Dan and Paul coach you in how to disrupt an enemy wizard's spells in D&D. And it varies a lot by what edition you play! From classic editions where casting in combat is strictly prohibited, to those where initiative tells the tale, to later editions where skills and counter-skills try to one-up each other. For house-ruling DMs, what's the fairest mechanic to use?

Paul and Dan tackle the age-old question of initiative in tabletop RPGs. From the simplicity of group initiative to the complexity of individual modifiers and segment counting, initiative rules can shape the entire feel of combat.

We'll explore how different editions and indie games handle turn order, what those choices say about their design philosophies, and how your own table might benefit from mixing it up. Is rolling every round more dynamic or just more bookkeeping? Should initiative reflect a character's reflexes, or just be a way to get the action moving?

Along the way, we'll share our own stories of initiative chaos, house rules that worked (or didn't), and some truly oddball systems that tried to rethink the whole idea.

Hasbro/WOTC announced this week that their long-anticipated virtual tabletop tool (VTT), Sigil, is suddenly end-of-life. How did they come to spend so many resources into a project like this, only to cancel it? Does it disrupt their overall strategy for the brand-new 2024 edition of Dungeons & Dragons? What's the landscape of VTT's for D&D look like today. And… is anyone really surprised?

Dan & Paul look back at the state of D&D in this past year of 2022, and the 4th season of Wandering DMs. What were your favorites, what were the critical fumbles for the year? What themes were unfolding for the D&D community? We'll share our top memories, and some announcements for what we have in store next!

• Watch the Wandering DMs Season 4 Playlist
• Watch Games from the Elder Times Season 1
• Watch Book of War Season 3

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Paul & Dan chat with D&D historian extraordinaire Jon Peterson about his latest book, Game Wizards, on the history of TSR, the makers of D&D, and the turbulent waters of changing creators and editions.

When Dungeons & Dragons was first released to a small hobby community, it hardly seemed destined for mainstream success—and yet this arcane tabletop role-playing game became an unlikely pop culture phenomenon. In Game Wizards, Jon Peterson chronicles the rise of Dungeons & Dragons from hobbyist pastime to mass-market sensation, from the initial collaboration to the later feud of its creators, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. As the game's fiftieth anniversary approaches, Peterson—a noted authority on role-playing games—explains how D&D and its creators navigated their successes, setbacks, and controversies.

Peterson describes Gygax and Arneson's first meeting and their work toward the 1974 release of the game; the founding of TSR and its growth as a company; and Arneson's acrimonious departure and subsequent challenges to TSR. He recounts the “Satanic Panic” accusations that D&D was sacrilegious and dangerous, and how they made the game famous. And he chronicles TSR's reckless expansion and near-fatal corporate infighting, which culminated with the company in debt and overextended and the end of Gygax's losing battle to retain control over TSR and D&D.

With Game Wizards, Peterson restores historical particulars long obscured by competing narratives spun by the one-time partners. That record amply demonstrates how the turbulent experience of creating something as momentous as Dungeons & Dragons can make people remember things a bit differently from the way they actually happened.

• Order the Game Wizards from MIT Press
• Read Jon's Playing at the World blog

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul exchange thoughts on the use of prepared Boxed Text descriptions in D&D adventures. Are they hostile, or benign in your games?

DM Shawn Merwin wrote on D&D Beyond: "If you’ve DMed, read, written, or even played D&D adventures at any point in the game’s existence, you are familiar with boxed text, which is also sometimes referred to as read-aloud text. It got its name from the thin boxed-line that sometimes surrounds the text in an adventure, denoting that it should be read aloud to the players. It’s as much a part of D&D’s history and brand as saving throws, hit points, and armor class…"

"Every couple of years, the topic of boxed text sweeps through the game-design community, opinions are thrown about, battle lines and drawn, and then we all go back to writing our own adventures, usually including boxed text. I wrote about the topic 20 years ago on forums, and 10 years ago in blogs, and now I’ll write about it again. Not much has changed in the conversation, but it’s still one we need to have."

What are your thoughts on the use of boxed text?

• Read Dan's blog on early encounter text
• See Shawn Merwin's full comments at D&D Beyond
• Read up on the "fierce debate" at ComicBook.com
• Check out Dyson Logos thoughts on his blog
• Read Jesse Decker's observations at Gen Con 2005 (via Wayback Machine)

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Paul & Dan chat with Keith Ammann ("The Monsters Know What They're Doing") on his newest book of dungeon design principles, "How to Defend Your Lair"!

In How to Defend Your Lair, gamemaster Keith Ammann pulls back the curtain on an underrated but crucial part of any tabletop roleplaying game: the theater of battle. Say goodbye to encounters in randomly generated dungeons and hello to a game in which where the fight takes place is just as important as who is doing the fighting.

This book teaches you how to use real-world principles of building security and area defense to create strongholds infused with flavor, informed by narrative, and complex enough to force your players to think strategically. You’ll look at the strengths and weaknesses of both defenders and potential attackers, creating spaces that are strong enough to keep out ordinary intruders…and to provide thrilling challenges to extraordinary ones.

Including more than a dozen fleshed-out sample strongholds, How to Defend Your Lair is a crucial resource for any RPG gamemaster who wants to push players to think about how to solve problems before running at them head-on.

Order Keith's "How to Defend Your Lair" here

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul reflect on their long history of playing RPGs in a wide variety of sometimes unusual locations, and how that can affect the play of your D&D games for better & worse!

Feng shui has found many uses. Landscape ecologists often find traditional feng shui an interesting study. In many cases, the only remaining patches of Asian old forest are "feng shui woods", associated with cultural heritage, historical continuity, and the preservation of various flora and fauna species. Some researchers interpret the presence of these woods as indicators that the "healthy homes", sustainability and environmental components of traditional feng shui should not be easily dismissed. Environmental scientists and landscape architects have researched traditional feng shui and its methodologies. Architects study feng shui as an Asian architectural tradition. Geographers have analyzed the techniques and methods to help locate historical sites in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and archaeological sites in the American Southwest, concluding that Native Americans also considered astronomy and landscape features.

Believers use it for healing purposes though there is no empirical evidence that it is in any way effective, to guide their businesses, or create a peaceful atmosphere in their homes. In particular, they use feng shui in the bedroom, where a number of techniques involving colors and arrangement achieve comfort and peaceful sleep. Some users of feng shui may be trying to gain a sense of security or control, such as by choosing auspicious numbers for their phones or favorable house locations. Their motivation is similar to the reasons that some people consult fortune-tellers.

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

This description uses material from the Wikipedia article "Feng shui", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Paul & Dan look back at their favorite "Haunted House" adventures for D&D games. From Tegel Manor to Saltmarsh to Castle Amber and Ravenloft, we'll assess what works best and what doesn't for a truly terrifying D&D game!

Legends about haunted houses have long appeared in literature. The earliest surviving report of a haunted house comes from a letter written by Pliny the Younger (61 – c. 112 CE) to his patron Lucias Sura, in which he describes a haunted villa in Athens.[50] Nobody would live in the house until the philosopher Athenodorus (c. 74 BCE – 7 CE) arrived in the city. He was tempted by the low rent and undeterred by the house's reputation so he moved in. The ghost, an old man bound with chains, appeared to Athenodorus during the first night and beckoned to him. The apparition vanished once it reached the courtyard, and Athenodorus carefully marked the spot. The following morning he requested the magistrate to have the spot dug up, where the skeleton of an old man bound with chains was discovered. The ghost never appeared again after the skeleton was given a proper burial.

According to Owen Davies, a paranormal historian, hauntings in the British Isles were usually attributed to fairies, but today hauntings are usually associated with ghostly or supernatural encounters. In other cultures around the world, various spirits are said to haunt vacant homes and locations. In Middle Eastern countries, for example, jinn are said to haunt such areas. Historically, since most people died in their homes, whether they were mansions or hovels, these homes became natural places for ghosts to haunt, with bedrooms being the most common rooms to be haunted. Many houses gained a reputation for being haunted after they were empty or derelict. Davies explains that "if people were to fail to occupy a human space, then external forces would move in."

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul chat with Jim Davis, the wizard of Web DM, and get his thoughts on the rules drops so far for One D&D, the playtest for the upcoming next-edition of Dungeons & Dragons!

Jim Davis, the Web DM, creates RPG advice and actual play content on YouTube, Patreon, and Twitch. Through professionally produced, carefully researched conversations about all aspects of tabletop gaming, deep topic podcast dives, and heartfelt actual play streaming, Web DM has become one of the most popular RPG internet content creation companies in the world. They're lifelong friends and D&D players who want to share what inspires us about 5e Dungeons & Dragons to help all gamers love their games as much as we do.

One D&D is the codename for the future of D&D and includes: D&D Rules -- They're updating and expanding the rules of the game, and we’re looking for your feedback to help shape them. D&D Beyond -- The digital toolset joined the Wizards of the Coast family in 2022, and we want to make it even better. Digital D&D Play Experience -- Announced during Wizards Presents, D&D Digital is an immersive tabletop space that is in early development.

What's Jim's take on One D&D? Will the Wandering DMs agree? Tune in and find out!

• Preorder the Web DM Weird Wastelands sourcebook here

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul chat with Matt Finch, creator of Swords & Wizardry, about his Revised Tome of Adventure Design!

Tome of Adventure Design is a comprehensive, start-to-finish resource for designing fantasy adventures for your favorite tabletop role-playing game. It is system neutral, and can be used with virtually any fantasy game. This book includes random generation tables for almost every step of the design process: locations, villainous plots, designing new monsters, and bizarre environments in strange, unknown planes of existence. Thousands of micro-prompts in the margins add additional brainstorming power to the process, and the book is filled with design advice from award-winning author Matt Finch.

"It’s over 300 pages of randomly selected jolts to the brain. In the introduction, Finch states that the point of incorporating randomness into your adventure writing is “to deliver cryptic results designed to shock the reader’s creativity into filling in the gaps” … Let me emphasize his use of the word “shock” in that passage. It’s perfect. The moment when two, three, or more nonsensical, fragmentary, contradictory notions gel into a coherent and fresh idea is shocking. It’s revelatory. It’s magical. And it’s inspiring…" Steve Winter, Designer & Contributor, Dungeons & Dragons for TSR and Wizards of the Coast

• Get the Revised Tome of Adventure Design here
• And see the completed Kickstarter page here

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Paul & Dan chat about bases for player characters in D&D -- strongholds, ships, taverns, houses, and more!

European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. These nobles built castles to control the area immediately surrounding them and the castles were both offensive and defensive structures; they provided a base from which raids could be launched as well as offered protection from enemies. Although their military origins are often emphasized in castle studies, the structures also served as centers of administration and symbols of power. Urban castles were used to control the local populace and important travel routes, and rural castles were often situated near features that were integral to life in the community, such as mills, fertile land, or a water source.

Due to the lord's presence in a castle, it was a center of administration from where he controlled his lands. He relied on the support of those below him, as without the support of his more powerful tenants a lord could expect his power to be undermined. Successful lords regularly held court with those immediately below them on the social scale, but absentees could expect to find their influence weakened. Larger lordships could be vast, and it would be impractical for a lord to visit all his properties regularly, so deputies were appointed. This especially applied to royalty, who sometimes owned land in different countries.

• Watch Dan play the 1993 D&D Stronghold game
• Read Dan's blog on late-era Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

This description uses material from the Wikipedia article "Castle", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Dan & Paul turn a critical eye to the new One D&D (6E) rules draft on the Expert Class group: Rogues, Rangers, and Bards!

In August 2022, Wizards announced that the next phase of major changes for Dungeons & Dragons would occur under the One D&D initiative which includes a public playtest of the next version of Dungeons & Dragons. Revised editions of the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide are scheduled to be released in 2024. The first public playtest, Unearthed Arcana: Character Origins, was released on D&D Beyond on August 18. Samantha Nelson, for Polygon, commented that public playtest material should not be "considered final". Nelson wrote that spells are now grouped by "arcane, divine, or primal" power sources – terms that were previously used in 4th edition's magic system. Xavier Johnson, for Dot eSports, and Christian Hoffer, for Comicbook.com, both highlighted that this playtest release updates the critical roll mechanic to an automatic success or failure if a roll is natural 20 or 1, respectively. Hoffer wrote that the "backwards compatible" One D&D release proposes "significant changes to backgrounds and races, two of the core building blocks when creating player characters. The rules also introduce several new backgrounds, new tiefling variants, and a brand new race […]. Most notably, the proposed rules shift Ability Score Increases from being a racial trait to a Background trait".

In the October 2022 Unearthed Arcana rules draft, the D&D designers unveil the idea of "Class Groups" -- familiar to 1E players as the Primary Classes -- and give details on the revised Rogue, Ranger, and Bard classes. Plus a new shuffle in the Rules Glossary for how the core mechanics work. Are these changes good or bad, from the perspective of veteran old-school players?

• See the new website & video for One D&D here
• Read Dan's blog on the classes in 1E Unearthed Arcana here

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

This description uses material from the Wikipedia article "Editions of Dungeons & Dragons", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Dan and Paul are joined by Tom McGrenery, game designer and co-host of the podcast Fear of a Black Dragon, to discuss the surprising common ground between OSR and story games. Do they have more in common with each other than either has with modern traditional RPGs? Find out what they discover in this thought-provoking episode of Wandering DMs!

Dan & Paul chat with Griffith Morgan about the new upcoming Kickstarter for the Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg!

In 1971, Greg Svenson and his friends took part in the very first dungeon adventure game, Blackmoor, created by their friend, Dave Arneson. Then, in the summer of 1973, as Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax worked to complete the manuscript for Dungeons & Dragons, Greg was given a play-test copy of this novel new game. He used these rules to create his own adventure dungeon, The Dungeons of Tonisborg.

One day, Greg loaned his maps to a friend to make copies. An unexpected disaster struck: the maps, stowed in an old magazine, were thrown away. All ten original map levels of Greg's epic mega-dungeon were thought lost forever. This lost map set came to be known as The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg among the "Blackmoor Bunch."

Thirty-five years later, during the making of the documentary film, Secrets of Blackmoor, a mysterious set of photocopied dungeon maps was unearthed. D. H. Boggs emailed copies to Greg Svenson, who instantly recognized his own handwriting, declaring that these old photocopies were indeed copies of his original Tonisborg Dungeon. Now published with extensive background information, The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg is not like any RPG Game Module you've ever encountered before.

Read more on the Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg here

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Thumbnail images courtesy of Craiyon.

Dan chats with Alyssa Faden, mapmaker extraordinaire, about her projects mapping the worlds of Greyhawk and the rest of the D&D cosmos!

Alyssa has been a professional cartographer and GenCon panelist since 2012. Her clientele includes Monte Cook Games, Kobold Press, Profantasy Software, Gygax Magazine, Golden Goblin Press, and Frog God Games. Her style is unique and self-taught, with influences from the lovely ink work of such greats as Jeff Laubenstein and Jeff Easley. And she's a long time Blue/Red box gamer with a passion for tabletop gaming and game mastering, and these decades of imagination and storytelling come through in her artwork.

Her passion (and the thing she's best known for) is incredibly detailed, insane, hand-drawn maps. Be they cities and towns, nautical ship deck plans, or the sprawling Tegel Manor drawn at massive 14'x12' — her hallmark is and will always be incredible detail and personality.

• Check out Alyssa's website here
• And watch Alyssa mapping live on her YouTube channel

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Paul & Dan chat about slimes, molds, oozes, and deadly gelatinous horrors in D&D. Gross!

Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to several kinds of unrelated eukaryotic organisms with a life cycle that includes a free-living single-celled stage and the formation of spores. Spores are often produced in macroscopic multicellular or multinucleate fruiting bodies which may be formed through aggregation or fusion. Slime molds were formerly classified as fungi but are no longer considered part of that kingdom. Although not forming a single monophyletic clade, they are grouped within the paraphyletic group, Protista.

More than 900 species of slime mold occur globally. Their common name refers to part of some of these organisms' life cycles where they can appear as gelatinous "slime". This is mostly seen with the Myxogastria, which are the only macroscopic slime molds. Most slime molds are smaller than a few centimetres, but some species may reach sizes up to several square metres and masses up to 20 kilograms.

They feed on microorganisms that live in any type of dead plant material. They contribute to the decomposition of dead vegetation, and feed on bacteria and fungi. For this reason, slime molds are usually found in soil, lawns, and on the forest floor, commonly on deciduous logs. In tropical areas they are also common on inflorescences and fruits, and in aerial situations (e.g., in the canopy of trees). In urban areas, they are found on mulch or in the leaf mold in rain gutters, and also grow in air conditioners, especially when the drain is blocked.

The "clean-up crew" of slimes, oozes, molds, and deadly puddings appear at the end of the monster roster in Original D&D (1974), and arguably are the only new creation type not found in classic mythology of Tolkien. Why do they get so much mindshare? Why were they important to Gygax & company at the outset? And how can you best use them in your games today?

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

This description uses material from the Wikipedia article "Slime mold", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Dan & Paul chat about the state of languages in D&D and other fantasy RPGs.

Tolkien was of the opinion that the invention of an artistic language in order to be convincing and pleasing must include not only the language's historical development, but also the history of its speakers, and especially the mythology associated with both the language and the speakers. It was this idea that an "Elvish language" must be associated with a complex history and mythology of the Elves that was at the core of the development of Tolkien's legendarium.

Tolkien wrote in one of his letters -- "what I think is a primary 'fact' about my work, that it is all of a piece, and fundamentally linguistic in inspiration. … It is not a 'hobby', in the sense of something quite different from one's work, taken up as a relief-outlet. The invention of languages is the foundation. The 'stories' were made rather to provide a world for the languages than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows. I should have preferred to write in 'Elvish'. But, of course, such a work as The Lord of the Rings has been edited and only as much 'language' has been left in as I thought would be stomached by readers. (I now find that many would have liked more.) … It is to me, anyway, largely an essay in 'linguistic aesthetic', as I sometimes say to people who ask me 'what is it all about'."

While the Elvish languages remained at the center of Tolkien's attention, the requirements of the narratives associated with Middle-earth also necessitated the development at least superficially of the languages of other races, especially of Dwarves and Men, but also the Black Speech designed by Sauron, the main antagonist in The Lord of the Rings. This latter language was designed to be the ostensible antithesis of the ideal of an artistic language pursued with the development of Quenya, the Black Speech representing a dystopian parody of an international auxiliary language just as Sauron's rule over the Orcs is a dystopian parody of a totalitarian state.

Flowing from Tolkien's primary interest, the need to handle various languages has long been a key part of D&D and other fantasy games. Does D&D do a good job at it? How can it be improved?

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

This description uses material from the Wikipedia article "Languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Paul & Dan assess the information so far on the next edition of D&D after 5E.

In August 2022, Wizards announced that the next phase of major changes for Dungeons & Dragons would occur under the One D&D initiative which includes a public playtest of the next version of Dungeons & Dragons. Revised editions of the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide are scheduled to be released in 2024. The first public playtest, Unearthed Arcana: Character Origins, was released on D&D Beyond on August 18. Samantha Nelson, for Polygon, commented that public playtest material should not be "considered final". Nelson wrote that spells are now grouped by "arcane, divine, or primal" power sources – terms that were previously used in 4th edition's magic system. Xavier Johnson, for Dot eSports, and Christian Hoffer, for Comicbook.com, both highlighted that this playtest release updates the critical roll mechanic to an automatic success or failure if a roll is natural 20 or 1, respectively.Hoffer wrote that the "backwards compatible" One D&D release proposes "significant changes to backgrounds and races, two of the core building blocks when creating player characters. The rules also introduce several new backgrounds, new tiefling variants, and a brand new race […]. Most notably, the proposed rules shift Ability Score Increases from being a racial trait to a Background trait".

What do you think of these proposed ideas for the edition of D&D to come after 5E? Would you be more or less likely to play the game? And do they threaten to erase old-school play, or support it?

• See the new website & video for One D&D here
• Read Dan's comparison with the 5E announcement here

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

This description uses material from the Wikipedia article "Editions of Dungeons & Dragons", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Dan & Paul survey the different options across the years for D&D PC ability score generation.

Which is best for your D&D game? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Dan & Paul get into the nitty-gritty in this episode.

In original D&D, ability scores were determined by "roll[ing] three six-sided dice in order to rate each [character] as to various abilities". This had a significant impact on later character creations as "certain classes could only be taken up by characters with the right combination of statistics. As a result, players often" re-rolled characters until they ended up with the combination of ability scores they desired. The point buy system was originally added as an optional ruleset in the second edition supplement Player's Option: Skills & Powers (1995) and while it is "largely incompatible with most of the other books released for AD&D second edition" it still "proved very popular among fans". "A point system to ensure total player control over the character's attributes while at the same time limiting just how powerful the character could become […] [was] formalized in the third edition".

There are now several methods of determining a character's initial ability scores during character creation:

• Rolling dice (3d6): This is the standard method for the original edition. For each ability score, the player rolls 3d6, and adds the values, resulting in scores ranging from three to eighteen, averaging between 10 and 11.
• Rolling dice (4d6, keep 3): This is the standard method since 1st edition AD&D. For each ability score, the player rolls 4d6, and adds the three highest values, resulting in scores ranging from three to eighteen, skewed towards higher numbers, averaging 12.2446, though the most probable result is 13.
• Predetermined array of scores: Each player uses the same set of numbers, choosing which ability score to apply them to.
• Point buy: In the point buy system, a player has a certain number of points to spend on ability scores, and each score has a certain point cost affixed to it, where higher scores cost more points than lower ones.

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

This description uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dungeons & Dragons gameplay", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Paul & Dan chat with Jason Morningstar, creator of Fiasco, Desperation, and other great RPGs.

Jason Morningstar is an American indie role-playing game designer, publishing mostly through Bully Pulpit Games. Morningstar's games often lack a Game Master and are often set in situations that quickly go unfortunately for the player characters. Grey Ranks (2007), for example, is about doomed child soldiers in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, and Fiasco (2009) is about impulsive crooks pulling heists that are sure to go terribly wrong. With these two games, Morningstar became the only named person to have won the Diana Jones award twice as of 2013. Morningstar also works with academia and industry, consulting on using games for teaching and learning in education, with a focus on health sciences.

Now, Jason's newest production provides "games of survival horror, often without the survival". Desperation is the engine that powers two unique and chilling experiences, built on the same dark tone and mechanics, that are truly pick-up-and-play experiences for you and your friends. The Desperation Engine is different because you don’t decide what is said—you decide who says it. And in a small community, who says “I burned a house down with the family trapped inside” makes all the difference in the world. The cards for each game include an entire claustrophobic world of characters that form a web of relationships you will then apply agonizing pressure to and, in most cases, destroy.

Find out more about Jason Morningstar's Desperation game here

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Paul & Dan chat about the history of attempts to remove the DM from D&D games.

The Dungeon Master (DM) assumes the role of the game master or referee and describes for other players what they perceive in this imaginary world, and what effects their actions have. That person is responsible for preparing each game session, and must have a thorough understanding of the game rules.

The DM is responsible for narrative flow, creating the scenario and setting in which the game takes place, maintaining the pace and providing dynamic feedback. In storyteller role, the DM is responsible for describing the events of the D&D game session and making rulings about game situations and effects based on the decisions made by the players. The DM can develop the adventure plot and setting in which these PCs participate or use a preexisting module. This is typically designed as a type of decision tree that is followed by the players, and a customized version can require several hours of preparation for each hour spent playing the game.

The DM serves as the arbiter of the rules, both in teaching the rules to the players and in enforcing them. The rules provide game mechanics for resolving the outcome of events, including how the player's characters interact with the game world. Although the rules exist to provide a balanced game environment, the DM is free to ignore the rules as needed. The DM can modify, remove, or create entirely new rules in order to fit the rules to the current campaign.

Given all that -- it can be hard work to be a DM, and sometimes harder still to find a good one! The history of Dungeons & Dragons is littered with attempts to find ways to play without DM. We'll discuss the Blackmoor group's Dungeon! game, game books, computer games, DM-less games, and more.

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul chat with Zach Glazar of Necromancer Games on their new Kickstarter!

Whisper & Venom, the acclaimed adventure setting, is being resurrected and expanded for Fifth Edition and Old-School Essentials. Originally released in 2013 by Necromancer Games’ very own Zach Glazar under his publishing venture Lesser Gnome, Whisper & Venom’s success was a surprise to everybody, especially its author. After many years of disingenuous promises, Whisper & Venom is here, and it is bigger, better, and more beautiful than ever.

It will be a full-color, hardcover book written for Old-School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome or the ever-popular Fifth Edition system. In addition, many of the options from the 2013 project will be available as add-ons, including the 28mm miniatures featuring a selection of notorious adversaries and hapless NPCs that appear inside the adventure. This new batch of 28mm miniatures will be cast from the original masters by Valiant Enterprises.

Whisper & Venom was written by Zach Glazar and John Hammerle as a tribute to the fantasy adventures and roleplaying game accessories of the 1980s. Following its release, Whisper & Venom proved to be a well-received title that was played and discussed more often than anyone, especially its author, expected. And we'll dig into Zach's thought process on that!

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan is challenged by viewer Stephen Wendell to an old-school D&D Jousting tourney!

How was Jousting in Original D&D performed? It referred back to the mini-game in the pre-D&D Chainmail ruleset by Gygax and Perren. Players took the role of armored knights, and on each pass picked a defensive posture and an aiming point, and consulted a matrix for the effect of the pass. No dice or random outcomes involved, it's purely a test of player skill! Some of us still use it in our D&D games today, and it's a featured event every spring at GaryCon. Now, Wandering DMs patron Stephen Wendell has authored a strategy he thinks can unseat WDM Dan at one of his favorite games. Can he win the banner? We'll find out live!

From Original D&D Volume 3, The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures -- "Fighting-Men within castles will demand a jousting match with all passersby of like class. Otherwise they will demand a toll of from 100 to 600 Gold Pieces from the party. If a joust takes place (use rules from CHAINMAIL) the occupant of the castle will take the loser's armor if he wins, but if the character wins the castle owner will host all in the party for up to one month, supply them with two weeks of rations, and provide warhorses (Heavy) if the party so requires."

From the Chainmail Rules for Medieval Miniatures -- "Each player selects an aiming point (his attack) and a position in the saddle (his defense). Note that the aiming paint will preclude certain defensive positions in mast, but not all, cases. The aiming point of each player is matched against the position of their opponent and the result found. Results can vary from both opponents missing to both being unhorsed, as a study of the jousting Matrix will reveal. (See Appendix C.)"

• Read Stephen's strategy analysis on his Donjon Lands blog
• And read about Stephen's upcoming "Blue Flame, Tiny Stars"

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Can an AI truly run a game of Dungeons & Dragons? In this episode, Paul & Dan review Paul’s recent live-streamed experiment, Martha the AI DM, where he played a session of Basic B/X D&D with an AI as his Dungeon Master. How well did Martha craft adventures, roleplay NPCs, and adapt to unexpected player choices? Did she bring the magic of tabletop storytelling — or did she fall into mechanical pitfalls? Join us as we break down the session, discuss the strengths and limitations of AI-driven RPGs, and explore what this means for the future of roleplaying games.

Here's some links to the articles mentioned in this show:

• Creating dungeon maps using D2 (Declarative Diagraming)
• Academic paper on running The Sunless Citadel

Paul & Dan discuss the presence of Dinosaurs in D&D!

Do you love D&D? Do you love Dinosaurs? Well, if you're like us, it's a lock you'll want to run your PCs up against these terrible lizards, and maybe part of your campaign is a "Lost World" where dinosaurs roam in great numbers. But is that a good idea, or does it break the idiom of the medieval fantasy world? Can dinosaurs be central to your campaign, or are they best left as rare side dressing? What's the best was to use them in your D&D games?

Gygax in the 1E Monster Manual: "Dinosaurs are reptiles, their name being derived from the Greek 'terrible lizard,' descended from a variety of the species called thecodonts. The two orders of dinosaurs are saurischians and ornisthischians. All carnivorous dinosaurs fall into the former order. All armored and/or horned dinosaurs fall into the latter order.

Because of the nature of time in planes where magic works, dinosaurs widely separote in time are discussed hereunder, for they can be found intermingled on some alternate world, strange plane, or isolated continent somewhere. Great detail will not be given to any one kind, but all major forms are depicted."

Watch paleontologist Mark Loewen as he reviews dinosaur movies for scientific accuracy in 2022

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul discuss Flanking and other combat options in D&D.

5th Edition D&D has several optional combat rules in the DMG: Flanking, Facing, and Diagonal movement. These echo rules laid down in earlier editions of D&D: all the way back to 1st Edition, and even before. And yet these rules remain highly contentious between different D&D play tables. Should you use them? Are they a net positive or negative to your game? What other ways are there to play around with these combat details, and others like backstabs, sneak attacks, withdrawals, and opportunity attacks?

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Paul & Dan play a hot game of Fiasco with our best-ever gaming friends. This special episode recorded for Paul's birthday includes nearly two and a half hours of actual play with Dan, Paul, and friends!

The Hasty and the Hateful is a card playset for Fiasco 2nd Edition: "We race for the same reason we breathe—it is life, the connection to the pavement is like our connection to family. What we do isn't legal but we answer to the god of the stoplight and the nitrous injection. Some of us are dirtbags and some of us are millionaires, but on a quarter mile of two-lane the difference isn't relevant. We race. We go fast. We do crimes. We are family."

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul discuss the newest, diceless edition of the Fiasco RPG.

Fiasco is a role-playing game by Jason Morningstar, independently published by Bully Pulpit Games. It is marketed as a "GM-less game for 3–5 players, designed to be played in a few hours with six-sided dice and no preparation". It is billed as "A game of powerful ambition and poor impulse control" and "inspired by cinematic tales of small time capers gone disastrously wrong—films like Blood Simple, Fargo, The Way of the Gun, Burn After Reading, and A Simple Plan."

Fiasco was the winner of the eleventh Diana Jones Award and has been one of the featured games on Tabletop. In August 2019, Bully Pulpit Games introduced a card-based version of the game, which they launched on Kickstarter. Instead of dice and index cards, the boxed version uses decks of playing cards for playsets and an engine deck.

Watch the Wandering DMs prior live play of Fiasco here

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

They've done a number of Dungeon Design Dashes before, but for the first time ever, Dan & Paul go to create a complete wilderness adventure in an hour live on camera. With no advance prep and no safety net, can they do it? Working from a map by Dyson Logos, and using Matt Finch's Tome of Adventure Design, plus other classic Dungeons & Dragons design tools & tricks, find out what Paul & Dan discover in this pumpkin-spice themed journey into the unexplored wild lands beyond the mountains.

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Paul & Dan chat about the presence of giants in D&D from the elder times to now.

Giants are found in the legendary tales of all cultures around the world, and they're critical tentpoles in the D&D monster roster. In fact, arguably, they be the very first type of D&D monster -- when you're playing historical miniature wargames, just grab a miniature at a different scale and you have yourself a giant fantasy monster. The initial sequence of D&D monsters, which we now call "humanoids", were originally just called the "giant class".

In this episode Dan & Paul consider: How can you fold in classical creation myths, in which Giants are the progenitors of all later races, into your Dungeons & Dragons campaign? What are our favorite giant-based adventures and stories to mine for inspiration? Where did the menagerie of D&D giants come from? What's the best way to use them in your D&D game?

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Paul & Dan reminisce on the Advanced D&D Gold Box computer game, Pool of Radiance.

Pool of Radiance was a role-playing video game developed and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc (SSI) in 1988. It was the first adaptation of TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) fantasy role-playing game for home computers, becoming the first episode in a four-part series of D&D computer adventure games. The other games in the "Gold Box" series used the game engine pioneered in Pool of Radiance, as did later D&D titles such as the Neverwinter Nights online game. Pool of Radiance takes place in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting, with the action centered in and around the port city of Phlan.

As in traditional D&D games, the player starts by building a party of up to six characters, deciding the race, gender, class, and ability scores for each. The player's party is enlisted to help the settled part of the city by clearing out the marauding inhabitants that have taken over the surroundings. The characters move on from one area to another, battling bands of enemies as they go and ultimately confronting the powerful leader of the evil forces. During play, the player characters gain experience points, which allow them to increase their capabilities. The game primarily uses a first-person perspective, with the screen divided into sections to display pertinent textual information. During combat sequences, the display switches to a top-down "video game isometric" view.

Generally well received by the gaming press, Pool of Radiance won the Origins Award for "Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1988". Some reviewers criticized the game's similarities to other contemporary games and its slowness in places, but praised the game's graphics and its role-playing adventure and combat aspects. Also well-regarded was the ability to export player characters from Pool of Radiance to subsequent SSI games in the series.

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul chat with award-winning comic creator Kieron Gillen on his new DIE RPG.

Kieron Gillen is one of our favorite comic authors working today -- he's written series for the X-Men, Avengers, Eternals, Star Wars, Warhammer, Starcraft, and many more. He's also worked as a game journalist and co-founded the site Rock Paper Shotgun. Now, on the tail of his recent 20-issue fantasy series, DIE, he breaks new ground with his own RPG set in that world, years in the making, and currently funding on Kickstarter.

DIE is a tabletop roleplaying game about fantasy versus reality, and poses the question of why we play games at all. The comic it’s based upon is occasionally jokingly described as “goth Jumanji”; DIE the RPG is designed from the ground up to let a group of players make their own personal version of the comic. In DIE you play a group of authentically flawed people from the real world who gather together to play an RPG and are dragged into a fantasy realm. They then have to find their way home… or not.

“A deliciously dark Phantom Tollbooth-like journey told through a lens of broken humanity and a deconstruction of the role-playing game’s roots. I am entranced."

• Back the DIE RPG on Kickstarter
• Watch a DIE actual-play session
• Buy the DIE comic series
• Follow Kieron on Twitter

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul review our favorite Wild West RPGs.

Some gamers argue that any fantasy or sci-fi RPG, including Dungeons & Dragons, is mostly Wild West plot tropes covered over with fantasy dressing. How true is that? How much influence did the development of Western RPGs have on mainline D&D at the outset? How easy or successful have you been at crossing over from Western to full-blown Fantasy in the same game campaign?

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul catch up with James Maliszewski of Grognardia on his "House of Worms" campaign!

Have you ever managed to run a D&D campaign for 7 years and counting? Well, James Maliszewski has in his long-running Empire of the Petal Throne campaign -- so we wanted to get his advice and hear about how to keep a campaign fresh, exciting, and players returning for more. Plus catch up on his prodigious ongoing output at the Grognardia blog, the Hall of Blue Illumination podcast, The Excellent Travelling Volume EPT zine, and his upcoming Secrets of sha-Arthan. How on Tékumel does he do it?

• Read the Grognardia blog
• Listen to the Hall of Blue Illumination podcast
• Check out The Excellent Travelling Volume zine

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

As a DM, should you offer different subject matter to your players when the real world looks grim?

Paul & Dan interview Spencer Crittenden, the GM on HarmonQuest and other shows!

Spencer Crittenden is one of our favorite famous DMs. He ran the game on Dan Harmon's HarmonQuest as, of course, The Game Master. He's also been a regular on HarmonTown, Great Minds with Dan Harmon, and appeared on Community and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Now he hosts the That Happens podcast with Jeff Bryan Davis, and produces D&D content on his YouTube channel for Patreon subscribers. Lets find out his unique take on DM'ing in front of the hot lights!

• Watch and listen to Spencer's That Happens podcast
• Subscribe to his YouTube channel
• Join his Patreon

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Christian & crew recap our Inner System Blues cyberpunk game in the 2400 system.

Let's chat about the 2400 game system we used for our Inner System Blues cyberpunk game. What worked well? What could possibly be improved?

Check out Inner System Blues here

The TDR crew play short series of unique roleplaying games, then analyze what worked and what needs work at the end of each game. The GM changes but the fun remains the same every week on TDR!

Dan & Isabelle assess the D&D art of the 90's.

Brooklyn-based fine artist Isabelle Garbani joins us again for another installment of "Art of D&D": this time, in the 1990's, the era of 2nd Edition AD&D (leading to the last gasps of TSR, and its acquisition by Wizards of the Coast). It was a time of wild experimentation with many different campaign settings: Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, and more. How well did the art follow that expedition, and what kinds of artistic discoveries were made possible? Featuring art by Brom, Fred Fields, Jeff Easley, Tony Diterlizzi, and more.

Watch Isabelle in the scary short The Perfect Daughter

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul interview Karen Twelves, author of "Improv for Gamers".

The Wandering DMs love improv and think using tools from that field are essential to a great D&D game. In this episode we get to interview Karen Twelves, the author of one of our favorite books, "Improv for Gamers", now being crowdfunded for a revised second edition. Based on hundreds of hours of professional workshops, Improv for Gamers provides fun and easy exercises designed to take your tabletop or live-action gaming group to the next level. Play one or two before your next session to get players warmed up and engaged, or take a deep dive into developing a particular skill!

• Back the Improv for Gamers project at Gamefound
• Watch Dan & Paul's prior chat about improv in WDMs Season 1, Episode 2

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Christian & crew conclude our Inner System Blues cyberpunk game in the 2400 system.

Amidst the burning wreckage of a carrier ship, a violent storm at sea, gunfire from guards and drones -- what else could go wrong? The TDR crew will explore all the possibilities extensively. See Thinkbot's true face revealed! Gasp at BECCA's fast and furious driving! Bemuse at Victor and KIT-95's co-parenting choices!

Check out Inner System Blues here

The TDR crew play short series of unique roleplaying games, then analyze what worked and what needs work at the end of each game. The GM changes but the fun remains the same every week on TDR!

Dan & Paul review the history of Golems in D&D.

It's been said that the Golem is "a highly mutable metaphor with seemingly limitless symbolism". Springing from Jewish folklore, the Golem represents a powerful but dimly aware, perhaps overly-literal, servant. As such, it's the possibly original inspiration for stories about out-of-control scientific monsters, robots, and AI (as well summoned stalkers and wish spells in D&D). In original D&D, they are the mightiest of fighters, and share the trait of complete immunity to nearly all magic effects. Do they provide good thematic flavor in D&D? Are their mechanics solid, or too much of a player screw-job? How have they evolved over the ages?

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Christian & crew continue our Inner System Blues cyberpunk game in the 2400 system.

In Inner System Blues part III, the NULL crew of KIT, BECCA, ThinkBot, and Victor finally get aboard the giant burning out-of-control car carrier ship they're tasked with burgling. As usual, their entry plan works perfectly, and then things start going elliptical. A tragic subplot of romantically entangled robots is revealed. What qualifies as the coolest car is extensively debated. And someone gets shot.

Check out Inner System Blues here

The TDR crew play short series of unique roleplaying games, then analyze what worked and what needs work at the end of each game. The GM changes but the fun remains the same every week on TDR!

Dan & Paul reflect on their first "house con" in three years.

In normal times, Dan, Paul & their friends have a private "house convention" for a weekend each spring. That was put on hold the last few years due to COVID, but now we're back! After a long weekend of wall-to-wall gaming on the New England seacoast, Paul & Dan reflect on what it's like to be back gaming in person after a long hiatus. Plus special guest Rebecca Kinraide.

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Dan & Paul discuss our most influential fantasy readings.

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

Can the gang break out of the trap at Arasaki Geo Tech industrial park?

Christian & company continue our Inner System Blues cyberpunk game series in the 2400 system. Having raised the alarm on the industrial park break-in last time, Victor, BECCA, and Thinkbot need to think fast and find a way out of cages, armed guards, and flying drones. Will a run of natural-1's seal their fate? Plus: existential cyber-dilemmas (to backup or not to backup), and folks who are possibly a bit too into robots.

Check out Inner System Blues here

The TDR crew play short series of unique roleplaying games, then analyze what worked and what needs work at the end of each game. The GM changes but the fun remains the same every week on TDR!

Paul & Dan dive into the art of running a game with absolutely no materials on hand. Whether it’s an impromptu one-shot, a lost character sheet crisis, or a full-on “I forgot my dice bag at home” scenario, we’ll explore how to keep the adventure rolling with just your wits and a table full of eager players.

Dan & Paul talk to legendary fantasy & horror writer Ramsey Campbell!

The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes Ramsey Campbell as “Britain’s most respected living horror writer”. He's been given more awards than any other writer in the field, including the Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association, the Living Legend Award of the International Horror Guild and the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award. We get to speak with him live about his new book, "The Way of the Worm", the finale of The Three Births of Daoloth trilogy.

Review of The Way of the Worm in the Guardian:

"The concluding volume of the Three Births of Daoloth trilogy brings the story of Dominic Sheldrake’s lifelong struggle against a sinister cult into the present day. The cult has become a worldwide religion, the Church of the Eternal Three, and Dom’s own son is a member. The previous book held out the faint possibility that Dom had been driven mad by his own paranoid obsession, but this astonishing, apocalyptic conclusion does not. Although now better known for his subtler evocations of unease, Campbell’s early stories were heavily influenced by HP Lovecraft. Here he returns to his roots, even outdoing Lovecraft in his depictions of full-on cosmic terror."

• Get The Way of the Worm from Flame Tree Publishing
• And follow Ramsey on Twitter

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

New cyberpunk PCs get made live, and a very hot & wet mission is put forth.

We start a new cyberpunk series, with Christian running the Inner System Blues system for 2400. Special guest Dan Collins fills in as a player for Paul. We make new characters live: how many androids and how many humans? Their contact Metal Mouth puts forward a proposal to steal cars from a super cargo ship burning at sea, but where is it? They'll need to break into an Arasaki Geo Tech industrial park first to find out! Also: crocodiles.

Check out Inner System Blues here

The TDR crew play short series of unique roleplaying games, then analyze what worked and what needs work at the end of each game. The GM changes but the fun remains the same every week on TDR!

Dan & Paul a high-level dungeon, live in one hour!

Hey, what's that flying rock overhead, and what are those dark winged shapes flying around it? Only the bravest of superheroes and wizards dare explore it. Let's find out what sinister traps the lich has laid for them…

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.