DnDiscussions

Ryan and Ben discuss a multitude of news, then take a look at using flashbacks. Community Pages: Todd Kenreck's Bluesky post; Cynthia Williams resigns from Wizards of the Coast; Jess Lanzillo resigns from Wizards of the Coast; Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford join Darrington Press; Gunslinger class added to D&D Beyond; Dragon Delves preview; International … Continue reading "Episode 136 – The Ups and Downs in News plus Flashbacks"

Ryan and Ben dig into the Unearthed Arcana release of the Psion, then discuss ways to mix Alt Fantasy and High Fantasy by adding new technologies. Community Pages: Unearthed Arcana The Psion video; Unearthed Arcana The Psion PDF; SRD conversion; Project Sigil miniatures. Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

Ryan and Ben discuss the new Horror themed subclasses, take a look at new D&D Beyond Marketplace items, and brainstorm ideas to make fetch quests a bit more interesting. Community Pages: Unearthed Arcana 2025: Horror Subclasses video; UAT Horror Subclasses PDF; Eberron: Forge of the Artificer bundle; A Map for Every Journey; Film Genres; Ginny … Continue reading "Episode 134 – Horror Subclasses, New Marketplace content, and Fetch Quests"

Ryan and Ben answer some questions from you about holding characters in dungeons and overly cautious players. Community Pages: Sage Advice & Errata Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

Ryan and Ben look at some of the most recent news and then discuss making legendary resistance a bit more fun. Community Pages: Dragon Delves intro video; Dungeon Delves pre-order; Map stickers; Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins leave D&D design team; Publish your own 2024 Content; 2024 Core Rules Errata; What people get wrong with … Continue reading "Episode 132 – News and Legendary Resistance"

Ryan and Ben lament the newest Sigil updates then take a turn toward the dark side and discuss what it takes to play the villain. Community Pages: Emworld Sigil article; PC Gamer Sigil article; Chase Taylor-Carter Sigil post; Alphastream's How to Create a Monster; The Blind Bard's TikTok. Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

Ryan and Ben talk about the new starter set, look into the updated artificer, and delve into Sigil. Community Pages: D&D Starter Set; Gamesradar sneak peek; Enworld sneak peek; Enworld's deeper look; Welcome to Sigil; Brennan Lee Mulligan answer's Wired questions. Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

Ryan and Ben explore some ideas to have a heroic backstory as a level one character and then discuss how to handle solo motivations. Community Pages: An Open Letter to D&D Beyond; I got my grandma to play D&D with me. Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

Ryan and Ben go over the new and updated UAT subclasses, give their first impressions on the 2024 Monster Manual, and discuss ongoing comfortability in your campaign. Community Pages: Forgotten Realms Subclass video; Forgotten Realms Subclass UAT; Dungeon Master Essentials miniatures and scenery humble bundle. Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

Ryan and Ben talk about the new Undead, Monstrosities, Aberrations, and Fey videos then discuss how to switch your current campaign to the new 2024 rules. Community Pages: Undead preview video; Undead video summary; Monstrosities preview video; Monstrosities video summary; Aberrations and Oozes preview video; Aberrations and Oozes video summary; Fey preview video; Fey video … Continue reading "Episode 127 – Monster Manual Sneak Peeks and Swapping to 2024"

Ryan and Ben return to the DnDiscussions table to dig in and take a look at the new Artificer Unearthed Arcana, the 2024 Monster Manual, and a sneak peek of the new dragons! Community Page: Artificer video; Artificer Unearthed Arcana; Monster Manual video; Monster Manual summary; Dragon video; Dragon video summary; Griffon's Saddlebag. Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's … Continue reading "Episode 126 – Artificer UA with Monster Manual and Dragon Previews"

Ryan and Ben talk about running holidays in your game and then tackle their yearly tradition of brainstorming a holiday themed oneshot. Community Pages: DMs Guild As Time Goes By; Monster stat blocks and hit point tracking come to D&D Beyond's VTT; Voltron TTRPG Kickstarter; D&D Beyond 12 days of D&D; Kobold Press ADVENTure Calendar. … Continue reading "Episode 125- Running Holidays and the 2024 Holiday Oneshot Idea"

Alyssa Visscher joins Ryan and Ben to discuss consulting on the 2024 DMG. Alyssa's pages: Alyssa's Bluesky; Fate's Lingering Shadow; Up the Beanstalk; Alyssa's website. Community Page: The Illrigger Class added to D&D Beyond. Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

Ryan and Ben give their first thoughts about the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide and then discuss some DM regrets. Community Pages: Screenrant Balance article; Initiative combat tracker added to the D&D Beyond VTT; Scions of Elemental Evil Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

Ryan and Ben dig into the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide videos and then discuss your player characters' renown and reputation. Community Pages: DMG New Magic Items and Crafting video; Magic Items and Crafting video recap; DMG DM's Toolbox video; DM Toolbox video recap; Lore Glossary video; Greyhawk video; 2024 DM Screen video; Bell of Lost … Continue reading "Episode 122- 2024 DMG Videos and PC Renown and Reputation"

Ryan and Ben dive into the new information on the 2024 DMG and then discuss how to incorporate level 3 subclasses in Clerics, Paladins, Warlocks, and Wizards from the 2024 PHB. Community Pages: 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide video; 2024 DMG recap article; Bastion video; Bastion recap on Enworld; The Legend of Vox Machina Season 3 … Continue reading "Episode 121- DMG Sneak Peek and 2024 Subclass Level Challenges"

Ryan and Ben discuss some of the news coming from and about Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, and the 2024 PHB then dig into soft and hard campaign resets. Community Pages: Hasbro CEO and AI; 2024 PHB is the fastest selling D&D book; Uni and the Hunt for the Lost Horn; Transition Guide and Changelog … Continue reading "Episode 120 – More News and Campaign Resets"

Ryan and Ben discuss the D&D Beyond changes and update then look into how to run and play with large scale and permanent consequences. Community Pages: D&D Beyond Changelog; D&D Direct Recap; Ginny Di's Let's Make a 2024 D&D character; Ginny Di's I ran a $5k D&D game (and had a panic attack). Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's … Continue reading "Episode 119 – D&D Beyond Changes and Permanent Consequences"

Ryan and Ben discuss the newest update about Bastions in the new 2024 DMG and then discuss some questions from the community. Community Pages: Ginny Di's “‘Yes, and' isn't the great D&D advice you think it is” video; Deborah Ann Woll Teaches Jon Bernthal Dungeons and Dragons; Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG Kickstarter. Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

Ryan and Ben go over the info coming out of GenCon and then look at various aspects of a running a chase scene. Community Pages: PHB 2024 backwards compatibility; Artificers and the 2024 PHB; Chris Perkins interview about the new DMG; Ancient Green Dragon Stat Block; DM Screen Pic; Monetization job posting; Project Sigil sign … Continue reading "Episode 117 – News from GenCon and Running a Chase Scene"

Ryan and Ben continue to look into the new Player's Handbook class videos delving into monks, sorcerers, clerics, and bards. Community Pages: 2024 Monks; Monk video bullet points; 2024 Sorcerers; Sorcerer video bullet points; 2024 Clerics; Cleric video bullet points; 2024 Bards; Bard video bullet points; The Gamemaster's Book of Traps, Puzzles, and Dungeons; Silver … Continue reading "Episode 116 – 2024 PHB: Monks, Sorcerers, Clerics, and Bards"

Ryan and Ben continue their journey through the deluge of 2024 PHB information taking a look at Warlocks, Druids, Wizards, Rangers, Spells, and Crafting. Community Pages: 2024 Warlocks; Warlock video bullet points; 2024 Druids; Druid video bullet points; 2024 Wizards; Wizard video bullet points; 2024 Rangers; Ranger video bullet points; 2024 Spells; Spell video bullet … Continue reading "Episode 115 – 2024 PHB: Warlocks, Druids, Wizards, Rangers, Spells, and Crafting"

Ryan and Ben dig through the new Player Handbook information as well as new information on Fighters, Paladins, Barbarians, and Rogues. Community Pages: 2024 Player's Handbook video; 2024 Fighter video; Fighter video bullet points; 2024 Paladin video; Paladin video bullet points; 2024 Barbarian video; Barbarian video bullet points; 2024 Rogue video; Rogue video bullet points; … Continue reading "Episode 114 – 2024 PHB, Fighters, Paladins, Barbarians, and Rogues."

Ryan and Ben take a look at the new Monster Manual cover are, discuss the Roll20 Demiplane news, and then try out a new segment all about combat encounters! Community Pages: Monster Manual cover art; Roll20 purchases Demiplane; Captains and Cannons; Star Wars 5th Edition; Ginny Di's Youtube Channel; How to make your players stop … Continue reading "Episode 113 – Monster Manual Art, Changes to Demiplane, and Encounters at Sea"

Ryan and Ben discuss some of the newest updates then take a look at each other with insight checks! Community Pages: Flee Mortals! on D&D Beyond; Where Evil Lives on D&D Beyond; Flee Mortals' Creature Roles; Game Informer: Art of Dungeons and Dragons; Reddit Game Informer TLDR; Animal Adventures: The Faraway Sea. Socials: Discord; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

Ryan and Ben talk about some of the most recent Wizards of the Coast News and then discuss campaign and adventure length Matt Colville's video “How Long Should an Adventure Be?” Community Pages: How Long Should an Adventure Be?; D&D Beyond's VTT map tool updates; Expanding the SRD; Polygon's Vecna: Eve of Ruin review; Adventure … Continue reading "Episode 111 – Campaign Length and News"

Ryan and Ben are joined by Jeff Reynolds to talk about running longform campaigns, the Curse of Strahd, and implementing horror elements. Community Pages: Jeff's Twitter; Legends of Barovia; A Guide to Curse of Strahd; Monster Loot – Curse of Strahd; She is the Ancient: A Genderbent Curse of Strahd; How Long Should An Adventure … Continue reading "Episode 110 – Longform Campaigns, Modules, and Horror with Jeff Reynolds"

Ryan and Ben discuss different gameplay styles and options between High, Low, and No level Magic Settings. Then a Monster Fixer with an Animated Armor and discuss animating other items. Community Pages: LEGO Dungeons and Dragons Game Night; Dumpstatadventures: Keep it risky or lose the fun. Socials: Discord; Twitter; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

A bunch of news dropped out of Gary Con and Ryan and Ben take a look at it. Then they dig into the idea of Narrative Adventures in D&D using fifth edition. Community Pages: New wizard character art; News about Vecna: Eve of Ruin; Dungeons and Dragons Look Back on the Past; Consulting with Matt … Continue reading "Episode 108 – News and Narrative Adventures in D&D"

Ryan and Ben take a moment to answer some questions from the mailbag. Then they peek at the open beta of Daggerheart before introducing the updated edition of “Of Dice and Men The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It” by David Ewalt. And lastly, we peer through our telescopes at … Continue reading "Episode 107 – March 2024 Mailbag"

Ryan and Ben discuss the possibilities available when running an evil campaign and then spend some monster fixing time on bandits. Community Pages: Dev Update Core Rulebooks, Maps, and Third Party Content; Vecna: Eve of Ruin, Everything You Need to Know; Daggerheart. Socials: Discord; Twitter; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky.

Ryan and Ben discuss the plethora of news released in the past 2 weeks and then peek into the lairs of black dragons. Community Pages: Dungeons and Dragons turns 50; PC Gamer's D&D coverage; Vecna: Eve of Ruin preorder; Everything you need to know about Humblewood; Bricktastic Dungeons and Dragons article; Mr. Rhexx's Black Dragon … Continue reading "Episode 105 – Major News and Black Dragons"

Ryan and Ben take a peek at the latest playtest survey results and then discuss the odds and ends of multiclassing. Community Pages: Playtest Survey Results; Screenrant's 10 D&D Rule changes; D&D Beyond's Playtest 8 Summary; Wargamer article for fixing CR; Mike Mearls 5e point encounters; Puffin Forest's Most Abserd Character; Loke Battlemaps Terrain Set … Continue reading "Episode 104 – Latest Playtest Results and Multiclassing"

Ryan and Ben discuss the best practices for prepping for your first session after a hiatus and then dig into the best way to drop a big pile of lore! Community Pages: 2023 Unrolled; The Physical Edition of the Deck of Many Things Releases; MCDM Where Evil Lives; Newsletter of M.T. Black Games. Socials: Discord; Twitter; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's … Continue reading "Episode 103 – Back from Hiatus and Handling Lore Dumps"

Ryan and Ben spend some time taking a look at some Wizards of the Coast news, spend some time monster fixing the abominable yeti, and create our holiday one shot! Community Pages: Hasbro Layoffs; Christian Hoffer's twitter post; D&D Beyond Dungeons of Drakkenheim; D&D Beyond Lairs of Etharis; Vecna: Eve of Ruin and Quests From … Continue reading "Episode 102 – News, Yeti Monster Fixing, and the 2023 Holiday One Shot"

Ryan and Ben discuss the highs and lows of Unearthed Arcana 8 and what it means to be a Warforged. Community Pages: Unearthed Arcana 8 summary; Playtest 8 PDF; Playtest 8 video; Heroes' Feast Adventure Book; Heroes' Feast: The Joys of Running a High Level Adventure; Stonefold Kingdoms Magnetic Dungeons and Foldable RPG Terrain Kickstarter. … Continue reading "Episode 101 – Unearthed Arcana 8 and Warforged"

Ryan and Ben celebrate episode 100 by discussing giving feedback and then looking into fixing a few golems. Community Pages: D&D Beyond maps; Deck of Many Things physical book update; DMsGuild; Hero Forge. Socials: Discord; Twitter; Bluesky; Ryan's Bluesky; Ben's Bluesky

Ryan and Ben talk about using passive abilities and then run the Awakened Tree and Corpse Flower through the Monster Fixer. Community Pages: Deck of Many Things delay; Chains of Asmodeus; One-Shot Wonders. Socials: Discord; Twitter; Bluesky; Ryan's BlueSky; Ben's BlueSky.

Ryan and Ben take a quick look at the newest Planescape release and discuss the use of cursed items. Episode Links: Playtest 7 survey; Brennan Lee Mulligan and Planescape; The Problem with Cursed Items by Ginny Di; The Talent by MCDM.

Ryan and Ben summarize the new UAT 7 and 8 playtests and talk about a player character changing classes. Links: Playtest 7; Playtest 7 summary; Playtest 8; Playtest 8 summary; Introducing maps video; Maps on D&D Beyond; Claim Lightning Keep; How to build glitch characters in Planescape; Claim Lost Mine of Phandelver.

Ryan and Ben are in need of a long rest. The next episode will be up in a week or two. Until then, be good to each other.

Ryan and Ben talk about building a one shot and then discuss the greatness of firbolgs. Community Pages: Tal'dorei Campaign Setting Reborn; Baldur's Gate Gazetteer; Simple 5E Microsoft Word Template Beginner's Guide.

Ryan and Ben gush about Baldur's Gate 3 and talk about some of the differences between fifth edition rules and rules of the game. Then they take a look at some of the news coming out from Wizards of the Coast. Community Pages: Gamerant's Biggest Rule Changes in Baldur's Gate 3; Community Update on AI … Continue reading "Episode 95 – Baldur's Gate 3 discussion and WOTC news"

Ryan and Ben discuss ending a campaign and take a look at the different kinds of Genasi. Community Page: Tabletop Joab: Campaign Aftercare; Playtest 6 survey; Baldur's Gate 3.

Ryan and Ben take time to dig into the preview of Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants and then attempt to tackle the massive new Player's Handbook Unearthed Arcana. Community Pages: Everything You Need to Know Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants; Unearthed Arcana Player's Handbook Playtest 6 full video; Playtest 6 PDF; Playtest 6 notes; … Continue reading "Episode 93 – Player's Handbook Playtest 6 and Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants"

Ryan and Ben discuss how to set the mood for home and online games and then take a crack at fixing oozes. Community Pages: Intro video to Playtest 6; Unearth Arcana Playtest 6; Kenku FM; Phandelver and Below preorder; Tome of Beasts 3; Further Ancestries and Cultures.

Ryan and Ben discuss some recent news and talk about the 2014 Druid and subclasses. Community Pages: D&D Community Update; Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants; Nerdist sneak preview of the 2024 update; What are the 2024 Fifth Edition Core Rulebooks; Tome of Mystical Tattoos; Tome of Mystical Tattoos II completed Kickstarter; Celebrate Pride!

Ryan and Ben discuss the Paladin and Druid UA results, look forward to the Players Handbook survey, and then discuss some of the optional rules found in the Player's Handbook and the DMG. Community Pages: Paladin and Druid UA Survey Results; Player's Handbook UA Survey Launch video; UA 5 Player's Handbook Survey; Optional Rules guide; … Continue reading "Episode 90 – Paladin and Druid Results and Optional Rules"

Ryan and Ben dissect the massive amount of information in the new Player's Handbook Unearthed Arcana. Community Pages: Unearthed Arcana Player's Handbook; D&D Community Update Page; Misplaced Monsters Volume 1.

Ryan and Ben take a look at the sneak preview of the new DMG, then talk about bringing in new players and new player characters. Community Pages: Pathfinder 2nd Edition Harvest Compendium; Anne Gregersen's DMs Guild list.

Ryan and Ben are joined the Daniel Kwan to talk about cultural consulting, representation, and the D&D Summit. Daniel's pages and work: D&D Summit Summary; Daniel's Twitter; The Asians Represent Podcast; Daniel's supplements; Daniel's itch.io page. Things mentioned on the show: Shou-Chiang: The Shou Alphabet; The Star Wars Chandrilan clothing on Andor.