Mastering Dungeons

Mastering Dungeons
Mastering Dungeons

RPG veterans and game designers Teos Abadía and Shawn Merwin look at the game and the hobby of D&D from a variety of viewpoints: reporting the news, understanding the business, reviewing the products, and illuminating the design. Whether you’re a fan, a player, a DM, or a designer, Shawn and Teos cover topics of interest to you!

  1. 18 HR. AGO

    Purple Dragon Knight and Oath of Genies Paladin! (MD 228)

    Episode 228 of Mastering Dungeons!  Main topic: Purple Dragon Knight and Oath of Genies Paladin! We take a look at new fighter and paladin subclasses coming in November to the Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide. How do lore changes impact the design? News: Free D&D Adventure, D&D on Netflix, WotC Hires Worldbuilding, and more! Contents00:00 Winter Fantasy Key Cards05:57 Flipping Campaign Script?11:54 Goal of Organized Play?31:24 Free Adventure Hold Back the Dead36:40 D&D Movie to Netflix US37:17 Daggerheart End of May39:13 WotC Hiring Worldbuilding Designer40:57 What World Should D&D Create?43:53 D&D Free Rules Adds MM45:03 Tangled in Shrouds46:53 Unearthed Arcana part 247:28 Survey is Up48:16 Purple Dragon Knight Lore Change54:51 Purple Dragon Knight Features01:11:54 Oath of Noble Genies Paladin Lore01:13:30 Paladin Oaths01:16:20 Noble Genies Features01:35:35 Shout-OutsThank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/  Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

    1h 40m
  2. FEB 5

    Forgotten Realms Unearthed Arcana! (MD 227)

    Episode 227 of Mastering Dungeons!  Main topic: Forgotten Realms Unearthed Arcana! New subclasses are out for playtest feedback and will be part of the Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide out this November. We take a look at playtesting and the first two subclasses for Bard and Cleric. News: D&D Movie Licensing, New D&D Books and Settings, Sigil VTT Changes, and more! Contents00:00 Winter Fantasy Cometh02:57 What RPG Jobs Do?20:36 Running Interesting NPCs?28:33 D&D Movie and TV Licensing34:10 Battlemarked Game35:05 New D&D Books Announced - Eberron38:59 Dragon Delves and Borderlands Starter40:18 FR Player's and Adventure Guide41:10 New Settings Coming42:20 Sigil VTT Changes45:05 New Fallbacks Novel45:27 Universal D&D Fan Fest Tickets Available46:01 Ethan Yen Launches PREQUEL47:39 Punch Nazis on Bundle of Holding48:25 Jared Rascher Hangs Up Review Hat49:34 Brandon Sanderson Lectures50:25 New Unearthed Arcana52:09 What is Helpful Feedback?01:03:44 Bard College of the Moon Concept01:06:24 Bard Subclass Benefits01:20:10 Cleric Knowledge Domain01:32:42 Shout-OutsThank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/  Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

    1h 38m
  3. JAN 15

    The Monster Overhaul! (MD 224)

    Episode 224 of Mastering Dungeons!  Main topic: The Monster Overhaul! Shawn and Teos review the Monster Overhaul, a book that irreverently aims to become an indispensable tool at your table, providing tons of ideas for fun monsters. News: Critical Role Publishing Deal, Chaosium $500 Convention Pack, Morale Rules, and more! Contents00:00 Back to Normal01:57 Desert Island RPG?06:26 Is 2024 5E Deadlier?14:58 2024 Distrusts DMs?31:33 Chaosium $500 Support Pack33:08 Mearls on Morale51:46 McMillan Carries CR53:25 Monster Word Play55:33 Public Domain Image Archive56:39 Cairn 2E in Spanish57:29 Shout Out to Luz_Tak58:11 The Monster Overhaul59:02 How Our Brains Work01:01:06 Book Introduction01:02:58 Do You Love Tables?01:09:23 Random Encounter Tables01:18:38 People01:19:23 Dungeon and Goblins01:23:58 Dragons01:25:10 Harpy and Will-o-Wisp01:27:10 Froghemoth01:27:43 Vampires and Biscuit Golem01:28:54 Eye Tyrants01:30:42 Overall Thoughts01:32:15 Shout-OutsThank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/  Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

    1h 36m
  4. JAN 8

    Monster Manual Previews! (MD 223)

    Episode 223 of Mastering Dungeons!  Main topic: Monster Manual Previews! Previews have begun for the 2025 MM! Shawn and Teos discuss the preview and just how hard it is to create monster books. News: Pinball Wizards, Most Anticipated RPGs, Singapore GMing, and more! Contents00:00 Rip Off the 2025 Band-Aid02:50 New Crafting Rules?11:29 Games for Campaigns vs One Shots?27:08 Pinball Wizards30:28 2025 Most Anticipated RPGs32:19 Appelcline's Year in Review39:45 Singapore Professional GMing42:40 Universal Fan Fest D&D Details43:58 Will Doyle on Directive 802045:53 Kobold Press Monster Vault 246:16 Shawn Merwin's Design Tips!46:59 Monster Manual Previews49:14 The Challenge of Monster Books51:26 Describing Monsters in the World57:38 New Art to Represent D&D01:00:52 All Paths Lead to CR01:09:35 What Changed and Monster Families01:11:45 Monster Type Changes01:16:46 Bloodied and Exhaustion01:18:29 Biggest MM Ever?01:19:49 The 2014 DMG is Bigger than 202401:21:07 Shout-OutsThank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/  Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

    1h 26m
  5. 12/25/2024

    The Psychology of D&D with Dr. Jamie Madigan (MD 221)

    Episode 221 of Mastering Dungeons!  Main topic: The Psychology of D&D! Dr. Jamie Madigan joins Teos and Shawn to explain that their dice aren’t cursed, the benefits of online vs in-person gaming, hot hand fallacy, and much more! Check out Jamie’s new book: https://www.psychologyofdnd.com/ News: Kobold Press Finances, Artificer on Unearthed Arcana, Goodbye Dark Alliance, and more! Contents00:00 We Got You a Jamie Gift03:18 Build World With Players?08:32 Death Saves Proposal?23:43 Unearthed Arcana Artificer35:19 D&D Secret Level Review40:47 Cyberpunk VG Adds RPG41:56 Kobold Press 2024 Finances45:14 Draw Steel Core Rules to Patrons45:54 Goodbye Dark Alliance47:17 Vote for Most Anticipated RPG49:45 Psychology of D&D50:19 Dr. Jamie Madigan52:06 Writing and Publishing Process55:22 Book Approach58:10 Psychology of Dice Randomness01:00:28 Gambler's Fallacy01:02:28 Hot Hand Fallacy01:04:45 Psychology of Game Choices01:08:37 Fewer Compensatory Options01:10:02 Satisficers vs Maximizers01:13:49 Benefits of Play01:16:25 Online vs In-Person Benefits01:24:59 Shout-Outs01:27:34 Find Dr. Jamie Madigan Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/  Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

    1h 31m
4.7
out of 5
166 Ratings

About

RPG veterans and game designers Teos Abadía and Shawn Merwin look at the game and the hobby of D&D from a variety of viewpoints: reporting the news, understanding the business, reviewing the products, and illuminating the design. Whether you’re a fan, a player, a DM, or a designer, Shawn and Teos cover topics of interest to you!

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