Grumpy Dungeon Masters

First episode of the new year!! The guys are unprepared for another circle around the sun. Jay decided to talk about some variant rules that nobody knows about or uses from 5E D&D. Things such as marking targets, disarm, and massive damage. He also takes a look at the beginning of meta-magic in Dungeons & Dragons and many of the changes since it’s induction.

Dan makes the argument that he has never met anybody who played D&D basic and that those people don’t exist. He is wrong. Also he tells a wonderful tale from a D&D game he plays in which involves the Tarrqsque, some Balor’s, and a Demi-God.

Lastly the team talks about Stranger Things and the monsters used within since the finale just happened. It is not spoiler free, but it is at the end of the podcast so you can easily avoid those spoilers.

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 the final episode of the year and you know what that means. The Grumpy Dungeon Masters take a look at their favorite products of the year. Could it be something Dungeons & Dragons? Maybe some new product for Shadowdark or Dungeon Crawl Classics? Or possibly something that nobody expects? The guys will talk you through what they each thought was the best of the best in roleplaying games of 2025.

Jay has a short story about TSR, the original company that created Dungeons & Dragons, and a sunken ship in Lake Geneva. It’s crazy the things you can find out from playing Trivial Pursuit.

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 celebrate the Shadowdark holiday of Darkest Day! On the shortest day of the year there is a chance you will encounter the Ten Eyed Oracle and be granted treats. By treats we mean some horrific challenges you must complete or you will pay the price. Enjoy!

Christopher details his purchase of a board game which requires an app to play. The fear is that in 10 years the app will be gone and the product will be useless. Could tabletop RPG’s be going in that direction?

The guys also talk a bit about needing a lore keeper for the history of the Dungeons & Dragons. Many of the worlds of D&D have a massive amount of lore and the creators are either gone or are elderly. Who is responsible for making sure that any new lore is in line with the old lore? Anybody want a job?

Jay tells the tale of how his higher end Dungeons & Dragons party actually met their fate. It’s so rare when high level PC’s die in D&D. Just remember, Dungeon Masters don’t kill players. Players kill players.

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

There is a new Dungeons & Dragons in town and it’s name is Nimble! It is an apt description as the game is still pretty much D&D 5E, but it runs nimbly. Less rolls, less number crunching, and easier to digest. The real question though, is it worth playing? The Grumpy Dungeon Masters dive into all of the details and will help you decide if your game needs to be a bit more Nimble.

Christopher had an opportunity to run his Christmas one shot that he wrote a few years ago, Everyone’s Been Naughty. Looking back on it he realized that he would write it completely differently if he did so now. It’s the classic issue of writers not liking their earlier works. We’re always our own worst critics.

He also talks a bit about Duergar and why they don’t drink. Apparently it involves a berserker frenzy or something. All this and a top 20 list of Fantasy Movies!

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 fairly straight forward question. Is Eberron Forge of the Artificer Any Good? It has a “new” class for Dungeons & Dragons 5.5 edition. Has a brand new sub-class for players to enjoy. Several miniature adventures within the book. Some lore for the Eberron setting. The Grumpy Dungeon Masters take a look at it and a stab at it to see if it’s worth the price point.

Christopher and Dan talk in detail about the storage of miniatures. If you’re anything like them you will understand the constant struggle to find the exact mini you need when you need it. Those darn Mephits just keep running off!

Jay talks a bit about a class for NPC’s only from 1st edition Dungeons & Dragons. The Jester. He also goes into a few of the magic items created specifically for this class. Hold on to your hat with dangly bells because these items aren’t for fools! Well, they kind of are.

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 podcast is all about the updates to Shadowdark. Specifically the Necromancer class and the Cursed Scroll 6. For those not familiar with the Cursed Scrolls, they are short booklets filled with information used for the Shadowdark game. This one focuses mainly on the city used for the Western Reach campaign along with the Bard and Duelist classes.

The guys spend most of the podcast covering that and the Priest and Necromancer spells that were released as a PDF. The final version is a good ways off, but the wonderful folks who created Shadowdark are still hard at work on it.

The guys do give Christopher his 15 minutes to talk about things however. At first we all thought he was going to use it to complain about something, but instead he talked about a Gofundme for Min-Maxed. A new D&D Live Play that is being put together by a group of multiple different Youtubers. There are too many to list or detail here, so check out the link for more info. Seems like it will be fun for all!

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 Dan is on vacation, so the rest of the crew talk about things he would be interested in. Have to make sure he misses out on the fun.

Have you ever heard of an Obyrith? Yeah, most of us hadn’t really heard about them either or if we had mostly in passing. Today you will learn about the Pale Night, Obyrtih’s, and what came before. The Obyrith are ancient demons who ruled the Abyss long before the arrival of the other demon lords. While the Grumpy Dungeon Masters did have plans to talk about other things they ended up staying focused for once and stayed on this single topic from beginning to end. Enjoy!

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Chris walks the guys through his most recent game at Adventurers League. The story involves a small army of skeletons, a few character deaths, and a way to make the worst character of all time. If you have ever wanted to play a character that can smash a dragon to pulp, but needs to be walked to the bathroom and be hand fed then listen to this tale.

This week WotC released Astarion’s Book of Hunger. Only thing is….it’s not a book at all. It’s just some DLC if you are a paying member using Dungeons & Dragons Beyond. The guys aren’t particularly happy about this new method of locking players out of content and they are letting the world know about it.

Kristian & Dan talk about the Shadowdark Planescape game they are participating in. Being a wizard can be downright tough, especially when you lose your spells. It’s nothing an entire pool full of holy water can’t fix though!

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Jay got to watch Dan play some Dungeons & Dragons and learn exactly how to deal with Black Puddings. Specifically by using lightning magic on them. Works great. Make sure you give it a try next game session.

Christopher and Kristian talk about the new Dungeons & Dragons 5.5 book Adventures in Faerun. It details some “new” sub-classes, lore on the realms (some is even outside the Sword Coast), and provides some encounters for players. The guys go round-a-bout on how good or useful the book will be to game masters. In the end it’s some good and some bad. Listen in to find out how!

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Christopher managed to run his yearly Halloween game of Strahd Must Die. It’s a game of 5E Dungeons & Dragons where the players have a time limit to run around his castle and defeat the vampire and lock him away for another year. He was joined by members of Orthane Productions, Dan and his Brother, and one of his regular players. Fun times were had and the guys are going to tell you all about the Street Justice.

Jay takes a look at the most rare official Dungeons & Dragons settings of all time. We’re not talking about Blackmoor or Nentir Vale level of rare. These are more like a Spider-man first appearance level of rare. Listen in and see if you have heard about them or learn about them if you haven’t.

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…
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––