3 Wise DMs The 3 Wise DMs

The tavern. It’s the start of 23 different campaigns that DM Tony has been in over the last three decades. It’s a fantasy adventure trope and gets a lot of hate out there for being basic and unimaginative, but is that necessarily a bad thing?
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave return to our RPG Mythbusters series and test the myth, “Is a tavern the best place to start an adventure?” Will it be confirmed, plausible, or busted?
0:49 The return of RPG Mythbusters, all the way back to Episodes 39 and 42.

1:56 Everyone knows what a tavern is as opposed to, let’s say, a Paladin’s Chapel.

3:50 Taverns are a historically accurate meeting place; the true “town square.”

6:45 DM Dave returns to the Lord of the Rings novel and reminds us that Gandalf drops lore in Bilbo’s house for 25 pages. Taverns can be much more organic to reveal the plot.

9:50 The tavern affords an easy, stress-free environment to introduce the players and their characters to the story and the world – which can be especially helpful with new players.

14:15 Session Zero could be a “tavern” by providing an intro to introduce the adventure.

15:40 The type of game can change whether a tavern is a good or a bad idea; in can be a phenomenal time sink.

17:20 Our tangent into 7-11 and Denny’s being modern-day taverns when we were teenagers.

18:10 Implied consent: the unsaid agreement between DM and players that you’re ready to go on an adventure for the session.

24:55 What type of adventure/campaign are you running? That should guide how and where you’re starting.

33:08 Lore Tolerance: how Taverns and “In Media Res” starts allow you to control the flow of lore dumps.

36:45 DM Chris’ idea that combat is the best way to bring characters together: A Band of Brothers. And how DM Dave leaned into this for our Dragonlance campaign.

43:15 Final Thoughts: Myth Confirmed, Plausible, or Busted?

With our recent Forged in Fire article series, DM Chris realized how many Conditions that monsters have resistance and immunity to, especially in 5e. With that, we began to discuss how much (or little) we play with Conditions in our home games, and how that might be limiting what we can do to craft engaging, thrilling, and challenging encounters.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave delve into the Conditions mechanic (both in and out of 5e), the issues we have with some of them, what ones we find to be somewhat limp, and the ones we would love to use
more. We also delve into what we have found is a Condition we often times inflict on ourselves as DMs: Expectations.
3:00 DM Tony returns to his problem with Stun mechanics… all the way back from Episode #4!
4:00 Making your game challenging without having them turn into “Gotcha” moments for your players.

6:20 Developing encounters with certain Conditions in mind. DM Dave’s Lair of Dragansalor from DM Chris’ 12 person Birthday game.

7:45 Seeing Advantage and Disadvantage as a Condition.

8:35 The power of Conditions through multiple systems and editions.

11:10 Using Conditions to control combat… more interesting than bags of hit points.

13:15 How Conditions, like Stun, have the players control the combat. Should you change it?

21:40 Skills, Saves, and the Rule of Cool article link.

22:45 Expectations: Conditions we place on ourselves as DMs.

32:45 Heroes of the Realm (including our Star Wars analogy): Be excited when the players mop the floor with the bad guys, regardless of the Conditions.

42:05 Resource management, Short, and Long Rests as Conditions.

46:15 Final Thoughts

One of the beauties of TTRPGs is the ability to not just watch or read an amazing story, but to experience it… to create it. The mystery, the action, the climactic battle between good and evil; D&D gives us the ability to create our favorite stories.
One of the most important aspects of that, as the DM, is creating a level of mystery to the story that the players get the chance to uncover as they delve deeper into the adventure.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss a listener question about the mystery that they’re planning on having last for 10 levels and ask, “am I being cruel by leaving them in mystery so long?”
4:05 3 ways it can go: 1) your plot twist becomes campaign defining, 2) players will rage quit, or 3) it falls flat.
4:55 Your campaign is not a novel.

7:30 New players might not even understand what they’re choosing when they’re still trying to understand the game mechanics.

9:40 If you have something to get through to the players: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.

11:00 The difficulties of conveying the story in a spoken medium.

12:30 DM Tony discusses his difficulties in conveying lore-heavy campaigns.

14:08 What will the player’s choose? How this can affect the overarching campaign if its too set in stone.

16:25 New players might not be as new as you think with the advent of live-play games. But, then again, they might not remember what all the different dice are either.

19:05 DM Chris’ analogy of trying to teach something to someone and the lessons we can learn for in-game use. Listen for when the players begin to “parrot back” your plot drops.

23:50 The difference between YOUR reveal and THEIR reveal… tie the reveal to the characters. Matt Colville’s “A Tale of Two Campaigns” video.

28:40 For a campaign-defining mystery like “Mystara is dying,” there are infinite ways to create a breadcrumb trail for the players to pick up on.

35:55 Final Thoughts

Homebrewing has been part of the game since its inception. Hell, the game itself is a homebrew of wargames! We’ve discussed homebrewing in previous episodes and articles, but a listener asks the question about how to homebrew magic items and monsters from well-known pop culture sources (like Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere Universe.)
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss their top nine tips to pulling in objects and ideas from existing beloved pop culture properties and making them have the same level of gravitas as the book, series, or movie that they come from.
1:00 A Rock and Roll DM Tour Story.
2:05 A listener question about homebrewing monsters and items from The Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson from longtime listener Dr. DM, Jason.

4:30 Tip #1: Scaling homebrew to the tier that your campaign is in, for leveling systems like 5e.

5:30 Tip #2: Kitbashing from existing items, spells, monsters, etc. (like a Balor that turns into a demonic Bob Ross…)

8:10 Tip #3: Ask yourself 2 questions. 1) What is the world you’re pulling from? and, 2) How does the object, magic, or idea work in that world?

9:45 Tip #4: Benchmarking the magic, items, spells, etc. to what your players have and what the enemies have access to.

12:45 Our experience with this when we crafted He-Man’s Sword of Power for our Curse of Strahd campaign. Click here for the stats on DM Dave’s unique weapon for Strahd, Lament, the Impaler.

16:35 Tip #5: You can have it… you just can’t have it now.

21:45 Tip #6: Powerful objects don’t exist in a vacuum. The wars fought over Shardblades and the Spice Melange.

24:40 A tangent into how DM Tony’s famous barbarian, Hawk Morgan, has become “The Most Powerful Man in the Universe.”

26:20 Tip #7: Take into account how the object affects the campaign world (i.e. the Sun Sword in Barovia).

28:05 An example of Tip #5… the quest that needed to happen to craft Takal Aestar, the “Dragon’s Union” (our Sword of Power.)

30:50 Tip #8: Scaling up existing magic items and having them grow with the character (DM Chris’ Sun Sword/Holy Avenger, Drakmar Venges, the “Dragon’s Vengeance.”)

36:45 DM Dave’s Unique Paladin Longsword, Morthwyl O Duw.

40:00 Tip #9: Give powerful items and weapons some history, legends, and gravitas.

41:10 Final Thoughts

Birthday games. Several of our recent articles and episodes
discuss our passion for running birthday games for our game group, whether it
be D&D, the OSR, Avatar Legends, or the classic Marvel Super Heroes system;
it’s become our thing.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss the recent Birthday
Game they ran where The Doctor teamed up with the Sensational She-Hulk and
members of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to stop the impending Cyberman
invasion orchestrated by the wielder of the Cosmic Control Rod, Annihilus, and
do battle against the Brood in a giant Space Whale (believe us…. It made way
more sense at the table!)
We then discuss our 7 best tips to help you build your own
Very Special One-Shot for Birthdays or any other day!

2:20 Finding the right type of setting and property to
showcase the gift of the Birthday Game. DM Tony revisits his love of the
classic AD&D adventure, Castle Greyhawk.

4:30 Tip #1: Have a Solid Theme.

5:30 DM Dave gives a brief overview of the impetus for the “Lost
Episode of Doctor Who” that birthed this episode.

8:25 Tip #2: Use Existing Properties: How we’ve built
existing properties like Masters of the Universe into existing games, like our Curse
of Strahd campaign. Shout-out to the team over at Nerdarchy!

16:20 Tip #3: Choose the Best System for the Setting AND the
Players.

18:00 Tip #4: Go All Out. Terrain, minis, costumes… really
stretch your limits.

19:00 We revisit DM Tony’s Murder Mystery One-Shot that he
based off Clue.

20:19 Tip #5: Use the Players Favorite Character/Campaign as
the Focus.

22:28 Tip #6: Tie It into Your Existing Campaigns… and our overarching
Multiverse.

24:50 Tip #7: The most obvious… Focus on the Special Player.

30:45 DM Chris brainstorms planning a Birthday One-Shot in
real time.

36:45 Final Thoughts.

Inspiration. Along with Advantage and Disadvantage, its one
of the most streamlined mechanics in 5e. However, we all love to try new or
adjusted mechanics to continually improve our DMing. Fellow Wise DM Mike Shea
over at Sly Flourish shared an article discussing the Luck System from Kobold
Press’ Project Black Flag playtest.
In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss Inspiration;
how we use it in our games and the changes we have made and are thinking of
making to improve our games.
For all those Inspiration dice, check out our affiliate link
at FanRoll Dice to get 10% off your entire order.

3:00 Our recent Marvel FASERIP game that gave us some ideas.
Check out Professor Bill at Comic Book University.

4:15 Keeping track of Inspiration, both as a player and as a
DM.

5:20 How something like the Luck System evens out the power
differential between DM and players.

7:25 Our first change… DM Dave allowing DM Inspiration to
stack starting in our Curse of Strahd campaign.

13:25 How the idea of karma from the FASERIP system is more
than Inspiration.

14:16 We start to brainstorm, in real time, an idea to tie
karma and Inspiration together.

15:25 Bards… the pros and cons of the quintessential buff
and inspiration class.

17:45 Our second change… DM Dave using Inspiration as a
reaction for the bard from the One D&D playtest in our Dragonlance: Shadow
of the Dragon Queen campaign.

20:38 Our third change… DM Tony’s method of using
Inspiration and other rewards that are active for a single session.

24:08 Our fourth change… DM Chris’ method of Inspiration in
the form of Blessings, single-use Magic Items, and Campfire Tales in our Tomb
of Annihilation campaign.

34:30 Introducing the right amount of chaos into your game
and our return to the discussion about the location of the Sunsword in our Curse
of Strahd campaign.

38:50 A trip down memory lane when you could stack potions…
in your belly.

39:42 Final Thoughts.