Dungeon Master of None

Matt and Rob dive into the good, the bad, and the tedious inside Paizo's new playtest for the 2nd edition of the Pathfinder Role-Playing Game. The rule book, bestiary, and short adventure path can all be found at the following link: http://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest

Matt and Rob are joined by special guest Natasha, an amazing DM and co-host of the Metamashina Podcast, a show about genre fiction from the feminine perspective. WARNING: SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 26 OF CRITICAL ROLE BEGIN @ [03:40]. Your DMs discuss how to handle character death, the problems of custom class mechanics, and fan reaction to the episode. [Discussion ends 40:10] Matt, Rob and Natasha are briefly distracted by Hasbro's bizarre announcement about D&D becoming an e-sport. [40:15] Natasha shares her experience running games in Numenera, Monte Cook's far-future rpg centered around exploration and discovery. [45:50] If you plan on running any type of post-technology adventure or if you just want to improve your ability to create ancient mysteries for your players to solve, give Numenera a try. It's a great system and setting for growing as a Dungeon Master! You can check out the Metamashina Podcast (and we recommend that you do) by following this link: https://metamashina.com

Matt and Rob discuss WotC's surprise announcement of a Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons crossover: The Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica. While we are mostly disappointed and unenthused about this mixing of games, your hosts try to salvage some useful silver linings in the upcoming Ravnica release. Then, Matt gets way into MtG's "Color Wheel" for a few minutes. On to what we really love: Eberron! For $20, Matt and Rob wholeheartedly recommend the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron. It's perfect for introducing your players to the campaign setting and for creating Eberron-specific characters in 5th edition DnD. The book has a great new set of rules for Changelings, Kalashtar, Shifters, Warforged, and Dragonmarked characters! Unfortunately, if you are DM, you will still need the 3rd edition Eberron Campaign Setting as well. Listen for our complete review of our precious first 5e Eberron book!

Matt and Rob recap the controversy over the new 5th edition of Vampire: The Masquerade. [07:20] This is a chilling reminder that the alt-right and actual Nazis are using our hobby—specifically fake controversies like Gamer Gate and DnD Gate—to recruit people to their reactionary and racist ideology. On to Unwanted Advice, the segment where we answer the questions you didn't ask about RPGs: How do you deal with flying characters at low-levels? [22:30] What is the best level to start your campaign? [30:00] Help! My DM is stealing from Critical Role. What do I do? [34:00] What is the best way to continue Curse of Strahd? (Minor spoilers for CoS) [42:20] Can I give my Warlock (5e D&D) a Shield at-will ability? [47:00] Should rolling a "natural 1" have additional negative consequences? [50:05] If you have questions about RPGs, DMing, or anything else, send us them to us at dmofnone@gmail.com!

DMs Matt and Rob bite into the 5th edition campaign: the Curse of Strahd! We just finished the whole thing and would like to en-frighten you with our experience. If you are considering running this campaign, then this is a must listen episode for any would be horror Dungeon Masters. Even if Strahd isn't your cup of blood, you'll find tons of great tips for running horror games and lessons for structuring your own narratives. Links: Save World History! A cool history and gaming conference in Michigan (call for papers) The Original "Ravenloft" Module (1e) The Ravenloft Campaign Setting (2e) The Curse of Strahd (5e)

Listen to a hungover Matt and Rob go over the news of the day, including the newly announced WotC module, an interesting Tweet from Adam Koebel, and more! Yeah, we're a little behind the curve, but tune in for a conversation about urban campaigns and GM fiat anyway.

Matt and Rob write a Dungeons and Dragons one-shot adventure on-the-fly in under an hour! Writing adventures is not hard or scary. It's something that just takes practice. We hope our brainstorming and adventure planning will help inspire and encourage you to get those plots prepped. The adventure will be available for free on our homebrew page about a week after release. Feel free to download and playtest our one-shot!

Matt and Rob share their first impressions of the sixth rule book in the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. There will be war. There will be blood. There will be a Blood War. Your hosts talk about the upgrading the Tiefling with the new stuff in this book. The new Githzerai and Githyanki are full of flavor and story-telling potential; the other section of races and sub-races for Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings not so much. Reprints abound! Wizards then makes us sad by putting Tortles and Giff into the book but not giving them racial stats for players. The monsters are great! We hit on our favorites (allips, chokers, and maruts). Rob and Matt chat about what lessons DMs can learn on how to modify monsters from the sections on Ogres, Drow, and Trolls. Link to the PF table of 100 tiefling traits. Link to Matt and Rob's Giff player species.

This week Matt and Rob talk mazes and monsters -- no, not the classic 1982 Tom Hanks movie about the dark side of gaming, we're talking Planescape, which is full of both! Your favorite DM duo talk about the theme and setting of the wackiest D&D setting out there, give some ideas on how to run a campaign, and generally geek out about what makes it cool. Make sure to listen carefully for a rare instance of Rob being BTFO by Matt on a rules question.

Lot going on here! Matt and Rob chat about the news of the week, talk elf phrenology, discuss the end of our recent campaign arcs, follow-up on a listener e-mail, and give some more unasked-for advice, addressing staying organized, homebrew content, and, of course, how to freedom. RPG Round-up 2:20 How to end a campaign arc and deal with players leaving 10:00 Follow-up letter 29:30 How to Stay Organized? 32:30 DnDWiki Homebrew troubles 39:00 How to create freedom 49:00