In this first episode we get to know the hosts Joe and Kagan and how they got into Dungeons and Dragons, and how they’re continuing to play during a global pandemic. What happens when a minmaxer DMs? Do parties ever retreat? What do you do when your riddles totally bomb? And much more.

Minor spoilers for the adventures Tomb of Annihilation and Storm King’s Thunder.

Jargon Cheat Sheet

• 5e: Short for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, the current edition of the game.
• Anti-party: A party of characters working against the players.
• APL: Average Party Level. Example, APL 12 is a group of level 12 adventurers (on average).
• LG: Often in D&D this means Lawful Good, but when Joe says it he’s referring to Living Greyhawk, a massive shared campaign played by thousands of people in the 2000s. We dive into this more in a later episode!
• Minmaxer: Someone who optimizes their character to the fullest extent within the rules of a game. In D&D, this usually means maximizing for combat.
• Mod: Short for module, which is an old school term for a written adventure.