Grumpy Dungeon Masters

The man focus of the podcast this week is on how high level play of Dungeons & Dragons has changed throughout the different editions. The guys take a look at 1E-3E as well as BECMI and touch on Pathfinder. Each of the editions have a varying take on how high level game plays, should be played, and what high level even is.

The guys also take a look at Wotc’s new approach to D&D Beyond and releasing content to paid subscribers only, including new classes, spells, and the like. While these may be released in physical form at some point it’s definitely got the Grumpy Dungeon Masters up in arms about it.

Jay tells a short story about finally having a character die in his Dungeon Crawl Classics Caverns of Thracia Game. Rest well poor Krank!

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Your Grumpy Dungeon Masters have been wanting to talk to these guests for a long while now. Hunter & Heavy are the main protagonists behind the video game The Secret of Weepstone. While currently only the demo is available on PC the game quickly enamored the GDM guys for being an old school Dungeons & Dragons style RPG.

You go diving into the keep with your team of adventurers and try to survive. The game is beautiful black and white stylized art, the sounds are creepy, and the game is interspersed with both brutality and humor in a near perfect mix. If you like games based on older versions of RPG’s and that old school feel with modern design then check it out.

Hunter & Heavy are a duo of developers who are behind the building and writing of the game. As lifelong fans of role playing games their love for the genre shines through in the game. Anyways, listen in and enjoy!

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 are joined by Christopher’s better half Shelley to talk about a Kickstarter she backed. Historica Arcarnum: The Coven of Salem. It is a Dungeons & Dragons 5E/5.5 setting based on historical events during the Salem Witch Trials. It includes more than 100 spells for the setting, 12 new sub-classes, multiple warlock patrons, and a ton of more content.

If you’ve ever wanted to play a table top RPG about the Salem Witch Trials full of magic, mayhem, and horror then this is the game for you!

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The guys have been wanting to do this podcast for quite a while now. As some context, when the Grumpy Dungeon Masters went to Gary Con for their first time in 2025, Sonja was one of the first people they met at the con. She is the director of the Geneva Lake Museum and author of the book The Sanitariums of Lake Geneva.

She grew up in Lake Geneva Wisconsin, the birthplace of Dungeons & Dragons and had a view of TSR and all of the kooky individuals that worked there and at the Dungeon Hobby Shop. The guys get a chance to talk to her about what it was like growing up around such luminaries of the Table Top Industry. Listen in and enjoy all of the wonderful stories about a grand little town with a lot of history!

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 & Chris carry the heavy load this week. Dan talks about the passing of Lou Zocchi. For those who didn’t know him, Zocchi is the guy who created the D100 and is responsible for the polyhedral dice that we all use and love. His company Game Science is still making incredible dice. He will be missed in the gaming community.

Dan also got to introduce his son to Hero’s Quest, the board game. It’s a great starting point for those who haven’t ever done role playing games and a perfect entry point for young kids.

Christopher gets to talk about Adventures League once again and for once nobody died. They did join the bad guys though, so his games going as per usual.

He also took a trip to the Festival of Legends, which is a renaissance festival that happens in Raleigh NC once a year. He got to watch a live play D&D game while there including a green screen and costumes galore!

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

It’s another week and Christopher is still killing characters at Adventurers League. To be generous towards him it is the Temple of Elemental Evil, which is notoriously dangerous for characters. Goes to show that even 5.5E Dungeons & Dragons can be difficult.

The guys talk about their Shadowdark game, specifically the carousing that took place this past session. Who knew that partying was such dangerous business?

Dan talks about Appendix N. For those not familiar with it, the appendix was published in the original Dungeon Masters guide by Gary Gygax. It was a list of authors and works that he used for inspiration. Each of us has our own Appendix N!

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

It’s a week of Mega-Dungeons! Goodman Games opened their backerkit for Castle Whiterock, which is a huge 30 level dungeon for Dungeon Crawl Classics and D&D5E. Apparently there are several others open right now including Castle Zagyg, which was created by none other than Gary Gygax.

A bit of info dropped about the next 5.5E book coming out titled Ravenloft: The Horrors Within. It will include some reboots of sub-classes from 5E along with a box set which includes the book, maps, tarot deck, among other things. Is the price point worth it? Listen in and find out.

Dan got to play the old board game Greyhawk Wars, which takes place in the Dungeons & Dragons setting. We like to say on here “it’s a product of it’s time” and this game fits that bill.

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The guys didn’t have enough time last podcast to discuss everything from Gary Con, so they decided to make a part 2. Christopher starts it off with another Adventures League story, which went exactly how you’d expect it to go.

Dan & Jay finally get to talk about them playing under Christopher at Gary Con in a Dungeons & Dragons 5E game of Kingdoms of Keshenar. You would be surprised at how simple phrasing of words can lead to some hilarious moments and how a complete lack of artistic skills will do the same.

Dan was fortunate enough to get to play a game of Indiana Jones under TSR legend Harold Johnson. He finally spills the beans on what that was like. He also found time to play a game of Ragnaborg, which is Ragnarok using the Mork Borg rules set.

Also Melf’s Guide to Greyhawk.

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The guys were fortunate to sit down and chat with the Dungeon Damsel, aka Bunni and Xane Daniel, the creators of the Druskara setting for Shadowdark. Their Backerkit is currently active and is absolutely killing it. It’s a complete living world that has factions and events that move forward even if players do nothing. It makes the setting feel more alive.

The guys also talk a lot about the art that sets Druskara apart from other settings. If you’ve listened to the Grumpy Dungeon Masters you know their love for great art it making settings feel unique. Druskara does a masterful job of that. They hired a large number of artists to give it an incredible look.

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Three of the guys returned from Gary Con and they recap all of their goings on. Dan managed to play games with many famous luminaries within the tabletop RPG sphere. Chris got to run a whole bunch of Keshenar games. Jay ended up not meeting The Big Show. Kristian stayed home. All in all good times.

There were games of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, X-Crawl Classics, 5E D&D, Pirate Borg, and some Call of Cthulhu. Guys are already making plans for 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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––