Mastering Dungeons

As the exploration of 10 years of Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons continues, Shawn and Teos explore character creation: how has it changed, what’s better, and what’s not as good?

• New D&D Book Listed on Amazon.ca for December 6 Release
  • And Spelljammer!
• Heroscape Reboot from Avalon Hill
• Here Come the Movie Toys!
• The Yawning Portal Board Game Pre-Order on Hasbro Pulse
  • More on Yawning Portal from The Gaming Gang
• ICv2: RPGs are “the Story of the Year”
• Jeff Talks RPGs returns with Scott Gray!
• Mike Shea on Building Resilient Campaigns
• 13th Age new “Escalation Edition” coming in 2024
• Sebastian Crowe’s Guide to Drakkenheim on Kickstarter

• Follow Teos at @Alphastream on Twitter and check out his blog at alphastream.org.
• Follow Shawn at @shawnmerwin on Twitter.
• Follow the show at @MasteringDnD on Twitter.

10 years after the release of the Basic Set of Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons, one of the biggest conversations fans are having revolves around character Race/Ancestry. This is part of Shawn and Teos’ discussion as they review and breakdown the Starter Set adventure Dragons of Stormwreck Isle.

• Dragon+ is no more
• Ennies Awards / Diana Jones Awards
  • Ennie Nominations
  • Ennie Winners
  • Diana Jones Awards
• DM David: The Right Monster for the Job
• Wizards Presents August 18th

• Follow Teos at @Alphastream on Twitter and check out his blog at alphastream.org.
• Follow Shawn at @shawnmerwin on Twitter.
• Follow the show at @MasteringDnD on Twitter.

Continuing the conversation about the Fifth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons by talking about where it’s been and where it might be going!

• New UA Release – Wonders of the Multiverse
• D&D Movie Trailer
• Paizo Job Announcement
• More Spelljammer Academy Releases
  • DMsGuild Announces setting will unlock for creators on 8/16
• Peer into Spelljammer with the Roll20 Blog
  • Adventuring in the Astral Sea
• New Dragonlance Novel is out: Dragons of Deceit
• Hobby Game Sales Up One-Third in 2021

• Follow Teos at @Alphastream on Twitter and check out his blog at alphastream.org.
• Follow Shawn at @shawnmerwin on Twitter.
• Follow the show at @MasteringDnD on Twitter.

Dave Christ joins Shawn to talk Organized Play; both in-person and virtual! The origin of Baldman Games, the challengers of adjusting to a changing paradigm, and what is to come; Dave goes into all of it and more!

• Merger of Roll20 and OneBookShelf
• Radiant Citadel is out (soon)! Spelljammer releases August 16!
• Gen Con 2022 is August 4-7

• Check out Dave at Baldman Games’ website and and on Twitter.
• Follow Teos at @Alphastream on Twitter and check out his blog at alphastream.org.
• Follow Shawn at @shawnmerwin on Twitter.
• Follow the show at @MasteringDnD on Twitter.

Released on July 19th from MacMillan Publishing, The Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons, is about the real story of the world’s most popular tabletop role-playing game and Ben Riggs has spent years of research and collecting artifacts from the history of the role-playing business to bring us this amazing tome and he is kind enough to sit down with Shawn and talk about his own, personal origin story.

• Find Ben Riggs on Facebook or Twitter…
  • Buy his book from MacMillan or Amazon…
  • And check out his Podcast!
• Follow Teos at @Alphastream on Twitter and check out his blog at alphastream.org.
• Follow Shawn at @shawnmerwin on Twitter.
• Follow the show at @MasteringDnD on Twitter.

With a decade of having the rules of the Fifth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons in front of us, Shawn and Teos reflect on the past ten years of the world’s most popular tabletop role-playing game.

• Spelljammer Academy released
• Paramount will make an Alice is Missing adaptation
• ENnies Nominations Announced!
• The Fiend of Hollow Mine – actual play of Radiant Citadel
• WotC has a Japanese…
  • Twitter and…
  • YouTube channel starting up!
• Free Solo HeroQuest Scenario – Into the Northlands
• WizKids announces 2 D&D Onslaught Factions in 2023
  • Many Arrows
  • Red Wizards
• Clever upcoming product: WizKids Book Tabs
  • Players Handbook
  • Dungeon Master Guide

• Follow Teos at @Alphastream on Twitter and check out his blog at alphastream.org.
• Follow Shawn at @shawnmerwin on Twitter.
• Follow the show at @MasteringDnD on Twitter.

I mean… what mare need be said! Also: Shawn and Teos are also on, but still: James Intracaso!!! He’s great! You know this already! He talks about Arcadia which you should be reading! He talks about minions and it’s brilliant!

MINIONS! Like all your villains have as a shield around them!

Take a listen!

• Paramount will make an Alice is Missing adaptation
• July Virtual Weekend sign-ups are live
• WotC has a…
  • Japanese Twitter and…
  • YouTube channel starting up!
• WizKids announces 2 D&D Onslaught Factions in 2023…
  • Red Wizards and…
  • Many Arrows!

• Follow James at @JamesIntracaso on Twitter and buy 10 copies of every issue of Arcadia at mcdmproductions.com (and all their other stuff)!
• Follow Teos at @Alphastream on Twitter and check out his blog at alphastream.org.
• Follow Shawn at @shawnmerwin on Twitter.
• Follow the show at @MasteringDnD on Twitter.

Teos has returned from his European adventure! What sort of crazy antics did he get up to? Almost none! Which is why he and Shawn talk about technology, marketing, sales, and the future of the business of D&D! That’s some fancy, corporate antics!

• Stranger Things Season 4, Part 2 Premieres July 1st
• D&D Beyond Offers Radiant Citadel Intro Chapters and other Info
  • How the Radiant Citadel Reimagines Spirits in Dungeons & Dragons
  • What You’ll Discover at the Radiant Citadel, a City on the Ethereal Plane
• Journeys Beyond the Radiant Citadel – DMs Guild Creator Resources
• AL Spelljammer and Virtual Weekends News
• Renegade Games hiring a Product Developer
  • Renegade Games Careers Site
• Ghostfire Gaming Introduces its Second Season of Fables – Pirates of the Aetherial Expanse

• Follow Teos at @Alphastream on Twitter and check out his blog at alphastream.org.
• Follow Shawn at @shawnmerwin on Twitter.
• Follow the show at @MasteringDnD on Twitter.

While Teos is off on another adventure, Scott Fitzgerald Gray joins Shawn to talk about ways to make combats interesting and thrilling for everyone at your D&D table. With Shawn and Scott’s advice, get ready to turn up the excitement at your table!

• D&D Highlights Vecna with new Dossier on D&D Beyond, Stranger Things stream
• Unearthed Arcana “Giant Options” survey is live
• Monte Cook Games releases the Cypher System Open License
• D&D – A Case Study in How Capitalism Kills Art?

• Follow Scott at @scottfgray on Twitter.
• Follow Teos at @Alphastream on Twitter and check out his blog at alphastream.org.
• Follow Shawn at @shawnmerwin on Twitter.
• Follow the show at @MasteringDnD on Twitter.

This week we return to the Great Wheel as the Modrons continue their way around the Outlands! What more does this massive adventure have in store and how, of course, could it do all that a little better? Find out thanks to the Masters of Dungeons, Shawn and Teos!

• D&D Beyond Adds a “How to Play D&D” Page
• Tyler Walpole is Creating D&D Cartoon Playmats
• New Crowdfunding Site, CrowdFundr, launching this month
  • The announcement Tweet!
• DM David on the Influences to Battle Walker From the Abyss
• A Medium article urges RPG companies to sponsor streaming
  • And a rebuttal

• Follow Teos at @Alphastream on Twitter and check out his blog at alphastream.org.
• Follow Shawn at @shawnmerwin on Twitter.
• Follow the show at @MasteringDnD on Twitter.