The Whispering GM

-- Description -- How large is a dungeon in Dungeons & Dragons? How large should it be? And - when referencing old-school dungeon-delving play: at what point does the dungeon become a Mega-Dungeon? Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ( https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/ ) Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ( https://www.speakpipe.co...

-- Description -- Paid Game Mastering: brilliant? Foolish? Or just ... odd: a peculiarity of our times. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ( https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/ ) Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ( https://www.speakpipe.com/WhisperingGMPodcast ) ...or come hang out with all of us on Discord: ⁠( https://discord.gg/kQnrK...

-- Description -- The Bag of Holding: a classic staple of D&D, a common article sought after by parties on far-afield parties, and a short circuit around one of the core elements of the game: management of inventory and encumbrance. But is it actually a bad item - or have we, as referees, simply been including it wrong? Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ( https://clericswearringmai...

-- Description -- Tourists in the OSR ecosystem: who are they, why are they here, and is it really appropriate to use the term "Tourist" as an insult? Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ( https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/ ) Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ( https://www.speakpipe.com/WhisperingGMPodcast ) ...or come hang o...

-- Description -- Moldvayan Revisionism: one of the most damaging poxes and plagues of the modern OSR! But not really. ;-) In this episode, I speak to the propensity of B/X to fungate outwards into other games, how it can impact your experience and social media, and weigh whether or not it's a negative force on the hobby. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ( https://clericswearringm...

-- Description -- DragonRaid was an attempt to connect with RPG enthusiasts and to use that connection to educate and increase their faith. What did it do right? What did it do wrong? What can we do - as Christian gamers - to ensure our tables are authentic both to the game, itself, and to our identities in Christ? Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠https://clericswearringmail.blogspot...

-- Description -- Product Review: Flipping & Turning Magazine, No 5: Nautical gaming for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition, or other OSR-compatible system, in the age of (or spirit of the age of) sail. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ⁠ https://ww...

-- Description -- Continuing discussions of the Bronze Age from a gaming perspective. What some of its strengths are and how it fits into an OSR experience. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ⁠ https://www.speakpipe.com/WhisperingGMPodcast⁠ ...or join the conversat...

-- Description -- Bronze Age Adventure! Literature, history, and other reasons why antiquity is a good time to set your campaign - followed by some call ins! Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/WhisperingGMPodcast⁠ ...or join the conversa...

-- Description -- Does your campaign look like a Frazetta painting? Why not?! Make bikinis armor again: an exposé on the cultural reasoning behind playing a character who doesn't wear armor, but does like to get stuck in! Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ⁠ht...

-- Description -- The Dungeon Master Screen: do you use one? I do - but some other folks don't: why would they eschew this time-tested tool and why I think DM screens are great. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/WhisperingGMPodcast⁠...

-- Description -- Listeners call in to talk about time - some podcast friends call in and talk about timekeeping in their games as well as timekeeping in their lives: figuring out when to fit in the hobby and figuring out how to make the most of it while we're there; most in response to 1:1 Turn Tracking. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/...

-- Description -- Follow up episode - additional insights and answers, as pertaining to Ghouls and Ghoul Paralysis: less dangerous (or more?) than you think. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/WhisperingGMPodcast⁠ ...or join the conversa...

-- Description -- I had the distinct privilege over Father's Day weekend to meet up with Lungfungus - author of Actual Dungeon Mastering and the Melancholies & Mirth blog - to have a beer and chat about gaming until my wife dragged me home. Wash of topics - keep delving! Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the convers...

-- Description -- Do you time your players' actions in combat? You should! And here are three reasons why - from my table to yours, direct through the earbuds. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/WhisperingGMPodcast⁠ ...or join the con...

-- Description -- Ghouls - the iconic paralyzers and low-level party enders: capable of wrecking shop even on a mid level party! Or... are they? I revisit the rules as worded and cross reference them to concepts in Chainmail, revealing that in 0e, at least - Ghouls might not have been as powerful as they would, in later editions, become. Then, some call-ins regarding adversarial play (among which...

-- Description -- Call in show - listeners debate the fine points of adversarial play, as well as toss in some tokens for how prep influences their games - or vice versa: how their games have influenced their prep. Then - at the end - a quick promised health and sanity update from me for folks who were listening and concerned as of last time around. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠h...

-- Description -- Talking about prepping for your game. How much is too much? How much is too little? And how much can you learn from the mistakes of someone who has gone entirely off the deep end before? Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ⁠ https://www.speakpipe....

-- Description -- Having spent some time figuring out adversarial referees - what would then make a player an adversarial player? Exploring some experiences, ideas, and behaviors that may - or may not - make a player into an enemy instead of an ally. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a vo...

-- Description -- "I've been playing for 45 years and we never played that way back in the day!" A common refrain for long-timers trying to discourage playstyles differing from their own, I explore the possibility that the arguer might be remembering yesterday just as much as 1975. Then, following up, a note on my personal health, how it's been holding me back a bit from particip...

-- Description -- Happy Thanksgiving! Catch up and call in episode: talking about mercenaries, advancement, but mostly - maps, tokens, and VTTs. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ⁠ https://www.speakpipe.com/WhisperingGMPodcast⁠ ...or join the conversation on Spot...

-- Description -- User feedback focused on the use of maps - in the campaign, in the dungeon, in real life, and in virtual - as well as the implications of maps and all of the above on hirelings and henchmen. Bit of a variety show - very relevant to the OSR player experience. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversati...

-- Description -- Listener feedback exploring character advancement - first, talking a bit about gold for XP, classic D&D, and how procedural generation facilitates OSR dungeon design and frees your mind to make more interesting experiences; and then, moving into alternative advancement: not alternative mechanisms, necessarily, but new ways to interpret and play out character advancement in yo...

-- Description -- Vanishing Tower Jay is back to defend his honor! Spar once more with the metaphorical mapper: where he makes his case once more for maps as communication tools - not as physical artifacts! Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog: ⁠ https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/⁠ Want to get in on the conversation, yourself? Send in a voicemail on SpeakPipe: ⁠https://www.speakpipe...

-- Description -- There has always been a divide between Role Players and Roll Players - but what about Role Players and Players of a Role? This episode delves in to what "role playing" meant - or would have meant - to the original crew on the original game... and how it differs from what we think of when we say "role playing" today. Like what you're hearing? Visit the blog...