Hook and Chance

There's so many opinions of how to handle Charm Person, and being charmed in general. And they're all right! Obviously, we'd never tell you our way of acting charmed is the only way. But we will tell you how we keep it pretty simple in our heads, and are able to actually play this out in a way that fits the game. Too many times we've gone too big, and let them befriend the big bad for all time, or...

We're finally talking about what's better than throwing in random travel encounters! All you've gotta do is consider what actually matters about your encounter, and then why the outcome matters. This episode gets into those points a little deeper.

Knowing why you're playing through travel is huge. If you have a great answer for that, you'll probably have some great travel. Join us in this episode to learn how to answer that question, and never deal with a dying story due to random encounters or "accurate" travel experiences.

If you want a tested method for engaging the table with stories, the ticking clock is invaluable. When used well, you avoid those meandering five session detours from the wicked adventure idea you created for your table.

Learning to pace games intentionally is a part of running games that eluded us for a long time. Done well, it results in those grand gaming wrap ups, where everyone is coming down off the high of a great session. Done poorly, it leaves us sad and confused as to why that session went down about as well as a juiced cockroach. That's why in this episode we give solid steps on fluctuating the pace of...

Mimics are the classic monster that's fun in concept, horrendous on execution. They are designed to be a trap that cannot be detected, and this drives us up a wall. So join us as we talk about what elements we would add that make them a lot more useful and fun for us to include in our games.

Want to learn some techniques that will leave everyone stunned at how well a session brought their characters and their visions to life? Here to help is The GMTim! He runs about 10 games a month, writes adventures, and constantly discovers new ways to push his skills as a Game Master. We are so excited to have him share his skills with us in this episode.

The Artificer is a class that stands out as way to visually express your stunning creativity. You can have mechanical friends, suits of super armor, incredible weaponry, the list goes on. It's incredibly fun to keep detailing out these aspects of the artificer. With these concepts, however, we find it easy to forget to build a rich character underneath it all, with a story and a personality that's...

Sometimes you get an idea of the kind of game you want to run in your head. Like, a twisty, turny, confusing labyrinthine adventure would be rad, right? Everyone would have so much fun trying to navigate the endless sprawling passageways of the Underdark, right? Well, it is a great idea, just don't mistake an adventure in a maze for having the players solve a real maze. That make sense? If not, jo...

Well, it’s kinda tough to say. Y’see, we think it’s all a matter of how getting the expectations right for this incredibly utilitarian sorcery. In this episode, though we take a deeper look into a spell that tends to blow up in players’ faces with a single lucky roll.

Hey, look, we still love Giants. So join us as we explore the culture of Fire Giants! Go past their angry exterior and discover what really motivates them, how they treat humanoids, what they do when they are not fighting, how they talk to each other, and plenty more fiery fun. By the end, we hope you know exactly what to do when you pull a Fire Giant out of the ol' creature stash. Our favorite pa...

Making mistakes as a DM or player was once our biggest fear. Then, we learned that the greatest games happen due to unexpected occurrences, and that the best thing we can do in the face of creative adversity is just keep moving. In this episode, you'll learn how to do that in any gaming situation that seems bad.

You know we love some giants, and maybe you do too. Maybe even your whole table does too! If you want to mix it up and use something that no one has seen, and lives somewhere no giant would live, please meet the desert giant! We created this new culture of giants using our culture creator, which is a great tool to create whatever giants that you want to bring to the game as well.

Have you ever struggled to flesh out a society in your games? Or multiple cultures at once? If you're working off of lore, it can be a lot to absorb and figure out how to use. If you are starting from scratch it can feel like becoming a novelist just to run a game. Well, we've wrestled this beast more than a few times, and we've got a system that makes it all much more manageable. In this episode,...

If you've listened to our last episode, you heard us create a system to create unique gods and religions. Well, now it's time to apply that to your incredible character! We combine our culture creator and our character planner and show you how flipping fun it is to create characters that have a lot to them and their beliefs, without studying manuals of lore or spending months creating your own.

So you want your world to feel real, and it's time to scheme up some godly goodness. There's two ways we know to screw this up real good. The first is to just forget to do it, and all the sudden you've got a fantasy ripoff of whatever religion you know best in real life. The second is to go way too deep. Reading a 350 page tome cover to cover that goes into a wild fantasy pantheon, then realizing...

There's so many different kinds of delighful horror to dive into, but if you've ever wanted to explore the themes associated with body horror in a way that creates a disturbing sense of dread while respecting everyone at the table, this is the episode for you. We promise, if you put this planning in you'll have a great adventure, and it's much more interesting than plain old gore.

Ever want to pop off your hand and throw it across the room? Try Mage Hand instead. It's a cantrip that has an incredible variety of uses, and they're all fun as heck. Well, I'm sure you could fold laundry or something, but you're playing D&D here. Well, then again, if laundry's your jam, go for it. The lesson is there's very few situations in which you shouldn't cast Mage Hand.

Can you keep the threat of death in a game without worrying about pissing off the players? We think so. There's a few strategies that can make death a lot more important and meaningful in a game, which leaves everyone a lot more satisfied. It goes a lot farther than the classic rationalization of "let the dice fall where they may".

Want a little help getting that finely crafted character or NPC from the page into the game? Or maybe you've got all these ideas as a DM, but find it tricky to run those flowing, exciting sessions you see in your mind? Well, Joanna Gaskell is here to help. She's a cast member of a D&D improv show, DM's professionally, and even wrote, produced, and starred in a long-running D&D inspired web series!

One of the most satisfying things you can do as a DM is to truly shock your players. The bigger the better. That's why we're figuring out plot twists in this episode, and exactly how to put them in your game.

Cliffhangers are an incredibly powerful tool for your games. They create a serious psychological desire for closure, which makes people eager to return to the table. Sitting with that unresolved story also means they'l have time to roll it over in their minds, imagining all the possibilities. Ending on such a great moment also means your players are gonna remember what's happening a lot faster! So...

Wizards are pretty incredible, what with their dazzling array of cosmic powers and daunting intellect. They can, however, be challenging to roleplay due to said intellect, and it's easy to rely on classic archetypes when you aren't sure where to go. That's why in this episode we try to get into the minds of the real life wizards that have blown away our perceptions of reality throughout history, k...

Staring at another player, sweating through the seconds, thinking to yourself "must...roleplay..." is a rough moment. Instead, we want the moments where people are verbally bouncing off each other, and it feels like a real group of people chatting about the dangers of dungeons. Well, a little consideration of the relationships your character has with each party member can go such a long way.

Figure out where you fit into a group, and the roleplaying between party members becomes so much easier. The fundamentals of this concept is that there's two characters that contrast each other, and there's characters that bridge the gap. This plays out in different ways in different group sizes. Think of any great team or ensemble cast and you'll find these principles.