“What elements would this game need to include to feel complete for a fan of the setting and the story?” That was the question from Forever DM Larry about running a Dragonlance campaign for players that had read the books… which he hasn’t.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave reveal the best tips they have for running a setting that you’re unfamiliar with while the players are steeped in it, whether it’s Krynn, Middle-Earth, or a Galaxy Far, Far Away.

1:45 Shout out to The Epic Beatles Tribute Band on DM Dave’s recent Norwegian Cruise.

2:50 Our listener question from Forever DM Larry.

5:05 First Tip: Hit the Broad Strokes.

8:25 Second Tip: Take a Cue from the Star Wars Stories.

10:55 Third Tip: Focus on the Fun of the Adventure First.

12:15 Fourth Tip: Set Expectations.

14:00 Fifth Tip: What Source Material are you Using? 190 novels exist in the world of Krynn.

16:15 Sixth Tip: Use Lore and NPCs as Easter Eggs, Let Your Unique Story Flourish.

20:40 Seventh Tip: Know What Notes You Need to Hit.

26:25 Eighth Tip: You’re Always Planning for the Next Session.

29:15 Ninth Tip: Pick the System That Leads to The Most Fun for the Whole Table.

40:15 Final Thoughts.

Following the footsteps of our Storm King’s Thunder and Curse of Strahd campaigns, we gather all five players from our Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen players wrap-up!

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave welcome The Wizard Washburn, Monster Wrangler Matt, and our own Chaos Engine, Bonnie, to sit down and discuss the epic entirety of our Dragonlance campaign: what we enjoyed and what we didn’t in this campaign that clocked in at just under 2 years! For anyone wanting to run or play in Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, this episode is for you.

1:50 Player Introductions:

Sir William de Grey – the Knight of Solamnia who makes a devil’s bargain with Sargonnas to gain power to defeat the Dragon Army, only to be redeemed by Chislev and fulfill his Anakin arc.

Rasgueado Vilhuela de Latigo – A whip-wielding Bard who was in search of The Great Song, as well as his Father – only to find that his Father was Lohezet of the Black Robes, High Wizard of the Dragon Army!

Adran Oakenheel – An orphaned Kagonesti Elf who was left with the Sanctuary of the First World; a monastic order dedicated to the Prophecy of the Ascendant Dragon.

Mikros – A Kender Rogue who was searching for her missing past but who was chosen by Lunitari to wield magic.

Dame Eeva Pyrope – An orphaned girl who squired for the Knights of Solamnia, wishing to one day become a full-fledged Knight… only to realize that she has been chosen to herald the return of the Gods!

7:45 Crafting backstories and character concepts that fit within the deep lore of Krynn and Dragonlance.

31:50 We discuss the implementation of the Warriors of Krynn strategy board game developed for the SotDQ adventure: what we liked, what we didn’t, and some changes we would make.

47:40 We discuss the extensive narrative stories that developed the character’s arcs well beyond what we could have achieved at the table.

52:40 The #1 Rule for DMs: Meet Your Players Where They Are.

57:10 Final Thoughts.

Happy New Year! As promised, we’re kicking off our 5th Season with one of our favorite episode varieties: the 3 Wise DMs Campaign Reviews! Following the footsteps of our Storm King’s Thunder, Curse of Strahd, and Woodstock Wanderers campaigns, we delve deep into the High Tale of the Dragonlance with our DM Review of Shadow of the Dragon Queen.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave review how we experienced running and playing it; what we enjoyed and what we didn’t in this campaign that clocked in at just under 2 years! For anyone wanting to run Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, this episode is for you.

Stay tuned for Part 2 when we bring ALL the players on for our Player Wrap-Up episode!

1:50 How close to the book did the DM run the campaign?

3:30 The momentum that is created with the overall theme of impending war in a campaign.

4:30 Why DM Dave chose Dragonlance as his next campaign to run.

7:00 This is the Way: How Dragonlance did NPC death right.

9:30 The Kingfisher Festival: How mini games help get players invested, like fishing for Old Benebog.

12:30 The first stumbling block in the adventure – the translation of the adventure into the Northern Wastes.

17:50 The second stumbling block – Lord Soth is introduced only as a plot device.

22:20 The majority of the adventure is found in The Northern Wastes.

23:50 The Third Stumbling Block - the strange design decision to provide the players with the ability to fly over all the travel mechanics of The Northern Wastes.

27:10 The homebrewed Journey Game that we debuted in SotDQ.

32:00 Classic “Fetch Quests” to get the ball rolling for the players in a new territory.

35:55 The #1 Reason why this was DM Dave’s favorite game to ever run…

41:20 The 2 great things WotC learned leading up to SotDQ: the Adventure Hook and Encounter Difficulty.

44:05 Final Thoughts.

Metagaming. It’s one of the many topics that will spark controversy among those in the hobby. A listener wrote in explaining that they love making terrain and minis and have offered their services to their DM. Unfortunately, the DMs are reluctant, as they don’t want the player to have metaknowledge or spoil the reveals of the campaign.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave bring on our return special Wise DM, the Wizard Washburn, from our Terrain and Minis episode, to discuss how we have leaned into the inevitability of metagaming to enhance our campaigns by letting Scott build out a ton of our terrain, maps, and minis and how we have let it not spoil the fun for the DM, Scott, or any of the other players.

3:40 Our return special guest… Scott “The Wizard” Washburn from Paper Terrain!

5:05 The overview of how we approach compartmentalizing the knowledge of the player and the knowledge of the character.

7:05 The fact of the matter – once you’ve played once, you now have “meta” knowledge.

10:15 The Wizard Washburn reveals his general approach to planning with the DM in multiple campaigns he’s been a player in.

13:35 The idea of context in metagaming.

18:22 Terrain is one thing… but what about miniatures and seeing what the other team is playing with?

25:50 Always remember that RPG means roleplaying GAME.

30:05 Leaning on players to help decrease the level of prep necessary for your game.

32:07 Final Thoughts.

Several listener questions came in that were spiraling around the same general idea, and one that DMs have fielded since the very beginning of the game: how, and when, to exert the unlimited level of power that you possess as the DM.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave, take part in a grab bag of listener questions that deal with players constantly interrupting, as well as how to best approach using, or not using, the newest 2024 version of the Player’s Handbook. For any DM who has wrestled with how and when to exert their God-level power, this is the episode for you.

3:30 The first listener question that deals with the player that constantly interrupts the BBEGs monologues.

4:25 The pro is that you have an excited and engaged player as well as DM Tony’s idea of the “cutscene.”

5:40 Exerting your control to set a scene.

10:00 Teaching players how your world works and allowing the players to adjust the setup of the scene.

13:15 “We’ll get to that” – a bookmark for all the actions players want to take because it is still a turn-based game.

17:20 We delve deeper into DM Tony’s idea of the “cutscene.” What is it and how to use it.

21:10 The awesomeness of the hero punching the villain in the jaw and not caring about their speech.

24:07 The second listener question regarding using the new 2024 update to 5e.

26:00 We already decide what races, classes, and rules we allow in our campaigns – this is no different.

29:15 5e.tools – a great digital resource for DMs and the new Mastery properties of weapons.

34:00 Changing rulesets halfway through a campaign.

38:50 Final Thoughts.

Low Magic. We’ve discussed it before and, in last weeks article, DM Chris delved into ideas of how to make magic rare and special in your D&D campaigns. In our discussion online regarding the article, there was a debate over what low magic means. The issue seemed to revolve around confusing Low Magic with Low Fantasy. Middle-Earth, while being a High Fantasy setting, is, in terms of D&D, a Low Magic setting for the simple fact that there are no spellcasting classes.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss the preparations for the upcoming LOTR campaign; how magic will work, the lack of spellcasters as a class, the types of characters that we’re thinking of developing, among many other topics. For anyone that is hoping to really approach magic differently in their home games, this is the episode for you.

1:50 Our continuing discussion about our upcoming Lord of the Rings campaign and how we’re approaching a setting with low access to magic.

4:01 What are you going to do now? Trying to top your previous campaigns.

7:15 DM Chris delves into his thoughts surrounding how to lessen access to magic as he began preparing and planning his Lord of the Rings campaign.

11:55 Middle-Earth as a world is highly magical, but how that plays at the table changes it significantly from all other D&D settings – Bilbo and the Dwarves didn’t have a Boss Battle with Smaug.

17:35 How much Meteor Swarm would change the Arthurian Tales.

19:05 How rare magic will turn everything into significant encounters: healing, journeys, rests, etc.

22:52 A rare Rock and Roll DM story about short rests and long rests.

24:55 DM Chris explains the idea of the “Fellowship Phase” and “Shadow Points” in LOTR, like Call of Cthulhu Sanity points in Middle-Earth.

32:05 What’s the economy of Middle-Earth?

37:50 How to build characters that will hook into the setting of Middle-Earth.

40:30 Final Thoughts.

We’re getting geared up for some new campaigns to begin. Both our Dragonlance and Journey to Ragnarok campaigns are coming near their finale, so we’ve begun thinking about what’s next up. Just in time, DM Chris sent out his Player’s Guides for the upcoming Lord of the Rings campaign that he’s going to be running in the new year.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss what makes a good Player’s Guide, what to include, what to leave out, and how they can help to start your campaign off on the right foot before your players ever get to the table.

2:53 What’s different in this campaign from other campaigns?

3:23 Session Negative One; giving your players time before Session Zero to reflect on choices.

8:30 The types of choices in different settings that the players might want to reflect on. Including the one-sheet Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign guide.

11:45 Some campaign settings, like Lord of the Rings, require a lot of information prior to starting the campaign. These Player Guides can also be helpful as fodder for character backstories.

13:55 Depending on how experienced your group is will provide how much additional information you send along. Don’t send a 20-page Player Guide to the newbie player, the PHB is MORE than enough.

15:50 Building excitement about the new campaign.

18:30 Assembling the Player’s Guide can serve as a focusing mechanism for you as you build out the campaign.

23:50 Setting the flavor, tone, and rules of the road before players ever come to the table.

25:05 The excitement for the campaign is not just for the players, it’s for the DM as well. Injecting something new keeps your game table fresh.

30:20 Final Thoughts.

Play through an adventure and you’ll realize how strangely time can move in your D&D campaign. Longtime friend of the show, Dr. DM (Jason) returns with a question about his ocean-based campaign that we discussed in Episode 148. His question revolves around how quickly leveling can affect the passage of time in the adventure.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss the strange way time can move in your campaign and how to best handle that. Is your game a non-stop march towards the inevitability of the BBEG or is it more a classic-type of campaign with a bunch of adventures linked together? As DM Tony wisely states, “The passage of time is not nearly as important as the passage of good sessions.”

1:25 Dr. DM returns with the ongoing ocean-based campaign that started from our Shipping Up To Boston episode!

4:08 How does time work in your campaign? One crazy summer or lasting over decades of the characters lives? How fast, or slow, are you leveling?

6:45 Using a campaign calendar and how it shows how quickly time can move in D&D.

9:45 Many adventures don’t allow for a lot of “downtime” or times when you’re not actively adventuring.

11:40 Structuring your campaign to allow for time to pass. DM Chris explains the Fellowship phase in the Lord of the Rings 5e campaign he’s preparing.

18:25 Does training and time really matter in your campaign? The Luke Skywalker example.

23:05 Hiring crew, guides, and hirelings for your keep. How much do your players want control in this? DM Chris reviews the hiring of guides in Tomb of Annihilation.

32:12 Using your NPC hirelings and townspeople to hook the characters deeper into the story… the Invasion of Vogler in Dragonlance.

37:09 A slight aside to an addendum of Dr. DMs question: paying dues in game… yes or no?

42:35 Final Thoughts.

Bad sessions. We’ve all dealt with them and we’ll continue to have them periodically. It’s all part of running TTRPGs. But how to you deal with them when they happen? What do you do to salvage the game at the next session? DM Dave offers a question to his fellow Wise DMs regarding a recent session that he felt he could have run better, smoother, better improv. But he got stuck. Hey, it happens.

In this episode, Tony and Chris help Dave talk it out and, in the process, reveal what we all deal with… sometimes, everything just goes south in the game and it isn’t fun. It’s even tougher to deal with when you’ve handled these kinds of issues successfully before. So what are you going to do about it?

2:20 DM Dave gives a high overview of his Melora’s Light campaign that led to the recent game that went awry.

9:25 Disrupting the DMs plans. How new players are great for this.

11:20 Wait, the players just walked straight to the Big Boss? How to deal with it when they walk right up to the front door.

12:35 The forever debate between sandbox and rails.

18:12 It’s important to be honest about how you’re feeling about the game and what is fun for you and your group.

21:05 “Back in the Day” with DM Tony.

24:25 The unlikely team-up with the arch-nemesis.

27:05 Always remember to prep enough for you to feel comfortable improving through anything.

28:22 DM Chris reviews his recent issue with releasing an overpowered weapon and how to properly retcon it. Also, Baghtru.

35:05 There’s always the next session.

42:25 Final Thoughts.

Running the adventure outside of the game session? Yes, that’s right. Starting back in DM Dave’s Curse of Strahd campaign, we began to develop characters and backstories with narrative side quests via text, email, and online documents (like Google Docs). In our Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign, we have utilized them from the very beginning for each character individually, as well as the whole party, to further flesh out the characters, world, and story.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss their strategies for running narrative side quests outside the game as well as completely text-based campaigns.

Episode 358 of Dragon Talk.

DM Tony’s article on running narrative side quests outside the game.

3:08 What do we mean when we’re talking about a narrative side quest?

4:55 Our most recent use of narrative side quests in our Dragonlance campaign.

7:25 There must be an active give and take for narrative side quests and campaigns to work.

13:00 DM Chris’ Days of Future Past text-based Marvel Super Heroes campaign.

14:35 Narrative side quests for individual characters are a time to build out backstory and character, not for leveling and gaining experience.

16:48 DM Chris literally “Squirrels”!

20:12 Narrative, or “Descriptive”, side quests. What is your threat level? Will the character die while away?

22:40 How narrative side quests can help spur roleplay moments in-game.

23:55 How to build out actual side quests with monsters, loot, and experience for individual characters.

25:26 How far away are your characters and how long will they be gone? How many players are you currently juggling with side quests?

32:20 Narrative side quests allow players who miss a session to not feel like they missed out.

34:35 Excellent method for important plot drops… when they find it, they’ll want to shout it from the rooftops.

39:32 Final Thoughts.