It’s A Mimic!

It's off to yet another campaign setting in this episode of the It's A Mimic! podcast, and this time it's all about a mega-city, guilds, magic experimentation, and carnivals of fervant destruction! That's right! Adam, Dave, and Terry are heading to Ravnica to explore how well the setting ports over from Magic the Gathering, and the answer might surprise you! The Ravnica Guilds: Azorius Senate Boro...

The party has won, and their enemies are on the run! But before they can give chase, the public steps forward to reward them! Fame and fortune and love and titles and rewards and boons and favours... The game has now changed, at least locally. But what does that mean, and how do you reward such a low-level party? Takeaways: - Heroism is a double-edged sword. Becoming famous can be just as much a c...

In this episode about incredibly serious and evil dragons, Brad, Dave, and Dan discuss the overwhelming brute force of the Copper Dragon.  It's antisocial behaviour and hatred of minstrels is well-documented, and the It's A Mimic! podcast absolutely despises their pragmatic and boring outlook on life. Heh. Available On: iTunes | Spotify | Podbean | YouTube Don’t forget to Like/Follow/Subscribe/Wha...

What does order look like, and what are some fundamental kinds of laws and orders that a Dungeons & Dragons party might run into?  In this week's episode of the Campaign Builder, Dan and Adam dig into their unique definitions of law, and how they think about applying rules within their D&D worlds.  Because, after all, rules are meant to be broken... Different Kinds of Law and Order: - Religious La...

In this special mailbag episode, the panel of Dungeon Masters has a pointed discussion about the recent Unearthed Arcana addition: Magical Tattoos.  Things get a bit needly as they try to draw clear conclusions, but before the ink dries on this topic, you'll be able to see the whole picture.  Thanks to everyone who participated in the Giveaway, and stay tuned for more opportunities to control the...

This episode of the It's A Mimic! podcast sees Adam, Dan, Terry take a look at some common conditions in Dungeons & Dragons 5E.  All five of the conditions listed impede or disrupt the player's agency in some way, so how do we make these fun and interesting at the table?  How can we keep the roleplay rolling and the combat coming? Blinded, Deafened, Poisoned, Charmed, and Frightened all leave some...

In Dungeons & Dragons, nNot every day is a walk in the park, and not every walk in the park happens during the day.  The frightening, the weird, and the outright malicious lay just around the corner of most adventures, but how do you raise the tension and build horror around the table?  This week, the Campaign Builder focuses on how to bring horror to your table, even at low levels.  It's not just...

In this week's episode, we say thank you very mucho, Mr. Roboto to our favorite mechanical (or magical?) constructed horrors of Dungeons and Dragons 5E, the Constructs.  Adam, Dan and (of course) Dave, chime in in an ordered fashion about the general rules and flavor of Constructs.  And, like clockwork, have some disagreements about the nature of constructs to the plane devoted to all things const...

Riots! Urban unrest! Mobs and crowds and chaos! This episode focuses on what happens when an urban environment descends into chaos and how to disrupt the status quo! Dan and Adam are at it again, this time with angry and frightened citizens, insane religious leaders, and overwhelmed city officials! It's mayhem, havoc, and disruption as far as they eye can see, so brace yourselves for another episo...

The panel of DM's dives back behind the pulpit to further discuss some of the divine domain choices of the Cleric in Dungeons and Dragons 5E.  Before they do that, however, they break down what a holy site or temple could look like, the depth a keepsake could bring and what kind of drama a secret could add to your tables.  Finally, once that's all through, they try to capture the power behind the...

Dynamic Encounters can add chaos and complications... for good or for ill. So how do you keep it on the side of good? In this episode, Dan and Adam run through the common issues that they've run into with designing and managing dynamic encounters and how they've managed to troubleshoot these issues. From downtime to puzzles to interrupting a conversation with combat, they cover the gamut of dynami...

Happy April Fool's Day! It's been a year, and that means it's time for another bout of roundtable DMing in this sequel to episode W001, the infamous Wizard's Tower episode. Big Ivan is back, and he's looking to put together a new crew. His last gang is dead or missing, but the Philosopher's Stone has been relocated to a Wizard's Bank: Ulhemanzerfindle's Spectabulous Depository of Dangerful Know-ab...

The panel of DM's return to the trail oft-overlooked in Dungeons and Dragons 5E: The Ranger. This time, they are tackling the subclasses available in Xanathar's Guide to Everything: The Horizon Walker, The Gloom Stalker, and the Monster Slayer.  Even though they faun over these subclasses, they have slightly different opinions about the flavour suggestions available in XGtE, and offer other inspir...

Beginnings and endings are the same thing in early levels, as Dan and Adam resolve the first mission and launch the campaign, blurring the two together.  Rewards, accolades, foreshadowing, and mystery greet our party when they return back to town with their ward, and the players will have more opportunities to discover their place in the guild, the town, and the religious landscape! Takeaways: - R...

In this week's episode, the panel of Dungeon Masters wraps up the discussion on elves, and covers those who stuck to the shadows, those misunderstood and put down, and those too chaotic to stay in one form for too long.  That's right!  Today is all about the Shadar-kai, Drow, and Eladrin subraces of elf.  From fluid genders to Gloomy Gus's, the panel backs down from nothing when examining the most...

It's Springtime again, and apparently that means it's time for a mailbag episode! But one of the hosts is drunk, one of the hosts can't pronounce listeners' names, and one of the hosts quotes the Dungeons & Dragons movie... So it's utter anarchy with bouts of profanity and heckling, and a few surprisingly deep moments... You know.  The usual. Questions were submitted by: @alexander_anotherskip_dav...

This week, we meet the potion merchant in need of help, Zelmar Alviante, the Summer Eladrin, and his gigantic (and tempermental) Iguana named Jim.  But the party is still level one, so how much help can they give?  Quite a lot, it would seem, as the desert is fraught with dangers, opportunities, and challenges that will make these early levels both fun and memorable. Takeaways: - There needs to be...

On this week's episode of the It's A Mimic! podcast, Dan takes Adam and Dave through the most brutal of all the 5e official settings: Avernus, the first layer of The Nine Hells.  So rev up your engines, and load your pockets with soul coins, because the warlords are calling and Zariel herself is lurking about the River Styx! From ravenous demon lords to abandoned angelic swords, the discussion in...

The party is squishy, but that doesn't mean you can't challenge them.  From untrustworthy NPC's to various creatures looking for a meal and an environment that works against you, life beyond the safety of home is fraught with peril.  Join Dan and Adam this week as they provide inspiration and insight about how to keep low-level travel both interesting and engaging. Takeaways: - The world beyond th...

In this week's episode, the panel of DM's pops the cork, pours some glasses, pulls out the charcuterie platter, and discusses (at length) the only dragon that will kill you by only talking; the Brass Dragon.  The It's A Mimic Podcast finally crosses the alignment border into the good-aligned metallic dragons in Dungeons and Dragons 5e, and discusses these ultimate collectors, as well as their lair...

Every campaign begins somewhere, and when the meta discussions are over and Session Zero has come and gone, it's time to roll dice.  But is Session One too early to introduce dynamic encounters?  Of course not!  Dan and Adam each discuss three examples of dynamic encounters for Session One in their own campaign, and demonstrate that more complex encounters can add intrigue and depth, even in the o...

In this week's episode of the It's A Mimic! podcast, the panel of Dungeon Masters discusses some optional mechanics offered in Dungeons and Dragons 5e and why you should include - or not include - them into your games.  Dan, Adam, and Megan take a stab at Honour and reputation, try to wrap their minds around Sanity, and dive into the age-old argument about the right and wrong of alignment. From a...

Dynamic Encounters are encounters that have more than a single action, and add depth beyond normal Dungeons & Dragons scenarios that players have seen before. They provide an infinite number of opportunities for surprises, improv, and creative reactions by players and dungeon masters alike. In this episode, Dan and Adam discuss the following: Dynamic Encounters: - combat-to-combat - combat-to-expl...

This week's episode sees the panel of Dungeon Masters tackle the biggest of Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition's most twisted and deformed arcane mistakes-- I mean, creations; Monstrosities.  Starting with the titans that rival the power levels of even gods, Adam, Dan, and Dave take a good hard look into the magical beasts that not even Dan and his ADHD could miss: those gargantuan behemoths that to...

Campaign Builder continues building the basic foundation of their campaign, by looking to factions, and creating a guild from the ground up. With a smattering of NPCs and a constant eye on what opportunities may be presented to the party, the Dungeon Masters .  Keeping it simple, they lay out a basic breakdown of interesting environments to the North, South, East, and West, as well as important la...