WE FINALLY DID IT! We talk about Balance in TTRPGs and why it's such a false goal to aim for. In this episode, you will find a discussion around Balancing your games and encounters filled with arguments and advice on why balance shouldn't be your focal point of designing and how you can use that time way better to create more fun encounters. Our Midroll Music is "Midnight Tale" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0...

Get ready for the 7th of February Attribution: -Our Intro Music was created by Screwdiver, find him on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/2H2bSfkRbeEksjbwMZ2dbX -The Titan Sounds as well as the Magical Built-Up Sound were both created by Eli through their Ko-Fi Commissions: https://aghostofeli.carrd.co/ -(Audio by) Michael Ghelfi Studios https://michaelghelfistudios.com/ Tracks include: -The Forbidden Book -Terror in the Woods --- Send in a voice message:...

Happy New Year DMs and welcome to the first episode of 2024 Today is all about Nils Hot Take from Christmas about Rules Light TTRPGs being worse than Rules Heavy Games for Beginners. But what even makes a System Rules Light or Heavy? That's what we discuss, we weigh the two types of systems and discuss if the distinction has any sort of value to the Space and you as a GM. Our Midroll Music is "Midnight Tale" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS WITH THIS SPECIAL SATIRE EPISODE!! Everyone has different opinions about TTRPGs and in any discussion we will find something to disagree on so let's get some of the most contested points we have made or want to make out there! As always this episode is supposed to be a talkshow about TTRPGs with some great bits of advice for you to use and this episode is no different, yet the lesson today is: "It is okay to disagree and play in your way!" Our Midroll Music is...

We're running a Q&A again!! If you're using Spotify you can instantly use the built-in feature otherwise you can refer to our Social Media channels for a place to drop questions. Often times when we play TTRPGs we don't have time to spend hours outside the game to prepare our world and create deep lore... So why not Worldbuild while we play One-Shots and Campaigns? Not so fast. How does that even work? Should you even do worldbuilding during play? What are other ways to...

Everyone loves it when the GM hands you an old letter from an NPC or gives you a physical puzzle to touch. But what more is there to Props and using them? Handouts and Props are a great addition to playing TTRPGs, but how can we design these handouts to fit our table and needs to evoke immersion, help share information and create a better sense of play. Our Midroll Music is "Midnight Tale" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0...

Character Development is a crucial aspect of playing and enjoying a Tabletop Roleplaying Game. It's what Characters revolve around, yet how do we create moments for it at the table? Let's discuss that today. We feature stories of how development works in our games and give a ton of advice on setting the stage for development and creating characters that are open for development. Our Midroll Music is "Midnight Tale" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By...

Evil Campaigns are a big old fascination of the TTRPG space, but what do they actually mean, and if we need them? We also discuss Character conflict and why Campaigns using a denominator like "Good" or "Evil" might not be that great in the end and why just playing campaigns with strong themes and even better defined characters will still lead to the same outcome just in a more natural better way for storytelling. Our Midroll Music is "Midnight Tale" Kevin MacLeod...

Pets are often a minor thing in TTRPGs and yet everyone wants to have an Owlbear Baby (Thank you Baldurs Gate) or a Dog, Cat, Bird, Snake, Arachnid and so on. We think pets are as stated a minor thing but still believe this is a great topic to talk about since pets can do great things at the table for roleplay and even mechanical reasons, however at the end its really up to you what you do with pets. Our Midroll Music is "Midnight Tale" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under...

A discussion that always makes the rounds in the TTRPG Space is the discussion about Realism and how it can help you or hinder you in play. As you might already guess, we think it's neither and both simultaneously. We discuss what Realism can do for you, how discussions around Realism are sometimes not what they are and how you can use Realism in your games to the degree you want to! Our Midroll Music is "Midnight Tale" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By...

Magic Items are some of the coolest parts of playing D&D and TTRPGs, cool items to give your players an edge over your monsters and villains? Yes please! But what goes into making these good magic items? That is todays topic and we talk about making magic items, what magic items we've created, errors we've made and lessons we learned. We talk about Inspiration and the Creative Process going into items, so you get a great grasp on making even better ones for your games later. Our...

Today we discuss the topic of raising the stakes at your TTRPG tables and dealing out consequences for your Players actions and what's the best way for you to have fun doing it. For us, stakes are mostly the threat of a consequence for a character's actions coming to be, it's not the threat itself but just that that threat is likely to happen, so how do we play this unseen gambling game in our TTRPGs? This episode answers that question and many more! Our Midroll Music is "Midnight Tale"...

Today we have an incredible topic and episode for you that discusses chaos at the D&D and TTRPG tables. But what does that mean and why do you want more of it? What we understand as chaos is the innate randomness and creativeness of TTRPGs that allow for truly unexpected things to happen. Living in the Moment of the Game and Experiencing it is what you want from most games and today we're here to help you understand how you can invite more and let loose when playing. Our Midroll...

We've talked a lot about Worldbuilding so far and today we focus on Worldbuilding Places and Locations but even more so we highlight fundamentals in our worldbuilding and how you can lay your own. Our discussion focuses on locations and what you need to create in order for your locations to work, geography, economy, people and so much more, but we also focus on more general aspects of worldbuilding and what makes worldbuilding a great foundation for play. Our Midroll Music is "Midnight...

This time we're talking about Lairs in D&D and other TTRPGs. Lairs are places your Monsters, Villains and just Entities are at home and feel safe, but how do we make these places actually interesting and not just a place for another combat? Our discussion focuses on all aspects of a lair, be it the vibe you want to evoke, the combat you want to hold in it, or the Personality and Facettes of the Villain it should portray. Lairs are more than just a place, they are a reflection of...

This time we're joined by Leigh also known as the creator of Albyon Abseys Geographical Almanac, a D&D 5e Supplement that provides you with some of the most interesting and evocative locations for your home games! We discuss where Leigh and his team get their ideas from, what inspiration they use for creating their content and what that creation process looks like. We talk about the absurd, bizarre, and unconventional locations they've created and what you can do with all the...

Today we're finally talking about the biggest Gaming Hype of this year. I don't know if that's true but it sure felt like that in the D&D Space. And for good reason, Baldurs Gate 3 is one of the best video games I've ever played, and it's based on a TTRPG... but how can the video game relate back to the TTRPG and how does it bridge the medium gap? Today we discuss the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Baldurs Gate 3 and how this incredibly immersive RPG Video Game can help us learn...

Today we talk about Actual Plays again, could this be a sign for something coming soon? This time around we talk to Ben Newbon of Cybertopia, a new Actual Play, about creating and running your first Actual Play. Ben and We've been friends for years and when he started to produce his own new show we got talking about the hurdles and problems in starting an actual play. Today you will find out everything about starting your first actual play, what you need to do beforehand, what goes on in...

Today we talk to Eric Silver of Multitude Productions and specifically the Actual Play Show Join the Party. Eric has the self-proclaimed title of "Best GM in Podcasting" and has the 5 Tools of every GM, the 4 Pillars of a Bad Show, the 3 Campaign Experience, the too (2) great laugh, and the 1 personality to prove it. We discuss Actual Play Creation, Production, and Hosting as well as the Artistic Medium that is TTRPGs and Actual Play Podcasting and how the medium is developing, where it's...

Horror is a topic that is being talked about all the time in TTRPG spaces and has been on DoubleDMs Showroom before, but today we get a new perspective from DoubleDMs resident Horror DM. We discuss running a horror scenario for D&D and TTRPGs and what it means to truly create a horror environment that goes beyond just having a few spooky vibes. We give advice on handling horror as a GM and as a player, we discuss what makes horror actually horrific and what that means for you running...

In a game of slaying dragons, dispelling evil curses, and saving the land from impending doom you need to make a place for celebrations. And that is what we're discussing today. We discuss creating and running festivals for your games of D&D and TTRPG where players can experience a more jovial side of your world and it's people. They can eat food from all around the world, play fun games and meet new friends. But why do all this for your games? There are a ton of benefits festivals and...

Curses are one of the fantasy tropes you just cannot avoid. They are part of every world that has magic in them and for good reason. Dark Twisted Magic used to make someone's Day miserable is a perfect fit for the fantasy genre. That is what we are discussing today. We will discuss what makes curses fun to use for your D&D and TTRPG games and how you can create the best curses for your players to deal with and perish under. We also highlight how to deal with curses in a sensitive and...

There are a few Discourse topics that always come up in TTRPG Discussions, especially in D&D Circles, one of these topics is Optimised vs. Unoptimised Characters often also referred to as Min Max Discourse. That is what we are discussing today. We want to shine a light on why this is in our opinion a pointless discussion and why saying one side is clearly better than the other feels disingenuous to what it actually means to build a character. We give Game Masters helpful advice on...

When we create stories for TTPRGs we often like to think of the Player Characters as the Good Guys. They are the Protagonists but that does not make them Automatically "Heroes". That is what we are discussing today. We talk about the Balance between Good and Evil in your Games and Stories in D&D and TTRPG. We talk about what it means to be good and what it means to be evil and why you as a GM should look at stories not just in this evil vs. good mentality. It can be outright harmful to...

As a GM we often make decisions in prep and play often weighing how they will affect play. And sometimes when we put something in we create moments of frustration and game halting. That is what we are discussing today. We talk about complexity and simplicity and how you can balance them in your D&D and TTRPG Sessions. How complex and hard should a D&D puzzle be? Why do players take so long with puzzles for 5th graders? Why do my players not know what to do? We answer all of these...