Curmudgeons And Dragons

Latest Episodes:

Quizzes Redux Part 1 - Which D&D 5e Race Are You? Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

[#40] We get together to take a Buzzfeed-style D&D race quiz and see what happens. Essentialism aside, it's a fun exercise in exploring the assumptions the game makes about its core cultures, and we learned a little more about each other along the way.

There's a million such quizzes, but we used this one.
We didn't get around to the D&D Class Quiz, but we had one picked out.
As with D&D characters, there are levels of passive aggression.
Ancestry & Culture: An Alternative to Race in 5e from Arcanist Press is widely regarded as an excellent corrective to some of the problems with how 5e handles character races.

Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.com

• Theme Music:

º Crunk Knight by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3566-crunk-knight

• Transition Music:

º Thatched Villagers by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4481-thatched-villagers

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, Jim Crocker, and Greg Genovas

Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

Just Played: Odyssey Aquatica Mar 28, 2022

Show notes

[#39] Jim just played Odyssey Aquatica!

It's a playest for the Paragon system by John Harper. In this session, we mee the explorers, build our boat, and descend into the darkest depths of the Pacific to rescue the crew of a Sealab in distress.

The Paragon system debuted in the Agon RPG.
Odyssey Aquatica is availabe via Old Dog Games.
The game draws heavily from the Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Did you know we have shirts? Check out the STORE

• Theme Music:

º Crunk Knight by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3566-crunk-knight

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Written and Hosted by Jim Crocker

Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

RPG Horror Story: Quasimodo Is OP Mar 25, 2022

Show notes

[#38] In Greg's personal horror story, a Pathfinder (shudder) campaign goes off the rails thanks to, among other things, a militant pacifist, a BBEG with plot immmunity, and a bell that can't be unrung.

The hunchback has a long and storied history as a genre trope.
You will definitely want Tome of Beasts 3 when it drops.
Check out a few cool ideas for a pacifist cleric.

We tell horror stories every Friday! Check out our other episodes!

• Theme Music:

º Crunk Knight by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3566-crunk-knight

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

• Story Music:

º Crusade Heavy Industry by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4678-crusade-heavy-industry

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, Jim Crocker, and Greg Genovas

Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

DM Advice II: Means Girls vs The Mad Decapitators Mar 23, 2022

Show notes

[#37] It's our first DM Advice episode with the new crew! We try not to lose our heads as we talk about players made paranoid by the Feign Death spell, dumb magic items, excessive sassiness and tippling at the table.

There's an entire magazine devoted to sassiness if you need information on it.
Enjoy a D&D-themed beer if you allow that sort of thing at your table.
Join the conversation at the DMAcademy subreddit.

Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.com

• Theme Music:

º Crunk Knight by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3566-crunk-knight

• Transition Music:

º Thatched Villagers by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4481-thatched-villagers

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, Jim Crocker, and Greg Genovas

Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

Just Played: Old School Essentials A1-4 Mar 21, 2022

Show notes

[#36] Jim just played Old School Essentials!

We're using this popular D&D retro-clone as the backbone for our run through the classic AD&D A1-4 Slave Lord series of modules.

Old School Essentials is in print and available from Necrotic Gnome.
We organized this session via The Gauntlet Online Gaming Community.
Follow along in the official PDF reprint of the originals.
Check out AP video of our game on Mike's YouTube channel.

Did you know we have shirts? Check out the STORE

• Theme Music:

º Crunk Knight by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3566-crunk-knight

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Written and Hosted by Jim Crocker

Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

RPG Horror Story: Flapjack Is Dead Mar 18, 2022

Show notes

[#35] You'd think Planescape is a setting so cool you couldn't screw it up, but in this RPG Horror story from GenCon 1998, Jim (via his friend The Ferrett) impales that expectation on a wall full of razorvine. Jason, Josie, and Greg share in the horror.

GenCon is still going strong, fortunately.
Many veteran D&D players consider Planescape the finest setting ever released for D&D.
Jim's pal Ferrett Steinmetz went on to become a published SF author.
There's no official bariaur for 5e yet, which is a shame because they were the GOAT.

We tell horror stories every Friday! Check out our other episodes!

• Theme Music:

º Crunk Knight by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3566-crunk-knight

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

• Story Music:

º Crusade Heavy Industry by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4678-crusade-heavy-industry

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, Jim Crocker, and Greg Genovas

Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

Alternate Stat Generation Methods Mar 16, 2022

Show notes

[#34] Hello, adventurers! This week Jason, Josey, Jim, and Greg dive down the rabbit hole of generating player character ability scores in D&D 5e.

For some reason, some folks get pretty salty about the Standard Array
There are roughly as many ways to generate stats as there are DMs.
Jason cites the Tic Tac Toe method.
Jim is partial to the ability score draft.

Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.com

• Theme Music:

º Crunk Knight by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3566-crunk-knight

• Transition Music:

º Thatched Villagers by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4481-thatched-villagers

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, Jim Crocker, and Greg Genovas

Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

Just Played: Night Witches Mar 14, 2022

Show notes

[#33] Jim just played Night Witches!

It's a pbta game by Fiasco designer Jason Morningtsar, and tells the story of Soviet airwomen in World War 2 who flew WWI-era byplanes in night-time bombing missions against the Nazis.

Night Witches is in print and available from Bully Pulpit Games.
We organized this session via The Gauntlet Online Gaming Community.
Check out the History Channel overview of the 388th.

Did you know we have shirts? Check out the STORE

• Theme Music:

º Crunk Knight by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3566-crunk-knight

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Written and Hosted by Jim Crocker

Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

RPG Horror Story: My DM Killed Me Off Screen! Mar 11, 2022

Show notes

[#32] Jason tells the story about a group who killed a player off screen just because he got a girlfriend. Jason pines for high school, Josie and Greg agree, and Jim tries to remember high school.