Tl;dm - A D&d Dm Podcast

The 5e tl;DMs catch up on their campaigns to reveal some major plot developments, and some significant character developments as well. In particular, Alan's group manages to shake up the entire hierarchical structure of the town of Stesso. They also talk about dungeon crawling for D&D and the process of designing and mapping a dungeon. Tyler also starts an important discussion about what expectations should be met, exceeded, or ignored in terms of exploring a dungeon. This includes a revelation that Tyler, for some very specific reasons, is not a huge fan of creating or doling out magic items.

The tl;dm's recount the most dramatic session of the games so far, as well as the drugs that Tyler developed to round out his seedy crime-ridden town of Fossden. Needless to say, the Bonebaggers of Tyler's campaign got Boof-Baffed. Is it too hard to put a player down? Is it too easy to bounce back from 0 hit points? The DMs decide to figure this one out as well. The main topic of discussion, however, is fudging. Whether that means adjusting 5E monster stats on the fly or lying about rolls behind the screen, Tyler and Alan talk about why fudging is valuable and the balance between respecting the dice and creating a fun, compelling narrative.

The tl;DMs get into the depths of the lore of Tengri, a new source of DM jurisdiction overlap in both games. The DMs also talk 5e character creation and roleplaying characters--especially when the characters' wants and feelings may contradict the players'. They get in depth into systems for random encounters and what a random encounter should even mean. Tyler and Alan also talk PC motivations, using time as a resource to create tension, party dynamics. They also talk about sources to draw idea from in the form of the Fantasy genre at large, where Alan may or may not have revealed his true feelings about Matt Colville. They also talk character flaws and tropes of the Medieval Fantasy setting, and how ability scores play into the development of character.   Links/References: Matt Colville - If you are into D&D, definitely check this guy out Patrick Rothfuss - The Kingkiller Chronicles are an excellent fantasy series, unless you're Tyler The Mistborn Trilogy - A series by Brandon Sanderson Alan's Random Enco

This week we're joined by a very special guest, Rashawn Scott aka Shava Moonbrook, a player in Alan's campaign. She gives us her perspective as a new player in DnD, and what her experience of the campaign has been. She also gets to ask any question she's ever wanted to know, and not surprisingly, she wants to know what happens when you die.   Links/References: Shava Moonbrook!

Alan allowed his party to lead themselves into a blood bath that ended on a cliffhanger, and the DMs talk about how that went. They also talk a bit about the orgy that spontaneously took place, and the role of 'fade to black' for certain topics. Meanwhile, in Tyler's DnD game, the party continued to rise through the ranks of the Improv Gladiators, forming an exciting new tag-team duo. Crit fails get discussed, dissected, and ultimately-- discarded.

The tl;dms discuss player choice, controlling the flow of information, and feeling like a big fat failure after D&D sessions sometimes. There's also a fair amount of improvising new people and places in this episode for some reason.   Dungeons & Dragons 5e allows great and expanded options for roleplaying and downtime, which Tyler & Alan also discuss their strategies on.   Links and References: The Location of Alan's Bad Session  

When Tyler Samples and Alan Linic decided to share a world, they realized after a couple of sessions that they DM differently from each other. With plenty to learn (and steal) from each other, and navigating the unique and new (for them) experience of co-curating a world, the tl;dm game masters talk about how their regions differ from each other and how the overarching lore came to be.   As referenced in the episode: Our world map Soaking Paw Brightcliff (Alan's Character, as drawn by Collin Dahlgren)