Dungeon Master of None

DMs Matt and Rob discuss the ending of  Game of Thrones and what to steal (and what not to steal) for your RPG inspiration file. The maesters did King's Landing 9/11. Whew, glad that's done. How about a nice game of  cyvasse? SPOILER WARNING for  Game of Thrones  and  A Song of Ice and Fire  start at 06:00.  Link: The Celestial Job   Music:  Pac Div - Roll the Dice Velvet Underground - Oh! Sweet N...

DMs Matt and Rob talk about the Dungeons and Dragons news of the week: elf divorce , shameless plagiarism , and the most popular D&D subclasses . WARNING: SPOILERS for Game of Thrones Season 8 start at 25:00. Then, your DMs of None discuss how to use dragons in your games and throw together some dragon encounters for you to steal.    Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Limahl - Never Ending Story

Dungeon Masters Matt and Rob discuss how to use war in your adventures. Rob rants about the importance of a Cure Dysentery  spell. Plus, the answers to some of your letters!   Recommendations: The Pursuit of Power,  William H. McNeill Forever War,  Joe Haldeman The Forever War,  Dexter Filkins    Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Donovan - The War Drags On Complicated - Avril Lavigne

Hello friends! Today we celebrate our first year of Dungeon Master of None with some of our best moments, advice, and jokes. Please share this episode with your friends and community!    Episodes: Episode 4: I'm Not Here to Make Friends Episode 43: DMing 201 Episode 65: Medieval Times w/ Special Guest Paul Sturtevant Episode 67: Vancian Podcasting Episode 25: PbtA, theme, and worldbuilding with sp...

DM Rob gives some Dungeon Mastering tips as he reflects on the end of his three-year-long Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Take what Rob has learned and apply it to your game! And as the poet said, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." Planning throughout the campaign [05:00] Building party cohesion [13:00] Dealing with indecision [18:00] Matt's 3 Tiers of Intra-Party Talk [22...

Nice! Are elves tall? The definition of "Matt's Law of Forgotten RP Servers." Do you allow or encourage romantic and sexy situations in your game?  Your DMs of None discuss building plot hooks big and small into your campaign settings.    Links: The X-Card by John Stavropoulos The Advanced Artificer on the DMs Guild     Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Silver - Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang

Special guest Dungeon Master Alex Clippinger is here with wise words and sage advice for all aspiring DMs. Ever thought about publishing that adventure, monster, or magic item on the Dungeon Masters Guild? This is the episode for you!  Check out Alex's cool RPG stuff over at the DMsGuild! And follow Alex on Twitter! Music: Roll the Dice - Pac Div 9 to 5 - Dolly Parton Grinding All My Life - Nipsey...

DMs Rob and Matt have completed their first (self-) published Dungeons and Dragons book:  The Advanced Artificer . Your DMs of None discuss the process of designing and publishing the thing for the Dungeon Masters Guild in the hopes that our conversation will inspire you to publish that thing you've always been meaning to finish.  Meanwhile, why don't you buy our book? It is only two bucks, has a...

The Mailbag of Holding (Type III) returns! DMs Rob and Matt answer your questions on Dungeon Mastering and more.   Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Jurassic 5 - Freedom Cake - Wheels

Howdy y'all, it's the Kickstarter roundup! Yeehaw! Then, your DMs of None talk about the D&D "canon" and whether it has any value. What should be in the new canon and what are the books that have influenced your Dungeon Mastering? What is in your Appendix N?  Let us know!   Kickstarter Roundup:  Critical Role: The Animated Series Lasers and Liches: Tales of the Retroverse Comrades RPG Arcana of th...

DMs Matt and Rob are joined by the Smithsonian Institute's Paul Sturtevant. Not only is Paul the founder and editor-in-chief of The Public Medievalist , but he has a new book, The Middle Ages in Popular Imagination: Memory, Film and Medievalism , that listeners of this show will really love.  We talk about castles in DC, what the public knows about medieval history, and how to deal with race in ro...

DMs Matt and Rob review the new version of the Artificer.  An effusion of infusions for everyone, huzzah! Happy Artificer Day to one and all.  But first, the Lasers & Liches kickstarter is back ! Be sure to check it out and have a listen to our full review back in Episode 23 .    Listener questions: David asks, "Can I improvise my way through world-building?" Ryan asks, "How should I prepare for a...

The DMs of None chat about home-brewing classes in sub-classes in 5e DnD. We take a look at some of our favorite homebrew and third-party classes and speculate about what to create on the show in the future!   Classes and sub-classes reviewed: The Blood Hunter by Matt Mercer The Scholar by Charrmeleon The Pugilist by Benjamin Huffman Broath of the Brotherhood by Ryan Bennett  Oath of the Common Ma...

Let's talk about and create dungeons! Matt and Rob discuss the essentials of dungeon building: story, theme, ecology, and variation. Your DMs then build a one-page dungeon "live!"  No abusers in our RPG community.  Links:  Rough draft of the one-page dungeon Final draft of the one-page dungeon Link to Dyson Logos' table of random dungeon entrances     Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Merle Travis -...

DMs Matt and Rob talk about how to design factions, powers, and political groups that will hook your players. Let's build some better worlds! Letters: "What are some strategies to employ between encounters?" "How do I create emotional and cinematic moments for my players?"   Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice The Unicorns - I Was Born (A Unicorn) Ghost Mice - Critical Hit, recorded by DMofNone listene...

DM tips! Learn how to start games good! Practice shutting the hell up! And more! Plus, DMs Matt and Rob answer your letters and get some deserved criticism and critiques!  Tips: playing on the cheap...setting the tone...seeing, hearing,  smelling for your players' characters...using your posture...preparing social situations...listening to your players...how to make mistakes...  Letters: steampunk...

DMs Matt and Rob answer your questions! Then, let us sit upon the ground. And tell sad stories of the death of genres.    Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Aurra - A Little Love Jeremiah Kane - The Future Past 

DMs Matt and Rob tackle the ultimate question of life, the multiverse, and everything: should there be a new edition of D&D? Spoilers: we don't. But we will get one...eventually. Your DMs then speculate wildly about what might and should be changed.    Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice David Bowie - Cat People (Put Out Fire)

As iron sharpens iron, so one worldbuilder sharpens another. Matt and Rob discuss your homebrew campaign settings and ideas in this special bonus episode! Thank you to everyone who sent us your work!   Music: Roll the Dice - Pac Div  Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum Big Rock Candy Mountain - Harry McClintock Princes of the Universe - Queen

The professors are in! It's an advanced worldbuilding class focusing on gods, faith, and magic systems.  Links: Brandon Sanderson's Laws of Magic     Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down Gillian Welch - Old Time Religion 

Happy New Year! After alienating every listener from the UK, your DMs of None answer some unwanted advice and then use real historical artifacts to build new magic (and mundane!) items for your campaigns.  Image Gallery Historical Magic Items 2: The Dragon's Maw, the Cyrosiphon, and the Mirror of the Exalted Ancestor    Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa, and Ty Dolla $ign - Shell...

Happy new year! Welcome to a brand new episode of Dungeon Master of None on Old School Rules and mega-dungeons with special guest Andy.  [00:19:20] What is OSR? Andy discusses what types of campaigns and players work best with Old School Rules. [00:49:00] The art of the mega-dungeon design. Plus, Andy gives his trademarked 1d4 rules for creating a mega-dungeon.   [01:04:45] Matt and Andy riff up s...

It's your mega-episode for the holidays! DMs Rob and Matt review two successful kickstarters that are now available for public purchase: Savage Worlds Adventure Edition  [00:11:05] and Strongholds and Followers [00:44:00]. Then, on to your DM questions and letters [01:20:00]!   Gerard asks, "Will I destroy my game giving my players opposing goals?" [01:21:10] Scott says, "Quidditch is trash." [01:...

DMs Matt and Rob sit down for a deep dive into Tolkien, race, drow, Game of Thrones, and Euro-centric campaign worlds. Listen to a discussion of how to think critically about ideas of race in fantasy RPGs. We hope you will leave with some ideas about to tell anti-racist stories in our games.   You can do your DM of None homework by reading  Paul Sturtevant's article on the Public Medievalist, "Rac...

WARNING: Spoilers for Skulls & Shackles begin at 37:30! Have your players ever wanted to acquire a ship? Pirates are the murder-hobos of the sea, so let them! DMs Rob and Matt discuss how to plan open-ended nautical adventures for your players. Stick around for a review of Skull & Shackles, one of the best pirate modules ever published!   Music: Roll the Dice - Pac Div Black Is the Color - Lucette...