Campaign Spotlight

In this week's deep dive into the history of D&D, we talk about the origins of two iconic aspects of the game: the variety of dice and the extremely weird and specific monsters. Jake describes probability distributions, Reilly comes up with appealing backstories for creatures, and we take a brief detour into the concept of good and evil in fantasy worldbuilding. Throughout the episode we completely ignore the d10, which is the least aesthetically pleasing die shape.

Here are some links that we used in research for the episode:

• This video from Bob World Builder summarizes the history of the dice used in D&D.
• This blog post shows the chits TSR shipped out during the dice shortage era.
• Here’s the rules for Chainmail, which was a TSR combat system that used d6s.
• Here’s a list of all the US PTO dice patents, which includes some really ambitious dice designs.
• This blog post from Tony Diterlizzi includes pictures and descriptions of the figurines that inspired the monsters we talked about in this episode.

Also, in this episode, Jake implies that 3^8 is "about 6400". It's actually 6561. We sincerely apologize for the error and we promise to never attempt math on the fly again.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website. 

This week, we chat with Kit about incorporating intimate character moments in a campaign with a cosmic scale, themes of family and lineage at an all-queer table, and dealing with a whole menagerie of PC pets. Spoiler warnings for A Series of Unfortunate Events. We also talk about the poem "Auguries of Innocence". Unfortunately, we never did manage to land that Cover Girl sponsorship.

Kit shared plenty of great recommendations for your home game:

• The Owlbear Rodeo virtual tabletop system
• Battlemaps from Eightfold Paper, Fantasy Atlas, Morvold Press, and Wizgrids
• The Griffon's Saddlebag for cool items
• Kenku.FM for music

This week's PC intro comes from Chris, who was our guest at the very end of Season 1. You can watch Chris play D&D on Twitch if you're so inclined. He's on the Phandelver and Below streams! 

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website. 

In this season's Flashlight episodes, we're taking a deep dive into the history of Dungeons and Dragons. Whether you love it, hate it, or are grimly resigned to playing it because everybody already knows the rules, the long history of D&D parallels the history of modern TTRPGs. We're starting out in the 1960s and working forward to the present day.

This week, we try to talk about the wargames of the pre-D&D era. Along the way, we end up exposing our lack of knowledge of 1790s Prussia, discussing the travails of tavern ownership, and announcing a wholly fictitious live podcast tour. It's our first time back in the studio one-on-one in a while, and as a result we get a little silly.

Here are some links that we used in research for the episode:

• This guide to running a Braunstein RPG is an excellent and comprehensive resource with links to plenty of other resources.
• This article from Ben Robbins (the creator of Microscope!) adds some more flavour to David Wesley’s history with tabletop games.
• The first and second volume of Strategos explore the really deep history of wargames, which were the precursor to TTRPGs.

Also, in this episode, Reilly asks Jake about the history about student loans, and Jake doesn't have a good answer. Jake, who writes the show notes, is still mortified about this. Here's a very long and detailed history of student loans.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website. 

In our very first episode of Season 2, we chat with Perry about running a campaign motivated by spite, building a griot PC class, and becoming a cleric by eating another cleric. Spoiler warnings for the D&D 5e Tomb of Annihilation module - although, honestly, this episode is a great primer for running any campaign set in Chult. This is our first time back in the studio after a big break since Season 1, and you can hear Jake getting back up to speed at the start.

Perry has plenty of great recommendations in this episode: Darker Hue Studios, Black Dice Society, the Wagadu Chronicles, Harriet Tubman: Demon Slayer, and the books of Tananarive Due. You can watch Perry on Symphony Entertainment or find his other projects on his Linktree. You can also find many of his creations on DNDBeyond.

This weeks's PC intro comes from Jason. Thanks to Jason for kicking off our PC intros for the season - and also for all the love and support the whole time we've been making this podcast.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website. 

 In this week's Flashlight, we talk about the experience of making a podcast about the creativity and uniqueness of home TTRPGs! Jake describes the terrible initial plan for this project, Reilly recounts an incident of subpar DMing, and we go wildly off the rails by the end.

It's been a real privilege to get to hear about the wild fun games our friends are running. We discuss why we started this show, how it's changed the way we play TTRPGs, and what we're planning for the future of Campaign Spotlight. We also talk about the capricious and inscrutable algorithms that control the flow of information on the Internet and the implications for this podcast.

Also, we should have mentioned this sooner - but Reilly wrote and produced all the music for this season (except for the very first episode, which Mike recorded for his own interview). You can follow Reilly on Bandcamp or listen to some mixes from Reilly's live shows on Mixcloud.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.  

Do you run your own home game? Tell us about a cool homebrew item and we might feature it in an upcoming episode. Give us a call and tell us about it at 724 320 2020.

In this week's episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Chris about healthcare crowdfunding, LARPing on a remote island, and the virtues of small-scale personal stories. No spoilers this week, although we do discuss quite a few old D&D modules in general terms. Also, it's not clear why Chris and Jake are so dead-set on winning sponsorships from the knife store at the mall.

This is the very end of our Campaign Spotlight season! In next week's Flashlight, we chat about what we learned this season and where we're planning to go from here.

You can watch Chris play D&D on Twitch if you're so inclined. He's on the Phandelver and Below streams!

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website. 

Do you run your own home game? Tell us about a cool homebrew item and we might feature it in an upcoming episode. Give us a call and tell us about it at 724 320 2020.

In this week's Flashlight, we explore the game Dallas, based on the TV series from the 1970s and 1980s! Reilly leaves in a hot-mic moment, Jake tries to sound knowledgeable about buying horses, and neither one of us can sustain a Texas accent.

Here's the link to SPI Wargame Resources, where you can find the ruleset for Dallas if you really want to try playing it. We also mention a few other old-school TTRPGs based on the hottest IP of the early 1980s:

• Here's a MemoryAlpha article on the original Star Trek TTRPG and here's a (still-active!) forum for it.
• Here's a catalogue of the sourcebooks for the Indiana Jones TTRPG - which are apparently very hard to find today.
• Here's a review of the Judge Dredd TTRPG which is also very hard to find today.
• Here's an archive of the Marvel Super Heroes TTRPG, with a bunch of character profiles as well.
• Here's a modern review for the original Doctor Who TTRPG.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.  

Do you run your own home game? Tell us about a cool homebrew item and we might feature it in an upcoming episode. Give us a call and tell us about it at 724 320 2020.

In this week's episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Jesse about the Mophidius 2d20 system, the information flow between players, and improving the lot of your noble house. Spoiler warning for Dune, because Jesse's using the Dune TTRPG system. Also, spoiler warning for Game of Thrones, we guess. What's going on with all the sirens in the background in this episode? Not entirely sure, but maybe we should look into soundproofing.

Here's the publisher's website for the system Jesse is using. Hearing about a really fascinating game based on pre-existing IP made us curious about the history of IP-based tabletop games. In next week's Flashlight, you'll hear about our attempt to play the Dallas TTRPG, based on the 1970s TV show.

Also, here's the site Jesse used to build his game's wiki and here's the virtual tabletop system Jesse used to run his encounters.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website. 

Do you run your own home game? Tell us about a cool homebrew item and we might feature it in an upcoming episode. Give us a call and tell us about it at 724 320 2020.

In this week's Flashlight, we explore a very old ruleset for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, First Edition! Reilly attempts to befriend a sloth, Jake covets Reilly's dice, and we speculate on the role of a sociologist in a Tolkienesque fantasy world.

Finding an old copy of the rules can be tricky. OSRIC has compiled a set of first-edition rules (excluding the flavour text, which is subject to copyright) which you can read in more detail here.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website.

Do you run your own home game? Tell us about a cool homebrew item and we might feature it in an upcoming episode. Give us a call and tell us about it at 724 320 2020.

In this week's episode of Campaign Spotlight, we chat with Kyros about making your own story out of a pre-existing module, adding too many NPCs to the party, and flesh golem weddings. Spoiler alerts for the Curse of Strahd module - although, as we learn, this isn't necessarily a great choice for your next campaign.

Talking about this module with Kyros got us morbidly curious about old-school Dungeons and Dragons. In next week's Flashlight episode, we track down the AD&D ruleset and try out some of its mechanics.

Here's that full implementation of Castle Ravenloft in Minecraft that Kyros describes.

For a Romani tabletop game developer's perspective on the depiction of Vistani people in the Curse of Strahd, check out this piece by Rue Dickey.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. For more on the show, including links to all our social media, visit our website. 

Do you run your own home game? Tell us about a cool homebrew item and we might feature it in an upcoming episode. Give us a call and tell us about it at 724 320 2020.