This week, Adam and Tiana take a break from discussing TTRPGs to discuss a game franchise we both hold dear: Dragon Age. There's a new trailer released (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F3N4Lxw4_Y), and we have OPINIONS. Check out the upcoming Death game run by Adam with Tiana as a player at https://www.twitch.ttv/vanalosswen And join our Discord t…

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about the session zero Adam ran for the new Patron games, including going over his table rules and the general conceit for the upcoming game. The streamed version of Death can be found here! https://www.twitch.tv/vanalosswen Join our Discord to offer your opinion! https://discord.gg/gYSp3vcrqs…

This week, Adam and Tiana discuss the recently-finished Patron game, Gnarled Frontier. Adam reflects on the lessons he learned as a GM from this campaign, and goes over some of his Roses (high points) and Thorns (challenges/learning opportunities). Join our Discord to offer your opinion! https://discord.gg/gYSp3vcrqs…

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about the social interactivity of TTRPGs at the table, the importance of playing to the audience (seen or unseen), and how curiosity can build the experience of everyone. Join our Discord to offer your opinion! https://discord.gg/gYSp3vcrqsBy Adam Power, Andrew Geertsen, & Tiana Ren Hanson

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about ways to elevate the spellcasting experience and how to bring in the fourth component of a spell: roleplay. While we don't think every spell needs in-depth roleplay to make it better, we do have some thoughts and suggestions for how to use spells in a less RAW way to make the experience more dynamic. Join our Dis…

This week, Adam and Tiana are thrilled to announce that Adam will be running a livestreamed D&D 5e game on Tiana's personal Twitch channel. The live session zero will be June 11th, with the campaign running through the summer. We're excited to give our listeners a sneak peek into what's coming down the pike. Join our Discord to stay updated! https:…

Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal Garrett | https://www.instagram.com/vaguelywhimsical/ Amy Puzia | https://twitter.com/amypuzia Matt Bridges https://instagram.com/brando30rock/ James Aaron Oh | https://instagram.com/jamesaaronoh/ Support The Channel Join our Patreon - https:…

This week, Adam and Tiana continue digging into the five principles of design, using subclasses we designed for this project. Do you have thoughts about what we've done? Want to try the subclasses out for yourself? Let us know at the Discord! https://discord.gg/gYSp3vcrqsBy Adam Power, Andrew Geertsen, & Tiana Ren Hanson

This week, Adam and Tiana look at principles presented by Treant Monk for handling design choices. There's a lot of thought that goes into game design balance, but we think Treant Monk had a good set of thoughts with the series of questions we go into. Continue the conversation in the Discord! https://discord.gg/gYSp3vcrqs…

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about character voices and do a short exercise to play with voice. We can put so much of what makes a character who they are into the way we choose to speak as them, and it's a lot of fun to dig into that kind of thing. Continue the conversation in the Discord! https://discord.gg/gYSp3vcrqs…

This week, Adam and Tiana reflect on the Patron Westgate game we played the day before, and what it taught Adam in terms of GM control and how to let go. At the core of it all, punitive punishment AND mercy are forms of control that GMs need to examine and grow beyond. Join the conversation in the Discord: https://discord.gg/gYSp3vcrqs…

This week, Adam takes Tiana through a series of D&D 5e rules questions used on the YouTube channel Jorphdan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qfhVN64AiA&t=100s) to see how well she knows more obscure D&D 5e questions. Take the quiz yourself, and let us know how you did in our Discord! https://discord.gg/gYSp3vcrqs…

This week, Adam wraps up taking Tiana through a campaign planning document he assigns to his D&D students in his day job. We've been having a good time diving deep into the core concepts of creating a campaign, so grab a notebook and start noodling your own ideas! The document Adam uses: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Alwm8ghRSKMFnOEP941VcYERX…

This week, Adam continues taking Tiana through a campaign planning document he assigns to his D&D students in his day job. We'll be diving deep into the core concepts of creating a campaign over the next few weeks, so grab a notebook and start noodling your own ideas! The document Adam uses: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Alwm8ghRSKMFnOEP941Vc…

This week, Adam begins taking Tiana through a campaign planning document he assigns to his D&D students in his day job. We'll be diving deep into the core concepts of creating a campaign over the next few weeks, so grab a notebook and start noodling your own ideas! The document Adam uses: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Alwm8ghRSKMFnOEP941VcYER…

Everything has led to this: the group has worked their way through Wave Echo Cave and found the Forge of Spells. They've dealt with undead and other dangers within the twisting tunnels. But there still remains the matter of the Spider. How does he fit into the dreams they had? Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin …

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about a part of the Dungeon Master's Guide that isn't commonly used: Chapter 8, Diseases and Poisons. While diseases and poisons touch our real world in some interesting ways (*cough cough*), we're interested in how they can be used to tell a story. Come join us! Join our Discord to continue the conversation! https://…

Everything has led to this: the group has worked their way through Wave Echo Cave and found the Forge of Spells. They've dealt with undead and other dangers within the twisting tunnels. But there still remains the matter of the Spider. How does he fit into the dreams they had? Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin …

Wave Echo cave is more dangerous than anyone imagined. Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal Garrett | https://www.instagram.com/vaguelywhimsical/ Amy Puzia | https://twitter.com/amypuzia Matt Bridges https://instagram.com/brando30rock/ James Aaron Oh | https://instagram.com/jame…

Wave Echo cave is more dangerous than anyone imagined. Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal Garrett | https://www.instagram.com/vaguelywhimsical/ Amy Puzia | https://twitter.com/amypuzia Matt Bridges https://instagram.com/brando30rock/ James Aaron Oh | https://instagram.com/jame…

This week, Adam and Tiana continuing talking about first level D&D spells and where we rank them. Bucking the usual tier list conventions, we rank them by things like RP potential and how much they serve the secret ingredient in a tabletop party. There's definitely some interesting opinions about the spells in this list! Come join us as we talk abo…

Facing two very different corpses, the party must press through fear and danger to win the day in Wave Echo Cave Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal Garrett | https://www.instagram.com/vaguelywhimsical/ Amy Puzia | https://twitter.com/amypuzia Matt Bridges https://instagram.com…

Facing two very different corpses, the party must press through fear and danger to win the day in Wave Echo Cave Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal Garrett | https://www.instagram.com/vaguelywhimsical/ Amy Puzia | https://twitter.com/amypuzia Matt Bridges https://instagram.com…

This week, Adam and Tiana continuing talking about first level D&D spells and where we rank them. Bucking the usual tier list conventions, we rank them by things like RP potential and how much they serve the secret ingredient in a tabletop party. There's definitely some interesting opinions about the spells in this list! Come join us as we talk abo…

This week, Adam and Tiana start talking about first level D&D spells and where we rank them. Bucking the usual tier list conventions, we rank them by things like RP potential and how much they serve the secret ingredient in a tabletop party. There's definitely some interesting opinions about the spells in this list! Come join us as we talk about th…

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about making encounters more than just trading hit points, using an encounter that happened in the Westgate Patron game Adam runs. We specifically look at page 81, where the DMG talks about Character Objectives that drive encounters. When you know your characters and what they want, focusing in on how to make the play…

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about making a monster for encounters that may not fit the typical mold. Whether that's something silly for a joke game (as we inevitably did) or changing up a known monster to keep people from metagaming, GMs should never be afraid to mess with monsters to keep things interesting. Join our Discord to continue the con…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. The fight was long and brutal, but Gundren is safe with the party. All paths lead to Wave Echo Cave and the Spider within. Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal G…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. The fight was long and brutal, but Gundren is safe with the party. All paths lead to Wave Echo Cave and the Spider within. Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal Garrett | ht…

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about the ways Baldur's Gate 3 changed D&D 5e rules, and which of the changed rules we'd bring into our games. Some of the changes are great! Others...well, it's a video game, there's thing we can't really do around the table. Check out the resource we used here: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/D%26D_5e_rule_changes Join our Di…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. At last, Cragmaw Castle lies within their grasp. Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal Garrett | https://www.instagram.com/vaguelywhimsical/ Amy Puzia | https://t…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. At last, Cragmaw Castle lies within their grasp. Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal Garrett | https://www.instagram.com/vaguelywhimsical/ Amy Puzia | https://t…

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about ways to begin your TTRPG game that doesn't involve "you walk into a tavern..." While that is a time-honored tradition, we feel like there's a ton of ways to get player characters together for that first session so they can start learning about each other, and one of our favorite ways is factions. Have a listen, …

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. In their quest for Cragmaw Castle, the party has sought out the druid Reidoth. But they may have found more than they bargained for... Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/Jac…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. In their quest for Cragmaw Castle, the party has sought out the druid Reidoth. But they may have found more than they bargained for... Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/Jac…

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about suffering in games, and how conflict results in a story that everyone remembers. While we don't advocate for GM sadism, there is an element of suffering and striving that makes the storytelling better for everyone. Join our Discord to continue the conversation! https://discord.gg/gYSp3vcrqs…

Happy New Year, everyone! This week, Adam and Tiana look back at the year we just wrapped up and talk about what we liked, and what we want to improve. New Year's Resolutions are always a challenge, but we think there's been a lot of interesting things happening in the TTRPG space lately. Join our Discord to continue the conversation! https://disco…

This week, Adam and Tiana welcome Andrew back onto the podcast to wrap up the year. We talk about Baldur's Gate, give Andrew a pop quiz on the subject we've talked about without him, and talk about holiday plans. Come join us as we finish up this year with warmth, laughter, and love.By Adam Power, Andrew Geertsen, & Tiana Ren Hanson

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about the issue of player engagement from the player side. It's so easy to get distracted and veer off in various directions, but it's so important to keep combat turns focused and RP moments engaged. We offer some tips on the subject, but would love to hear thoughts from you! Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/gYSp…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. With Glasstaff's fate sealed, what's next for Phandalin and our adventurers? Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal Garrett | https://www.instagram.com/vaguelywhim…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. With Glasstaff's fate sealed, what's next for Phandalin and our adventurers? Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal Garrett | https://www.instagram.com/vaguelywhim…

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about NPCs who become part of the party, or otherwise aid the campaign in significant ways. There are real dangers about DMPCs, or other ways that NPCs can steal the show; join us as we talk about the benefits and pitfalls, and build our own NPC with a series of dice rolls. Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/gYSp3vc…

This week, Adam and Tiana had a plan for the episode topic. It was even going to be a good one! And then we kinda rabbit trailed in a bunch of different directions, all at once. So grab a mug of your preferred comfort drink, wrap up in a blanket against the autumn weather, and come hang with us as we talk about burnout and how to prevent it, campai…

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about the first session of the new Patron game, Westgate, and discuss a cool realization Adam had during the game. There's a lot of ways to get information to players and their characters! But one of the more interesting ways is for the players to know at least some of the knowledge, and let them pass it along in char…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. Unconventional methods are the order of the day for the party, and those tactics have netted a crucial victory. But there are still innocents in danger, and questions that need answers. Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. Unconventional methods are the order of the day for the party, and those tactics have netted a crucial victory. But there are still innocents in danger, and questions that need answers. Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. A promise made is a debt unpaid, and now the party must face the consequences. But at least they have a small advantage: knowledge of a secret entrance into the Redbrand hideout. Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Van…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. A promise made is a debt unpaid, and now the party must face the consequences. But at least they have a small advantage: knowledge of a secret entrance into the Redbrand hideout. Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Van…

This week, Adam and Tiana talk about a very important part of any gaming experience: the session zero. Running a successful session zero can feel very intimidating, so we're talking about activities that a GM can use to explore themes and ideas with their players in a fun and engaging way. Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/Qwc7KSfwtd…

Our latest Dungeons and Dragons Actual Play Podcast features the campaign Phandelver and Below The Shattered Obelisk. The Redbrands run this towns, and no pesky outsiders can stop that. Or, can they? Featuring: Tiana Ren Hanson | https://twitter.com/Vana1895 Grant Corvin | https://twitter.com/JackRhien Cal Garrett | https://www.instagram.com/vaguel…