Taking 20 Podcast

This week's topic comes courtesy of listener Daniel Mehefko who wanted me to discuss immersive roleplaying.  What is immersive roleplaying?  How can players and DMs encourage their fellow players to engage in more immersive roleplay?  Tune in and find out.   #dnd #pathfinder #opendnd #roleplay #roleplaying   Resources: Venture Forth - 10 Rules to Improve Immersion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw3aJz5lGO0 Grog and Scanlan go hat shopping https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvSGvbEf1HI

Sometimes your adventuring parties just aren't ready for an encounter, a trap, or maybe an entire adventure.  What should you do as a DM?  Throw your hands up and walk away?  Throw hands at your players?  Throw a rave instead of gaming that night?  In this episode look at the different ways parties can be ill prepared for what lies ahead. and talk about multiple options for how to handle this situation.   #DnD #Pathfinder #Opendnd #DMTips

After watching a session at my Friendly Local Game Store I watched a DM put players through a meat grinder of encounters, not even pausing when the PCs accomplished something impressive.  In this episode I talk about the importance of giving players the opportunity to celebrate character victories and rewarding the characters appropriately.   #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #pathfinder #openRPG #DMTips

In a lot of game worlds, deities can't die.  They always existed, exist, and will always exist.  But what if that wasn't true.  What if one or more deities in your game world died, left, or otherwise weren't available?  What would happen to their followers and your world as a whole?   Resources: Pathfinder Wiki (Aroden) - https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Aroden   #pathfinder #deities #openrpg #opendnd #aroden #dnd #dungeonsanddragons

Answering a question posed by Adrian from the Age of Adventure RPG, how do you find the balance between realism and fun.  His table devolved into lengthy debates involving fire, oil flammability, and fire spread mechanics. Tune in to the episode that probably put Jeremy on a federal government watch list. #dnd #pathfinder #dungeonsanddragons  #realism #fun  Resources: Resigned:  How to Know When It’s Time to Go:    http://markstretton.blogspot.com/2017/11/fire-arrows-what-can-they-set-on-fire.html

GMs, are the gods in your game worlds present or absent?  Big and powerful or quiet and reserved?  In this episode we talk about ways you can use deities in your game and Jeremy talks way too long about the comic book series Spawn. #pathfinder #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #deities Resources: Resigned:  How to Know When It’s Time to Go:    https://gnomestew.com/making-the-gods-matter-in-fantasy-rpgs/

Left or right at the intersection?  Fight or flee?  Sell the potion or keep it for later?  Players sometimes find it hard to make a decision and that can drive DMs up a wall.  In this episode, we look at possible causes for indecision and repeatedly urge players to make a choice...ANY choice.  Please, we DMs are begging you...for the love of Iomedae.   Resources: Resigned:  How to Know When It’s Time to Go:  https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/dec/13/first-time-as-a-d-and-d-dungeon-master-dungeons-and-dragons

Good dungeon maps give players choices, have a good theme, and contents that support the theme and purpose of your dungeon.  But...how do you create dungeons like this?  Give this episode a listen and find out.   Also, hopefully we've heard the last of Wizards of the Coast trying to get rid of the OGL 1.0a. #dnd #opendnd #ogl #pathfinder #paizo #orc   Resources: Wizards of the Coast announcement:  https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1439-ogl-1-0a-creative-commons    What it means to “Jaquay a dungeon”:  https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon   Great interview of Jennell.Jaquays by The Wandering DM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd1wrdSSc60

The One Ring in Lord of the Rings, The Singing Sword in Bugs Bunny, The Luggage in the Rimworld novels by Terry Pratchett.  We've seen intelligent magic items in media and you'd like to bring one into your game world.  What's the best way to do that?  Are there any tips?  Does an animated bear rug poop in the woods? Seriously...do they?  I have no idea. #OpenDnd #OpenRPG #Pathfinder #OGL #DnD #DungeonsandDragons   Resources: Dungeon Dudes:  How to Homebrew Sentient Magic Items. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1H5oK_GGmI

In this episode I weigh in on the Wizards of the Coast OGL 1.1 fiasco and talk about a period in Faerun's history called the Time of Troubles, when gods were mortal and walked the planet with mortals.   The common theme is a powerful entity doing something insanely stupid and causing upheval and calamity.  Give it a listen and comment below!   #DnD #DungeonsandDragons #Paizo #Pathfinder #Wotc #OGL   Resources: Resigned:  How to Know When It’s Time to Go:  The Avatar Series - a 5-book series about the Time of Troubles

In this episode suggested by a donor over at ko-fi.com/taking20podcast we give some tips to DMs about those rare materials like mithril, cold iron, silver, and...peachwood?  What if you want to make your own special materials?  Are there any downsides to using them?  Tune in and find out. #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #dmtips #pathfinder

This is not an episode.  Jeremy's passed out right now.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! If your game world has any history at all and any culture, whether it's a single-minded autonomous collective or a rich melting pot of cultures blended together and living in close proximity, there will likely be holidays of some sort.  Why do holidays exist?  What do you need to create holidays in your world?  Tune in this week to find out!   #DnD #DungeonsandDragons #Pathfinder #Paizo #Holidays Resources: Resigned: How to Know When It's Time to Go

In this heaver-than-usual rules episode, we take a look at some of the rules in Pathfinder 2e and D&D 5e for making monsters more or less powerful.  We also talk about some game-system-agnostic ways to scale your monsters up or down.   #DungeonsandDragons #DnD #Pathfinder #DMTips Resources: Resigned:  How to Know When It’s Time to Go: https://www.amazon.com/Resigned-Know-Truths-Stigma-Quitting-ebook/dp/B0BLP2LCQJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1AO4TAC6LM4AO&keywords=resigned   D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide   Pathfinder 2e Core Rulebook   Pathfinder 2e Bestiary

Giants.  They're all tall and they have reach.  Prep work done for an adventure, right?  Hold your throwing stone, my DM friend.  The different species of giants have very different tactics, capabilities, and motivations.  This week Jeremy talks all about the differences and what makes them tick. #DnD #DungeonsandDragons #Pathfinder #DMTips Resources: Resigned:  How to Know When It’s Time to Go: https://www.amazon.com/Resigned-Know-Truths-Stigma-Quitting-ebook/dp/B0BLP2LCQJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1AO4TAC6LM4AO&keywords=resigned   The Monsters Know What They’re Doing:  https://www.themonstersknow.com/giant-tactics/   Extra Credits:  The Viking Expansion:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxItyrp55g8&list=PLhyKYa0YJ_5D16-gw3aGKjuC_iW7R16mF

The 4 elements of creation in Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder lore are so powerful that each has its own plane of existence.  What's on these planes and what dangers will characters face when they go there?  Tune in to this episode when I discuss this and give you some adventure ideas for each plane!   #DungeonsandDragons #DnD #Pathfinder #Elemental #Planes    Resources: Resigned:  How to Know When It’s Time to Go: https://www.amazon.com/Resigned-Know-Truths-Stigma-Quitting-ebook/dp/B0BLP2LCQJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1AO4TAC6LM4AO&keywords=resigned 5e elemental planes:  https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Elemental_planes Pathfinder elemental planes:  https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Elemental_Plane Dungeons & dragons discontinuing the use of the word race for the word species: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1393-moving-on-from-race-in-one-d-d

If you've reached the point where you need to leave the gaming group, the next steps in the process are going to be difficult emotionally and fraught with peril.  Handled incorrectly, you can make lifelong enemies of your DM, your fellow players, and anyone they may know.  In this episode I talk about the mature and professional way to separate from the group minimizing animosity or hurt feelings.   #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #pathfinder #dmtips #leavingyourgaminggroup Resources: Resigned:  How to Know When It’s Time to Go: https://www.amazon.com/Resigned-Know-Truths-Stigma-Quitting-ebook/dp/B0BLP2LCQJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1AO4TAC6LM4AO&keywords=resigned

Much is written about DM burnout.  But you're a player and while you know you should be excited for the Dungeons and Dragons or RPG session tonight, you find yourself dreading it and it doesn't even sound like a good time.   If this is you, you might be experiencing RPG burnout.  In this episode, we talk about the causes of burnout and what you can do to find that joy again.   #DungeonsandDragons #DnD #Pathfinder #DMTips #PlayerTips #Burnout   Resources: How to be a Great GM - https://www.youtube.com/c/HowtobeaGreatGM

Don't forget to send me your contest entries before Friday, November 19th!  Minor milestone as we hit episode #150.  This week we will talk about Rovagug, the monster in Pathfinder lore that will bring about the end of the multiverse.  In this episode we ask:  Where is it now?  What is it doing?  Why do campaigns need creatures of unfathomable evil and chaos and destruction?     #Pathfinder #DungeonsandDragons #DnD #GMTips #Rovagug Resources: https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Rovagug https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Spawn_of_Rovagug https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Rovagug https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=15

Good ideas can come from anywhere:  movies, music, streaming series, and even video games.   You may think that I only mean RPG video games like Dragon Age or The Witcher.  Good ideas for characters, game mechanics, and even plots can be taken from video games of all kinds from Super Mario Brothers to Portal.  In this episode, you'll hear about tips for taking these ideas and using them at your game table   #DungeonsandDragons #DnD #Pathfinder #RPG #DMTips