Taking 20 Podcast

Ep 138 - Making Trustworthy NPCs

It's hard to make NPCs that the PCs will trust, open up to, be vulnerable with.  Unfortunately it's not something that anyone can do with 100% success rate.  So, how DO you make NPCs the players will gravitate toward?  How can you portray these NPCs in such a way that the party wants to interact with them?  Tune in and find out.

#DnD #DungeonsandDragons #Pathfinder #DMTips

Ep 137 -Lore Series - Starfinder Gap & Empty History

The Gap is an aberration in the lore of most RPG products:  a time where history is completely broken and no records remain.  What do we know about this time period and how can you use similar empty periods of history in your campaign world?  Tune in to find out.

#Starfinder #Paizo #Dungeons and Dragons #DnD

Ep 136 - Plane Series-Multiverse Concept and Material Plane

Before the MCU introduced the world to that word, "Multiverse" meant something different in the RPG world:  a collection of universes, each of which was called a plane.  In this episode, Jeremy asks for feedback about starting a new series about the different planes, talks about running adventures in both a traditional RPG multiverse and an MCU-like one.

#DungeonsandDragons #DnD #Pathfinder #DMTips

Ep 135 - The Rule of Three

This week Jeremy discusses the flexible tool for DMs known as the Rule of Three, including the 3 Clue Rule and other variants of this handy method you can use at your table to keep one bad decision by the PCs from derailing your game and ruining all that time you spent preparing for the game session.

Please consider donating to the podcast at www.ko-fi.com/taking20podcast. 

#DnD #DungeonsandDragons #Pathfinder #DMTips

Ep 134 - Using Source Material for Your RPG

This week's topic comes courtesy of Andreas Jonasson who listens from Sweden and generously donated to my ko-fi at ko-fi.com/taking20podcast.  In this episode, Jeremy talks about how to respectfully use source material from history, religion, and published game lore at your table and talks about some potential problems that can occur.

 

To learn more about the podcast, please head over to www.taking20podcast.com.

 

#DnD #DungeonsandDragons #Pathfinder #DMTips

Ep 133 - Using Lies to Make Campaigns Better

DMs are the sources of truth for the game world.  The players depend on us to provide the facts about encounters, the world, and NPCs and we should be truthful to the players the vast majority of the time.  But, there are times when sprinkling half-truths and lies into your game can make your world more realistic and keep your players on their toes.  In this episode Jeremy talks about motivations for NPCs to lie and the best practices for using lies at your table.

 

#DungeonsAndDragons #DnD #Pathfinder

Ep 132 - Democracies in RPGs

Democracies are largely prevalent on planet earth but you hardly ever see them in an RPG setting.  In this episode, Jeremy discusses why RPGs are rare, the positive and negative aspects of a magical or futuristic society that can be emphasized by a democracy and the logistical challenges of designing a democracy for your game world.

 

#Pathfinder #DungeonsandDragons #RPG #DnD #Andoran

Ep 131 - Lore Series - Orcgate Wars

Gaming inspiration can come from published material from existing game worlds.  In this episode we talk briefly about the Orcgate Wars, its history, the aftermath, and more importantly, how you can use this dramatic event as inspiration for history and adventures in your campaign world.

 

Hope you tune in and listen!

 

#OrcgateWars #DungeonsAndDragons #DnD #DM

Ep 130 - Is Realism Overrated

We all love campaigns that have actions and reactions grounded in realism but in this episode, Jeremy asks, is the work to make things realistic worth it?  Would it be better for you to spend that time preparing the next balls to the wall adventure than determining the realistic after effects of a kobold raid against the town's grain storage?  Tune in to find out.

 

#Pathfinder #RPG #DungeonsandDragons #DnD

Ep 129 - Pathfinder Nexus

Listener Peter sent an email asking about Paizo's planned Pathfinder Nexus so I went digging through the archives and recorded interviews from PaizoCon to discuss the latest I could find.

In this episode I also ask someone to bring me Jason Buhlman but not literally.  I just want to talk to him about adventure ideas.  This isn't a "bring me the head of my enemies" kind of thing.

Maybe I don't need to record or write descriptions until I'm off the pain meds...