Wandering DMs

Dan and Paul, the Wandering DMs, are joined by Kelsey Dionne, creator of the award-winning Shadowdark RPG.

Shadowdark has become one of the most talked-about fantasy RPGs in recent years, winning over both old-school gamers and players coming from modern editions of D&D. How did the game come to be? What were the guiding design principles behind it? And how does Shadowdark blend the fast-paced, high-stakes feel of the OSR with the accessibility and familiarity that modern D&D players expect?

Join us as we talk with Kelsey about the origins of Shadowdark, its design philosophy, and why the game has resonated with so many tables.

Find out more official Shadowdark info at Kelsey's site, The Arcane Library

`

Dan and Paul discuss the many ways they've brought tactical combat to life at the tabletop over decades of running Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs. From classic wet-erase mats and gaming paper to elaborate 3D terrain, projector systems, and modern digital battle mats, every solution comes with its own strengths, weaknesses, and surprises.

What makes a battle mat worth using? When is detailed terrain worth the setup time? Are digital displays finally practical for in-person games? How much tactical detail do you really need to run exciting encounters? We'll compare the tools we've used over the years, share lessons learned, and talk about what works best for different styles of play.

Dan and Paul discuss diseases in D&D and other fantasy roleplaying games. From the surprisingly extensive disease rules found in the earliest editions of D&D to the colorful afflictions found in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, how have RPGs handled sickness over the years?

Does disease create interesting gameplay, meaningful worldbuilding, or just another hazard for adventurers to avoid? Join us live as we explore diseases, plagues, contagions, and other afflictions in tabletop roleplaying games.

Read Dan's blog on the history of disease in D&D

Paul & Dan are joined by Matt Finch of Mythmere Games to chat about the competing motivations when using legendary references from the real world in your fantasy campaign world. How much do we want players to feel a deep-seated sense of recognition from our shared languages and legends? But, how much can we disentangle those mythological elements from the real-world people and places that spawned them? Plus, a peek at Matt's new upcoming releases for his World of Jordoba fantasy setting!

Get the free comic player's guidebook to Jordoba at DriveThruRPG

And join the Backerkit for the new edition of Jordoba here

Dan and Paul discuss the role of physical size in D&D. From adventures set in giant-sized environments to scenarios where player characters are magically shrunk, changing scale can completely alter how players experience the game world.

How have classic D&D adventures used size as a central theme? What happens when spells and magic items like Enlarge or Potions of Diminution change a character's physical presence? How do small ancestries such as halflings and dwarves affect our perception of the fantasy world? And what makes creatures like pixies, giants, and other extreme-sized monsters so memorable at the table?

We'll also tackle one of the trickiest challenges for Dungeon Masters: communicating size and scale in a shared imaginary space. How can DMs help players truly appreciate the difference between tiny and colossal creatures, vast environments, and impossible proportions? What techniques make scale feel meaningful instead of just another number on a character sheet?