Episode 160: We Got This One Right (I Hope)

Have you ever had a situation where the players misunderstood a detail of a puzzle or plot twist, and you aren't sure whether to correct them or let them keep working in the wrong direction? (Is there even a right answer?) That's our topic this week, and it's a tough one!

This week's winner of our Unearthed Tips & Tricks drawing is Terje M! Congratulations, Terje! You should get your copy within the next few days. Whenever you have a chance to read it over, be sure to leave Crit Academy a review! They're a great group and would love to use your feedback to improve their products.

Would you like to enter the drawing? It's easy- just e-mail us at InterPartyConflict@gmail.com with "Unearthed Tips & Tricks" in the subject line! It's that easy! And remember- this is a new product, so if you won one of our earlier drawings, you can enter again!

And remember, Crit Academy is just one of the great podcasts in the Critnation Fellowship! For more podcasts, visit our friends at Brute Force and Ignorance, and the (unfortunately ended) D&D Character Lab! And for books, adventures, and videos, check out Goblin Stone, Loresmyth, Aurican's Lair, Jeff Stevens, and The Kind GM!

See you next week!

Episode 160: Stop and Clarify

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Question(s) answered this episode:

1. How do you handle it when players get details wrong?

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Noteworthy Links:

Go For the Eyes! by Alex Clippinger

Cherry Bomb by the Runaways

Awesome Mix from Guardians of the Galaxy

Age of Worms

Blink Dog

Otyugh

Episode 159: Ten-Page Edition

Welcome back once again, listeners! A couple weeks ago we had to change up our recording schedule a bit due to some scheduling conflicts but as of this week's recording we should be back on track. (I feel like I can always recognize a difference in our episodes when we have to record two episodes in one day; I wonder if any of our listeners do. Probably not.) This week we're talking about character backstories- how much is too much? Is there a such thing as too little? (I actually don't recall if we covered that. I'm going to answer... yes?) We also talk about some other stuff but you'll hear it in the episode.

This week's winner of our Unearthed Tips & Tricks drawing is Bill G! Congratulations, Bill! You should get your copy within the next few days. Whenever you have a chance to read it over, be sure to leave Crit Academy a review! They're a great group and would love to use your feedback to improve their products.

Would you like to enter the drawing? It's easy- just e-mail us at InterPartyConflict@gmail.com with "Unearthed Tips & Tricks" in the subject line! It's that easy! And remember- this is a new product, so if you won one of our earlier drawings, you can enter again!

And remember, Crit Academy is just one of the great podcasts in the Critnation Fellowship! For more podcasts, visit our friends at Brute Force and Ignorance, and the (unfortunately ended) D&D Character Lab! And for books, adventures, and videos, check out Goblin Stone, Loresmyth, Aurican's Lair, Jeff Stevens, and The Kind GM!

See you next week!

Episode 159: Don't Overdo It

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Question(s) answered this episode:

1. How much backstory would you say is too much?

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Noteworthy Links:

Wendy's, an American fast food chain that sells square burgers for some reason

Dallas (Warning: NSFW)

World of Warcraft Engineering

Cheers

The World's End

At World's End

This Is the End

The Adventure Zone

Typhon's Treasure, a sidequest in Fallout 2 that rewards you with Bottlecaps, which are no longer usable as currency

John Wick, a great action movie starring Keanu Reeves

Ankheg Armor, Jeff's favorite armor from the Baldur's Gate series

Demon Stone, a D&D-themed video game for the PS2 and Xbox

Episode 158: Sorry For Our Voices

Hey, all! We're both a bit under the weather this week (Jeff moreso than me) so I'm apologizing now if our voices sound a little rough or if our energy is low. Because we have a fun episode for you (even if our voices don't think so)! We talk about giving monsters class levels (whether you should or shouldn't), as well as how to engage someone in your group that might have different skills or interests than the rest of the party. We came up with some fun stuff in here, so come on down and give it a listen!

This week's winner of our Unearthed Tips & Tricks drawing is Doug A! Congratulations, Doug! You should get your copy within the next few days. Whenever you have a chance to read it over, be sure to leave Crit Academy a review! They're a great group and would love to use your feedback to improve their products.

Would you like to enter the drawing? It's easy- just e-mail us at InterPartyConflict@gmail.com with "Unearthed Tips & Tricks" in the subject line! It's that easy! And remember- this is a new product, so if you won one of our earlier drawings, you can enter again!

And remember, Crit Academy is just one of the great podcasts in the Critnation Fellowship! For more podcasts, visit our friends at Brute Force and Ignorance, and the (unfortunately ended) D&D Character Lab! And for books, adventures, and videos, check out Goblin Stone, Loresmyth, Aurican's Lair, Jeff Stevens, and The Kind GM!

Until next time, hopefully we're feeling better!

Episode 158: NPC Advancement

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Question(s) answered this episode:

1. Do you think DM's should be allowed to assign class levels to existing monster stat blocks?

2. How do I engage a player in my campaign who is interested in crafting potions and poisons?

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Noteworthy Links:

The Creature Conservancy, a petting-zoo-like attraction near us in Michigan

Mind Blast

Savage Species, a 3e book about giving class levels to monsters

Catch Me if you Can, a movie based on a true story about con artist Frank Abagnale

White Collar, a TV show about a con artist I think

Sliders 

Version History of D&D

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Episode 157 - There Is A Such Thing As A Free Podcast

Hello and welcome back, everyone! Today we have a big topic to discuss- economics in a fantasy world. Can it work? Should it work? How much should you worry about it? We go pretty in-depth into it on this episode, and we share a lot of our thoughts, but as always, we'd love to hear from you! Let us know what you think in the comments below.

This week's winner of our Unearthed Tips & Tricks drawing is David J! Congratulations, David! You should get your copy within the next few days. Whenever you have a chance to read it over, be sure to leave Crit Academy a review! They're a great group and would love to use your feedback to improve their products.

Would you like to enter the drawing? It's easy- just e-mail us at InterPartyConflict@gmail.com with "Unearthed Tips & Tricks" in the subject line! It's that easy! And remember- this is a new product, so if you won one of our earlier drawings, you can enter again!

And remember, Crit Academy is just one of the great podcasts in the Critnation Fellowship! For more podcasts, visit our friends at Brute Force and Ignorance, and the (unfortunately ended) D&D Character Lab! And for books, adventures, and videos, check out Goblin Stone, Loresmyth, Aurican's Lair, Jeff Stevens, and The Kind GM!

See you next time, when we discuss math and chemistry!

Episode 157: A Worthwhile Investment

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Question(s) answered this episode:

1. How would you go about trying to make a believable economy in a fantasy game world?

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Noteworthy Links:

Anycubic Photon, the Resin Printer I just bought

The Lightsaber I 3D Printed (and the files can be found here on Thingiverse)

The Mithril Standard - Economy in the Time of Wizards

Back to the Future 3

Deals with the Devil

d20 Modern

Jumbonium, an element in Futurama

The Great Modron March

Calimari Flan, a currency in the Star Wars universe

Episode 156: Walking a Fine Line

Hello and welcome back, everyone! We've got a great episode this week- Jeff and I talk about the hidden tale of destiny woven into a popular catchy song, we discuss running encounters with lots of NPCs (and whether you should even be doing that in the first place), and we also spend some time talking about play a character that is differently-gendered than yourself. Of course this episode should be taken with a grain of salt (coming from two cisgendered heterosexual white males) but we're trying to approach it with the perspective of people who have been making D&D characters for a long time; we won't necessarily be challenging anyone's viewpoint, but giving what we believe to be the best starting point for making a fully-fleshed-out character, regardless of gender.

This week's winner of our Unearthed Tips & Tricks drawing is Jason E! Congratulations, Jason! You should get your copy within the next few days. Whenever you have a chance to read it over, be sure to leave Crit Academy a review! They're a great group and would love to use your feedback to improve their products.

Would you like to enter the drawing? It's easy- just e-mail us at InterPartyConflict@gmail.com with "Unearthed Tips & Tricks" in the subject line! It's that easy! And remember- this is a new product, so if you won one of our earlier drawings, you can enter again!

And remember, Crit Academy is just one of the great podcasts in the Critnation Fellowship! For more podcasts, visit our friends at Brute Force and Ignorance, and the (unfortunately ended) D&D Character Lab! And for books, adventures, and videos, check out Goblin Stone, Loresmyth, Aurican's Lair, Jeff Stevens, and The Kind GM!

Catch you next time, same time, same channel!

Episode 156: Stay True to Yourself

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Question(s) answered this episode:

1. How often do you play a character that is a different gender than your own? When you do, what are some hurdles you face when getting into character?

2. How do you run a combat with lots of NPCs involved?

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Noteworthy Links:

Cotton Eye Joe

Marauder's Map

Sandman by Neil Gaiman

Tom Riddle's Diary

T. R. Handley, Robot Monk sent to us by Jason E

Red Hand of Doom, a 3.5e D&D adventure that we played through many years ago

The Adventure Zone, an Actual Play podcast made by the McElroy family

Bridging the Gap, a podcast from our friend Brigid Pierce exploring the transgender experience, sexual abuse, life, love, memes, and D&D

Divine Beasts

Albuquerque by Weird Al

Kevin Bacon playing chicken

Episode 155: I Remember

Hello and welcome back! We've got another fun episode for you this week- we talk about characters where their class takes a backseat (as well as reskinning classes to fit the character's background), and races with particularly long or short lifespans like Elves or Dwarves. (Come to think of it, we focused more on races with longer lifespans... I can't think of many with explicitly shorter lifespans, so that wasn't really on the front of our minds.) I think we came up with some great ideas in this one, so I hope you enjoy listening to it!

This week's winner of our Unearthed Tips & Tricks drawing is Colin W! Congratulations, Colin! You should get your copy within the next few days. Whenever you have a chance to read it over, be sure to leave Crit Academy a review! They're a great group and would love to use your feedback to improve their products.

Would you like to enter the drawing? It's easy- just e-mail us at InterPartyConflict@gmail.com with "Unearthed Tips & Tricks" in the subject line! It's that easy! And remember- this is a new product, so if you won one of our earlier drawings, you can enter again!

And remember, Crit Academy is just one of the great podcasts in the Critnation Fellowship! For more podcasts, visit our friends at Brute Force and Ignorance, and the (unfortunately ended) D&D Character Lab! And for books, adventures, and videos, check out Goblin Stone, Loresmyth, Aurican's Lair, Jeff Stevens, and The Kind GM!

See you next week, if our arthritis and aching backs doesn't keep us away!

Episode 155: Remember When

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Question(s) answered this episode:

1. Have you ever made a character off a background and than used the class as just a mechanic?

2. How do you think is best to portray races in table top games that either have significantly longer or shorter lifespans than our own as humans?

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Noteworthy Links:

Rube Goldberg Machine

Mass Effect

Stephen King's It

Austin Powers

Passing Laughs, a new podcast from my friends Haley and Brandon

Here's episode 154 (coming from a very cold house)

Hello, everyone! I've edited and uploaded this week's episode in a house with no heat because I had to replace my furnace and it's still not done being installed. So I hope you appreciate this episode extra this week!

In this episode, we talk about bringing backup characters to a game (either in case your current character dies, or maybe in case your current character just doesn't fit the group) and also Invisibility in Dungeons & Dragons- specifically, what it does and doesn't do. (It probably isn't as powerful as you think it is!) Both of these are topics that came up in an Actual Play game that we streamed with Crit Academy a few days ago (link below) so it felt like a good fit!

This week's winner of our Unearthed Tips & Tricks drawing is Billy B! Congratulations, Billy B! You should get your copy within the next few days. Whenever you have a chance to read it over, be sure to leave Crit Academy a review! They're a great group and would love to use your feedback to improve their products.

Would you like to enter the drawing? It's easy- just e-mail us at InterPartyConflict@gmail.com with "Unearthed Tips & Tricks" in the subject line! It's that easy! And remember- this is a new product, so if you won one of our earlier drawings, you can enter again!

And remember, Crit Academy is just one of the great podcasts in the Critnation Fellowship! For more podcasts, visit our friends at Brute Force and Ignorance, and the (unfortunately ended) D&D Character Lab! And for books, adventures, and videos, check out Goblin Stone, Loresmyth, Aurican's Lair, Jeff Stevens, and The Kind GM!

Have a great week, and see you next time (if you aren't invisible)!

Episode 154: Another One Bites the Dust

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Question(s) answered this episode:

1. Do you like to prepare a back up character for a campaign?

2. My group is having a difficult time adjudicating how invisibility works. It is only a 2nd level spell but is mostly treated like god-mode and effectively makes the invisible character untargetable. Any thoughts on how to clear this up?

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Noteworthy Links:

The Good Place, an hilarious sitcom that YOU SHOULD GO WATCH RIGHT NOW, seriously it's on Netflix and each season is only like 6 hours total and it is SO GOOD

Morse Code

Protean Charm, the spell Hermione uses in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to communicate nonverbally via coins

Tomb of Horrors, an (in my opinion) overrated classic D&D adventure

Crit Academy's Twitch Channel - Jeff and I participated in an Actual Play session on their stream a few days ago! Here's Part 1 and Part 2 (since the stream cut out about 30 minutes in).

Wyrmwood Dice

Anduril/Narsil, a sword from some old series of books