Undercommon Taste

This week, we take a look at the Module Maker Kit for One Shot in the Dark, the solo-capable game written by Jon from Tale of the Manticore. Join us as we assess the advice, play with the Mythic GM Emulator, and start our work creating a module for One Shot in the Dark. We forgot to mention it in the actual episode, but you can find all of Jon's work on DriveThruRPG ( https://www.drivethrurpg.com/...

This week, we're turning back the clocks to look at some of the dragons from 2nd and 3rd Edition D&D which haven't been updated to 5E in official books. Join us as we discuss seven different types of dragons - each one interesting and, often, unreasonably deadly - that have been relegated to the annals of time.   Our website is live! Head on over to  undercommontaste.com  to find links to all...

This week, we welcome returning guest Clark (C.R.) Rowenson, who has come to discuss his new LitRPG novel Spawn Point. Join us as we discuss the his new book, the LitRPG genre as a whole, and some ways to adapt LitRPG into your tabletop games (and vice versa). You can preorder Spawn Point for Kindle here (Release date Oct. 24th, 2025): https://www.amazon.com/Spawn-Point-New-Eternity-Book-ebook/dp/...

This week, we make the best of our scheduling conflicts to talk about some of our favorite depictions of dragons in non-D&D media. Join us as we talk about some of our favorite dragons, what makes them different, and ways to change up how you run dragons in your game.   As noted, we had some scheduling conflicts come up and were unable to get our interview with C.R. Rowenson done in time for t...

This week, we return to our draconic conversation by visiting the third major dragon category - the gem dragons. Join us as we discuss these neutral, neurotic, and psionic dragons, plus how to incorporate dragons narratively into your game in a meaningful way.   The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is almost over! You still have until May 20th, 2025 to pick up this bundle, which you can find here: http...

This week, we're taking unconventional inspiration from the holiday season to discuss different ways to bring characters back from the dead. Join us as we talk about boons from otherworldly entities, reincarnation, reanimation, and what comes back when you call across the veil.   The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is also still ongoing, and it has reached its $20k goal! You still have until May 20th,...

This week, we're continuing our draconic conversation by discussing the metallic dragons. Join us as we talk about ways to play with the "physical vs. magical" nature of dragons, the evolution of metallic dragons through the editions, and some interesting ways to implement metallic dragons in your settings.   I mentioned a video by TikTok creator Felix in this episode. Here's a link to the video i...

This week, we're revisiting an aspect of a previous topic and talking about festivals. Join us as we discuss celebrations of all types, a food-eating contest minigame, and some ideas about how to implement these ideas in your home game.   As mentioned in the episode, we had another episode a little over a year ago where we talked about creating holidays for your game. There are multiple topics whi...

This week, we're fulfilling a promise from almost a year ago and starting our discussion about dragons. Join us as we briefly discuss D&D cosmology from a draconic perspective, followed by an analysis of the five primary chromatic dragon types - black, blue, green, red, and white - and some unconventional ways to incorporate them into your games.   The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is finally li...

This week, we're still talking about the economy, but not the monetary kind. Join us as we discuss different forms of player economy, from action economy in game design to how to prioritize which (and how many) aspects of gameplay you want to focus on with your players at the table.   As I mentioned in the insert at the beginning of the episode, we were invited by Eric and Matt to join them for Th...

This week, we're talking about economies. Join us as we discuss ways to use economy, currency, and wealth as worldbuilding tools.    The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is finally live! You can find it here: https://itch.io/b/2865/solo-but-not-alone-5   Here are a couple of bonus links for this week. First off, here's a link to YouTuber RamsesThePigeon's video about aluminum: https://www.youtube.com/w...

This week, we're taking a step back to discuss where we see the podcast now, four years in, and what we're planning to do in the future. Join us as we talk about why we're stepping away from making content specifically geared towards D&D, what we're going to do instead, and how we aim to get from Point A to Point B.   The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is finally live! We got word from Cat that t...

We're back in 2025! To kick off this year's episode lineup, we welcome back Cat from Peach Garden Games to discuss both the Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle and their Carta SRD (System Resource Document). The Carta SRD is a mechanical system designed to assist game developers with creating single-player RPGs powered by a humble deck of playing cards.  You can find Cat on BlueSky ( bsky.app/profile/catl...

This week, we're playing a holiday themed game of Kids on Bikes! Join us as we try to figure out how to play with Dr. Mary Crowell and Mike Daniel; our game may not be an ideal example of Kids on Bikes gameplay, but we sure had a whole lot of fun doing it.  This is our last episode for 2024. We'll be taking time off through the holidays, as we do every year, and will be back with new episodes in J...

This week, we're having a chat about Appalachia with our friend and West Virginia native Kelly West. Join us as we discuss the history and culture of Appalachia and some ways to incorporate it as a setting in your home games. Please excuse the quality of Kelly's audio. I cleaned it up as best I could, and hopefully the content of our conversation overrides any unpleasantness with the audio quality...

This week, we're talking about the Old Gods of Appalachia roleplaying game by Monte Cook Games. Join us as we discuss the inner workings of the Cypher system and how it has been modified to run games set in 1930s Appalachia.    To pick up a copy of OGoA, you can visit the Monte Cook website ( https://www.montecookgames.com/store/product/old-gods-of-appalachia-roleplaying-game/ ), or check your loc...

This week, we're taking a break from our regular episodes for a one-shot game of The Lost Bay. Join us as we try to find our way through the darkness and out of the mall. Special thanks to Kris for writing and running the adventure, and to Danny for coming on to play with us. Kris didn't have any media links he wanted to provide, but Danny can be found with the handle @dannyrmendoza on Twitter and...

This week, we're talking about Monster of the Week! Join us as we discuss the Powered by the Apocalypse system, monster hunting, and game mechanics, and highlight some of our favorite playbooks in the base ruleset.   At about the 30 minute mark, we mention a game where you play as cats. It's called "Magical Kitties Save the Day", by Atlas Games, and you can find it here: https://www.atlas-games.co...

This week, we're talking about Kids on Bikes! Join us as we discuss the themes and mechanics of the game, and culminate with trying our hand at character creation. Hurricane Helene hit our region of East Tennessee hard. While we both got out safe and sound, many folks in nearby communities weren't so lucky. If you want to help in this area specifically, please consider making a donation to the Eas...

This week, we (mostly) finish our discussion of the changes to the classes in the new D&D 2024 ruleset. Join us as we discuss quality of life improvements, forget to mention the rogue, and James voices his... opinions. As mentioned in the episode, one of the sources we're using to get our information about the new 2024 ruleset is the YouTube channel Treantmonk's Temple. You can find this chann...

This week, we welcome back Michael Ross from The RPG Academy and Rob Hilferty from Worldbuild With Us to play Michael's Ennie-nominated game Action 12 Cinema to celebrate our podcast's fourth anniversary. Join us for the second part of our play session, where we complete the Production Phase of the game, engaging in bad B-movie hijinks to discover the identity of the leader of the Vampires gang an...

This week, we welcome back Michael Ross from The RPG Academy and Rob Hilferty from Worldbuild With Us to play Michael's Ennie-nominated game Action 12 Cinema to celebrate our podcast's fourth anniversary. Join us for this, the first part of our play session, where we complete the Pre-Production Phase of the game, establishing the details of the crazy B-budget action film we will be playing through...

This week, we're continuing our look at the rules changes for the D&D 5e 2024 ruleset. Join us as we talk about the changes to spellcasting, weapon properties, and - despite our best efforts - as many classes as we can manage in the time allowed.  As mentioned in the episode, one of the sources we're using to get our information about the new 2024 ruleset is the YouTube channel Treantmonk's Te...

This week, we start taking a look at some of the new rules changes announced for the latest version of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. Join us as we discuss what's new, what's gone, and what's been clarified. As mentioned in the episode, one of the sources we're using to get our information about the new 2024 ruleset is the YouTube channel Treantmonk's Temple. You can find this channel at youtub...

This week, we begin our transition away from Fallout and back into our biomes series by talking about wastelands. Join us as we discuss types of wastelands, examples of wastelands from both media and the real world, and some ideas on how to implement different types of wastelands into your games.   Near the end of the episode, I mentioned a product (and then inserted a correction to get the produc...