Stack o’ Dice

A core component of RPG games is combat, but it's easy to let it slip into being the same old hit-and-take-it fight to the death if we're not careful. This week's episode shares a look at The Monsters Know What They're Doing, a book designed to help DMs and players alike take a deeper look at the creatures we populate our worlds with and make encounters more memorable, challenging, and fun.

The book is part of a series, and each hard-bound volume costs less than $20. You may want to check them out!

• The Monsters Know What They're Doing

Each book is packed with helpful information written in an easy-to-read style. Happy planning, DMs!

Given how much time remains before we get back to actual play content, we thought it would be a good idea to share the table talk for our next episode in advance. Not only will it allow us to get right into the game with very little fanfare, but it also shares some news that explains why we've had as much of a break as we have. It's all good stuff, and there's plenty to listen to.

Join us as at our table now--we miss being with you, Stacker!

As we approach the end of the main story, Rhett's looking ahead to what comes next. One of the things we expect to happen in the next chapter is switching to the new set of Dungeons and Dragons rules: the 2024 revision. In a series of informal discussions, we'll go over some of the changes as we get comfy with the new rules.

In this episode, Rhett finishes out the creation of our level 1 warlock, complete with some spells and eldritch invocations. Listen along for a comparison of spells between the 2014 and 2024 editions, and see what's changed.

Let's get going!

As we approach the end of the main story, Rhett's looking ahead to what comes next. One of the things we expect to happen in the next chapter is switching to the new set of Dungeons and Dragons rules: the 2024 revision. In a series of informal discussions, we'll go over some of the changes as we get comfy with the new rules.

In this episode, Rhett and Meredith tackle the new process of character creation. While there's a lot of familiar ground, there are a few notable changes that might be of interest to listeners. Join us as we kick off the process of creating our "slightly sketch" warlock.

Let's get going!

As we approach the end of the main story, Rhett's looking ahead to what comes next. One of the things we expect to happen in the next chapter is switching to the new set of Dungeons and Dragons rules: the 2024 revision. In a series of informal discussions, we'll go over some of the changes as we get comfy with the new rules.

In this episode, Rhett and Meredith take a look at the new character sheet. There are some notable differences, and while much of the information is much the same, it's in places other than what we're accustomed to. Join us for a walkthrough! It may be helpful for you to pull up the free PDF version of the sheet so you can follow along. It's located at https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/phb/downloads/DnD_2024_Character-Sheet.pdf.

Let's get going!

As we approach the end of our main story, we find we have a lot of lead-in questions that may not get answered before we finish. In this special episode, we kick back and chat over the next ten questions in the hopper, talking about both characters and personal preferences. Feel free to share with us what your answers might be!

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We're glad you're sharing our story; we really appreciate your support and hope you enjoy what we've created together. We're having fun sharing our adventure with you each week, and we'll only get better with time! If you like what you hear, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, since that bumps us up in the ratings and lets others join in the fun. For quick updates on a more real-time basis, follow us on Twitter (@stackodice) and on Instagram (@stackodice), where we'd love to hear from you. Or if you want to share a question or idea with us, drop us a line at [email protected].

Also, if you aren't on our Discord server yet, you should be! Check it out here: https://discord.com/invite/sUUJp78r3E

Finally, visit our Ko-fi page! If you wish to support our show monetarily, you can do that today. Please know that we'll use anything you contribute to improve the show.

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And now, on with the show-- we're excited to tell a story with you.

Dreams are powerful, and can sometimes guide wandering feet from distant lands into one place. Several strangers to each other find themselves brought together by a fateful vision, and are now pressing on to discover for themselves what their sleep has revealed in troubling fog. 

Join us for this guest-DMed special episode featuring Josh "Pink" Pinkerton, who has done stellar work for the Tales From the Glass-Guarded World podcast, as we continue to follow Physick Feverfew, Radiance, Gar, and Drellig in their quest.

Enjoy, and be sure to join us on our Discord server to thank Josh for his hard work in pulling together an entertaining (and, at times, whimsical) story!

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Our spot for Battlebards uses music from Battlebards! We hope you like our use of:

• Capital City - Middlegate - Score Music by Shams Ahsan

We're glad you're sharing our story; we really appreciate your support and hope you enjoy what we've created together. We're having fun sharing our adventure with you each week, and we'll only get better with time! If you like what you hear, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, since that bumps us up in the ratings and lets others join in the fun. For quick updates on a more real-time basis, follow us on Twitter (@stackodice) and on Instagram (@stackodice), where we'd love to hear from you. Or if you want to share a question or idea with us, drop us a line at [email protected].

Also, if you aren't on our Discord server yet, you should be! Check it out here: https://discord.com/invite/sUUJp78r3E

Finally, we now have a Ko-fi page! If you wish to support our show with a little money, you can do that today. Please know that we'll use anything you contribute to improve the show.

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We used some Creative Commons sound effects and music in this show. For the sake of attribution, we list them here. The following were taken from freesound.org, a fantastic resource for completely free sound effects.

Sound effects that fall under the Attribution license:

• Waterfall.wav is a copyright of cosmo235

Sound effects that fall under the Attribution Noncommercial license:

• Metal Cowbells Swinging is a copyright of Idalize

We also used some excellent Battlebards sound effects. If you like what you hear, check them out at battlebards.com. If you sign up for a Prime account, be sure to use our special code, stack, and you'll get a 20% discount on your subscription.

Here are the sound effects we used in this episode:

• Elven Village - Ascending the Vale - Score Music, by Kevin MacLeod

And now, on with the show-- we're excited to tell a story with you.

Dreams are powerful, and can sometimes guide wandering feet from distant lands into one place. Although some of the faces may be familiar to us, several strangers to each other find themselves brought together by a fateful vision, and must determine what they will do with the hand dealt them. Join us for this guest-DMed special episode featuring Josh "Pink" Pinkerton, who has done stellar work for the Tales From the Glass-Guarded World podcast, as he shares a story that runs parallel to the main campaign and will tie in so very nicely.

And, lest we forget, here's the intro to the 80s cartoon Wildfire that Meredith loved to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKk1RQL-dx8

Enjoy, and be sure to join us on our Discord server to thank Josh for his hard work in pulling together an entertaining (and, at times, whimsical) story!

-----

We're glad you're sharing our story; we really appreciate your support and hope you enjoy what we've created together. We're having fun sharing our adventure with you each week, and we'll only get better with time! If you like what you hear, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, since that bumps us up in the ratings and lets others join in the fun. For quick updates on a more real-time basis, follow us on Twitter (@stackodice) and on Instagram (@stackodice), where we'd love to hear from you. Or if you want to share a question or idea with us, drop us a line at [email protected].

Also, if you aren't on our Discord server yet, you should be! Check it out here: https://discord.com/invite/sUUJp78r3E

Finally, we now have a Ko-fi page! If you wish to support our show with a little money, you can do that today. Please know that we'll use anything you contribute to improve the show.

-----

We used some Creative Commons sound effects and music in this show. For the sake of attribution, we list them here. The following were taken from freesound.org, a fantastic resource for completely free sound effects.

Sound effects that fall under the Attribution Noncommercial license:

• Heavy Rain is a copyright of lebaston100

We also used some excellent Battlebards sound effects. If you like what you hear, check them out at battlebards.com. If you sign up for a Prime account, be sure to use our special code, stack, and you'll get a 20% discount on your subscription.

Here are the sound effects we used in this episode:

• Elven Dirge - Immortal's End - Score Music, by Eric Richards

And now, on with the show-- we're excited to tell a story with you.

Special: Four figures make their way to a common location, pulled by the insatiable urging of a mysterious vision. Who could they be? What awaits them? This teaser sets the stage for an upcoming series of special episodes that should be an entertaining parallel to our main story as we welcome a guest DM. Listen now to get a preview of things to come...

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Our spot for Battlebards uses music from Battlebards! We hope you like our use of:

• Capital City - Middlegate - Score Music by Shams Ahsan

We're glad you're sharing our story; we really appreciate your support and hope you enjoy what we've created together. We're having fun sharing our adventure with you each week, and we'll only get better with time! If you like what you hear, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, since that bumps us up in the ratings and lets others join in the fun. For quick updates on a more real-time basis, follow us on Twitter (@stackodice) and on Instagram (@stackodice), where we'd love to hear from you. Or if you want to share a question or idea with us, drop us a line at [email protected].

Also, if you aren't on our Discord server yet, you should be! Check it out here: https://discord.com/invite/sUUJp78r3E

Finally, we now have a Ko-fi page! If you wish to support our show with a little money, you can do that today. Please know that we'll use anything you contribute to improve the show.

-----

We used some Creative Commons sound effects and music in this show. They don't require attribution, but be sure to check out freesound.org, a fantastic resource for completely free sound effects.

We also used some excellent Battlebards sound effects. If you like what you hear, check them out at battlebards.com. If you sign up for a Prime account, be sure to use our special code, stack, and you'll get a 20% discount on your subscription.

Here are the sound effects we used in this episode:

• Echoes of the Past - Ancient Stones - Source Music, by Davide Vannuccini

And now, on with the show-- we're excited to tell a story with you.

Creation Corner: Bards are a mainstay in fantasy RPGs, but where do they come from? Listen in to this pretty dense episode to learn more about these poets, historians, singers, and entertainers. Why were they important? What purpose did they serve? How confusing could their history be? There's only one way to find out!

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Our spot for Battlebards uses music from Battlebards! We hope you like our use of:

• Capital City - Middlegate - Score Music by Shams Ahsan

We're glad you're sharing our story; we really appreciate your support and hope you enjoy what we've created together. We're having fun sharing our adventure with you each week, and we'll only get better with time! If you like what you hear, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, since that bumps us up in the ratings and lets others join in the fun. For quick updates on a more real-time basis, follow us on Twitter (@stackodice) and on Instagram (@stackodice), where we'd love to hear from you. Or if you want to share a question or idea with us, drop us a line at [email protected].

Also, if you aren't on our Discord server yet, you should be! Check it out here: https://discord.com/invite/sUUJp78r3E

Finally, we now have a Ko-fi page! If you wish to support our show with a little money, you can do that today. Please know that we'll use anything you contribute to improve the show.

-----

We didn't use any Creative Commons sound effects or music in this show, but freesound.org is a fantastic resource for completely free sound effects.

And now, on with the show-- we're excited to tell a story with you.