Dungeons & Dialectics

Matt is being attacked from all angles by a heinous hoard of the Lord's many cruelties, so we will be back next week with a full episode. In the meantime, this is the perfect chance to acquire intimate knowledge of the person whom my bank teller won't shut up about: God "the Rod" Jehovah.

Matt offers the definitive definition of religion that captures all that we want and also everything else in this can't miss episode of DnD! 

Further Adventures in the World of Metagaming from Matt and Joe

Back in 3.5 there was a terrible feat called Leadership. Find out about the surprising history of this feat and the ways it tries to solve problems and just makes more. Keep in mind, Joe has never played with this feat, but that has never stopped him from having strong opinions before! ⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠  and  ⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠ Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Skip...

We begin our journey into the most despised tactic any player of TTRPG's can deploy--metagaming! In this first episode on the subject, Joey investigates some of Matt's intuitions on what is and is not metagaming. Matt is revealed to be a weirdo with janky intuitions that don't track the phenomenon at all. Shocking!

One day, Joe woke up at 4am, spent 12 hours traveling through Panamá and Colombia, got drunk and played a game of Blades in the Dark with some friends. Listen as he struggles to remember whether or not he liked the game or even what he did, while Matt berates him for his life choices. If we've convinced you, check out Blades in the Dark , a low-prep heist TTRPG. It's either great or terrib...

Find out if Joe believes in God on this special episode of Dungeons & Dialectics! Take a dive into the theological currents which promote atheism and how they interpret Christian mission. ⁠⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠⁠ Sources : Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Letters and Papers from Prison. 1951. Homebrewed Christianity. "Delvyn Case: Jesus in Pop...

Can you play an atheist cleric? The answer is... listen and find out! Today, Matt and Joe go into the history of the cleric, why they need a god in the first place, and the Christian roots of Dungeons and Dragons! Does a game that's so Christian have space for clerics without a deity? Do Christians even NEED to believe in God??? Some of this and more will be answered today on Dungeons & Di...

A few weeks ago, we dove into the medical gaze! But there was so much more to Joe's tale of woe than we could fit in the episode. If you want the full story, not bogged down by philosophy or game design, take a listen. But be warned! It gets icky! Enjoy! ⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠  and  ⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠

Better informed by his brush with death, Joe questions Matt about Foucault and the medical gaze. Together, they'll figure out how best to heal someone in and out of game. Thank goodness for our fearless heroes. ⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠  and  ⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠ modva. "Yes, Healing Is Good and Valuable in 5e (and why we should stop comparing it directly to dam...

Where has your favorite podcast been for the past three months? Tune in and find out how Joe almost died of tuberculosis and tonsillitis and how Matt supported from afar. But more importantly, find out what PHILOSOPHY can tell us about his experience and MOST IMPORTANTLY, what it tells us about the game. Everything is content. ⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠support us on Patreon for extended ep...

Holy Pinkertons Batman! Wizards of the Coast sent corporate henchmen to intimidate an innocent fan of Magic: The Gathering? Sounds Lawful Evil to me... Hear our hot takes as Joe the lifelong D&D fan and Matt the union man. ⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠  and  ⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠ Sources: Carter, Chase. "Magic: The Gathering publisher hires Pinkerton to seize leaked...

In this SHOCKING episode of Dungeons and Dialectics, Matt and Joe discuss the idea of ending and the possibility of an end of history as this applies to Dungeons and Dragons. Is One DND really the last stop on the line, such that we will never need another edition--a final synthesis to rule them all? Witness Joey's radical Star Wars ignorance first-hand as Handsome Matt explains everything.

It's been a long month, but the OGL drama is finally at an end. Wizards of the Coast has capitulated and left intact the original Open Gaming License, as well as updating the 5th edition System Reference Document (basically all the core rules of the game) to the Creative Commons. Check in with Matt and Joe to talk about the future, lessons learned and getting some tips for new games. For us, this...

One D&D to rule them all, One D&D to find them! One D&D to bring them all and in the darkness BIND THEM! That's right, D&D is no longer an edition, it's just... D&D. What's coming down the line from Wizards? And what does all this talk of the future of D&D mean? What sinister plans do this neoliberal cabal of sorcerers craft in the shadows? Only one way to find out... So yo...

If you liked our two episodes on Endings, you only have one person to thank: Matt himself! Because he ignored all of my suggestions about how to edit an episode, so I had no hand in it. But they were two of our most listened-to episodes so... what do I know? Have a listen about Matt's editing tribulations! Keep in touch on Twitter and support us on Patreon for extended episodes! Sources: Joe. "How...

What's the one thing missing from the Nativity story? That's right... DRAGONS! Uncover the secret lost story of Jesus the dragon tamer and find all the secret hidden dragons in the Bible! Plus a DEEP dive into the real Tiamat. Keep in touch on Twitter and support us on Patreon for extended episodes! Sources: Chapters 14 & 18. The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. 800. Whatham, A. E. . "The Yahweh-Teho...

Happy holidays from Dungeons & Dialectics! Last week we looked at a more nuanced view of prophecy. Now let's talk about what happens when you ignore those pearls of wisdom and use biblical prophecy to take over the world! Or whatever. Keep in touch on Twitter and support us on Patreon for extended episodes! Sources: Mesters, Carlos. Lectura profética de la historia. 1999. Trotter, William. "Th...

Happy holidays from Dungeons & Dialectics! This year, we're diving into the biblical prophecies that foretell the birth of our savior... Or DO THEY??? In classic Dungeons & Dialectics fashion, there's a twist. What if these prophecies didn't predict the future, but instead referenced the past? What if it's all made up? But what if that's the point??? Find out how a deep...

It's TIME to talk about TIME! What even is time? Does it always point to an ending? Is the ending after or before? Earlier or later? These may seem like really simple questions. Questions people might look at and say "Wow this is obvious are they really going to spend an hour talking about this?" Well... this IS Dungeons & Dialectics, so strap in for a long, drawn-out discussion of something n...

Experience Matt’s copium as he explains away his devastating loss to Mike over the fate of the world. Part one of our series on Endings and Eschatology. What is an ending? How does a campaign end? What the f*ck is a copium?  Well, in classic Dungeons & Dialectics you'll have to look elsewhere for the answers! Because we're just reminiscing about the Overcooked-based end of our last campai...

Back again with a follow-up to our last episode on the problem of THEODICY: is God just when evil and suffering exist? How have theologians historically and contemporarily wrestled with these questions? Join us as we choose our own theological adventure and answer the biggest question this raises: how can we be better Dungeon Masters? Keep in touch on Twitter and support us on Patreon for extended...

Well isn't this a sticky situation!

When sh*t happens in real life, we don't always know who to blame. God? Myself? Bad f*cking luck? But in the GAME, we know exactly who's responsible. Join Matt and Joe as we dive into one of the thorniest questions of theology: THEODICY, the question of God's justice and the problem of evil. How do we reconcile an all-loving God with the aforementioned sh*t that happens? Can we? Does it even matte...

Learn more about the Stranger Things Monster: The Mind Flayer! and how Joe has used them in his games! Matt takes us on an analysis of the many inspirations that led to the mind flayer and what its significance is for us as humans. Keep in touch on Twitter and support us on Patreon for extended episodes! Sources: The Strategic Review Volume 1 Eldritch Wizardry Dragon Magazine #79 Dragon Magazine #...