Mastering Dungeons

4.7 (178)
GAMES
UPDATED WEEKLY

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!

22H AGO

How Good is D&D’s New Website? (MD 288)

Episode 288 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: How Good is D&D’s New Website? We take a look at D&D’s new site and discuss how well it works for new players, community, Baldur’s Gate fans, new Ravenloft and actual play reveals, and much more! News: New Ravenloft Details, Dungeon Masters AP, Daggerheart Hope and Fear, Legends of Greyhawk, and more! Contents 00:00 Little Giant Patreon Creations 04:13 Is 5E Oatmeal? 10:07 Montages? 21:28 Ravenloft Horrors Within Details 23:10 D&D's New Actual Play Dungeon Masters 25:42 Actual Play Play-Along Packs 27:37 Legends of Greyhawk on DDB 30:32 Daggerheart Hope & Fear Date 32:08 Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG 34:01 Dice are 12000 Years Old 35:58 Human-Made Alternatives Guide 36:44 Indie Groundbreaker Awards 37:28 Legends of Eleanora Charity Livestream 38:28 D&D's Website 40:50 Looking Back Through Newbie Eyes 45:43 Initial Welcome Screen 49:30 Discover the Feeling of Play 53:14 Your Inner Hero 01:00:34 CPU Intensive 01:02:17 Dungeon Masters New AP 01:08:04 Community? 01:13:21 Inspiring TTRPGs 01:14:38 Digital Games 01:17:14 Cinematic 01:22:19 Ravenloft Landing Page 01:24:58 Preorders and DDB Focus 01:31:44 Shout-Outs 01:36:47 What Are We Gonna Do? 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 38m
APR 15

Best of Storm King’s Thunder! (MD 287)

Episode 287 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Storm King’s Thunder! Bring the thunder with this giant-filled D&D 5E adventure! Shawn and Teos review what truly makes this adventure shine. News: Big Patreon News, New D&D Job Speculation, Hasbro’s AI Principles, Ravenloft Comics, and more! Contents 00:00 Back and Inspired 02:18 Big Patreon News! 05:12 Skip the Boring Bits? 17:19 New Ravenloft Comics 19:31 What a New D&D Job Tells Us 31:47 Evil Hat on Inflation 35:11 Hasbro's AI Principles 40:11 Darrington Press' Great Survey 44:37 Best of Storm King's Thunder 46:22 Storm King's History 52:03 Premise of Ordning and Shakespeare 56:31 Approach and Intro 01:08:31 Starting at 1st vs 5th Level 01:10:22 Chapter 1 Nightstone 01:17:38 Chapter 2 Choice of 3 Towns 01:20:01 Chapter 3 and Quests in the North 01:27:16 Chapter 4 Giant Temple 01:32:17 Chapter 5 Giant Lair 01:38:23 Chapter 10 Maelstrom and Storm Giants 01:41:23 Chapter 11 is James Bond 01:44:01 Chapter 11 Showdown with a Dragon 01:49:39 Shout-Outs and Patreon News 01:54:39 What Are We Gonna Do? 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 55m
APR 8

Best of Curse of Strahd (MD286)

Episode 286 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Curse of Strahd! One of 5E's highest-rated adventures! Jeff Mueller joins Shawn to discuss why it is so good and how Jeff is running it yet again - this time for Daggerheart! News: MegaDungeon Month, BG3 TV Show Delays, UA Villainous Options, and more! Contents 00:00 Introduction 34:29 Curse of Strahd 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 43m
APR 1

Best of Out of the Abyss! (MD 285)

Episode 285 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Out of the Abyss! Out of the Abyss may be one of the finest Underdark sourcebooks D&D has created… and it’s also an adventure! See what really shines in Out of the Abyss. News: We Try D&D Beyond’s Quickbuilder, Colbert Helms Lord of the Rings, Cookie Brigade’s History, and more! Contents 00:00 Teos Has a Sad 01:30 Elemental Evil Update 03:13 Indonesia RPG Scene Update 05:04 Fantasy Properties Into Games? 07:46 Quality of D&D Reviews? 13:48 What Makes Great Adventures 14:50 Starter Set Localized in EU 15:56 D&D Beyond Character Quickbuilder 17:47 Stephen Colbert Writing LotR Movie 19:27 Survey on Tabletop Designer AI Use 22:13 New Dragonlance War Wizards Novel 23:22 History of the Cookie Brigade 24:32 Tatters of Myth Drannor 25:15 Best of Out of the Abyss 26:11 Product History 32:41 Premise and Approach 35:54 Chapter 1: Prisoners of the Drow 42:55 Chapter 2 as Underdark Sourcebook 46:07 The Darklake and Kuo-Toa 49:01 The Instigating Plot 51:28 Gracklstugh, Neverlight Grove, Blindengstone 56:08 Escaping the Underdark to Go Back In 59:36 Mantol-Derith and Fraz-Urb'luu 01:04:42 Gravenhollow and Establishing Facts 01:08:32 Vizeran and His Plan 01:11:23 Wormwrithings and Faction Play 01:14:46 The Fettid Wedding 01:16:55 Against the Demon Lords 01:20:25 Appendices 01:22:27 Looking Back on Its Ranking 01:26:47 Shout-Outs 01:31:52 What Are We Gonna Do? 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 32m
APR 1

Shawn and Teos Do Things For the First Time!

Shawn and Teos Do Things For the First Time! Welcome to a special edition show, modeled after YouTube's increasingly hard-to-attain quality standards. Contents 00:00 First Read of ToEE! 00:26 First Time Rolling Dice 01:08 First Time Seeing 5.5 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.

2 min
MAR 25

Why is Temple of Elemental Evil So Good? (MD 284)

Episode 284 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Temple of Elemental Evil! Shawn and Teos dive into the classic Temple of Elemental Evil, inspiring countless spinoffs including 5E’s Princes of the Apocalypse. From elemental factions to demigods, we look at the best of this design. News: D&D Greyhawk Announcements, Codex Pricing Reveal, Modules Returning, RPG Growth in Indonesia and Iraq, and more! Contents 00:00 Sweetest 16 01:22 5E Monsters Either Boring or Deadly? 08:56 Struggling with Prep? 15:18 New D&D Survey 16:40 D&D News from GaryCon 26:51 MCDM Codex Pricing 28:28 Indonesia's Tabletop Scene 30:58 RPG Community in Iraq 33:16 Origins Game Finalists 35:01 D&D Provides Critical Awakening 36:46 Trading Card Manipulation 39:05 Green Games Guide 39:36 Pirate Borg Winds of Hell 40:07 Black Ballad for Shadowdark 40:43 Temple of Elemental Evil 42:12 An Often-Played Classic 44:53 Origins of Elemental Evil? 49:55 Temple's History 54:49 Temple's Legacy 56:51 Hommlet as Innovation 01:01:21 The Moathouse 01:04:25 Cults and Imprisoned Zuggtmoy 01:10:25 Lessons in Boxed Text 01:12:46 Map Booklet 01:13:51 Resting and Travel 01:15:40 Elemental Evil Factions 01:17:58 Interesting Dungeon 01:20:27 Shout-Outs 01:23:46 What Are We Gonna Do? 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 24m
MAR 18

D&D Encounters Program with Chris Tulach! (MD 283)

Episode 283 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: D&D Encounters Program with Chris Tulach! Chris Tulach, organized play manager for D&D, shares how the revised D&D Encounters program will work for stores and home play, including the upcoming celebration event! Chris also discusses the latest with Adventurers League and Legends of Greyhawk. News: No Tariff Lawsuits, NeoPets Withdraws License, Chris Cocks Interview, Codenames Critical Role, and more! Contents 00:00 Intro 01:40 Monster Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities? 11:35 Fair Stat Block Manipulation? 17:44 Tariffs Don't Require Lawsuits 21:49 D&D HeroClix 23:26 Hasbro's CEO on AI 29:15 NeoPets Withdraws License 33:15 20 Years of Kobold Press 35:05 D&D Reverse Dungeon Comic 36:02 Codenames Critical Role 38:22 Beyond the Silt Sea Annatan Coast 40:02 D&D Encounters with Chris Tulach 40:29 Chris' Path Through Organized Play 47:53 Longest Org Play Tenure 49:27 Goal of Organized Play 51:41 Measuring Benefits 54:52 Why D&D Encounters Rocked 01:04:37 D&D Encounters in 2026 01:06:32 Celebration Kick-Off Event 01:07:45 Seasons and D&D Encounters Timing 01:12:45 Encounters Through D&D Beyond 01:16:27 Working With Stores 01:17:48 Seasonal Cadence 01:20:02 WPN Store Incentives 01:23:37 Adventurers League 01:26:18 Legends of Greyhawk 01:32:55 Organized Play Options 01:37:06 AL and LoG Seasonality 01:39:22 Follow Chris Tulach! 01:42:31 Shout-Outs 01:46:32 What Are We Gonna Do? 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 47m
MAR 11

Matt Colville Blows Our Minds on MCDM and the TTRPG Industry! (MD 282)

Episode 282 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Matt Colville Blows Our Minds on MCDM and the TTRPG Industry! Matt Colville is here to absolutely blow our minds on how MCDM operates, how it pays, how it has worked to reach an audience, and what the rest of the industry might learn from that! News: D&D’s New Seasonal Roadmap, Is it Really 5.5, New D&D Website, What is Season of Champions, and more! Contents 00:00 Go Broncos! 02:03 Making Someone's Idea Ours? 10:52 Our Favorite Projects? 15:56 D&D's 2026 Roadmap! 17:11 Season of Horror and Ravenloft 21:16 Season of Magic and Arcana Unleashed 26:19 Season of Champions 27:33 Other Roadmap Items 30:32 D&D 2024 is 5.5 Maybe? 38:45 New D&D Website 40:48 D&D Beyond Q2 Partner Schedule 41:28 Creating Villains & Lairs 43:08 Matt Colville on MCDM 44:21 Matt's Formative Moment 50:45 What Led to MCDM? 56:31 Lessons from MCDM's 5E Era 01:02:00 Launching Draw Steel 01:09:30 MCDM's Financial Approach 01:15:03 Unique in the Industry 01:22:24 Redefining Industry Rates 01:27:20 Our Struggling Industry and YouTube 01:39:03 Perils of Distribution 01:47:08 Charting MCDM's Future 01:52:11 The Codex and VTTs 01:59:22 Shout-Outs 02:02:52 What Are We Gonna Do? 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.

2h 4m

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TRAILER

What Is 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. Each show typically has three segments: - Listener Questions - Industry News - Main Segment (review, interview, or focused topic) Each episode is one podcast on your podcast listening app. On YouTube, we provide each episode as two videos, so you can enjoy the Questions/News and Main segment separately if desired. Find our show notes and support our podcast and YouTube efforts: https://www.patreon.com/MasteringDnD Listen to us on your favorite podcast device: https://MasteringDungeons.podbean.com Chat with us on Twitter or Mastodon: https://twitter.com/MasteringDnD https://dice.camp/@MasteringDnD Find Shawn: https://twitter.com/shawnmerwin https://ghostfiregaming.com/ Find Teos: https://alphastream.org/ https://youtube.com/@AlphastreamRPG https://dice.camp/@Alphastream https://twitter.com/Alphastream Mastering Dungeons is a weekly podcast, made with care for your enjoyment.

11/29/2022

•

2 min

4.7

out of 5

178 Ratings

Great Job!

Mar 1

One Wise Dragon

I love this podcast and thank you for your work. I would like to nominate Phandelver as one of the greatest adventures, followed by SKT, for its modularity.
Masters of the Craft

Jan 17

Kreggar

Shawn & Teos do a great job of sharing their collective wisdom on such a huge variety of topics. Great commentary on the industry and hobby as a whole, supported by a wealth of experience that they share via excellent and practical advice for our games.
In-depth commentary and reviews

10/01/2025

the Shepster

Shawn and Teos have been in the industry for decades and have lots of experience under their belts. Their in depth review of rules and games and adventures always explore both the good and the bad. It is great to keep up to date with them and hear about the current state of RPGs
The #1 TTRPG Podcast

08/21/2025

Mister Lou

if you like TTRPG discussions, Mastering Dungeons is head and shoulders above all the others. So many TTRPG podcasts have too much banter and not enough fact. MD always does their homework first, and they often take deep dives into new game systems. Plus the hosts, Shawn Merwin and Teos Abadia, are working designers who have written for Wizards of the Coast, Ghostfire Gaming, MCDM, and other large publishers, so their opinions come from a well of deep experience.