Adam is the main DM for the Majestic Goose Network, a collection of actual play podcasts that grew out of Adam's home games with his family. The network started with One Shot Onslaught, a series of one shot D&D adventures from DM's Guild. It grew from there to around a dozen shows on various TTRPG topics. This episode focuses on Adam's homebrew campaign dubbed Halfway to Heroes. The campaign was conceived of as a subversion of the typical "kids in school" story for young adults by instead focusing on the characters' lives after school.Halfway to Heroes takes place in Modras, a world that previously saw many attacks by mindflayers. The PCs start off taking their final practical exam for graduating as the last class from Scrimore Academy, a school dedicated to training mindflayer hunters. The school is closing down as the threat of mindflayer invasion has passed. After the exam the PCs are tasked with recovering four weather controlling orbs that have gone missing from Scrimore's magical item vault. The adventures feature lots of puzzles and comedy banter alongside old-fashioned D&D combat.You can check out all the Majestic Goose podcasts on their website: https://www.majesticgoose.com/And you can talk to Adam and the rest of the cast on the Majestic Goose Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/BQyEbaSAdam talked about a world creating game he'd used for his second Halfway to Heroes campaign called The Quiet Year. You can check it out here: https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/the-quiet-yearI mentioned a similar game called Dawn of Worlds. You can check out the PDF for that game for free from the creator's website here: http://www.clanwebsite.org/games/rpg/Dawn_of_Worlds_game_1_0Final.pdfAnd of course a link to Nathan's Kickstarter for The Amethyst Dragon's Hoard of Everything - a 5e Supplement: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theamethystdragon/the-amethyst-dragons-hoard-of-everything-a-5e-supplementOur website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Edric tells us about his campaign that takes place during the American Revolutionary War where all myths and folktales are real. Magic exists but spellcasters must keep their powers a secret or be burned as a witch. Eldritch horrors and evil spirits threaten North America while historical events proceed along a parallel path to our own reality.Edric modeled the campaign events around the PCs' backstories and goals. They chose to be people of the frontier and American natives, initially fighting for independence from the British and the Colonists. As play proceeded the players caused the Great New Orleans Fire by unleashing the Raven trickster demon, stole treasure from Spanish galleons, and started a slave revolt. Along the way the PCs interact with numerous historical figures including Joseph Brant, Cornplanter, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Handsome Lake, John Sullivan, John Brown, and Bernardo de Gálvez.Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Josh tells us about his world, The Collide. Josh is a new DM and player, providing a unique perspective on what D&D is like from that fresh point of view.The Collide is a combination of two worlds that smashed together in a cataclysmic event several hundred years ago. Collide is single continent split in half by a large mountain range. The western half is the original half with green plants. The original eastern half was replaced during the collision event with land from a world with red plants. The western half has been ruled by an immortal king since the cataclysm. The eastern half has a null-magic desert in the south inspired by the Bang! card game. Guns are used as magical weapon replacements and cowboys roam.Outside of the Collide's reality, gods are at war to control the surface of Collide. This conflict is bubbling up into a threat to redo the apocalypse. Alongside the initial phases of this disaster a series of time travelers are wrecking havoc and the PCs of Josh's campaign have to stop it.Josh has also been cataloging his experiences as a newbie DM on his own podcast called Crash Course DM: https://www.anythingyoucando.co/crash-course-dmDuring the interview we also discussed a couple games that you might be interested in.Bang! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang!_(card_game)Cash And Guns - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155362/ca-dollar-h-n-guns-second-editionTimeWatch - https://pelgranepress.com/product-category/gumshoe/timewatch/Honor of the Samurai - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/607/honor-of-the-samuraiOur website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maura tells us about her campaign, Her Dark Ministrations, which uses the Spire rules and setting made by Rowan, Rook and Decard. Maura's campaign and version of Spire follow the base setting pretty closely. From the game's website, "Spire is a roleplaying game about desperate revolutionary dark elves caught up in a secret war against the high elves, or aelfir, who rule the towering city of Spire. The world of Spire is a brutal one, and players can expect to see their characters suffer at the hands of their oppressors, or their rivals; bodily harm, psychological scarring and reprisals against their allies are commonplace. But for those willing to do what it takes, Spire is on the brink of full-scale rebellion, and you are poised to push it over the edge."Maura provides some important twists to this though. Her campaign has been running much longer than most other campaigns, already being double the length of the expected 12 session maximum. Additionally, Maura has a fascinating conception of the deities and their motivations and interactions with the Spire world and the Spire city itself where the campaign's action takes place.If you'd like to listen to Maura's play campaign you can check out Her Dark Ministrations at https://www.herdarkministrations.com/If you'd like to learn more about Spire and maybe play it for yourself you can check it out here: https://rowanrookanddecard.com/spire-rpg/There's some quick start rules you can get started with and if you like it, buy the whole book for lots more! https://rowanrookanddecard.com/product/spire-quickstart/Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Corey tells us about his campaign called Tales of the Undead which takes place in the island country of Equalia.This episode starts off with a reference to a video about Equalia that Corey uploaded to YouTube. For the full experience you can watch that video at this link: https://youtu.be/qFsqInICbAo?si=Vm9B5UVVjoJJm3gaEqualia was once ruled by an oppressive human regime. In the last few years a civil war placed the benevolent King Sekai on the throne. She has worked tirelessly to mend the discontent brought by the former regime. Sadly the elves of Equalia left during the years of tyranny long ago. It is rare to see one in the country nowadays. Currently King Sekai is contending with bearfolk viking raids into her land.In the Tales of the Undead campaign the PCs wake up dead. They have been brought back to life not by an evil necromancer but rather a kind-hearted one. The dark elf Lord Zeken gives the party the news they died and have been brought back for one year of life. If they work for him for one year, he will restore the rest of their lifespan. Those who take his deal join the Volition of Vivification guild to go on errands for Zeken and his patron, King Sekai.If Corey's world and/or DM style intrigued you, he is a full-time professional DM. You can check out his campaigns at https://startplaying.games/gm/dungeonhusbandOur website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James tells us about Quelmar which is not just a campaign world but also a charity organization! Quelmar was created by James for his D&D games in college. Many more players joined the campaign swelling it in size and complexity as more and more PC backstories populated the lore of the world. James took the idea and ran with it, expanding Quelmar into a West-Marches style game with multiple DMs and campaigns happening simultaneously across the world. Quelmar currently has fourteen active campaigns playing. The in-world history of Quelmar is described with broad strokes from creation, into the high fantasy era, beyond into modern and cyberpunk eras, and even further into the apocalypse and the end of the world.The Quelmar charity organization has conventions every year, lends out books and gaming materials, and hosts outreach events to bring RPGs and a sense of community to various places where Quelmar members are based.James has taken a backseat for the Quelmar organization at this point. He still occasionally DMs within the world. James's current campaign is dubbed "Just the Q of Us" which is an anthology campaign. Each session focuses on two different PCs from different Quelmar campaigns. James reads through past campaigns and identifies two characters that might've crossed paths at one point and then designs a one-shot adventure for those two PCs. The sessions are broadcast on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/thequelmarrealm and the archives are available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmeY9m-DhVYx7dXDtsCQBKpladhB8hADaQuelmar has a few of its own web links you should check outThe Quelmar Wiki: https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Quelmar_WikiaThe Quelmar Organization's official webpage: https://quelmar.webflow.io/And Quelmar's Discord server: https://discord.gg/9FZ4EJjOur website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Darin is back from Episode 11 to tell us more about Aellorah! Since we last spoke Darin has worked more on Aellorah's magic system called the Flow. There's plenty of new metals and special materials to make equipment out of. New classes and subraces abound. The governments of Aellorah are more detailed and fleshed out than before. Darin has created a lot more for his world and is own his way to having a campaign sourcebook draft!Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bryon tells us about his Vaesen game set in the Pacific Northwest during the Industrial Revolution. Vaesen is a Swedish RPG where the PCs possess the Second Sight and are able to see all the monsters and faeries of folklore and myth. The societal changes of the Industrial Revolution have upset the hidden creatures of the world. As humanity has expanded encounters between these creatures and humans have become more and more common. Vaesen was originally written for a Scandinavian setting but Bryon has repurposed the game for North American folk tales. He's set his game in Seattle, Washington where the players are agents of the mysterious Library investigating monstrous appearances in the Pacific Northwest.Bryon's Vaesen campaign is captured on his podcast, Spirits and Monsters of Old Seattle.You can check it out on your favorite podcast or by clicking here: https://www.spiritsandmonsters.com/Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jack presents his arcanepunk world of Televyse. Televyse is a metropolis city on a plane made up of large hexagons of territory. Every month the hexagons rotate, destroying all life and structures on the previous hexagons and replacing them with something new. The hexagon Televyse is located on is the only one immune to the hexagon shift. The city center is the Dome where corporations host reality TV show replicas of adventurers going through dungeons for audience entertainment. During the interview we discussed the punk genre and the themes of dystopia and utopia that are central to Jack's work.Jack has compiled a thorough and well-organized campaign setting book on Televyse that he's made available on Google Drive at this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rhBbYtJrV7O23y9Y75aZzwV27urBFH2GJs4hhJ7eyxU/Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special episode! A look at my own campaign with my players after the fact. This is a post session recording with my players and me after the conclusion of our D&D 4e campaign Orkish Rising.The campaign focused on the orc chief, Gregor, and his rise to power within the Orclands. He had to fight and unite tribes to oppose the evil necromancer tribes trying to take over the Orclands. At the end he stood as King of All Orcs.Our post session conversation covered a range of topics. What's it like to run a campaign where a single PC is the focus? What were some of the missed plot threads of the campaign that weren't explored? Was Gregor a fascist or a typical monarch for his time? How did the NPCs make their decisions?Hopefully the breakdown is a unique experience and a useful tool for your own campaigns and how you design and execute the adventures for your players.Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6CThis episode also features a song from the 1977 Rankin/Bass animated Hobbit movie. The song is "The Road Goes Ever On" written by JRR Tolkien and performed by Glenn Yarbough. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim's fantasy world of Alanui is recovering from an apocalypse that nearly wiped out all life. A small habitable region remains, surrounded by the Wall Wood which expands against the irradiated Wastes. The apocalypse was multifaceted, but strangely parts of it were erased from history and memory of all but a few by the Director, the leader of the peacekeeping force of Guardians. This erasure was actually carried out by the Director to cover up his own involvement in the apocalypse. Alanuis is dominated by two nations, The Steadings and The Tribes. The Steadings is in the throes of an Industrial Revolution while The Tribes are a nomadic desert culture.Sorry for the delay on getting this episode out! I had some shakeups in my professional life and my wife had some problems as well that I was supporting her with. I didn't have as much energy to devote to the podcast as I would've liked. I have also run out of people on my survey backlog to interview! I'll need to see what I can do to get more people interested in the show. For now, you can consider this the final episode of "season 1" if you'd like. I have another special episode in the works that I'll work on and release when I've got time. Thank you all for listening and I hope you enjoy!Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVADiscord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt tells us about his campaign set in the Pokemon world. Pokemon is split into different regions based off of real world areas. Matt's game is set in his own original region named Osee. based on Orange County in Southern California. Matt originally recorded his sessions to go back and listen to himself or with his group, but he reworked them into a podcast that you can listen to from this link: https://oseepkmnpod.buzzsprout.com/The game is played using D&D 5e rules which obviously require a lot of homebrew to create a Pokemon style game. We dive deep into the rules that Matt created along with how he crafted the setting and the campaign events as well.Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVADiscord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tommy talks about his world of Oryn. The world was created with a lot of input from his players. This includes asking a question of the players at the start of each session to further develop the world and the PCs position within it. The PCs are exploring the world and have discovered the ruins of an ancient mind flayer empire. Tommy throws in lots of prophecies along with the players participating with tarot readings to keep him on his toes as he has to make the predictions come true. Of course we learn about the best cheeses that are available in the lands of Oryn and folk lore heroes inspired by Marvel superheroes.Here is a map of Oryn.Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVADiscord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kernel walks us through the Final Lands. All the races of the world have huddled together on an island the size of Ireland. At the center of the Final Lands is a crystal tower called the Soul Forge. The tower is surrounded by a formidable wasteland that magically drains the life of travelers. Additionally, dragons live around the Soul Forge. Every two years a comet passes over head signaling the beginning of a contest. The first to reach the Soul Forge is granted a wish, but there's a hidden catch...Kernel also runs an active guild for the upcoming Ashes of Creation MMORPG. They are creating little bits of story that align with the lore of Ashes of Creation so that when the game releases they can jump right into a roleplaying server with all their relationships and history preestablished and ready to go. If you'd like to learn more about Ashes of creation you can check it out here: https://ashesofcreation.com/Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVADiscord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rob tells us about his world, Garou. We get a unique perspective for our podcast as Rob's campaign in Garou recently concluded. Garou is a single continent world where the landmass is shaped like an apple. The world is a dumping ground for the rest of the universe resulting in an odd mishmash of races and factions that do not fit the typical mold of fantasy worlds, resulting in them being dumped from more traditional worlds into Garou. The judges of what don't belong are the gods, thus the only god of Garou is Wee Jas. She came to Garou to collect the world's magic in the form of orbs. These orbs are similar to mythals, imposing laws or empowering magic in a small area around them.Rob is also the cohost of the Storyteller Conclave podcast with Sara who featured on Episode 13 of Setting the Stage! If you'd like to check them out you can find more at https://storytellerconclave.mixlr.com/ or on the same platform/app you're using to access this podcast.Here is a map of Garou.Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVADiscord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natowa/Michael tells us about his campaign world, Akrimyos. The magic of Akrimyos is a strange and mysterious thing with many different ways of accessing the flux, raw magic that exists throughout Akrimyos. Natowa uses the same names as many of the gods from the Forgotten Realms but with very different domains and personalities to make them his own. Akrimyos also includes a few science fiction elements within the world's lore with aliens, a living planet, and an inhabited moon.Natowa's campaign events have focused on the Kingdom of Calham on Ardentia. Calham is kept safe from the giants in the north by the Giants' Wall mountain range and the dragons that stand guard. An intricate political landscape exists within Calham and the kingdom is on the verge of civil war.Natowa has a lot of the material on his campaign available at World Anvil in French. It's an easy Google Translate away from being readable in any language. That's how I read it! Check it out: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/akrimyos-natowaYou can a look at the map of Akrimyos hereOur website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVADiscord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

OnslaughtSix tells us about his DMing style, his gaming products and his world, Aerda.Onslaught uses almost exclusively modules for DMing, but not in the traditional way. Instead of running a module or adventure path from start to finish, he takes bits and pieces from different modules to form a complete adventure of his own. We talked about his use of Curse of Strahd in this episode and there are some minor spoilers.Onslaught is a game designer with a few different projects under his belt at his own company, Tidal Wave Games. The biggest one is See You Space Cowboy (CUSC), a rules light way to play out scenarios similar to the Cowboy Bebop anime. The first module for CUSC, Ceres: The Planet That Never Sleeps, is coming out soon. Onslaught also gave us a small preview of a new game he's working on called Crawl, which is focused on the quintensencial dungeon crawl that we all know and love. You can learn more at https://tidalwavegames.com/And of course there's also the world of Aerda. Long ago the dwarves came to the surface and met the elves. Upset that the elves were not god dwelling on the surface as they suspected, the generation animosity between the two races began. Dwarves build more dwarves from rocks and earth. Elves reproduce by a simple kiss that makes the recipient woman pregnant. Aerda is defined by cycles of gods leaving and returning to the world. Onslaught has had all of his adventures in Aerda take place over a two month period with different campaigns in different regions of the world. He suspects that an apocalypse is brewing for the world, but who knows for sure?Onslaught uses a hex map for Aerda. A small portion of it can be seen here.Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVADiscord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kima tells us about his cyberpunk world. In the future after a nuclear apocalypse the survivors huddle together in separate cities with a nuclear wasteland in between. Kima focuses in on C-City which is ruled by the Datafield corporation. The datafield is a powerful WiFi-like network that surrounds the city. This allows for instantaneous transfer of information for those who are connected as well as the performance of amazing, almost magical feats when characters tap into the network for power. The heroes must negotiate a urban landscape controlled by corporations, the uber-wealthy, and undercity gangs. Horrific monsters are made in experiments, both cybernetic and bio-genetic.Kima runs his world using the Soulbound system. Character rules emphasize a character's growth alongside an increasing power of the character's weapons and items. Soulbound also uses a setting similar to the cyberpunk world that Kima designed, making it an easy transition for the flavor of the rules he used. PCs increase in power by getting new cybernetics, gadgets, bio-augments, or greater control over the datafield. The rules for Soulbound and the creator's other games are available here: https://www.andimakes.games/Kima also mentioned a Spotify playlist he uses which can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4k8soP6q5NLOFf0oLUzzQs?si=4994e4698f6b44a0Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVADiscord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special episode with the DM that taught me to play, John! When I was nine he ran us through a campaign he'd designed previously called Olnap. The name for Olnap is derived from the real-world map of OLympic NAtional Park that John used to design the campaign. In the campaign my friends and I rampaged across Olnap defeating monsters and solving problems that had come up due to the physical breaking of the peninsula's luck into pieces. Of course we succeeded in the end. John is also the father of Will, the cohost of our first episode, Tolkien, WW1, and Shelob's Farts.John is in the process of designing and playtesting his own rule set for roleplaying games. The system is called Epic Power. It's similar to GURPS with a realistic bell curve for action resolution. Additionally, players have a resource called Epic Power which they can use to influence die rolls or perform amazing feats. If you want to learn more about the system or possibly use it yourself you can email John at epicpower@johnlamping.comOlnap's campaign map is superimposed over a map of the Olympic National Park. Google Maps is just as good as any other image.Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVADiscord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alec walks us through the different Noman Empires in his world. Noss Farii is an imperial empire dominated by a restrictive theocracy. Hyrend is an atheist society where anything goes when it comes to magic, even necromancy. Brevtensa is a plutocratic wild west society where money is king and a plethora of different faiths thrive alongside each other. Outside of the three empires are the States of Cambella composed of numerous smaller nations that are trying to compete against the larger countries. The Noman Empires have beholders, demon lords, ancient vampires, and solidified magic. Come for the Zer'Sun! Stay for the Drothal!Here is a map of the Noman Empires.Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVADiscord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6C Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.