The DM‘s Book Club

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton pick their top 3 monsters to create urban encounters in order to add depth and flavour to any city or township setting! Monsters discussed: Shadows and Shadow Assassin - Undead that resemble dark exaggerations of humanoid shadows (Monster Manual p269/Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage p316). Gray Ooze - An ooze which is stone turned to liquid by chaos (Mons...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton explore playtest material from the latest Unearthed Arcana ' Heroes of Krynn '. This playtest document presents a variety of character options from the Dragonlance setting: The Kender: A lineage of short-statured beings have a knack for producing the right tools in every situation. Lunar Magic subclass: A sorcerer archetype that allows sorcerers to explore...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and guest co-host John ( @AutomaticDodd ) take a closer look at the ancient history and lore behind Dwarves & Duergar, as written about in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes! Bold and hardy, dwarves are known as skilled warriors, miners, and workers of stone and metal. Though they stand well under 5 feet tall, dwarves are so broad and compact that they can weigh as much as...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and guest co-host Matt (editor-in-chief of Dragon+ Magazine ) give their spoiler-free first impressions of Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep - the latest book collaboration between Wizards of the Coast and Critical Role ! From the book's bio: ' Can You Change Fate? An epic Critical Role campaign for the world’s greatest roleplaying game! The greed of mortals has awa...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton check out one of the most (in)famous magic items which can derail any D&D campaign: The Deck of Many Things! Also known as the deck of hazards, The Deck of Many Things is an assortment of magical cards or metallic plates enchanted with great magic. Each card is adorned with a unique portrait that shimmers with a radiance of power. When a card is drawn f...

Show Notes This week, beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder as Fiona and Hamilton look at the classic D&D monster - the Beholder! These large, orb-shaped aberrations have ten eyestalks and one central eye, each containing powerful magic. Aggressive, hateful, and greedy, Beholders are among the greatest threats to the world, dismissing all other creatures as lesser beings, toying with them...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and guest host Rob from the Realm of Fire podcast take a deep breath and dive into one of the most ambitious single-author RPG campaign setting ever, Monte Cook's ' Ptolus: The City By The Spire !' A place of mysteries, secrets, and dark histories, Ptolus lies forever in the shadow of a towering stone spire reaching impossibly high into the sky, an enigma and a reminder...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton attempt to create their own world setting, inspired by prompts from ' 30 Days of Worldbuilding: An Author’s Step-by-Step Guide to Building Fictional Worlds ' (2nd Edition) by bestselling indie author, Angeline Trevena . From the bio: '30 Days of Worldbuilding breaks the task into manageable chunks. By following 30 creative prompts, this book will guide you...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton tackle the most clickbait-y of all topics in RPGs - how to start out running a game of Dungeons & Dragons! Recommending various free and paid-for resources available out there to help new DMs find their feet and where to start for running your first-ever game! The VOD originally premiered on the DM's Book Club's YouTube channel on Thursday 27th Jan 2022...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton take a 'sneaky' peek into Rogues, a class where players rely on skill, stealth, and their foes’ vulnerabilities to get the upper hand in any situation. Rogues have a knack for finding the solution to just about any problem, demonstrating resourcefulness and versatility that is the cornerstone of any successful adventuring party. We also take a deeper look i...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton go back to school and give their first impressions of the latest Magic: The Gathering campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons - 'Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos'! From the book's bio: ' The greatest minds in the multiverse meet at Strixhaven University. Professors convey fantastic secrets to eager students, and life on campus is frenetic. But danger l...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton pick out their D&D highlights of 2021 and what they are looking forward to in 2022! This episode's audio was taken from the VOD originally premiering on Dragon's Duel's Twitch channel on Thursday 6th Jan 2022. Use the offer code "DMBC" to get 10% off any purchase from 3rd Space Gaming! Consider using our affiliate link when using DM's Guild! #Supportyou...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton have a go at creating their own dragon with help from the latest sourcebook, 'Fizban's Treasury of Dragons'. From the book's blurb: 'What is the difference between a red dragon and a gold dragon? What is dragonsight? How does a dragon’s magic impact the world around them? This comprehensive guide provides Dungeon Masters with a rich hoard of tools and infor...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton dive into Spelljammer, the famous AD&D fantasy outer space campaign setting, using the introductory boxset ' Spelljammer: AD&D Adventures in Space ' as a starting point. This episode's audio was taken from the VOD originally premiering on Dragon's Duel's Twitch channel on Thursday 9th December 2021. First published in 1989, this boxset comprises of...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton share their thoughts on how to create a good villain, using the 'Designing NPC' section of the Dungeon Master's Guide! This episode's audio was taken from the VOD originally premiering on Dragon's Duel's Twitch channel on Thursday 2nd December 2021. Chapter discussed: 'Designing NPCs/Villains' from 'Chapter 4: Creating Non-player characters' Book discussed:...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton give their first impressions on the brand new D&D sourcebook: Fizban's Treasury of Dragons! From the book's blurb: 'What is the difference between a red dragon and a gold dragon? What is dragonsight? How does a dragon’s magic impact the world around them? This comprehensive guide provides Dungeon Masters with a rich hoard of tools and information for de...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton have a go at creating their own Domain of Delight using the ' Domains of Delight (5e) ' supplement published by Wizards of the Coast on the DM's Guild. From the supplement's bio: 'Domains of Delight are to the Feywild what Domains of Dread are to the Shadowfell: sequestered realms governed by powerful beings. Whereas a Domain of Dread is ruled by a Darklord...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton travel the depths and breadth of the planes with brand new playtest material ' Unearthed Arcana 2021 - Travelers of the Multiverse '. From the bio: 'Journey to the far corners of the multiverse as one of the playable races in today’s Unearthed Arcana! This playtest document presents six races for Dungeons & Dragons: Astral Elf: An elf denizen of the Ast...

Show Notes This week, Fiona has on a very special guest host to create their very first D&D 5th edition character... Chapter discussed: 'Chapter 1: Step-by-Step characters' Book discussed: 'Player's Handbook' published by Wizards of the Coast, August 2014. Use the offer code "DMBC" to get 10% off any purchase from 3rd Space Gaming! Consider using our affiliate link when using DM's Guild! #Supp...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and Hamilton check out ' Minsc & Boo's Journal of Villany ' - a D&D 5e sourcebook that had a surprise release in October this year. The journal stars two fan-favourite characters from the video game series Baldur’s Gate; Minsc, the legendary ranger and his pet (giant space) hamster, Boo. From the book's bio: 'A century has passed since the Bhaalspawn fought over...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and guest host Ben explore the Forgotten Realms most famous repository/fortress of knowledge - Candlekeep! Candlekeep houses a magnificent collection of books and scrolls of lore, considered the greatest collection of the writings in all of Faerûn. The keep is the home of the Avowed, a group of renowned scholars and people of learning, that revered great seer Alaun...

Show Notes This week, for our Halloween-inspired episode, Fiona and Hamilton get into the spooky season with 'Ghostwalk', a 3rd edition campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons. The setting is centred around a locale known as the Veil of Souls, the subterranean entrance to the land of the dead, and the city of Manifest above it, where ghosts can solidly manifest and live alongside normal folk....

Story spoilers for Critical Role Series 1 & 2 and Dimension 20 RPG shows Show Notes This week, Fiona and guest host Darren chat about apocalypses and how to use them as a storytelling device in your RPG campaigns. We look at examples from popular RPG shows including Critical Role & Dimension 20. Check out Darren's latest Kickstarter, Fallen Worlds - A Post Apocalyptic TTRPG . Fallen Worlds...

Story spoilers for Critical Role Series 1 & 2 Show Notes This week, in anticipation of the 3rd Critical Role campaign launch, Fiona and Hamilton discuss the previous two series of the weekly live-streamed RPG game, with the help of the two official Critical Role sourcebooks: Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting and Explorer's Guide to Wildemount! This episode's audio was taken from the VO...

Show Notes This week, Fiona and guest host Ben talk about the different approaches to building combat encounters for adventures. As well as looking at the guidelines provided in the 'Dungeon Master's Guide' and 'Xanathar's Guide to Everything', Ben also gives examples of his own encounter made for a homebrew one-shot game, ' The Fate of the Egenon '. Chapters discussed: 'Creating Encounters' (p81...