodfellas parody at th...

DMs Matt and Rob explore N.K. Jemisin 's Hugo award-winning novel, The Fifth Season .  Plus, your DMs take a brief aside into "DragonLaw: The Contract Chronicles" with an update on the Weis & Hickman lawsuit and into the idea of Minor Advantage/Disadvantage in 5th edition.  Links: The Fifth Season  by N.K. Jemisin Numenera RPG "I build a world with fantasy master N.K. Jemisin" on The Erza Klein Sh...

Matt and Rob answer your letters! A lot of which were about how wrong we were about Tasha's Cauldron of Everything!

Get out of that Cyber funk and start playing Cyberpunk RED, the brand new edition of the classic Cyberpunk RPG by R. Talsorian Games!  Link:  Cyberpunk RED Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; 3RA1N1AC - Flash RAM. 

DM Matt dives deep into Eyes Unclouded , a heartwarming and thought-provoking adventure anthology for Dungeons and Dragons inspired by the films of Studio Ghibli.  Link:  Eyes Unclouded Anthology

We finally get to the really good stuff, the Dungeon Master sections of  Tasha's Cauldron of Everything : how to use Group Patrons, Tasha's magic items and artifacts, and a delightful section of supernatural manifest zones. Then, DM Matt and Rob force themselves to discuss the puzzle section at the end of the book and how to create better puzzles that won't make your players hate you.

DM Rob and Matt  continue  deep diving into the new player options for Dungeons and Dragons presented in  Tasha's Cauldron of Everything . Monks, Sorcerers, Rangers, Rogues, Paladins, Wizards, Warlocks, feats, and spells!  Links: ThinkDM - "Blade Cantrip Changes" Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Mott the Hoople & David Bowie - All the Young Dudes.

DM Matt and Rob are back and diving deep into each tasty bit of the newest Dungeons and Dragons supplement:  Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.  Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Thurston Harris and the Sharps - Little Bitty Pretty One; David Bowie - Oh! You Pretty Things.

DM Rob is England and DM Matt's school is fighting a COVID outbreak, so here is our first ever replay of one of our favorite episodes, "82 - Anyone Can DM." There is a lot we can all learn from the basics and some good Dungeon Master thinking here. We hope to bring you more of these types of episodes in the near future. See you next week!  Episode 82 - Anyone Can DM DMs Matt and Rob discuss the ba...

Special OSR Correspondent Andy explains the joy of hexcrawls in Dungeons & Dragons! Learn how to build a sandbox exploration game, one hex at a time.  Links: Hex TML Hexographer US GIS Maps Swordfish Islands, a system neutral hexcrawl Arcana of the Ancients X1 The Isle of Dread Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps. 

It's the return of the classic Dungeons Master of None reading series as we go back, back to the future, to 1984 and read one of the most bizarre articles ever published in Dragon Magazine.  Then, your hosts head to into the 9th Layer of #DnD TikTok Hell.  Here are the accompanying equations and tables you will need to master to play D&D: Links: https://thealexandrian.net/   https://slyflourish.co...

DM Matt and Special Legal Correspondent Brent discuss  Dragonlance authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's lawsuit against Wizards of the Coast.  Links:  Margaret Weis, LLC and Tracy Hickman v. Wizards of The Coast LLC Brent's Twitter Story first reported by Cecilia D'Anastasio of Wired Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Belle and Sebastian - Legal Man.