Curmudgeons And Dragons

[#113] Our final special LIVE episode recorded in the spacious gaming area of The Keep in Brick, NJ. This week, Jason, Josey, and Jim welcome another local NJ gamer, Mike Cortese, who brings us an epic horror story that stops at all the Bad Game Stations of the Cross.

• You can visit The Keep whenever you’re in Central NJ.
• Jason met Mike (and Jim!) on the NJ Dungeons & Dragons Facebook Group.
• The campaign Mike talked about used a Base 8 monetary system
• The Forgotten Realms calendar used 10-day weeks, I guess.
• Jim and Jason hate shopping sessions, but not everyone does (for some reason).

Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.com

Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, and Jim Crocker
Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#112] Another special LIVE episode recorded in the spacious gaming area of The Keep in Brick, NJ. This week, Jason, Josey, and Jim welcome NJ-local DM Mike Perrone.

• You can visit The Keep whenever you’re in Central NJ.
• Jason met Mike (and Jim!) on the NJ Dungeons & Dragons Facebook Group.
• Jason’s condolences notwithstanding, a whole lot of people play D&D via Roll20.
• “I don’t know if you’ve ever watched the CW show Supernatural?”
• Jim invoked weird fantasy author China Meilville as inspiration for one of his campaigns.

Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.com

Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, and Jim Crocker
Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#111] Another LIVE episode recorded in the spacious gaming area of The Keep in Brick, NJ. This week, Jason and Jim welcome Tony Ingracia - or DMTony on the DND404 podcast - live and in person, as Josey joins us remotely.

• You can visit The Keep whenever you’re in Central NJ.
• Tony’s podcast is about 3 brand new players exploring D&D for the first time.
• Jason’s relentless stanning for NADDPOD continues.
• Crawfish head, lobster claws, boobs out. Must be Bilbdoolpoolp.
• The classic AD&D adventure Jim referenced is D2, Shrine of the Kuo-Toa.

Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.com

Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, and Jim Crocker
Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#110] In the second part of Jim and Jason’s LIVE conversation with Tony Bogan of The Keep Hobby Shop in Brick, NJ, we’re joined by Josey!

• You can visit The Keep whenever you’re in Central NJ.
• Tony’s day job is running fishing and party charter boats on the Jersey shore.
• Tony invoked the classic Deities & Demigods AD&D Hardcover.
• Do you still have your favorite classic AD&D character’s sheet? Tony does!
• Tony designed The Keep’s logo before he signed the lease.
• You only wish your PC had a Castle like Zandar’s
• Tony kept that sheet, too!

Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.com

Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, and Jim Crocker
Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#109] In our first C&D LIVE episode, Jim and Jason meet in person at Jason's FLGS The Keep in Brick, NJ to chat with owner Tony Bogan.

• You can visit The Keep whenever you’re in Central NJ.
• Tony’s day job is running fishing and party charter boats on the Jersey shore.
• Tony got his start with the Classic White Box of basic D&D.
• Role-playing and TCGs are widely popular in the military.
• If you were born after Y2K, modems are just history to you.
• Jason bragged about having a Funko Gelatinous Cube.
• Jason, was, in fact, the 11th most popular name for boys in 1984 when he was born, and in the Top Ten for most of the 80s.

Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.com


Hosted by Jason Portizo and Jim Crocker
Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production.

[#108] In this DMAdvice episode, Jason and Jim offer advice on how to get your players to trust your NPCs a little less, how to recapture the spark of role-play in a long-running campaign, and what to do about that guy who wants to be Venom in your first campaign.

• Read the original posts on gullible(?) PCs, static PCs, and overcooked PCs.
• Jim invoked the Quest Giver trope.
• Jason was lamenting he needed to learn to do a Scottish accent
• Jason reminded us he’s a superfan of Not Another D&D Podcast.
• If you want to play Venom, do it in a Marvel RPG, not D&D.
• Turns out Unicorn poachers are not the same as Unicorn hunters.
• Join the conversation at the DMAcademy subreddit.

Check out other DMAcademy episodes
And the youtube, too!

Hosted by Jason Portizo and Jim Crocker
Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

[#107] In this special episode, Jason, Josey, and Jim discuss the deeply disturbing implications of D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast hiring the Pinkerton Agency, notorious extra-judicial corporate mercenaries, to enforce street dates for Magic cards.

• This Gizmodo article should fill you in on the basics of the original story.
• ‘The Pinkertons’ started as private bounty hunters on behalf of banks and railroads. They weren’t very good at it.
• They soon graduated from killing the family members of outlaws to killing the family members of Union organizers.
• That includes women and children.
• They are credibly believed to have destroyed evidence when ordered to testify before Congress.
• Nerds may know who they are because they sued Rockstar Games.
• They’re still actively engaged in Union-busting at the behest of companies like Amazon and Starbucks.
• As a 19th-century newspaper columnist put it so eloquently: “No man of refined sensibilities would enter the ranks as a hired Hessian of plutocracy, expecting to shoot down his brothers at the command of capital.”

Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.com

Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, Jim Crocker (from a suggestion by Greg Genovas)Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production.

[#106] Another Horror Story episode with Jason and Josey. This week, the tale of a petulant DM for whom it was her way or the highway.

• Read the original post and comments.
• Josey mentioned Jim’s aversion to home-brewed Fantasy Heartbreakers.
• No one likes Daylight Savings Time.
• Seriously, steer clear of DMPCs.
• Jason pointed out that adversity is unpleasant.
• For more stories of terrible games, check out the RPG Horror Stories subreddit.

New episodes every Friday now with video!
Check out our other episodes!
And the youtube, too!

Hosted by Jason Portizo and Josey Diaz
Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#105] In this Horror Story episode Jason and Josey bring us a tale of Sci-Fi miscommunication.
CW: Violence against children is discussed in this episode.

• Read the original post and comments.
• Jason mentioned that Joey would soon be returning to Study Hell.
• The game in question was the classic SF RPG Traveller, which has gone through as many versions as D&D since its original release.
• Jason is right, War IS Hell.
• For more stories of terrible games, check out the RPG Horror Stories subreddit.

New episodes every Friday now with video!
Check out our other episodes!
And the youtube, too!

Hosted by Jason Portizo and Josey Diaz
Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#104] This month, we’re doing a series of DM Tips in list form. This week, Jason steps up with a handful of web apps to help you manage your games.

• DNDBeyond is the gold standard for managing characters online, it’s official, and there’s a very robust FREE tier for players in your campaign. This is the Chrome extension that Jason recommends to add additional bells and whistles.
• Improved Initiative is an app for browser and mobile to track exactly what you think.
• For character models you can turn into portraits and even custom miniatures, there’s HeroForge and TitanCraft
• For a no-frills but free Virtual Tabletop, Owlbear Rodeo is basically in continuous development, getting better with each update.
• Fast Character can whip up a playable 5e character in just a few seconds for a late-arriving player or setting up one-shots. Here’s a PDF of the PC Jason and Jim whipped up and here's the Race/Class Dice Jason mentioned
• Dungeon Alchemist produces really good usable maps, including motion-enhanced versions.
• If you play over Zoom, Fathom Notetaker can really enhance your notes

Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.com

Hosted by Jason Portizo and Jim Crocker.
Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo.

Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production.