Shows
Wandering DMs Season 072025 Year in Review | Wandering DMs Season 7 | Wandering DMs S07 E41Dan and Paul close out Season 7 of Wandering DMs with their annual Year in Review, looking back at what defined the season. They revisit standout episodes, recurring topics, and memorable conversations, along with the moments where the show broke from its usual patterns. From deep dives into core play procedures and campaign structure, to episodes shaped by history, live events, conventions, and special guests, this episode reflects on the full range of what Season 7 covered. It’s a chance to highlight what the season lingered on, where it experimented, and how those threads came together before turning the page to wh...
2025-12-1658 minWandering DMs2025 Year in Review | Wandering DMs Season 7 | Wandering DMs S07 E41Dan and Paul close out Season 7 of Wandering DMs with their annual Year in Review, looking back at what defined the season.
They revisit standout episodes, recurring topics, and memorable conversations, along with the moments where the show broke from its usual patterns. From deep dives into core play procedures and campaign structure, to episodes shaped by history, live events, conventions, and special guests, this episode reflects on the full range of what Season 7 covered.
It’s a chance to highlight what the season lingered on, where it experimented, and how those threads came together be...
2025-12-1658 min
Wandering DMs2024 Year in Review | Wandering DMs Season 6 | Wandering DMs S06 E41Paul & Dan look back on the year 2024 for the Wandering DMs. It's been a momentous year: The 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, a new version of the D&D game, the Chinese Year of the Dragon, in-depth looks at Original vs. Basic D&D, and special guests like Michael Moorcock, Luke Gygax, Jon Peterson, an Matt Finch. Share your high and low points, and we'll share ours!
A year-in-review is any sort of publication which is traditionally released on an annual basis to cover the events of the past year from the perspective of the contributors to...
2024-12-161h 00Wandering DMs Season 062024 Year in Review | Wandering DMs Season 6 | Wandering DMs S06 E41Paul & Dan look back on the year 2024 for the Wandering DMs. It’s been a momentous year: The 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, a new version of the D&D game, the Chinese Year of the Dragon, in-depth looks at Original vs. Basic D&D, and special guests like Michael Moorcock, Luke Gygax, Jon Peterson, an Matt Finch. Share your high and low points, and we’ll share ours! A year-in-review is any sort of publication which is traditionally released on an annual basis to cover the events of the past year from the perspective of the contributors to the publ...
2024-12-161h 00
Wandering DMsScaling D&D Adventures | Tips for Handling Any Group Size | Wandering DMs S06 E35This week on Wandering DMs, Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins dive into one of the most common challenges DMs face: scaling D&D adventures when the number of players doesn’t match what the adventure was designed for. Whether you're running a session for fewer players than expected or you suddenly have a larger group to accommodate, adjusting on the fly can be tricky. Paul and Dan will break down strategies for tweaking encounters, managing balance, and ensuring every player stays engaged, even when the group size shifts unexpectedly.
Without time to prepare in advance, making adjust...
2024-10-211h 01Wandering DMs Season 06Scaling D&D Adventures | Tips for Handling Any Group Size | Wandering DMs S06 E35This week on Wandering DMs, Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins dive into one of the most common challenges DMs face: scaling D&D adventures when the number of players doesn’t match what the adventure was designed for. Whether you’re running a session for fewer players than expected or you suddenly have a larger group to accommodate, adjusting on the fly can be tricky. Paul and Dan will break down strategies for tweaking encounters, managing balance, and ensuring every player stays engaged, even when the group size shifts unexpectedly. Without time to prepare in advance, making adjustments on the fly...
2024-10-211h 01
3 Wise DMsWhat I Like (And Hate) About You – 3 Wise DMs Reflect On A Decade of 5e and Share Tips That Will Make You Have Your Best D&D Game EverOn July 3rd of 2024, D&D 5e will turn 10! While it has taken some hits in those ten years, no one can deny the positive effect it has had on our TTRPG hobby, bringing in an entire generation of new players.With this anniversary, we started to reflect on what we have loved, what we’ve hated, what we would change, and what we look to for the future. And, as opposed to most of the posts we see on social media (like the DM who stated that a 1st level character could kill a Tarrasque?!?), this is...
2024-06-2353 min3 Wise DMsI Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In: 3 Wise DMs Discuss How Using Conditions Will Enhance Your D&D GameWith 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...
2024-03-3156 min
Wandering DMs5th Year Anniversary | 2023 Year in Review | Wandering DMs S05 E40Paul & Dan look back at the year in old-school D&D for 2023. And moreover, the first 5 years on Wandering DMs! What were your favorite encounters of the year? And what can we expect in the future?
The Wandering DMs YouTube channel has been a hub for tabletop gaming enthusiasts, offering a diverse range of content related to dungeon mastering, role-playing games (RPGs), and tabletop gaming culture. Over the past few years, the channel has gained recognition for its unique approach and commitment to fostering a supportive community.
One of the standout features of the Wandering...
2023-12-111h 03Wandering DMs Season 055th Year Anniversary | 2023 Year in Review | Wandering DMs S05 E40Paul & Dan look back at the year in old-school D&D for 2023. And moreover, the first 5 years on Wandering DMs! What were your favorite encounters of the year? And what can we expect in the future? The Wandering DMs YouTube channel has been a hub for tabletop gaming enthusiasts, offering a diverse range of content related to dungeon mastering, role-playing games (RPGs), and tabletop gaming culture. Over the past few years, the channel has gained recognition for its unique approach and commitment to fostering a supportive community. One of the standout features of the Wandering DMs channel is its rich...
2023-12-111h 03
Wandering DMsD&D Mentors | How Future DMs Are Made | Wandering DMs S05 E39In this episode of Wandering DMs, Dan and Paul discuss the role of mentorship in teaching D&D. How did the role of mentors help the spread of D&D in the early days? How has that changed over the years? And how does the game present itself to new players who aren't furtunate enough to have this kind of personal introduction?
The word mentor was inspired by the character Mentor in Homer's Odyssey. Although the Mentor in the story is portrayed as a somewhat ineffective old man, the goddess Athena assumes his appearance to guide young...
2023-12-0459 minWandering DMs Season 05D&D Mentors | How Future DMs Are Made | Wandering DMs S05 E39In this episode of Wandering DMs, Dan and Paul discuss the role of mentorship in teaching D&D. How did the role of mentors help the spread of D&D in the early days? How has that changed over the years? And how does the game present itself to new players who aren’t furtunate enough to have this kind of personal introduction? The word mentor was inspired by the character Mentor in Homer’s Odyssey. Although the Mentor in the story is portrayed as a somewhat ineffective old man, the goddess Athena assumes his appearance to guide young Telemachus in h...
2023-12-0459 min3 Wise DMsTribute to the Greatest Game In The World: The 3 Wise DMs Share The Lessons Learned From Running A 12 Player D&D Game12 players. 2 DMs. 6 dragons. Tiamat. 2 birthday cakes… and a whole hell of a lot of fun! As a companion piece to DM Tony’s recent article, the 3 Wise DMs are joined by some special guests to discuss and detail the lessons learned from running our largest endeavor yet – a massive, multiple-campaign ending game that required 2 DMs to pull off. If you’ve ever thought of running a massive Endgame-style game, or toyed with the idea of co-DMing, this is the episode for you!As always, please visit our affiliate link at FanRoll Dice to receive 10% off your entire dice and...
2023-09-171h 073 Wise DMsCome Together: 3 Wise DMs and Tabletop Journeys Come Together to Discuss the Best Tips to Running a Shared TTRPG Campaign WorldAt some point, most DMs pursue the idea of a world and/or a campaign where multiple DMs are running the game. This is an audacious and exciting project, so in this week’s episode, 3 Wise DMs teamed up with our friends, Lewanika, Josh, and Glen at Tabletop Journeys (www.TTJourneys.com), to discuss shared worlds, shared campaigns, and shared universes… as well as all the other discussions that happen when you try to corral six DMs into a conversation.1:33 The first ever DM Duet In history?3:00 Our first tangent… we discuss Dragonlance!7:25 Our se...
2023-06-251h 083 Wise DMsJust Do It! 3 Wise DMs Interviews a Brand-New D&D Enthusiast About the 13 Tips and Tricks to Mastering the DungeonNew DMs. It’s easily the most discussed topic in the TTRPG hobby. We’ve talked before about tips and tricks for new DMs looking to run their first games. However, this week, we got the chance to sit down with our return guest Chris and his brand-new to all things fantasy, D&D, and DMing friend, Lenny Szot… who decided to dive into the deep end and run his first game ever! Throughout the episode, we detail 13 tips and tricks to help but, in the end, Lenny’s advice is the most succinct: Just Do It!0:53 Guest DM...
2023-04-0252 min
Wandering DMs2022 Year in Review | Wandering DMs Season 4 | Wandering DMs S04 E47Dan & Paul look back at the state of D&D in this past year of 2022, and the 4th season of Wandering DMs. What were your favorites, what were the critical fumbles for the year? What themes were unfolding for the D&D community? We'll share our top memories, and some announcements for what we have in store next!
Watch the Wandering DMs Season 4 Playlist
Watch Games from the Elder Times Season 1
Watch Book of War Season 3
Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros...
2022-12-121h 02Wandering DMs Season 042022 Year in Review | Wandering DMs Season 4 | Wandering DMs S04 E47Dan & Paul look back at the state of D&D in this past year of 2022, and the 4th season of Wandering DMs. What were your favorites, what were the critical fumbles for the year? What themes were unfolding for the D&D community? We’ll share our top memories, and some announcements for what we have in store next! Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D toda...
2022-12-121h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Keith Ammann | How to Defend Your Lair | Wandering DMs S04 E44Paul & Dan chat with Keith Ammann (“The Monsters Know What They’re Doing”) on his newest book of dungeon design principles, “How to Defend Your Lair”! In How to Defend Your Lair, gamemaster Keith Ammann pulls back the curtain on an underrated but crucial part of any tabletop roleplaying game: the theater of battle. Say goodbye to encounters in randomly generated dungeons and hello to a game in which where the fight takes place is just as important as who is doing the fighting. This book teaches you how to use real-world principles of building security and area defense to create str...
2022-11-211h 02Wandering DMsLocation, Location | Where You Play Is How You Play | Wandering DMs S04 E43Dan & Paul reflect on their long history of playing RPGs in a wide variety of sometimes unusual locations, and how that can affect the play of your D&D games for better & worse!
Feng shui has found many uses. Landscape ecologists often find traditional feng shui an interesting study. In many cases, the only remaining patches of Asian old forest are "feng shui woods", associated with cultural heritage, historical continuity, and the preservation of various flora and fauna species. Some researchers interpret the presence of these woods as indicators that the "healthy homes", sustainability and environmental components...
2022-11-161h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Location, Location | Where You Play Is How You Play | Wandering DMs S04 E43Dan & Paul reflect on their long history of playing RPGs in a wide variety of sometimes unusual locations, and how that can affect the play of your D&D games for better & worse! Feng shui has found many uses. Landscape ecologists often find traditional feng shui an interesting study. In many cases, the only remaining patches of Asian old forest are “feng shui woods”, associated with cultural heritage, historical continuity, and the preservation of various flora and fauna species. Some researchers interpret the presence of these woods as indicators that the “healthy homes”, sustainability and environmental components of traditional feng shui sho...
2022-11-161h 02Wandering DMsHaunted Houses | Dreadful Dwellings in D&D | Wandering DMs S04 E42Paul & Dan look back at their favorite "Haunted House" adventures for D&D games. From Tegel Manor to Saltmarsh to Castle Amber and Ravenloft, we'll assess what works best and what doesn't for a truly terrifying D&D game!
Legends about haunted houses have long appeared in literature. The earliest surviving report of a haunted house comes from a letter written by Pliny the Younger (61 – c. 112 CE) to his patron Lucias Sura, in which he describes a haunted villa in Athens.[50] Nobody would live in the house until the philosopher Athenodorus (c. 74 BCE – 7 CE) arrived in the city...
2022-11-011h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Haunted Houses | Dreadful Dwellings in D&D | Wandering DMs S04 E42Paul & Dan look back at their favorite “Haunted House” adventures for D&D games. From Tegel Manor to Saltmarsh to Castle Amber and Ravenloft, we’ll assess what works best and what doesn’t for a truly terrifying D&D game! Legends about haunted houses have long appeared in literature. The earliest surviving report of a haunted house comes from a letter written by Pliny the Younger (61 – c. 112 CE) to his patron Lucias Sura, in which he describes a haunted villa in Athens.[50] Nobody would live in the house until the philosopher Athenodorus (c. 74 BCE – 7 CE) arrived in the city. He was tempt...
2022-11-011h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Jim Davis | Web DM vs. One D&D | Wandering DMs S04 E41Dan & Paul chat with Jim Davis, the wizard of Web DM, and get his thoughts on the rules drops so far for One D&D, the playtest for the upcoming next-edition of Dungeons & Dragons! Jim Davis, the Web DM, creates RPG advice and actual play content on YouTube, Patreon, and Twitch. Through professionally produced, carefully researched conversations about all aspects of tabletop gaming, deep topic podcast dives, and heartfelt actual play streaming, Web DM has become one of the most popular RPG internet content creation companies in the world. They’re lifelong friends and D&D players who want to sh...
2022-10-261h 02Wandering DMsJim Davis | Web DM vs. One D&D | Wandering DMs S04 E41Dan & Paul chat with Jim Davis, the wizard of Web DM, and get his thoughts on the rules drops so far for One D&D, the playtest for the upcoming next-edition of Dungeons & Dragons!
Jim Davis, the Web DM, creates RPG advice and actual play content on YouTube, Patreon, and Twitch. Through professionally produced, carefully researched conversations about all aspects of tabletop gaming, deep topic podcast dives, and heartfelt actual play streaming, Web DM has become one of the most popular RPG internet content creation companies in the world. They're lifelong friends and D&D players who...
2022-10-261h 02Wandering DMsMatt Finch | And the Tome of Adventure Design | Wandering DMs S04 E40Dan & Paul chat with Matt Finch, creator of Swords & Wizardry, about his Revised Tome of Adventure Design!
Tome of Adventure Design is a comprehensive, start-to-finish resource for designing fantasy adventures for your favorite tabletop role-playing game. It is system neutral, and can be used with virtually any fantasy game. This book includes random generation tables for almost every step of the design process: locations, villainous plots, designing new monsters, and bizarre environments in strange, unknown planes of existence. Thousands of micro-prompts in the margins add additional brainstorming power to the process, and the book is filled with...
2022-10-181h 00Wandering DMs Season 04Matt Finch | And the Tome of Adventure Design | Wandering DMs S04 E40Dan & Paul chat with Matt Finch, creator of Swords & Wizardry, about his Revised Tome of Adventure Design! Tome of Adventure Design is a comprehensive, start-to-finish resource for designing fantasy adventures for your favorite tabletop role-playing game. It is system neutral, and can be used with virtually any fantasy game. This book includes random generation tables for almost every step of the design process: locations, villainous plots, designing new monsters, and bizarre environments in strange, unknown planes of existence. Thousands of micro-prompts in the margins add additional brainstorming power to the process, and the book is filled with design advice from...
2022-10-181h 00Wandering DMsStrongholds in D&D | Unreal Estate for Players | Wandering DMs S04 E39Paul & Dan chat about bases for player characters in D&D -- strongholds, ships, taverns, houses, and more!
European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. These nobles built castles to control the area immediately surrounding them and the castles were both offensive and defensive structures; they provided a base from which raids could be launched as well as offered protection from enemies. Although their military origins are often emphasized in castle studies, the structures also served as...
2022-10-111h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Strongholds in D&D | Unreal Estate for Players | Wandering DMs S04 E39Paul & Dan chat about bases for player characters in D&D — strongholds, ships, taverns, houses, and more! European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. These nobles built castles to control the area immediately surrounding them and the castles were both offensive and defensive structures; they provided a base from which raids could be launched as well as offered protection from enemies. Although their military origins are often emphasized in castle studies, the structures also served as centers of administration and sy...
2022-10-111h 02Wandering DMsOne D&D Expert Classes | Rogues, Rangers, and Bards | Wandering DMs S04 E38Dan & Paul turn a critical eye to the new One D&D (6E) rules draft on the Expert Class group: Rogues, Rangers, and Bards!
In August 2022, Wizards announced that the next phase of major changes for Dungeons & Dragons would occur under the One D&D initiative which includes a public playtest of the next version of Dungeons & Dragons. Revised editions of the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide are scheduled to be released in 2024. The first public playtest, Unearthed Arcana: Character Origins, was released on D&D Beyond on August 18. Samantha Nelson, for Polygon, commented...
2022-10-041h 02Wandering DMs Season 04One D&D Expert Classes | Rogues, Rangers, and Bards | Wandering DMs S04 E38Dan & Paul turn a critical eye to the new One D&D (6E) rules draft on the Expert Class group: Rogues, Rangers, and Bards! In August 2022, Wizards announced that the next phase of major changes for Dungeons & Dragons would occur under the One D&D initiative which includes a public playtest of the next version of Dungeons & Dragons. Revised editions of the Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide are scheduled to be released in 2024. The first public playtest, Unearthed Arcana: Character Origins, was released on D&D Beyond on August 18. Samantha Nelson, for Polygon, commented that publ...
2022-10-041h 02Wandering DMsGriffith Morgan | Exploring Tonisborg | Wandering DMs S04 E37Dan & Paul chat with Griffith Morgan about the new upcoming Kickstarter for the Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg!
In 1971, Greg Svenson and his friends took part in the very first dungeon adventure game, Blackmoor, created by their friend, Dave Arneson. Then, in the summer of 1973, as Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax worked to complete the manuscript for Dungeons & Dragons, Greg was given a play-test copy of this novel new game. He used these rules to create his own adventure dungeon, The Dungeons of Tonisborg.
One day, Greg loaned his maps to a friend to make copies...
2022-10-011h 03Wandering DMs Season 04Griffith Morgan | Exploring Tonisborg | Wandering DMs S04 E37Dan & Paul chat with Griffith Morgan about the new upcoming Kickstarter for the Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg! In 1971, Greg Svenson and his friends took part in the very first dungeon adventure game, Blackmoor, created by their friend, Dave Arneson. Then, in the summer of 1973, as Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax worked to complete the manuscript for Dungeons & Dragons, Greg was given a play-test copy of this novel new game. He used these rules to create his own adventure dungeon, The Dungeons of Tonisborg. One day, Greg loaned his maps to a friend to make copies. An unexpected disaster struck: the...
2022-10-011h 03Wandering DMsAlyssa Faden | Maps the D&D Universe | Wandering DMs S04 E36Dan chats with Alyssa Faden, mapmaker extraordinaire, about her projects mapping the worlds of Greyhawk and the rest of the D&D cosmos!
Alyssa has been a professional cartographer and GenCon panelist since 2012. Her clientele includes Monte Cook Games, Kobold Press, Profantasy Software, Gygax Magazine, Golden Goblin Press, and Frog God Games. Her style is unique and self-taught, with influences from the lovely ink work of such greats as Jeff Laubenstein and Jeff Easley. And she's a long time Blue/Red box gamer with a passion for tabletop gaming and game mastering, and these decades of imagination...
2022-09-201h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Alyssa Faden | Maps the D&D Universe | Wandering DMs S04 E36Dan chats with Alyssa Faden, mapmaker extraordinaire, about her projects mapping the worlds of Greyhawk and the rest of the D&D cosmos! Alyssa has been a professional cartographer and GenCon panelist since 2012. Her clientele includes Monte Cook Games, Kobold Press, Profantasy Software, Gygax Magazine, Golden Goblin Press, and Frog God Games. Her style is unique and self-taught, with influences from the lovely ink work of such greats as Jeff Laubenstein and Jeff Easley. And she’s a long time Blue/Red box gamer with a passion for tabletop gaming and game mastering, and these decades of imagination and storytelling co...
2022-09-201h 02Wandering DMsSlimes in D&D | Calling the Cleanup Crew | Wandering DMs S04 E35Paul & Dan chat about slimes, molds, oozes, and deadly gelatinous horrors in D&D. Gross!
Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to several kinds of unrelated eukaryotic organisms with a life cycle that includes a free-living single-celled stage and the formation of spores. Spores are often produced in macroscopic multicellular or multinucleate fruiting bodies which may be formed through aggregation or fusion. Slime molds were formerly classified as fungi but are no longer considered part of that kingdom. Although not forming a single monophyletic clade, they are grouped within the paraphyletic group, Protista.
2022-09-141h 01Wandering DMs Season 04Slimes in D&D | Calling the Cleanup Crew | Wandering DMs S04 E35Paul & Dan chat about slimes, molds, oozes, and deadly gelatinous horrors in D&D. Gross! Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to several kinds of unrelated eukaryotic organisms with a life cycle that includes a free-living single-celled stage and the formation of spores. Spores are often produced in macroscopic multicellular or multinucleate fruiting bodies which may be formed through aggregation or fusion. Slime molds were formerly classified as fungi but are no longer considered part of that kingdom. Although not forming a single monophyletic clade, they are grouped within the paraphyletic group, Protista. More than 900 species...
2022-09-141h 01Wandering DMsFantasy Languages | Watcha Talkin’ About? | Wandering DMs S04 E34Dan & Paul chat about the state of languages in D&D and other fantasy RPGs.
Tolkien was of the opinion that the invention of an artistic language in order to be convincing and pleasing must include not only the language's historical development, but also the history of its speakers, and especially the mythology associated with both the language and the speakers. It was this idea that an "Elvish language" must be associated with a complex history and mythology of the Elves that was at the core of the development of Tolkien's legendarium.
Tolkien wrote in...
2022-09-091h 05Wandering DMs Season 04Fantasy Languages | Watcha Talkin’ About? | Wandering DMs S04 E34Dan & Paul chat about the state of languages in D&D and other fantasy RPGs. Tolkien was of the opinion that the invention of an artistic language in order to be convincing and pleasing must include not only the language’s historical development, but also the history of its speakers, and especially the mythology associated with both the language and the speakers. It was this idea that an “Elvish language” must be associated with a complex history and mythology of the Elves that was at the core of the development of Tolkien’s legendarium. Tolkien wrote in one of his letters...
2022-09-091h 05Wandering DMsWhat’s Up With One D&D | Threat or Menace? | Wandering DMs S04 E33Paul & Dan assess the information so far on the next edition of D&D after 5E.
In August 2022, Wizards announced that the next phase of major changes for Dungeons & Dragons would occur under the One D&D initiative which includes a public playtest of the next version of Dungeons & Dragons. Revised editions of the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide are scheduled to be released in 2024. The first public playtest, Unearthed Arcana: Character Origins, was released on D&D Beyond on August 18. Samantha Nelson, for Polygon, commented that public playtest material should not be "considered...
2022-09-071h 01Wandering DMs Season 04What’s Up With One D&D | Threat or Menace? | Wandering DMs S04 E33Paul & Dan assess the information so far on the next edition of D&D after 5E. In August 2022, Wizards announced that the next phase of major changes for Dungeons & Dragons would occur under the One D&D initiative which includes a public playtest of the next version of Dungeons & Dragons. Revised editions of the Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide are scheduled to be released in 2024. The first public playtest, Unearthed Arcana: Character Origins, was released on D&D Beyond on August 18. Samantha Nelson, for Polygon, commented that public playtest material should not be “considered final”. Nelson w...
2022-09-071h 01Wandering DMsD&D Stat Generation | Methods & Measures | Wandering DMs S04 E32Dan & Paul survey the different options across the years for D&D PC ability score generation.
Which is best for your D&D game? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Dan & Paul get into the nitty-gritty in this episode.
In original D&D, ability scores were determined by "roll[ing] three six-sided dice in order to rate each [character] as to various abilities". This had a significant impact on later character creations as "certain classes could only be taken up by characters with the right combination of statistics. As a result, players often"...
2022-09-0559 minWandering DMs Season 04D&D Stat Generation | Methods & Measures | Wandering DMs S04 E32Dan & Paul survey the different options across the years for D&D PC ability score generation. Which is best for your D&D game? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Dan & Paul get into the nitty-gritty in this episode. In original D&D, ability scores were determined by “roll[ing] three six-sided dice in order to rate each [character] as to various abilities”. This had a significant impact on later character creations as “certain classes could only be taken up by characters with the right combination of statistics. As a result, players often” re-rolled characters until they ended up with...
2022-09-0559 min3 Wise DMsFinish Your Homebrew Campaign With a Bang: DMs’ Breakdown of the Epic Ending of the Woodstock WanderersHow do you bring a 4-year Dungeons & Dragons campaign to a satisfying, epic ending? With an epic, solo boss. Some would say you shouldn’t do that in D&D 5E because the action economy favors a more numerically balanced battle. But with seven level-15 PCs, that’s exactly how we finished off the main quest in DM Thorin’s homebrew, mostly improv, campaign.We realize that reviewing a homebrew campaign is different from Curse of Strahd or Storm King’s Thunder – after all, you can’t go pick up the contents of Thorin’s head at the bookstore...
2022-09-041h 16Wandering DMsJason Morningstar | Playing at Desperation | Wandering DMs S04 E31Paul & Dan chat with Jason Morningstar, creator of Fiasco, Desperation, and other great RPGs.
Jason Morningstar is an American indie role-playing game designer, publishing mostly through Bully Pulpit Games. Morningstar's games often lack a Game Master and are often set in situations that quickly go unfortunately for the player characters. Grey Ranks (2007), for example, is about doomed child soldiers in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, and Fiasco (2009) is about impulsive crooks pulling heists that are sure to go terribly wrong. With these two games, Morningstar became the only named person to have won the Diana Jones award twice as...
2022-08-221h 03Wandering DMs Season 04Jason Morningstar | Playing at Desperation | Wandering DMs S04 E31Paul & Dan chat with Jason Morningstar, creator of Fiasco, Desperation, and other great RPGs. Jason Morningstar is an American indie role-playing game designer, publishing mostly through Bully Pulpit Games. Morningstar’s games often lack a Game Master and are often set in situations that quickly go unfortunately for the player characters. Grey Ranks (2007), for example, is about doomed child soldiers in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, and Fiasco (2009) is about impulsive crooks pulling heists that are sure to go terribly wrong. With these two games, Morningstar became the only named person to have won the Diana Jones award twice as of 2013. Morningstar al...
2022-08-221h 03Wandering DMs Season 04Death of the DM | Wandering DMs S04 E30Paul & Dan chat about the history of attempts to remove the DM from D&D games. The Dungeon Master (DM) assumes the role of the game master or referee and describes for other players what they perceive in this imaginary world, and what effects their actions have. That person is responsible for preparing each game session, and must have a thorough understanding of the game rules. The DM is responsible for narrative flow, creating the scenario and setting in which the game takes place, maintaining the pace and providing dynamic feedback. In storyteller role, the DM is responsible for describing...
2022-08-2058 minWandering DMsDeath of the DM | Wandering DMs S04 E30Paul & Dan chat about the history of attempts to remove the DM from D&D games.
The Dungeon Master (DM) assumes the role of the game master or referee and describes for other players what they perceive in this imaginary world, and what effects their actions have. That person is responsible for preparing each game session, and must have a thorough understanding of the game rules.
The DM is responsible for narrative flow, creating the scenario and setting in which the game takes place, maintaining the pace and providing dynamic feedback. In storyteller role, the...
2022-08-2058 minWandering DMsNecromancer Games | Whisper & Venom | Wandering DMs S04 E29Dan & Paul chat with Zach Glazar of Necromancer Games on their new Kickstarter!
Whisper & Venom, the acclaimed adventure setting, is being resurrected and expanded for Fifth Edition and Old-School Essentials. Originally released in 2013 by Necromancer Games’ very own Zach Glazar under his publishing venture Lesser Gnome, Whisper & Venom’s success was a surprise to everybody, especially its author. After many years of disingenuous promises, Whisper & Venom is here, and it is bigger, better, and more beautiful than ever.
It will be a full-color, hardcover book written for Old-School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome or the ever-popular Fift...
2022-08-181h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Necromancer Games | Whisper & Venom | Wandering DMs S04 E29Dan & Paul chat with Zach Glazar of Necromancer Games on their new Kickstarter! Whisper & Venom, the acclaimed adventure setting, is being resurrected and expanded for Fifth Edition and Old-School Essentials. Originally released in 2013 by Necromancer Games’ very own Zach Glazar under his publishing venture Lesser Gnome, Whisper & Venom’s success was a surprise to everybody, especially its author. After many years of disingenuous promises, Whisper & Venom is here, and it is bigger, better, and more beautiful than ever. It will be a full-color, hardcover book written for Old-School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome or the ever-popular Fifth Edition system. In addition, many...
2022-08-181h 02Wandering DMsJousting in Original D&D | Live Tournament | Wandering DMs S04 E28Dan is challenged by viewer Stephen Wendell to an old-school D&D Jousting tourney!
How was Jousting in Original D&D performed? It referred back to the mini-game in the pre-D&D Chainmail ruleset by Gygax and Perren. Players took the role of armored knights, and on each pass picked a defensive posture and an aiming point, and consulted a matrix for the effect of the pass. No dice or random outcomes involved, it's purely a test of player skill! Some of us still use it in our D&D games today, and it's a featured event...
2022-08-161h 04Wandering DMs Season 04Jousting in Original D&D | Live Tournament | Wandering DMs S04 E28Dan is challenged by viewer Stephen Wendell to an old-school D&D Jousting tourney! How was Jousting in Original D&D performed? It referred back to the mini-game in the pre-D&D Chainmail ruleset by Gygax and Perren. Players took the role of armored knights, and on each pass picked a defensive posture and an aiming point, and consulted a matrix for the effect of the pass. No dice or random outcomes involved, it’s purely a test of player skill! Some of us still use it in our D&D games today, and it’s a featured event every spri...
2022-08-161h 04Wandering DMsDinosaurs in D&D | Real Terrible Lizards | Wandering DMs S04 E27Paul & Dan discuss the presence of Dinosaurs in D&D!
Do you love D&D? Do you love Dinosaurs? Well, if you're like us, it's a lock you'll want to run your PCs up against these terrible lizards, and maybe part of your campaign is a "Lost World" where dinosaurs roam in great numbers. But is that a good idea, or does it break the idiom of the medieval fantasy world? Can dinosaurs be central to your campaign, or are they best left as rare side dressing? What's the best was to use them in your D...
2022-08-141h 01Wandering DMs Season 04Dinosaurs in D&D | Real Terrible Lizards | Wandering DMs S04 E27Paul & Dan discuss the presence of Dinosaurs in D&D! Do you love D&D? Do you love Dinosaurs? Well, if you’re like us, it’s a lock you’ll want to run your PCs up against these terrible lizards, and maybe part of your campaign is a “Lost World” where dinosaurs roam in great numbers. But is that a good idea, or does it break the idiom of the medieval fantasy world? Can dinosaurs be central to your campaign, or are they best left as rare side dressing? What’s the best was to use them in your D&D games? G...
2022-08-141h 013 Wise DMs11 Quirky Dungeon Master Habits of the 3 Wise DMsDo you walk around talking in funny voices? Are you constantly thinking about how game mechanics apply to real-world situations? Have you ever turned a person or thing you know into a Dungeons and Dragons monster? (Did you have your players kill that monster?) … Then you, too, may be a quirky Dungeon Master.DMing certainly isn’t subtle. The little things we do to prep for sessions and keep the game fresh can seem a bit … well … weird. Sometimes they even drive our loved ones a little nuts. But still, they come out. Because your DM quirks are part...
2022-08-1455 minWandering DMsFlanking in D&D | And More Combat Options | Wandering DMs S04 E26Dan & Paul discuss Flanking and other combat options in D&D.
5th Edition D&D has several optional combat rules in the DMG: Flanking, Facing, and Diagonal movement. These echo rules laid down in earlier editions of D&D: all the way back to 1st Edition, and even before. And yet these rules remain highly contentious between different D&D play tables. Should you use them? Are they a net positive or negative to your game? What other ways are there to play around with these combat details, and others like backstabs, sneak attacks, withdrawals, and opportunity...
2022-07-201h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Flanking in D&D | And More Combat Options | Wandering DMs S04 E26Dan & Paul discuss Flanking and other combat options in D&D. 5th Edition D&D has several optional combat rules in the DMG: Flanking, Facing, and Diagonal movement. These echo rules laid down in earlier editions of D&D: all the way back to 1st Edition, and even before. And yet these rules remain highly contentious between different D&D play tables. Should you use them? Are they a net positive or negative to your game? What other ways are there to play around with these combat details, and others like backstabs, sneak attacks, withdrawals, and opportunity attacks? Wandering DMs...
2022-07-201h 02Wandering DMs Season 04The Hasty and the Hateful | Fiasco Actual Play | Wandering DMs S04 E25Paul & Dan play a hot game of Fiasco with our best-ever gaming friends. This special episode recorded for Paul’s birthday includes nearly two and a half hours of actual play with Dan, Paul, and friends! The Hasty and the Hateful is a card playset for Fiasco 2nd Edition: “We race for the same reason we breathe—it is life, the connection to the pavement is like our connection to family. What we do isn’t legal but we answer to the god of the stoplight and the nitrous injection. Some of us are dirtbags and some of us are milliona...
2022-07-182h 23Wandering DMsThe Hasty and the Hateful | Fiasco Actual Play | Wandering DMs S04 E25Paul & Dan play a hot game of Fiasco with our best-ever gaming friends. This special episode recorded for Paul's birthday includes nearly two and a half hours of actual play with Dan, Paul, and friends!
The Hasty and the Hateful is a card playset for Fiasco 2nd Edition: "We race for the same reason we breathe—it is life, the connection to the pavement is like our connection to family. What we do isn't legal but we answer to the god of the stoplight and the nitrous injection. Some of us are dirtbags and some of us ar...
2022-07-182h 23Wandering DMsFull-Blown Fiasco | Dude, Where’s My Dice? | Wandering DMs S04 E24Dan & Paul discuss the newest, diceless edition of the Fiasco RPG.
Fiasco is a role-playing game by Jason Morningstar, independently published by Bully Pulpit Games. It is marketed as a "GM-less game for 3–5 players, designed to be played in a few hours with six-sided dice and no preparation". It is billed as "A game of powerful ambition and poor impulse control" and "inspired by cinematic tales of small time capers gone disastrously wrong—films like Blood Simple, Fargo, The Way of the Gun, Burn After Reading, and A Simple Plan."
Fiasco was the winner of the...
2022-07-011h 04Wandering DMs Season 04Full-Blown Fiasco | Dude, Where’s My Dice? | Wandering DMs S04 E24Dan & Paul discuss the newest, diceless edition of the Fiasco RPG. Fiasco is a role-playing game by Jason Morningstar, independently published by Bully Pulpit Games. It is marketed as a “GM-less game for 3–5 players, designed to be played in a few hours with six-sided dice and no preparation”. It is billed as “A game of powerful ambition and poor impulse control” and “inspired by cinematic tales of small time capers gone disastrously wrong—films like Blood Simple, Fargo, The Way of the Gun, Burn After Reading, and A Simple Plan.” Fiasco was the winner of the eleventh Diana Jones Award and has been one...
2022-07-011h 04Wandering DMsCreeping Doom of the Pumpkin King | Wilderness Design Dash | Wandering DMs S04 E23They've done a number of Dungeon Design Dashes before, but for the first time ever, Dan & Paul go to create a complete wilderness adventure in an hour live on camera. With no advance prep and no safety net, can they do it? Working from a map by Dyson Logos, and using Matt Finch's Tome of Adventure Design, plus other classic Dungeons & Dragons design tools & tricks, find out what Paul & Dan discover in this pumpkin-spice themed journey into the unexplored wild lands beyond the mountains.
Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D an...
2022-06-301h 05Wandering DMs Season 04Creeping Doom of the Pumpkin King | Wilderness Design Dash | Wandering DMs S04 E23They’ve done a number of Dungeon Design Dashes before, but for the first time ever, Dan & Paul go to create a complete wilderness adventure in an hour live on camera. With no advance prep and no safety net, can they do it? Working from a map by Dyson Logos, and using Matt Finch’s Tome of Adventure Design, plus other classic Dungeons & Dragons design tools & tricks, find out what Paul & Dan discover in this pumpkin-spice themed journey into the unexplored wild lands beyond the mountains. Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and othe...
2022-06-301h 05Wandering DMs Season 04GIANTS | D&D Heavyweights | Wandering DMs S04 E22Paul & Dan chat about the presence of giants in D&D from the elder times to now. Giants are found in the legendary tales of all cultures around the world, and they’re critical tentpoles in the D&D monster roster. In fact, arguably, they be the very first type of D&D monster — when you’re playing historical miniature wargames, just grab a miniature at a different scale and you have yourself a giant fantasy monster. The initial sequence of D&D monsters, which we now call “humanoids”, were originally just called the “giant class”. In this episode Dan & Paul consider...
2022-06-291h 04Wandering DMsGIANTS | D&D Heavyweights | Wandering DMs S04 E22Paul & Dan chat about the presence of giants in D&D from the elder times to now.
Giants are found in the legendary tales of all cultures around the world, and they're critical tentpoles in the D&D monster roster. In fact, arguably, they be the very first type of D&D monster -- when you're playing historical miniature wargames, just grab a miniature at a different scale and you have yourself a giant fantasy monster. The initial sequence of D&D monsters, which we now call "humanoids", were originally just called the "giant class".
...
2022-06-291h 04Wandering DMsAdvanced D&D Pool of Radiance | The Gold Standard | Wandering DMs S04 E21Paul & Dan reminisce on the Advanced D&D Gold Box computer game, Pool of Radiance.
Pool of Radiance was a role-playing video game developed and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc (SSI) in 1988. It was the first adaptation of TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) fantasy role-playing game for home computers, becoming the first episode in a four-part series of D&D computer adventure games. The other games in the "Gold Box" series used the game engine pioneered in Pool of Radiance, as did later D&D titles such as the Neverwinter Nights online game. Pool of Radiance...
2022-06-201h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Advanced D&D Pool of Radiance | The Gold Standard | Wandering DMs S04 E21Paul & Dan reminisce on the Advanced D&D Gold Box computer game, Pool of Radiance. Pool of Radiance was a role-playing video game developed and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc (SSI) in 1988. It was the first adaptation of TSR’s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) fantasy role-playing game for home computers, becoming the first episode in a four-part series of D&D computer adventure games. The other games in the “Gold Box” series used the game engine pioneered in Pool of Radiance, as did later D&D titles such as the Neverwinter Nights online game. Pool of Radiance takes place in the...
2022-06-201h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Kieron Gillen | DIE RPG | Wandering DMs S04 E20Dan & Paul chat with award-winning comic creator Kieron Gillen on his new DIE RPG. Kieron Gillen is one of our favorite comic authors working today — he’s written series for the X-Men, Avengers, Eternals, Star Wars, Warhammer, Starcraft, and many more. He’s also worked as a game journalist and co-founded the site Rock Paper Shotgun. Now, on the tail of his recent 20-issue fantasy series, DIE, he breaks new ground with his own RPG set in that world, years in the making, and currently funding on Kickstarter. DIE is a tabletop roleplaying game about fantasy versus reality, and poses the qu...
2022-06-171h 02Wandering DMsKieron Gillen | DIE RPG | Wandering DMs S04 E20Dan & Paul chat with award-winning comic creator Kieron Gillen on his new DIE RPG.
Kieron Gillen is one of our favorite comic authors working today -- he's written series for the X-Men, Avengers, Eternals, Star Wars, Warhammer, Starcraft, and many more. He's also worked as a game journalist and co-founded the site Rock Paper Shotgun. Now, on the tail of his recent 20-issue fantasy series, DIE, he breaks new ground with his own RPG set in that world, years in the making, and currently funding on Kickstarter.
DIE is a tabletop roleplaying game about fantasy...
2022-06-171h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Wild West RPGs | Sixguns & Sorcery | Wandering DMs S04 E19Dan & Paul review our favorite Wild West RPGs. Some gamers argue that any fantasy or sci-fi RPG, including Dungeons & Dragons, is mostly Wild West plot tropes covered over with fantasy dressing. How true is that? How much influence did the development of Western RPGs have on mainline D&D at the outset? How easy or successful have you been at crossing over from Western to full-blown Fantasy in the same game campaign? Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the...
2022-06-151h 02Wandering DMsWild West RPGs | Sixguns & Sorcery | Wandering DMs S04 E19Dan & Paul review our favorite Wild West RPGs.
Some gamers argue that any fantasy or sci-fi RPG, including Dungeons & Dragons, is mostly Wild West plot tropes covered over with fantasy dressing. How true is that? How much influence did the development of Western RPGs have on mainline D&D at the outset? How easy or successful have you been at crossing over from Western to full-blown Fantasy in the same game campaign?
Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons...
2022-06-151h 02Wandering DMs Season 04James Maliszewski | How to Run a 7-Year Campaign | Wandering DMs S04 E18Dan & Paul catch up with James Maliszewski of Grognardia on his “House of Worms” campaign! Have you ever managed to run a D&D campaign for 7 years and counting? Well, James Maliszewski has in his long-running Empire of the Petal Throne campaign — so we wanted to get his advice and hear about how to keep a campaign fresh, exciting, and players returning for more. Plus catch up on his prodigious ongoing output at the Grognardia blog, the Hall of Blue Illumination podcast, The Excellent Travelling Volume EPT zine, and his upcoming Secrets of sha-Arthan. How on Tékumel does he do it...
2022-06-131h 013 Wise DMs100 Episodes of Dungeon Master Advice: The 22 Most Important DM Lessons From 2 Years of Gaming and Recording 3 Wise DMsWhat are the most important things every dungeon master (or game master) needs to know? In the 100th episode of 3 Wise DMs, Thorin, Tony and Dave run down the biggest things they’ve learned about running RPGs from Dungeons and Dragons to Marvel to Call of Cthulhu over two years of intensive gaming and discussion on this podcast. This has been like a 2-year DMing workshop for all of us, and we hope you’ve learned as much from it as we have. How do you make sure your game gets off on the right foot? Is your...
2022-06-121h 04Wandering DMs Season 04Spencer Crittenden | Mastering HarmonQuest | Wandering DMs S04 E17Paul & Dan interview Spencer Crittenden, the GM on HarmonQuest and other shows! Spencer Crittenden is one of our favorite famous DMs. He ran the game on Dan Harmon’s HarmonQuest as, of course, The Game Master. He’s also been a regular on HarmonTown, Great Minds with Dan Harmon, and appeared on Community and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Now he hosts the That Happens podcast with Jeff Bryan Davis, and produces D&D content on his YouTube channel for Patreon subscribers. Lets find out his unique take on DM’ing in front of the hot lights! Watch and listen to Spencer’s That Hap...
2022-06-111h 03Wandering DMs Season 04Art of D&D | Vol. 3: The 90’s | Wandering DMs S04 E16Dan & Isabelle assess the D&D art of the 90’s. Brooklyn-based fine artist Isabelle Garbani joins us again for another installment of “Art of D&D”: this time, in the 1990’s, the era of 2nd Edition AD&D (leading to the last gasps of TSR, and its acquisition by Wizards of the Coast). It was a time of wild experimentation with many different campaign settings: Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, and more. How well did the art follow that expedition, and what kinds of artistic discoveries were made possible? Featuring art by Brom, Fred Fields, Jeff Easley, Tony Diterlizzi, and more. Watch Is...
2022-05-271h 07Wandering DMs Season 04Karen Twelves | Improv for Gamers | Wandering DMs S04 E15Dan & Paul interview Karen Twelves, author of “Improv for Gamers”. The Wandering DMs love improv and think using tools from that field are essential to a great D&D game. In this episode we get to interview Karen Twelves, the author of one of our favorite books, “Improv for Gamers”, now being crowdfunded for a revised second edition. Based on hundreds of hours of professional workshops, Improv for Gamers provides fun and easy exercises designed to take your tabletop or live-action gaming group to the next level. Play one or two before your next session to get players warmed up and enga...
2022-05-2559 minTDR Season 01Karen Twelves | Improv for Gamers | Wandering DMs S04 E15Dan & Paul interview Karen Twelves, author of “Improv for Gamers”. The Wandering DMs love improv and think using tools from that field are essential to a great D&D game. In this episode we get to interview Karen Twelves, the author of one of our favorite books, “Improv for Gamers”, now being crowdfunded for a revised second edition. Based on hundreds of hours of professional workshops, Improv for Gamers provides fun and easy exercises designed to take your tabletop or live-action gaming group to the next level. Play one or two before your next session to get players warmed up and enga...
2022-05-2559 minWandering DMs Season 04Golems | Artificial Omnipotence | Wandering DMs S04 E14Dan & Paul review the history of Golems in D&D. It’s been said that the Golem is “a highly mutable metaphor with seemingly limitless symbolism”. Springing from Jewish folklore, the Golem represents a powerful but dimly aware, perhaps overly-literal, servant. As such, it’s the possibly original inspiration for stories about out-of-control scientific monsters, robots, and AI (as well summoned stalkers and wish spells in D&D). In original D&D, they are the mightiest of fighters, and share the trait of complete immunity to nearly all magic effects. Do they provide good thematic flavor in D&D? Are their me...
2022-05-201h 033 Wise DMsIs ‘Don’t Over-Prepare’ the Worst Advice for New DMs?DM prep: It can be the most important thing to putting on a good game or the biggest obstacle keeping you from getting back behind the screen. Some DMs say the most important thing to remember is to not over-prepare, but YouTube DM guru Ginny Di recently called this The Worst advice new DMs hear, and that it actually hurt her development as a young DM.Is “don’t over-prepare” bad DMing advice? There’s a lot to dig into there. In this episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave take a close look at Ginny Di’s take, the differ...
2022-05-081h 12Wandering DMs Season 04House Con 2022 | All Together Now | Wandering DMs S04 E13Dan & Paul reflect on their first “house con” in three years. In normal times, Dan, Paul & their friends have a private “house convention” for a weekend each spring. That was put on hold the last few years due to COVID, but now we’re back! After a long weekend of wall-to-wall gaming on the New England seacoast, Paul & Dan reflect on what it’s like to be back gaming in person after a long hiatus. Plus special guest Rebecca Kinraide. Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and con...
2022-04-0848 minWandering DMs Season 04Our Appendix N | Wandering Inspiration | Wandering DMs S04 E12Dan & Paul discuss our most influential fantasy readings. Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.
2022-04-061h 043 Wise DMsHow Do You Make New DMs?It’s the question forever DMs everywhere ponder at night: How do I get one of my players to jump in and DM their own stuff so I can get some playing time?! (And also, so they can express themselves, expand the hobby, and all that other good stuff.) It’s not always easy. Sometimes the players you think would be the best DMs don’t have the interest. Other times your own presence may be intimidating them out of trying. Perhaps you just don’t make DMing look very fun to them?With those obstacles in mind, ho...
2022-03-2751 minWandering DMs Season 04Ramsey Campbell | The Way of the Worm | Wandering DMs S04 E11Dan & Paul talk to legendary fantasy & horror writer Ramsey Campbell! The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes Ramsey Campbell as “Britain’s most respected living horror writer”. He’s been given more awards than any other writer in the field, including the Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association, the Living Legend Award of the International Horror Guild and the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award. We get to speak with him live about his new book, “The Way of the Worm”, the finale of The Three Births of Daoloth trilogy. Review of Th...
2022-03-2659 minWandering DMs Season 04Desolate Sanctum of the Flying Lich | Dungeon Design Dash | Wandering DMs S04 E10Dan & Paul a high-level dungeon, live in one hour! Hey, what’s that flying rock overhead, and what are those dark winged shapes flying around it? Only the bravest of superheroes and wizards dare explore it. Let’s find out what sinister traps the lich has laid for them… Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can tak...
2022-03-241h 06Wandering DMs Season 04Frog God Games | Splinters of Faith | Wandering DMs S04 E09Frog God Games tell us about their new adventure path & temples sourcebook. We’re joined by Jeff Harkness & Gary Schotter to tell us about Frog God Games’ upcoming mega-campaign “Splinters of Faith”. How easy is it to structure a level 1 to 15 adventure path? Why did they design temples of every type to fill a whole continent? What’s it like to bring old-school hard difficulty to a modern audience? See a preview of Splinters of Faith here Visit Frog God Games here Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparin...
2022-03-1256 minWandering DMs Season 04Luke Gygax | GaryCon XIV | Wandering DMs S04 E08Dan & Paul are joined by special Guest Luke Gygax to talk about the upcoming GaryCon XIV, the return to live conventions, and navigating how to keep everyone safe & secure. Plus we’ll talk about his own adventures in the World of Okkorim and other projects! Register now for GaryCon XIV live and virtual events Check out Luke’s own adventures at DriveThruRPG Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D...
2022-03-101h 02Wandering DMs Season 04Challenge Ratings | What Are They Good For? | Wandering DMs S04 E07Paul & Dan have a spirited discussion on Challenge Ratings — as well as Monster Levels from classic D&D, the Monster Mark system from White Dwarf, Equivalent Hit Dice, and other ways of measuring a monster’s threat. Do they address any useful goal in D&D? How hard or easy is to compute them for a new monster? Can they ever be reliable, or are they just random noise? Get Dan’s Monster Database for OD&D and software tools for measuring risk level Read Dan’s thesis on simulation for game design balancing Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Col...
2022-03-081h 00Wandering DMs Season 04Greg Svenson & D.H. Boggs | Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg | Wandering DMs S04 E06Dan hosts special guests Greg Svenson (a.k.a “The Great Svenny” from Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor) and D&D archaeologist D.H. Boggs to talk about their presentation of “The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg”. How can there be a D&D dungeon that predates D&D ever being published? Because Greg was in on the ground floor and made his dungeon before the public knew D&D was coming to change the world. Let’s dig into that early creation and the story of its rediscovery! Order a copy of the Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg here Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and D...
2022-03-0658 minWandering DMs Season 04Diegetic Disasters | When Rules Wreck the Realm | Wandering DMs S04 E05Dan & Paul dive back into AD&D 1st and 2nd Edition for examples of adventures that played out edition-shifts in real-time in the campaign world of the time. In Greyhawk we had “Fate of Istus”; in Forgotten Realms we had the “Avatar Trilogy”. How well did these adventures work? Was it really necessary to play out the rules-change events in-game? Should we do it again the future (like post-5E D&D)? Watch our prior show on Changing Editions in D&D Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Compar...
2022-02-241h 00Wandering DMs Season 04Nerdarchy Assembles | Mage Forge! | Wandering DMs S04 E04The Wandering DMs host the guys from Nerdarchy — Ted, Dave, and Doug — to tell us about their new product for D&D 5E: Mage Forge! Over 250 new magic items with full descriptions and art, in a handy tarot-card size format. We’re big fans of card-style accessories to make passing info at the table easy, so want to hear their ideas and future plans. Join the Mage Forge Kickstarter Subscribe to Nerdarchy on YouTube Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition fr...
2022-02-011h 00Wandering DMs Season 04Changing Editions | What’s Next for D&D? | Wandering DMs S04 E03There’s a new edition of D&D on the horizon. Dan & Paul discuss the issues & experiences of prior edition switches to the game. Should changes be widespread, or more restrained? Is back-compatibility possible, or a reasonable goal? Can PCs be converted between editions? WOTC announces the next D&D Quote by Ray Winninger New back-compatible book Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we bro...
2022-01-311h 043 Wise DMsSharing RPG Worlds: Balancing PC Power Levels and NPC Portrayals Across Shared Campaigns With Multiple DMsAcross the games we’re running and playing, we have several campaign worlds, NPCs, and PCs that cross over between DMs. Usually, this is no big deal, but sometimes what one DM does can unbalance what another DM is trying to do. Often this revolves around PC power, with characters in both our Marvel and Woodstock Wanderers game sometimes breaking the curve for the other DMs/GMs. But conflict can also arise over how shared NPCs and campaign worlds are portrayed. If one DM’s giant unfeeling tentacle monster is going to destroy the world, they can’t have...
2022-01-301h 25Wandering DMs Season 04Crumbling Dungeon of the Ice Bees | Dungeon Design Dash | Wandering DMs S04 E02Dan & Paul are back with another design-dash challenge. Can they stock a whole dungeon in a single hour this time?Can they deal with the discovery of a beast that’s not even in the Monster Manual? Get Matt Finch’s Tome of Adventure Design Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer question...
2022-01-1959 minWandering DMs Season 04Return to Dark Tower | Electronic Wizardry | Wandering DMs S04 E01Dan & Paul discuss our joy for the classic 80’s digitally-assisted boardgame Dark Tower, and the new app-enabled Return to Dark Tower out this year. Does the sequel live up to our memories? Is the expansion worthwhile? Are there tradeoffs to having an electronic device at the heart of a boardgame? And in case you have the classic boardgame but a no functioning tower, check out these handy apps to fill in the gaps: For Android For iOS Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons o...
2022-01-161h 043 Wise DMsD&D 5E for Old Fogeys: What Old-School DMs Like Us Should Know About How this Edition Compares to Earlier Versions of Dungeons & DragonsWe all started DMing RPGs a long time ago. In the case of Thorin and Tony, we held on to older editions long after new ones were released (stretching 1E material into 2E and flat refusing to move to 3E later on). But Dungeons & Dragon 5E has been around for 10 years now and is bigger than any edition has ever been in terms of sales, player base and media exposure. WotC recently announced that they’ll be releasing an update for 5E in 2024, not a replacement, and the edition itself shows no signs of slowing down. We like it qu...
2021-11-071h 113 Wise DMsWhen DMs Go to War: How to Run Mass Combat in D&D (and similar RPGs) and Not Bore Your PlayersMost DMs come to a point in their campaigns where they want to run The Big Battle. We’re not talking the players vs. a few Balors, but a real war: Storming the beaches of a fantasy Normandy, the Siege of Winterfell, the Battle of Pelennor Fields from Lord of the Rings. But when you go to set the battle up, you realize just how clunky mass combat is in D&D and most RPGs. The problem is, most RPGs are skirmish-level games, especially D&D. That means they run well with up to about 20 characters in a...
2021-08-0857 min3 Wise DMs11 Ways to Be a Better Dungeon Master: Lessons Learned in Our First Year Recording 3 Wise DMsHow much time should you spend prepping for individual game sessions? When should you improv and when should you plan more ahead of time? How can you keep rules lawyers and house rules under control? This episode marks one year of recording 3 Wise DMs and some of the most intensive gaming of our lives. We’ve had as many as 5 campaigns running across 3 different systems, and every week we got together to talk about them on this podcast. It’s been an intensive RPG workshop for all three of us, and we learned a ton during it.
2021-06-201h 193 Wise DMs21 Things Wise DMs Want From Their Best RPG PlayersIt takes more than just a Wise DM to make a great roleplaying game campaign. No matter how thoroughly you plan or brilliantly you improv, the DM (or GM, judge, storyteller, or whatever the system you’re playing calls it) is only one person in a group of 2 to 10 or more people making this thing happen. When push comes to shove, the players are the ones who really make the game what it becomes — whether that’s an epic cooperative tale imaginative high adventure or a series of glorified minis skirmishes.What can players do to make a bett...
2021-06-061h 203 Wise DMs39 Tips for New Dungeon Masters — and a Few for Veteran DMs, TooNew to being a dungeon master or game master and not sure how to get better? Been doing it for a while and still don’t feel like you know what you’re doing? Well, we’ve been there. In fact, all three of us were the DMs the very first times we played, and it’s been a long, strange ride ever since. From getting comfortable with your material to avoiding over-prep, here are 39 things the 3 Wise DMs wish they knew when they started running role-playing games. Along the way, we’ll talk about how players interact w...
2020-08-301h 183 Wise DMsWotC's Racism Fix: Can Good DMs Help D&D's Stereotypes Problems?Wizards of the Coast recently announced that they’re doing away with “evil” alignments and intelligence penalties as racial attributes. But that's left some traditional gamers crying about PC culture run amok. How can you build a campaign without “evil” races? Does this undermine your bad guys? Does assuming “orcs are evil” make you look racist to your friends? (Maybe it’s not just a look?) In this episode, the 3 Wise DMs talk about what's happening, why it’s about time, and how hackneyed racial stereotypes don’t belong in your fantasy world any more than they do the rea...
2020-07-051h 003 Wise DMsRoll20 DM Newbs: Tips and Tricks From the Wise DMs' First Online CampaignsCOVID-19 forced the Wise DMs to put their games on hiatus or take them online with Roll20. And they were not wise to that!Hear how Thorin, Tony and Dave stumbled through the new platform with tips, tricks, and adjustments they’ve made to keep the online campaigns as vivid as their nights around the gaming table. Plus, the guys discuss theater-of-the-mind vs. battle-maps, how much search is too much, and what your details teach players about how to play your game.The Roll20 Rundown1:00 Our previous online DM experiences...
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