Tavern Watch Podcast

Tavern Watch plays Triangle Agency, episode 2: The best birthday party you never had

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 15:45:00 GMT

Welcome back to serene Ternion City, where things are heating up in the case of the missing-then-returned-but-boneless Zbarro renovators. After their investigations last time at the hospital yielded some frankly disturbing results, the agents of the Triangle Agency have decided that the best way to get to the bottom of what's going on at the Wuhan-Baxter Building shopping promenade is to investigate on-site. I'm sure nothing weird will happen.

Just in case something weird does happen, they've got their Director, Phil Ulrich, but this team can clearly take care of themselves:

Liz Harper as Louisa Gibson, a perfectly normal vampire working in a perfectly normal PR gig
Eric O'Dea as Tad Silverfield, always here to lend a friendly ear and find what you need
Chris Chesno as Roger Hensley, for whom the struggle is real but cleaning up messes is just business
Nick Marino as Case, Company R&D man who's always right on time
Joan Albright as "Dotty" Blackthorne, a time-and-space displaced intern in the right place at the right time

This is the second in a three-part actual play series of Triangle Agency; if you haven't listened to part one yet, you'll definitely want to do that first. New episodes come out every Monday! If you like what you hear

and want to pick up a copy for yourself, you can pick up Triangle Agency from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius.

Music from this episode is "Inspired" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch plays Triangle Agency, episode 1: Fine, other than the "no bones" thing

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:45:00 GMT

Welcome back to beautiful Ternion City, where the agents of the Triangle Agency are looking out not just for your best interests, but all of reality. We love reality! That's where all our stuff is! And our agents definitely have a doozy of a case on their hands this time: some contractors who had been working on an outdated shopping promenade (conveniently located in the basement of one of Triangle's business competitors) disappeared, only to reappear perfectly fine a few days later... well, other than the fact that all their bones are missing. Seems like just the kind of anomalous activity that our team is trained and ready to handle.

Director Phil Ulrich is here to guide our team of corporate ladder-climbers through their case; that team, of course, is:

Liz Harper as Louisa Gibson, a perfectly normal vampire working in a perfectly normal PR gig
Eric O'Dea as Tad Silverfield, always here to lend a friendly ear and find what you need
Chris Chesno as Roger Hensley, for whom the struggle is real but cleaning up messes is just business
Nick Marino as Case, Company R&D man who's always right on time
Joan Albright as "Dotty" Blackthorne, a time-and-space displaced intern in the right place at the right time
And a special guest appearance by Joe Perez as Terrance Howard Mothicus, the mothman barista who knows exactly what you need, even if he's out cleaning up a different team's mess

This is the first in a three-part actual play series of Triangle Agency; check back every Monday for new episodes! However, this is not our first time playing Triangle Agency; in fact, if these characters seem familiar, it's because we're picking up with the same team as last time! If you like what you hear and want to pick up a copy for yourself, you can pick up Triangle Agency from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius.

Music from this episode is "Inspired" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

D&D 2024 is dead, long live D&D 5.5e

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:45:00 GMT

On this episode of the Tavern Watch Podcast, the team gets a win -- a win in naming things, it turns out, as Wizards of the Coast (in addition to finally announcing some products for 2026) also has started referring to the 2024 revision of D&D as "D&D 5.5e." Considering it ended up being more a balance update than the massive revolution in tabletop gaming that we were originally sold, we're all of the opinion this is for the better (and is easier to say, to boot). On top of that, Joe's really, really excited about the Godzilla Roleplaying Game both due to a general all-abiding love for Toho's kaiju but also because of some of the titans of the tabletop industry that are featured in its staff list now, Phil has been completely enamored with Cairn (and its creator Yochai Gal's podcast, Between Two Cairns) as far as things in the OSR tabletop gaming space goes, and Liz has a thought or two about Wizards CEO Chris Cocks' statement that they're keeping generative AI out of some of their biggest product spaces -- namely D&D, Magic: the Gathering, and video games -- because the creatives and the audience don't want it. Hopefully they can stick to that, though we've got bad news if you're a fan of Peppa Pig as far as AI in your intellectual property space goes.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Starfinder: Murder in Metal City, episode 3: When the answer isn't the end

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 16:59:50 GMT

The team of adventurers-turned-detectives in our playthrough of Starfinder's Murder in Metal City has the body of Tier-99-Professor on their hands and the assumed murderer hot in their trail for getting too close -- but does anyone think they're really going to stop before they get answers about what happened? They'll delve into the depths of the Striving university archives and uncover something much bigger than a simple hit before it's all said and done, but that's because sometimes finding the answer is just the first step, not the last one.

Liz Harper is the GM for this exciting finale; the group of intrepid folks who keep finding themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time are:

Joe Perez as "Nitpick" Bennit, Ysoki Witchwarper, who always knows a guy, and is a daft hand with both magic and technology
Phil Ulrich as Lunar-17, Android Mystic, who's so terminally online that it gave her magic powers
Matt Rossi as Tooth Hug, Skittermander Solarian, who could really use a snack right now
Special guest Trish Olson, a.k.a. AwkwardishPanda, as Jaedana, a Kasatha Operative gamer who's uncannily good with a gun, but doesn't know why she's here

This is the final part in a three-part actual play series of the Starfinder 2E published adventure Murder in Metal City -- you can check out the first episode here and the second episode here, and be on the lookout for new episodes every Monday!

This game was played using the second edition of Paizo’s Starfinder, which expands their Pathfinder game into space. We're really fond of this rollicking science-fantasy game system -- so much so that we've even played it before on the show -- and if you like what you hear today, you can easily pick it up for yourself!

Music from this episode is “Start a Trek,” by Edgar Henderson; you can check out more of his music on Soundcloud.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Starfinder: Murder in Metal City, episode 2: Hot on the trail

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 16:45:00 GMT

With a lead in their hot little hands freshly pried from the storage of a hijacked murder-drone, our crew of Starfinder adventurers -- brought together first to meet their friend Tier-99-Professor, then by happenstance to investigate his murder -- dive into the back alleys and data storage centers of Striving to see if they can pin down any clues as to why someone would want the good Professor dead. What they find may put themselves (and others!) in danger instead as they get embroiled in matters way out of their pay grade.

Liz Harper is here to GM for us yet again, and our group of intrepid investigators (one of them is even an actual detective!) are:

Joe Perez as "Nitpick" Bennit, Ysoki Witchwarper, who always knows a guy, and is a daft hand with both magic and technology
Phil Ulrich as Lunar-17, Android Mystic, who's so terminally online that it gave her magic powers
Matt Rossi as Tooth Hug, Skittermander Solarian, who could really use a snack right now
Special guest Trish Olson, a.k.a. AwkwardishPanda, as Jaedana, a Kasatha Operative gamer who's uncannily good with a gun, but doesn't know why she's here

This is the second in a three-part actual play series of the Starfinder 2E published adventure Murder in Metal City -- you can check out the first episode here, and be on the lookout for new episodes every Monday!

Music from this episode is “Start a Trek,” by Edgar Henderson; you can check out more of his music on Soundcloud.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Starfinder: Murder in Metal City, episode 1: If you're watching this, I've already shut down

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 16:45:00 GMT

A group of strangers gather in a dimly lit bar in the mechanical megalopolis of Striving at the behest of one Tier-99-Professor, who promised them some incredible news. Unfortunately, Tier-99-Professor -- "Tierney" to his friends -- has already experienced an unexpected shutdown, and now it's up to his group of friends to hunt down who would want to take out Tierney and why on the mean streets of a metal city. Was this just a robbery gone wrong, or is there some deeper conspiracy at play?

Luckily, Liz Harper as GM is here to guide our group through their investigations, and we've got a crack squad on the case:

Joe Perez as "Nitpick" Bennit, Ysoki Witchwarper, who always knows a guy, and is a daft hand with both magic and technology
Phil Ulrich as Lunar-17, Android Mystic, who's so terminally online that it gave her magic powers
Matt Rossi as Tooth Hug, Skittermander Solarian, who could really use a snack right now
Special guest Trish Olson, a.k.a. AwkwardishPanda, as Jaedana, a Kasatha Operative gamer who's uncannily good with a gun, but doesn't know why she's here

This is the first in a three-part actual play series of the Starfinder 2E published adventure Murder in Metal City -- look for new episodes every Monday!

This game was played using the second edition of Paizo’s Starfinder, which expands their Pathfinder game into space. We're really fomd of this rollicking science-fantasy game system -- so much so that we've even played it before on the show -- and if you like what you hear today, you can easily pick it up for yourself!

Music from this episode is “Start a Trek,” by Edgar Henderson; you can check out more of his music on Soundcloud.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Taking turns in the (tabletop) dungeon

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:45:00 GMT

Keeping things tense and exciting in tabletop games without just resorting to throwing the players into a fight is a central part of our discussion today on Tavern Watch -- we're talking torches burning down in Shadowdark or Crows, using the spotlight like a TV show director to keep things tense in Monster of the Week, or the Chaos mechanic in Triangle Agency that makes every roll a balancing act. Do you really want to let the director get enough Chaos to flat-out kill an agent?

Before we even broach that idea, though, we have so many upcoming games to talk about. We can't help ourselves! There's EN World's most anticipated games of 2026, of course -- we're all especially anxious to see #10, the Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest-inspired Twilight Sword, do well -- as well as a number of Kickstarters; everything from the Dungeon Death zine, a 90s video-game-based isekai "setting" for Shadowdark to the Dark Matter Mega Box that gives the deluxe treatment to the 5E science fantasy setting (and includes a crossover with cutesy animal setting Humblewood by way of firing one of its cities into space).

If you're interested in something closer to the games you're more familiar with, you might want to try some new mystical classes for D&D 5E, check out Paizo's upcoming releases for Pathfinder including the return of four fan-favorite 1st Edition classes, or kick back and watch a Baldur's Gate TV show on HBO.... someday. Or you can be like Liz and continue vibrating excitedly over the idea that the Fallen London TTRPG might make it into your hands this year. You never know!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays D&D, Oops! All Artificers edition, episode 3: Attack of the 90 foot pigman

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 16:45:00 GMT

Things are getting even weirder for our party of all Artificers as they wrap up their sojourn into the Mournlands in the name of... doing something. It's a little brain-bending. There's Kuo Toa, there's weird brain-sucking devices, there's dragon turtle friends, there's a lot going on here, honestly that I think we just managed to scratch the surface of. Also, someone turns into a kaiju, and it's not an enemy like you might expect!

Our party of maybe slightly befuddled inventors in this session are:

Joe Perez as Luther Benedict Greensmith, Esq., a Shifter Armorer Artificer
Anne Stickney as Coriell Kahz, a Changeling perfectly normal Halfling Artillerest Artificer
Liz Harper as Lionelle, a Kalashtar Cartographer Artificer
Nick Marino as Royial, a High Elf Alchemist Artificer

I'll be honest, I'm not sure these Artificers managed to figure out what was going on, but at least they had a lot of fun doing it, and got to show off some of this extremely flexible class. This is the finale of a three-episode actual play; if you missed episode 1, you can check that out here, and if you missed episode 2, that one's here. If you enjoy our game, you can grab Eberron: Forge of the Artificer for yourself for your D&D book collection today, adding the species of Eberron and 2024-compatible Artificers -- including the all-new Cartographer Artificer -- to your array of character options. Artificers are always a rollicking good time and can really fill any gap in a party, plus Eberron is just frankly one of the coolest worlds ever developed for any edition of D&D, so I definitely recommend checking it out.

Music from this episode is "Crossing the Chasm" by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays D&D, Oops! All Artificers edition, episode 2: One sticky situation after another

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:45:00 GMT

There's an old chestnut about how if you confront an average D&D party with a door, they'll try anything except going through it. Luckily, our merry band of Artificers who trekked into the Mournlands aren't just any old adventurers: they're extremely intelligent ones. This doesn't prevent them from being rude to talking doors and getting in fights with weird, goopy creatures (portrayed by DM Matt Rossi) that don't have any business on land, all in the name of getting their hands on something called an Annihilation Gauntlet.

I'm sure that's nothing to worry about.

The players juggling one collective braincell like an army of orange cats on this adventure are:

Joe Perez as Luther Benedict Greensmith, Esq., a Shifter Armorer Artificer
Anne Stickney as Coriell Kahz, a Changeling perfectly normal Halfling Artillerest Artificer
Liz Harper as Lionelle, a Kalashtar Cartographer Artificer
Nick Marino as Royial, a High Elf Alchemist Artificer

Join our band of merry crafters as they finally start to dig into the heart of this little adventure into one of the worst corners of Eberron, and find things they probably weren't expecting lurking in the heart of the Mournlands.

This is the second of a D&D 2024 game played with an all-Artificer party; if you missed episode 1, you can check it out here. If you enjoy our game, you can grab Eberron: Forge of the Artificer for yourself for your D&D book collection today, adding the species of Eberron and 2024-compatible Artificers -- including the all-new Cartographer Artificer -- to your array of character options. Artificers are always a rollicking good time and can really fill any gap in a party, plus Eberron is just frankly one of the coolest worlds ever developed for any edition of D&D, so I definitely recommend checking it out.

Music from this episode is "Crossing the Chasm" by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays D&D, Oops! All Artificers edition, episode 1: Into the Mournlands

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 16:45:00 GMT

Is there any D&D 5E class more flexible without a single multiclass level than the Artificer? Frontliner, support, pet class, magic gunsmith, weird mapmaker, Dr. Frankenstein, whatever your fantasy of "techno wizard who builds thing" is, the Artificer has a way to help you live it out. In celebration of that, this edition of Tavern Watch Plays goes to the original home of the Artificer class, Eberron, as DM Matt Rossi guides a ragtag crew of adventuring tinkerers through an adventure into the dark and blighted expanse of the Mournlands. Our players for this adventure:

Joe Perez as Luther Benedict Greensmith, Esq., a Shifter Armorer Artificer
Anne Stickney as Coriell Kahz, a Changeling perfectly normal Halfling Artillerest Artificer
Liz Harper as Lionelle, a Kalashtar Cartographer Artificer
Nick Marino as Royial, a High Elf Alchemist Artificer

Join our band of merry crafters as they set off into an adventure that might end up a little spooky, a little ominous, and probably a lot more waterlogged than anyone was properly planning for.

If you enjoy our game, you can grab Eberron: Forge of the Artificer for yourself for your D&D book collection today, adding the species of Eberron and 2024-compatible Artificers -- including the all-new Cartographer Artificer -- to your array of character options. Artificers are always a rollicking good time and can really fill any gap in a party, plus Eberron is just frankly one of the coolest worlds ever developed for any edition of D&D, so I definitely recommend checking it out.

Music from this episode is "Crossing the Chasm" by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Looking back and looking forward to a year of great TTRPGs

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 16:45:00 GMT

It's the beginning of one year and the end of the next here on Tavern Watch, and so we're both looking back with fond remembrance on the games we played this year (including the ones we played on Tavern Watch Plays, which you should check out!) and the ones due to come out next year. Liz was particularly pleased and surprised by Legend in the Mist, a statless rustic fantasy RPG. Matt played a lot of solo mythical create-your-own-god game Deify this year, but also is still thinking about that game of Masks we played (me too, Matt, me too). Joe had a great time with Rebel Scum, which is part of a lineage of games that really lower the barrier of entry on the rules and let you get straight into telling cool stories with your friends, and is hoping to get to play Cohors Cthulhu -- the Roman Empire meets cosmic horror, sounds good to me! And, a lot of games crossed Phil's table this year, including the phenomenally weird Triangle Agency and the tactical crunchy cinematic action of Draw Steel, but it's really Fabula Ultima that lives in my head rent-free.

But it's not all nostalgia. In current events, we discuss Wizards of the Coast's light 2026 schedule, James Ohlen leaving Archetype Entertainment to become a tabletop game consultant for WotC directly, Ed Greenwood's new independent Forgotten Realms project, a general sci-fi toolkit coming to 5th Edition in the form of Dark Matter, and we're wondering whether a video game about a single class (and from a studio with a shaky reputation) can be a satisfying experience. I guess we'll see! Kickstarters are still going strong into 2026, too; a whole passel of them funded around the end of the year (including Thundercats, which funded fully in one minute). MCDM has funded an entire year's worth of content with their Crack the Sun crowdfunding campaign, and we're all mesmerized by Fomoria, which is funding in the near future and really needs to be seen for its striking art style and dark fantasy story.

Last but definitely not least, we pay brief tribute to the passing of Tim Kask, TSR's first employee back in the 80s. Tim was not just part of this burgeoning industry we love in its infancy, but also a person who continued to be funny, opinionated, and inclusive right up until the end -- who could ask for anything more?

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Brindlewood Bay, episode 3: Did we move to a cursed retirement village?

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 22:29:13 GMT

It's a valid question for our group of little old lady detectives, who have learned more than they expected about the strange history of their little town on a casual visit to the Brindlewood Bay Whaling Museum... with a little side of murder.

It happens a lot in Brindlewood Bay. It's probably fine.

This is the last episode of our game of Brindlewood Bay, a cozy mystery with a few dark twists. I'm running this game, along with some excellent role-players on the team who have taken well to mystery solving. Here is our party of little old ladies:

Joan as Louisa, resident gardener who loves getting her hands dirty and has seen absolutely every episode of MacGyver. Always carries her Swiss Army knife (the TSA hates her).
Matt as Ludmilla, an ex-powerlifter who has retired to a peaceful life in Brindlewood Bay. She keeps an indeterminate number of cats (and is never seen anywhere without at least one of them).
Mitch as Bordy, a collector of all things, who has never seen a bauble she didn't want to add to her collection. She's also been getting mysterious messages on her answering machine lately, but it's probably nothing.

Confused about what's going on? You should listen to the first episode and the second episode before starting this one!

If you enjoy our game, you can give it a try yourself! You can pick up the Brindlewood Bay rulebook from from The Gauntlet, including the Nephews in Peril supplement which includes the adventure we're playing here! The whole thing is a little bit Murder, She Wrote and a little bit X-Files, and a whole lot of roleplaying. We had a lot of fun with it, so check the game out!

Music from this episode is "Villainous Treachery" by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Brindlewood Bay, episode 2: A tragic accident... or murder?

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 02:54:00 GMT

A peaceful visit to the annual Brindlewood Bay Whaling Museum fundraiser has taken a turn for the worse when one of the volunteers turns up dead. Fortunately we have a team of little old lady detectives on the case... and they're pretty sure it wasn't an accident at all. (The harpoon stuck in his back is a pretty big clue.)

This week we're playing a game of Brindlewood Bay, a cozy mystery with a few dark twists. Elizabeth Harper is running this game, along with some excellent role-players on the team who have taken well to mystery solving. Here is our party of little old ladies:

Joan as Louisa, resident gardener who loves getting her hands dirty and has seen absolutely every episode of MacGyver. Always carries her Swiss Army knife (the TSA hates her).
Matt as Ludmilla, an ex-powerlifter who has retired to a peaceful life inBrindlewood Bay. She keeps an indeterminate number of cats (and is never seen anywhere without at least one of them).
Mitch as Bordy, a collector of all things, who has never seen a bauble she didn't want to add to her collection. She's also been getting mysterious messages on her answering machine lately, but it's probably nothing.

This is the second episode in our three-part game! If you haven't had a chance to listen, start with the first episode.

Music from this episode is "Villainous Treachery" by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Brindlewood Bay, episode 1: A night at the whaling museum

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 16:45:00 GMT

Welcome to Brindlewood Bay, a peaceful New England village on the sea with picturesque views, cozy bookshops, and quaint B&Bs. It also has an unusually high murder rate, and that's where today's adventure comes in to play, as our party of sleuths attempt to untangle a mysterious death.

And, of course, our adventurers are all little old ladies. Let me introduce them:

Joan as Louisa, resident gardener who loves getting her hands dirty and has seen absolutely every episode of MacGyver. Always carries her Swiss Army knife (the TSA hates her).
Matt as Ludmilla, a retired powerlifter who has retired to a peaceful life inBrindlewood Bay. She keeps an indeterminate number of cats (and is never seen anywhere without at least one of them).
Mitch as Bordy, a collector of all things, who has never seen a bauble she didn't want to add to her collection. She's also been getting mysterious messages on her answering machine lately, but it's probably nothing.

So let's dive into today's adventure, where our little old ladies talk about the first mystery they solved... and head to the whaling museum. Probably no one's going to get murdered. (Probably.)

If you enjoy our game, you can give it a try yourself! You can pick up the Brindlewood Bay rulebook from from The Gauntlet, including the Nephews in Peril supplement which includes the adventure we're playing here! The whole thing is a little bit Murder, She Wrote and a little bit X-Files, and a whole lot of roleplaying. We had a lot of fun with it, so check the game out!

Music from this episode is "Villainous Treachery" by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Artificers, evil(?) Rogues, and new Daggerheart

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 17:01:27 GMT

We're entering the winter doldrums of game scheduling, and many of our TTRPG adventures have been coming to a halt (or at least a slow) for the winter due to the difficulty of getting this many adults in a room, even a virtual one, for the holidays. But the snowier season here in the Northern Hemisphere doesn't mean a lack of new tabletop game material, especially if you like D&D. We've been enjoying the two Forgotten Realms books released in November, including new dangerous magical items and a thoroughly non-heroic Rogue subclass, the Scion of the Three. But playing a maybe-evil character (and everybody at the table still having fun), can be tricky, so we talk about the importance of party buy-in when bringing such a character to the party, and maybe how to reskin the subclass if pledging allegiance to the Realms' sometimes-dead, sometimes-alive, always-scheming miscreant gods isn't up your alley.

Elsewhere in the multiverse, Eberron: Forge of the Artificer is finally be coming out (for real this time) on December 9, and besides serving as a miniature guide to the fascinating realm of Eberron, it also brings back D&D fan favorites -- and, at this point, staples -- like the Warforged and the Artificer. The latter gets all its subclasses revised to match the expected power levels of 2024 5th Edition characters, as well as a whole new subclass: the Cartographer! Want to wield an array of esoteric map-based powers? Here's the subclass for you.

Outside of the D&D sphere, we also gush about upcoming game Twilight Sword, which doesn't just wear its Zelda influences on its sleeve -- it dons the whole shirt, but we sure don't mind. And Daggerheart is already coming out with an expansion, called (appropriately) Daggerheart: Hope & Fear, due out in 2026. This book adds the Dread domain, as well as four new classes (you may have already heard us playtesting the Warlock and the Brawler when we played Daggerheart earlier this year). Daggerheart has really been getting a full-court press of support (did you know there's already new stuff for playtesting?) and we have to wonder when that support will slow down... hopefully not any time soon.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Starfinder, Episode 3: A little warm, but it beats dying

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 22:48:52 GMT

It's time to take to the stars in search of interplanetary adventure as Tavern Watch plays Starfinder's newly-released second edition. This system blends the crunchy, high player choice character building of Pathfinder with a wholly original science fantasy setting, and there's really nothing like it. If you've ever wanted your space wizard to cast doom scroll (and yes, it does exactly what you think it does), this is the game for you.

In this exciting finale, our crew of completely licensed and insured adventurers is faced with their foe in the computer core -- and has no choice but to turn up the heat. We also discover that a door, once locked really well, sometimes has to be unlocked equally as hard. Our hard-fighting core technician team include:

Liz as Zee, a Skittermander Witchwarper, which means she's about three feet tall, has six arms, is covered in fur, and is just the most adorable reality-warper ever.
Joe as K'sol, a Shirren Mystic, making him a psychic bug-man from the stars.
Phil as Sobok, a Vesk Soldier, who is seven feet of scaly lizardman with a two-handed chainsword.

This is the last in our three-part actual play series of Starfinder -- look for new episodes every Monday, and listen to episode 1 to start from the beginning!

This game was played using the second edition of Paizo's Starfinder, which expands their Pathfinder game into space. The core books are all released at this point (and they're starting to release their more compact "pocket editions" of the core books), so if you like the game you hear on this podcast, you can check it out for yourself!

Music from this episode is "Start a Trek," by Edgar Henderson; you can check out more of his music on Soundcloud.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Starfinder, Episode 2: Expedition to the computer core

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 17:01:12 GMT

It's time to take to the stars in search of interplanetary adventure as Tavern Watch plays Starfinder's newly-released second edition. This system blends the crunchy, high player choice character building of Pathfinder with a wholly original science fantasy setting, and there's really nothing like it. If you've ever wanted your space wizard to cast doom scroll (and yes, it does exactly what you think it does), this is the show for you.

In this case, our crew of completely licensed and insured adventurers has immediately found the trouble, and is on the way to stop it -- by passing through the maintenance tunnels of the station, carefully ignoring the confectionary building restaurant that's on fire. We'll find one that's not on fire next time, I promise. Our tunnel-delving crew includes:

Liz as Zee, a Skittermander Witchwarper, which means she's about three feet tall, has six arms, is covered in fur, and is just the most adorable reality-warper ever.
Joe as K'sol, a Shirren Mystic, making him a psychic bug-man from the stars.
Phil as Sobok, a Vesk Soldier, who is seven feet of scaly lizardman with a two-handed chainsword.

This is the second in our three-part actual play series of Starfinder -- look for new episodes every Monday, and listen to episode 1 if you missed it!

Music from this episode is "Start a Trek," by Edgar Henderson; you can check out more of his music on Soundcloud.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Starfinder, Episode 1: We'll take the third option, where nobody dies

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 16:45:00 GMT

In this case, our crew of completely licensed and insured adventurers returns to a spaceport to sell some very legitimately obtained goods and stumbles almost facefirst into a plot to take over, or destroy, the station! We can't have that, now can we? After all, we haven't even sold this weird statue yet. Our intrepid spacefarers include:

Liz as Zee, a Skittermander Witchwarper, which means she's about three feet tall, has six arms, is covered in fur, and is just the most adorable reality-warper ever.
Joe as K'sol, a Shirren Mystic, making him a psychic bug-man from the stars.
Phil as Sobok, a Vesk Soldier, who is seven feet of scaly lizardman with a two-handed chainsword.

This is the first in our three-part actual play series of Starfinder -- look for new episodes every Monday!

Music from this episode is "Start a Trek," by Edgar Henderson; you can check out more of his music on Soundcloud.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have Spelljammer at home

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 16:45:00 GMT

On the Tavern Watch Podcast, a mention of a crowdfunding campaign for Lodestar leads us to discussing areas where the community has picked up for Wizards of the Coast's slack on the Tavern Watch Podcast. While D&D's modern stewards often seem content to take a one-and-done approach to campaign settings (as opposed to multiple lines of products like in the past), the ever-creative community is stepping up to fill these gaps, leading to some fantastic third-party supplements. Lodestar seems to pick up where the Spelljammer release leaves off, while dark fantasy setting Dungeons of Drakkenheim and also-upcoming product Chapelwick are poised to fill a horror-shaped hole in the product lineup (although it's a more Soulslike approach to horror than the classic Curse of Strahd). If there are any third-party content creators out there who want to fill the void in my heart that used to be occupied by Dark Sun, I'm just saying, I would throw a little money at that. However, sometimes more familiar stomping grounds are nice, too; to that end, if you just want some rollicking fun in the Forgotten Realms, you can jump right into a free level 3 adventure from the upcoming campaign book for the Realms coming later this year.

If you need a good reason to do so -- we get it, scheduling is tough, everyone you know is tired, sometimes you need a little motivation -- you can check out StartPlaying's survey on relationships and roleplaying games, wherein 75% of the respondants said playing tabletop RPGs helps keep friendships alive, 57% said they forged core relationships through roleplaying, and 28% even found real-life love outside of their Bard's high-Charisma Persuasion rolls. There's also a good discussion of how to deal with dice derailing, or not derailing, the story that you and the other players at the table want to tell -- an especially timely discussion in light of the discourse about dice fudging that's circulating in online communities again.

Tune in for this and more games we’re playing, games we’re looking forward to, and liveplays we’re watching!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Shadowdark, Episode 3: What lies below

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 15:45:00 GMT

It’s spooky season here on Tavern Watch, so we’re playing something appropriately spooky — Shadowdark! But a spooky old-school-esque system isn’t enough on its own, so we’re diving back into one of the most classic horror tabletop game modules of all time — the original I6: Ravenloft for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1E. When new spooky rules meet old haunts, will our heroes survive the night?

Episode three brings our adventurers into possibly the spookiest part of Castle Ravenloft: the expansive crypts underneath the castle, home to a wide variety of creepy things, from garden variety dead bodies to shambling zombies — and also, according to the adventure module, three thousand bats. On top of that, Strahd’s deadline from episode 1 is running out — he’ll show up to clean up his little adventurer problem on his own sooner or later!

Our brave adventurers include:

Liz as Serl Sparrow (Halfling Wizard), whose destiny is it to enter Castle Ravenloft and emerge victorious.
Nick as Ninir (Elf Thief), whose destiny is… to steal as much loot from the infamously rich Count as he possibly can.
Chris as Faran (Elf Priest), a brave and doughty religious elf who will face the darkness or die trying.

This is the finale in a three-part game of Shadowdark! You can check out the first episode hereand the second episode here; look for new episodes of our actual plays or news and discussion shows every Monday.

This game was played in Shadowdark, an Ennie-Award-winning tabletop RPG that marries the familiarity of D&D with the stripped-down, rulings-not-rules sensibility of older versions of the same game, yielding something that’s fast, fun, and easy to play. Shadowdark places an emphasis on being easy to understand and easy to run, making it a great game to pick up and play — even if it’s your first tabletop game! If you’re interested in picking up your own copy of Shadowdark, you can grab it at The Arcane Library. If you want to check out our adventure in Ravenloft for yourself, you can pick up I6: Ravenloft from the DM’s Guild. (We’re also using Venatus Maps’ Castle Ravenloft Battle Maps to play in these episodes.)

The music in this podcast is “Some Amount of Evil” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Shadowdark, Episode 2: Never trust strange furniture

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 19:22:02 GMT

It's spooky season here on Tavern Watch, so we're playing something appropriately spooky -- Shadowdark! But a spooky old-school-esque system isn't enough on its own, so we're diving back into one of the most classic horror tabletop game modules of all time -- the original I6: Ravenloft for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1E. When new spooky rules meet old haunts, will our heroes survive the night?

Episode two finds our trio of adventurers exploring the dusty back hallways and secret corridors of Castle Ravenloft, meeting some unusual individuals -- some of whom have unusual tastes, while others just want to be left alone. Our brave adventurers include:

Liz as Serl Sparrow (Halfling Wizard), whose destiny is it to enter Castle Ravenloft and emerge victorious.
Nick as Ninir (Elf Thief), whose destiny is... to steal as much loot from the infamously rich Count as he possibly can.
Chris as Faran (Elf Priest), a brave and doughty religious elf who will face the darkness or die trying.

This is the second in a three-part game of Shadowdark! You can check out the first episode here, and look for new episodes every Monday.

This game was played in Shadowdark, an Ennie-Award-winning tabletop RPG that marries the familiarity of D&D with the stripped-down, rulings-not-rules sensibility of older versions of the same game, yielding something that's fast, fun, and easy to play. Shadowdark places an emphasis on being easy to understand and easy to run, making it a great game to pick up and play -- even if it's your first tabletop game! If you're interested in picking up your own copy of Shadowdark, you can grab it at The Arcane Library. If you want to check out our adventure in Ravenloft for yourself, you can pick up I6: Ravenloft from the DM's Guild. (We're also using Venatus Maps' Castle Ravenloft Battle Maps to play in these episodes.)

The music in this podcast is "Some Amount of Evil" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Shadowdark, Episode 1: It was a dark and stormy night

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 15:45:00 GMT

In this case, our intrepid heroes, outsiders to the realm of Barovia investigating some disturbing rumors surrounding the Burgomaster's daughter, Ireena, have found themselves invited to a dinner with the infamous ruler of the region, Count Strahd von Zarovich. Will they feast... or be feasted upon? Our brave adventurers include:

Liz as Serl Sparrow (Halfling Wizard), whose destiny is it to enter Castle Ravenloft and emerge victorious.
Nick as Ninir (Elf Thief), whose destiny is... to steal as much loot from the infamously rich Count as he possibly can.
Chris as Faran (Elf Priest), a brave and doughty religious elf who will face the darkness or die trying.

This is the first in a three-part game of Shadowdark! Look for new episodes every Monday.

This game was played in Shadowdark, an Ennie-Award-winning tabletop RPG that marries the familiarity of D&D with the stripped-down, rulings-not-rules sensibility of older versions of the same game, yielding something that's fast, fun, and easy to play. Shadowdark places an emphasis on being easy to understand and easy to run, making it a great game to pick up and play -- even if it's your first tabletop game! If you're interested in picking up your own copy of Shadowdark, you can grab it at The Arcane Library. If you want to check out our adventure in Ravenloft for yourself, you can pick up I6: Ravenloft from the DM's Guild. (We're also using Venatus Maps' Castle Ravenloft Battle Maps to play in these episodes.)

The music in this podcast is "Some Amount of Evil" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thundercats and other TTRPGs we can't wait to play

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 15:45:00 GMT

There are a lot of games we're excited to play — and excited to watch! — on this week's Tavern Watch Podcast. A Thundercats game by Dynamite Entertainment will be launching Kickstarter soon (you can join us in watching for the campaign by clicking "notify me" on the Kickstarter campaign). It's a 5e game, which could make it an easy sell to play with friends since 5e is so well-known, so this may be a better bet than coming up with a unique system. But we may be even more excited for what this game means about other properties in the Dynamite catalog, which publishes comics for Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica, Army of Darkness, Barbarella, and a whole lot more. Could we be getting other interesting games from Dynamite if Thundercats does well? We're excited to find out.

This is hardly the only game on the horizon, as we're also looking forward to the release of Sword World 2.5, a wildly popular 35-year-old Japanese TTRPG that's getting its first English language release. You can download a quickstart now by signing up for the game's newsletter. But if you're looking for a game that's already available, we have only good things to say about the new D&D Starter Set, Heroes of the Borderlands. It's a great introduction to the game and it comes with tons of accessories you can use for future games, with 18 maps, hundreds of cards and tokens, dice, three adventures, and quickstart game rules — everything you need to play. Our only question is why Wizards of the Coast didn't put this out when the 2024 edition first released.

Tune in for this and more games we're playing, games we're looking forward to, and liveplays we're watching!

Music from this episode is "Midnight Tale" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Outgunned Adventure, episode 3: Surviving almost certain death

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 15:45:00 GMT

You know that feeling when you're exploring a viking ship suspended in the rocks over a volcanic chasm, and some poorly planned acrobatics cause it to slip and turn upside down? Well, I didn't either until this game of Outgunned Adventure, in which our party is attempting to survive this extremely unlikely situation... and frankly, it's only going to get worse from here.

Join us for episode three, where we'll finally see if our intrepid explorers can survive certain (maybe uncertain?) death as we wrap-up our game! GM Joe Perez as he guides our group of explorers on their search for viking treasure. Our players are:

Eric as Savar Khan, a fighter who may have more brawns than brains (an essential piece of every adventuring party) and could have more fashion sense than the rest of us put together.
Phil as Raymond Suri, the obligatory professor who may be a little out of his depth (and scared of heights, making him the perfect mountain climbing companion).
Liz as Victoria Sheng, a professional bounty hunter (the current bounty is treasure) who's getting too old for this.
Matt as Natalya Morozova, a former soldier who's chasing the latest treasure for the thrill of it (and occasionally dropping shocking character reveals).

This is the final episode in a three-part game of Outgunned Adventure, a variant of Outgunned by Two Little Mice. If you haven't already listened to it, you should start with our first episode and second episode of Outgunned Adventure. These games are all about creating cinematic moments inspired by the movies, and Adventure is all about exploring ancient tombs and charging through dense jungles in search of treasure! It's a setting with movie magic built right in, from The Mummy to Indiana Jones. If you enjoy the game, check out Two Little Mice!

The music in this podcast is "Crossing the Chasm" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Outgunned Adventure, episode 2: A practical guide to completely safe tomb raiding

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:20:25 GMT

Are we heading towards death or certain death? So far in our game of Outgunned Adventure, our crew of daring explorers has survived a fall into the hidden grotto that concealed the lost tomb of Erik the Red. (Possibly the reason they're so daring is that they don't know how close they were to death along the way.) But what will they find hidden inside as they hunt for treasures for their employer (and themselves) in this viking tomb?

Join GM Joe Perez as he guides the definitely ideal team of explorers through danger (sometimes self inflicted) and cliffhangers (sometimes literal). Our players are:

Eric as Savar Khan, a fighter who may have more brawns than brains (an essential piece of every adventuring party) and could have more fashion sense than the rest of us put together.
Phil as Raymond Suri, the obligatory professor who may be a little out of his depth (and scared of heights, making him the perfect mountain climbing companion).
Liz as Victoria Sheng, a professional bounty hunter (the current bounty is treasure) who's getting too old for this.
Matt as Natalya Morozova, a former soldier who's chasing the latest treasure for the thrill of it (and occasionally dropping shocking character reveals).

This is the first in a three-part game of Outgunned Adventure, a variant of Outgunned by Two Little Mice. These games are all about creating cinematic moments inspired by the movies, and Adventure is all about exploring ancient tombs and charging through dense jungles in search of treasure! It's a setting with movie magic built right in, from The Mummy to Indiana Jones. If you enjoy the game, check out Two Little Mice!

The music in this podcast is "Crossing the Chasm" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Outgunned Adventure, episode 1: Climbing a cliff without any cliffhangers (maybe)

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 15:45:00 GMT

It's time for a new adventure with our Tavern Watch crew as we dive into Outgunned Adventure (and, yes, we're going to be using the word adventure a whole lot here). Our story opens with our daring explorers climbing to the top of a mountain in the middle of the ocean near Greenland in search of the tomb of the viking king Eric the Red, and whatever treasure he has left behind. (Valuable both monetarily and historically, of course.) Our party must brave the elements, each other (sometimes the biggest challenge), and any traps left behind by the ancient viking warriors.

Join GM Joe Perez as he guides the definitely ideal team of explorers through danger (sometimes self inflicted) and cliffhangers (sometimes literal). This week's players are:

Eric as Savar Khan, a fighter who may have more brawns than brains (an essential piece of every adventuring party) and could have more fashion sense than the rest of us put together.
Phil as Raymond Suri, the obligatory professor who may be a little out of his depth (and scared of heights, making him the perfect mountain climbing companion).
Liz as Victoria Sheng, a professional bounty hunter (the current bounty is treasure) who's getting too old for this.
Matt as Natalya Morozova, a former soldier who's chasing the latest treasure for the thrill of it (and occasionally dropping shocking character reveals).

The music in this podcast is "Crossing the Chasm" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Draw Steel is a spiritual successor to D&D 4e, and we're into it

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 21:08:11 GMT

On the latest Tavern Watch Podcast, we're excited about Draw Steel, a new game from MCDM that strikes us as spiritual successor to D&D 4e. The game features crunchy combat where all of your attacks hit (but may not hit very well) and you're encouraged to push your luck to rack up more victories before resting — but it also includes rules that encourage roleplay, like detailed downtime activities that could play back into your adventure (rather just saying you spent your downtime making healing potions and leaving it at that). The game has a lot of interesting features for those who enjoy (or at least aren't opposed to) tactical combat. But at Blizzard Watch, we're gearing up to play Outgunned Adventure, a pulp action adventure that aims to capture the cinematic feel of movies like The Mummy or Indiana Jones. You'll be able to catch us playing it next week's Tavern Watch, but right now we're still reading up on this variant of Outgunned, a system that homes in on making your tabletop games feel like an action movie.

And Critical Role keeps making news, with new details about the upcoming Campaign 4, which will be GM'd by fan-favorite Brennan Lee Mulligan. He's taken the reins of the game a couple of times before for short series, but this time he'll be running the whole show with forever DM Matt Mercer getting the chance to play a long-term campaign. (Fellow DMs know how rare this is.) The new campaign features a supersized cast including all of the original CR crew as well as a bunch of new faces. It will be a West Marches style game, in which three different adventuring parties set out in the new world Aramán with stories that run concurrently and could intertwine. The campaign kicks off on October 2, 2025.

Music from this episode is "Midnight Tale" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Rebel Scum, Episode 3: Fighting fascism with the power of friendship (and a blaster)

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 15:45:00 GMT

This week we’re wrapping up our game of Rebel Scum, a game of anti-fascist space opera that seems a lot like Star Wars — so of course we just used it to play in the Star Wars universe! When an overwhelmingly powerful fascist Empire threatens those who want to see a better future for those around them and for the rest of the galaxy, what do you do? You fight back, you fight hard, and you don’t stop until you win.

Join GM Phil Ulrich as the crew of the Furious Tooka makes their way to a hidden base on the other side of the moon of Salient II. That’s no m–no, wait, that’s a moon, with a perfectly ordinary secret Imperial base on it. Here’s our cast of characters:

Chris as Varin Jayne (Rogue/Vanguard), a Corellian with a starship who maybe was in it just for profit to start with but maybe — just maybe — has a heart of gold buried down in there. If he sounds familiar to you, no he doesn’t.
Mitch as TB-WN2 (Robot/Fighter), a former assassin droid who has given up his life of killing for good. Instead, he brings a delightful accent, a calm demeanor, and a weird array of shapeshifting abilities to bear.
Liz as Mia (Revolutionary/Expert), who is very definitely just an ordinary starship mechanic and definitely not a spy and elite hacker in the service of the Rebellion. Why would you even think that? You have some wild ideas, stranger.
Joe as YHA-U, aka “Yeehaw” (Robot/Tank), a good-natured former mining droid who now fights to break the chains — and necks — of tyranny.
Matt as The Orphan (Ronin/Fighter), a Wookiee and former Jedi Padawan who looks like he’s been in a lot of fights and narrowly won them; he’s a problem solver, as long as the problem can be solved with violence.

This is the third in a three-part game of Rebel Scum! Look for new episodes of all our games every Monday.

This game was played with the second edition of Rebel Scum from 9th Level Games, a game of laser swords, space combat, and fighting back against space fascists trying to put their boots on your collective necks. If you’re interested in getting this easy-to-learn game for yourself — it’s powered by the Polymorph system much like our prior games of Pigeon’s 11 and Sentai & Sensibility, meaning it’s lightweight and narrative focused — you can pick up the digital copy from 9th Level’s itch.io page for the game, or in print (with free PDF!) directly from 9th Level Games.

The music in this podcast is “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Rebel Scum, Episode 2: Liberation day at the mines

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 15:45:00 GMT

This week we're continuing our game of Rebel Scum, a game of anti-fascist space opera that seems a lot like Star Wars -- so of course we just used it to play in the Star Wars universe! When an overwhelmingly powerful fascist Empire threatens those who want to see a better future for those around them and for the rest of the galaxy, what do you do? You fight back, you fight hard, and you don't stop until you win.

Join GM Phil Ulrich as we follow the crew of the Furious Tooka on their quest to free the overworked, underpaid, and Empire-oppressed workers of the miners of the Salient System.

Their target? Some Gamorrean grunt named Flegg who seems to be the key to the disappearance of their contact. Or was his name Greg? Maybe Blerg? Look, names are hard. Here's our cast of characters:

Chris as Varin Jayne (Rogue/Vanguard), a Corellian with a starship who maybe was in it just for profit to start with but maybe — just maybe -- has a heart of gold buried down in there. If he sounds familiar to you, no he doesn't.
Mitch as TB-WN2 (Robot/Fighter), a former assassin droid who has given up his life of killing for good. Instead, he brings a delightful accent, a calm demeanor, and a weird array of shapeshifting abilities to bear.
Liz as Mia (Revolutionary/Expert), who is very definitely just an ordinary starship mechanic and definitely not a spy and elite hacker in the service of the Rebellion. Why would you even think that? You have some wild ideas, stranger.
Joe as YHA-U, aka "Yeehaw" (Robot/Tank), a good-natured former mining droid who now fights to break the chains -- and necks -- of tyranny.
Matt as The Orphan (Ronin/Fighter), a Wookiee and former Jedi Padawan who looks like he's been in a lot of fights and narrowly won them; he's a problem solver, as long as the problem can be solved with violence.

This is the second in a three-part game of Rebel Scum! If you missed the first episode, you can listen to that here. Look for new episodes every Monday.

This game was played with the second edition of Rebel Scum from 9th Level Games, a game of laser swords, space combat, and fighting back against space fascists trying to put their boots on your collective necks. If you're interested in getting this easy-to-learn game for yourself -- it's powered by the Polymorph system much like our prior games of Pigeon's 11 and Sentai & Sensibility, meaning it's lightweight and narrative focused -- you can pick up the digital copy from 9th Level's itch.io page for the game, or in print (with free PDF!) directly from 9th Level Games.

The music in this podcast is "Fanfare for Space" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Rebel Scum, Episode 1: A hive of scum and villainy

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 15:45:00 GMT

This week we're playing a game of Rebel Scum, a game of anti-fascist space opera that seems a lot like Star Wars -- so of course we just used it to play in the Star Wars universe! When an overwhelmingly powerful fascist Empire threatens those who want to see a better future for those around them and for the rest of the galaxy, what do you do? You fight back, you fight hard, and you don't stop until you win.

Join GM Phil Ulrich as I take the crew of the Crew of the Furious Tooka through an adventure on the frontiers of civilized space to hunt down a missing union organizer and Rebellion contact. Here's our cast of characters:

Chris as Varin Jayne (Rogue/Vanguard), a Corellian with a starship who maybe was in it just for profit to start with but maybe -- just maybe -- has a heart of gold buried down in there. If he sounds familiar to you, no he doesn't.
Mitch as TB-WN2 (Robot/Fighter), a former assassin droid who has given up his life of killing for good. Instead, he brings a delightful accent, a calm demeanor, and a weird array of shapeshifting abilities to bear.
Liz as Mia (Revolutionary/Expert), who is very definitely just an ordinary starship mechanic and definitely not a spy and elite hacker in the service of the Rebellion. Why would you even think that? You have some wild ideas, stranger.
Joe as YHA-U, aka "Yeehaw" (Robot/Tank), a good-natured former mining droid who now fights to break the chains -- and necks -- of tyranny.
Matt as The Orphan (Ronin/Fighter), a Wookiee and former Jedi Padawan who looks like he's been in a lot of fights and narrowly won them; he's a problem solver, as long as the problem can be solved with violence.

This is the first in a three-part game of Rebel Scum! Look for new episodes every Monday.

This game was played with the second edition of Rebel Scum from 9th Level Games, a game of laser swords, space combat, and fighting back against space fascists trying to put their boots on your collective necks. If you're interested in getting this easy-to-learn game for yourself -- it's powered by the Polymorph system much like our prior games of Pigeon's 11 and Sentai & Sensibility, meaning it's lightweight and narrative focused -- you can pick up the digital copy from 9th Level's itch.io page for the game, or in print (with free PDF!) directly from 9th Level Games.

The music in this podcast is "Fanfare for Space" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Danger from Diamond Comic Distributors (and more tabletop news)

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:45:00 GMT

In this week's Tavern Watch Podcast, we dig into the disaster of Diamond Comic Distributors, which filed for bankruptcy in January and is now trying to claim books in its inventory are its property, to be sold to pay off creditors. This includes comics and books it was holding on consignment, to distribute for companies that aren't paid until the books are sold in retail stores — and the loss could be crushing for small press publishers who could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of books. Green Ronin Publishing is crowdfunding to cover legal fees to fight the move, which it calls "a dire financial threat to our company." Let's hope small press can score a victory here.

In brighter news, we discuss the recent trend of "rules light" games, the delay to D&D's upcoming Eberron book, and Evil Hat continuing to work on a Tomb Raider-style game after parting ways with Crystal Dynamics. Add that to the list of games we're looking forward to playing (which is already pretty long).

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Daggerheart, Episode 3: The hidden heart of the Motherboard

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 15:45:00 GMT

This week we continue our adventure of Daggerheart, as our crew becomes the first to enter the towering spire that is the Motherboard. While it's forbidden by the church, delving into these untouched halls may be the only way to save the Motherboard — and perhaps the entire Echo Vale. Let's see how it goes, shall we?

Join GM Liz Harper as I attempt to guide a motley crew of adventurers through the Echo Vale! Here's our cast of characters:

Joan as Lithyen of Redcanyon (Rogue), a faun who lost her family at the hands of cultists obsessed with technology. She now travels alongside those who rescued her.
Matt as Ishvit (Brawler playtest), a young giant, raised in isolated ruins. She's looking for her way in the world after losing her dwarven foster family.
Nick as Tavin (Seraph), a human priest who has pledged himself to the Motherboard, but his faith was shaken when he met a supposed worshipper who used the faith to steal and kill.
Phil as Laplace Cadmus (Warlock playtest), an elf who narrowly survived an attack on his group of pilgrims with the help of a mysterious voice in the network (and also Tavin).

This is the last in a three-part game of a Daggerheart game in the Motherboard setting! If you haven't, start by listening to the first episode and second episode of this game. Look for new episodes every Monday — next week we'll be covering the latest tabletop news, and then we'll be starting another game!

Daggerheart is the latest game from Darrington Press and the team at Critical Role — we're all still learning the rules of this game, so please apologize our mistakes! Increasing the chaos, two of our party were trying out playtest classes: Brawler for Matt and Warlock for Phil. You can find details on these classes (and more playtest content) on Daggerheart'swebsite. If you want to follow along and/or see where we went wrong, you can read all of the rules in the completely free SRD. The print book is sold out (though check with your FLGS if you're interested in a copy), but if you enjoyed our game you can buy Daggerheart digital copies from Demiplane and DriveThruRPG.

This product includes materials from the Daggerheart System Reference Document 1.0, © Critical Role, LLC. under the terms of the Darrington Press Community Gaming (DPCGL) License. More information can be found at https://www.daggerheart.com. There are no previous modifications by others.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Daggerheart, Episode 2: Ambushed! (But not very well.)

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 15:45:00 GMT

This week we continue our adventure of Daggerheart, as our crew walks away from the settlement surrounding the Motherboard and into a not entirely unexpected ambush. Or maybe it's a reverse ambush? Well, you'll have to listen to see all of that works out, as our party searches for a way into the hidden heart of the Motherboard herself.

Join GM Liz Harper as I attempt to guide a motley crew of adventurers through this adventure! Here's our cast of characters:

Joan as Lithyen of Redcanyon (Rogue), a faun who lost her family at the hands of cultists obsessed with technology. She now travels alongside those who rescued her.
Matt as Ishvit (Brawler playtest), a young giant, raised in isolated ruins. She's looking for her way in the world after losing her dwarven foster family.
Nick as Tavin (Seraph), a human priest who has pledged himself to the Motherboard, but his faith was shaken when he met a supposed worshipper who used the faith to steal and kill.
Phil as Laplace Cadmus (Warlock playtest), an elf who narrowly survived an attack on his group of pilgrims with the help of a mysterious voice in the network (and also Tavin).

This is the second in a three-part game of a Daggerheart game in the Motherboard setting! If you haven't, start by listening to the first episode of this game. Look for new episodes every Monday.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Daggerheart, Episode 1: An invitation to the Motherboard

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 15:45:00 GMT

This week we're playing a game of Daggerheart, largely because I was enchanted by the Motherboard setting in the book — a funny turn of phrase, since the setting has no magic! In the Echo Vale, civilization has been reborn in the ruins of the old world, repurposing the technology of people long gone. But the robotic creatures roaming the valley have been stirred into a wild fury, and the Prophet of the Motherboard thinks our party may be able to help.

Join GM Liz Harper as I attempt to guide a motley crew of adventurers through this adventure! Here's our cast of characters:

Joan as Lithyen of Redcanyon (Rogue), a faun who lost her family at the hands of cultists obsessed with technology. She now travels alongside those who rescued her.
Matt as Ishvit (Brawler playtest), a young giant, raised in isolated ruins. She's looking for her way in the world after losing her dwarven foster family.
Nick as Tavin (Seraph), a human priest who has pledged himself to the Motherboard, but his faith was shaken when he met a supposed worshipper who used the faith to steal and kill.
Phil as Laplace Cadmus (Warlock playtest), an elf who narrowly survived an attack on his group of pilgrims with the help of a mysterious voice in the network (and also Tavin).

This is the first in a three-part game of Daggerheart! Look for new episodes every Monday.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Looking forward to playing Rebel Scum (but you can't buy it on DriveThruRPG)

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 15:45:00 GMT

It's a new week of drama in the TTRPG community, and we're here to dig into the latest news. We talk about the controversy surrounding the game Rebel Scum, a Star Wars-alike that was recently removed from DriveThruRPG after complaints about the game's political messaging. Surprise: Star Wars itself is pretty political, and the game takes it from there in what it calls an "antifascist space opera." (We may be checking the game out ourselves soon!) In other gaming news, Darrington Press continues to make waves by adding both Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford to the staff after both left Wizards of the Coast earlier this year. Perkins will serve as the company's Creative Director and Crawford as Game Director, and we may start to see their influence on the continuing development of just-released Daggerheart or new games.

And Daggerheart is certainly continuing to grow: while no new books have been announced, there are four classes, six ancestries, and six backgrounds currently in playtesting, suggesting the team isn't slowing down. But D&D has been releasing a lot of play testing content recently, too, and we discussed seven Arcana-focused subclasses you can currently find as Unearthed Arcana (but I'm still quietly waiting for the revised Eberron book coming out in August). Starfinder 2e is also getting closer to launch, with its tech class playtest wrapping up before the full book comes out at the end of July. Plus, Final Fantasy becomes the best selling Magic: The Gathering set of all time, some of the great 5e compatible games you can play (including some available directly on D&D Beyond), and some great features in the Tales of the Valiant Game Master's Guide from Kobold Press.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Masks, Episode 3: A blast from the past

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:45:00 GMT

This week on Masks, with the tip from Perseus Pyrite, the Mavericks are hot on the tail of -- presumably -- Silver Age villain Mirror Master, back and probably up to no good. But why did Mirror Master want Pyrite's shield, rumored to be able to open portals in time and space? Is he truly operating on his own? Is the past ever truly buried and behind us? Our teenage powerhouses are about to find out those answers -- for better or worse -- in an encounter that will test their mettle as heroes... and as a team. If you like Young Justice, Young Avengers, and Teen Titans, you'll probably like this game.

GM Phil Ulrich helps our young heroes find their footing in Halcyon City, as the newly named superhero team The Mavericks takes on an old threat with mysterious means and motives. Here's our team:

Joan as Vida, aka Little Marvel (Beacon). At just five inches tall, you could miss Vida entirely (or only see her service dog Lobo), but she's determined to prove that she can be a hero despite her size.
Joe as Alex and T.L.O.N., aka Talons (The Host/ed). After a lab accident, Alex found themself merged with T.L.O.N., the Tailored Living Organism Neuropathic-Connection. Living with T.L.O.N. is sometimes complicated, but Alex is committed to using his new powers to help others.
Matt as Arvana, aka Shrike (Scion). The daughter of interdimensional conqueror Nabasu the Annihilation, Shrike led her father's armies to earth. But, impressed by the heroes of Halcyon City, she decided work with these heroes and turn against Nabasu.
Liz as Charlie, aka Jade X (Delinquent). Charlie has a habit of getting into (and usually out of) trouble using her power to create illusions. But when she finally got caught, one of the agents of A.E.G.I.S. saw her potential and assigned her to a team of young heroes for training.

This is the third in a three-part game of Masks: A New Generation by Magpie Games. Be sure to listen to the first episodeand the second episode if you haven't yet! If you like our game, you can pick it up for yourself from Magpie or DriveThruRPG. It's a Powered by the Apocalypse game, so characters are based on playbooks, and there are some great fan-made playbooks that expand on the official options. Joe played with a custom playbook called The Host/ed, which you can find here if you're interested.

Music for this game is "Hero Stuff," written and performed by Joseph Perez/Mad Shaman Studios.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Masks, Episode 2: Heroes and hero worship

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 19:30:49 GMT

This week on Masks, our new superhero team comes together to defeat a new threat: paralyzing hero worship as they meet famed Silver Age hero Perseus Pyrite. Could the team be on the trail of a Silver Age villain come back to haunt the city? It's time to make plans (and maybe make friends). If you like Young Justice, Young Avengers, and Teen Titans, you'll probably like this game.

GM Phil Ulrich helps our young heroes find their footing in Halcyon City, as the newly named superhero team The Mavericks takes on a new (or possibly old) threat. Here's our team:

Joan as Vida, aka Little Marvel (Beacon). At just five inches tall, you could miss Vida entirely (or only see her service dog Lobo), but she's determined to prove that she can be a hero despite her size.
Joe as Alex and T.L.O.N., aka Talons (The Host/ed). After a lab accident, Alex found themself merged with T.L.O.N., the Tailored Living Organism Neuropathic-Connection. Living with T.L.O.N. is sometimes complicated, but Alex is committed to using his new powers to help others.
Matt as Arvana, aka Shrike (Scion). The daughter of interdimensional conqueror Nabasu the Annihilation, Shrike led her father's armies to earth. But, impressed by the heroes of Halcyon City, she decided work with these heroes and turn against Nabasu.
Liz as Charlie, aka Jade X (Delinquent). Charlie has a habit of getting into (and usually out of) trouble using her power to create illusions. But when she finally got caught, one of the agents of A.E.G.I.S. saw her potential and assigned her to a team of young heroes for training.

This is the second in a three-part game of Masks: A New Generation by Magpie Games. Be sure to listen to the first episode if you haven't yet! If you like our game, you can pick it up for yourself from Magpie or DriveThruRPG. It's a Powered by the Apocalypse game, so characters are based on playbooks, and there are some great fan-made playbooks that expand on the official options. Joe played with a custom playbook called The Host/ed, which you can find here if you're interested.

Music for this game is "Hero Stuff," written and performed by Joseph Perez/Mad Shaman Studios. (Hey! We know that guy!)

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Masks, Episode 1: The trouble with team names

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 01:06:05 GMT

It's time for some superhero action as the team dives into Masks, where we find out just how tough it is to pull a superhero team together. (The name. You've gotta have a name.) If you like Young Justice, Young Avengers, and Teen Titans, you'll probably like this game. (And I happen to think we came up with a pretty good superhero group.)

GM Phil Ulrich helps our young heroes find their footing in Halcyon City, with a crew of misfits (and maybe heroes?). Here's our team:

Joan as Vida, aka Little Marvel (Beacon). At just five inches tall, you could miss Vida entirely (or only see her service dog Lobo), but she's determined to prove that she can be a hero despite her size.
Joe as Alex and T.L.O.N., aka Talons (The Host/ed). After a lab accident, Alex found themself merged with T.L.O.N., the Tailored Living Organism Neuropathic-Connection. Living with T.L.O.N. is sometimes complicated, but Alex is committed to using his new powers to help others.
Matt as Arvana, aka Shrike (Scion). The daughter of interdimensional conqueror Nabasu the Annihilation, Shrike led her father's armies to earth. But, impressed by the heroes of Halcyon City, she decided work with these heroes and turn against Nabasu.
Liz as Charlie, aka Jade X (Delinquent). Charlie has a habit of getting into (and usually out of) trouble using her power to create illusions. But when she finally got caught, one of the agents of A.E.G.I.S. saw her potential and assigned her to a team of young heroes for training.

This is the first in a three-part game of Masks: A New Generation by Magpie Games. If you like our game, you can pick it up for yourself from Magpie or DriveThruRPG. It's a Powered by the Apocalypse game, so characters are based on playbooks, and there are some great fan-made playbooks that expand on the official options. Joe played with a custom playbook called The Host/ed, which you can find here if you're interested.

Music for this game is "Hero Stuff," written and performed by Joseph Perez/Mad Shaman Studios.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are too many new TTRPGs to list (but we'll try anyway)

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 00:47:07 GMT

Daggerheart has just launched, so in this episode we talk about our first impressions of this new game, which seems poised to take on D&D. It's a game that encourages worldbuilding and storytelling, and it's flexible enough to tell different sorts of stories (and comes with several diverse campaign settings) — but not all of us love this new game from the creators of Critical Role.

Fortunately, there are a lot of other games coming out, many of them crowdfunded: we talk about Blades in the Dark: Deep Cuts, a rules expansion for this supernatural criminal TTRPG; Paizo's Pathfinder dating sim card game (yes, you read that right); the Outgunned Superheroes expansion, currently on Backerkit (including a free 70-page quickstart guide); Astra Arcanum, a fascinating new sci-fi TTRPG now on Kickstarter; and a Monty Python TTRPG from Exalted Funeral(yes, this is a real thing and you can buy it right now). It's a great time to be a gamer, because there are so many great tabletop games to play right now.

And, of course, if you prefer D&D to all the rest, the revised Eberron book (including Artificers) is coming in August and Wizards of the Coast is playtesting some interesting new horror-themed subclasses.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Legend in the Mist, Episode 3: Why did it have to be snakes?

Mon, 26 May 2025 19:29:14 GMT

n our third and final game of Legend in the Mist, our little group of friends may be on their way to becoming proper heroes as they track the undead that attacked their village back to its source. (To protect the village, but also to make sure one of their own doesn't turn into a zombie after being poisoned in the attack. One undead zombie was bad enough.) But the sunken, abandoned watchtower they find has secrets of its own. And, knowing their luck, these secrets will have teeth.

To see how this party of neophytes is faring, join GM Phil Ulrich along with our crew of would-be adventurers:

Chris as Dunny, the local blacksmith, whose father's old sword may be more than it seems. He's been poisoned by the undead, and has to find a cure — but he's hung on this long without becoming a zombie of some kind himself, so it's probably fine.
Nick as Frye, a hardworking cook at the local tavern, who dreams of becoming a great chef (but mostly finds himself working for ruthless overseers in the kitchen). Fortunately the rest of the group is so caught up in the adventure that they haven't noticed he has special powers of her own.
Liz as Lyssa, who works at the ferry running people and cargo across the river, but thinks there has to be more to life than this. But after some run-ins with creatures of myth, the outside world is looking a little scary.

This is the last of a three-game series of Legend in the Mist, a game that's designed for fantasy storytelling that scales from our small town heroes to folk heroes of legend. It's a different flavor of fantasy TTRPG, with a vibe that feels quite like The Hobbit, where ordinary folk may find themselves in extraordinary adventures. It has a narrative-centric focus and flexible character creation so you can make the hero you want and play them the way you want. We enjoyed it a lot, and you can pick up a book for yourself from Son of Oak. And if you haven't, start by listening to the first episode and second episode before you tackle this one.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Legend in the Mist, Episode 2: In which we learn that fairy tales aren't always tales

Mon, 19 May 2025 15:45:00 GMT

Our group of hometown adventurers has set off and found that adventure isn't quite as exciting as the fairy tales make it seem. Even for a short trip to investigate the undead that ventured into their village, road is full of risks — for example, did you know a person could have the moldy status, because that's apparently a thing (and not a good one). But we're definitely not going to spiral out of control and worry about every fairy-tale-turned-reality that might jump out of the shadows and ambush us.

Definitely not.

To see how this party of neophytes is faring, join GM Phil Ulrich along with our crew of would-be adventurers:

Chris as Dunny, the local blacksmith, whose father's old sword may be more than it seems. He's been poisoned by the undead, and has to find a cure.
Nick as Frye, a hardworking cook at the local tavern, who dreams of becoming a great chef (but mostly finds himself working for ruthless overseers in the kitchen).
Liz as Lyssa, who works at the ferry running people and cargo across the river, but thinks there has to be more to life than this.

This is the second of a three-game series of Legend in the Mist, which is designed for fantasy storytelling that scales from our small town heroes to folk heroes of legend. It's a different flavor of fantasy TTRPG, with a vibe that feels quite like The Hobbit, where ordinary folk may find themselves in extraordinary adventures. It has a narrative-centric focus and flexible character creation so you can make the hero you want and play them the way you want. We enjoyed it a lot, and you can pick up a book for yourself from Son of Oak. And if you haven't, you can listen to the first episode now!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Legend in the Mist, Episode 1: Never fight the undead after lunch

Mon, 12 May 2025 18:35:42 GMT

This week we're diving into a rustic fantasy of small town heroes (or heroes to be) in Legend in the Mist, where our humble villagers come together to deal with a single shambling undead that found its way to town. Where did it come from? Are there more of them? And is the right solution for the entire town to panic?

That last one really depends on who you ask, but join GM Phil Ulrich along with a group of wannabe heroes venturing out into the world, with:

Chris as Dunny, the local blacksmith, whose father's old sword may be more than it seems.
Nick as Frye, a hardworking cook at the local tavern, who dreams of becoming a great chef (but mostly finds himself working for ruthless overseers in the kitchen).
Liz as Lyssa, who works at the ferry running people and cargo across the river, but thinks there has to be more to life than this.

Will they rise to the challenge, or fall to poisonous sludge and unlucky dice? You'll have to listen to find out!

This is the first of a three-game series of Legend in the Mist, which is designed for fantasy storytelling that scales from our small town heroes to folk heroes of legend. It's a different flavor of fantasy TTRPG, with a vibe that feels quite like The Hobbit, where ordinary folk may find themselves in extraordinary adventures. It has a narrative-centric focus and flexible character creation so you can make the hero you want and play them the way you want. We enjoyed it a lot, and you can pick up a book for yourself from Son of Oak.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Pigeon's 11, Episode 3: All the pretzels you can eat (just gotta steal them first)

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:45:00 GMT

It's a once-in-a-lifetime heist: to sneak into the biggest game convention around (celebrating much loved baking sim and MOBA Heroes of the Dough) and steal the esports trophy (which happens to be made of pretzels) from under everyone's noses (both literally and metaphorically). But that's not enough for our fine flock of feathered felons, who want to make off with the recipe for the limited edition pretzels that conventioneers are gobbling down, turning one heist into two heists. (Trust me, it all makes sense in context. Well, it all mostly makes sense in context.)

Join GM Liz Harper and a cast made up of Blizzard Watch's bird alter egos for our last game of Pigeon's 11! Here are our players:

Phil Ulrich as Frankie Two-Talons, a boat-tailed grackle.
Joan Albright as Professor Beakley, an African gray parrot.
Eric O'Day as Thurston Owl III, a barn owl.
Matt Rossi as Drom, an emu.
Joe Perez as Bennie the Blast, a white-throated sparrow.
Anne Stickney as Cecilia Cabana Banana Von ChiChi (Cece for short), a pigeon disguised as a peacock.

This adventure is just as wacky as it sounds. So join our crew of birds quest for pretzels, cause chaos, and see how many twists they can pull out of the biggest pretzel heist of their lives.

This is the final game in a three-part series of Pigeon's 11 by 9th Level Games. It uses the Polymorph system for a game that's straightforward, narrative focused, and rewards you for rolling a one (to Matt's unending surprise). This is the second Polymorph game we've played — check out our game of Sentai & Sensibility if you want to see more of the system in action — and we've really enjoyed it!

Intro music for this episode is "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Pigeon's 11, Episode 2: Stealing the coveted pretzel trophy

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:45:00 GMT

This week we're bringing you another game Pigeon's 11, in which our feathered cast of criminals dives into the world of esports and culinary delights at MetzlCon. The plan: to steal the coveted pretzel trophy in the middle of a packed house of gamers and amateur chefs. It may be the biggest gaming convention of the year, but our pigeons only have eyes for the pretzels. (Well, most of them anyway.)

Join GM Liz Harper and a cast made up of Blizzard Watch's bird alter egos:

Phil Ulrich as Frankie Two-Talons, a boat-tailed grackle.
Joan Albright as Professor Beakley, an African gray parrot.
Eric O'Day as Thurston Owl III, a barn owl.
Matt Rossi as Drom, an emu.
Joe Perez as Bennie the Blast, a white-throated sparrow.
Anne Stickney as Cecilia Cabana Banana Von ChiChi (Cece for short), a pigeon disguised as a peacock.

And yes, this adventure is just as wacky as it sounds. So join our crew of birds as struggle through the game convention crowd to see that pretzel trophy first hand and pick out the only one on the convention floor who has a gluten allergy.

This is the second game in a three-part series of Pigeon's 11 by 9th Level Games. It uses the Polymorph system for a game that's straightforward, narrative focused, and rewards you for rolling a one. This is the second Polymorph game we've played — check out our game of Sentai & Sensibility if you want to see more of the system in action — and we've really enjoyed it!

Intro music for this episode is "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Pigeon's 11, Episode 1: A fine flock of felonious fowl

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 16:15:00 GMT

This week we're playing Pigeon's 11, an adventure where our fine flock of felonious fowl are getting ready for the heist of a lifetime. (Spoiler: it involves a lot of baked goods and bread puns.) Join GM Liz Harper and a cast made up of Blizzard Watch's bird alter egos:

Phil Ulrich as Frankie Two-Talons, a boat-tailed grackle.
Joan Albright as Professor Beakley, an African gray parrot.
Eric O'Day as Thurston Owl III, a barn owl.
Matt Rossi as Drom, an emu.
Joe Perez as Bennie the Blast, a white-throated sparrow.
Anne Stickney as Cecilia Cabana Banana Von ChiChi (Cece for short), a pigeon disguised as a peacock.

And yes, this adventure is just as wacky as it sounds. So join our crew of birds as they plan their big score, start a few fights, and chase down some baked goods.

This is the first in a three-part series of Pigeon's 11 by 9th Level Games. It uses the polymorph system for a game that's straightforward, narrative focused, and rewards you for rolling a one. This is the second polymorph game we've played — check out our game of Sentai & Sensibility if you want to see more of the system in action — and we've really enjoyed it!

Intro music for this episode is "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are TTRPGs taking a turn away from crunchy to bring us more narrative-focused one-shots?

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 16:15:00 GMT

While there are still plenty of crunchy tabletop games out there, lately we're playing a lot of shorter TTRPGs that lean into narrative elements — and are easier to schedule than long form campaigns. We talk about our recent Pigeon's 11 game, the cozy fantasy of Legend in the Mist, and the Nebula-nominated Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast. Also, we're apparently going back to Eberron this year in a surprise D&D book that wasn't part of the original 2025 release slate.

Plus the speedy demise of Sigil, Wizards of the Coast's Unreal-based VTT that launched and laid off its staff within a month. Yikes.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Triangle Agency 3: That's fine, Get in the briefcase

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 16:15:00 GMT

It's a tough day for the employees of Triangle Agency, but our skilled Agents are always ready to beat back any challenge — even when that challenge is a mass of anomalous electrical wires intent on their deaths! But don't worry about them, because Triangle Agency is always here to help Agents who help themselves. They've really earned their paychecks today! (At least those of them who get paid.)

In this episode, GM Phil Ulrich does his very best to get all of our Agents killed (or at least rack up some demerits). But if you want to know how it goes, you'll have to listen to the episode yourself.

This is the last episode of a three-part series in which we play Triangle Agency, an extremely triangular TTRPG by Haunted Table Games. If you enjoyed this game, you can pick up your own copy from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius. We welcome your future contributions to Triangle Agency!

Intro music for this game is Business Training Background Music By Alec Koff. What a great productivity-boosting tune!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Triangle Agency 2: An unintended (artistic) detour

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 16:15:00 GMT

Triangle Agency's agents are on the case — with a little help from corporate HQ, of course! Our highly skilled team of experts is in the process of tracking down a dangerous anomaly, but don't you worry (or you might become a loose end we have to deal with).

In this episode, GM Phil Ulrich helps the Agency's best make some art, earn the high score in their favorite video game, and untangle some extremely dangerous wires. It's all in a day's work for the employees of Triangle Agency!

This is the second of a three-part series in which we play Triangle Agency, an extremely triangular TTRPG by Haunted Table Games. (Here's the first episode if you haven't listened to it.) If you enjoyed this game, you can pick up your own copy from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius. We welcome your future contributions to Triangle Agency!

Intro music for this episode is Inspired by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Triangle Agency 1: The Agency has your very best interests at heart!

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 16:15:00 GMT

Welcome to beautiful Ternion City, home of the Triangle Agency. In our corporate headquarters, agents are hard at work — right now! — to preserve reality. You like reality, don't you? Of course you do. And your friends at Triangle Agency are here to keep the reality you love safe... preferably without you noticing any of those pesky breaks in reality in the first place! What breaks in reality? We certainly haven't seen any!

GM Phil Ulrich helps the Agency's latest employees with their new field assignment: to investigate a string of strangely similar and equally unexplained deaths. Sounds like a potential break in reality to us!

This is the first of a three-part series in which we play Triangle Agency, an extremely triangular TTRPG by Haunted Table Games. If you enjoyed this game, you can pick up your own copy from Haunted Table Games or Modiphius. We welcome your future contributions to Triangle Agency!

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Intro music for this game is Inspired by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

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D&D's messy release schedule continues into 2025

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 17:15:00 GMT

This month on Tavern Watch, we discuss the messy release of D&D's 2024 edition, which was staggered out into 2025... and seems to have lost some hype in the process. But Wizards of the Coast could turn things around, with an upcoming live action D&D show on Netflix and two new Forgotten Realms books coming out late this year. Plus all the games we're looking forward to, in which Liz could probably spend the entire show talking about Magpie's Fallen London Kickstarter (but doesn't).

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Tavern Watch Plays Murder on the Eberron Express 03: To (maybe) catch a killer

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 17:15:00 GMT

The Eberron Express is about to pull into the station, and when it does Egan Bakker's killer could vanish forever. Can the passengers solve the mystery before time runs out... and do they even want to?

Join DM Elizabeth Harper on this trip across Eberron, with colorful group of characters:

Nick Marino as Talis, a scholar that Bakker publicly humiliated, and neither of them have forgotten it.
Phil Ulrich as Jindaar, who was Bakker's business partner until he was squeezed out of the business... just before Bakker made it big.
Anne Stickney as Orchid, a mysterious figure who has recently been seen hanging off Bakker's arm.
Joan Albright as Treya, Bakker's neglected wife who — despite Orchid's presence — still stands by his side.
Matt Rossi as Kaltjarn, Egan Bakker's long lost heir, who has spent most of her life not knowing her father.
Joe Perez as Cylyeira, who knew Bakker a long time ago, before he found success.

This is the last episode of a three-part D&D murder mystery called Murder on the Eberron Express, written by Orla ní Dhúill. You can buy this unconventional adventure on the DM's Guild to play it yourself! It includes pre-generated characters (though our group created their own) and requires very little prep, and the format is sure to keep players on their toes — we certainly had fun with it!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Murder on the Eberron Express 02: The murderer among us

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 17:15:00 GMT

Someone on this train killed Egan Bakker, and the passengers of the Eberron Express are determined to track them down... but is the killer right in front of them? We'll see how the party fares one roll for initiative later.

Join DM Elizabeth Harper on this trip across Eberron, with colorful group of characters:

Nick Marino as Talis, a scholar that Bakker publicly humiliated, and neither of them have forgotten it.
Phil Ulrich as Jindaar, who was Bakker's business partner until he was squeezed out of the business... just before Bakker made it big.
Anne Stickney as Orchid, a mysterious figure who has recently been seen hanging off Bakker's arm.
Joan Albright as Treya, Bakker's neglected wife who — despite Orchid's presence — still stands by his side.
Matt Rossi as Kaltjarn, Egan Bakker's long lost heir, who has spent most of her life not knowing her father.
Joe Perez as Cylyeira, who knew Bakker a long time ago, before he found success.

This is the second episode of a three-part D&D murder mystery called Murder on the Eberron Express, written by Orla ní Dhúill. You can buy this unconventional adventure on the DM's Guild to play it yourself! It includes pre-generated characters (though our group created their own) and requires very little prep, and the format is sure to keep players on their toes — we certainly had fun with it!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tavern Watch Plays Murder on the Eberron Express 01: It's going to get him killed one day

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 17:15:00 GMT

Famed artificer Egan Bakker has invented a new weapon, and it's going to get him killed one day. As Bakker boards the luxurious Eberron Express, an unusual group or passengers joins him on the three-day route to Fairhaven... and because each of them have their own grudge against Bakker, the trip isn't likely to end well.

Join DM Elizabeth Harper on this trip across Eberron, with colorful group of characters:

Nick Marino as Talis, a scholar that Bakker publicly humiliated, and neither of them have forgotten it.
Phil Ulrich as Jindaar, who was Bakker's business partner until he was squeezed out of the business... just before Bakker made it big.
Anne Stickney as Orchid, a mysterious figure who has recently been seen hanging off Bakker's arm.
Joan Albright as Treya, Bakker's neglected wife who — despite Orchid's presence — still stands by his side.
Matt Rossi as Kaltjarn, Egan Bakker's long lost heir, who has spent most of her life not knowing her father.
Joe Perez as Cylyeira, who knew Bakker a long time ago, before he found success.

This is the first episode of a three-part D&D murder mystery called Murder on the Eberron Express, written by Orla ní Dhúill. You can buy this unconventional adventure on the DM's Guild to play it yourself! It includes pre-generated characters (though our group created their own) and requires very little prep, and the format is sure to keep players on their toes — we certainly had fun with it!

Note: this episode contains some NSFW language. Blame Matthew.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Starfinder 2: The great planetary escape!

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 17:15:00 GMT

Our crew of seasoned spacefarers made it safely to the planet surface, so the hard part is over... right? All they have to do now is survive (which means not blowing themselves up), find a way home (with the nearest spaceport several solar systems away), and maybe thwart this strange new alien threat along the way. It's all the day in the life of an adventurer.

Join us as we wrap up our Starfinder 2e playtest game, run by GM Matthew Rossi with co-conspirators— ah, players Joe Perez, Joan Albright, Chris Chesno, and Liz Harper. We hope you enjoy the show!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Starfinder 1: Does anybody know how to fly this thing? Maybe.

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 17:15:00 GMT

A dead pilot (maybe), a crashing starship (definitely), and a tiny problem that's causing the dead to rise. (Does that mean the pilot is now... okay?) As they hurtle into the planet, our crew of adventurers has to figure out how to contain this unexpected threat before it can spread across the galaxy.

Fortunately we have a team who knows what it takes to survive (a lucky set of dice, of course). Join us as we try out the Starfinder 2e playtest with a rollicking adventure from GM Matthew Rossi, with players Joe Perez, Joan Albright, Chris Chesno, and Liz Harper! This is the first of a two-part game of Starfinder 2e, so you'll find out how our expedition ends quite soon.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Sentai & Sensibility 3: You can't miss the social event of the winter season!

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 17:30:36 GMT

A threatening swarm of robots isn't enough to delay the Queen's Winter Gala, and it's up to our heroes to safeguard the Queen's perfectly packaged holiday gifts — and the festive fate of the winter season. Can they keep everyone safe and still make time for a spin around the dance floor? This year's Winter Gala is truly a can't miss event!

Liz is hosting this game as Master of Ceremonies, joined by the following gentlefolk:

Dame Margaret Clytemnestra Marlborough, a not-so-famed paleontologist (Matthew Rossi)
Ser Riley Mullabyaly, a military man through-and-through (Joe Perez)
Diviner Haruka Hadagami, an astrologer who blurs the line between science and mysticism (Joan Albright)
Bartholomew Culpepper, an associate professor of history at Magdalene University at Cambridge (Phil Ulrich)
Lady Blossom Hephestia Bee, a student who's eager to pick up every drop of social gossip (Anne Stickney)

This is the last in our series of Sentai & Sensibility by 9th Level Games. It uses the Polygon system in which each player uses a single die based on their class (or in this case, their station), and we found it a great deal of fun! Pick up a copy for yourself from 9th Level Games: https://9thlevel.com/products/sentai-sensibility

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Sentai & Sensibility 2: Welcome to our prehistoric robot rampage

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 17:30:43 GMT

Our sentai is on the chase! As present-pilfering robotic spiders flee across the city, Her Majesty's Prehistorian Praetorians race to find the culprit and salvage the holiday season. But the Queen's Winter Gala is just around the corner, with a palace full of presents to be handed out... and it's sure to make a tempting target.

Liz is hosting this game as Master of Ceremonies, joined by the following gentlefolk:

Dame Margaret Clytemnestra Marlborough, a not-so-famed paleontologist (Matthew Rossi)
Ser Riley Mullabyaly, a military man through-and-through (Joe Perez)
Diviner Haruka Hadagami, an astrologer who blurs the line between science and mysticism (Joan Albright)
Bartholomew Culpepper, an associate professor of history at Magdalene University at Cambridge (Phil Ulrich)
Lady Blossom Hephestia Bee, a student who's eager to pick up every drop of social gossip (Anne Stickney)

This is the second in a three-part game of Sentai & Sensibility by 9th Level Games. It uses the Polygon system in which each player uses a single die based on their class (or in this case, their station), and we found it a great deal of fun! Pick up a copy for yourself from 9th Level Games: https://9thlevel.com/products/sentai-sensibility

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Tavern Watch Plays Sentai & Sensibility 1: A tale of romance and robots

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 17:30:26 GMT

There's a tabletop game for everyone, even those of us who want to combine regency romance with sentai superhero teams. Join Her Majesty's Prehistorian Praetorians as our prehistoric-themed sentai — you can thank Matt for that — takes its first steps into society by attending the grand opening of a new gallery in the museum. It goes about as well as you would expect from our creative crowd of players.

Liz is hosting this game as Master of Ceremonies, joined by the following gentlefolk:

Dame Margaret Clytemnestra Marlborough, a not-so-famed paleontologist (Matthew Rossi)
Ser Riley Mullabyaly, a military man through-and-through (Joe Perez)
Diviner Haruka Hadagami, an astrologer who blurs the line between science and mysticism (Joan Albright)
Bartholomew Culpepper, an associate professor of history at Magdalene University at Cambridge (Phil Ulrich)
Lady Blossom Hephestia Bee, a student who's eager to pick up every drop of social gossip (Anne Stickney)

This is the first in a three-part game of Sentai & Sensibility by 9th Level Games. It uses the Polygon system in which each player uses a single die based on their class (or in this case, their station), and we found it a great deal of fun! Pick up a copy for yourself from 9th Level Games: https://9thlevel.com/products/sentai-sensibility

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diving deeper into the D&D 2024 Player’s Handbook

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 16:30:28 GMT

In this episode, we are joined by Phil “The goblin with the dumb name that you all love” Ulrich as we go in-depth on the good, the bad, and the ugly of the new Player’s Handbook. Also the trend of more open development by TTRPG game designers, what upcoming games we are looking forward to playing, and what we want from Wizards of the Coast’s upcoming virtual tabletop, Project Sigil.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Exploring the 2024 D&D Handbook updates

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 16:30:21 GMT

In this episode, we discuss the updated D&D rulebooks rolling out soon, the impact of the recent massive layoffs at Wizards of the Coast on both their own products and the larger industry, the role of AI in game development, and the importance of community trust for TTRPG companies to be successful.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Is Critical Role’s Daggerheart the future of TTRPGs?

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 16:30:35 GMT

In this episode, we discuss the renaissance in TTRPGs since Wizards of the Coast alienated the community with last year’s pricing and royalty shenanigans. Creators are now going in new directions like Critical Role’s d12-based game Daggerheart, romance-driven TTRPGs, and Chaosium’s game design challenge that encourages creators to build new games they retain the rights to. Also, AI DMs. Because who wanted improv in their game sessions anyway?!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Wizards of the Coast responds to OGL criticism

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 17:30:04 GMT

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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What Wizards of the Coast’s draconian OGL proposal means for players

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 17:30:28 GMT

In this episode recorded back in January 2023, we dive into the details of Wizard of the Coast’s controversial proposed update to its Open Gaming License that would allow it to control, prohibit, and seize the rights to third-party published content compatible with Dungeons & Dragons. Yep, the same content that has been fueling the game’s popularity over the last decade.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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One D&D play testing brings welcome changes

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 16:30:43 GMT

In this month's episode, we discuss the recent One D&D playtest changes to Bards, Rangers, and Rogues, as well as the addition of rules for handling more social, less combat oriented campaigns. We also cover Vox Machina, the Critical Role Campaign 1 animated series that is debuting its second season in January and the Avatar TTRPG that is now shipping to Kickstarter backers.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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What to expect from One D&D

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 16:30:35 GMT

In this month's episode, we deep dive into One D&D, the upcoming massive update coming to our favorite RPG. We explore the changes to character backgrounds, feats, and more from the current playtests.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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WotC’s Greg Tito on Radiant Citadel, diversity, and the new D&D movie

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 16:30:39 GMT

In this month's episode, we sit down with Wizards of the Coast’s Greg Tito to talk about adding diverse voices to D&D in the new Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel book, the speedy pace of new D&D books, bringing D&D Beyond's digital toolset in-house, and how the upcoming D&D movie, Honor Amongst Thieves, seems to capture a true D&D experience.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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How to make combat encounters fun for everyone in your TTRPG

Tue, 31 May 2022 16:30:04 GMT

In this month's episode, we discuss how many games are getting delayed launches due to supply chain issues, a new Giant-themed subclass currently being play tested, and how a DM can alter combat encounters on the fly to keep their players engaged.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Diving into WOTC’s new BIPOC-written D&D adventure announcement

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 16:30:08 GMT

In this month's episode, we discuss the implications of WOTC’s new direction with feats, the new Dungeon Alchemist software for AI-powered dungeon building, and Journeys to the Radiant Citadel, an upcoming compilations of adventures written by BIPOC creators.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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The importance of character concept in TTRPGs

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 17:30:06 GMT

In this month's episode, we discuss the streamlining of spell casting for monsters in D&D, the controversy surrounding upcoming Monsters of the Multiverse bestiary, and why players should start with character concept before they dive into classes and stats.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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2021 TTRPG year in review

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 17:30:40 GMT

We look back at TTRPGs in 2021 including major releases and indie ones as well. We also discuss the importance of Kickstarter, our favorite TTRPGs of the year, and highlights from our first year recording the podcast.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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A look back at Rossi's Riatan D&D campaign

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 17:30:57 GMT

We go behind the scenes of our just finished two-year Riatan D&D campaign to talk about how the game evolved over the course of the campaign. Matt talks about the pivot he had to make when the party decided to avoid the magical city he'd constructed, instead sending us off on an adventure with undead pirates. We also learn a little more about the stories we didn't explore and the characters we wish we'd seen more of.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Interview with Greg Tito from Wizards of the Coast

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 17:30:40 GMT

In our interview with Wizard of the Coast's Senior Communication Manager Greg Tito we talk about growing up with D&D, how Critical Role has introduced new fans to the game, and the new release of The Wild Beyond The Witchlight as well as the upcoming Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Setting player expectations for successful D&D campaigns

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 16:30:51 GMT

Today we discuss the release of Fizban's Treasury of Dragons D&D sourcebook, TTRPG company Paizo recognizing its new employee union, and the start of Critical Role Campaign 3. We also explore best practices to setting expectations with your D&D group for a successful campaign aka session zero.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Exploring The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 16:30:58 GMT

Today we discuss The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, WOTC's new Feywild adventure book; Call of Cthulhu and other brutal TTRPGs; and offer tips for DMs on handling flying players.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Interview with Avatar Legends TTRPG Lead Designer Brendan Conway

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 16:30:34 GMT

Matt Rossi, Joe Perez, and Liz Harper sit down with the Lead Designer behind the upcoming Avatar Legends tabletop role-playing game, Brendan Conway of Magpie Games. Based on both the popular Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: The Legend of Korra animated series, this game has quickly become the biggest RPG to be funded in the history of Kickstarter. Please note that we accidentally referred to one of the Avatar Legends designers as Clio Davis. Their actual name is Yeonsoo Julian Kim.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Welcome to our TTRPG podcast!

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 16:30:01 GMT

We are excited to announce that we have just launched a brand new podcast. In this debut episode of the monthly Tavern Watch podcast Matt Rossi, Joe Perez, and Liz Harper make their introductions and delve into the focus of this new show: the wonderful world of table top role playing games. They will cover everything TTRPG related, from their on-going D&D play session podcasts to the trials and tribulations faced by both DMs and players to the latest news across a multitude of TTRPGs. Pull up a seat and join us!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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