Dungeons & Dialectics

One day, Joe woke up at 4am, spent 12 hours traveling through Panamá and Colombia, got drunk and played a game of Blades in the Dark with some friends. Listen as he struggles to remember whether or not he liked the game or even what he did, while Matt berates him for his life choices.

If we've convinced you, check out Blades in the Dark, a low-prep heist TTRPG. It's either great or terrible depending on Joe's mood.

⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠ and ⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠

Find out if Joe believes in God on this special episode of Dungeons & Dialectics! Take a dive into the theological currents which promote atheism and how they interpret Christian mission.

⁠⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠⁠

Sources:

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Letters and Papers from Prison. 1951.

Homebrewed Christianity. "Delvyn Case: Jesus in Pop Music". 2022.

⁠Nietzche, Friedrich. The Gay Science. 1882.⁠⁠

Peterson, Jon. Playing at the World. 2012.

⁠Rollins, Pete. "Atheism for Lent". 2023.

Wikipedia. "Christian Atheism". 2023.

Matt & Joe. Dungeons & Dialectics. 2022.

Can you play an atheist cleric? The answer is... listen and find out! Today, Matt and Joe go into the history of the cleric, why they need a god in the first place, and the Christian roots of Dungeons and Dragons! Does a game that's so Christian have space for clerics without a deity? Do Christians even NEED to believe in God??? Some of this and more will be answered today on Dungeons & Dialectics!

⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠ and ⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠

Sources:

Nietzche, Friedrich. The Gay Science. 1882.

Peterson, Jon. Playing at the World. 2012.

Matt & Joe. Dungeons & Dialectics. 2022.

A few weeks ago, we dove into the medical gaze! But there was so much more to Joe's tale of woe than we could fit in the episode. If you want the full story, not bogged down by philosophy or game design, take a listen. But be warned! It gets icky!

Enjoy!

⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠ and ⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠

Better informed by his brush with death, Joe questions Matt about Foucault and the medical gaze. Together, they'll figure out how best to heal someone in and out of game. Thank goodness for our fearless heroes.

⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠ and ⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠

modva. "Yes, Healing Is Good and Valuable in 5e (and why we should stop comparing it directly to damage)". 2021.⁠

⁠Natural Card. "Mastering Action Economy - The Most Important Tactic in 5e". 2023.⁠

⁠Pantagruel666. "The problem with combat healing in 5e". 2020.⁠

Where has your favorite podcast been for the past three months? Tune in and find out how Joe almost died of tuberculosis and tonsillitis and how Matt supported from afar. But more importantly, find out what PHILOSOPHY can tell us about his experience and MOST IMPORTANTLY, what it tells us about the game. Everything is content.

⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠

Sources:

Foucault, Michel. The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception. 1963.

modva. "Yes, Healing Is Good and Valuable in 5e (and why we should stop comparing it directly to damage)". 2021.

Natural Card. "Mastering Action Economy - The Most Important Tactic in 5e". 2023.

Pantagruel666. "The problem with combat healing in 5e". 2020.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. "Edmund Husserl". 2022.⁠

⁠⁠Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. "Phenomenology". 2013.⁠⁠

Holy Pinkertons Batman! Wizards of the Coast sent corporate henchmen to intimidate an innocent fan of Magic: The Gathering? Sounds Lawful Evil to me... Hear our hot takes as Joe the lifelong D&D fan and Matt the union man.

⁠Keep in touch on Twitter⁠ and ⁠support us on Patreon for extended episodes!⁠

Sources:

Carter, Chase. "Magic: The Gathering publisher hires Pinkerton to seize leaked cards from YouTuber’s house". 2023.

Codega, Linda. "Magic 'Raid' Wasn't the First Time Wizards of the Coast Hired Pinkertons [UPDATED]". 2023.

Wikipedia. "Pinkerton (detective agency)". 2023.

In this SHOCKING episode of Dungeons and Dialectics, Matt and Joe discuss the idea of ending and the possibility of an end of history as this applies to Dungeons and Dragons. Is One DND really the last stop on the line, such that we will never need another edition--a final synthesis to rule them all? Witness Joey's radical Star Wars ignorance first-hand as Handsome Matt explains everything.

It's been a long month, but the OGL drama is finally at an end. Wizards of the Coast has capitulated and left intact the original Open Gaming License, as well as updating the 5th edition System Reference Document (basically all the core rules of the game) to the Creative Commons. Check in with Matt and Joe to talk about the future, lessons learned and getting some tips for new games.

For us, this is an issue of justice. We just watched a large, wealthy corporation try to squeeze money out of smaller creators or shut them down when they become too big. But the small creators won (this time). We hope this organizing power can inspire us and equip us with tools for organizing in the face of more pressing justice issues, especially in the wake of more and more police violence in the U.S..

Keep in touch on Twitter and support us on Patreon for extended episodes!

Sources:

Brink, Kyle. OGL 1.0a & Creative Commons. 2023.

Chancey, Tyler. The Possible Future of D&D Beyond Has Leaked. 2023.

Demopoulos, Alaina. ‘People are leaving the game’: Dungeons & Dragons fans revolt against new restrictions. 2023.

Hall, Charlie. The story of Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons' most popular offspring. 2016.

Is Pathfinder Selling Better than D&D?

Luscombe, Richard. ‘He had a beautiful soul’: Tyre Nichols’s parents reflect on the son who was taken from them. 2023.

Sims, Chris S. To Kill a Myth: D&D 4e did fine financially. 2021.

Wizards of the Coast DnD 4th Ed GSL

Games to Play besides D&D:

Blades in the Dark

Call of Cthulhu

Honey Heist

Pathfinder

Shadow of the Demon Lord

Star Wars Roleplaying Game (Fantasy Flight): Edge Of The Empire, Age Of Rebellion, & Force And Destiny (2012)

Troika!

One D&D to rule them all, One D&D to find them! One D&D to bring them all and in the darkness BIND THEM! That's right, D&D is no longer an edition, it's just... D&D. What's coming down the line from Wizards? And what does all this talk of the future of D&D mean? What sinister plans do this neoliberal cabal of sorcerers craft in the shadows? Only one way to find out...

So you could find out by reading the news... This was recorded before news of the OGL debacle over the past couple of weeks, but if anything, past Matt and Joe had no idea just how bad it would be. Most of the same analysis of neoliberal tendencies applies, so take a listen!

Keep in touch on Twitter and support us on Patreon for extended episodes!

Sources:

D&D One Unearthed Arcana

Fukuyama, Francis. The End of History and the Last Man. 1992

Wizards of the Coast. Spelljammer: Adventures in Space. 2022.

Strange Assembly. Review: SpellJammer. 2022.

The Washington Consensus