Out of Initiative

When the creativity is flowing, everything is shiny and exciting. But when it comes screeching to a halt as writer's block kicks in, it can be hard to find the motivation to keep creating. In this episode of Out of Initiative, Sarah and Morgan talk about the different ways writer's block presents to them and how they overcome it.

Bring your TTRPG sessions to life with factions! In this episode of Out of Initiative, Sarah and Morgan chat with Tabletop Journeys' Lewanika, Josh and Glen about their upcoming Kickstarter that will bring nine new factions to GMs as well as help parties create their own factions to influence the leave a mark on the world they build together.

Tabletop Journeys on YouTube
Tabletop Journeys website

In this episode of Out of Initiative, we explore the age-old debate of theater of the mind versus making battle maps. As longtime players ourselves, we’ve experienced the pros and cons of each approach, and we're excited to explore this topic in-depth. Join us as we discuss how these two styles of gameplay enhance or detract from the overall dungeon-crawling experience, and the various creative strategies that can be employed to get the most out of both.

We love running our TTRPG games as much as the next GM but it's critical we take breaks from session prep and running games to be a player. Plus, you'll get some always helpful perspective of being back in the player seat while a member of your group takes the big omnipresent seat at the head of the table. But before you can get to playing, you'll need to help get your player-turned-GM set up for success. In this episode, Sarah and Morgan discuss how they recommend starting a conversation to bring a player into the GM seat, what resources and experiences you might want to give them and what Sarah wishes Morgan would have given her before their current campaign (live and learn on this one, Morgan).

Part 2 of our series on running a TTRPG session! Running a TTRPG might look like improv and while it does sometimes lean on improv elements, there's much more to GMing than making things up on the fly. You'll need to combine session prep and quick thinking to make the perfect formula for your games. In this episode, Sarah and Morgan discuss what they bring to the table each session, what they prep and what they make up in the moment.

Running a TTRPG might look like improv and while it does sometimes lean on improv elements, there's much more to GMing than making things up on the fly. You'll need to combine session prep and quick thinking to make the perfect formula for your games. In this episode, Sarah and Morgan discuss how pre-written modules can be an important starting place for new game masters and how we can learn from them to decide what we should write and what we can wing.

The intersection of D&D and Hallmark movies exists and it's a great place to be. In this episode, Sarah and Morgan chat with Legends & Lattes author and audiobook narrator Travis Baldree to dive into cozy fantasy, coffee shops and found family. This episode contains some spoilers for the book Legends & Lattes.

Travis Baldree's Website

The intersection of D&D and Hallmark movies exists and it's a great place to be. In this episode, Sarah and Morgan chat with Legends & Lattes author and audiobook narrator Travis Baldree to dive into cozy fantasy, coffee shops and found family.   

Travis Baldree's Website

For as much as we can enjoy shiny new things, the old adage of "out with the old, in with the new" doesn't exactly capture the stress around change. From learning new rules to the fear of getting those rules wrong, the One D&D announcement has a lot of DMs re-examining 5th Edition D&D and making plans for the future (or like, determinedly not). In this episode, Sarah and Morgan discuss sections of the One D&D unearthed arcana and talk about if or how they plan to implement changes at their tables, house rules they'll be implementing immediately and the things they're most excited about with this new edition. 

Rivers of Ink 2022

Custom magic items and subclasses are more than en vogue for GMs like Logan, they're a way to build story and give players the freedom to not feel obligated to fit a niche. In this episode, Sarah and Morgan chat with Logan the GM about building and tuning custom magic items, getting inspiration from anime and how Vogueing and the drag scene inspired a bardic subclass that's serving more than just vicious mockery.