Tycho's Tales

This episode contains minor spoilers for Exandria Unlimited: Calamity and the Mistborn series. 

In this GM support group episode, we talk about making three-dimensional antagonists; gods and religion; improvisational and empathetic GMing; political systems; safe NPCs; and the fact that nobody ever thinks the same way that you do. 

Tycho's Tales is an informal discussion podcast about tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Get in touch by sending us a text message or an email, and find out more about us at https://tychostales.com/about.

Episodes are released every Tuesday at 5 pm GMT (or, for the Kiwis, every Wednesday at 6 am NZST).

We talk about the implications for multiclassing of One D&D's standardisation of subclasses at level three, and our experiences GMing and playing in campaigns in the Feywild. 

Referenced in this episode: 

• A Wanderer's Guide to the Feywild 
• Tome of Beasts 

Tycho's Tales is an informal discussion podcast about tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Get in touch by sending us a text message or an email, and find out more about us at https://tychostales.com/about.

Episodes are released every Tuesday at 5 pm GMT (or, for the Kiwis, every Wednesday at 6 am NZST).

What's the difference between LARPing and cosplay? Is a PhD in philosophy worth it? We've also brought back our much-lauded Spell of the Week segment courtesy of Walt just wanting to play a barbarian, and Lars takes us back to school. 

Tycho's Tales is an informal discussion podcast about tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Get in touch by sending us a text message or an email, and find out more about us at https://tychostales.com/about.

Episodes are released every Tuesday at 5 pm GMT (or, for the Kiwis, every Wednesday at 6 am NZST).

In this GM support group episode, we talk about what makes a good one-shot for audiences vs home games; Brennan Lee Mulligan; and reasonable people in unreasonable worlds. 

Tycho's Tales is an informal discussion podcast about tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Get in touch by sending us a text message or an email, and find out more about us at https://tychostales.com/about.

Episodes are released every Tuesday at 5 pm GMT (or, for the Kiwis, every Wednesday at 6 am NZST).

 In this episode, we talk about the most important thing that players can bring to the table; what we found surprising in our campaigns; unintended consequences of d100s; accidentally learning about ourselves through our characters; and our incredibly unqualified opinions on LARPing. This last part was basically recorded to give us a bunch of content for future Correction of the Week segments; you're welcome. 

Tycho's Tales is an informal discussion podcast about tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Get in touch by sending us a text message or an email, and find out more about us at https://tychostales.com/about.

Episodes are released every Tuesday at 5 pm GMT (or, for the Kiwis, every Wednesday at 6 am NZST).

In this episode, we talk in depth about multi-phase combat encounters, how we think about lore and worldbuilding, and why you shouldn't get too attached to things. 

Tycho's Tales is an informal discussion podcast about tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Get in touch by sending us a text message or an email, and find out more about us at https://tychostales.com/about.

Episodes are released every Tuesday at 5 pm GMT (or, for the Kiwis, every Wednesday at 6 am NZST).

This episode contains a bunch of spoilers for the D&D and Lego collaboration adventure, Red Dragon's Tale. 

We talk about our experiences building the set, and playing and GMing the adventure, including what we thought about the Lego itself, the character builds, itemization, storyline, pacing, combat encounters, and overall reflections on the adventure. 

Tycho's Tales is an informal discussion podcast about tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Get in touch by sending us a text message or an email, and find out more about us at https://tychostales.com/about.

Episodes are released every Tuesday at 5 pm GMT (or, for the Kiwis, every Wednesday at 6 am NZST).

Welcome to the inaugural GM support group! These episodes have a slightly different format to our usual ones; we just sit around and yarn about what's recently been top of mind in our campaigns.

We talk about what it's like when players or GMs have off days; the reality that it can be really hard work to run a campaign (but is ultimately totally worth it); how difficult it can be to let go of your world and let your players basically ruin everything; how you might tie in characters motivations to your story; and how it can be tricky to gauge how your party are finding things. 

Tycho's Tales is an informal discussion podcast about tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Get in touch by sending us a text message or an email, and find out more about us at https://tychostales.com/about.

Episodes are released every Tuesday at 5 pm GMT (or, for the Kiwis, every Wednesday at 6 am NZST).

In part two of our discussion on how to make low-level combat more interesting, we talk about alternative ways to wrap up combat that don't involve the enemy NPCs being killed (such as fleeing or surrendering, or potentially ending combat narratively); why you usually shouldn't modify monster stats on the fly, even if things are going badly; and a bunch of ways to modify stats prior to combat, to keep things interesting for your players. 

Tycho's Tales is an informal discussion podcast about tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Get in touch by sending us a text message or an email, and find out more about us at https://tychostales.com/about.

Episodes are released every Tuesday at 5 pm GMT (or, for the Kiwis, every Wednesday at 6 am NZST).

Low-level combat is often mechanically simple, and this can lead to potentially boring encounters, particularly if players are used to the range of abilities available with higher-level characters. In this two-part series, we discuss why low-level combat can sometimes fall short, and provide a bunch of ways to spice things up. In part one, we talk about how to make the opponents more interesting (giving them a personality, some prior relationship with the party, perhaps some emotional investment); ways to introduce alternative objectives so that combat isn't just about fighting to the death; how to create dynamic environments with weather or lair actions; and how to use different combat roles alongside things like resistances and vulnerabilities to keep things interesting. 

Keep an eye out for part two of this discussion next week. 

Tycho's Tales is an informal discussion podcast about tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Get in touch by sending us a text message or an email, and find out more about us at https://tychostales.com/about.

Episodes are released every Tuesday at 5 pm GMT (or, for the Kiwis, every Wednesday at 6 am NZST).