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WERBUNG | Das neue Regelwerk findet ihr auf deutsch unter [Link weiter unten] vorbestellen! Alternativ könnt ihr es auch auf englisch hier bestellen: [Link weiter unten] /WERBUNG Der letzte Akt bricht an: Nach einer langen Reise müssen sich Haselnuuuss, Florentin Will, Nils Bomhoff und Mháire Stritter in den brennenden Trümmern von Greyhawk dem finalen Konflikt stellen. Sind sie dem gewachsen? Und wer hintergeht die Gruppe am Ende? Geleitet wird die Gruppe erneut von Steffen. Diese Sendung entsteht in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Team hinter Dungeons and Dragons.
The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.WhoPete Sonntag, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Sun Valley, IdahoRecorded onApril 9, 2025About Sun ValleyClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The R. Earl Holding family, which also owns Snowbasin, UtahPass affiliations:* Ikon Pass – 7 days, no blackouts; no access on Ikon Base or Session passes; days shared between Bald and Dollar mountains* Mountain Collective – 2 days, no blackouts; days shared between Bald and Dollar mountainsReciprocal pass partners: Challenger Platinum and Challenger season passes include unlimited access to Snowbasin, UtahLocated in: Ketchum, IdahoClosest neighboring ski areas: Rotarun (:47), Soldier Mountain (1:10)Base elevation | summit elevation | vertical drop:Bald Mountain: 5,750 feet | 9,150 feet | 3,400 feetDollar Mountain: 6,010 feet | 6,638 feet | 628 feetSkiable Acres: 2,533 acres (Bald Mountain) | 296 acres (Dollar Mountain)Average annual snowfall: 200 inchesTrail count: 122 (100 on Bald Mountain; 22 on Dollar) – 2% double-black, 20% black, 42% intermediate, 36% beginnerLift fleet:Bald Mountain: 12 lifts (8-passenger gondola, 2 six-packs, 6 high-speed quads, 2 triples, 1 carpet - view Lift Blog's of inventory of Bald Mountain's lift fleet)Dollar Mountain: 5 lifts (2 high-speed quads, 1 triple, 1 double, 1 carpet - view Lift Blog's of inventory of Dollar Mountain's lift fleet)Why I interviewed him (again)Didn't we just do this? Sun Valley, the Big Groom, the Monster at the End of The Road (or at least way off the interstate)? Didn't you make All The Points? Pretty and remote and excellent. Why are we back here already when there are so many mountains left to slot onto the podcast? Fair questions, easy answer: because American lift-served skiing is in the midst of a financial and structural renaissance driven by the advent of the multimountain ski pass. A network of megamountains that 15 years ago had been growing creaky and cranky under aging lift networks has, in the past five years, flung new machines up the mountain with the slaphappy glee of a minor league hockey mascot wielding a T-shirt cannon. And this investment, while widespread, has been disproportionately concentrated on a handful of resorts aiming to headline the next generation of self-important holiday Instagram posts: Deer Valley, Big Sky, Steamboat, Snowbasin, and Sun Valley (among others). It's going to be worth checking in on these places every few years as they rapidly evolve into different versions of themselves.And Sun Valley is changing fast. When I hosted Sonntag on the podcast in 2022, Sun Valley had just left Epic for Ikon/Mountain Collective and announced its massive Broadway-Flying Squirrel installation, a combined 14,982 linear feet of high-speed machinery that included a replacement of North America's tallest chairlift. A new Seattle Ridge sixer followed, and the World Cup spectacle followed that. Meanwhile, Sun Valley had settled into its new pass coalitions and teased more megalifts and improvements to the village. Last December, the resort's longtime owner, Carol Holding, passed away at age 95. Whatever the ramifications of all that will be, the trajectory and fate of Sun Valley over the next decade is going to set (as much or more than it traces), the arc of the remaining large independents in our consolidating ski world.What we talked aboutThe passing and legacy of longtime owner Carol Holding and her late husband Earl – “she was involved with the business right up until the very end”; how the Holdings modernized the Sun Valley ski areas; long-term prospects for Sun Valley and Snowbasin independence following Mrs. Holding's passing; bringing World Cup Downhill races back to Sun Valley; what it took to prep Bald Mountain for the events; the risks of hosting a World Cup; finish line vibes; the potential for a World Cup return and when and how that could happen; the impact of the Challenger and Flying Squirrel lift upgrades; potential upgrades for the Frenchman's, River Run, Lookout Express, and Christmas lifts; yes Sun Valley has glades; the impact of the Seattle Ridge chairlift upgrade; why actual lift capacity for Sun Valley's legacy high-speed quads doesn't match spec; explaining Sun Valley's infrastructure upgrade surge; why Mayday and Lookout will likely remain fixed-grip machines; the charm of Dollar Mountain; considering Dollar lift upgrades; what happened to the Silver Dollar carpet; why Sun Valley is likely sticking with Ikon and Mountain Collective long-term after trying both those coalitions and Epic; whether Sun Valley could join Ikon Base now that Alterra ditched Ikon Base Plus; RFID coming at last; whether we could still see a gondola connection between Sun Valley Village and Dollar and Bald mountains; and why Sun Valley isn't focused on slopeside development at Bald Mountain.Why now was a good time for this interviewSince I more or less covered interview timing above, let me instead pull out a bit about Sun Valley's megapass participation that ended up being timely by accident. We recorded this conversation in April, well before Vail Resorts named Rob Katz its CEO for a second time, likely resetting what had become a lopsided (in Alterra's favor) Epic-versus-Ikon battle. Here's what Sonntag had to say on the pod in 2022, when Sun Valley had just wrapped its three-year Epic Pass run and was preparing for its first season on Ikon:… our three-year run with Epic was really, really good. And it brought guests to Sun Valley who have never been here before. I mean, I think we really proved out the value of these multi-resort passes and these partner passes. People aspire to go other places, and when their pass allows them to do that, that sometimes is the impetus. That's all they need to make that decision to do it. So as successful as that was, we looked at Ikon and thought, well, here's an opportunity to introduce ourselves to a whole new group of guests. And why would we not take advantage of that? We're hoping to convert, obviously, a few of these folks to be Sun Valley regulars. And so now we have the opportunity to do that again with Ikon.When I asked Sonntag during that conversation whether he would consider returning to Epic at some point, he said that “I'm focused on doing a great job of being a great partner with Ikon right now,” and that, “I'm not ready to go there yet.”With three winters of Ikon and Mountain Collective membership stacked, Sonntag spoke definitively this time (emphasis mine):We are very very happy with how everything has gone. We feel like we have great partners with both Ikon, which is, you know, partnering with a company, but they're partners in every sense of the word in terms of how they approach the partnership, and we feel like we have a voice. We have access to data. We can really do right by our customers and our business at the same time.Should we read that as an Epic diss on Broomfield? Perhaps, though saying you like pizza doesn't also mean you don't like tacos. But Sonntag was unambiguous when I asked whether Sun Valley was #TeamIkon long-term: “I would see us staying the course,” he said.For those inclined to further read into this, Sonntag arrived at Sun Valley after a long career at Vail Resorts, which included several years as president/COO-equivalent of Heavenly and Whistler. And while Sun Valley is part of a larger company that also includes Snowbasin, meaning Sonntag is not the sole decision-maker, it is interesting that an executive who spent so much of his career with a first-hand look inside the Epic Pass would now lead a mountain that stands firmly with the opposition.What I got wrongI mischaracterized the comments Sonntag had made on Epic and Ikon when we spoke in 2022, making it sound as though he had suggested that Sun Valley would try both passes and then decide between them. But it was me who asked him whether he would decide between the two after an Ikon trial, and he had declined to answer the question, saying, as noted above, that he wasn't “ready to go there yet.”Why you should ski Sun ValleyIf I was smarter I'd make some sort of heatmap showing where skier visits are clustered across America. Unfortunately I'm dumb, and even more unfortunately, ski areas began treating skier visit numbers with the secrecy of nuclear launch codes about a decade ago, so an accurate map would be difficult to draw up even if I knew how.However, I can offer a limited historical view into the crowding advantages that Sun Valley offers in comparison to its easier-to-access peer resorts. Check out Sun Valley's average annual skier visits from 2005 to 2011, compared to similarly sized Breckenridge and Keystone, and smaller Beaver Creek:Here's how those four ski areas compare in size and average skier visits per acre:Of course, 2011 was a long time ago and multi-mountain passes have dramatically reworked visitation patterns. Breck, Keystone, and Beaver Creek, all owned by Vail during the above timeframe, joined Epic Pass in 2008, while Sun Valley would stand on its own until landing on Mountain Collective in 2015, then Epic in 2019, then back to MC and Ikon in 2022. Airline service to Sun Valley has improved greatly in the past 15 years, which could also have ramped up the resort's skier visits.Still, anecdote and experience suggest that these general visitation ratios remain similar to the present day. Beaver Creek remains a bit of a hidey-hole by Colorado standards, but Breck and Keystone, planted right off America's busiest ski corridor in America's busiest ski state, are among the most obvious GPS inputs for the Epic Pass masses. No one has to try that hard to get to Summit County. To get to Sun Valley, you still have to work (and spend), a bit more.So that's the pitch, I guess, in addition to all the established Sun Valley bullet points: excellent grooming and outrageous views and an efficient and fast lift network. By staying off the Ikon Base Pass, not to mention Interstates 70 and 80, Sun Valley has managed to achieve oxymoron status: the big, modern U.S. ski resort that feels mostly empty most of the time. It's this and Taos and Telluride and a few others tossed into the far corners of the Rockies, places that at once feel of the moment and stand slightly outside of time.Podcast NotesOn Sun Valley/Pete 1.0Sonntag first joined me on the pod back in 2022:On Carol HoldingLongtime Sun Valley owner Carol Holding passed away on Dec. 23, 2024. Boise Dev recalled a bit of the family legacy around Sun Valley:“One day, I spotted Earl and Carol dining on the patio and asked him again,” Webb told Bossick. “And Carol turned to him and said, ‘Earl, you've been saying you're going to do that for years. If you don't build a new lodge, I'm going to divorce you.' That's what she said!”The lodge opened in 2004, dubbed Carol's Dollar Mountain Lodge.In a 2000 interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, Carol made it clear that she was as much a part of the business as Earl, whose name caught most of the headlines.“I either became part of his business or lived alone,” she said.The pair often bought distressed or undervalued assets and invested to upgrade them. She told the Tribune that paying attention to the dollars in those early years made a big difference.“I still have the first dollar bill that anyone gave me as a tip,” she said.Once they bought Sun Valley, Robert and Carol wasted no time.Wally Huffman, the resort's GM, got a call to the area above the Ram Restaurant. Someone was stuffing mattresses out the window, and they were landing with a thud on the kitchen loading dock below. Huffman called Janss – the person who had owned the resort – and asked what to do.“I think you should do whatever Mr. Holding tells you to do.”Robert and Carol had purchased the property, and upgrades were well underway. They didn't know how to ski. But they did know hospitality.“Why would anyone who didn't know how to ski buy a ski resort? That wasn't why we bought it—to come here to ski,” Carol said. “We bought it to run as a business.”Earl Holding's 2013 New York Times obituary included background on the couple's purchase of Sun Valley:A year later, Carol Holding, who was her husband's frequent business partner, showed him a newspaper article about the potential sale of Sun Valley. He bought the resort, which had fallen into disrepair since its glory years as a getaway for Ernest Hemingway and others, after he and his wife spent a day there skiing. They had never skied before.Davy Ratchford, President of sister resort Snowbasin, told a great story about Carol Holding on the podcast back in 2023 [31:20]:Mrs. Holding is an amazing woman and is sharp. She knows everything that's going on at the resorts. She used to work here, right? She'd flip burgers and she'd sell things from the retail store. I mean she's an original, right? Like she is absolutely amazing and she knows everything about it. And I was hired and I remember being in our lodge and I had all the employees there and she was introducing me, and it was an amazing experience. I remember I was kneeling down next to her chair and I said, “You know, Mrs. Holding, thank you for the opportunity.” And she grabs both your hands and she holds them in tight to her, and that's how she talks to you. It's this amazing moment. And I said, “I just want to make sure I'm doing exactly what you want me to do for you and Earl's legacy of Snowbasin.” I know how much they love it, right? Since 1984. And I said, “Can I just ask your advice?” And this is exactly what she said to me, word for word, she said, “Be nice and hire nice people.” And every employee orientation since then, I've said that: “Our job is to be nice and to hire nice people.”Listen to the rest here:On Sun Valley's evolutionWhen the Holdings showed up in 1977, Sun Valley, like most contemporary ski areas, was a massive tangle of double and triple chairs:The resort upgraded rapidly, installing seven high-speed quads between 1988 and 1994: Unfortunately, the ski area chose Yan, whose bungling founder's shortcuts transformed the machines into deathtraps, as its detachable partner. The ski area heavily retrofit all seven machines in partnership with Doppelmayr in 1995. Sun Valley has so far replaced three of the seven Yans: the Seattle Ridge sixer replaced the detach quad of the same name last year and the Broadway sixer and Flying Squirrel quad replaced the Broadway and Greyhawk quads in 2023, on a new alignment:Sonntag outlines which of the remaining four Yan-Doppelmayr hybrids will be next on the pod.I've summarized the Yan drama several times, most recently in the article accompanying my podcast conversation with Mammoth COO Eric Clark earlier this year:On World Cup resultsWhile we talk in general about the motivation behind hosting the World Cup, what it took to prep the mountain, and the energy of the event itself, we don't get a lot into the specifics of the events themselves. Here are all the official stats. Videos here.On gladesYes, Sun Valley has glades (video by #GoProBro, which is me):On Ikon Pass' evolutionI feel as though I publish this chart every other article, but here it is. If you're reading this in the future, click through for the most current:On the Sun Valley Village masterplanWe discuss an old Sun Valley masterplan that included a gondola connection from the village to Dollar and then Bald mountains:The new village plan, which is a separate document, rather than an update of the image above, doesn't mention it:Why? We discuss.The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. Please support independent ski journalism, or we'll all be reading about bros backflipping over moving trains for the rest of our lives. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe
Giada ed Emilio esplorano l'ambientazone di Greyhawk leggendo il nuovo manuale del Dungeon Master.#dungeonsanddragons #podcast #dndViaggiate con noi a https://travelsanddragons.it/o sosteneteci su patreon https://patreon.com/DueDraghiPlus#dnd #dungeons&dragons #actualplay #podcastI nostri link
Hi guys! Welcome to my new series! Joe Bloch, the Greyhawk Grognard, has graciously agreed to be my next victim. Joe's been a core member of the OSR since the early blog days. He's a very successful indy publisher with his own old school ruleset, and he has published one of the largest megadungeons ever written.I'm going to continue with my regular interviews with RPG Industry Professionals. These won't be the standard 15 minute surface level interviews that exist solely for someone to pimp their product. Following in the footsteps of Joe Rogan and Lex Fridman, I plan to go deep. I expect each interview to last at least 2 hours if not 3. We'll get into the guest's personal life, gaming history, and how they got into publishing RPG products. Then we will get into the ins and out of publishing, so you can learn from their experience.Ideally I'd like for these interviews to serve as a motivational video series to help encourage more people in the hobby to publish their own stuff. I plan to get into some technical details so we can demystify the experience, and so you'll see that you can also do it with a little hard work and determination.I hope you enjoy it!Here are links to buy some of Joe's products we talked about:Adventures Dark And Deep Core Ruleshttps://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/497582/adventures-dark-and-deep-core-rulebook?src=hottest_filtered&affiliate_id=205060Castle of the Mad Archmagehttps://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/462133/ma1-castle-of-the-mad-archmage-the-core-levels?src=hottest_filtered&affiliate_id=205060By Popular demand, here is the link to my new Analog Mancave Discord Server!https://discord.gg/RHxTCq3mzTHere's the link to my first Substack post!https://open.substack.com/pub/analogmancave/p/joethelawyers-analog-mancave-has?r=4ewp0k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=trueMembers now get early access to videos now! Join for as little as 99 cents a month to get to see all the videos as soon as I upload them. Click Here to Join the Channel as a Member!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCABv_juND7JHvVbJCjWjhlw/joinHere's my most viewed video of all time. :)https://youtu.be/bWRPXFJ8Bl8You can now listen to me on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Locals, and Rumble, as well as YouTube. Links are below!Joe's Links:Discord: https://discord.gg/RHxTCq3mzTAnalog Mancave Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1331036104620724Substack: https://analogmancave.substack.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3NYr1znhg7i0aSQoyUcI6o?si=0c71530927984ea1Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joethelawyers-analog-mancave/id1441356270Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077311317522 Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/joethelawyerTwitter: https://twitter.com/analogmancave Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/joethelawyerLocals: https://joethelawyersanalogmancave.locals.comEmail: analogmancave@gmail.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/analogmancave MeWe: www.mewe.com/i/joed15 Webpage: www.analogmancave.com
In this Episode Saul and Jolene discuss why some GMs do not like running Intellectual Property games. Those are games based on books, Tv shows, or movies. Whether its Conan, Star Wars, Star Trek of hundreds of other RPGs that are based on others creative works some GMs shy away from running these games for specific reasons. Saul as usual goes to the way back machine and discusses his brushes with working on games that were based on others Intellectual Property. From the first foray into running a shared campaign in the World of Greyhawk and later Forgotten Realms Saul talks about the ease and difficulty about taking on running an "IP RPG. Lastly Saul and Jolene discuss why they like playing RPGs based on Intellectual Properties. Whether it was Conan, Star Trek or Dresden Files they discuss what they like about playing in those created worlds or universes. They also discuss the genuine fun that players have when they get to play a RPG in their favorite IP. Thank you all for Listening Web Art by Jim Foster Episode Art by Michael Shean-Jones Music by Lyrics Girl, song Intellectual Love, off the album Acid Planet Available from Tribeofnoise.com Used Under the Creative Commons License 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
The new Book Club book is announced! Plus, Erik Mona (Paizo) and Skid Maher (GCN) join the show to discuss epic D&D campaign settings, including Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Eberron, Planescape, Dragonlance and more! Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/3bdUsq-DI_8 0:00 Intro 7:30 Greyhawk 40:30 Forgotten Realms 1:09:50 Elevator Pitch 1:33:40 Setting Prep 1:45:15 Beat McD Access exclusive podcasts, ad-free episodes, and livestreams with a 30-day free trial with code "GCN30" at jointhenaish.com. Join Troy Lavallee, Joe O'Brien, Skid Maher, Matthew Capodicasa, Sydney Amanuel, and Kate Stamas as they tour the country. Get your tickets today at https://hubs.li/Q03cn8wr0. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit https://hubs.li/Q03cmY380. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Level Up 128 - Greyhawk Greyhawk, conocido también como el Mundo de Greyhawk, es uno de los escenarios de campaña más icónicos de Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Creado por Gary Gygax, este mundo comenzó como un simple calabozo bajo el Castillo Greyhawk y evolucionó hasta convertirse en un universo rico y detallado. El planeta Oerth, donde se encuentra Greyhawk, tiene una geografía diversa que incluye regiones como la Flaenia, el Mar de Polvo y la Península Thillonriana- La Ciudad Libre de Greyhawk es el corazón del escenario, sirviendo como un punto de partida para muchas aventuras. Este mundo ha influido profundamente en las reglas centrales de D&D, incluyendo nombres de hechizos y objetos mágicos. Además, Greyhawk fue el escenario principal de la campaña compartida Living Greyhawk entre 2000 y 2008. Música de Uppbeat: License code: DSJHNLFTIRWBKXPO Música de Youtube
Are tariffs about me to make buying D&D and TTRPG products A LOT more expensive for US gamers? And right when a new 5e 2024 starter set could make learning the game easier than ever! What makes a good Warlock patron?Start your Companion Quest here: https://ghostfiregaming.com/GGLC_GGCQ_2025_2_003BoardGameWire article: https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2025/03/06/fewer-releases-spending-freezes-and-rising-prices-board-game-publishers-face-volatile-financial-future-as-us-hikes-china-tariff-to-20-brings-in-25-canada-mexico-tariffs/Rascal News article: https://www.rascal.news/tabletop-companies-are-waiting-for-the-ship-to-come-in-on-tariffs/Email your questions to podcast@ghostfiregaming.comBen: @TheBenByrneDael: @dailydaelJames: @jamesjhaeckShawn: @shawnmerwinEditor: @ZsDante Topics:00:00 - Intro02:27 - New D&D starter set14:29 - Companion Quest17:40 - Chris Cocks interviews27:35 - Tariffs vs tabletop games34:56 - DriveThruRPG prices rise39:21 - Warlock patrons48:12 - Greyhawk introduction
Ken elaborates on the Attention Economy – how many things people need to keep track of – for D&D 2024, and how it differs from the 2014. (and yeah, this explains his initial reaction to the Blade Ward cantrip back in Episode 5). He reviews the idea of the Action Economy (how many things a […] The post The D&D Attention Economy – Greyhawk '76 (Ep. 7) appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
Paul & Dan review the first add-on to Original D&D in 1975: Supplement I, Greyhawk! Presenting content and rules changes stemming from Gygax's home campaign, we get new classes (the Thief and Paladin), spells, monsters, and magic items. But how much of it was a boon to D&D in general, and how many were mistakes?
Ken elaborates on the Attention Economy – how many things people need to keep track of – for D&D 2024, and how it differs from the 2014. (and yeah, this explains his initial reaction to the Blade Ward cantrip back in Episode 5). He reviews the idea of the Action Economy (how many things a […] The post The D&D Attention Economy – Greyhawk '76 (Ep. 7) appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and to support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.As of episode 198, you can now watch The Storm Skiing Podcast on YouTube. Please click over to follow the channel. The podcast will continue to stream on all audio platforms. WhoEric Clark, President and Chief Operating Officer of Mammoth and June Mountains, CaliforniaRecorded onJanuary 29, 2025Why I interviewed himMammoth is ridiculous, improbable, outrageous. An impossible combination of unmixable things. SoCal vibes 8,000 feet in the sky and 250 miles north of the megalopolis. Rustic old-California alpine clapboard-and-Yan patina smeared with D-Line speed and Ikon energy. But nothing more implausible than this: 300 days of sunshine and 350 inches of snow in an average year. Some winters more: 715 inches two seasons ago, 618 in the 2016-17 campaign, 669 in 2010-11. Those are base-area totals. Nearly 900 inches stacked onto Mammoth's summit during the 2022-23 ski season. The ski area opened on Nov. 5 and closed on Aug. 6, a 275-day campaign.Below the paid subscriber jump: why Mammoth stands out even among giants, June's J1 lift predates the evolution of plant life, Alterra's investment machine, and more.That's nature, audacious and brash. Clouds tossed off the Pacific smashing into the continental crest. But it took a soul, hardy and ungovernable, to make Mammoth Mountain into a ski area for the masses. Dave McCoy, perhaps the greatest of the great generation of American ski resort founders, strung up and stapled together and tamed this wintertime kingdom over seven decades. Ropetows then T-bars then chairlifts all over. One of the finest lift systems anywhere. Chairs 1 through 25 stitching together a trail network sculpted and bulldozed and blasted from the monolithic mountain. A handcrafted playground animated as something wild, fierce, prehuman in its savage ever-down. McCoy, who lived to 104, is celebrated as a businessman, a visionary, and a human, but he was also, quietly, an artist.Mammoth is not the largest ski area in America (ranking number nine), California (third behind Palisades and Heavenly), Alterra's portfolio (third behind Palisades and Steamboat), or the U.S. Ikon Pass roster (fifth after Palisades, Big Sky, Bachelor, and Steamboat). But it may be America's most beloved big ski resort, frantic and fascinating, an essential big-mountain gateway for 39 million Californians, an Ikon Pass icon and the spiritual home of Alterra Mountain Company. It's impossible to imagine American skiing without Mammoth, just as it's impossible to imagine baseball without the Yankees or Africa without elephants. To our national ski identity, Mammoth is an essential thing, like a heart to a human body, a part without which the whole function falls apart.About MammothClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Alterra Mountain Company, which also owns:Located in: Mammoth Lakes, CaliforniaYear founded: 1953Pass affiliations:* Ikon Pass: unlimited, no blackouts* Ikon Base Pass: unlimited, holiday blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: June Mountain – around half an hour if the roads are clear; to underscore the severity of the Sierra Nevada, China Peak sits just 28 miles southwest of Mammoth, but is a seven-hour, 450-mile drive away – in good weather.Base elevation: 7,953 feetSummit elevation: 11,053 feetVertical drop: 3,100 feetSkiable acres: 3,500Average annual snowfall: 350 inchesTrail count: 178 (13% easiest, 28% slightly difficult, 19% difficult, 25% very difficult, 15% extremely difficult)Lift count: 25 (1 15-passenger gondola, 1 two-stage, eight-passenger gondola, 4 high-speed six-packs, 8 high-speed quads, 1 fixed-grip quad, 6 triples, 3 doubles, 1 Poma – view Lift Blog's inventory of Mammoth's lift fleet) – the ski area also runs some number of non-public carpetsAbout JuneClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Alterra Mountain Company (see complete roster above)Located in: June Lake, CaliforniaYear founded: 1963Pass affiliations:* Ikon Pass: unlimited, no blackouts* Ikon Base Pass: unlimited, holiday blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: Mammoth Mountain – around half an hour if the roads are clearBase elevation: 7,545 feetSummit elevation: 10,090 feetVertical drop: 2,590 feetSkiable acres: 1,500 acresAverage annual snowfall: 250 inchesTrail count: 41Lift count: 6 (2 high-speed quads, 4 doubles – view Lift Blog's inventory of June Mountain's lift fleet)What we talked aboutMammoth's new lift 1; D-Line six-packs; deciding which lift to replace on a mountain with dozens of them; how the new lifts 1 and 16 redistributed skier traffic around Mammoth; adios Yan detachables; the history behind Mammoth's lift numbers; why upgrades to lifts 3 and 6 made more sense than replacements; the best lift system in America, and how to keep this massive fleet from falling apart; how Dave McCoy found and built Mammoth; retaining rowdy West Coast founder's energy when a mountain goes Colorado corporate; old-time Colorado skiing; Mammoth Lakes in the short-term rental era; potential future Mammoth lift upgrades; a potentially transformative future for the Eagle lift and Village gondola; why Mammoth has no public carpets; Mammoth expansion potential; Mammoth's baller parks culture, and what it takes to build and maintain their massive features; the potential of June Mountain; connecting to June's base with snowmaking; why a J1 replacement has taken so long; kids under 12 ski free at June; Ikon Pass access; changes incoming to Ikon Pass blackouts; the new markets that Ikon is driving toward Mammoth; improved flight service for Mammoth skiers; and Mammoth ski patrol.What I got wrong* I guessed that Mammoth likely paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 million for “Canyon and Broadway.” I meant that the new six-pack D-line lifts likely cost $15 million each.* I mentioned that Jackson Hole installed a new high-speed quad last year – I was referring to the Sublette chair.* I said that Steamboat's Wild Blue Gondola was “close to three miles long” – the full ride is 3.16 miles. Technically, the first and second stages of the gondola are separate machines, but riders experience them as one.Why now was a good time for this interviewTalk to enough employees of Alterra Mountain Company and a pattern emerges: an outsized number of high-level execs – the people building the mountain portfolio and the Ikon Pass and punching Vail in the face while doing it – came to the mothership, in some way or another, through Mammoth Mountain.Why is that? Such things can be a coincidence, but this didn't feel like it. Rusty Gregory, Alterra's CEO from 2018 to '23, entered that pilot's seat as a Mammoth lifer, and it was possible that he'd simply tagged in his benchmates. But Alterra and the Ikon Pass were functioning too smoothly to be the products of nepotism. This California ski factory seemed to be stamping out effective big-ideas people like an Italian plant cranking out Ferraris.Something about Mammoth just works. And that's remarkable, considering no one but McCoy thought that the place would work at all as a functional enterprise. A series of contemporary dumbasses told him that Mammoth was “too windy, too snowy, too high, too avalanche-prone, and too isolated” to work as a commercial ski area, according to The Snow Mag. That McCoy made Mammoth one of the most successful ski areas anywhere is less proof that the peanut gallery was wrong than that it took extraordinary will and inventiveness to accomplish the feat.And when a guy runs a ski area for 52 years, that ski area becomes a manifestation of his character. The people who succeed in working there absorb these same traits, whether of dysfunction or excellence. And Mammoth has long been defined by excellence.So, how to retain this? How does a ski area stitched so tightly to its founder's swashbuckling character fully transition to corporate-owned megapass headliner without devolving into an over-groomed volume machine for Los Angeles weekenders? How does a mountain that's still spinning 10 Yan fixed-grip chairs – the oldest dating to 1969 – modernize while D-Line sixers are running eight figures per install? And how does a set-footprint mountain lodged in remote wilderness continue to attract enough skiers to stay relevant, while making sure they all have a place to stay and ski once they get there?And then there's June. Like Pico curled up beside Killington, June, lost in Mammoth's podium flex, is a tiger dressed up like a housecat. At 1,500 acres, June is larger than Arapahoe Basin, Aspen Highlands, or Taos. It's 2,590-foot-vertical drop is roughly equal to that of Alta, Alyeska, or Copper (though June's bottom 1,000-ish vertical feet are often closed due to lack of lower-elevation snow). And while the terrain is not fierce, it's respectable, with hundreds of acres of those wide-open California glades to roll through.And yet skiers seem to have forgotten about the place. So, it can appear, has Alterra, which still shuffles skiers out of the base on a 1960 Riblet double chair that is the oldest operating aerial lift in the State of California. The mountain deserves better, and so do Ikon Pass holders, who can fairly expect that the machinery transporting them and their gold-plated pass uphill not predate the founding of the republic. That Alterra has transformed Deer Valley, Steamboat, and Palisades Tahoe with hundreds of millions of dollars of megalifts and terrain expansions over the past five years only makes the lingering presence of June's claptrap workhorse all the more puzzling.So in Mammoth and June we package both sides of the great contradiction of corporate ski area ownership: that whoever ends up with the mountain is simultaneously responsible for both its future and its past. Mammoth, fast and busy and modern, must retain the spirit of its restless founder. June, ornamented in quaint museum-piece machinery while charging $189 for a peak-day lift ticket, must justify its Ikon Pass membership by doing something other than saying “Yeah I'm here with Mammoth.” Has one changed too much, and the other not enough? Or can Alterra hit the Alta Goldilocks of fast lifts and big passes with throwback bonhomie undented?Why you should ski Mammoth and JuneIf you live in Southern California, go ahead and skip this section, because of course you've already skied Mammoth a thousand times, and so has everyone you know, and it will shock you to learn that there is anyone, anywhere, who has never skied this human wildlife park.But for anyone who's not in Southern California, Mammoth is remote and inconvenient. It is among the least-accessible big mountains in the country. It lacks the interstate adjacency of Tahoe, the Wasatch, and Colorado; the modernized airports funneling skiers into Big Sky and Jackson and Sun Valley (though this is changing); the cultural cachet that overcomes backwater addresses for Aspen and Telluride. Going to Mammoth, for anyone who can't point north on 395, just doesn't seem worth the hassle.It is worth the hassle. The raw statistical profile validates this. Big vert, big acreage, big snows, and big lift networks always justify the journey, even if Mammoth's remoteness fails to translate to emptiness in the way it does at, say, Taos or Revelstoke. But there is something to being Not Tahoe, a Sierra Nevada monster throwing off its own gravity rather than orbiting a mother lake with a dozen equals. Lacking the proximity to leave some things to more capable competitors, the way Tahoe resorts cede parks to Boreal or Northstar, or radness to Palisades and Kirkwood, Mammoth is compelled to offer an EveryBro mix of parks and cliffs and groomers and trees and bumps. It's a motley, magnificent scene, singular and electric, the sort of place that makes all realms beyond feel like a mirage.Mammoth does have one satellite, of course, and June Mountain fills the mothership's families-with-kids gap. Unlike Mammoth, June lets you use the carpet without an instructor. Kids 12 and under ski free. June is less crowded, less vodka-Red Bull, less California. And while the dated lifts can puzzle the Ikon tote-bagger who's last seven trips were through the detachable kingdoms of Utah and Colorado, there is a certain thrill to riding a chairlift that tugged its first passengers uphill during the Eisenhower administration.Podcast NotesOn Mammoth's masterplanOn Alterra pumping “a ton of money into its mountains”Tripling the size of Deer Valley. A massive terrain expansion and transformative infill gondola at Steamboat. The fusing of Palisades Tahoe's two sides to create America's second-largest interconnected ski area. New six-packs at Big Bear, Mammoth, Winter Park, and Solitude. Alterra is not messing around, as the Vail-Slayer continues to add mountains, add partners, and transform its portfolio of once-tired giants into dazzling modern megaresorts with billions in investment.On D-Line lifts “floating over the horizon”I mean just look at these things (Loon's Kancamagus eight on opening day, December 10, 2021 – video by Stuart Winchester):On severe accidents on Yan detachablesIn 2023, I wrote about Yan's detachable lift hellstorm:Cohee referenced a conversation he'd had with “Yan Kunczynski,” saying that, “obviously he had his issues.” If it's not obvious to the listener, here's what he was talking about: Kuncyznski founded Yan chairlifts in 1965. They were sound lifts, and the company built hundreds, many of which are still in operation today. However. Yan's high-speed lifts turned out to be death traps. Two people died in a 1985 accident at Keystone. A 9-year-old died in a 1993 accident at Sierra-at-Tahoe (then known as Sierra Ski Ranch). Two more died at Whistler in 1995. This is why all three detachable quads at Sierra-at-Tahoe date to 1996 – the mountain ripped out all three Yan machines following the accident, even though the oldest dated only to 1989.Several Yan high-speed detachables still run, but they have been heavily modified and retrofit. Superstar Express at Killington, for example, was “retrofitted with new Poma grips and sheaves as well as terminal modifications in 1994,” according to Lift Blog. In total, 15 ski areas, including Sun Valley, Schweitzer, Mount Snow, Mammoth, and Palisades Tahoe spent millions upgrading or replacing Yan detachable quads. The company ceased operations in 2001.Since that writing, many of those Yan detachables have met the scrapyard:* Killington will replace Superstar Express with a Doppelmayr six-pack this summer.* Sun Valley removed two of their Yan detachables – Greyhawk and Challenger – in 2023, and replaced them with a single Doppelmayr high-speed six-pack.* Sun Valley then replaced the Seattle Ridge Yan high-speed quad with a Doppelmayr six-pack in 2024.* Mammoth has replaced both of its Yan high-speed quads – Canyon and Broadway – with Doppelmayr D-line six-packs.* Though I didn't mention Sunday River above, it's worth noting that the mountain ripped out its Barker Yan detachable quad in 2023 for a D-Line Doppelmayr bubble sixer.I'm not sure how many of these Yan-detach jalopies remain. Sun Valley still runs four; June, two; and Schweitzer, Mount Snow, and Killington one apiece. There are probably others.On Mammoth's aging lift fleetMammoth's lift system is widely considered one of the best designed anywhere, and I have no doubt that it's well cared for. Still, it is a garage filled with as many classic cars as sparkling-off-the-assembly-line Aston Martins. Seventeen of the mountain's 24 aerial lifts were constructed before the turn of the century; 10 of those are Yan fixed- grips, the oldest dating to 1969. Per Lift Blog:On Rusty's tribute to Dave McCoyFormer Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory delivered an incredible encomium to Mammoth founder Dave McCoy on this podcast four years ago [18:08]:The audio here is jacked up in 45 different ways. I suppose I can admit now that this was because whatever broke-ass microphone I was using at the time sounded as though it had filtered my audio through a dying air-conditioner. So I had to re-record my questions (I could make out the audio well enough to just repeat what I had said during our actual chat), making the conversation sound like something I had created by going on Open AI and typing “create a podcast where it sounds like I interviewed Rusty Gregory.” Now I probably would have just asked to re-record it, but at the time I just felt lucky to get the interview and so I stapled together this bootleg track that sounds like something Eminem would have sold from the trunk of his Chevy Celebrity in 1994.More good McCoy stuff here and in the videos below:On Mammoth buying Bear and Snow SummitRusty also broke down Mammoth's acquisition of Bear Mountain and Snow Summit in that pod, at the 29:18 mark.On Mammoth super parksWhen I was a kid watching the Road Runner dominate Wile E. Coyote in zip-fall-splat canyon hijinks, I assumed it was the fanciful product of some lunatic's imagination. But now I understand that the whole serial was just an animation of Mammoth Superparks:I mean can you tell the difference?I'm admittedly impressed with the coyote's standing turnaround technique with the roller skis.On Pico beside KillingtonThe Pico-Killington dilemma echoes that of June-Mammoth, in which an otherwise good mountain looks like a less-good mountain because it sits next door to a really great mountain. As I wrote in 2023:Pico is funny. If it were anywhere else other than exactly next door to the largest ski area in New England, Pico might be a major ski area. Its 468 acres would make it the largest ski area in New Hampshire. A 2,000-foot vertical drop is impressive anywhere. The mountain has two high-speed lifts. And, by the way, knockout terrain. There is only one place in the Killington complex where you can run 2,000 vertical feet of steep terrain: Pico.On the old funitel at JuneCompounding the weirdness of J1's continued existence is the fact that, from 1986 to '96, a 20-passenger funitels ran on a parallel line:Clark explains why June removed this lift in the podcast.On kids under 12 skiing free at JuneThis is pretty amazing – per June's website:The free June Mountain Kids Season Pass gives your children under 12 unlimited access to June Mountain all season long. This replaces day tickets for kids, which are no longer offered. Everyone in your family must have a season pass or lift ticket. Your child's free season pass must be reserved in advance, and picked up in-person at the June Mountain Ticket Office. If your child has a birthday in our system that states they are older than 12 years of age, we will require proof of age to sell you a 12 and under season pass.I clarified with June officials that adults are not required to buy a season pass or lift ticket in order for their children to qualify for the free season pass.While it is unlikely that I will make it to June this winter, I signed my 8-year-old son up for a free season pass just to see how easy it was. It took about 12 seconds (he was already in Alterra's system, saving some time).On Alterra's whiplash Ikon Pass accessAlterra has consistently adjusted Ikon Pass access to meter volume and appease its partner mountains:On Mammoth's mammoth snowfallsMammoth's annual snowfalls tend to mirror the boom-bust cycles of Tahoe, with big winters burying the Statue of Liberty (715 inches at the base over the 2022-23 winter), and others underperforming the Catskills (94 inches in the winter of 1976-77). Here are the mountain's official year-by-year and month-by-month tallies. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe
We sit down with Adam Lee, the author of Dungeons & Dragons Worlds & Realms: Adventures from Greyhawk to Faerûn and Beyond which you can buy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and even Bed Bath & Beyond? Regardless, the book is an ABSOLUTE must have for any D&D fans, especially if you're as obsessed with lore as you seem to be reading the episode notes for this show. We also talk some of his other projects including Obojima Tales From The Tall Grass: A 5E Campaign Setting, which you can pre-order HERE DnD Lorecast Discord | DnD Lorecast swag First Look at Lore TA Shaun's next book, the first ever Solomon Kane novel Unearthed Arcana - Forgotten Realms Subclasses Free Digital DnDBeyond adventure Equip your own adventures: D&D 5th Edition Starter Set: https://amzn.to/2WgZX6O D&D 5th Edition Players Handbook: https://amzn.to/3iRtcH4 D&D 5th Ed Monster's Manual: https://amzn.to/2Eeh8Qp 38 Fantasy Miniatures: https://amzn.to/34kh6kX Awesome Looking Dice Sets: https://amzn.to/3aHFwpM Links: Lore TA Shaun's second novel, The Dissonance, is out NOW Pantheon/PRH! Buy it ANYWHERE books are sold! And pick up Shaun's Conan the Barbarian ebook short story, also available now! Fandom University - Sergio and Shaun's OTHER nerdy podcast! Multi-episodes arcs deep-diving into various nerdy topics Check out all the socials right here: https://linktr.ee/dndlorecast And send us a note! Email us at dndlorecast@gmail.com ROBOTSRADIO.net - Smart Shows for Interesting People. Explore all the awesome shows on the network. Robots Radio Network Discord: discord.gg/JXKfVhM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We sit down with Adam Lee, the author of Dungeons & Dragons Worlds & Realms: Adventures from Greyhawk to Faerûn and Beyond which you can buy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and even Bed Bath & Beyond? Regardless, the book is an ABSOLUTE must have for any D&D fans, especially if you're as obsessed with lore as you seem to be reading the episode notes for this show. We also talk some of his other projects including Obojima Tales From The Tall Grass: A 5E Campaign Setting, which you can pre-order HERE DnD Lorecast Discord | DnD Lorecast swag First Look at Lore TA Shaun's next book, the first ever Solomon Kane novel Unearthed Arcana - Forgotten Realms Subclasses Free Digital DnDBeyond adventure Equip your own adventures: D&D 5th Edition Starter Set: https://amzn.to/2WgZX6O D&D 5th Edition Players Handbook: https://amzn.to/3iRtcH4 D&D 5th Ed Monster's Manual: https://amzn.to/2Eeh8Qp 38 Fantasy Miniatures: https://amzn.to/34kh6kX Awesome Looking Dice Sets: https://amzn.to/3aHFwpM Links: Lore TA Shaun's second novel, The Dissonance, is out NOW Pantheon/PRH! Buy it ANYWHERE books are sold! And pick up Shaun's Conan the Barbarian ebook short story, also available now! Fandom University - Sergio and Shaun's OTHER nerdy podcast! Multi-episodes arcs deep-diving into various nerdy topics Check out all the socials right here: https://linktr.ee/dndlorecast And send us a note! Email us at dndlorecast@gmail.com ROBOTSRADIO.net - Smart Shows for Interesting People. Explore all the awesome shows on the network. Robots Radio Network Discord: discord.gg/JXKfVhM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ken recaps his group's second session using the D&D 2024 rules, with specific looks at Blade Ward (spiffy spell, won't save you from critical) and Mastery (a character ability that unlocks special characteristics of weapons). Chapters 0:00 – Welcome to Greyhawk '761:10 – The Burrow Boys Arrive: Ogres, Halflings, and a Goliath3:20 – Trickery and […] The post Enemy Mine – Greyhawk '76 (Ep. 6) appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
John and Jamie talk about the latest trade show Jamie is hauling goodies from and how Diamond Distributing's bankruptcy may hurt many FLGS.
We kick off 2025 with a CHONKER of an episode. Join The Loremaster as well as the guys from Tabletop Journeys as they yap abut the history of Greyhawk! DnD Lorecast Discord | DnD Lorecast swag First Look at Lore TA Shaun's next book, the first ever Solomon Kane novel Unearth Arcana - The Artificer Homebrew Corner: Greyhawk Campaign Guide Equip your own adventures: D&D 5th Edition Starter Set: https://amzn.to/2WgZX6O D&D 5th Edition Players Handbook: https://amzn.to/3iRtcH4 D&D 5th Ed Monster's Manual: https://amzn.to/2Eeh8Qp 38 Fantasy Miniatures: https://amzn.to/34kh6kX Awesome Looking Dice Sets: https://amzn.to/3aHFwpM Links: Lore TA Shaun's second novel, The Dissonance, is out NOW Pantheon/PRH! Buy it ANYWHERE books are sold! And pick up Shaun's Conan the Barbarian ebook short story, also available now! Fandom University - Sergio and Shaun's OTHER nerdy podcast! Multi-episodes arcs deep-diving into various nerdy topics Check out all the socials right here: https://linktr.ee/dndlorecast And send us a note! Email us at dndlorecast@gmail.com ROBOTSRADIO.net - Smart Shows for Interesting People. Explore all the awesome shows on the network. Robots Radio Network Discord: discord.gg/JXKfVhM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We kick off 2025 with a CHONKER of an episode. Join The Loremaster as well as the guys from Tabletop Journeys as they yap abut the history of Greyhawk! DnD Lorecast Discord | DnD Lorecast swag First Look at Lore TA Shaun's next book, the first ever Solomon Kane novel Unearth Arcana - The Artificer Homebrew Corner: Greyhawk Campaign Guide Equip your own adventures: D&D 5th Edition Starter Set: https://amzn.to/2WgZX6O D&D 5th Edition Players Handbook: https://amzn.to/3iRtcH4 D&D 5th Ed Monster's Manual: https://amzn.to/2Eeh8Qp 38 Fantasy Miniatures: https://amzn.to/34kh6kX Awesome Looking Dice Sets: https://amzn.to/3aHFwpM Links: Lore TA Shaun's second novel, The Dissonance, is out NOW Pantheon/PRH! Buy it ANYWHERE books are sold! And pick up Shaun's Conan the Barbarian ebook short story, also available now! Fandom University - Sergio and Shaun's OTHER nerdy podcast! Multi-episodes arcs deep-diving into various nerdy topics Check out all the socials right here: https://linktr.ee/dndlorecast And send us a note! Email us at dndlorecast@gmail.com ROBOTSRADIO.net - Smart Shows for Interesting People. Explore all the awesome shows on the network. Robots Radio Network Discord: discord.gg/JXKfVhM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ken rants about the new and improved Blade Ward cantrip. in Dungeons & Dragons 2024. Chapters 0:00 Intro – Welcome to Greyhawk '760:15 Why I Hate Blade Ward1:10 Blade Ward: 2014 vs. 20242:00 The Action Economy Problem2:30 Final Thoughts & Playtesting3:00 Outro – Like & Subscribe Listen to the Video Watch the Episode Watch “I […] The post I Hate Blade Ward – Greyhawk '76 (Ep. 5) appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
On this episode of Greyhawk '76, Ken talks about the essential books for running a World of Greyhawk campaign, including the new Dungeon Master's Guide (2024), the World of Greyhawk boxed set (1983) and the Expedition to the The Ruins of Greyhawk (2007). Chapters 0:00 Introduction1:00 Greyhawk ‘76 Campaign Kickoff2:30 Reviewing the 2024 Dungeon Master's […] The post Build a Greyhawk Library – Greyhawk '76 (Ep. 3) appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
Ken talks about lessons learned during his first Dungeons & Dragons 2024 adventure, “The Lost Coins of Cousin Ernest”, including: Chapters 0:00 Intro0:35 Setting the Scene: The Treasure Mine1:50 Rival Factions: Fairheights vs. Witherwinns3:10 Water Weird Ambush4:20 Rogue Abilities Shine5:15 Hand-Drawn Maps and Retro Vibes6:30 Lessons Learned: Rules and Mechanics7:45 Blade Ward: Overpowered or Balanced?8:30 […] The post Our First D&D 2024 Adventure – Greyhawk '76 (Ep. 4) appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
Meet the adventurers taking center stage in Ken's Greyhawk '76 test drive campaign for Dungeons & Dragons 2024! Listen to the Episode Watch the Episode Watch “Meet the Party – D&D 2024 (Ep. 2)” on YouTube Show Notes In the second episode of Greyhawk '76, Ken talks about the player characters the campaign is using […] The post Meet the Party – D&D 2024 (Ep. 2) appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
Welcome to Greyhawk '76, a test drive campaign for Dungeons & Dragons 2024! (aka D&D 5.5). This episode introduces the test drive, what it hopes to accomplish, and explains where the campaign gets its name from (hint: it takes place in the Common Year 576). Chapter List 0:00 Intro to Greyhawk '760:45 The Legacy of […] The post Test Driving the New D&D – D&D 2024 (Ep. 1) appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
Matt and Rob return to Greyhawk to talk about the setting guide included in the new 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, discuss what's there, and what you can use for your games.
One of the last orange spined books produced for AD&D, this manual delivered a variety of lore from the World of Greyhawk. Join us as we delve deep in the last days of AD&D in it's original setting. #TTRPG #DnD #AD&D #Greyhawk --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thedicearescreaming/support
In this episode, we brainstorm ways to launch your campaign without resorting to “they meet in a bar”. Providing fodder and inspiration is Greyhawk '76, Ken's upcoming D&D 2024 test drive campaign, and David's just launched open table ShadowDark campaign. We talk about how to engage players through immediate conflict, emphasizing choice, and balancing proactive […] The post Ignite Your Next D&D Campaign – Campaigns & Coffee appeared first on Lair Of Secrets.
Get ready, adventurers—this week on the RPGbot.podcast, we're cracking open the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide (aka “D&D 5.5: Now with Extra Crunch!”) and going deep! From traps to revamped monster mechanics, and maybe a bit too much love for Lesser Restoration, we're tackling it all. Is Greyhawk back? Are magic item prices going up? Will combat ever stop feeling like wizarding math homework? Join us for a wild ride through dungeons, dragons, and dungeon dragons. Listen in, laugh along, and maybe—just maybe—take that leap into a whole new RPG system! Summary In this raucous rollercoaster of an episode, the RPGbot crew dives headfirst into the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, or as they affectionately dub it, "D&D 5.5: Now with Extra Crunch!" With laughter and some mildly controlled frustration, they tackle everything from trap hazards to reworked monster mechanics, sprinkling in a fair share of "why, Wizards, why?" moments. From marveling at the rebalanced Tomb of Horrors (a little less horror, a lot more trap insurance) to dissecting the Greyhawk revival as a "setting comeback nobody asked for," the hosts leave no stone unturned. There's something for everyone in this episode—whether you're curious about new magic item pricing (hint: dragons might actually start haggling) or just hoping to understand why balancing a combat encounter suddenly feels like filing taxes. Plus, with epic riffs on spells like Lesser Restoration and a side quest into safety tools, they manage to skewer and celebrate D&D's evolution all at once. Will they convince you to stick with the game, or inspire a brave leap into the weird and wonderful world of other RPGs? Tune in for laughs, hot takes, and a dungeon's worth of insights! Links 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide (affiliate link) RPGBOT.Podcast Episodes 2024 PLAYER'S HANDBOOK: The RPGBOT.Review Takeaways The new DMG focuses on accessibility, especially for newcomers. With low initial expectations, the 2024 DMG brought some pleasant surprises. Chapter 1 offers a beginner-friendly foundation for new Dungeon Masters. Safety tools are included but cleverly rebranded to sidestep backlash. The hosts are skeptical about the new edition's marketing approach. They explore player dynamics and how different player types impact game flow. Dungeon design has evolved to meet changing player expectations. Tomb of Horrors is called out for being a bit... unforgiving in design. Fun remains the top priority in gameplay, according to the hosts. Community reactions to safety tools reveal a split in player opinions. For better or worse, "a bag of rats" won't be helping in combat anymore. The DM's toolbox is met with mixed reviews from the crew. Hazards feel softened—danger with a little less bite. Traps aren't the deadly trials they once were. Player feedback has clearly shaped some rule updates. Monster creation options are more limited now. New mob-handling rules make things simpler for DMs. Settlements now come with additional mechanics and tools. Creating adventures and campaigns received some welcome enhancements. Options for both DMs and players are heavily emphasized. Encounters now include more than just combat—social and exploration play are on equal footing. Greyhawk is used as an example setting, though not the new default. Combat encounter balancing is streamlined. Magic item pricing updates feel half-baked. Crafting magic items now needs proficiency in Arcana and tools. New crafting rules are solid but don't quite rival Pathfinder 2. Lore updates in the DMG are minimal, with no major revelations. The hosts feel disappointed with the limited magic item pricing details. Low-level characters can create legendary items if they have enough gold—a fun twist! Diseases and magical contagions are introduced but feel underwhelming. Lesser Restoration raises questions on the relevance of disease mechanics. The 2024 DMG has its highs and lows, with various improvements and setbacks. Simplified mechanics divide the community's reception. A general apathy toward D&D's current state seems prevalent. The hosts encourage exploring other RPG systems for a fresh experience. Players are urged to try new games to discover what truly excites them. Corporate influence in game development worries some players. The hosts hope for more meaningful and engaging game mechanics. Engaging with new systems could bring a renewed love for tabletop gaming. The broader D&D community seems to share in the hosts' mixed feelings. If you enjoy the show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. It's a quick, free way to support the podcast, and helps us reach new listeners. If you love the show, consider joining us on Patreon, where backers at the $5 and above tiers get ad free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT.Podcast, can chat directly to members of the RPGBOT team and community on the RPGBOT.Discord, and can join us for live-streamed recordings. Support us on Amazon.com when you purchase products recommended in the show at the following link: https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ How to Find Us: In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net Tyler Kamstra Twitter: @RPGBOTDOTNET Facebook: rpgbotbotdotnet Bluesky:rpgbot.bsky.social Ash Ely Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games Twitter: @GravenAshes YouTube@ashravenmedia Randall James @JackAmateur Amateurjack.com Producer Dan @Lzr_illuminati
Get ready, adventurers—this week on the RPGbot.podcast, we're cracking open the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide (aka “D&D 5.5: Now with Extra Crunch!”) and going deep! From traps to revamped monster mechanics, and maybe a bit too much love for Lesser Restoration, we're tackling it all. Is Greyhawk back? Are magic item prices going up? Will combat ever stop feeling like wizarding math homework? Join us for a wild ride through dungeons, dragons, and dungeon dragons. Listen in, laugh along, and maybe—just maybe—take that leap into a whole new RPG system! Summary In this raucous rollercoaster of an episode, the RPGbot crew dives headfirst into the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, or as they affectionately dub it, "D&D 5.5: Now with Extra Crunch!" With laughter and some mildly controlled frustration, they tackle everything from trap hazards to reworked monster mechanics, sprinkling in a fair share of "why, Wizards, why?" moments. From marveling at the rebalanced Tomb of Horrors (a little less horror, a lot more trap insurance) to dissecting the Greyhawk revival as a "setting comeback nobody asked for," the hosts leave no stone unturned. There's something for everyone in this episode—whether you're curious about new magic item pricing (hint: dragons might actually start haggling) or just hoping to understand why balancing a combat encounter suddenly feels like filing taxes. Plus, with epic riffs on spells like Lesser Restoration and a side quest into safety tools, they manage to skewer and celebrate D&D's evolution all at once. Will they convince you to stick with the game, or inspire a brave leap into the weird and wonderful world of other RPGs? Tune in for laughs, hot takes, and a dungeon's worth of insights! Links 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide (affiliate link) RPGBOT.Podcast Episodes 2024 PLAYER'S HANDBOOK: The RPGBOT.Review Takeaways The new DMG focuses on accessibility, especially for newcomers. With low initial expectations, the 2024 DMG brought some pleasant surprises. Chapter 1 offers a beginner-friendly foundation for new Dungeon Masters. Safety tools are included but cleverly rebranded to sidestep backlash. The hosts are skeptical about the new edition's marketing approach. They explore player dynamics and how different player types impact game flow. Dungeon design has evolved to meet changing player expectations. Tomb of Horrors is called out for being a bit... unforgiving in design. Fun remains the top priority in gameplay, according to the hosts. Community reactions to safety tools reveal a split in player opinions. For better or worse, "a bag of rats" won't be helping in combat anymore. The DM's toolbox is met with mixed reviews from the crew. Hazards feel softened—danger with a little less bite. Traps aren't the deadly trials they once were. Player feedback has clearly shaped some rule updates. Monster creation options are more limited now. New mob-handling rules make things simpler for DMs. Settlements now come with additional mechanics and tools. Creating adventures and campaigns received some welcome enhancements. Options for both DMs and players are heavily emphasized. Encounters now include more than just combat—social and exploration play are on equal footing. Greyhawk is used as an example setting, though not the new default. Combat encounter balancing is streamlined. Magic item pricing updates feel half-baked. Crafting magic items now needs proficiency in Arcana and tools. New crafting rules are solid but don't quite rival Pathfinder 2. Lore updates in the DMG are minimal, with no major revelations. The hosts feel disappointed with the limited magic item pricing details. Low-level characters can create legendary items if they have enough gold—a fun twist! Diseases and magical contagions are introduced but feel underwhelming. Lesser Restoration raises questions on the relevance of disease mechanics. The 2024 DMG has its highs and lows, with various improvements and setbacks. Simplified mechanics divide the community's reception. A general apathy toward D&D's current state seems prevalent. The hosts encourage exploring other RPG systems for a fresh experience. Players are urged to try new games to discover what truly excites them. Corporate influence in game development worries some players. The hosts hope for more meaningful and engaging game mechanics. Engaging with new systems could bring a renewed love for tabletop gaming. The broader D&D community seems to share in the hosts' mixed feelings. If you enjoy the show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. It's a quick, free way to support the podcast, and helps us reach new listeners. If you love the show, consider joining us on Patreon, where backers at the $5 and above tiers get ad free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT.Podcast, can chat directly to members of the RPGBOT team and community on the RPGBOT.Discord, and can join us for live-streamed recordings. Support us on Amazon.com when you purchase products recommended in the show at the following link: https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ How to Find Us: In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net Tyler Kamstra Twitter: @RPGBOTDOTNET Facebook: rpgbotbotdotnet Bluesky:rpgbot.bsky.social Ash Ely Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games Twitter: @GravenAshes YouTube@ashravenmedia Randall James @JackAmateur Amateurjack.com Producer Dan @Lzr_illuminati
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"
LIVE from Gamehole Con, the Eldritch Lorecast peaks inside the D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide with LaTia Jacquise. It's a whole Dungeon Master toolbox filled with chase rules, the entire Greyhawk setting, and... doors? Back the Grim Hollow Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ghostfiregaming/grim-hollow?ref=5z40qv Email your questions to podcast@ghostfiregaming.com Ben: @TheBenByrne Joe: @_Joe_Raso LaTia: @latiajacquise Shawn: @shawnmerwin Editor: @ZsDante Topics: 00:00 - Intro 01:03 - Gamehole Con 08:12 - 2024 DMG 16:04 - Greyhawk setting 21:38 - D&D movie sequel? 27:14 - Losing animal companions 35:44 - Hobby vs profession 46:37 - Player red flags
Handy gaming tools: A useful DMG? Early access and bonus content on Patreon Subscribe to our monthly gaming newsletter Join the Discord We collected a bunch of news about the upcoming 2024 Dungeon Masters' Guide release. Word on the street is that this version of the DMG is going to be a much more useful tool than previous iterations from editions past. We talk about the return of Greyhawk, adventure-writing coaching, and bastions/strongholds. Honestly, if this version of the DMG is even half as useful as it seems, this is a huge win for both new and experienced GMs. Also, please donate to save the clock tower. Check us out on Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/goblinsgrowlers) for additional Deep Dive videos along with early access to the video and audio of the podcast. And don't forget: Telephone, Telegraph, Tell a Friend about the Goblins and Growlers Podcast. Links: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1825-whats-new-in-the-2024-dungeon-masters-guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWNT9N3cE2U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT0e1gNDgE4 LISTEN, RATE, AND SUBSCRIBE! If you like the show, please tell a friend about it. And if you want to tell more people, then please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and/or your podcatcher of choice. You can find and/or support us at all the places below: https://patreon.com/goblinsgrowlers https://facebook.com/GoblinsAndGrowlers https://goblinsandgrowlers.podbean.com (and basically any other podcatcher) https://quidproroll.podbean.com (our sister podcast, the best narrative play) The Goblins and Growlers Podcast is produced by Goblins and Growlers, a Richmond, Virginia-based tabletop-roleplaying game content and events company dedicated to inclusivity through TTRPGs.
This week, Morrus, PJ, and Jessica talk about all the week's tabletop RPG news including more DMG previews, Discworld RPG breaks $1 million, Chris Perks no longer production lead, and more! -------------------- News Discworld RPG Kickstarternow over $1 million https://www.enworld.org/threads/discworlds-headed-for-a-million-dollars.707337/ Discworld RPG live stream from Modiphius https://www.enworld.org/threads/watch-this-discworld-livestream-game-from-modiphius.707286/ Vaesen travels to Prague and Stockholm in new expansions https://www.enworld.org/threads/vaesen-travels-to-prague-and-stockholm-in-new-expansions.707365/ Call of Cthulhu in a Prison https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/call-of-cthulhu-pentridge-prison-tours-tickets-1023143699347 Steve Jackson Games releasing Fighting Fantasy gamebooks in the US https://www.enworld.org/threads/fighting-fantasy-gamebooks-coming-to-america-via-steve-jackson-games.707386/ 2024 DMG will be Chris Perkins's last book as Project Lead https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-2024-dungeon-masters-guide-is-chris-perkins-last-book-as-product-lead.707360/ Wyrd Science https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/499186/wyrd-science-vol-1-issues-1-6-bundle-bundle?affiliate_id=36142 Monstrous Menagerie II introduction https://www.enworld.org/threads/check-out-monstrous-menagerie-ii%E2%80%99s-introduction.707356/ Slayer's Survival Kit and Hunter's Journal on Backerkit https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/evil-hat/slayers-survival-kit-and-hunter-s-journal A deep dive into the 2024 Player's Handbook https://www.enworld.org/threads/a-deep-dive-into-the-2024-d-d-players-handbook.707382/ A sneak peek at the 2024 Dungeon Masters' Guide https://www.enworld.org/threads/a-sneak-peek-of-the-2024-d-d-dungeon-masters-guide.707331/ Five Big Takeaways from the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide https://www.enworld.org/threads/five-big-takeaways-from-the-2024-dungeon-masters-guide.707318/ Dungeons & Dragons has done away with the Adventuring Day https://www.enworld.org/threads/dungeons-dragons-has-done-away-with-the-adventuring-day.707237/ Grewhawk now an option for DMs Guild material https://www.enworld.org/threads/you-can-now-make-greyhawk-stuff-on-dms-guild.707335/ Dungeons & Dragons may not come back to Greyhawk after the 2024 DMG https://www.enworld.org/threads/dungeons-dragons-may-not-come-back-to-greyhawk-after-2024-dungeon-masters-guide.707276/ -------------------- Please support us on Patreon at http://patreon.com/morrus Don't forget to join the Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1033145023517295/ and join us on Discord at https://discord.gg/VAuxX8M Ask your Listener Question on Twitter, email morruspodcast@gmail.com, or contact us on TikTok at TikTok -------------------- Hosts: Russ “Morrus” Morrissey, PJ Coffey, and Jessica Hancock Editing and post-production: Darryl Mott Theme Song: Steve Arnott Malach the Maleficent played by Darren Morrissey Check out all the media content from EN World at http://enliverpg.com
What's Chris Perkins' role in Wizards of the Coast and D&D any more? Ars Magica is doing great things as an Open License RPG and let's look at some Halloween games! About Audio EXP Audio EXP is Geek Native's highlights podcast. Each week, there's a recap of some favourite or exciting RPG and geeky news, conventions, interviews, and thought pieces. The average length of the podcast is just over 10 minutes long. You will find a transcript of this week's podcast and links to the stories mentioned here: https://www.geeknative.com/169176/audio-exp-podcast-258-zombie-greyhawk/
"I said, 'Cast Fireball!'!" GMs: Petey and Hollywood Elwita, the Dwarveness Fighter: PeteA Murgh, the Cleric: Medicine Man Dread Delgath, the Magic-User: Duck Blodgett, the Thief: Evil Jack Karraway, the Cleric: Dave Kayen Telva, the Fighter/Magic-User: Ty
Send us a Text Message.Ever wondered how a passion for golf can evolve into leading a thriving tour? Discover the journey of Donnie Thomas from the Jacksonville tour, whose leadership and teamwork have sparked incredible success. In an episode filled with heartfelt stories and valuable insights, we also celebrate the remarkable achievements of players like Lance Lacombe, Joe Jaspers, and Chad Frank, whose record-breaking scores set the bar high for competitive golf. Our travel plans are shaping up, and we're thrilled about the upcoming regional tournaments and the much-anticipated trips to TPC Scottsdale and French Lick Resort, promising a blend of camaraderie and fierce competition.Our conversation spans the fast-paced end of August, reflecting on the Kiawah Island Regional tournament and the unexpected, yet insightful, data from Dennis. For those balancing careers and passions, we highlight a fascinating story of managing a law enforcement career while directing a tour, showcasing the dedication and camaraderie within our golfing community. The impact of live scoring on the tour is a game-changer, and we delve into the essential role of behind-the-scenes contributors who ensure fair play and integrity across different regions.From discussing rules around alignment aids to celebrating record-breaking achievements, this episode covers it all. Hear about the unforgettable experiences at Greyhawk and TPC, including a memorable sandstorm encounter. We also provide updates on the shirt contest, aiming to make it more inclusive and exciting for everyone involved. As we gear up for our trips to TPC Scottsdale and French Lick Resort, the friendship and competitive spirit of our golfing community take center stage, promising an episode filled with engaging stories and valuable insights for every golf enthusiast. Podcast HomepageGolfweek Amateur TourSenior Amateur TourFacebookYouTube#GWPodcastshirtChallengeJ Butler GolfMeridian PuttersJohn Robinson (JR) Contact InformationCell - (843) 422-3767E-Mail - hiltonheadjr@aol.com
(00:00) Show Intro(08:20) Mission Tie Ins(12:50) Greyhawk is back!(17:20) Lewanika’s Favorite Adventure?(23:35) Quick Hits(30:40) Closing Looking for ways to support the show? Check out our Linktree for Social Media Accounts,...
(Reposted from D&D Journey of the Fifth Edition) It is that time again! #RPGADAY2024! We are huge long time fans of RPGaDAY2024 and this is its 11th year! Keeping it Classic! Its going to be a great month! We will be doing the normal prompt along with the alternate options on both the dnd journey of the fifth edition podcast as well as I'm going to do the Alt list on the creative play and podcast network podcast just to change things up some ;) Check out where RPGADAY started at https://www.autocratik.com/ Lost Mine of Phandelver, and the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set The Keep on the Borderlands (Dungeons & Dragons Module B2) Heres a copy of the 25th anniversary version I found: Keep on the Borderlands: Greyhawk Adventures (Greyhawk Classics) https://amzn.to/3SYVAL2 "Keep on the Borderlands" was one of the very first D&D adventures, so seasoned gamers remember this product from their early days, and newer gamers will recognize it from the 25th anniversary rerelease.Greyhawk novels are based on the classic D&D modules from this world and provide readers with the same kind of feeling that they get playing classic D&D modules. Our LinksCreative play and podcast creativeplayandpodcastnetwork.podbean.com Facebook facebook.com/gaming/CreativePlayandPodcastNetworkD&DJourneyoftheFifthedition dndjourneyofthefifthedition.podbean.com Twittertwitter.com/CreativePPNetTwitchtwitch.tv/creativeplayandpodcast YouTube Channel details http://www.youtube.com/@creativeplayandpodcastnetw5402 Please support our shows at www.patreon.com/cppn and even join us in some games! Also keep an eye at the new things on our now affiliated Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/creativeplayandpodcast Also follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CreativePlayandPodcastNetwork Would you be interested if we hosted D&D and Edge of Empire games on Roll20 for you to join? Email us at Creativeplaypodcastnet@Gmail.com
It is that time again! #RPGADAY2024! We are huge long time fans of RPGaDAY2024 and this is its 11th year! Keeping it Classic! Its going to be a great month! We will be doing the normal prompt along with the alternate options on both the dnd journey of the fifth edition podcast as well as I'm going to do the Alt list on the creative play and podcast network podcast just to change things up some ;) Check out where RPGADAY started at https://www.autocratik.com/ Lost Mine of Phandelver, and the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set The Keep on the Borderlands (Dungeons & Dragons Module B2) Heres a copy of the 25th anniversary version I found: Keep on the Borderlands: Greyhawk Adventures (Greyhawk Classics) https://amzn.to/3SYVAL2 "Keep on the Borderlands" was one of the very first D&D adventures, so seasoned gamers remember this product from their early days, and newer gamers will recognize it from the 25th anniversary rerelease.Greyhawk novels are based on the classic D&D modules from this world and provide readers with the same kind of feeling that they get playing classic D&D modules. Our LinksCreative play and podcast creativeplayandpodcastnetwork.podbean.com Facebook facebook.com/gaming/CreativePlayandPodcastNetworkD&DJourneyoftheFifthedition dndjourneyofthefifthedition.podbean.com Twittertwitter.com/CreativePPNetTwitchtwitch.tv/creativeplayandpodcast YouTube Channel details http://www.youtube.com/@creativeplayandpodcastnetw5402 Please support our shows at www.patreon.com/cppn and even join us in some games! Also keep an eye at the new things on our now affiliated Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/creativeplayandpodcast Also follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CreativePlayandPodcastNetwork Would you be interested if we hosted D&D and Edge of Empire games on Roll20 for you to join? Email us at Creativeplaypodcastnet@Gmail.com
Karraway rejoins the party as the party searches the ruined temple for the entrance to the slave pits ... where they come upon a forlorn and broken stranger. GMs: Petey and Hollywood Elwita, the Dwarveness Fighter: PeteA Murgh, the Cleric: Medicine Man Dread Delgath, the Magic-User: Duck Blodgett, the Thief: Evil Jack Karraway, the Cleric: Dave Kayen Telva, the Fighter/Magic-User: Ty
Welcome to episode 296 of MSRcast, with your hosts Cary the Metal Geek and Sean the Metal Pigeon. This episode features special guests Justin and Christian from the Harsh Vocals Podcast. We'll discuss Gojira playing the Olympics, the Hell's Heroes festival, and our favorite new metal releases. We also dive into killer tracks from bands like Anciients, Dream Evil, Vinur, Vale of Pnath, Mega Colossus, Nightmare, Stygian Crown, Greyhawk, and Silent Deep Ocean, and we talk about new singles from Legions of Doom and Majestica. Tune in and keep it metal! Learn more about Harsh Vocals Podcast at: https://harshvocals.com/ Playlist: Anciients - Cloak of the Vast and Black - In The Absence of Wisdom Dream Evil - Chosen Force - Metal Gods Vimur - The Cold Only We Know - The Timeless Everpresent Vale of Pnath - Soul Offering - Between the Worlds of Life and Death Mega Colossus - Fortune & Glory - Showdown Nightmare - Incandescent - Encrypted Stygian Crown - Scourge of the Seven Hills - Funeral For A King Greyhawk - Spellstone - Thunderheart Legions of Doom - All Good things Majestica - A New Beginning Silent Deep Ocean - Her Journey's End (In Memory of Aleah Starbridge) - The Throne of Whispers and Dust Explore the metal universe at msrcast.com, your one-stop hub for all things MSRcast. Immerse yourself in podcast archives, interviews, reviews, and more. Connect with us via msrcast@gmail.com, and stay updated on Twitter @msrcast and @themetalpigeon. Join Cary and Sean on Facebook, and don't forget to like our fan page at http://www.facebook.com/msrcastofficial. Find us on Instagram @msrcast. Spread the metal love – share the show, tweet about it, subscribe on iTunes, and leave a review. Enjoy the metal journey, and Keep It Metal!
I chatted with the mighty GREYHAWK about their new vocalist, new music, touring overseas and more! You can see GREYHAWK LIVE at Loud and Local Fest 2024 - JULY 12 / 13 at CLUB HEKTIC in Lynnwood. Tickets available at loudandlocalfest.net
On this episode we interview WoTC Cartographer Mike Schley and talk about his work and the new map of the Flanaess he made for the new DMG. You can find his website here: https://mikeschley.com/
Catch the show live Saturday Mornings on YouTube!News* [ ] Free RPG Day!* [ ] I'm running Beneath the Well of Brass for DCC.* [ ] Vecna EoR has more art and changes in DnDBeyond compared to the physical book.* [ ] Lots of WotC sponsored videos on youtube featuring stuff from the 2024 books.* [ ] Greyhawk is the new default campaign setting in the DMG 2024.* [ ] 5e backwards compatible with 2024 d&d.* [ ] I think it'll work because 5B works really well with existing 5e classes.* [ ] The Kraken is Coming?* [ ] Ginny Di* [ ] Pointy Hat* [ ] Corkboards & Curiosities* [ ] Dungeon Dudes* [ ] Legal KimchiCrowd Funding* [ ] Caverns of Thracia for 5e and DCC (Backerkit)Design / Writing* [ ] Playtesting with friends! Building simplified characters and a quick dungeon.Home Games* [ ] Between two Cairns, Brad summed up his Forbidden Lands game. I'm having similar thoughts with the system.* [ ] Planegea picks back up on the 30th.* [ ] I want to run Sea of Sands or The Undying Sands with Old-School Essentials.Cool StuffUnique Dice, Metal Dice Roulette Wheel. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jorphdan.substack.com
You never know just who you'll meet in the slave pits of an undercity... GMs: Petey and Hollywood Elwita, the Dwarveness Fighter: PeteA Murgh, the Cleric: Medicine Man Dread Delgath, the Magic-User: Duck Blodgett, the Thief: Evil Jack Karraway, the Cleric: Dave Kayen Telva, the Fighter/Magic-User: Ty
On this episode we look at the work of Robert E. Howard and his influence on Greyhawk.
In this episode we're visited by Joe Bloch, aka Greyhawk Grognard to chat about Greyhawk and his resources.
D&D and RPG news and commentary by Mike Shea of https://slyflourish.com Contents 00:00 Show Start 01:24 D&D & RPG News: Cypher Humble Bundle -- $570 of books for $25 04:31 D&D & RPG News: New Covers and Greyhawk in 2024 D&D Books 11:35 D&D & RPG News: Support Victims of Rio Grande Flooding with this $20 RPG Bundle 12:48 D&D & RPG News: Rob Heinsoo Interview on La Taberna de Rol 15:56 Product Spotlight: Tales of the Labyrinth by Kobold Press 23:15 D&D & RPG News: Tales of the Valiant on Shard Tabletop 36:08 Patreon Spotlight: Myre's End Adventure for Patrons 39:23 Commentary: One Night with Level Up Advanced 5e 56:44 Patreon Question: Three House Rules for Shadowdark RPG Links Cypher Humble Bundle D&D 2024 Cover Reveal D&D 2024 Other News Rio Grande Flood Charity Bundle Rob Heinsoo on La Taberna de Rol Thirteenth Age V2 Kickstarter Guide to the Labyrinth by Kobold Press Tales of the Valiant on Shard Black Flag SRD on Shard Subscribe to the Sly Flourish Newsletter Support Sly Flourish on Patreon Buy Sly Flourish Books:
On this episode we interview Canibaal and discuss his recent Greyhawk works.
This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on April 18. It dropped for free subscribers on April 25. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoPete Korfiatis, General Manager of Bluewood, WashingtonRecorded onApril 4, 2024About BluewoodClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Local investorsLocated in: Dayton, WashingtonYear founded: 1980Pass affiliations:* Indy Pass and Indy+ Pass: 2 days, no blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: Cottonwood Butte, Idaho, 3 hours eastBase elevation: 4,545 feetSummit elevation: 5,670 feetVertical drop: 1,125 feetSkiable Acres: 355Average annual snowfall: 300 inchesTrail count: 24 (30% difficult, 45% intermediate, 25% easy)Lift count: 4 (2 triples, 2 carpets – view Lift Blog's inventory of Bluewood's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himSomeday, if it's not too late, I'm going to track down the old-timers who snowshoed into the wilderness and figured this all out. The American West is filled with crazy little snow pockets, lesser-known mountain ranges spiraling off the vast plateaus. Much of this land falls under the purview of the United States Forest Service. In the decades immediately before and after World War II, the agency established most of our large western ski areas within its 193 million-acre kingdom. That's a lot of land – approximately the size of Texas – and it's not all snowy. Where there is snow, there's not always roads, nor even the realistic possibility of plowing one through. Where there are roads, there aren't always good exposures or fall lines for skiing.So our ski areas ended up where they are because, mostly, those are the best places nature gave us for skiing. Obviously it snows like hell in the Wasatch and the Tetons and the Sierra Nevadas. Anyone with a covered wagon could have told you that. But the Forest Service's map of its leased ski areas is dotted with strange little outposts popping out of what most of us assume to be The Flats:What to make of Brian Head, floating alone in southern Utah? Or Mt. Lemmon, rising over Tucson? Or Ski Apache and Cloudcroft, sunk near the bottom of New Mexico? Or the ski areas bunched and floating over Los Angeles? Or Antelope Butte, hanging out in the Wyoming Bighorns?Somewhere, in some government filing cabinet 34 floors deep in a Washington, D.C. bunker, are hand-annotated topo maps and notebooks left behind by the bureaucrat-explorers who determined that these map dots were the very best for snowsportskiing. And somewhere, buried where I'll probably never find it, is the story of Bluewood.It's one of our more improbable ski centers. Not because it shouldn't be there, but because most of us can't imagine how it could be. Most Washington and Oregon ski areas line up along the Cascades, stacked south to north along the states' western thirds. The snow smashes into these peaks and then stops. Anyone who's driven east over the passes has encountered the Big Brown Endless on the other side. It's surreal, how fast the high alpine falls away.But as Interstate 90 arcs northeast through this rolling country and toward Spokane, it routes most travelers away from the fecund Umatilla National Forest, one of those unexpected islands of peaks and green floating above our American deserts. Here, in this wilderness just to the west of Walla Walla but far from just about everything else, 300 inches of snow stack up in an average winter. And this is where you will find Bluewood.The Umatilla sprawls over two states and 1.4 million acres, and is home to three ski areas (Anthony Lakes and inactive Spouts Springs, both in Oregon, are the other two). Three map dots in the wilderness, random-looking from above, all the final product of years in the field, of hardy folks pushing ever-deeper into the woods to find The Spot. This is the story of one of them.What we talked aboutGrowing up Wenatchee; “the mountains are an addiction”; THE MACHINE at Mammoth; Back-In-The-Day Syndrome; Mammoth's outsized influence on Alterra Mountain Company; how the Ikon Pass strangely benefited Mammoth; the accidental GM; off the grid; Bluewood and southeast Washington's unique little weather pattern; “everybody that knows Bluewood comes for the trees”; why the Forest Service is selling a bunch of Bluewood's trees; massive expansion potential; when your snowline is 50 feet above your base area and you have no snowmaking; the winter with no snow; Skyline Basin and dreams that never happened; ambitious lift-upgrade plans; summer and “trying to eliminate the six-month revenue drought”; “if you take the North American lifts right now, they're only coming out because they're pieces of crap”; potential future chairlifts; Bluewood's owners and their long-term vision; mountaintop lodging potential; whether night skiing could ever happen; power by biomass; the Indy Pass; Southeast Washington ski culture; free buddy tickets with your season pass; Bluewood's season pass reciprocal program; why Bluewood's lift ticket prices are so low; and the absolute killer expense for small ski areas.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewOne of the more useful habits I've developed is attending offseason media events and consumer ski shows, where ski area managers and marketers tend to congregate. The regional gatherings, where mountain booths are stacked side by side like boxes in a cereal aisle, are particularly useful, allowing me to connect with reps from a dozen or more resorts in an hour. Such was the setup at the Snowvana “stoke event” in Portland, Oregon last November, which I attended both to host a panel of ski area general managers and to lay deeper roots in the rabid Pacific Northwest.Two podcasts emerged directly from connections I made that day: my February conversation with Red Mountain CEO Howard Katkov, and this one, with Korfiatis.So that's the easy answer: a lot of these podcasts happen simply because I was finally able to connect with whomever runs the mountain. But there's a certain amount of serendipity at work as well: Bluewood, right now, is on the move.This is a ski area that is slowly emerging from the obscurity I caged it into above. It has big-picture owners, an energetic general manager, a growing nearby population, and megapass membership. True, it also has no snowmaking and outdated, slow chairlifts. But the big, established ski centers to its west are overwhelmed, exhausted, and, with a few exceptions, probably un-expandable. Bluewood could be a big-deal alternative to this mess if they can do what Korfiatis says they want to do.There are a lot of millions standing between vision and reality here. But sometimes crazy s**t happens. And if it goes down at Bluewood, I want to make sure we're sitting right there watching it happen.What I got wrongI said that Mammoth was an independent mountain when Korfiatis arrived there in 2000. This is incorrect. Intrawest owned a majority stake in Mammoth from 1997 to 2006.Why you should ski BluewoodUsually, when casual skiers ask me where they ought to vacation, their wishlist includes someplace that's relatively easy to get to, where they can stay slopeside, where the snow will probably be good [whenever their kids' spring break is], and that is a member of [whatever version of the Epic or Ikon pass they purchased]. I give them a list of places that would not be a surprising list of places to anyone reading this newsletter, always with this qualifier: expect company.I like big destination ski areas. Obviously. I can navigate or navigate around the crowds. And I understand that 24-chairlifts-and-a-sushi-bar is exactly what your contemporary megapass patron is seeking. But if someone were to flip the question around and ask me which ski area characteristics were likely to give them the best ski experience, I'd have a very different answer for them.I'd tell them to seek out a place that's hard to get to, where you find a motel 40 miles away and drive up in the morning. Make it a weekday morning, as far from school breaks as possible. And the further you get from Epkon branding, the farther you'll be from anything resembling a liftline. That's the idea with Bluewood.“Yeah but it's only 1,100 vertical feet.”Yeah but trust me that's plenty when most of your runs are off-piste and you can ski all day without stopping except to ride the lift.“But no one's ever heard of it and they won't be impressed with my Instastory.”You'll live.“But it's not on my Ultimo-Plus Pass.”Lift tickets are like $50. Or $66 on weekends. And it's on the Indy Pass.“But it's such a long drive.”No it isn't. It's just a little bit farther than the busier places that you usually go to. But it's not exactly in Kazakhstan.“Now you're just making things up.”Often, but not that.Podcast NotesOn Bluewood's masterplanHere's the basic map:And the lift inventory wishlist:On Mission Ridge and WenatcheeKorfiatis grew up in Wenatchee, which sits below Mission Ridge. That mountain, coincidentally, is the subject of an already-recorded and soon-to-be-released podcast, but here's the trailmap for this surprisingly large mountain in case you're not familiar with it:On Mission Ridge's expansionAgain, I go deep on this with Mission CEO Josh Jorgensen on our upcoming pod, but here's a look at the ski area's big proposed expansion, which Korfiatis and I discuss a bit on the show:And here's an overhead view:On “The Legend of Dave McCoy”The Dave McCoy that Korfiatis refers to in the pod is the founder of Mammoth Mountain, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 104. Here's a primer/tribute video:Rusty Gregory, who ran Mammoth for decades, talked us through McCoy's legacy in a 2021 Storm Skiing Podcast appearance (18:08):On Kim Clark, Bluewood's last GMIn September 2021, Bluewood GM Kim Clark died suddenly on the mountain of a heart attack. From SAM:Longtime industry leader and Bluewood, Wash., general manager Kim Clark died of an apparent heart attack while working on the mountain Tuesday. He was 65. Clark had been the Bluewood GM since 2014.In a statement sharing the news of Clark's death, Bluewood said, “significant rescue efforts were unsuccessful. Kim passed away doing what he loved, with people he loved, on the mountain he loved.”Clark was an influential leader during his career in the mountain resort industry, much of which was spent at resorts in the Pacific Northwest. He is remembered by his peers as a mentor, a teacher, and a leader with a passion for the industry who cared deeply for the teams he led and the resorts he helped to improve.Prior to becoming GM at Bluewood, Clark led Mt. Ashland, Ore., as its general manager from 2005 to 2014.On the Tri-Cities of WashingtonImagine this: I'm 18 years old and some dude on the lift at Copper Mountain asks me where I'm from. I say “Michigan” and he says “where” and I say, “the Tri-Cities area” and he says “what on earth is that?” And I say “Oh you've never heard of the Tri-Cities?” as though he'd just told me he'd never heard of Paris. And he's like “no, have you ever heard of the Quad Cities?” Which apparently are four cities bunched along the Iowa-Illinois border around Interstate 80 and the Mississippi River.It was my first real-time lesson in hyper-regionalism and how oft-repeated information becomes so ingrained that we assume everyone must share it, like the moon or the wind. The Tri-Cities of Michigan are Bay City, Saginaw, and Midland. But no one who doesn't live there knows this or cares, and so after that chairlift conversation, I started saying that I was from “two hours north of Detroit,” which pretty much every American understands.Anyway imagine my surprise to learn that America had room for a second Tri-Cities, this one in Washington. I asked the robots to tell me about it and this is what they said:The Tri-Cities are three closely linked cities (Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland)[2][3] at the confluence of the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia Rivers in the Columbia Basin of Eastern Washington. The cities border one another, making the Tri-Cities seem like one uninterrupted mid-sized city. The three cities function as the center of the Tri-Cities metropolitan area, which consists of Benton and Franklin counties.[4] The Tri-Cities urban area consists of the city of West Richland, the census-designated places (CDP) of West Pasco, Washington and Finley, as well as the CDP of Burbank, despite the latter being located in Walla Walla County.The official 2016 estimate of the Tri-Cities MSA population is 283,869, a more than 12% increase from 2010. 2016 U.S. MSA estimates show the Tri-Cities population as over 300,000. The combined population of the three principal cities themselves was 220,959 at the 2020 census. As of April 1, 2021, the Washington State Office of Financial Management, Forecasting Division estimates the cities as having a combined population of 224,640.[5]And actually, it turns out that there are tri-cities all over the country. So what the hell do I know? When I moved east to New York in 2002, it took me about five years to figure out what the “Tri-State Area” was. For a long time I thought it must be New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. But it is New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, from which many people commute into NYC daily to work.On Scot Schmidt For those of you who don't know who “that guy” Scot Schmidt is:On the Greyhawk lift at Sun ValleyKorfiatis refers to the “Greyhawk lift” at Sun Valley as an example of a retiring high-speed quad that is unlikely to have a useful second life. He was referring to this lift, which from 1988 until last year ran parallel to the monster Challenger lift:Last summer, Sun Valley replaced both lifts with one Challenger six-pack with a mid-station, and built a new high-speed quad called Flying Squirrel (which replaced a shorter double chair of the same name that met death-by-fire in 2014):On the number of Washington ski areasWashington, while home to several legendary ski areas, does not have nearly as many as its growing, active population needs. Of the state's 17 active ski areas, five operate only surface lifts, and I'm not even certain whether one of them – Badger Mountain – operated this past ski season. Sitzmark also failed to spin its lift. There are really only nine volume-capable ski areas in the state: 49 Degrees North, Crystal, Mission Ridge, Baker, Mt. Spokane, Stevens Pass, Summit, Alpental, and White Pass. Here's an inventory:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing all year long. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 32/100 in 2024, and number 532 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe