Unearthed Mundana: Actual Two Weapon Fighting
This article was first broadcast in Episode Eighty Six on 28th August 2019. Ostron: Who switched off the lights in here — Lennon, why are you in a barrel, and Ryu, what did you just hide behind your back? Ryu: I didn’t break into the vault and get two swords for Lennon, if that’s what you’re asking. Ostron: Two swords? Ok, why? Lennon: Well… hang on, let me get out of this barrel… Well, all the talk of John Wick last week got me thinking of a cool character concept I want to play, but I thought I should practice dual-wielding first — you know, to get into character. Right, now, does anyone have a spare puppy? Oooookay, well, I’ll admit that fighting with two weapons is objectively cool. Whenever someone shows up in a book, show, or movie and they’re holding a sword in each hand, you know they’re a badass. (Or they’re a squire…
Adventurer’s Journal: Characters: Just make it up!
This article was first broadcast in Episode Eighty Five on 21st August 2019. Lennon: Ha! In your face ROSTRO RaeRae: You know it doesn’t have a face. Lennon: Whatever, the point is, I just created an entirely new race and class to play in D&D, and I didn’t have to touch my calculator once! Behold my Fire Giant Alchemical Archer! Ostron: Okay, so I’m assuming this is an Artificer with the Alchemist specialty and using a crossbow, that’s Unearthed Arcana but still valid, but Fire Giants aren’t a playable race. Is it balanced? Lennon: Pah! Forget balanced. There isn’t a single homebrewed rule in here. Ostron: That’s not possible. Lennon: It’s perfectly possible. You just have to use your imagination! One of the reasons a lot of people in the D&D community keep clamoring for new classes and devour homebrewed attempts on the DMs Guild is that they have an idea for a character that does things differently…
Heroes Rise, eighty-fifth entry: Barbarians Gone Wild
Welcome, brave adventurers… to the eighty-fifth entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday August 17th, and released Wednesday August 21st over at heroesrisepodcast.com.
Adventurer’s Journal: Blending Your Character’s Story Into the DM’s Story
This article was first broadcast in Episode Eighty Four on 14th August 2019. Ostron: *sound of firebolt and then burning* Aaaaand boom. That’s all set now. Ryu: Please tell me that was a mathematical summary we don’t have to discuss in the Gnomish Workshop Ostron: No, that was one of my players’ backstories. Lennon: That thing was like 20 pages, who do you have as a player, George RR Martin? Wait, no, that backstory was finished… Ryu: Fleshed out backstories are good! Lennon: And it’s better than not getting anything. Remember the player I had from last week. Ostron: Yes, but there’s a limit. Some people need prodding and cajoling to come up with a backstory for their D&D characters. As we mentioned previously, many people simply make do with the descriptions in the character backgrounds from various sourcebooks, or they play the “mysterious stranger” card and claim to have an unimportant past and secret, unknowable reasons for adventuring,…
Heroes Rise, eighty-fourth entry: My Ol’ Stones
Welcome, brave adventurers… to the eighty-fourth entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday August 10th, and released Wednesday August 14th over at heroesrisepodcast.com.
Backstories: Back to Basics
This article was first broadcast in Episode Eighty Three on 7th August 2019. Lennon: Ugh, come on, not again! Ryu: Did you miss the knife throwing target again? I told you, wrist flick. Lennon: No, it’s…I’m having to send out another note to remind a player that they need a backstory. Ostron: It’s funny how often people skip that. Backstory development isn’t something that’s usually focused on a lot when the subject of new characters comes up, and you can argue some of that is Wizards’ fault. Since the “backgrounds” mechanic was introduced in fifth edition, some players and DMs just assume the backgrounds from the Players Handbook or module sourcebook are all you need, and everything else just comes about through playing. At a basic level that’s fine, and backstories are certainly not something players should be obsessing over during their first game, when character mechanics and actually playing the game are more important.…
Heroes Rise, eighty-third entry: That is the Question
Welcome, brave adventurers… to the eighty-third entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday August 3rd, and released Wednesday August 7th over at heroesrisepodcast.com.
Unearthed Mundana: Superstitions, Monsters and D&D
This article was first broadcast in Episode Eighty Two on 31st July 2019. Killer DM (tinkering): That’ll do I think. ROSTRO: Your assistance is appreciated. I believe we can now conclude the matter at hand. Lennon: Does the matter at hand have anything to do with the research beholders doing laps between here and the Candlekeep annex? ROSTRO: Surprisingly astute observation The rules of Dungeons and Dragons enumerate an extensive bestiary of creatures benign and belligerent. Fifth edition currently has a comparatively tiny collection of creatures when compared with previous incarnations. Many of those editions had at least three monster manuals in addition to ancillary materials collating collections of fauna, easily bringing the total number of creatures to a count of multiple hundreds. I’ve been working with ROSTRO here to figure out where they all came from. I’m obviously a master at inventing new ways to terrorize and mutilate players but I didn’t think I could…
Heroes Rise, eighty-second entry: Draconic Horse Stalls
Welcome, brave adventurers… to the eighty-second entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday July 27th, and released Wednesday July 31st over at heroesrisepodcast.com.
Heroes Rise, eighty-first entry: Third Party Clerics
Welcome, brave adventurers… to the eighty-first entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday July 20th, and released Wednesday July 24th over at heroesrisepodcast.com.