Imagine there is only ONE Beholder in your D&D setting, and when it is defeated, you award XP and loot, you place your Monster Manual on the table and invite the player who slew the beast to ritualistically tear the Beholder page out of the book. I think this would be a peak moment.

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▼▼ SPONSOR▼▼

❤️ Arkenforge: http://arkenforge.link/MattyP2

This episode's sponsor is Arkenforge, a virtual-tabletop program designed for in-person games. They've just released a HUGE software update, which you can try for free with their 30-day free trial by following this link.

▼▼ SOURCES MENTIONED ▼▼

1. The Power of Moments https://heathbrothers.com/books/the-power-of-moments/

2. Gloomhaven https://cephalofair.com/pages/gloomhaven

3. Dungeon World https://www.dungeon-world.com/

4. Mork Borg https://morkborg.com/

5. Wreck This Journal https://kerismith.squarespace.com/books

6. Ten Candles https://cavalrygames.com/ten-candles-info

Less is more in worldbuilding, because TOO MUCH completely sucks. If you want to make your items, locations and creatures really pop, you need to make them scarce and give them a super cool name.

Watch the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7M_d7UXMyc

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▼▼ SOURCES MENTIONED ▼▼

1. Wanderhome https://possumcreekgames.com/pages/wanderhome

2. Wildsea TTRPG https://www.myth.works/collections/the-wildsea-homepage

3. John Harper talking about the line and narrative authority https://mightyatom.blogspot.com/2010/10/apocalypse-world-crossing-line.html?m=1

D&D is weird because when you give the players loot, it feels like you can do it WRONG. Take a look at the Vorpal Sword; if you crit with this thing, you instakill your target. If you've given this to a level 1 party, have you ruined your campaign? Our answer is: no, you're fine!

Watch the video version here: https://youtu.be/7YjOsZcUSL4

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▼▼ SOURCES MENTIONED ▼▼

1. The Vorpal Sword https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/5397-vorpal-sword

Isn't it weird how a D&D player can cast the Goodberry spell and decide for the entire group that foraging and rations will not be a feature of this campaign? Or how about an adventurer with the Lucky feat deciding that failure isn't interesting? These are in-game features designed to address out-of-game player preferences, and they're super weird, and that's what this episode is about.

Watch the video version here: https://youtu.be/0fyLpRIfJDo

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▼▼ SOURCES MENTIONED ▼▼

1. Montola's Invisible Rules of Roleplaying (exogenous, endogenous, diegesis) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273946812_The_Invisible_Rules_of_Role-Playing_The_Social_Framework_of_Role-Playing_Process

2. The Grasshopper, Bernard Suits (constitutive rules, technique rules, etc) https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Grasshopper_Third_Edition.html?id=K3ARAwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

3. TBA, Sidney's paper about coherence in games...

4. Blades in the Dark TTRPG https://bladesinthedark.com/

What actually happens when you sit a six-year-old down to play Dungeons & Dragons? In this episode, we pull apart D&D’s wargame DNA, talk about kids’ totally different sense of “fairness” and failure, and ask who the game is really for: the child… or the adult desperate to share their favourite hobby.

Watch the video version here: https://youtu.be/DA1n1qjQd8o

And sign up to the newsletter https://www.start-a-quest.com

▼▼ SOURCES MENTIONED ▼▼

1. The Design of Everyday Things https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Design_of_Everyday_Things

2. IIEE https://rpgmuseum.fandom.com/wiki/IIEE

3. Animal Adventures https://steamforged.com/collections/animal-adventures

4. Qwirkle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwirkle

5. Sidney's talk about probability https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0l2zfEUU1E

6. No Thank You Evil https://www.nothankyouevil.com/

7.The Power of Moments https://www.amazon.com.au/Power-Moments-Certain-Experiences-Extraordinary/dp/1501147765

SAQ is a fortnightly D&D and TTRPG podcast. Hosted by Matt (bald) and Sidney (they/them), based in Melbourne, Australia.