3 Wise DMs

Some listener questions come in and just HAVE to be answered. This was the case with a question that came in from longtime friend of the show, Dr. DM himself, Jason. His son’s school D&D club was planning a seriously epic finale to multiple campaign tables in a stupendous one-shot. Everything was gong well until the head DM brought their BBEG… we’ll let Jason tell you the rest.In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down to discuss what makes a good finale, a good BBEG, and best practices for collaborating with multiple DMs. Not surprisingly, it always comes down to communication. 1:50 Dr. DM’s question about an insane BBEG for his son’s school D&D Club Finale.7:00 The concept of the finale game sounds AWESOME! But if you’re doing a collaboration, you have to collaborate.8:45 Benchmarking when creating homebrewed monsters.10:00 The BBEG should matter in each of the separate campaigns storylines.11:05 In our Curse of Strahd finale, the players mowed through 2000 hit points in a session… that’s still 128,000 to go.14:25 Monsters aren’t just bags of hit points to soak up damage.20:30 With collaborative storytelling, keep lines of communication open. 22:15 Encounters and finales are meant to be challenging and epic… not impossible. Make it so that they have to really think their way through the encounter, not just swing their biggest attack every time.30:05 In the end, it’s always about communication around the table and behind the screen.31:55 What is the theme and story for the finale?34:15 “Appropriately-Sized Encounters.” If there is no win condition, then you’re just whipping on your players.37:35 A finale, even if it spans different worlds, should matter to the players in each of their individual campaigns as well.40:15 A campaign that wipes in a TPK isn’t necessarily as cool as you think it might be.43:00 Final Thoughts.

We continue to drive down deeper into our real-time worldbuilding experiment armed with the comments of our listeners.In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave finish out the discussion of how magic will work in our crowdsourced “Boomtown” campaign setting by asking “Where does divine magic come from?” Make sure to Join the Conversation!1:40 “Where Are We Now”: the Boomtown campaign setting, as it currently stands.5:20 Discovering the Lost Gods?6:00 Will this be monotheistic or polytheistic? What about the Cleric Domains?10:00 Could Divine Magic be just advanced forms of technology or Artificial Intelligence?13:45 #FightForTheColonyShip 14:45 One God: Many Names.16:50 What does this tech-based magic look like compared to the ordinary folk?20:30 How does religion fit into this world? 29:45 The struggle between the Corporations, the Prophets, and the Boomtowns.40:45 Final Thoughts.

Following on the heels of our last episode, we drive down deeper into our continued exploration of real-time worldbuilding armed with the comments of our listeners.In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss how magic might work in this new world, how the environment helps to create the setting, and stumble into an idea for a setting that has us really excited. Make sure to join the conversation as we build a Wonderful World with our 3WD community!2:20 We asked and you answered: A Brand New World!6:40 A little context for this experiment: we really just want to see how we all might come together to build a new world and setting. 7:55: Magic: How it works and how we might make it special.15:00 DM Dave really loves the idea of a colony ship…17:55 Our first big change in this setting: we remove the Wizard class entirely.19:55 What is the environment that we find in this new world and setting?21:55 We drive down more to the area that the adventurer’s will encounter first.26:15 The idea for our overall setting starts to take shape: D&D and Sci-Fi meet Tombstone!34:20 Final Thoughts.

Movies. TV series. Books. Other DMs running games. There are a multitude of sources that provide fodder for our imagination in developing cool ideas that we want to play with in our own games. But how many ideas are TOO MANY ideas? Can you have too many ideas?In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down to answer a listener question from our “Co-DM” Dr. DM (Jason) where he asks the question “If faced with an abundance of ideas, how would each of you decide which things to insert and which to hold onto for later?”4:05 What is your table like and what is your frequency of play?5:15 Bring the ideas that have been really fleshed out that fit the campaign.6:24 Bring the ideas that you would want to have at the table when YOU’RE playing.8:20 Use the ideas that are player-centric first.10:30 Write your ideas down and sit with them. If they still look good with time, use it.12:45 Use ideas that fit your campaign setting and world.13:50 The collaborative story you’re building will tell you what ideas will work best: The Sword of Power.19:20 Just like Lore Tolerance, there is Idea Tolerance. Feed it through your players.26:40 Our tangent into how 5e strength with lifting things can get unwieldy.35:23 Final Thoughts.

Backstory. Character development. It’s one of the most discussed topics in the TTRPG space. And the 3 Wise DMs were faced with the question when a friend offered to run a Call of Cthulhu one-shot for our group. This was followed by a Google Doc with twenty in-depth questions as to the character’s background, motivations, loves, and fears. For a one-shot.If you’ve ever asked yourself the question, “is there such a thing as too much character backstory?”, then this is the episode for you!3:25 DM-Player communication: how much is the DM looking for and how much can you use in-game?4:40 The context of this question really depends on this game being a one-shot, as opposed to a continuing campaign.7:00 Will this level of prep increase the level of investment in the character?9:00 No matter how much you develop the idea of the character… you have no idea how they will play until the game starts.12:50 This question depends very much on the system that you’re playing (including DM Chris’ very old-school D&D way of creating his author, Thomas Albright.)19:45 Will this level of character backstory and development allow a more immersive one-shot?22:50 We might not do twenty questions… but maybe we could?26:00 The level of immersion with teasers that the Keeper of Arcane Lore is creating for this one-shot.30:05 Meeting your players where they are.34:05 Final Thoughts.

Possession. Dominate. Alignment shifts. There are a multitude of times where the rules make the DM take control of one of the player characters in the game. But, is that a good thing? In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down to discuss an issue that came up in DM Chris' Tales of the Yawning Portal campaign that he's running for 2 new players to the hobby and a run-in with a dwarven ghost. 1:45 DM Chris’ question that arose with Possession.3:35 DM Tony’s initial thoughts.4:35 The first time DM Dave makes the point that 2 players in a game can really change how the game flows.9:40 The changes that have occurred with certain charm effects.11:10 Roleplaying yourself out of these situations to reveal secrets and clues, plot points, etc.13:55 Do your prep, know what’s coming up… or don’t!16:10 How to use these types of effects to dial up the tension on players.17:35 The problem with immediate alignment changes.22:48 Realize how powerful these effects can be and use them judiciously.24:30 How gaming has changes over the decades – the difference between Gauntlet and Final Fantasy – and how you can always fall forward into story.26:20 DM Chris’ style of being a fan of his players.30:50 How these types of events change with more than 2 players – the Banshees attack in Dragonlance!35:25 Final Thoughts.

Artificial Intelligence is a polarizing topic these days. From Skynet-style flights of fancy to the very real implications for content creators, it’s an evolving technology that isn’t going away anytime soon. But free from worrying about profiting off of others’ work, using AI at the game table can help provide you with a set of tools and a pair of hands that can help lift the sometimes heavy and time-consuming duties of a DM. In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down to discuss how they’ve started implementing AI into their toolbox, mainly through getting into some good old-fashioned “lonely fun” in some solo-RPGing. For anyone who has thought how AI might effect your games or your DMing, this is the episode for you.3:00 DM Chris gives the background for turning ChatGPT into a DM for a solo campaign from his previous article, and then he and Tony discuss their solo campaigns they’ve been playing in.9:35 Just like any game, you know what your character has and does more than the DM – real or virtual.11:45 The concept of “Lonely Fun.”12:46 Our experiences with solo TTRPGs, like Mythic, and how tools like ChatGPT can enhance that experience.16:30 AI as a tool to craft something you need quickly – DM Tony’s Inn.18:00 Using AI to assist in being another “DM” to bounce ideas off of and to test your prototypes: DM Dave’s new campaign that mixes WEG Star Wars RPG and Firefly: The Board Game.24:40 Our tangent into the missing Ninja class.27:37 The difference between solo gaming and party gaming. In a solo campaign, you’re the star of the show.32:00 Running a solo campaign is a great way to learn how a new system works.35:25 Final Thoughts.