For the first time ever, we brought the whole team together to recap DM Tony’s very highly customized version of Storm King’s Thunder. Hear what all 5 players and Tony thought of the game and what they have to say about the CRAZY MAGIC ITEMS in it, his changes to the campaign, fitting in their backstories, and more! Along the way, we talk about fighting the Kraken, befriending (most) of the giants, and how we all became The Avengers in a Halloween game.

If you’re wondering just how far a DM can push a book module beyond what’s written before your players balk, this is the episode for you. You’ll hear how Tony pulled off his tricks, how the players reacted to them, and the secret backstories and DM canon we never got to see.

1:00 Introducing the players

3:00 A high-magic party for a high-magic campaign

4:00 Jacob: The middle-aged police detective turned dad-rage barbarian with his dead wife playing ancestral spirit.

7:00 RO4M: The “repurposed” Warforged warlock with a random personality track

9:00 Wilhelmina Draughall: The Sorcerer-Warlock dedicated to convincing the Raven Queen to save her brother’s life. And her pet alcoholic imp, Morningstar

10:00 Roderick R.R. Draughall: The dying nobleman based on Vincent Price from The Fall of the House of Usher

14:00 The Draughall’s secret backstory and how the big campaign plots battled with personal storylines for airtime

21:00 Playing Zhang Fei: A lawful neutral samurai bugbear raised up from a slaughtered goblin warren by his cruel Daimyo

25:00 Enter Erasmus the half-giant DMPC replacement wizard

34:00 How Tony worked PC backstories into the wider SKT plot, one plot twist a player vetoed, and one we never got to

37:00 The 3 Guardians of DM Tony’s SKT: Zephyros, Elios and Traxton the Troll King (Hint: two of those aren’t in the book)

41:00 DMing a party that talks its way out of half the encounters

45:00 What you gain and lose when the players don’t share their backstories with the party – and the stolen Wish!

49:00 Jacob’s secret backstory (and Erasmus’s)

53:00 How much of Tony’s story and headcanon did the players actually catch?

58:00 Bryn Shandar: Where the party started making friends and influencing giants

64:00 Our favorite moments from the campaign

• Going ham on the Hill Giants
• Racing the Frost Giant demigod Tagrim’s dragon-drawn Spelljammer longship for The Ring of Eternal Winters
• Recovering Jacob’s memories (which included the murder of the Queen)
• Wielding the fulling empowered Hammer of Thunderbolts

71:00 The Weapons of Legend!

81:00 Other items, boons and buffs DM Tony showered upon the party

86:00 Why DM Tony doesn’t think jacked attribute numbers matter

87:00 Running the Kraken fight against 11th level characters

90:00 Final thoughts and the Avenger we each became in the Halloween game