Ray and Ariel discuss tips and tricks to increase collaborative storytelling at your table. How can you give your players more space and opportunity to own narration around their character's actions, spells, and backstories?

Ray and Ariel dive into alignment in D&D. Conventional wisdom is to throw out alignment, but what happens when an alignment-based magic item appears in your game? We offer specific tips and tricks to incorporate alignment into your games without all the controversy that typically accompanies it.

Do your players always want a Long Rest? Do you have a split of Long Rest and Short Rest classes in your group and you don't know how to manage their expectations? Ariel and Ray talk about Resting mechanics in D&D and offer actionable tips to persuade your players to not rest after every encounter. They discuss how to manage players' expectations and how to incentivize them to push forward without max health and spell slots.

Ray and Ariel dive into MCDM's SECOND issue of Arcadia. Arcadia is a supplemental magazine that equips DMs and players alike with new and inspiring content. In part two of our review, we discuss Joshua Mendenhall's Subclasses of the Seasons, Makenzie De Armas' Periodic Table of Elementals, and Rich Lecouflair's Well of the Lost Gods.  

We released our first product on DM's Guild. Ray and Ariel discuss the design philosophy and process involved in making Pact of the Dragon God, a Warlock subclass for D&D 5e.

Ray and Ariel discuss why we should all stop using the phrase the Matthew Mercer Effect. The Matthew Mercer Effect (MME) has become a scapegoat and a Shibboleth for the lazy Dungeon Master that has failed to effectively communicate with their players.

If you prefer to read, we discuss the points and arguments in this episode in this article.

The MME is often used to describe obnoxious players that berate their DMs for not running a game similar to produced D&D performances like Critical Role, Dimension20, or The Adventure Zone. I am sympathetic; it is easier to explain away a conflict than to resolve it head-on. However, it is impolite when we shift that blame to another person and it becomes tasteless when that person has acted as a significant catalyst to the table-top roleplaying game renaissance we are experiencing today. The next time you hear or see someone use the phrase Matthew Mercer Effect, challenge them. It is rude to blame Matthew Mercer for the problems in your group and complaining about him and Critical Role certainly isn’t going to solve them.

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Counterspell is problematic as written. The short description is rife with unexplained edge cases and leaves the internet to clarify these technicalities. Then when you finally understand how Counterspell is meant to be used rules as written, you realize that it slows down the pace of the game and encourages dishonest play from DMs and Players. We examine all these elements and offer changes you can make to fix Counterspell in your game.

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Ray and Ariel dive into MCDM's first issue of Arcadia. Arcadia is a supplemental magazine that equips DMs and players alike with new and inspiring content. In part two of our review, we discuss Willy Abeel's Jumping On Mounted Combat mechanics and Sadie Lowry's Uqaviel, The Recreant world-ending lore and stat blocks.  Arcadia is purchasable now for $7 on the MCDM Store

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Ray and Ariel dive into MCDM's first issue of Arcadia. Arcadia is a supplemental magazine that equips DMs and players alike with new and inspiring content. In part one of our review, we discuss Leon Barillaro's The Workshop Watches adventure and Gabe Hicks' Titan Heart Sorcerer subclass.

If you liked the show today, please follow us on Instagram. It is the only means we have to spread the word and put our show in front of new listeners.

Can your players never remember the names of your locations or NPCs?

Ray and Ariel discuss the limits of short-term memory. They offer some specific tips and techniques to help you free up valuable slots for new players who could struggle with the hundreds of rules in Dungeons and Dragons or any table-top roleplaying game. We hope you enjoy.

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