Taking 20 Podcast

In one of is rare DM-only episodes, Jeremy discusses the secret to ratcheting up the tension for the players to make them feel their characters' lives are on the line.  

There are two primary ways that combat can be run in Role Playing Games - Using battle maps that are printed or digitally produced or theater of the mind where all the action happens in everyone's imaginations.  Like nearly everything else, there are advantages to each and this episode discusses pros and cons of each with some lessons Jeremy has learned along the way.

Dragons.  They should be important encounters and villains.  Hell, they're in the name "Dungeons and Dragons".  How do you make encounters with them epic?  How should they take on the plucky band of adventurers who seek to steal their treasure from their lairs?  In this 20 minute episode, we look at things from a dragon's perspective and discuss tips and tricks for running these all powerful badasses like they should be run.

The idiot host of this podcast keeps saying that character death is a powerful and dramatic moment.  If that's true, how do we as DMs deal with the death of a character around the table?  In this episode we talk about the dos and don'ts of character death and how to handle the moment properly.

Having discussed whether GMs can cheat, Jeremy focuses the lens on how players cheat and recommendations for how GMs can handle the table when players cheat.  Please provide feedback to feedback@taking20podcast.com.

Are Game Masters beholden to the same rules that players are?  If it would result in a dramatic story beat or important campaign moment, is it okay for GMs to change prewritten adventures, change monster hit points and abilities in the middle of the battle, or even change the dice rolled behind the screen?

How viable are spells that give the victim a single saving throw before taking them out of a fight, campaign, or existence?  Should you use these spells against PCs?  What alternatives are there?  In this episode we discuss these questions and much more about the spells and abilities where you make the save or it sucks to be you.

Why would GMs play unholy antagonists and Big Bad Evil Guys like morons?  In too many prepublished adventures, intelligent undead like liches, vampires, and ghasts are played as rash, unthinking, bumbling buffoons.  Jeremy presents alternate ways of thinking.  He gets into the mind of an ageless creature and hopefully gets your thoughts going on how to role play these rare, intelligent, monsters.

We'd all love to DM/GM for a 4-person party but it is rare.  More often we'll have 6 players or even 8-9 who want to play in a campaign even if we only start off with 4.  How do you handle these huge parties or small parties of less than 4?  If you have a small party, how do you add capabilities to the party with NPCs?  

What is the difference between roll and role playing?  How should players and GMs approach the balance between the two?  Thank you Trevor in San Antonio for the topic idea!