Mastering Dungeons

Episode 285 of Mastering Dungeons!

Main topic: Best of Out of the Abyss!

Out of the Abyss may be one of the finest Underdark sourcebooks D&D has created… and it’s also an adventure! See what really shines in Out of the Abyss.

News: We Try D&D Beyond’s Quickbuilder, Colbert Helms Lord of the Rings, Cookie Brigade’s History, and more! 

Contents
00:00 Teos Has a Sad
01:30 Elemental Evil Update
03:13 Indonesia RPG Scene Update
05:04 Fantasy Properties Into Games?
07:46 Quality of D&D Reviews?
13:48 What Makes Great Adventures
14:50 Starter Set Localized in EU
15:56 D&D Beyond Character Quickbuilder
17:47 Stephen Colbert Writing LotR Movie
19:27 Survey on Tabletop Designer AI Use
22:13 New Dragonlance War Wizards Novel
23:22 History of the Cookie Brigade
24:32 Tatters of Myth Drannor
25:15 Best of Out of the Abyss
26:11 Product History
32:41 Premise and Approach
35:54 Chapter 1: Prisoners of the Drow
42:55 Chapter 2 as Underdark Sourcebook
46:07 The Darklake and Kuo-Toa
49:01 The Instigating Plot
51:28 Gracklstugh, Neverlight Grove, Blindengstone
56:08 Escaping the Underdark to Go Back In
59:36 Mantol-Derith and Fraz-Urb'luu
01:04:42 Gravenhollow and Establishing Facts
01:08:32 Vizeran and His Plan
01:11:23 Wormwrithings and Faction Play
01:14:46 The Fettid Wedding
01:16:55 Against the Demon Lords
01:20:25 Appendices
01:22:27 Looking Back on Its Ranking
01:26:47 Shout-Outs
01:31:52 What Are We Gonna Do?

Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ 

Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

Shawn and Teos Do Things For the First Time!

Welcome to a special edition show, modeled after YouTube's increasingly hard-to-attain quality standards.

Contents
00:00 First Read of ToEE!
00:26 First Time Rolling Dice
01:08 First Time Seeing 5.5

Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ 

Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

Episode 284 of Mastering Dungeons!

Main topic: Best of Temple of Elemental Evil!

Shawn and Teos dive into the classic Temple of Elemental Evil, inspiring countless spinoffs including 5E’s Princes of the Apocalypse. From elemental factions to demigods, we look at the best of this design.

News: D&D Greyhawk Announcements, Codex Pricing Reveal, Modules Returning, RPG Growth in Indonesia and Iraq, and more! 

Contents
00:00 Sweetest 16
01:22 5E Monsters Either Boring or Deadly?
08:56 Struggling with Prep?
15:18 New D&D Survey
16:40 D&D News from GaryCon
26:51 MCDM Codex Pricing
28:28 Indonesia's Tabletop Scene
30:58 RPG Community in Iraq
33:16 Origins Game Finalists
35:01 D&D Provides Critical Awakening
36:46 Trading Card Manipulation
39:05 Green Games Guide
39:36 Pirate Borg Winds of Hell
40:07 Black Ballad for Shadowdark
40:43 Temple of Elemental Evil
42:12 An Often-Played Classic
44:53 Origins of Elemental Evil?
49:55 Temple's History
54:49 Temple's Legacy
56:51 Hommlet as Innovation
01:01:21 The Moathouse
01:04:25 Cults and Imprisoned Zuggtmoy
01:10:25 Lessons in Boxed Text
01:12:46 Map Booklet
01:13:51 Resting and Travel
01:15:40 Elemental Evil Factions
01:17:58 Interesting Dungeon
01:20:27 Shout-Outs
01:23:46 What Are We Gonna Do?

Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ 

Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

Episode 283 of Mastering Dungeons!

Main topic: D&D Encounters Program with Chris Tulach!

Chris Tulach, organized play manager for D&D, shares how the revised D&D Encounters program will work for stores and home play, including the upcoming celebration event! Chris also discusses the latest with Adventurers League and Legends of Greyhawk.

News: No Tariff Lawsuits, NeoPets Withdraws License, Chris Cocks Interview, Codenames Critical Role, and more! 

Contents
00:00 Intro
01:40 Monster Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities?
11:35 Fair Stat Block Manipulation?
17:44 Tariffs Don't Require Lawsuits
21:49 D&D HeroClix
23:26 Hasbro's CEO on AI
29:15 NeoPets Withdraws License
33:15 20 Years of Kobold Press
35:05 D&D Reverse Dungeon Comic
36:02 Codenames Critical Role
38:22 Beyond the Silt Sea Annatan Coast
40:02 D&D Encounters with Chris Tulach
40:29 Chris' Path Through Organized Play
47:53 Longest Org Play Tenure
49:27 Goal of Organized Play
51:41 Measuring Benefits
54:52 Why D&D Encounters Rocked
01:04:37 D&D Encounters in 2026
01:06:32 Celebration Kick-Off Event
01:07:45 Seasons and D&D Encounters Timing
01:12:45 Encounters Through D&D Beyond
01:16:27 Working With Stores
01:17:48 Seasonal Cadence
01:20:02 WPN Store Incentives
01:23:37 Adventurers League
01:26:18 Legends of Greyhawk
01:32:55 Organized Play Options
01:37:06 AL and LoG Seasonality
01:39:22 Follow Chris Tulach!
01:42:31 Shout-Outs
01:46:32 What Are We Gonna Do?

Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ 

Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

Episode 282 of Mastering Dungeons!

Main topic: Matt Colville Blows Our Minds on MCDM and the TTRPG Industry!

Matt Colville is here to absolutely blow our minds on how MCDM operates, how it pays, how it has worked to reach an audience, and what the rest of the industry might learn from that!

News: D&D’s New Seasonal Roadmap, Is it Really 5.5, New D&D Website, What is Season of Champions, and more!

Contents
00:00 Go Broncos!
02:03 Making Someone's Idea Ours?
10:52 Our Favorite Projects?
15:56 D&D's 2026 Roadmap!
17:11 Season of Horror and Ravenloft
21:16 Season of Magic and Arcana Unleashed
26:19 Season of Champions
27:33 Other Roadmap Items
30:32 D&D 2024 is 5.5 Maybe?
38:45 New D&D Website
40:48 D&D Beyond Q2 Partner Schedule
41:28 Creating Villains & Lairs
43:08 Matt Colville on MCDM
44:21 Matt's Formative Moment
50:45 What Led to MCDM?
56:31 Lessons from MCDM's 5E Era
01:02:00 Launching Draw Steel
01:09:30 MCDM's Financial Approach
01:15:03 Unique in the Industry
01:22:24 Redefining Industry Rates
01:27:20 Our Struggling Industry and YouTube
01:39:03 Perils of Distribution
01:47:08 Charting MCDM's Future
01:52:11 The Codex and VTTs
01:59:22 Shout-Outs
02:02:52 What Are We Gonna Do?

Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon.

Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ 

Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.