Lair Of Secrets

By Lair Of Secrets

The podcast about gaming and being a geek by two forty something geek dads.... more

4.5

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How many episodes does Lair Of Secrets have?

The podcast currently has 117 episodes available.

Lair Of Secrets episodes:

December 20, 2024Build Better Cities – Campaigns and Coffee
Building immersive cities for RPGs takes center stage on this episode, with inspiration from real-world examples like San Antonio’s Alamo and Chicago’s reversed river.
We dive into tools and techniques for making cities that evolve, feel lived in, and resonate as characters within campaigns. From quirky city rivalries to handling disasters, this episode offers creative advice for dungeon masters and storytellers.
Chapters
0:00 Intro
2:10 Real-World Inspiration: San Antonio and the Alamo
6:30 Geography and Natural Features in City Design
10:45 Tools for RPG City-Building (The Quiet Year, Ex Novo)
15:00 How Cities Evolve Over Time
20:00 City Rivalries and Personality
24:30 Integrating Disasters and Landmarks into City History
30:00 Cities in Post-Apocalyptic Settings
33:20 Q&A: The Rogue-Polymorphed-Toad Dilemma
34:30 Outro
Listen to the Episode
Watch the Episode
Watch Build Better Cities – Campaigns & Coffee on YouTube
Show Notes
Introduction: Exploring city-building in RPGs inspired by San Antonio’s vibrant culture and geography.
Cities: Skylines video game
Key Elements of Real Cities:
San Antonio’s Alamo and its unique building-height regulation.
Chicago’s reversed river and evolving cityscape.
Historical insights from medieval cities to Cyberpunk’s Night City.
Domus: Night City: how Cyberpunk 2077’s future megacity was built
Tips for RPG City-Building:
Start with geography and natural features.
Use landmarks, NPCs, and district evolution to build personality.
Recommended tools:
The Quiet Year
Ex Novo
The Game Master’s Book of Astonishing Random Tables
Recommended books
Life in a Medieval City
Life in a Medieval Castle
Life in a Medieval Village
A Magical Medieval Society Western Europe
City as a Character:
How rivalries and unique traits shape urban identity.
Integrating disasters and recovery into city evolution.
The 9/11 Memorial in New York City
The Survivor Tree
Q&A Segment: Turning a rogue-turned-toad mishap into a strategic move.
Feedback
We love feedback! You post a comment below or connect with us using these channels:
Email
Bluesky
Discord
DiceCamp (Mastodon)
YouTube
Twitch
The post Build Better Cities – Campaigns and Coffee appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
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35min
December 17, 2024I Hate Blade Ward – Greyhawk ’76 (Ep. 5)
Ken rants about the new and improved Blade Ward cantrip. in Dungeons & Dragons 2024.
Chapters
0:00 Intro – Welcome to Greyhawk ’76
0:15 Why I Hate Blade Ward
1:10 Blade Ward: 2014 vs. 2024
2:00 The Action Economy Problem
2:30 Final Thoughts & Playtesting
3:00 Outro – Like & Subscribe
Listen to the Video
Watch the Episode
Watch “I Hate Blade Ward – Greyhawk ’76 (Ep. 5)” on YouTube.
Show Notes
Welcome to Greyhawk ’76. I’m Ken Newquist and I hate blade ward.
Quick backstory: Had our first Greyhawk ’76 session, in which the adventurers got recruited to recover a lost Fairheights family treasure from an abandoned mine.
Our human battlemaster / wizard initiate LOVES blade ward.
And rightly so – it’s a cheap, spammable buff that builds on his already impressive AC.
What changed?
What it did:
Resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing attacks
Lasted until the end of the next turn
What it does now
Whenever a creature makes an attack roll against you before the spell ends, the attacker subtracts 1d4 from the attack roll.
Requires concentration
Lasts for 1 minute.
My concern:
Impacts the action economy.
We’ve added another die role for EVERY attack on this character. More dice being rolled means more time waiting for die rolls. And more math.
Increased cognitive load on the Dungeon Master
I’ve got a lot of things to remember. This is one more thing.
Combined with fighter’s 18 Armor Class (from Scale Mail), this increases the character’s tank-iness at low levels.
Seems over powered for a cantrip (no, I did not do the math)
Where we go from here?
Obviously I’m joking that I hate Blade Ward.
I have some concerns, but we can mitigate them by:
The player rolling the dice
The player keeping track of the spell
We already have similar book keeping for things like bless so it’s not THAT much more.
But it IS one more thing.
Feedback
We love feedback! You post a comment below or connect with us using these channels:
Email
Bluesky
Discord
DiceCamp (Mastodon)
YouTube
Twitch
The post I Hate Blade Ward – Greyhawk ’76 (Ep. 5) appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
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4min
December 16, 2024Our First D&D 2024 Adventure – Greyhawk ’76 (Ep. 4)
Ken talks about lessons learned during his first Dungeons & Dragons 2024 adventure, “The Lost Coins of Cousin Ernest”, including:
Blade Ward
Rules guide in the 2024 Player’s Handbook
The Thief
Hand-drawn maps in Roll20
Weapon Mastery
Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:35 Setting the Scene: The Treasure Mine
1:50 Rival Factions: Fairheights vs. Witherwinns
3:10 Water Weird Ambush
4:20 Rogue Abilities Shine
5:15 Hand-Drawn Maps and Retro Vibes
6:30 Lessons Learned: Rules and Mechanics
7:45 Blade Ward: Overpowered or Balanced?
8:30 Teasing the Next Session
9:10 Wrap-Up and Final Thoughts
Listen to the Video
Watch the Episode
Watch “Our First D&D 2024 Adventure – Greyhawk ’76 (Ep. 4) on YouTube
Show Notes
We had our first Greyhawk ’76 session, in which the adventurers got recruited to recover a lost family treasure from an abandoned mine.
I played on the High Ery / Erybend family rivalry subplot from the DMG:
Fairheights vs. Witherwinns (their client is James Fairheight, and he found deciphered a map to the family treasure).
Started the action IN the mine, with the adventurers and their client having just discovered the treasured.
See the “Ignite Your Next D&D Campaign” episode of Campaigns and Coffee
Setup is an old mine.
The first level has a main shaft and lots of side passages.
Mine tunnel collapses created a jumbled, partly flooded cave lake on the second level.
The treasure, gleaming in light from a ventilation shaft over head, was located in the center of the lake.
The bludgeoned corpses of a previous crew were on the island, having just reached the treasure.
The treasure was protected by a water weird (inspired by a re-read of the Dungeon of Dread “Endless Quests” book)
The cavern was multi-teared, with a walkable rim surrounding it, and multiple entrances.
At intervals, additional crews would show up to challenge the party, because James couldn’t stop humble bragging about his find.
Goals:
Give each character a chance to try out class abilities in a multi-level environment.
Inject role-playing opportunities to help define character personalities and priorities.
Lean into the DMG as a campaign source book.
The Adventure
It went well.
Water weird attacked “Predator”-style, leveraging disengage and its’ innate invisibility in the water maneuver around the cavern and threaten heroes.
The arrival of the Witherwinn faction delivered additional drama, as some players chose to intimidate through force, while the Trickster cleric charmed other Witherwinns to his side … and used “calm emotions” to keep them disinterested.
Set up the next confrontation: The Burrow Brothers, a murderous band of halfling cutthroats and their ogre allies.
Lessons Learned
I’ve got a bunch, some of which will be covered in upcoming episodes.
The Rules Guide in the Player’s Handbook is pretty great.
Death Saving Throws: Work the same as they ever did (the save is a straight d20 roll, which happens at the start of your turn).
Finding Traps is a Wisdom (Perception) – it counts as finding a hidden object. Check the Compendium
The Rogue’s Thief gets a Climb speed. Handy when moving down the crumbling walls of a collapsed cave.
The Rogue’s Thief also gets to substitute Dexterity for Strength when Jumping
Hand drawn maps work well in Roll20
Weapons Mastery represents weapon-specific features that certain characters (rogues, fighters) can use take special actions (like “Nick” or “Vex”. More on that next time.
Blade Ward is a powerful cantrip. I hate it. Ok, I don’t like it. Ok, I’ll wait to pass judgement, but right now, I’m not a big fan.
Feedback
We love feedback! You post a comment below or connect with us using these channels:
Email
Bluesky
Discord
DiceCamp (Mastodon)
YouTube
Twitch
The post Our First D&D 2024 Adventure – Greyhawk ’76 (Ep. 4) appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
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10min
December 16, 2024Build a Greyhawk Library – Greyhawk ’76 (Ep. 3)
On this episode of Greyhawk ’76, Ken talks about the essential books for running a World of Greyhawk campaign, including the new Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024), the World of Greyhawk boxed set (1983) and the Expedition to the The Ruins of Greyhawk (2007).
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Greyhawk ‘76 Campaign Kickoff
2:30 Reviewing the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide
4:00 Updated Maps: Hits and Misses
6:00 Exploring Greyhawk Lore: Classic Sourcebooks
8:00 The Twin Cataclysms and Canon Debates
10:00 Iuz, the Great Kingdom, and Major Conflicts
12:00 Adventure Hooks and Iconic Locations
14:00 Wrapping Up: Greyhawk Library Essentials
Listen to the Video
Watch the Episode
Watch ‘Build a Greyhawk Library – D&D 2024 (Ep. 3)” on YouTube
Show Notes
Welcome to Greyhawk ’76. Let’s talk books!
Player’s Handbook (2024)
The rules.
Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024)
High-level overview of the Free City of Greyhawk and the larger campaign setting.
Loosely based on the 1980 Greyhawk Folio.
It’s nice to see Greyhawk featured so prominently, but there are a ton of continuity, country, and NPC changes that don’t make a ton of sense (except in the context of 1) updating Greyhawk for modern sensibilities 2) fitting all the things into Greyhawk … which doesn’t really need all the things fit into it.
Like … why is Otto (long standing member of the Circle of Eight) now a … dwarf?
Sets up the primary conflicts as … Elemental Evil (they were defeated, but yeah, some cultists are still out there), the demigod Iuz (gathering his forces in the north; classic villain), and dragons … umm, yeah, dragons aren’t world-shatteringly important in Greyhawk. The Scarlet Brotherhood and/or the dying Great Kingdom are better Big Bads.
BUT … it wouldn’t be Greyhawk if we weren’t arguing about canon … hell, it feels like coming home to be reading people passionately and thoughtfully arguing about how the latest release disrespects with their favorite setting (I’m looking at you, From the Ashes).
I’ll link to some of that commentary in the show notes.
Fold-out map of the Flanaess, with the City of Greyhawk on the other side.
The World of Greyhawk (1983)
The true state of the World of the World in CY 576.
The original World of Greyhawk boxed set.
Greyhawk Adventures (1988)
Notes on Gods, Geography, Magic Items, Spells, and even Zero Level Characters
The City Of Greyhawk (1989) – Pre-Greyhawk Wars release
Gazetter of the Free City and the Surrounding Area – the city, plus some city-based things like the DM’s guide to the Low City (random tables!)
Folk, Feuds, and Factions – a who’s who of the free city, plus guilds, low life, mages and priests, economics, military, and law.
Expedition to the The Ruins of Greyhawk
The 3.5 update of the Greyhawk Ruins book, which itself documented a chunk of Castle Greyhawk.
Never ran it, but I might pull from it if the crew goes there.
Somewhere, i’ve got a copy of the original Greyhawk Ruins … but haven’t been able to fi gure out where I put it.
Living Greyhawk Gazetteer
This book provided the foundation for the old Living Greyhawk campaign.
It takes place in CY 591, which is nearly two decades after our ’76 campaign, but it’s still a great reference (particularly for areas not covered extensively in earlier releases)
Castle Greyhawk
The joke version of Castle Greyhawk. Not recommended.
Two new fan-created resources
World of Greyhawk Gazetteer Revised
Classic Guide to Greyhawk
Greyhawk grognards take on DMG 2024
Canonfire – Samwise – Greyhawk 2024
Age of Great Sorrow – Entirely Unsolicited Grognard Opinions on the World of Greyhawk in the 2024 D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide
Feedback
We love feedback! You post a comment below or connect with us using these channels:
Email
Bluesky
Discord
DiceCamp (Mastodon)
YouTube
Twitch
The post Build a Greyhawk Library – Greyhawk ’76 (Ep. 3) appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
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17min
December 14, 2024 Meet the Party – Greyhawk ’76 (Ep. 2)
Meet the adventurers taking center stage in Ken’s Greyhawk ’76 test drive campaign for Dungeons & Dragons 2024! Listen to the Episode Watch the Episode Watch “Meet the Party – D&D 2024 (Ep. 2)” on YouTube Show Notes In the second episode of Greyhawk ’76, Ken talks about the player characters the campaign is using […]
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2min
December 13, 2024 Test Driving the New D&D – Greyhawk ’76 (Ep. 1)
Welcome to Greyhawk ’76, a test drive campaign for Dungeons & Dragons 2024! (aka D&D 5.5). This episode introduces the test drive, what it hopes to accomplish, and explains where the campaign gets its name from (hint: it takes place in the Common Year 576). Chapter List 0:00 Intro to Greyhawk ’760:45 The Legacy of […]
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5min
December 06, 2024 Convention Season (S4E12)
We explore our favorite game conventions, from the chill vibes of CinCityCon to the dynamic events of Gamehole Con, to the cozy fun of MEPACon. We also look ahead to Philadelphia Area Game Expo, a new-ish convention happening in January 2025. After the convention stories, we dive into our RPG experiments, including David’s mechanical torchlight […]
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34min
November 29, 2024 Ignite Your Next D&D Campaign – Campaigns & Coffee
In this episode, we brainstorm ways to launch your campaign without resorting to “they meet in a bar”. Providing fodder and inspiration is Greyhawk ’76, Ken’s upcoming D&D 2024 test drive campaign, and David’s just launched open table ShadowDark campaign. We talk about how to engage players through immediate conflict, emphasizing choice, and balancing proactive […]
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24min
October 04, 2024 The Electric State RPG (S4E11)
We look at The Electric State RPG, a role-playing game game featuring a slow motion apocalypse, haunting artwork, and a cyberspace plague so intoxicating that people died playing it … simply because they forgot to eat. We start with Simon Stålenhag’s original art/fiction book, which depicts a young woman’s journey across the wrecked remains of […]
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36min
September 27, 2024 Campaign Prep Tips – Campaigns & Coffee
Campaign prep is something every dungeon master a needs to do … even if “prep” is something you throw together five minutes for the session starts. On this episode, we talk about our individual game prep strategies, from structured approaches like Chris’s multi-phase plan to Ken’s adrenaline-fueled last-minute inspiration. Josh and Erin share insights into […]
The post Campaign Prep Tips – Campaigns & Coffee appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
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27min

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How many episodes does Lair Of Secrets have?

The podcast currently has 117 episodes available.

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