Mastering Dungeons

Latest Episodes:

Mastering Dungeons - GUMSHOE RPGs with Kevin Kulp! Apr 12, 2023

Show notes

Episode 134 of Mastering Dungeons!

This week's main topic: Kevin Kulp and the many GUMSHOE RPGs!

Designer Kevin Kulp joins us as we discuss how TimeWatch, Night’s Black Agents, Swords of the Serpentine, and many other amazing games all build on the excellent GUMSHOE system. We compare the design to D&D and share what we love most about these innovative RPGs.

News: D&D Summit, PH in the Top 100, Stranger Things animated show, Tales of the Valiant, and more!

Contents
00:00 D&D Summit!
04:19 VTT Hands-On
10:10 D&D Beyond
13:33 QA and 2024 Rules
23:02 PH Top 100
24:07 Stranger Things Animated
24:50 Tales of the Valiant
26:06 ORC License
29:05 Kevin Kulp!
31:49 GUMSHOE Overview
40:51 TimeWatch
42:20 Campaign Gameplay
57:19 Investigative Characters
1:11:26 Find GUMSHOE
1:14:54 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Mastering Dungeons - Theme and Genre in RPGs with Ben Byrne! Apr 05, 2023

Show notes

Episode 133 of Mastering Dungeons!

This week's main topic: Themes and Genres in RPGs!

What is meant by an RPG’s theme? What impact does it have, and why are some games better for a particular theme than others? Shawn Merwin and Ben Byrne discuss themes and genres and present examples in RPGs.

News: D&D Direct, Movie Success, VTT Preview, Hobby Grows, and more!

Contents
00:00 Ben Byrne!
02:11 Playtest Strategy?
05:58 WotC Taking CC?
10:20 Casters the Same?
14:04 Rogue Speed?
17:51 D&D Direct
28:09 VTT Preview
33:18 New Products
38:52 Movie Success
45:28 RPGs Grow
47:42 Alamo
49:55 Genre/Themes in RPGs
51:56 Why it Matters
54:42 Theme Types
1:29:06 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Mastering Dungeons - Rich Lescouflair and Esper Genesis Mar 29, 2023

Show notes

Episode 132 of Mastering Dungeons!

Support the Forge of Foes: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slyflourish/the-lazy-dms-forge-of-foes-for-5e?ref=e2zf6e

This week's main topic: Rich Lescouflair and the Esper Genesis RPG!
Rich Lescouflair joins Shawn to discuss the latest D&D news and Esper Genesis - his amazing sci-fi version of 5E D&D.

News: D&D Community Update, Choose-a-path Before the Storm, Donjon & Dragons, and more!

Contents
00:00 Rich Lescouflair
01:04 Fate Examples?
02:48 Narrative D&D?
09:28 Treasure in DMG?
13:23 Mundane Treasure?
18:28 D&D Community Update
25:55 Before the Storm
29:58 Donjon and Dragons
32:14 Kickstarters
34:02 Esper Genesis
35:39 Differences from 5E
37:33 Origin
42:08 Barrier Peaks
43:03 Design Decisions
48:24 Building Worlds
49:41 Game Loop
54:26 Dragon vs Spaceship
57:40 Advice on SciFi in DnD
59:30 Sourcebooks and Adventures
1:02:57 Find EG
1:06:56 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Mastering Dungeons - The 13th Age RPG Mar 22, 2023

Show notes

Episode 131 of Mastering Dungeons!

Support the Forge of Foes: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slyflourish/the-lazy-dms-forge-of-foes-for-5e?ref=e2zf6e

This week's main topic: The 13th Age RPG!
We take a look at 13th Age, an RPG inspired by the 3rd and 4th editions of D&D. Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet encourage greater storytelling and even a bit of chaos. Learn about these innovations and bring them into your game.

News: D&D Surveys and Playtests, Old Spice commercials, Action Figures, Movie Previews, and more!

Contents
00:00 Entertained
02:03 Playtest Quality?
06:59 How to DM?
10:52 Influencer Standards?
14:52 Key Anachronisms?
20:14 Surveys and Playtests
31:52 Old Spice
33:33 Sneak Previews
34:57 Weird Wizard
35:58 Action Figures
37:07 Kickstarters
38:09 13th Age
39:59 About the Game
42:02 Designers
43:52 Icons
51:13 One Unique Thing
58:37 Escalation Die
1:04:40 Monsters
1:07:57 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Mastering Dungeons - Fate Campaigns with Mike Olson Mar 15, 2023

Show notes

Episode 130 of Mastering Dungeons!

We both have Kickstarters:
Grim Hollow - Vallikan Clans:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/977277590/grim-hollow-valikan-clans

Forge of Foes: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slyflourish/the-lazy-dms-forge-of-foes-for-5e?ref=e2zf6e

This week's main topic: Fate campaigns with Mike Olson!
Mike has worked on many Fate projects, so he helps us look into Fate’s collaborative character and campaign creation rules, as well as comparisons to D&D and why Fate is such a great game.

News: D&D Community Update, Creator Summit, Movie Reviews, Nebula Awards, and more!

Contents
00:00 Ebullient
01:26 Edition Names?
08:32 Swapping Lineage?
12:41 D&D Community Update
18:32 D&D Movie Reviews
21:50 Movie NPCs
23:55 Nebula Awards
24:36 Creator Summit
39:06 Kickstarters
41:12 Mike Olson and Fate
48:26 Words Instead of Numbers
55:48 Dice and Success
59:59 Conceding
1:02:01 Character Creation
1:04:39 Collaborative Campaign Creation
1:11:11 Storytelling Aspects
1:27:54 Fate into D&D
1:29:37 Find Mike and Fate
1:31:41 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Mastering Dungeons - Fate Mar 08, 2023

Show notes

Episode 129 of Mastering Dungeons!

We both have Kickstarters:
Grim Hollow - Vallikan Clans:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/977277590/grim-hollow-valikan-clans

Forge of Foes: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slyflourish/the-lazy-dms-forge-of-foes-for-5e?ref=e2zf6e

This week's main topic: The Fate RPG!
We take a look at Fate's RPG and how different it is from D&D.

News: D&D movie directors speak, Acq Inc launching Series 2, A national research institute RPG, Books on Class, Kobold Press revises Tome, and more!

News: One D&D Approach Update, Paladin and Druid, Avatar RPG in Stores, Branded Meats, and more!

Contents
00:00 Basketball Big Boss
01:08 Class Caster Balance?
10:27 Movie Directors
15:50 Acq Inc Approaches
18:05 Research Agency RPG
19:18 Books on Class
20:39 KP Dungeon 23
21:16 Tome of Beasts Update
25:12 Kickstarters
27:29 Fate
28:34 Creators and Creation
32:04 Do Anything
35:57 Mechanics
38:50 Aspects
44:50 Skills and Rolls
51:11 Actions and Game Loop
59:40 Stress and Consequences
1:05:14 Shout-Outs
Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Mastering Dungeons - To Be or Not to Be a Villain Mar 01, 2023

Show notes

Episode 128 of Mastering Dungeons!

Teos celebrates the launch of the Forge of Foes Kickstarter, which you can back and preview here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slyflourish/the-lazy-dms-forge-of-foes-for-5e?ref=e2zf6e

This week's main topic: To Be or Not to Be a Villain, with James Introcaso and Rudy Baso!

We take a look at other RPGs and compare them to D&D, this time an adventure based on Hamlet with unique mechanics and created for both the Zweihander RPG and D&D 5E.

News: One D&D Approach Update, Paladin and Druid, Avatar RPG in Stores, Branded Meats, and more!

Contents
00:00 The Happy Way
01:59 One D&D Updates
11:30 Druid and Paladin
27:35 Avatar in Stores
29:32 WizKids Mimic
30:41 Monster Trailer
32:23 Branded Meat
34:01 Cool Name RPG
41:20 To Be or Not To Be
42:23 Rudy and James
43:22 Concept
49:07 Play Experience
52:11 Story Tokens
56:22 Plot and Backstabbing
1:01:16 DnD and Zweihander
1:09:08 Design Approach
1:10:40 Steal This
1:18:40 Find James and Rudy

Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Mastering Dungeons - Shadow of the Demon Lord Feb 22, 2023

Show notes

Episode 127 of Mastering Dungeons!

This week's main topic: Shadow of the Demon Lord!

We take a look at other RPGs and compare them to D&D, starting with Shadow of the Demon Lord. An incredibly well-designed game, Rob Schwalb delivers a death-metal RPG with excellent innovations.

News: Speak with Dead D&D Trailer, Hasbro Q4 and Monetization, Mangianello TV show, Latin America WotC firings, SRD in CSV, and more!

Contents
00:00 All the things
00:56 Character Differentiation?
04:05 Super Bowl Spending?
08:11 Speak with Dead
10:47 Hasbro Q4
16:12 Monetization
20:23 Mangianello Show
21:36 LatAm Firings
24:10 SRD in CSV
25:02 Valikan Clans
25:47 Other RPGs
27:28 SotDL Intro
29:24 Rob Schwalb
34:46 Ancestry and Attributes
42:35 Boons and Banes
46:10 Fast and Slow Turns
49:29 Skills and Corruption
51:51 Professions and Equipment
54:23 Varied Advancement
59:37 Campaign and Setting
1:07:10 Shout-Outs

Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Mastering Dungeons - Greg Marks and the AL Feb 15, 2023

Show notes

Episode 126 of Mastering Dungeons!

Main Topic: We interview Greg Marks, one of the administrators for the D&D organized play program, Adventurers League. We discuss his amazing introduction to gaming, organized play, conventions, and much more. News: Kyle Brink OGL Interviews, D&D Super Bowl Ad, Free Keys to the Vault Preview, Baldman Games Awards, Andrews McMeel shuts down RPGs, and more!

Contents
00:00 Winter Fantasy!
02:42 DM Second-Guessing?
07:31 Open Class Progression?
12:46 Producer vs Author?
21:06 Kyle Brink Redux
27:19 D&D Super Bowl
28:54 Keys Preview
30:16 Baldman Awards
32:24 McMeel Shutdown
33:38 Ed Greenwood Patreon
34:53 Cities Untold
36:10 Forge of Foes
37:31 Valikan Clans
40:54 Greg Marks and AL
1:23:48 Shout-Outs

Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Mastering Dungeons - Kyle Brink on the OGL and D&D Studio Feb 08, 2023

Show notes

Episode 125 of Mastering Dungeons!

Main Topic: Teos speaks with Kyle Brink, the Executive Producer for D&D. We discuss the OGL, how the D&D Studio works, what WotC has learned, and much more! No news this week due to the interview length.

Interview Topics

00:00 How Kyle Started in D&D
04:21 Kyle and the D&D Studio
19:18 OGL
23:59 Royalties
26:58 Content Standards
31:12 Share-Alike
33:18 OGL Process
46:56 SRD Updates
48:59 VTTs and Media
53:29 One D&D
59:36 Final Thoughts
1:06:57 Shout-Outs

Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected