Grumpy Dungeon Masters

Gencon has officially wrapped and it was a big one. The Ennie awards were hosted by Professor Dungeon Master this year and had Crooked Moon, Daggerheart, and Dolmenwood grabbing a whole lot of the awards.

On top of that Wizards of the Coast had their hour long keynote address to talk about where things are going for Dungeons & Dragons. They definitely have big plans. More focus on Greyhawk, a return of Dragonlance, and even a return of Dark Sun. While the Grumpy Dungeon Masters have expected that for a good while now it’s still a bit of a surprise to see it happening. However it doesn’t mean the GDM guys have to like it.

They also talked about Dungeons & Dragons Icons, where Wotc pays homage to the creators of the game that came before. Also D&D Universes Beyond. They did it with Magic the Gathering and now they are trying it with Dungeons & Dragons. Starting out we get World of Warcraft for 5.5 and also Star Wars. No clue if it will be any good, but GDM Christopher is happy about it.

Follow the Grumpy Dungeon Masters on Facebook or Instagram.

Join our Discord to chat with the Grumpy DMs. Bring us your toughest DM questions or ask us to review your TTRPG work!

Be sure to join us every Tuesday and Thursday at 8pm EST on Twitch to watch the Grumpy DMs fail at your favorite Table Top and RPG games. Soon we will be back on Saturday with our D&D Live Play!

Intro Music Provided by:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hit N Smash by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5360-hit-n-…
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

This time the Grumpy Dungeon Masters get to sit down with a Professor Dungeon Master. For those who aren’t aware the good Professor is the creator of Deathbringer the roleplaying game, which the guys talked about last week, host of the Ennie Awards at GenCon this year, and he also has a fantastic Youtube channel where he talks about how to be a better Dungeon Master and RPG news. Deathbringer is currently on Backerkit so go check it out.

The guys get some time to pick his brain on Deathbringer and all of the things within the RPG. Death Dice, Battle Nuns, and gaining cool powers every time you die. They also get to talk about the YouTube channel and how it came to be. Give the pod a listen and enjoy!

Follow the Grumpy Dungeon Masters on Facebook or Instagram.

Join our Discord to chat with the Grumpy DMs. Bring us your toughest DM questions or ask us to review your TTRPG work!

Be sure to join us every Tuesday and Thursday at 8pm EST on Twitch to watch the Grumpy DMs fail at your favorite Table Top and RPG games. Soon we will be back on Saturday with our D&D Live Play!

Intro Music Provided by:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hit N Smash by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5360-hit-n-…
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The guys are back to their regular scheduled podcasting this week. On the menu is Deathbringer. A Roleplaying game put together by Professor Dungeon Master and the team at Roll for Combat. It’s currently running a backerkit that has already broken a million bucks. It’s an OSR style of game that focuses on simplicity of rules and brutality of combat. Be sure to check it out.

Also this week Christopher talks about running Adventurers League and the module that he and his players just finished up. Detailing out a couple of encounters at first it just sounds as if it was pulling from old school RPG’s and the lethality of them. With further inquiry however that may not be the case.

The guys also talk a bit about the Ennies. It’s the yearly TTRPG awards that takes place at Gencon. The Grumpy Dungeon Masters didn’t realize it was happening until it was to late so their thoughts on the participants leaves a bit to be desired. Perhaps next year.

Visit Zenergy Gamers for all of your gaming needs. Use code word Grumpy for 10% off any order!

Follow the Grumpy Dungeon Masters on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok!

Join our Discord to chat with the Grumpy DMs. Bring us your toughest DM questions or ask us to review your TTRPG work!

Be sure to join us every Saturday at 8pm EST on Twitch for our Live Play D&D session.

Intro Music Provided by:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hit N Smash by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5360-hit-n-…
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

This is the continuation of the Grumpy Dungeon Masters getting to sit down and chat with none other than Ed Greenwood. You may know him as the creator of the Forgotten Realms and long time author. He invented the most popular Dungeons & Dragons setting of all time. If you’ve played 5E D&D or Baldur’s Gate 3 then you’ve most likely played within the bounds of some of his work.

The guys get an opportunity to sit and chat with him for a while and ask him all the dumb dumb questions they have wanted answered for a very long time. Things such as what’s his favorite drink, why is the crawling claw the greatest monster of all time, and how many books are in his personal collection. Oh, they also talk about the Forgotten Realms a lot so it hopefully won’t be forgotten. Turns out there is a lot more than just the Sword Coast.

Follow the Grumpy Dungeon Masters on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok!

Join our Discord to chat with the Grumpy DMs. Bring us your toughest DM questions or ask us to review your TTRPG work!

Be sure to join us every Saturday at 8pm EST on Twitch for our Live Play D&D session.

Intro Music Provided by:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hit N Smash by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5360-hit-n-…
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

This week the Grumpy Dungeon Masters are graced by the incredible Ed Greenwood. You may know him as the creator of the Forgotten Realms and long time author. He invented the most popular Dungeons & Dragons setting of all time. If you’ve played 5E D&D or Baldur’s Gate 3 then you’ve most likely played within the bounds of some of his work.

The guys get an opportunity to sit and chat with him for a while and ask him all the dumb dumb questions they have wanted answered for a very long time. Things such as what’s his favorite drink, why is the crawling claw the greatest monster of all time, and how many books are in his personal collection. Oh, they also talk about the Forgotten Realms a lot so it hopefully won’t be forgotten. Turns out there is a lot more than just the Sword Coast.

Follow the Grumpy Dungeon Masters on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok!

Join our Discord to chat with the Grumpy DMs. Bring us your toughest DM questions or ask us to review your TTRPG work!

Be sure to join us every Saturday at 8pm EST on Twitch for our Live Play D&D session.

Intro Music Provided by:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hit N Smash by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5360-hit-n-…
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The guys got a chance to sit down with authors Bruce & Carson Summers. Both of them are writers for the Legends of Greyhawk. For those not familiar the Legends of Greyhawk is a Dungeons & Dragons organized play campaign in a similar manner to the Adventurers League or the former RPGA (Role Playing Game Association). You show up at a convention, play a character to help advance the story, and then play them again at another convention.

It’s a long standing tradition and we here at the Grumpy Dungeon Masters are happy to see it continue. Getting to sit down and chat with some of the wonderful people behind this was enlightening. While the GDM guys have gone to a number of cons they haven’t really gotten a look behind the scenes at how something like this operates. So for a peek behind the curtain sit back and listen in.

Follow the Grumpy Dungeon Masters on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok!

Join our Discord to chat with the Grumpy DMs. Bring us your toughest DM questions or ask us to review your TTRPG work!

Be sure to join us every Saturday at 8pm EST on Twitch for our Live Play D&D session.

Intro Music Provided by:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hit N Smash by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5360-hit-n-…
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

We’ve got a number of topics this week. Christopher starts out going through his RPG collection that has just continued to grow immensely over the past year. He details out the struggle of trying to organize and catalog a collection. Also, companies should be consistent on spines of books.

The guys also dive into size categories for monsters in Dungeons & Dragons 5E. Should they bring back colossal as a category? Sometimes you need a monster so big it becomes the battlefield. Christopher also decides to bring up a rules question for 5.5 that nobody really wants to participate in. If it wasn’t for the new Adventurers League we’d all just say figure it out, but sometimes you’ve got to have a ruling.

Dan is running a Shadowdark game and has decided to work on the hexcrawl aspect of the game. Fortunately recent PDF’s have dropped for the game, so he dives through those.

Visit Zenergy Gamers for all of your gaming needs. Use code word Grumpy for 10% off any order!

Follow the Grumpy Dungeon Masters on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok!

Join our Discord to chat with the Grumpy DMs. Bring us your toughest DM questions or ask us to review your TTRPG work!

Be sure to join us every Saturday at 8pm EST on Twitch for our Live Play D&D session.

Intro Music Provided by:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hit N Smash by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5360-hit-n-…
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Dan, Kristian, and Jay managed to meet up at the Level Up Games swap meet in Atlanta to trade some games. The guys managed to offload some games and pick up some others. Many good times were had as well as meeting other gamers!

Christopher and Dan dive into the new Ravenloft book for 5.5 Dungeons & Dragons, titled Ravenloft: The Horrors Within. In the end it’s mostly just a reprinting of things from Domains of Dread and retooling of information that’s been around for 30+ years.

Jay brings up the topic of AI being beneficial for people with extreme forms of ADHD and helping them get their ideas onto paper as it were. Naturally the debate follows of are they the creators however. This is likely a topic that will go on for years and it won’t be settled here. At least it does help the idea come to fruition and possibly make peoples games better.

Visit Zenergy Gamers for all of your gaming needs. Use code word Grumpy for 10% off any order!

Follow the Grumpy Dungeon Masters on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok!

Join our Discord to chat with the Grumpy DMs. Bring us your toughest DM questions or ask us to review your TTRPG work!

Be sure to join us every Saturday at 8pm EST on Twitch for our Live Play D&D session.

Intro Music Provided by:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hit N Smash by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5360-hit-n-…
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

This week is the continuation of the discussion of high level play in Dungeons & Dragons. The guys dive into 4th edition and 5th edition this time around. In general the guys don’t enjoy high level Dungeons & Dragons (except Jay, but he’s weird) and they detail out exactly why it’s not their cup of coffee.

Christopher talks about his finale of running Temple of Elemental Evil for Adventurers League and Dan talks about getting to play The Dark Tower. While it is just a board game it’s one beloved by the role playing community.

Visit Zenergy Gamers for all of your gaming needs. Use code word Grumpy for 10% off any order!

Follow the Grumpy Dungeon Masters on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok!

Join our Discord to chat with the Grumpy DMs. Bring us your toughest DM questions or ask us to review your TTRPG work!

Be sure to join us every Saturday at 8pm EST on Twitch for our Live Play D&D session.

Intro Music Provided by:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hit N Smash by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5360-hit-n-…
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

This week the Grumpy Dungeon Masters guest is Erica Lowe, the creator of Ragnaborg. It is a game of Viking adventures using the Mork Borg game system. The Sun and Moon have been destroyed in Ragnarok and the Vikings fight for their very survival!

They dive into where the inspiration to create Ragnaborg came from and how it differs from all the other Borg games that are out there. It’s an incredibly fun setting based on a love of history and Viking Metal. Although the Kickstarter has finished keep an eye out and you can find a copy of it down the road. Until then, Yay Violence!

Follow the Grumpy Dungeon Masters on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok!

Join our Discord to chat with the Grumpy DMs. Bring us your toughest DM questions or ask us to review your TTRPG work!

Be sure to join us every Saturday at 8pm EST on Twitch for our Live Play D&D session.

Intro Music Provided by:
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hit N Smash by Rafael Krux
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5360-hit-n-…
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––