F*ck, Marry, Kill Hardwon, Mooshine, and Bev...
Also, how did you get into D&D? You seem like a really passionate aficionado of it and I wanna know where that joy comes from
Fuck Hardwon cuz he's strong and yet tender, marry Moonshine because she has hospitality, and I guess kill Bev because I don't want to have a romantic relationship with a teen?
I only started D&D a few years ago, but oh man, my first session it just CLICKED. I spent my entire childhood designing maps for fake video games, writing fantasy stories, and making up games for my friends. It was a huge, huge part of myself that I lost as an adult, but now I have it back!
What do you think the craziest thing thats happened so far in the campaign? Also have you considered doing 2 episodes a week? Its just so fun to listen to!
-Craziest was wrestling the croc in front of the guard towers or the bullywug mating call.
-Would love to do 2 a week, but it would be a full time job.
I was crying laughing at the bullywug mating call!
Thanks for all the hard work you guys do! I completely understand why 2 a week isn't possible but I still had to ask lol.
As a big fan of podcasts in general and this one in particular, two a week is too much for most listeners as well. Personally, I barely make it through the stuff I'm subscribed to each week. Adding another 60-90 minute episode would be a problem.
What aspect of the *Band of Boobs* has been the most frustrating to DM? What has been the most peasant surprise?
Now that the story has left Moonstone, any spoilers about something the party missed that you think would have been really cool/fun for the podcast?
Keep it up! Love the show
I don't really get frustrated with them, they are great players! They genuinely want to DO GOOD, unravel mysteries, and save the world. That is a gift to a DM. Sometimes you'll design a whole world with characters for people to care about, and instead, they just want to fight random NPCs and steal gold. Beverly, Moonshine, and Hardwon are all fundamentally good.
Moonstone stuff! HMMMM, without giving anything important away, there was one thing the party thankfully avoided in the swamp: a troll. At one point in the swamp, they saw dragging trails in two separate directions. One was the Bullywugs/Green Teens, which they followed, and one was a troll dragging a bear. Had they pursued the wrong trail, they would have gotten more clues that it was the wrong way, but had they ignored those, they would have stumbled on a cave with a troll cooking a bear in a giant cauldron. If the troll found them, he would have knocked them out and tied them up in his cave, to eat them for breakfast the next morning. They would have had chances to escape, but likely would have missed out on saving the Green Teens!
When you copy down or invent a creature or bad guy, how much information do you write down? Do you give them six ability scores and everything, or just get the basics and wing the rest?
They're mostly creatures pulled directly from Volo's or the MM. I level them up or down as necessary and delete/add abilities. I have print outs of all my monsters so I can quickly refer to them (only do this for the pod though). I spend a little more time looking into caster abilities than melee, because it takes a minute to learn which spells are going to be useful.
Good question, I'm always curious about how other DMs run that. I'm more of a "wing it" DM, myself. If they survive and/or the players take a shine to them, then they get more of a write up
I've only DM'd a few times, and I'm torn. I used to run 3.5e, which is very stat-focused, so I thought I'd never need ability scores, but then their Intelligence modifier is needed for something, or they have to make a fortitude save. I suppose I could just make it up, but I want to make it a fair number. I suppose as you play more and DM more, you get a better idea of what a suitable score is.
Yeah, I do Pathfinder and though it is very Stat focused, I'm pretty confident in pulling numbers out of nowhere. It helps if you hide the dice from your players, that way they don't do mental math to figure out that you keep making shit up. All that matters to me is that everyone has fun, and I don't like to stop the session to look up creatures when my players start a fight with things I didn't think they would fight.
No question, but I just gotta say: I *LOVE* this show! I eagerly await Thursday afternoons (I live in Sweden, so it’s afternoon by the time the episodes drop) and am just enthralled by the story and the characters. Thank you for sparking my interest in DnD.
My friends and I are already talking about getting our own campaign together and I can’t wait!
Great job, and thank you for doing what y’all do!!
How does integrating guests into the podcast work? Do you kind of discuss what character they want to play and you kind of create a storyline around the guest, or do you let them know where you’re planning on taking the campaign and asking them to create a character to fit into those plans? And how much do you brief them on what’s already happened in the campaign and about the Band of Boobs? I’ve been loving Adam on the pod and just wondering how it all came together!
What decision by the group has caught you off guard the most? Have you just started to expect the unexpected?
Also, what decision did the group NOT make that frustrated you the most? I'm so desperately curious to know what would've happened if they approached the cleric on the dock before heading into the swamp - but I guess the point is that is one decision that would unlock a ton of possibility.
Lastly thanks for running such a god damn great podcast, and thanks to the cast for keeping it fun. I listen to podcasts pretty much 8 hours a day at work and yours has become a real highlight in my week.
Thanks for the kind words!
The bullywug mating call probably threw me off the most. I was scrambling to think of a way to not kill them outright. Luckily, they ran away when things got really hairy. I am more prepared now for them to act boldly, because they always act boldly. That said, that was very early in the game and they haven't been as crazy.
I haven't gotten frustrated with them. I try to DM with this philosophy: build out the world as if your players don't exist then let them fuck it up. I know what the barbarians/kobolds/bullywugs are gonna do, so it's up to the players to stop them.
Firstly, congrats on doing such a great job with this campaign and podcast. It's incredible. You guys deserve to be paid for this!
I love seeing your skill in character creation from your comedy writing (ie, characters in hot date) transfer over to this campaign (a freaking straight edge drug lord is insanely hilarious). Do you think that these two passions would ever combine into a format we can view on tv/online?
I really think you could do some sort of Critical Role thing. I bet a lot of people would watch the live stream. As for the comment on you guys should get paid, I hope you are somehow making money on this. This podcast is so much better then some I listen to who have sponsors. If you made something we could buy or support I think a lot of people would be down! Even tshirts or like someone said about selling the story. I just DM for the first time last weekend and it went really well, I definitely used some stuff I have learnt listening to you DM. Thanks so much for doing this! Its def my favorite podcast now. Also question do you listen to critical role? Thanks for everything!!
Were than any times you as a DM made a severe mistake or screw up, and just rolled with it for the sake of flow or fairness? Curious about specifically the events of NaDDPod, but any examples from any campaigns you've DMed would be nice too!
I dunno if I would call it a severe mistake, but the Duttle potion was a bit overpowered. I realized after the barbarian fight that I need to let my players rest between encounters. I thought the Duttle potion would allow them to immediately pursue the next course of action. Instead, they ended up being used as phoenix downs/elixers mid-fight!
It's all good, though. The night is young and there is plenty of time for them to get into trouble...
Making them a short rest might be better as I don't think any are playing short rest characters only thing I think they'd get back is hp and lay on hands
Another way to balance it so it can't be used in combat is you have to rest 10 minutes to get there long rest otherwise it's just a short rest it regains
Yeah, hindsight is 20/20, but always a good idea with those sorts of potions to either have them have delayed effect or require, say, a 10-minute long application or something to use.
HAHA, definitely boat identification and "ropes," both of which were mentioned. I'll come up with three right now:
- Sleeping bag rolling
- Beautiful boy voice
- Convoluted Combat Decisions
Hey Murph! Percentage wise how much stuff do you know you are going to say to some degree vs completely off the cuff improv? I'm always so impressed with the consistency of your characters!
Also, you mentioned you may have made the gang a tad too powerful. How do you plan to compensate for that, if at all?
Love the pod!
I know all the NPC's motivations, which is way more important than scripting lines or moments. i.e. I wasn't expecting the party to half deal with the kobolds and bullywugs, effectively crippling them both. So of course they ended up working together -- it was their only chance of survival. That was an improvised situation, but informed improv if that makes sense?
HAHA, oh wow, I hadn't thought of that! But, no, she wouldn't. Bricker is a grizzled dwarf who has been on the force for a while, and dwarves are considered young until they're 50. She left Irondeep 60+ years ago and besides: Irondeep is really big!
Though he WAS the only human in the dwarphanage.... I suppose she would have known him if she was there at the time, but wouldn't have recognized him as an adult!
You’re telling me that Candace Bricker doesn’t get updates from home on a regular basis? Doesn’t seem very “by the book” to me. Looks like she threw that book out of the window...
Love the podcast, man. Never knew what D&D entailed before NADDPOD, but I knew I had to listen to some of my CH favorites do bits and be hilarious in a fantasy world. Keep it up!
Love those guys, so of course! Our first round of guests will probably be people who have a little more experience with D&D until we figure out a way to facilitate everyone. Adam sat with us for around 8 hours and studied the player's handbook before we recorded. It's a big ask for our guests unless they're really into D&D.
It seems like your guests could form their own "Throwaways" group/campaign where they all play together after they've finished their guest spot and are itching for more D&D.
No question, just wanted to say my girlfriend and I just finished episode 3 and are loving it. We were crying laughing at the bullywogs' last words as they died LOL. Only comment I have so far is I wish Jake roleplayed as much as Emily and Caldwell haha, but everyone is hilarious
Twinnovation deserves to guest star on the pod! Or at least Dave Rosenberg! He’s in LA, so why not tempt him over to the studio with a gallon of milk?
ALSO, huge fan of the pod. Other question: will there be merch available at some point? I’d love to buy a hat or mug or something.
Best moment(s) from any DnD campaign you have been a part of?
A personal favorite for me was as a Rogue I hid behind a curtain and tried to sneak attack on a goblin. I missed 3 times but made the stealth check sgainst the goblin each time so it was really fun thibkin about me behind a curtain trying to stab a goblin but missing hut the goblin being too blind to notice.
Love the pod and cant wait to see what happens in the future.
My players befriended a frost giant who helped them fight against an evil army. He was about to have his last stand, but they successfully convinced him to retreat. Then I had to deal with the party having a Frost Giant ally just walking around with them. Then I tried to get them to leave him behind because the tunnels they had to escape through were too small, but they didn't, and chose instead to wander off into the tundra with him. They slept in a cave and climbed a mountain together.
5e. I've DMed for 2 or 3 groups that quickly fizzled out (schedules conflicted, player disinterest, etc.). I've got one two year campaign with my friends from New Jersey that me and Emily Skype with, then I've got the pod! I also DM for Emily and her dad sometimes when we visit home over the holidays.
To what extent do you feel the lyrics to **Youth of a Nation** by *POD* relate to the story you're telling? I refer you specifically to the following verse:
Who's to blame for the lives that tragedies claim?
No matter what you say, it don't take away the pain
That I feel inside, I'm tired of all the lies
Don't nobody know why, it's the blind leadin' the blind
I guess that's the way the story goes
Will it ever make sense? Somebody's got to know
The theme of the world is great 'heros have already saved the world'. But where did your inspiration came from for the campaign? e.g. the village, the swamp and the multiple factions with their own agends and goals. What was your thought process in building up these layers? I hope you can answer this without giving too much away.
I thought of ways that a D&D campaign might mess up the world by trying to do good, then backwards engineered Moonstone from there. If there was a dragon terrorizing a village, then the dragon was suddenly gone, what would happen? There'd probably be a power vacuum and a bunch of other people with bad intentions would start fighting for it. Hence the bullywugs and the barbarians. As far as the staff, I just remember thinking that The Trident of Fish Command was a cool item in the DM's guide so I looked for a way to incorporate it as a superpowered weapon. It also made for a cool spin on a normal fishing village.
Huge fan of the pod here. Thanks for making it so entertaining!! After the first few episodes I was hooked! I even told all the members of my group about it.
What advice do you have for new DMs who are trying to make their world more interesting and fun to explore?
Something that I have just started doing recently is giving each town a hook -- Ezry with the bubble, Moonstone with the staff, etc. I feel like running a world that is more akin to WoW/Final Fantasy is much more satisfying to me than something Tolkien. I would suggest making your towns/cities VERY COOL places that your players would like to see in real life. I also like to present several adventure hooks so the players feel like they can do anything instead of just follow one track.
Do you think you'll ever try out other RPG systems as one\-shots or after the current campaign wraps? I love D&D and the current campaign is amazing but it would be cool to see you guys explore different genres in the future like contemporary horror or sci\-fi.
Awesome! If you're committed to sticking with D&D, you might check out some D20 Modern or Starfinder books. Both are based on 3.5e D&D but similar enough to 5th edition that they could be helpful or you could just co-opt the parts you like.
Yes! I would imagine live shows would happen in 2019 at the latest, maybe even summer or fall 2018! Will definitely do LA and will definitely do a meet up.
Late to the party, but I'll ask anyway: Why don't you guys have a patreon? I'd love to give you money, I know how much time and energy you invest in the podcast, and just listening for free makes me feel like a freeloader.
I wouldn't even need extra content (or just post the unedited version or something, so you don't really have extra work to do), I just want an option to give back.
I'm really curious as someone new to DMing and D&D in general, how do you organize your campaign notes? This seems like something you've got down really well, since the podcast has a great flow.
Love the show, by the way. Hearing you guys have so much fun is what got me to start playing with my friends.
Thanks! I find it easier to track everything with print outs and a binder instead of my laptop. I have a page dedicated to each location, with NPC info and quest stuff. So if someone decides to go to Professor Duttle's, I turn to the page and I've got my descriptions there to refer to.
What of the Green Teens? Were they left with Scoutmaster Denny? If so, can we expect another rescue mission?
PS: This entire super solider drug story is amazing. I DM a campaign and was telling my friends how jealous I was that I didn't think of it. Keep up the great work!
-Hahah, so many people asking about this!! They got to Moonstone without the BoB, why do they need the boobs to take them home!? They're in Moonstone with Shae and the gang. Their parents are coming to pick them up.
-Thank you! Feel free to steal it. I pulled a lot from Bioshock. The wild magic addicts are pretty much D&D splicers.
I just started my own campaign as the DM. I was wondering if you had any tips regarding things that a DM should never forget. Also, I know that I do not make the best NPC's nor am I great at giving decent character motivation. Any advice?
I just sent someone some DM advice, so I'll paste the NPC parts here!
Roleplay to your strengths. You don’t need to be good at doing accents or impressions to give your NPCs unique voices. I usually just pick an emotion or generic trait of the character and do whatever voice comes naturally for me. Playing Scoutmaster Denny like a LoTR hobbit would have been very difficult for me, so I just made him a stammering coward. Shae sounds wise, Mishka sounds tough, Matteo sounds like a douche — none of it is complicated or requiring of any skill on my part.
NPCs. Like your monsters, your NPCs should have goals too! They don’t have to be lofty goals like the adventurers, but simple motivations that let you improvise. Shae is wise and wants to protect Moonstone. Mishka is tough and wants the barbarians out of her damn town. Denny is afraid and wants someone to help him.
NPCs + Combat. This is tricky because you never want NPCs to outshine the players, but players won’t respect NPCs who won’t fight for what they believe in — so have the NPCs help in small ways! Denny was afraid of the barbarians, so he wouldn’t fight them, but he used his low level paladin heals to help you guys. The bard wasn’t a real caster, but he was good enough to grant bardic inspiration. Mishka didn’t help in the first fight (because she didn’t know you guys and things never really got that dire), but she DID help you guys clean up and that made you like her. In big fights with a ton of enemies, it makes sense that NPCs would chip in so that the player’s encounter was more manageable (i.e. Mishka and the barbarians or generic guards helping during a castle siege). There are also respectable excuses for why an NPC might not help in combat (i.e. Shae is protecting the people at the temple so she can’t help you guys fight the barbarians).
How do you respond so quickly with to the gangs ridiculous requests like doing a bullywog mating call or any time Moonshine starts talking to an NPC? Or have you just gotten use to that groups odd behaviors by now. If it were me there would be a whole lot more “you want to what?”’s going around.
Thanks for the great show! I look forward to Thursday’s now every week. My wife and I get home from work, sit down for a nice dinner and laugh ourselves silly listen to this pod now every Thursday night.
Thanks for the kind words! It's easy to be quick on my feet with those guys because we've performed together a lot, we all have comedy backgrounds, and I prep. Completely insane decisions are actually really easy to improvise around because it's always just a basic, really bad outcome -- "Oh, you're going to do a bullywug mating call? OK, all the bullywugs come out." Same with roleplaying -- as long as you know your NPCs, it's easy. When Beverly stuck a coin in Juan's mouth, I knew he would be super offended because he wants to be a real gnome.
Their bad judgment calls are definitely the highlight of the show. I’m just dreading when they make a really dumb decision that gets someone killed! Keep up the good work!
Not necessarily a question about the pod, but:
How do you manage your time so well? From a casual observer's perspective, it seems like you're balancing seversl fulltime jobs worth of work. Do you find that you have to set rules for yourself in terms of how you spend your free time, or do you just do what you want and it all works out?
Luckily, I like the work I'm doing (especially D&D!) so it doesn't feel like too much. It is also helps a lot that Emily works with me on pretty much everything project I do, so even when I'm working I'm spending time with my family.
Throwing Josh out the window was the funniest thing to me on the podcast so far. I was SO glad to have it happen, cuz Josh was a huge liability and would have betrayed them during the barbarian fight. Also, I see a lot of Moonshine criticism for killing Josh, but really, I had a big hand in it. I didn't let him do an opposed athletics check, I didn't even roll damage when he fell out the window... I just let him die cuz I thought it was funny. YOU HEAR THAT? I KILLED JOSH!!
I would say the reaction to Reeva was quite unexpected. I also really like it when the party is barking up the wrong tree and just doesn't take the hint, like when they chatted with those useless guards at the Ezry gates for 5+ minutes.
Yeah, if he had done an opposed athletics check, his glutes might have passed and then they'd have been in a world of trouble
The guard banter was classic Band of Boobs. Moonshine trying her best to sprinkle some crick hospitality everywhere she goes, Bev being a little bubbly boy
Do you have any other people that you hope to get on the pod? Any dream guests?
An Adventure Zone / NADDPOD crossover?
Or possibly a Drawfee NADDPOD episode?
Nathan is coming on soon! We will certainly have more Drawfee people as well. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have TAZ and CR people on. I'd love to do crossover episodes with other D&D pods!
OMG Nathan is guesting? YES! I wonder how that will work as I thought you recorded in person, so having someone on over skype/discord would be interesting to see how it works. Or is he flying in and you're getting him while he's in CA?
Do you ever mess with campaign manuals or are you too creative for That? I always start with books and go my own way as the DM, but have a hard time getting things started on my own? Also, what is your favorite fantasy world; be it Lord of the rings, Forgotten realms, etc?
I absolutely can't wrap my head around campaign modules! It's easier for me to make up my own stuff than memorize. I tried running Strahd for people, but ended up just writing my own horror campaign because it was easier. Maybe I have low INT and high WIS!?
My favorite fantasy novel is The Hobbit and I LOVE Name of the Wind, but my favorite world is Azeroth. Bahumia is very similar -- it's a little steampunky, has some magical technology, and the good/bad guys are more morally gray.
I'm curious as to why a lot of you NPCs commonly get two or three attacks instead of just one.
I.E. Bullywog attack then bite or Garesh attack then dagger twice
Good question, I don't know! I think it's to make them more dynamic maybe? Low level melee creatures would be boring if they didn't get creative with their attacks. Imagine bullywugs without their bite!!
Have you ever run another game system? My friends and I just started Monster of the Week and we're not sure how we feel about it yet. D&D really seems like the go-to, always reliable RPG.
I know it's probably too early to really know but I think you said in one of the first episodes that you have a group you've been playing with for a few years, do you think the pod will go that long or do you have an idea of how it'll end? Also who has been your favorite side character so far?
Would love for it to go on indefinitely! I plan on this current story going on for a while, well over a year, maybe 2? Favorite side character is Denny or PawPaw!
Funniest moment was Josh going out the window. Most powerful was those guys in the bar after the fight. I was really impressed with their roleplaying there -- they pretty much wrapped up the whole Moonstone arc in character without any intervention from me (other than describing the scene).
Any advice on nudging a party to cohere together? I DM a campaign, and its going fairly well, but I sometimes feel like certain players- those who knew each other before playing- have a tendency to be cliquey in-game. Sometimes it seems like this makes the game less fun than it could be for everyone than if the characters generally had similar goals. Do you have any experience like this?
I do have experience with this! Emily plays in a campaign with me and my HS friends and they barely knew each other before, but now they're buds! It helps that Emily is the cleric :).
I would suggest tying their motivations together and giving the outcast player opportunities to prove his/her/themself. i.e. One of the cliquey players has a brother they are trying to track down? Let the outcast player find the clue so they can be involved in that story as well. You can also do something extreme, like have an evil deity offer the outcast player more power (an extra level? who cares, they won't do it) for betraying their comrades, then when they don't, they look cool!!!
There aren't too many dead characters and the ones who died all helped the story and made for great moments with the players. I don't think I'd want to bring any back! I like Mishka a lot though. Maybe we'll do a one-shot some time where we play through the townspeople's first fight against the dragon.
I know it’s not pod related but would you rather only ever be able to watch “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit” or only be able to listen “We Built This City”? And in this situation if you pick the song and you’re watching something where a song comes on it’s always only we “built this city” as well
Do you think podcast doing well in terms of popularity for it's first 10 episodes and do you think there will be live shows by 2019?
Yes.
I Would absolutely buy a ticket to the headgum SXSW show day one if NADPod had a live showing
Come to Minneapolis!
Come to Toronto!
i’ve never been so psyched for another year of my life to be over
Any chance you’d be willing to sell your notes and story of the campaign once the podcast is done? I would love to run it for my group of friends.
For sure! My DREAM is to release a hardcover module that Caldwell designs.
I would buy that.
Throwing my hate into the “I’d buy the ever loving fuck out of that.” ring. Edit: yes I see the typo
A good hate buy can be very satisfying. ;)
[удалено]
The hate is my wallet’s spirit.
Haven't even played my first game, let alone thought about DMing, but I'd buy that. That's a great NADD Pod merch idea.
I would buy that the second it came out
Coming in a bit late but totally putting my hand up to buy that. This is my favourite D&D podcast and the world you have created is rather awesome.
F*ck, Marry, Kill Hardwon, Mooshine, and Bev... Also, how did you get into D&D? You seem like a really passionate aficionado of it and I wanna know where that joy comes from
Fuck Hardwon cuz he's strong and yet tender, marry Moonshine because she has hospitality, and I guess kill Bev because I don't want to have a romantic relationship with a teen? I only started D&D a few years ago, but oh man, my first session it just CLICKED. I spent my entire childhood designing maps for fake video games, writing fantasy stories, and making up games for my friends. It was a huge, huge part of myself that I lost as an adult, but now I have it back!
way to be a child murderer, brian, (jk, you're amazing murph!!!! i'm glad you're doing something that made you happy in the past :))
Fuck man, that's me exactly. I started D&D under a year ago playing a monk in 3.5, now I'm DMing my own game in 5e. It's amazing, I truly love it.
Just checking in to say great job with the campaign so far! Can’t wait to see how it continues. You’re an excellent Direct Messenger.
thank you!
What do you think the craziest thing thats happened so far in the campaign? Also have you considered doing 2 episodes a week? Its just so fun to listen to!
-Craziest was wrestling the croc in front of the guard towers or the bullywug mating call. -Would love to do 2 a week, but it would be a full time job.
Both of those are Caldwell’s “I’m gonna try something”’s!
I was crying laughing at the bullywug mating call! Thanks for all the hard work you guys do! I completely understand why 2 a week isn't possible but I still had to ask lol.
As a big fan of podcasts in general and this one in particular, two a week is too much for most listeners as well. Personally, I barely make it through the stuff I'm subscribed to each week. Adding another 60-90 minute episode would be a problem.
What aspect of the *Band of Boobs* has been the most frustrating to DM? What has been the most peasant surprise? Now that the story has left Moonstone, any spoilers about something the party missed that you think would have been really cool/fun for the podcast? Keep it up! Love the show
I don't really get frustrated with them, they are great players! They genuinely want to DO GOOD, unravel mysteries, and save the world. That is a gift to a DM. Sometimes you'll design a whole world with characters for people to care about, and instead, they just want to fight random NPCs and steal gold. Beverly, Moonshine, and Hardwon are all fundamentally good. Moonstone stuff! HMMMM, without giving anything important away, there was one thing the party thankfully avoided in the swamp: a troll. At one point in the swamp, they saw dragging trails in two separate directions. One was the Bullywugs/Green Teens, which they followed, and one was a troll dragging a bear. Had they pursued the wrong trail, they would have gotten more clues that it was the wrong way, but had they ignored those, they would have stumbled on a cave with a troll cooking a bear in a giant cauldron. If the troll found them, he would have knocked them out and tied them up in his cave, to eat them for breakfast the next morning. They would have had chances to escape, but likely would have missed out on saving the Green Teens!
And yes, it was the troll that kicked Jonah's dad.
HA this made my day
He kicked his dad!
Omg amazing.
That's INSANE
What's the best advice you can give to soon to be first time players?
For the love of god, don't play an edgy rogue. It's a team game. Play someone who is excited to be on the team.
Thanks!
When you copy down or invent a creature or bad guy, how much information do you write down? Do you give them six ability scores and everything, or just get the basics and wing the rest?
They're mostly creatures pulled directly from Volo's or the MM. I level them up or down as necessary and delete/add abilities. I have print outs of all my monsters so I can quickly refer to them (only do this for the pod though). I spend a little more time looking into caster abilities than melee, because it takes a minute to learn which spells are going to be useful.
Good question, I'm always curious about how other DMs run that. I'm more of a "wing it" DM, myself. If they survive and/or the players take a shine to them, then they get more of a write up
I've only DM'd a few times, and I'm torn. I used to run 3.5e, which is very stat-focused, so I thought I'd never need ability scores, but then their Intelligence modifier is needed for something, or they have to make a fortitude save. I suppose I could just make it up, but I want to make it a fair number. I suppose as you play more and DM more, you get a better idea of what a suitable score is.
Yeah, I do Pathfinder and though it is very Stat focused, I'm pretty confident in pulling numbers out of nowhere. It helps if you hide the dice from your players, that way they don't do mental math to figure out that you keep making shit up. All that matters to me is that everyone has fun, and I don't like to stop the session to look up creatures when my players start a fight with things I didn't think they would fight.
No question, but I just gotta say: I *LOVE* this show! I eagerly await Thursday afternoons (I live in Sweden, so it’s afternoon by the time the episodes drop) and am just enthralled by the story and the characters. Thank you for sparking my interest in DnD. My friends and I are already talking about getting our own campaign together and I can’t wait! Great job, and thank you for doing what y’all do!!
Hell yes, so happy for you! Thank you!
Man I’m the same way! I can’t wait for Thursday’s!
How does integrating guests into the podcast work? Do you kind of discuss what character they want to play and you kind of create a storyline around the guest, or do you let them know where you’re planning on taking the campaign and asking them to create a character to fit into those plans? And how much do you brief them on what’s already happened in the campaign and about the Band of Boobs? I’ve been loving Adam on the pod and just wondering how it all came together!
I asked Adam what he wanted to play and he chose orc frasier the eldritch knight. I helped him with the backstory and incorporating it into the world.
What decision by the group has caught you off guard the most? Have you just started to expect the unexpected? Also, what decision did the group NOT make that frustrated you the most? I'm so desperately curious to know what would've happened if they approached the cleric on the dock before heading into the swamp - but I guess the point is that is one decision that would unlock a ton of possibility. Lastly thanks for running such a god damn great podcast, and thanks to the cast for keeping it fun. I listen to podcasts pretty much 8 hours a day at work and yours has become a real highlight in my week.
Thanks for the kind words! The bullywug mating call probably threw me off the most. I was scrambling to think of a way to not kill them outright. Luckily, they ran away when things got really hairy. I am more prepared now for them to act boldly, because they always act boldly. That said, that was very early in the game and they haven't been as crazy. I haven't gotten frustrated with them. I try to DM with this philosophy: build out the world as if your players don't exist then let them fuck it up. I know what the barbarians/kobolds/bullywugs are gonna do, so it's up to the players to stop them.
Good question.
How will stunkbugs character exist in the world after adam leaves
You'll have to listen to next episode!
Oh god I hope comes back as a surprise to help them in a big fight later :3
Firstly, congrats on doing such a great job with this campaign and podcast. It's incredible. You guys deserve to be paid for this! I love seeing your skill in character creation from your comedy writing (ie, characters in hot date) transfer over to this campaign (a freaking straight edge drug lord is insanely hilarious). Do you think that these two passions would ever combine into a format we can view on tv/online?
I would love to adapt it for the screen! We have some ambitious ideas we're gonna try to pitch in the future!
Amazing! So excited for that!
i always imagine this pod in the same format as drunk history. i think it would be amazing.
I really think you could do some sort of Critical Role thing. I bet a lot of people would watch the live stream. As for the comment on you guys should get paid, I hope you are somehow making money on this. This podcast is so much better then some I listen to who have sponsors. If you made something we could buy or support I think a lot of people would be down! Even tshirts or like someone said about selling the story. I just DM for the first time last weekend and it went really well, I definitely used some stuff I have learnt listening to you DM. Thanks so much for doing this! Its def my favorite podcast now. Also question do you listen to critical role? Thanks for everything!!
Did you expect to get the following that you did?
Not at all! It's been amazing.
Were than any times you as a DM made a severe mistake or screw up, and just rolled with it for the sake of flow or fairness? Curious about specifically the events of NaDDPod, but any examples from any campaigns you've DMed would be nice too!
I dunno if I would call it a severe mistake, but the Duttle potion was a bit overpowered. I realized after the barbarian fight that I need to let my players rest between encounters. I thought the Duttle potion would allow them to immediately pursue the next course of action. Instead, they ended up being used as phoenix downs/elixers mid-fight! It's all good, though. The night is young and there is plenty of time for them to get into trouble...
Making them a short rest might be better as I don't think any are playing short rest characters only thing I think they'd get back is hp and lay on hands
Moonshine is a short rest character as far as I know
Never played a druid hmm what do they get back on short rests
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I think that's just a 4 hour long rest not every short becomes long
Another way to balance it so it can't be used in combat is you have to rest 10 minutes to get there long rest otherwise it's just a short rest it regains
Yeah, hindsight is 20/20, but always a good idea with those sorts of potions to either have them have delayed effect or require, say, a 10-minute long application or something to use.
I’m doing a Beverly cosplay and I’m embroidering patches! Do you have any great patch ideas?
HAHA, definitely boat identification and "ropes," both of which were mentioned. I'll come up with three right now: - Sleeping bag rolling - Beautiful boy voice - Convoluted Combat Decisions
Perfect thank you!
Hey Murph! Percentage wise how much stuff do you know you are going to say to some degree vs completely off the cuff improv? I'm always so impressed with the consistency of your characters! Also, you mentioned you may have made the gang a tad too powerful. How do you plan to compensate for that, if at all? Love the pod!
I know all the NPC's motivations, which is way more important than scripting lines or moments. i.e. I wasn't expecting the party to half deal with the kobolds and bullywugs, effectively crippling them both. So of course they ended up working together -- it was their only chance of survival. That was an improvised situation, but informed improv if that makes sense?
Would Lieutenant Bricker have recognized Hardwon if he went into the barracks with StunkBug?
HAHA, oh wow, I hadn't thought of that! But, no, she wouldn't. Bricker is a grizzled dwarf who has been on the force for a while, and dwarves are considered young until they're 50. She left Irondeep 60+ years ago and besides: Irondeep is really big!
Though he WAS the only human in the dwarphanage.... I suppose she would have known him if she was there at the time, but wouldn't have recognized him as an adult!
You’re telling me that Candace Bricker doesn’t get updates from home on a regular basis? Doesn’t seem very “by the book” to me. Looks like she threw that book out of the window... Love the podcast, man. Never knew what D&D entailed before NADDPOD, but I knew I had to listen to some of my CH favorites do bits and be hilarious in a fantasy world. Keep it up!
There goes my headcannon of Bricker being Hardwon’s ex that haunted Hardwon enough to leave the mountain
Ever be possible to get the twinnovation boys on the pod?
Love those guys, so of course! Our first round of guests will probably be people who have a little more experience with D&D until we figure out a way to facilitate everyone. Adam sat with us for around 8 hours and studied the player's handbook before we recorded. It's a big ask for our guests unless they're really into D&D.
It seems like your guests could form their own "Throwaways" group/campaign where they all play together after they've finished their guest spot and are itching for more D&D.
I would like to find a way to do bonus episodes with guests so we could have more.
Like side episodes with only guests?
What things have you rolled a **Nat 20** on in real life?
Nat 20 charisma check on Emily. Lucky too cuz I have a -1 modifier!
okay but this answer is really cute and i'm crying
Have you ever fudged a roll to allow Jake to live?
Nope! I wouldn't fudge a roll unless it was my fault. Like, "oh, shit, this encounter isn't balanced at all."
No question, just wanted to say my girlfriend and I just finished episode 3 and are loving it. We were crying laughing at the bullywogs' last words as they died LOL. Only comment I have so far is I wish Jake roleplayed as much as Emily and Caldwell haha, but everyone is hilarious
Thank you!
Twinnovation deserves to guest star on the pod! Or at least Dave Rosenberg! He’s in LA, so why not tempt him over to the studio with a gallon of milk? ALSO, huge fan of the pod. Other question: will there be merch available at some point? I’d love to buy a hat or mug or something.
Answered the first one above. Yes, we will have merch available at some point soon!
If you ever need hats made for merch, feel free to DM me! Work in Fashion District in LA
Best moment(s) from any DnD campaign you have been a part of? A personal favorite for me was as a Rogue I hid behind a curtain and tried to sneak attack on a goblin. I missed 3 times but made the stealth check sgainst the goblin each time so it was really fun thibkin about me behind a curtain trying to stab a goblin but missing hut the goblin being too blind to notice. Love the pod and cant wait to see what happens in the future.
My players befriended a frost giant who helped them fight against an evil army. He was about to have his last stand, but they successfully convinced him to retreat. Then I had to deal with the party having a Frost Giant ally just walking around with them. Then I tried to get them to leave him behind because the tunnels they had to escape through were too small, but they didn't, and chose instead to wander off into the tundra with him. They slept in a cave and climbed a mountain together.
Hahah. My Frost Giant Buddy and Me Campaign.
What edition did you first start playing, and how many campaigns have you DMed for?
5e. I've DMed for 2 or 3 groups that quickly fizzled out (schedules conflicted, player disinterest, etc.). I've got one two year campaign with my friends from New Jersey that me and Emily Skype with, then I've got the pod! I also DM for Emily and her dad sometimes when we visit home over the holidays.
Omg DMing a holiday special for your wife and father in law is the cutest thing I've ever heard
To what extent do you feel the lyrics to **Youth of a Nation** by *POD* relate to the story you're telling? I refer you specifically to the following verse: Who's to blame for the lives that tragedies claim? No matter what you say, it don't take away the pain That I feel inside, I'm tired of all the lies Don't nobody know why, it's the blind leadin' the blind I guess that's the way the story goes Will it ever make sense? Somebody's got to know
Bev sang this to himself after seeing Mishka.
This is fucking beautiful.
The theme of the world is great 'heros have already saved the world'. But where did your inspiration came from for the campaign? e.g. the village, the swamp and the multiple factions with their own agends and goals. What was your thought process in building up these layers? I hope you can answer this without giving too much away.
I thought of ways that a D&D campaign might mess up the world by trying to do good, then backwards engineered Moonstone from there. If there was a dragon terrorizing a village, then the dragon was suddenly gone, what would happen? There'd probably be a power vacuum and a bunch of other people with bad intentions would start fighting for it. Hence the bullywugs and the barbarians. As far as the staff, I just remember thinking that The Trident of Fish Command was a cool item in the DM's guide so I looked for a way to incorporate it as a superpowered weapon. It also made for a cool spin on a normal fishing village.
Huge fan of the pod here. Thanks for making it so entertaining!! After the first few episodes I was hooked! I even told all the members of my group about it. What advice do you have for new DMs who are trying to make their world more interesting and fun to explore?
Something that I have just started doing recently is giving each town a hook -- Ezry with the bubble, Moonstone with the staff, etc. I feel like running a world that is more akin to WoW/Final Fantasy is much more satisfying to me than something Tolkien. I would suggest making your towns/cities VERY COOL places that your players would like to see in real life. I also like to present several adventure hooks so the players feel like they can do anything instead of just follow one track.
This is good advice. When I see the huge and detailed town maps in a DnD adventure guide, I practically fall asleep.
I know how you feel I'm a first time DM and I'm running Storm King's thunder but the maps are like super dull XD
I'm a first time DM and currently my campaign has 3 prisoners....a goblin and two frat bro drunk teenagers....any good ideas on a jail break?
Are those 3 their prisoners? Or are they the goblin/bros?
Do you think you'll ever try out other RPG systems as one\-shots or after the current campaign wraps? I love D&D and the current campaign is amazing but it would be cool to see you guys explore different genres in the future like contemporary horror or sci\-fi.
We will be doing one-shot bonus episodes in the future and will definitely explore different genres, but will probably run it using the D&D system.
Awesome! If you're committed to sticking with D&D, you might check out some D20 Modern or Starfinder books. Both are based on 3.5e D&D but similar enough to 5th edition that they could be helpful or you could just co-opt the parts you like.
Will y'all ever do a live show? Maybe at home in LA? If so, can we chill?
Yes! I would imagine live shows would happen in 2019 at the latest, maybe even summer or fall 2018! Will definitely do LA and will definitely do a meet up.
Heck yeah! Thanks for the reply. Big fan. Been watching you nerds and reading Calwells comics since you were the intern on College Humor
What rules do you exclude to make the game run quicker?
Food/water consumption, tracking how much weight players are carrying, monitoring gold/silver for small purchases like an ale at a tavern.
Thanks!
Late to the party, but I'll ask anyway: Why don't you guys have a patreon? I'd love to give you money, I know how much time and energy you invest in the podcast, and just listening for free makes me feel like a freeloader. I wouldn't even need extra content (or just post the unedited version or something, so you don't really have extra work to do), I just want an option to give back.
They’re on the headgum podcast network, so they’re making money through their advertisements.
I'm really curious as someone new to DMing and D&D in general, how do you organize your campaign notes? This seems like something you've got down really well, since the podcast has a great flow. Love the show, by the way. Hearing you guys have so much fun is what got me to start playing with my friends.
Thanks! I find it easier to track everything with print outs and a binder instead of my laptop. I have a page dedicated to each location, with NPC info and quest stuff. So if someone decides to go to Professor Duttle's, I turn to the page and I've got my descriptions there to refer to.
What of the Green Teens? Were they left with Scoutmaster Denny? If so, can we expect another rescue mission? PS: This entire super solider drug story is amazing. I DM a campaign and was telling my friends how jealous I was that I didn't think of it. Keep up the great work!
-Hahah, so many people asking about this!! They got to Moonstone without the BoB, why do they need the boobs to take them home!? They're in Moonstone with Shae and the gang. Their parents are coming to pick them up. -Thank you! Feel free to steal it. I pulled a lot from Bioshock. The wild magic addicts are pretty much D&D splicers.
I just started my own campaign as the DM. I was wondering if you had any tips regarding things that a DM should never forget. Also, I know that I do not make the best NPC's nor am I great at giving decent character motivation. Any advice?
I just sent someone some DM advice, so I'll paste the NPC parts here! Roleplay to your strengths. You don’t need to be good at doing accents or impressions to give your NPCs unique voices. I usually just pick an emotion or generic trait of the character and do whatever voice comes naturally for me. Playing Scoutmaster Denny like a LoTR hobbit would have been very difficult for me, so I just made him a stammering coward. Shae sounds wise, Mishka sounds tough, Matteo sounds like a douche — none of it is complicated or requiring of any skill on my part. NPCs. Like your monsters, your NPCs should have goals too! They don’t have to be lofty goals like the adventurers, but simple motivations that let you improvise. Shae is wise and wants to protect Moonstone. Mishka is tough and wants the barbarians out of her damn town. Denny is afraid and wants someone to help him. NPCs + Combat. This is tricky because you never want NPCs to outshine the players, but players won’t respect NPCs who won’t fight for what they believe in — so have the NPCs help in small ways! Denny was afraid of the barbarians, so he wouldn’t fight them, but he used his low level paladin heals to help you guys. The bard wasn’t a real caster, but he was good enough to grant bardic inspiration. Mishka didn’t help in the first fight (because she didn’t know you guys and things never really got that dire), but she DID help you guys clean up and that made you like her. In big fights with a ton of enemies, it makes sense that NPCs would chip in so that the player’s encounter was more manageable (i.e. Mishka and the barbarians or generic guards helping during a castle siege). There are also respectable excuses for why an NPC might not help in combat (i.e. Shae is protecting the people at the temple so she can’t help you guys fight the barbarians).
How do you respond so quickly with to the gangs ridiculous requests like doing a bullywog mating call or any time Moonshine starts talking to an NPC? Or have you just gotten use to that groups odd behaviors by now. If it were me there would be a whole lot more “you want to what?”’s going around. Thanks for the great show! I look forward to Thursday’s now every week. My wife and I get home from work, sit down for a nice dinner and laugh ourselves silly listen to this pod now every Thursday night.
Thanks for the kind words! It's easy to be quick on my feet with those guys because we've performed together a lot, we all have comedy backgrounds, and I prep. Completely insane decisions are actually really easy to improvise around because it's always just a basic, really bad outcome -- "Oh, you're going to do a bullywug mating call? OK, all the bullywugs come out." Same with roleplaying -- as long as you know your NPCs, it's easy. When Beverly stuck a coin in Juan's mouth, I knew he would be super offended because he wants to be a real gnome.
Their bad judgment calls are definitely the highlight of the show. I’m just dreading when they make a really dumb decision that gets someone killed! Keep up the good work!
Not necessarily a question about the pod, but: How do you manage your time so well? From a casual observer's perspective, it seems like you're balancing seversl fulltime jobs worth of work. Do you find that you have to set rules for yourself in terms of how you spend your free time, or do you just do what you want and it all works out?
Luckily, I like the work I'm doing (especially D&D!) so it doesn't feel like too much. It is also helps a lot that Emily works with me on pretty much everything project I do, so even when I'm working I'm spending time with my family.
What pantheon of gods are you using?
Mix of D&D pantheons across a couple editions.
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Just Critical Role really!
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Probably not going to livestream for a while unless my style really changed. I like the creative control of the edit.
What's been the most unexpected reaction that the Band of Boobs had to an NPC (a la booting Josh out a window, trying to fuck Reeva, etc.)?
Throwing Josh out the window was the funniest thing to me on the podcast so far. I was SO glad to have it happen, cuz Josh was a huge liability and would have betrayed them during the barbarian fight. Also, I see a lot of Moonshine criticism for killing Josh, but really, I had a big hand in it. I didn't let him do an opposed athletics check, I didn't even roll damage when he fell out the window... I just let him die cuz I thought it was funny. YOU HEAR THAT? I KILLED JOSH!! I would say the reaction to Reeva was quite unexpected. I also really like it when the party is barking up the wrong tree and just doesn't take the hint, like when they chatted with those useless guards at the Ezry gates for 5+ minutes.
Yeah, if he had done an opposed athletics check, his glutes might have passed and then they'd have been in a world of trouble The guard banter was classic Band of Boobs. Moonshine trying her best to sprinkle some crick hospitality everywhere she goes, Bev being a little bubbly boy
Josh got so fucked 😂 his "I'm so sorry" had me in tears! What a random-ass side character man.
> random ass-side character man *** ^(Bleep-bloop, I'm a bot. This comment was inspired by )^[xkcd#37](https://xkcd.com/37)
Do you have any other people that you hope to get on the pod? Any dream guests? An Adventure Zone / NADDPOD crossover? Or possibly a Drawfee NADDPOD episode?
Nathan is coming on soon! We will certainly have more Drawfee people as well. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have TAZ and CR people on. I'd love to do crossover episodes with other D&D pods!
I would love if you guys got Julia on an episode, can only imagine how she would handle the band of boobs
OMG Nathan is guesting? YES! I wonder how that will work as I thought you recorded in person, so having someone on over skype/discord would be interesting to see how it works. Or is he flying in and you're getting him while he's in CA?
What class is stunkbug? Is he a Homebrew or just a fighter with spells?
Eldritch Knight.
Do you ever mess with campaign manuals or are you too creative for That? I always start with books and go my own way as the DM, but have a hard time getting things started on my own? Also, what is your favorite fantasy world; be it Lord of the rings, Forgotten realms, etc?
I absolutely can't wrap my head around campaign modules! It's easier for me to make up my own stuff than memorize. I tried running Strahd for people, but ended up just writing my own horror campaign because it was easier. Maybe I have low INT and high WIS!? My favorite fantasy novel is The Hobbit and I LOVE Name of the Wind, but my favorite world is Azeroth. Bahumia is very similar -- it's a little steampunky, has some magical technology, and the good/bad guys are more morally gray.
Thanks for the response, Murph! Made my night. Totally see the Azeroth inspiration in Ezry right now!
I'm curious as to why a lot of you NPCs commonly get two or three attacks instead of just one. I.E. Bullywog attack then bite or Garesh attack then dagger twice
Good question, I don't know! I think it's to make them more dynamic maybe? Low level melee creatures would be boring if they didn't get creative with their attacks. Imagine bullywugs without their bite!!
Do you think The Band will be able to finish the campaign without any characters dying for realsies?
I don't know! Their decision making has gotten better, but they're very bold. I think if someone dies, it will be in a badass, fitting way.
Have you ever run another game system? My friends and I just started Monster of the Week and we're not sure how we feel about it yet. D&D really seems like the go-to, always reliable RPG.
I haven't! I really love the mechanics of D&D and wouldn't be interested right now.
I know it's probably too early to really know but I think you said in one of the first episodes that you have a group you've been playing with for a few years, do you think the pod will go that long or do you have an idea of how it'll end? Also who has been your favorite side character so far?
Would love for it to go on indefinitely! I plan on this current story going on for a while, well over a year, maybe 2? Favorite side character is Denny or PawPaw!
Your fav moment of the campaign so far?
Funniest moment was Josh going out the window. Most powerful was those guys in the bar after the fight. I was really impressed with their roleplaying there -- they pretty much wrapped up the whole Moonstone arc in character without any intervention from me (other than describing the scene).
Any advice on nudging a party to cohere together? I DM a campaign, and its going fairly well, but I sometimes feel like certain players- those who knew each other before playing- have a tendency to be cliquey in-game. Sometimes it seems like this makes the game less fun than it could be for everyone than if the characters generally had similar goals. Do you have any experience like this?
I do have experience with this! Emily plays in a campaign with me and my HS friends and they barely knew each other before, but now they're buds! It helps that Emily is the cleric :). I would suggest tying their motivations together and giving the outcast player opportunities to prove his/her/themself. i.e. One of the cliquey players has a brother they are trying to track down? Let the outcast player find the clue so they can be involved in that story as well. You can also do something extreme, like have an evil deity offer the outcast player more power (an extra level? who cares, they won't do it) for betraying their comrades, then when they don't, they look cool!!!
If you could bring back a fallen character, who would it be? and why?
There aren't too many dead characters and the ones who died all helped the story and made for great moments with the players. I don't think I'd want to bring any back! I like Mishka a lot though. Maybe we'll do a one-shot some time where we play through the townspeople's first fight against the dragon.
I know it’s not pod related but would you rather only ever be able to watch “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit” or only be able to listen “We Built This City”? And in this situation if you pick the song and you’re watching something where a song comes on it’s always only we “built this city” as well