Dungeon Master of None – Details, episodes & analysis

Rob and Matt advance an exciting new theory about who amongst the current crop of TTRPG creators could be considered "auteurs". It's not as pretentious as it sounds, we promise.

Chris McDowall
Grant Howitt
Meguey and Vincent Baker
Monte Cook
Jon Harper
Tim Hutchings

Episode 35: Numenera
Episode 280: Invisible Sun
BONUS: Thousand Year Old Vampire

Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Follow Dungeon Master of None on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/dmofnone.bsky.social  

Join our Patreon for bonus episodes:
https://www.patreon.com/DungeonMasterOfNone  

Join the DMofNone Discord!

Here is a final "spooky" episode for everyone! DMs Rob and Matt review Kenneth Hite's Night's Black Agents. It's "Spies vs. Vampires" in a "mystery inside a thriller." While it may not be the perfect system, (or the perfect system for Matt and Rob), it is an endlessly fascinating bit of TTRPG design. It may have some of the most interesting and useful campaign building tools of any rule book. While it's maybe not for slacker DMs, if you like to prep your campaign using flow charts and story maps or if the phrase "dramatic villain response algorithm" fills you with glee, then NBA (Night's Black Agents) is for you! Plus, Rob and Matt finally get to chat about GUMSHOE. 

Night's Black Agents
https://pelgranepress.com/nights-black-agents/ 

GUMSHOE System
https://pelgranepress.com/2018/02/14/gumshoe/

Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Follow Dungeon Master of None on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/dmofnone.bsky.social  

Join our Patreon for bonus episodes:
https://www.patreon.com/DungeonMasterOfNone  

Join the DMofNone Discord!

Matt and Rob review the new MCDM RPG Draw Steel, now fully finished and released into the wild! Learn more about heroic, tactical, cinematic, fantasy combat and you!

Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Follow Dungeon Master of None on Blue Sky: 
https://bsky.app/profile/dmofnone.bsky.social 

https://www.patreon.com/DungeonMasterOfNone 

Join the DMofNone Discord!

Matt and Rob sit down with Lin Codega and Rowan Zeoli of rascal.news, the new independent TTRPG news site that is rising, phoenix-like, from the ashes of, well, several other sites. We talk plans, the state of TTRPGs, the death of journalism, and more!

In Search of a Hot Pink Bitch Named Breakfast

Harlem Hellfighters Never Die

DMs Rob and Matt are joined by Keri Blakinger, investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times, to talk about her piece for New York Times Magazine, "The Dungeons & Dragons Players of Death Row," which can be read for free at the Marshall Project, "When Wizards and Orcs Came to Death Row."

Links:

Keri Blakinger - The Marshall Project
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/08/31/dungeons-and-dragons-texas-death-row-tdcj 

Keri Blakinger - Corrections in Ink: A Memoir
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250272850/correctionsinink

Smriti Mundhra - I Am Ready, Warden at Big Sky Film Festival
https://www.bigskyfilmfest.org/festival/films-2024-view/i_am_ready_warden/ 

Books to Prisoners Programs
https://prisonbookprogram.org/prisonbooknetwork/

Inside Books Project (Texas)
https://insidebooksproject.org/ 

Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice; Lead Belly - The Gallis Pole.

Special West Marches Correspondent Andy joins Matt and Rob to explain a wonderous campaign where all are welcome: The Open Table! Learn what an open table-style game is, why you might want to ditch your old dedicated story-driven campaigns, and how to prepare and GM an open table game. Plus, learn the Five "S"s of Open Tables: Setting, System, Scheduling, Starting, Stopping!

Links:

Andy - Tales of the Iron league
https://ironleague.org/ 

Tales of the Iron League Discord
https://discord.gg/xY8K7qS9

Ben Robbins - West Marches
https://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/ 

Kelsey Dionne - Shadowdark: The Cursed Scroll
https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/products/cursed-scroll-zine-vol-1-diablerie-print 

Trial of the Slime Lord
https://jordanrudd.itch.io/trial-of-the-slime-lord 

Inkwell Ideas - Hexographer 
https://store.inkwellideas.com/products/hexographer-hexographer-2-pro-version 

OwlCon in Houston, Texas
https://owlcon.com/

Check out the DMofNone Patreon! 

https://www.patreon.com/DungeonMasterOfNone 

Join DMofNone on Discord!

Matt and Rob talk about how to make role-playing adventures, player guides, and games look nice. Join us for a journey through design and layout tools from simple to complex. 

Listen to the full episode on the DMofNone Patreon! 

Links:

Homebrewery 

GM Binder 

GIMP 

Cartographers' Guild 

Explorers Design 

Adobe InDesign 

InDesign Template for 5e 

DriveThruRPG - Stock Art 

Open Access at The Met 

Matt and Rob talk about how to run a one shot! As it turns out, finishing a whole adventure in one sitting is a lot more complicated than it sounds.

Rat Queens
They Want to Be Us
Savage Worlds One Sheets
Summer in December
The Great Grav Train Robbery
Bite Sized Dungeons

Check out the DMofNone Patreon! 

https://www.patreon.com/DungeonMasterOfNone 

Join us on Discord!

Music:

Pac Div - Roll the Dice
Hamilton - Aaron Burr, Sir
Eminem - One Shot, Two Shot
Ferran - One Shot

Rob abuses his power to force the podcast audience to listen to him ramble about his unfinished campaign setting, Thunder on the Steppe! We talk through the idea behind the campaign, issues with getting it presentable, next steps and takeaways.

Check out the DMofNone Patreon! 

Link to the Thunder on the Steppe Preview doc. 

Join us on Discord!

Music:

Pac Div - Roll the Dice
The Hu - Wolf Totem

Matt and Rob review So You Want to be a Game Master? by Justin Alexander (of thealexandrian.net), which is exactly what it says on the tin. We talk about Alexander's approach, what you'll find in the book, and what you can use in your games!

Check out the DMofNone Patreon! 

https://www.patreon.com/DungeonMasterOfNone 

Join us on Discord!

Music:

Pac Div - Roll the Dice
Duck Tales Theme
Mission Impossible Theme
Jefferson Starship - We Built This City