Taking 20 Podcast

Elementals are a foreign concept in a lot of ways.  Creatures made up of water or air that are relatively intelligent, can be summoned or spontaneously created, and aren't just a humanoid in an element suit just seem weird.  If you ever wandered where they come from, what they can do and how the fight, give this episode a listen.

I want to specifically thank Keith Ammann and his great book The Monsters Know What They're Doing.  I cannot recommend this book highly enough.  It's an amazing read!

Happy Holidays one and all!  Didn't get enough of the Blood War last time?  Good.  Let's talk some more about Demons and Devils slaying each other by the billions in a fight that's lasted damn near forever.  But what about the Celestials?  Who is the Lady of Pain?  Where do these fights happen?  Tune in and find out!

It's easy to come up with NPCs.  What's hard is coming up with NPCs that feel like more than a one dimensional cariacature of someone real.  In a topic suggested by Michael K. in Illinois, we discuss a simple 3-bullet technique for GMs to make realisitic NPCs and a similar technique for players to make compelling backstories.

Also, Jeremy gets sent to horny jail.

This week we talk about two specialized martial characters:  the Paladin and Ranger.  These are not dumb fighters or mindless barbarians.  These characters have options when it comes to fighting and can really give you lots of options when it comes to running a character...with some caveats of course.

Continuing last week's discussion on encounter design, this week we tackle the environment, tactics, stakes and motivations of the combat.  We discuss variety of the above and how to make combats feel different and better for our 5e and Pathfinder players.

This episode is a deeper dive into what makes for a good encounter and how we GMs can make them more memorable by adding variety to the monsters, the location, the motivations and the stakes of the encounter.

Taverns are the most overdone trope of starting campaigns.  Taverns are familiar and easy but also bland and boring.  While you can start your campaign with a clandestine meeting or good old fistfight in the local tavern, there are so many better options available to you.  In this episode, I make a case for making a better choice.

Kobolds are just moronic annoying little tunneling monsters who are just goblins in a different body, right?  WRONG!  Kobolds aren't like other monstrous humanoids.  They build complicated lairs, work with other races, and are masterful hit-and-run combatants.

Wizards of the Coast released some radical character creation ideas in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and Pathfinder 2e drastically changed the way ancestries were treated in the newest edition of its game.  What are those changes?  Are they good for the game?  Tune in and find out.

Curses have played major roles in numerous movies and media:  the ring in Lord of the Rings, the Aztec gold in Pirates of the Caribbean, Ladyhawke, Shrek, Ella Enchanged, the list goes on.  How can you use these curses in your game and not have your player try to kill you with a d4?  Tune in to find out.