Archives of Candlekeep: Odd Dragon Out
This article was first broadcast in Episode Thirty-Five on 8th August 2018. Ryu: Now? Now? Can we do it now? Lennon: Yes, fine, go ahead Ryu: Yaaaay! THUNK Ostron: What is that? Ryu: That’s my notes on all the other dragons Lennon: *sigh* okay, we can cover SOME of them. Pick the ones most people will recognize, at least. Ryu: Fine… People familiar with D&D will immediately recognize the more famous types of dragons. Most players know what colors most chromatic dragons come in and where they live, and they can usually name the major metallic dragons as well, though they might be less sure of the details like their habits and where the lairs are likely to be. But D&D has had some dragons that wander well off the beaten path. Most of these haven’t shown up in 5th edition yet, but they could be coming. But of course we’ll start with an exception: the Dragon Turtle. People…
Archives of Candlekeep: Behold the Beholders
This article was first broadcast in Episode Thirty-Three on 25th July 2018. Mikey: So this is backstage, huh? Ryu: You’ve never been here before? Mikey: They don’t let me leave the cave that often… thumbing through papers What’s this? Lennon: Those are some notes that Ostron was having difficulty compiling. Mikey: What happened to the research beholders? Ryu: Well, this is ON beholders, specifically their history, so when he tried to get their help they all just passed in their own life stories and said that’s all he needed to know. Mikey: Ah, yeah…that makes sense. I mean, it doesn’t but it does when we’re talking about beholders. Ryu: Let’s see what he has so far… While dragons are part of the core of D&D, if D&D is said to have a mascot, it is probably the Beholder. One of the first creatures that is wholly a creation of D&D, rather than being a creature borrowed from mythology, nature, or…
Gnomish Workshop: Action Economy
This article was first broadcast in Episode Thirty-Two on 18th July 2018. Lennon: 248… 249… 250…. Ryu: Lennon, are you using a slingshot to fire gold pieces at my knife throwing target? Lennon: Yes. Sorry, I should have asked first. Ryu: No, that’s fine but…why? Lennon: Well Ostron said he was going to be doing something with action economy and I thought I could help. Ryu: …You know, I’m always kind of impressed at how amazingly wrong you are about what Ostron’s doing at any given time. Lennon: What do you mean? Ryu: No, I need his notes. Ostron? Gnomish Workshop door opens Ostron: What’s up? Ryu: Action Economy? Ostron: Right, here’s what you need. If you wander into the same sort of discussions that Ostron does on a regular basis, you may have seen or heard the term “action economy” get thrown around, and you’ve probably found at least one person that seems very interested or possibly obsessed with the…
Adventurer’s Journal: Elemental Wizards
This article was first broadcast in Episode Thirty-One on 11th July 2018. Ostron: Lennon? Did you take my dictionary out of the gnomish workshop? Lennon: I did, and then the research beholders took it. Ryu: Weren’t you working on elemental wizards? Ohhh you meant to grab a spellbook and ended up with the dictionary instead didn’t you? Lennon: No!…well yes, but this actually helped more. I mean, like the research beholders pointed out, finding the spells to use is easy, but the really important bit is what you call the resulting mage. Ryu: Okay, leaving aside the fact that you’re taking advice from beholders, is something wrong with “wizard”? Or “sorcerer”? Lennon: Phah. Boring! Come on, look at this. Most fantasy settings that have magic users always group them into types. Sometimes it’s as simple as “good” and “bad” a’la the Wizard of Oz, but other sources apply a deep and complex hierarchy to magic users,…
Adventurer’s Journal: Efficient Use of Infernal Influence
This article was first broadcast in Episode Thirty on 27th June 2018. Killer DM: Is it “die” when there’s more than one? Or is it “dice”? One die, two dice? I always forget. Anyway, 15 people are dead. Lennon: I’m not sure what that has to do with anything, but tell me why did Ryu decide to put the Killer DM hat on? Killer DM: Well, Ryu knew you were talking about Devils and I’ve always done some of my best work with them, so I…convinced her I should be involved Lennon: Okay, well…we’re actually talking about the Tiefling subraces and how players might most effectively use their stats, so I think you might have misheard. Killer DM: I’m sorry, you’re…helping players? Ostron: Oh come on, have a seat, try this out. Who knows? You might enjoy it Killer DM: Fine. Let’s get on with it then. Before I change my mind… Lennon: In addition to all terrifying-…
Unearthed Mundana: Truly Exotic Weapons
This article was first broadcast in Episode Twenty-Eight on 13th June 2018. Lennon: Hey guys, can you help me out with something? I’ve been trying to make some locations in my game a little more exotic, and it got me thinking. I can flavor the buildings, sights, sounds and smells, even the names and local customs, but everyone still has shortswords, longbows and all those mundane types of weaponry. It reminded me of when we went to Ixalan. Ryu: Because your party’s wizard almost got them all killed? Ostron: Okay look- Lennon: Hey, hey, we’re talking about my problem here. Remember those blades the merfolk carried? They looked like pure water forged into a weapon. Well that then got me thinking back to our world, and there’s a lot of weaponry out there not represented in 5th edition. Do you fancy helping me make some more truly exotic weapons? Ostron: Sure. You’re right of course… 5th…
Archives of Candlekeep: Dragons
This article was first broadcast in Episode Twenty-Seven on 6th June 2018. Lennon: Ryu… are you ok? Ryu: *disappointed* Yeah, it’s fine… just… why’d they put “Dragon Heist” in the title if it’s nothing to do with dragons? Lennon: Yeah, I’m sorry, though Dungeon of the Mad Mage might have them… Ostron: Ok guys, I’ve finished my article on Comparative analysis of Ranged vs Melee Damage per Class and– Ryu, are you alright? Ryu: Yeah, it’s fine… Lennon: You know… I don’t really know much about the history of dragons Ostron: Yeah you do, you’re the one who told me about– why are you looking at me like tha— oooh! Yeah, he knows nothing. Lennon: Right, nothing! Fancy catching me up on it? Ryu: Well… Alright! Ooh, where to start… Ah yes! The Core dragons! In the original D&D set, there were only six dragons: White, Black, Green, Blue, Red, and Gold. The Gold dragon was the only dragon…
Massive Battles
This article was first broadcast in Episode Twenty-Six on 30th May 2018. Lennon: Ok, so two plus two is four, minus one that’s three Ryu: What on earth are you doing? Other than quick maths? Lennon: I’m doing a dry run of a thing for a game. See, I may have painted myself into a corner a bit… or rather into a wide open-field that’s about to be filled with 25,000 creatures on 3 sides, each vying for control of the county RaeRae: And, let me guess, you’re trying to figure out the damage received during a single round of combat? Lennon: Combat? I’ve not even gotten as far as rolling initiative! Ryu: Well, we’ve got a couple of ways that may help you. Many epic fantasy stories, particularly ones portrayed on the big or small screen, have something in particular that causes people to slot them in the “epic” category: massive battles. Massive battles are…
Bounded Accuracy
This article was first broadcast in Episode Twenty-Four on 16th May 2018. Ryu: Lennon? Why did we just get a delivery of 500 yards of parachute cord? Lennon: Oh did that show up? Great! Yeah it’s a research project I’m doing about bounded accuracy. Ryu: Okay…I think I know where you’re going there. I mean, you’re wrong, but I see where you got the idea. Lennon: I refuse to be wrong without proof Ryu: Ostron, have you done anything with bounded accuracy? Ostron: Are you going to keep asking silly questions? If you’ve looked into anything about the development or great ideas behind 5th edition, you’ve probably heard the term “bounded accuracy” thrown about. Then you probably wondered “what does that mean? It’s easier to hit someone who’s tied up? That’s already true.” However, bounded accuracy has nothing to do with tying up characters and everything to to with the math…
Listen, Good People
This article was first broadcast in Episode Twenty-Three on 9th May 2018. Ryu: Okay, no more weddings. Lennon: I didn’t realize you were ordained. Ryu: No, I mean I added an arranged marriage plot to my campaign and my characters started fighting about how the “good” aligned characters would react. Ostron: That can get tricky. Ryu: I didn’t even know how to rule it myself. I just play my characters, I usually don’t think too much about alignment. Well, unless I’m wearing the hat… Lennon: No Hat! Ostron: It’s okay, don’t need the hat. I’ve got a quick primer on being good here. Depending on the crowd of players at the table, the announcement that someone is playing a “good” aligned character can cause as much groaning and consternation as someone saying they want to play an evil one. This is usually because the other players assume the good character will be a legalistic pacifist who constantly…