Ep. 5 Ten Things We Wish We Knew as a New DM

Eric and Philip gives some tips on how to be a successful Dungeon Master for those who have never ran a game, or are just starting out.

News

 * Unearthed Arcana: A Trio of Subclasses
 * The Way of the Drunken Master, Oath of Redemption, and Monster Slayer
 * Unearthed Arcana: Starter Spells

Summary

 * 0:00:26: Introduction.
 * 0:03:51: News.
 * 0:33:22: Main discussion starts.
 * 0:33:53: #1. Don't be afraid to improvise.
 * 0:35:54: Voyage of the Golden Dragon example.
 * 0:39:44: Eyes of the Lich Queen example.
 * 0:46:56: #2. Overplanning can ruin your game.
 * 0:47:34: The highly anticipated sequel to Unfinished Wars.
 * 0:52:29: #3. Don't tell your players what they can and cannot do.
 * 0:57:40: #5. The Rule of Cool.
 * 1:00:29: #4. Stealing is your friend.
 * 1:02:39: Philip's homegame example.
 * 1:06:12: #6. There is a massive community of other GM's who are aching to help you.
 * 1:10:31: #7. Have a session 0 to plan the party relationships.
 * 1:16:25: #8. Let the players help build the world (even in a published setting)
 * 1:20:03: #9. Take breaks before you burn out.
 * 1:27:09:#10. You are the Dungeon Master, not the rulebook.


 * 1:32:33: Listener feedback.

Voyage of the Golden Dragon
A murder mystery on a yacht, but in the air. There are several set piece events with triggers. There were six of them on a boat, and thinking, "What could happen?" they all split up and investigated the leads they had and triggered every combat encounter at the same time. They set off a bomb, started a bar fight, and somehow fought a giant scorpion, which Philip teleported halfway through a wall.

Eyes of the Lich Queen
The characters were sneaking into the dreadhold and got smuggled into the docking bay. They could go down into the deep cells where people are dumped, or they could wander up into the administrative part of the prison. They knew the layout and knew the warden was on the top level. The obvious path that they were clearly going to take was to go into the mine, find their long-lost friend, and get out. What the players did instead was to decide to kidnap the warden. There wasn't a map for the top of the prison.

Marvel in Stormreach
In Unfinished Wars, the Marvel universe existed in Stormreach—as fantasy characters, of course. Petyr Parkour, Matthew Murdock, the Avengers, and a whole lot of the Marvel universe were interacting with the player characters.

Listener Questions
''Q: "I don’t have an iTunes account. (I listen through Pocket Casts on Android.) Is there anywhere else I could leave a review that would be helpful for you guys?" — trappleton''

Review on Google Play!

''Q: "I don’t get what you were saying about burning hands cast in a third level slot. A Burning Hands at that level would be 5d6, Dex save half. A fireball is 8d6, Dex save half. Unless you’re really strapped for known spells, the fireball is just better. The only benefit of Burning Hands might be that the cone shape is slightly easier to maneuver around allies, but the lack of range kind of counteracts that benefit. Also: Multiclassing can’t get you into heavy armor. PHB p164 shows what proficiencies you get, and it’s never heavy armor. You’d have to start as a fighter and then multiclass into warlock." — Darth Pseudonym''

It was the specific character that got Fireball with his Eldritch Invocation. But since they're different areas and combat style, sometimes Burning Hands is better. The multiclassing bit was just a goof-up.

Plugs

 * Eberron Renewed
 * Order 66 Podcast

Mentions

 * Destiny
 * Eberron Subreddit
 * Eyes of the Lich Queen
 * Fate Core
 * Keith Baker's blog
 * The One Ring
 * Savage Worlds
 * Voyage of the Golden Dragon