
RPG Lessons Learned (RPGLLPodcast)
Explore every episode of RPG Lessons Learned
Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
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08 May 2017 | You don't have to know what you're doing! (D&D, 4E) | 00:22:58 | |
Dusty and Brian recount their first game together in 2010! Lesson Learned: "You don’t have to know what you’re doing!" | |||
12 May 2017 | If it's fun, do it! (D&D, 4E: Starter Set) | 00:27:02 | |
Dusty and Brian discuss their experience with the 4e Starter Set (the Red Box)! Lesson Learned: "If it's fun, do it!" | |||
21 May 2017 | Prison break! (D&D, 5E) | 00:22:47 | |
Dusty and Brian discuss a "prison break" adventure Dusty ran. How did they prepare? What did they learn? All that and more... | |||
28 May 2017 | The Iron Circle! (D&D, 4E: Reavers of Harkenwold) | 00:30:50 | |
Dusty and Brian talk about defeating The Iron Circle, overcoming cliches and making a game your own along the way. | |||
04 Jun 2017 | Halloween game! (D&D, 4E) | 00:28:06 | |
Dusty and Brian talk about a major plot twist: turning a player’s character evil! Also: an emotional thrill, an anti-climax, and Dusty believes that he put too much effort into this game’s visuals. | |||
11 Jun 2017 | Twilight! (D&D, 4E: Dusk) | 00:35:01 | |
Dusty and Brian talk about Dusk by Mike Krahulik! What did we learn? What would we do over? Find out! | |||
18 Jun 2017 | Monster Vault! (D&D, 4E: Cairn of the Winter King) | 00:32:27 | |
Dusty and Brian talk about Cairn of the Winter King from the Monster Vault. We’re still recovering from the events of Dusk, and this crew is on shaky ground… | |||
25 Jun 2017 | Killer Dungeon! (D&D, 5E: Tomb of Horrors) | 00:35:42 | |
Dusty and Brian talk about their play of Gary Gygax’s Tomb of Horrors. From their game experience, to John Wick’s criticism, there’s a lot to talk about on this nearly 40 year old adventure. | |||
02 Jul 2017 | Tower of Waiting! (Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game) | 00:30:07 | |
Dusty and Brian talk about The Tower of Waiting, our first attempt with BFRPG homebrew. This didn’t go well.
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09 Jul 2017 | Bulletin Board, Part 1! (Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game) | 00:31:45 | |
Dusty and Brian discuss the jobs board at the Silver Unicorn. Dusty devised this mechanic to create some quick adventures. How did it go? Did the players try to metagame? You know it.
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16 Jul 2017 | Bulletin Board, Part 2! (Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game) | 00:37:57 | |
Dusty and Brian continue their discussion about the jobs board at the Silver Unicorn. This time a new adventurer joins, and his GMs hate it when he rolls his own characters. This week on RPG Lessons Learned, it’s not you, it’s us. Really.
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23 Jul 2017 | Mike's Game! (D&D, 4E: Kobold Hall) | 00:44:22 | |
Dusty and Brian welcome their first guest to the show: Mike! Mike discusses the game he ran, Kobold Hall! | |||
30 Jul 2017 | D&D for Dummies! (D&D, 4E: Hall of the Spider God) | 00:31:32 | |
Dusty and Brian welcome Mike back to discuss Hall of the Spider God! | |||
06 Aug 2017 | Dungeon Dash! (D&D, 4E: The Cult of Bane, Wraithwood Cavern) | 00:44:27 | |
Dusty, Brian and Mike continue their discussion of Mike's 4e campaign! This time, Mike runs two "Dungeon Dash" adventures by Kurt Sparkuhl!
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13 Aug 2017 | Beginner Box! (Pathfinder, 1E: Black Fang's Dungeon) | 00:38:02 | |
On this episode of RPG Lessons Learned, Dusty, Brian and Mike discuss their first Pathfinder play together, Black Fang’s Dungeon!
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20 Aug 2017 | Lessons from Shadow of the Cabal! (Legend of the Five Rings, 4E) | 00:39:31 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike are joined by Tanner from the Shadow of the Cabal podcast, who shares some of the lessons he’s learned from his play of Legend of the Five Rings! | |||
27 Aug 2017 | D100 Star Wars! (Basic Roleplaying, D100: Escape From Earthport) | 00:38:54 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike talk about what is both their first Chaosium d100 game, and their first Sci-Fi adventure! It’s Escape from Earthport from the Basic Roleplaying Game Quick-Start Edition!
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03 Sep 2017 | Exploring Sandpoint (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:31:53 | |
Dusty and Mike talk about getting revenge on the “farmer” who set the band of adventurers up in the previous game.
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10 Sep 2017 | Meeting Walter Korbitt! (Call of Cthulhu, 6E: The Haunting) | 00:39:49 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike are joined by Nathan to talk about The Haunting from the Call of Cthulu Quick Start Guide!
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17 Sep 2017 | Mission from God! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:56:51 | |
Dusty, and Mike return to Pathfinder to discuss the Mike-centered game, Mission from God! Just like all of our Pathfinder games, this based on the characters included in the Pathfinder Beginner Box!
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24 Sep 2017 | Haunted Tower! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:40:02 | |
Dusty and Brian talk about another game created from Pathfinder Beginner Box. This game didn’t go like Dusty planned it out, and the players took the story in a surprising direction. How did Dusty account for that, and should he have allowed it to happen? We’ll talk about it on…
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01 Oct 2017 | PVP Gladiatorial Combat Arena (D&D, 5E) | 00:23:16 | |
Dusty, Brian and Mike talk PVP! Afraid of Player vs. Player combat at your table? So were we! So we decided to just go for it! Here’s what we learned… | |||
07 Oct 2017 | GM Job Interview! | 00:43:17 | |
Brian and Mike grill Dusty on his DM/GM skillset! | |||
15 Oct 2017 | Guilded Cage! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:26:43 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike are once again joined by Nathan to talk about a recent campaign. This week we’re talking about the game they ran “Guilded Cage” which is based on their adventure from the Pathfinder Beginner Box!
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22 Oct 2017 | Exploring Rokugan, Part 1! (D&D, 5E) | 00:43:12 | |
Dusty, and Brian have a special guest! Tanner, from the “Shadow of the Cabal” actual play podcast, joins us to discuss our foray into Rokugan! Part 1 of 2!! | |||
29 Oct 2017 | Exploring Rokugan, Part 2! (D&D, 5E) | 00:37:16 | |
Dusty, and Brian are once again joined by Tanner, from the “Shadow of the Cabal” actual play podcast! We continue our foray into Rokugan! Part 2 of 2!! | |||
05 Nov 2017 | D&D's Saturday Morning Cartoon at MACE 2016! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beneath the Blade of Sword Mountain) | 00:41:20 | |
Dusty, and Brian discuss the very first game they played at MACE 2016: Beneath the Blade of Sword Mountain, a Dungeons & Dragons Animated Series Adventure…played in Pathfinder.
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12 Nov 2017 | Our MACE 2017 Thoughts! | 00:41:52 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike are finally joined by Chris! Short on sleep, but not on opinions, the gang share their thoughts on MACE 2017! Like any convention, some of it was great, …and some of it could use a little work. | |||
19 Nov 2017 | Assassin's Creed on the Fly at MACE 2016! (D&D, 5E) | 00:30:12 | |
After a GM no-showed at Con, Dusty stepped up and improvised a game inspired by “Assassin’s Creed!” | |||
26 Nov 2017 | Illsorai Gandethus’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:32:43 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike continue their Pathfinder campaign. Sometimes you can pull all the right pieces into play… and the game at the table is still only mostly good. Dusty focused a game on Brian’s character, gave the players a little of everything… except a clear goal.
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03 Dec 2017 | Medieval Avengers! (D&D, 5E) | 00:30:13 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike discuss their Medieval Avengers game! After years of low-level play, the gang decides to jump to 12th level with a super-powered Avengers game… and everyone had fun! Well, almost…
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10 Dec 2017 | Terror on the Cattaro! (Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game) | 00:40:10 | |
Dusty gets grilled by Brian and Mike on the Mace 2017 play of Terror on the Cattaro, a 1920s pulp adventure!
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18 Dec 2017 | MACE 2017, Dropped Call to Cthulhu! (Call of Cthulhu, 6E) | 00:37:24 | |
Dusty, Brian and Mike do their best to keep their thoughts constructive on their worst session at MACE ’17.
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24 Dec 2017 | Playing with DM Scotty! (Pocket Fantasy RPG: The Sanctuary of Sumuho) | 00:42:46 | |
Dusty, Brian, Mike and Chris were lucky enough to score spots in DM Scotty’s Pocket Fantasy RPG game at MACE ’17!
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31 Dec 2017 | Medieval Avengers at MACE 2017! (D&D, 5E) | 00:35:12 | |
Brian puts Dusty on the hot seat and interviews him about the second running of his Medieval Avengers game! At Mace 2017 Dusty ran this game, based on the 5E Avengers pre-generated characters at Tribaility.com. Some things went well, but overall Dusty feels that this game went poorly.
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07 Jan 2018 | MACE 2017, Raleigh Police Glow Squad: Case of the Gummi Bears (Savage Worlds) | 00:27:40 | |
Dusty interviews Brian and Mike about their Savage Worlds game at Mace 2017! Brian and Mike thought they were playing a Gummi Bears game, maybe they should read the game description a little more closely.
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14 Jan 2018 | Campaign Post-Mortem! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:38:05 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike do lessons learned on an entire campaign!
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21 Jan 2018 | The Metasode: Where RPGLL is going in the future! | 00:23:52 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike discuss where they’re going to take the show in the future. It’s our first ever Metasode! | |||
28 Jan 2018 | Demon-Hunting at Level 20! (D&D, 5E) | 00:38:12 | |
Tired of “hoping” to get to level 20 “some day,” Dusty runs a one-shot “demon hunter” session, and valiantly tries to challenge god-like player characters! | |||
04 Feb 2018 | Brainstorming on Eliyahu M. Goldratt's "The Goal!" (Theory of Constraints) | 00:38:01 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike change gears and discuss The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eli Goldratt! ‘The Goal’ is a business novel about solving problems by understanding your goal, and how to mitigate the effects of constraints which get in the way. On this episode we look…
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11 Feb 2018 | Playing RPGs with Kids! (World of Dungeons) | 00:27:57 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike talk about a recent game Dusty played with his daughter. RPGing with your kids, or young family members, can be a lot of fun! Pick an appropriate game system based on their age, and get to playing! For this game, Dusty used World of Dungeons….
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18 Feb 2018 | East Texas University, Part 1! (Savage Worlds) | 00:27:44 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike discuss the first game in their Savage Worlds Campaign, it’s East Texas University! A challenging time, between issues with Skype, and understanding the system, this was not our best game.
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25 Feb 2018 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! (D&D, 5E) | 00:26:21 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike talk about their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle adventure! The guys tried to introduce D&D to a good friend with some familiar nostalgia! | |||
05 Mar 2018 | Beginner Box Campaign: A Data-Driven Retrospective (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:26:51 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike do a data-driven post-mortem on their Pathfinder Beginner Box campaign! Dusty mined his post-game recap e-mails to take a look at two simple measures of the campaign: Experience Points and Gold Pieces. The results are surprising.
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12 Mar 2018 | Martin's Game (Castles & Crusades) | 00:41:02 | |
Dusty shares his experiences in our friend’s game! Somehow we tie in Skyrim, Orson Scott Card, diversity of thought, and the monkey’s paw…
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18 Mar 2018 | East Texas University, Part 2! (Savage Worlds) | 00:38:04 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike return to their East Texas University adventure with game #2! This game was full of challenges, and fun. Unlike game #1, this was a very good game. It was a lot of fun.
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25 Mar 2018 | Player Job Interview! | 00:51:49 | |
Dusty interviews Brian and Mike about their role as players. What are some of their best gaming experiences? Some of their worst? What’s their preferred play style? What’s their preferable RP to combat ratio? It’s a really fun and interesting episode where we dig back into why we play,… | |||
01 Apr 2018 | Courtroom Drama! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:23:46 | |
Dusty and Mike revisit the Pathfinder Beginner Box campaign. After the players demand to see the murderers they caught brought to justice, Dusty runs a courtoom drama, complete with vital testimony from one of the players!
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08 Apr 2018 | Holy Matrimony! (Legend of the Five Rings, 4E) | 01:26:19 | |
Tanner, the GM from Shadow of the Cabal, joins us to talk about running us through his L5R one-shot: Holy Matrimony! | |||
15 Apr 2018 | The Geomorphic Dungeon! (D&D, 5E: Dungeon Command) | 00:38:25 | |
Dusty learns that 5th edition is a lot more lethal than 4th when he runs the guys through a two-session geomorphic dungeon crawl using tiles from the Dungeon Command game. | |||
22 Apr 2018 | Shock Jock! (Savage Worlds: East Texas University) | 00:31:31 | |
Dusty relearns the most basic lesson: You have to hook your players!
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29 Apr 2018 | Fiscal Year-End! | 00:44:20 | |
We reflect on a year of RPGLL by discussing our best and worst episodes, and the lessons we’ve learned creating this podcast! | |||
06 May 2018 | Redneckromancer! (Savage Worlds: East Texas University) | 00:43:36 | |
Did we finally figure out Savage Worlds? Did we finally have an East Texas University game that EVERY player enjoyed? Darn right we did!
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13 May 2018 | Planning Brian's Game! (Pocket Fantasy RPG) | 00:31:33 | |
We help Brian plan his first session behind the screen!
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20 May 2018 | How does this end? | 00:22:25 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike try to figure out how all this will end… | |||
28 May 2018 | Luncheons & Dragons! (D&D, 4E; Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game) | 00:44:27 | |
Dusty and Brian talk about running games in an hour… over lunch at work! Do you aspire to run a shorter game? This is worth a listen! | |||
03 Jun 2018 | Maggie's Ghost! (Savage Worlds: East Texas University) | 00:28:44 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike continue their ETU Savage Worlds discussion with a game that changes their campaign forever…
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10 Jun 2018 | Thicker Than Wine! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:22:35 | |
Dusty and Brian revisit their Pathfinder Beginner Box campaign to discuss a subplot that never took off and identify a fundamental gap in their RPG skillset along the way…
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17 Jun 2018 | Lesser-known GM resources! | 00:15:43 | |
Dusty, and Brian talk about some lesser-known GM resources that Brian can utilize as he’s preparing to run his first game. | |||
24 Jun 2018 | Jazz Hands! (Savage Worlds: East Texas University) | 00:31:22 | |
In their latest ETU session, Dusty, Brian, and Mike deal with the consequences of their actions through some inspired role play.
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01 Jul 2018 | Our next campaign is going to be what!? | 00:18:27 | |
Dusty, Brian, and Mike discuss their upcoming campaign, which will be our attempt at running an Actual Play Podcast. For academic purposes, of course. | |||
08 Jul 2018 | What were we expecting when Dusty said that he wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons? | 00:36:36 | |
Brian and Mike are left behind when Dusty goes on vacation to soak in some rays at the beach. With Dusty gone, the guys ask themselves what were they expecting all those years ago when Dusty said that he wanted to play D&D? | |||
15 Jul 2018 | Dwarf-Made! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:24:25 | |
Brian and Mike welcome back Dusty from vacation. Refreshed after a long rest, the guys revisit the Pathfinder Beginner Box campaign and discuss a fun adventure we called “Dwarf-Made.”
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22 Jul 2018 | Hagsville! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:26:07 | |
To get their Pathfinder campaign back on track, Dusty steals a classic horror movie plot and rolls the group right down a rail…
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29 Jul 2018 | Laying out a great campaign, starting with the last session! | 00:35:06 | |
Dusty asks the guys to help lay out the next campaign, just like writing a mystery novel, starting with the last page. | |||
05 Aug 2018 | West Marches with Caleb! (Sounds Like Crowes: Caleb Sundsted) | 00:38:14 | |
Dusty and Mike interview Caleb from Sounds Like Crowes Podcast who discusses the thirty-player West Marches campaign he GM’d!
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12 Aug 2018 | Lessons Learned from West Marches with Caleb! (Sounds Like Crowes: Caleb Sundsted) | 00:52:47 | |
Caleb from Sounds Like Crowes Podcast returns to discuss lessons learned from his West Marches Campaign!
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19 Aug 2018 | Troop 616! (Savage Worlds: East Texas University) | 00:31:44 | |
Dusty takes his ETU game off-script, and runs an 8/10 ETU game for the guys! That’s two good sessions in a row! What are we suddenly doing right?
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26 Aug 2018 | Ret Vetting! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:30:32 | |
A session becomes a game-within-a-game when the PCs agree to run a war game against the town guard…
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02 Sep 2018 | WTH happened to our game? | 00:33:01 | |
Why haven’t we played in six weeks? | |||
09 Sep 2018 | The end of a campaign... (Savage Worlds: East Texas University) | 00:25:19 | |
It’s over. We just wrapped up our East Texas University game in Savage Worlds, and we immediately fired up the recorder to do a post-mortem. It’s a rare show with everyone from our table! This week we’re joined by Chris and Nathan!
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16 Sep 2018 | Staying Engaged as a Player (Castles & Crusades) | 00:26:21 | |
Dusty’s been taking notes as a player… and it’s been a game-changer for him! Mike and Brian share their tips and tricks for staying engaged.
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23 Sep 2018 | Our last ETU session... (Savage Worlds: East Texas University) | 00:44:23 | |
The guys recap and go in-depth on their last ETU session and what made it so great.
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30 Sep 2018 | Mummy's the word... (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:24:27 | |
A pocket of undead have awakened beneath Sandpoint.
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07 Oct 2018 | Knife to meet you! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:24:11 | |
An Assassin attacks the group! And, uh, he uses a knife. Get it?
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15 Oct 2018 | Cryomancer! (World of Dungeons) | 00:36:03 | |
Our three mercenaries found work escorting a young Baroness onto a mountain to convince her Cryomancer sister to stop terrorizing their home with her creations.
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22 Oct 2018 | Quick Adventure Prep... (Pocket Fantasy RPG) | 00:53:46 | |
Dusty talks Brian through planning his first adventure, using Dusty’s Pocket Fantasy RPG Character Sheet Creator. Tom Mix wept.
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28 Oct 2018 | Guards, guards! (D&D, 5E) | 00:41:20 | |
The guys were promoted within the City Guard as particularly effective guards, and tasked with reducing overall crime in Fallcrest.
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04 Nov 2018 | Lost Temple of Garthoon! (Basic Roleplaying, D100) | 00:28:46 | |
We played… a generic fantasy adventure… with generic fantasy characters… in a generic system… and we had a generic time.
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11 Nov 2018 | Keltus! (World of Dungeons) | 00:32:59 | |
Chris, Nathan, and Mike return to Dora, and deal with Keltus.
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18 Nov 2018 | Elemental, My Dear... (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:48:16 | |
The guys try out Roll20, and face elementals for the first time. Guess which they prefer.
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27 Nov 2018 | Wild Sheep Chase! (D&D, 5E: The Wild Sheep Chase) | 00:44:33 | |
We first try theater of the mind, and found ourselves on a wild sheep chase.
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02 Dec 2018 | Fortress of the Iron Duke, Part 1! (Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game) | 00:43:44 | |
The guys gather around the table for their first dungeon crawl in a long time.
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09 Dec 2018 | My Little Pony! (Fate Accelerated) | 00:23:07 | |
Dusty runs through the My Little Pony game he ran for his family!
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16 Dec 2018 | Shalelu Askew! (Pathfinder, 1E: Beginner Box) | 00:29:30 | |
When the guys report back to Shalelu about the Elementals… something seems… off.
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23 Dec 2018 | Playing RPGs With Your Kids! | 00:16:28 | |
The guys provide some ideas on how to get your younger kids into RPGs! | |||
30 Dec 2018 | The Anti-Party! | 00:34:09 | |
Dusty wants to give you a Contingency plan for your campaign. | |||
06 Jan 2019 | Fortress of the Iron Duke, Part 2! (Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game) | 00:26:23 | |
Dusty and Mike continue their first BFRPG session, the Fortress of the Iron Duke. This one was a tough session.
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13 Jan 2019 | Drakkenland, Session Zero! (Castles & Crusades) | 00:33:52 | |
We streamed session zero of our Drakkenland Campaign.
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20 Jan 2019 | Steal NPCs! | 00:13:01 | |
Change their names, avoid their catchphrases, but steal NPCs from your favorite movies and shows to give your world a rich, consistent feel. | |||
28 Jan 2019 | Brian rolls a character! (Castles & Crusades) | 00:33:45 | |
Brian rolls his character for the upcoming Drakkenland campaign in Castles & Crusades!
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04 Feb 2019 | Blood & Honor, Part 1: Rolling a character! (Blood & Honor) | 00:58:43 | |
Dusty and Mike roll a character to test drive John Wick’s samurai game! | |||
12 Feb 2019 | Blood & Honor, Part 2: Playing the game! (Blood & Honor) | 01:16:56 | |
Dusty and Mike play a quick session of “Blood & Honor.” | |||
17 Feb 2019 | Blood & Honor, Part 3: Retrospective! (Blood & Honor) | 00:44:24 | |
Dusty and Mike explore their experiences with Blood & Honor by enumerating its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. | |||
24 Feb 2019 | Hatari Tower! (World of Dungeons) | 00:38:14 | |
Dusty, Mike, and Brian discuss their World of Dungeons session Hatari Tower and run it through the tried and true Start, Stop, and Continue exercise.
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03 Mar 2019 | World of Dungeons SWOT! (World of Dungeons) | 00:32:37 | |
We perform a SWOT Analysis on the World of Dungeons system!
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30 Jun 2019 | Arriviste, Part 1: Session Zero! (Vampire: The Masquerade) | 00:35:06 | |
Dusty and Brian discuss session 0 of the Vampire The Masquerade game with Nathan and Chris!
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14 Jul 2019 | Arriviste, Part 2: Smiling Jack! (Vampire: The Masquerade) | 00:34:33 | |
The fledglings find Smiling Jack, and learn about Vampire/Kindred traditions…
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21 Jul 2019 | Arriviste, Part 3: Blood Hunt! (Vampire: The Masquerade) | 00:34:25 | |
The fledglings take part in a Blood Hunt to convince the city’s Kindred that they’re more than sire-less neonates…
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11 Aug 2019 | Arriviste, Part 4: Diablerie! (Vampire: The Masquerade) | 00:23:37 | |
Eduardo and Xep finish their first session by unwittingly breaking the worst of Vampire taboos…
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