Heroes Rise, seventy-first entry: ’Tis the Season
Welcome, brave adventurers… to the seventy-first entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday April 27th, and released Wednesday May 1st over at heroesrisepodcast.com.
Archives of Candlekeep: Spelljammer Part 2: An Overview
This article was first broadcast in Episode Seventy One on 1st May 2019. Ryu: Okay so now I’m morbidly curious. If Spelljammer’s lore was so crazy, how did that work with gameplay? Lennon: Awesomely, I’m sure. Ostron: Did Spelljammer pay off your mortgage or something? Lennon: So far it’s D&D in space, there are 7ft hippos with muskets and I get to throw Kender out of airlocks. I’m sold. Ostron: Well there weren’t actually airlocks, you know. Spelljammer is presented as a separate campaign setting that uses spaceships, space, and planets to substitute for horses, open plains, and cities. The original sourcebook explains the separation as willful apathy: people in the Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance setting know that there are people cruising around in space, but they don’t really care. Similarly, the people in space really don’t worry about what’s going on in Waterdeep on a regular basis; everyone has their own problems…
Archives of Candlekeep: Spelljammer Part 1: the Lore
This article was first broadcast in Episode Seventy on 24th April 2019. Lennon: I don’t understand why you’re against it. Ostron: I’m not against it, I just don’t understand why you’re so in favor of it. I mean, what do you actually know about spelljammer? Lennon: It’s D&D…IN SPAAACE Ostron: Other than that. Lennon: Um…it’s got spaceships. Like many modern settings and elements of D&D, Spelljammer’s roots are in 2nd edition, and they owe their existence to a man named Jeff Grubb. As Keith Baker is to Eberron, Jeff Grubb is to Spelljammer, although he doesn’t have the laser focus on his setting Mr.Baker does. Grubb is the author of the first Manual of the Planes and created the forgotten Al-Qadim setting, and is credited as being part of the team that originated the Forgotten Realms itself. Later on, he was also contracted by Wizards to work on d20 Modern,…
Heroes Rise, seventieth entry: Flow-JIST-on, Flow-JIST-on
Welcome, brave adventurers… to the seventieth entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday April 20th, and released Wednesday April 24th over at heroesrisepodcast.com.
Wisdom from the Master: Actual Stealth Missions
This article was first broadcast in Episode Sixty-Nine on 17th April 2019. Lennon: This doesn’t bode well for my idea of having my players run a stealth mission. Ryu: What does that have to do with anything? Lennon: Well the whole party isn’t made up of Rangers, Rogues, and people who can cast “Invisibility” so they’re going to make it what? One, maybe two rounds before the guardhouses are alerted and we’re on the express train to murdertown. Ostron: Well, that depends on how you set up the encounter. If the hype and excitement around the release of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist showed us anything, it’s that a lot of players and DMs are excited about the idea of doing a heist or stealth infiltration encounter in their games. There are probably visions of the characters being a coordinated team of misfits like in Oceans’ 11 or the Italian…
Heroes Rise, sixty-ninth entry: The Wrath of Ostron
Welcome, brave adventurers… to the sixty-ninth entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday April 10th, and released Wednesday April 17th over at heroesrisepodcast.com.
Adventurer’s Journal: Helpful Helping
This article was first broadcast in Episode Sixty-Eight on 10th April 2019. Ryu: Lennon…why are you trying to slide a ruler under the door to the Gnomish Workshop? If you’re trying to pick the lock that’s definitely not the way to do it. Lennon: No I…Ostron locked me out. Ryu: What did you do? Lennon: Nothing! I was just trying to help! Ostron: Standing over my shoulder making random comments is not helping! Lennon: but, I mean, that gives him advantage, doesn’t it? Ryu: Well, no, in combat you’re actually supposed to stand over the *enemy* to grant your allies advantage Lennon: oh….right The easiest situation for D&D players most of the time is if they’re playing with a bunch of people who have about the same experience with D&D as they do. Everyone’s familiar with the same editions, they have a similar take on how to play the game…
Heroes Rise, sixty-eighth entry: Highway to (the Nine) Hells
Welcome, brave adventurers… to the sixty-eighth entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday April 6th, and released Wednesday April 10th over at heroesrisepodcast.com.
Heroes Rise, sixty-seventh entry: Mmm-bop
Welcome, brave adventurers… to the sixty-seventh entry into our chronicle, recorded on Saturday March 30th, and released Wednesday April 3rd 2019 over at heroesrisepodcast.com
Gnomish Workshop: Hidden Advantages
This article was first broadcast in Episode Sixty-seven on 3rd April 2019. Lennon: By the rollacks of Ralishaz, not again! Ryu: What happened? Lennon: Well, how would you describe… that? Ryu: Well, Ostron’s unconscious neatly laid out on the floor of the Workshop again… there are absolute piles and piles of dice around… so either he miscast a sleep spell and knocked himself out, or… ROSTRO: Ostron’s command of thaumaturgical rituals seems significant enough to make that event unlikely… Ostron needed help with Advantage. It appears the concept is more complex than it would seem at first glance. On the face of it advantage and disadvantage seem simple; if you have advantage or disadvantage on a roll, generally an attack or ability check, more rarely a saving throw, you roll two d20s instead of one. In the case of advantage, the higher of the two dice is chosen. With…