Taking 20 Podcast

Today's episode comes to us from listener Brett.  Thank you for the topic suggestion!

If there is Good and Evil in your world, why does Good allow Evil to remain?  Why wouldn't the forces of Good do whatever they had to in order to crush the forces of Evil?  Also, if Evil exists in the world, where would it be?

If you have an idea for a topic, send it to me at feedback@taking20podcast.com.

They say a lie makes it around the world before the truth has time to get its shoes on.  Whether true or false, rumors make your game worlds feel real, lived in, alive. In this episode, we discuss the types of rumors you can include in your Dungeons and Dragons or other RPG game, tips and tricks for their use, and one situation to avoid when giving your PCs rumors.

By the way, Lori works in the castle and she told me that the royal family keeps prisoners in their forest lodge and releases them to hunt them for sport.  Sounds like we could save some people and piss off the king at the same time.  You in?

Another episode continuing the lore series, this time focusing on one of my favorite Big Bads:  Strahd von Zarovich.  Treating him as just another vampire does this amazing villain a disservice.  He is complex, has a rich backstory, amazing powers, and can serve as a great antagonist to the PCs, whether in Barovia or your custom home game.

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In this burboun-soaked episode, Jeremy discusses the different types of quests available, some of the variations on the themes, how to modify them by adding complications, and finally provides some tips and tricks for good quest design.

In this episode Jeremy talks about the different rules for Critical Hits and Misses in Pathfinder, Starfinder, and 5e; discusses some alternate rules and gives advice for how he handles these situations in his games.

Finally, he gives some advice about what food you should NEVER bring into the bedroom.

Elementals are a foreign concept in a lot of ways.  Creatures made up of water or air that are relatively intelligent, can be summoned or spontaneously created, and aren't just a humanoid in an element suit just seem weird.  If you ever wandered where they come from, what they can do and how the fight, give this episode a listen.

I want to specifically thank Keith Ammann and his great book The Monsters Know What They're Doing.  I cannot recommend this book highly enough.  It's an amazing read!

Happy Holidays one and all!  Didn't get enough of the Blood War last time?  Good.  Let's talk some more about Demons and Devils slaying each other by the billions in a fight that's lasted damn near forever.  But what about the Celestials?  Who is the Lady of Pain?  Where do these fights happen?  Tune in and find out!

It's easy to come up with NPCs.  What's hard is coming up with NPCs that feel like more than a one dimensional cariacature of someone real.  In a topic suggested by Michael K. in Illinois, we discuss a simple 3-bullet technique for GMs to make realisitic NPCs and a similar technique for players to make compelling backstories.

Also, Jeremy gets sent to horny jail.

This week we talk about two specialized martial characters:  the Paladin and Ranger.  These are not dumb fighters or mindless barbarians.  These characters have options when it comes to fighting and can really give you lots of options when it comes to running a character...with some caveats of course.

Continuing last week's discussion on encounter design, this week we tackle the environment, tactics, stakes and motivations of the combat.  We discuss variety of the above and how to make combats feel different and better for our 5e and Pathfinder players.