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PODCAST

3 Wise DMs

3 Wise DMs is a podcast for dungeon masters (for Dungeons & Dragons) and game masters (any other RPG) with problems. And when we say problems, we don’t mean the kind of things you find answers for in the gamebooks. Think of it as a gaming philosophy show with a strong emphasis on applied knowledge. We all want to be great DMs, so what do we do to try to get there?

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All Episodes

01:02:59

When the DM Isn’t Having Fun: How to Fix a Game That...

3 Wise DMs ·

2021/02/28

You studied the RPG books. You recruited the players. You started a New Game. Every week (or weeks or month) you get everyone together and run them through a world you control! … What if you don’t like it? What do you do when you find yourself running a TTRPG game you don’t enjoy?The DM is a player, too. If you’re not having fun, there’s no game. We’d never recommend trudging through a campaign you hate just for the players or your pride. Your time’s too valuable. For the game to go on, you must get

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01:20:16

When Metagaming Goes Wrong: How Do You Stop...

3 Wise DMs ·

2021/02/21

No matter how much we say it’s the DM’s world, the players know the game too. They have access to all the books, all the lore, even all the monster stats! Sometimes that’s a big help. Other times, it can be a problem for the campaign you want to run. Have you ever had players who actively spoil what all the monsters do? Or players who think they know what your NPCs are all about? Or a fellow DM who’s DMed every Ravenloft module D&D has produced and is trying not to spoil your run through Curse

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01:20:13

Bringing NPCs to Life: How to Build Legendary...

3 Wise DMs ·

2021/02/14

Characters bring a story to life, and that goes double for your TTRPG campaign.The best of your NPCs will become legends, most of the rest won’t be any more memorable than the thousands of monsters your players slay along the way. But how do you bring those NPCs to life in a way your players will engage with, trust and remember? Does the DM make an NPC memorable, or is that something the players decide? Does it all come down to who lives, who dies and who tells their story?In this episode, Thorin,

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01:08:38

How to Move a Stalled RPG Campaign Forward

3 Wise DMs ·

2021/02/07

At some point, every DM sees their party get lost in the woods … or the weeds … or the brothels … Whatever the specific distraction, it’s easy to get caught up in the session-to-session filler content and see the game grind to a slog of travel encounters or petty larcenies or extended haggling sessions that bore everyone at the table.How do you get the party back on track and involved with the big, bad plotline? How do you make it epic again if the game’s gotten a bit mundane? How do you link the

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01:23:11

DMing Large Groups: 19 Tips for Running Games With 6...

3 Wise DMs ·

2021/01/31

RPG tables tend to grow. Once you get the game going and people are having fun, they start talking about that fun, and new players come in quickly. The only problem is, most TTRPGs are optimized to run with 3 to 5 players (plus the DM), and DM gets tougher are you expand to 6, 8 even 10 players. Throughout our DMing careers, we’ve run a lot of large tables. Most of our current games have 6 or more players, and we routinely have 7 or 8 at the table. We’ve all had some experience running even more

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01:41:32

Our Favorite DMing Inspirations and Influences

3 Wise DMs ·

2021/01/24

What drew you into role-playing games? Was it the movies, TV, myths and legends you experienced as a kid? Was it video games? Was it the first time you picked up a gaming book and fell into the world? Once you got into the games, what shaped the stories you tell and worlds you build? Where do your characters come from? Where do your mechanical parts come from?We all stand on the shoulders of giants in games, whether those are metaphorical giants, literary giants or literal giants. In this episode,

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01:23:34

DM Burnout: 6 Things That Cause It, and How We...

3 Wise DMs ·

2021/01/17

There comes a time when the dice cease to sparkle, when the monster loses its luster, when the DM screen becomes a prison, and all that is left is a DMs love for their players … Those little campaign-ruining jerks! Or not — maybe your players are victims of your burnout just as much as you are. Every TTRPG campaign is different, but one thing never changes: Without the DM, there is no game. And a burned-out DM is one of the biggest game-killers in any table-top RPG you’ll play.What does burnout look

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01:10:37

The Bootstrap Guide to DMing Your First Role Playing...

3 Wise DMs ·

2021/01/10

Every DM needs to run their first game, and you don’t need a Ph.D. to do it! If you’re new to the system, and especially if everyone is new to the system, how much do you really need to know to start a game? Do you need to read all the rulebooks cover to cover? No. Do you need to design a minimum of 6 dungeon levels and populate it with monsters like Gary Gygax first intended? Absolutely not. So, what do you actually need to know to bring some friends together, throw your first game, and help

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01:37:36

2020: A Year in the TTRPG Lab

3 Wise DMs ·

2021/01/03

In March of 2020, we were getting ready to record our first episode of this podcast. We all got together in our planned recording space and cut the trailer. … Then COVID happened, and that entire plan went into the garbage along with concerts, vacations and sending kids to school. But as the year went on and we figured out online gaming and recording, the podcast and our games took off.2020 was an “interesting” year for everyone. But if you had access to a computer and some friends, it was a pretty

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01:17:29

How to Set Traps in D&D: Causing Chaos, Mayhem and...

3 Wise DMs ·

2020/12/20

Older players who look at the D&D 5E rogue would be forgiven for thinking traps aren’t in the game anymore. In fact, throughout the 5E Players Handbook, traps are given less attention than in previous editions. But that doesn’t make them any less important to the game, or any less tricky for the DM to get right.D&D Traps require the DM to walk a fine line. Balance them right, and your PCs will find themselves in a world of trouble that’s entirely their fault. But overdo it, or make traps too

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01:22:36

D&D and Mental Health: Therapy, Autism and Exploring...

3 Wise DMs ·

2020/12/13

A few weeks ago, a listener reached out and asked how we manage players with special circumstances. She was DMing for her brother, who’s on the autism spectrum, and hit a trigger that made him feel like his character was ruined. And even though she’s a therapist, that reaction surprised her.None of the 3 Wise DMs have DMed a player diagnosed with autism before, but we have had many players with special circumstances. We’ve learned a lot from playing with them — sometimes from our mistakes. In this

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01:32:11

RPG Communication Breakdowns

3 Wise DMs ·

2020/12/06

It’s one of the hardest things for any DM to handle: What do you do when the way you see the game and the way the players see the game is no longer in sync? You describe something as super dangerous, and a PC runs up to give it a hug — then the players get angry when it attacks them. Or the players come up with a plan, but when they try to execute it, the actions they take work out more like the Keystone Cops than Seal Team 6. Or the tough, henchmen-level bad guys seem too hard, and players start

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01:32:21

D&D Errata: Love It or Hate It, Here’s How We DM It

3 Wise DMs ·

2020/11/29

WotC as a company has long used errata as a way to keep its competitive games, like Magic: The Gathering, working as intended. But just several years into D&D 5E, they’re still releasing new errata that impact books printed years ago that have been used at tables for years since. Some of it just clarifies rules interactions in a helpful way, but other errata literally make books we bought obsolete.The most recent changes significantly change Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade, which no longer

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01:08:28

Theater of the Mind: Is It a Better Way to Play D&D?

3 Wise DMs ·

2020/11/22

There’s a myth that “old-school” Dungeons & Dragons was mostly a minis game. That may have been the case in the very earliest days, but throughout 1st and 2nd Edition, we played without minis and maps. Our game happened entirely in “The Theater of the Mind.” And, in many ways, it was a different experience from the maps-and-minis style of game most DMs run today.Some DMs still prefer theater of the mind. Thorin, for one! Dave’s not as hot on the idea, and Tony kind of likes it both ways. Would

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01:25:01

Rolling the Dice: How to Balance Randomness, Story...

3 Wise DMs ·

2020/11/15

The dice never lie, but they don’t tell great stories, either. (We mean, they’re dice, they don’t even talk!) So how much of your game do you want to leave up to the dice? When should you roll them and why? What kind of game are you teaching your players to play? Can rolling the dice even discourage role-playing?In this episode of 3 Wise DMs, Thorin, Tony and Dave dig into everything you always wanted to know about rolling polyhedral dice but were afraid to ask. From random encounters to fudging

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01:30:00

Famous Fictional PCs: Should You Let Players Run...

3 Wise DMs ·

2020/11/08

How do you feel about a player who wants to play a famous fictional character in your game, like Drizzt, Riddick or Gandalf? Do you let them or ask them to come up with something more original? How much do you adjust the game world or homebrew mechanics to support it?That’s a question one of our listeners recently asked on the website, and Thorin, Tony and Dave have come across it before. As DMs who’ve played PC knockoffs of Hulk Hogan, King Arthur and the Buddha (two of them currently), they’re

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01:33:00

3 Ways to Design RPG Campaigns: Railroad vs. Open...

3 Wise DMs ·

2020/11/01

How do you create your own RPG campaign from scratch? Do you build a railroad straight through the story, or an open world for the players to explore in their own way at their own pace? Or do you do what DM Dave does, and try to split the difference between a tight story and an open world without getting lost along the way? In this episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave talk about how they build their campaigns, from what they want to accomplish to how they prepare week to week. Along they’ll way, we’ll

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01:32:38

RPG Economics: What Can Players Do With All That Gold?

3 Wise DMs ·

2020/10/25

Gold and jewels are all over the treasure tables in the Dungeon Master Guide. Player characters can get filthy rich from adventuring! But then … What can they do with it? After a 1,500 GP suit of plate mail, the only expensive things left for players to buy in the D&D PHB are boats. How many boats is a level-15 wizard supposed to own? Does high-level play morph into some weird naval combat sim we haven’t seen yet? The DMG has a few more options, but the entire D&D economy is underwhelming,

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01:18:27

Digging Into Character Backstories for Fun and Pathos

3 Wise DMs ·

2020/10/18

Some players come into any RPG they play with a 4-page character origin and personal history that drives them to adventure — others can barely pick a name. What do you do with player character backgrounds like these? Would you rather have the deep story, and the story baggage that comes with it, or the blank campaign canvas? Do PC backstories ever lead to unfair play, special treatment or other problems in the TTRPGs you play?In this week’s episode, Thorin, Tony and Dave dig into what they want and

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01:38:42

19 Crazy Player Characters’ Stunts and How We DMed Them

3 Wise DMs ·

2020/10/11

It’s the heart of every D&D story: The player characters did something crazy and their whacky adventures in getting themselves out. That’s what tabletop RPGs are all about, no video game will ever let players embrace free will and agency like a pen-and-paper role-playing game, and we’d never want it any other way. But it’s also where playing by the book stops and the real art of being a dungeon master (or any game master) begins. Can you think on your feet to keep the game running as the players

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177 results

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