Curmudgeons And Dragons

[#113] Our final special LIVE episode recorded in the spacious gaming area of The Keep in Brick, NJ. This week, Jason, Josey, and Jim welcome another local NJ gamer, Mike Cortese, who brings us an epic horror story that stops at all the Bad Game Stations of the Cross. You can visit The Keep whenever you’re in Central NJ.Jason met Mike (and Jim!) on the NJ Dungeons & Dragons Facebook Group.The campaign Mike talked about used a Base 8 monetary systemThe Forgotten Realms calendar used 10-day weeks, I guess.Jim and Jason hate shopping sessions, but not everyone does (for some reason).Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.comHosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, and Jim CrockerProduced and Edited by Jason PortizoCurmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#111] Another LIVE episode recorded in the spacious gaming area of The Keep in Brick, NJ. This week, Jason and Jim welcome Tony Ingracia - or DMTony on the DND404 podcast - live and in person, as Josey joins us remotely.You can visit The Keep whenever you’re in Central NJ.Tony’s podcast is about 3 brand new players exploring D&D for the first time.Jason’s relentless stanning for NADDPOD continues.Crawfish head, lobster claws, boobs out. Must be Bilbdoolpoolp.The classic AD&D adventure Jim referenced is D2, Shrine of the Kuo-Toa.Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.comHosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, and Jim CrockerProduced and Edited by Jason PortizoCurmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#109] In our first C&D LIVE episode, Jim and Jason meet in person at Jason's FLGS The Keep in Brick, NJ to chat with owner Tony Bogan.You can visit The Keep whenever you’re in Central NJ.Tony’s day job is running fishing and party charter boats on the Jersey shore.Tony got his start with the Classic White Box of basic D&D.Role-playing and TCGs are widely popular in the military.If you were born after Y2K, modems are just history to you.Jason bragged about having a Funko Gelatinous Cube.Jason, was, in fact, the 11th most popular name for boys in 1984 when he was born, and in the Top Ten for most of the 80s.Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.comHosted by Jason Portizo and Jim CrockerProduced and Edited by Jason PortizoCurmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production.

[#107] In this special episode, Jason, Josey, and Jim discuss the deeply disturbing implications of D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast hiring the Pinkerton Agency, notorious extra-judicial corporate mercenaries, to enforce street dates for Magic cards.This Gizmodo article should fill you in on the basics of the original story.‘The Pinkertons’ started as private bounty hunters on behalf of banks and railroads. They weren’t very good at it. They soon graduated from killing the family members of outlaws to killing the family members of Union organizers.That includes women and children.They are credibly believed to have destroyed evidence when ordered to testify before Congress.Nerds may know who they are because they sued Rockstar Games.They’re still actively engaged in Union-busting at the behest of companies like Amazon and Starbucks.As a 19th-century newspaper columnist put it so eloquently: “No man of refined sensibilities would enter the ranks as a hired Hessian of plutocracy, expecting to shoot down his brothers at the command of capital.”Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.comHosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, Jim Crocker (from a suggestion by Greg Genovas)Produced and Edited by Jason PortizoCurmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production.

[#105] In this Horror Story episode Jason and Josey bring us a tale of Sci-Fi miscommunication. CW: Violence against children is discussed in this episode.Read the original post and comments.Jason mentioned that Joey would soon be returning to Study Hell.The game in question was the classic SF RPG Traveller, which has gone through as many versions as D&D since its original release.Jason is right, War IS Hell.For more stories of terrible games, check out the RPG Horror Stories subreddit.New episodes every Friday now with video!Check out our other episodes!And the youtube, too!Hosted by Jason Portizo and Josey DiazProduced and Edited by Jason PortizoCurmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#103] This month, we’re doing a series of DM Tips in list form. This week, Jim offers his take on the five things you can do in advance to improve your 5e sessions, in order of importance.There’s a lot of ways to take session notes, here’s a nice simple template from Sly Flourish.If you have the right fancy gaming table, you can actually leave it set up!A deluxe, high-end miniatures case can help keep everything neat.We never miss a chance to endorse The Monsters Know What They’re Doing.Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.comHosted by Jason Portizo and Jim Crocker.Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo.Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production.

[#101] In this edition of Horror Stories, Jim, Jason, and Josey share the tale of the Board Game Night that would not be denied! Read the original story and commentsIn case you don’t know what Catan is.Josey was talking Bullshit.Roll20 is notoriously difficult to program in. Here’s the API.For more stories of terrible games, check out the RPG Horror Stories subreddit.New episodes every Friday now with video!Check out our other episodes!And the youtube, too!Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, and Jim CrockerProduced and Edited by Jason PortizoCurmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#99] Josey returns from academia to grace us with her presence! Today’s horror story is about what happens when you don’t think through letting your PCs play chaotic evil and the Main Characters that can result.AUDIOPHILE NOTE: Jason was so excited about the new microphone he bought just for this recording session that he didn’t notice it was pretty badly damaged and didn’t sound right. He fixed it with the best technology available but it’s not up to our standards. Sorry!Read along with us at the original reddit linkIt’s easy to play games like Oblivion and Fallout as a murder-hobo, but playing as a pacifist is the real challenge.Jason advised against going Full Tarantino.Chaotic Neutral has a variety of flavors.Check us out on TikTok!For more stories of terrible games, check out the RPG Horror Stories subreddit.New episodes every Friday, now with video!Check out our other episodes!And the youtube, too!Hosted by Jason Portizo, Jim Crocker, and Josey Diaz.Produced and Edited by Jason PortizoCurmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production.

[#97] We welcome back special guest Melissa Mayhew for a Horror Story that asks whether becoming a cannibal who tortures and murders another PC makes you an asshole. Josey is off this week.Check out the original post and comments.Check out Melissa’s musical endeavors, Action Rabbit and Sour Candy Project.The idea of DM Fiat goes back decades. Here’s a good rundown on Stack ExchangeJason invoked the classic Dreamcast RPG Shenmue.The 3.5 edition had a Hatred Domain for clerics, not imported into 5e.Gaslighting definitely means something different than what you think it does.For more stories of terrible games, check out the RPG Horror Stories subreddit.New episodes every Friday, now with video!Check out our other episodes!And the youtube, too!Hosted by Jason Portizo, Jim Crocker, and Melissa Mayhew.Produced and Edited by Jason PortizoCurmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#95] Jason and Jim delve into the horror stories that can come up in Dungeons and Dragons, from the tales of players tasked with retrieving soul coins to the challenges of being a relationship with your DM. With their special guest, Melissa Mayhew, they discuss how to properly address and avoid these uncomfortable scenarios and the importance of setting ground rules, while also reminding us that horror stories can sometimes still have a happy ending.Check out Melissa’s musical endeavors, Action Rabbit and Sour Candy Project.We referred back to Jim’s immortal tale of Flapjack the Mage.According to people who know what they’re talking about, you couldn’t actually ride a velociraptor.Soul Coins are a video game thing that actually made their way into 5th Edition.Please weigh in on whether Melissa’s situation was more of a quandary, a kerfuffle, or a dilemma.For more stories of terrible games, check out the RPG Horror Stories subreddit.New episodes every Friday, now with video!Check out our other episodes!And the youtube, too!Hosted by Jason Portizo, Jim Crocker, and special guest Melissa MayhewProduced and Edited by Jason PortizoCurmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#93] This week, Jim, with a horror story about how to ruin an otherwise-great game just by not shutting up when it’s over. You can read the original post and comments here.In case you need a primer on derivation.If there’s any way to bring Grigory Rasputin into your game, please do so.Here’s a walkthrough of the Assassin’s Creed Vatican Mission we kept talking about.If you’d like to become a demon hunter yourself, the Vatican offers a course.For more stories of terrible games, check out the RPG Horror Stories subreddit.New episodes every friday now with video! Check out our other episodes!And the youtube channel!Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, and Jim CrockerProduced and Edited by Jason PortizoCurmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#91] Jason relates the tale of a grown-ass man unknowingly being invited to a game for teens.Check out the original post and comments.Monks aren’t at all necessarily religious in the same way clerics are, but it’s complicated.The only thing worse than opening The Door in the Woods is not opening it.There are a lot of much better D&D Birthday Party ideas.For more stories of terrible games, check out the RPG Horror Stories subReddit.Check out our other episodes!Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, and Jim CrockerProduced and Edited by Jason PortizoCurmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production

[#89] We tackle the back half of the 15 WORST DM tips ever uttered. Spoiler: they pretty much earn that distinction honestly. Greg's computer is sadly toasted this week. Read the original list of Bad Advice. We tackled the front half of the list in Episode 77.Find out everything you could possibly want about the classic 90s RPG Dark Conspiracy.Jim reminsiced about learning to play D&D with the classic Holmes Basic Set. Everything we love can be found at curmudgeonsanddragons.com Hosted by Jason Portizo, Josey Diaz, and Jim Crocker Produced and Edited by Jason Portizo Curmudgeons and Dragons is a JTP Audio production