We break down the pros and cons of running published adventures versus your own homebrew campaigns. Our adventure hook this week: Can you stop a magical volcano eruption from wiping out a mining town?. Go to www.spielknights.com to discover more. Opening song credit to ‘I am living a heavenly life”  by Mantra Sphynx of Inspired Action Records. Adventure hook music credit to Celtic Warrior by Damiano Baldoni; Album: Lost Dynasty

Listen for four major tips to cut down on roleplaying preparation while still running a packed and exciting campaign.

Our adventure hook this week: One royal ball is all that stands between you and fiery destruction.

In this special episode, Jim lets you in on our "Super Secret" plans.  What we're up to with the podcast, and what we're releasing in the month of February.  Stay tuned, I'm sure you will like it.

One Hour TTRPG Prep Kickstarter

Game Preparation Tips Page

One Hour TTRPG Prep is a system agnostic, how-to guide for dungeon masters of all abilities. This zine will simplify your planning process and shorten the preparation time needed to run a great session of TTRPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and others.

Not only can you prepare a great game in less time, cutting down on unnecessary preparation improves the game for both dungeon masters and players. One Hour TTRPG Prep provides simple but powerful organizational tools to run a smooth and free-flowing roleplaying game.

Our zine gives you tips for freeform thinking, building a single-page adventure outline, and crafting secrets for your players to discover. The zine also has advice for running a smooth game.

At Spiel Knights we are really in favor of making games more fun, and we think one way to make roleplaying games more fun is to help dungeon masters cut down on preparation time.

Some issues with over-preparation:

-stress on the dungeon master

-players never visit the locations you worked so hard on

-risk of railroading

-harder to give leeway to player decisions

But there is a better way. We picked up a lot of useful tips from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, by Michael Shea.  So we want to give you 4 tips that you can use to make your preparation easier, which will result in a more enjoyable game for everyone.

1. Focus only on the forces that are affecting the players in the here and now. (Prepare what benefits your game)
2. Use an adventure outline, and keep it to one page. (You can also use these to plan and inspire future adventures)
3. Put secrets and clues on index cards to reward players and move the story (ambiguous to how the secret is found, write 10 of them, discard old ones)
4. Use campaign fronts to keep games simpler but fun (large villains and forces keep moving towards their goals, and the players have to figure out the mystery and stop them)

Arenas: Rules to Help Establish Arenas in Any Game World, by Ody.

Overview: This short book gives you some rules and guidelines when you want to run a colosseum or fighting arena in your city. The book provides rules for spectating, placing bets, and of course, entering the tournament yourself. There are also suggestions for gladiators, gladiator teams, and a sample adventure you can run using an arena.

Adventure Hook - The Kidnapped Kingpin

Tavern Banter

Queen's Gambit

The House of Staunton The Burnt Grandmaster Chess Pieces

We’re going to be talking about railroading and sandboxing, which can essentially be boiled down to how much agency you give your players when running a game.

Sandbox VS Railroad - Matthew Colville Video

Dungeon Drafter - Help you create campaigns, characters, spells, locations, and more.

Adventure Hook - Invasion or Invaders?

Once Apon a Time - Jim's Tavern Banter

Tronxy XY-2 Pro - 3D Printer, Todd's Tavern Banter

Adventure hook music credit to Celtic Warrior by Damiano Baldoni; Album: Lost Dynasty.

Opening music credit to I am Living a Heavenly Life by Mantra Sphinx of Inspired Action Records.

The links to products are affiliate links.  We'll get a small commission at no additional cost to you.  It helps pay the bills.

 Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your homebrew world won’t be constructed overnight either. Todd and Jim present a different path to worldbuilding that will take less time and keep your players more engaged. Our adventure hook this week: The harsh and cold mountainside has a spot where no snow has fallen, in fact, it looks like summer. How did that get there? Go to www.spielknights.com to discover more.

Plus, our exciting new ttrpg adventure available on kickstarter for D&D.

Mystery at Skull Keep

Books Mentioned:

The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency

Rat Queens - Volume 1: Sass & Sorcery

Sites Mentioned

The Bay of Spirits - http://www.thebayofspirits.ca/

Randy M's adventures - Roan Studio on DriveThruRPG.com

Adventure hook music credit to Celtic Warrior by Damiano Baldoni; Album: Lost Dynasty.

Opening music credit to I am Living a Heavenly Life by Mantra Sphinx of Inspired Action Records.

Tabletop gaming is changing. Wooden tables are giving way to virtual ones. Your hosts Todd and Jim will discuss this evolution in gaming with friends. Our adventure hook this week: Putting a twist on the caravan ambush. Go to https://spielknights.com to discover more.

Tools Mentioned:

Link Trove - https://spielknights.com/links

Dungeon Drafter - https://spielknights.com/dungeondrafter/

Name Generator - https://spielknights.com/npcs/

Books Mentioned:

Tome of Foes

Monster Manual

Lazy Dungeon Master - By Michael Shae

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions By Randall Munroe

Sites Mentioned

Roll20 - https://roll20.net/

Fantasy Grounds - https://www.fantasygrounds.com/

DungeonScrawl - https://dungeonscrawl.com/

Adventure hook music credit to Celtic Warrior by Damiano Baldoni; Album: Lost Dynasty.

Opening music credit to I am Living a Heavenly Life by Mantra Sphinx of Inspired Action Records.