Dungeon Master of None

DMs Rob and Matt are joined by the greatest world-building game designer, Ben Robbins! Ben is here to tell us about Microscope 2e, open-tables, West Marches, world building, running story games, and more! How do we put players in charge of more aspects of the table? Ben is here with the answers!

Microscope 2e Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lamemage/microscope

Episode 98 - Worldbuilding Through Microscope: https://dmofnone.libsyn.com/ep-98-worldbuilding-through-microscope

Microscope 1e: https://lamemage.itch.io/microscope

West Marches: https://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/

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Music: Pac Div - Roll the Dice

DMs Rob and Matt are ready to get groovy under the electroplasmic sun of Blades '68. This time they're joined on their heist by DM Sean Foer, our favorite Forged in the Dark Game Masters. Turn on the show for our discussion of new playbooks, mechanics, and crews in Blades '68. Tune in for some mid-century Game Mastering tips. And drop out as we discuss Sean's awesome new booklet on RPG cultures.

Archipelago of Play by Sean Foer

Check out more of Sean's stuff here: https://www.seanfoer.com/

Blades '68 by Tim Denee: https://evilhat.com/product/blades-68/

The Blades '68 Trouble Engine:

Blades '68 Trouble Engine

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Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Matt and Rob come to you in the form of grainy footage on a VHS and scratchy audio on a battered cassette to talk to you about Public Access, a very cool analog horror game built on the Carved from Brindlewood system! We talk about nostalgia, horror, analog media, memory, and more!

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Pac Div - Roll the Dice

It's time to move on over to a Story Game system. Or is it a "modern" game? Or a "fiction-first" game? Who knows! Special Guest Mason Allen, is here to help DMs Rob and Matt navigate the wide and wonderful (apocalypse) worlds of Story Games, and how to pick the right system for your next campaign!

Plus, check out Mason's own Story Game (it's Succession with Archmages at the End of the World) now funding on Game Found:

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/riftkid-games/ivory-tower

You can get the original edition (which reviewed back in episode 366) here: https://riftkid-games.itch.io/ivory-tower

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Matt and Rob talk about how to give your players hard choices. Let's make 'em sweat folks!

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Music:

Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Listen to THE ORACLE, a little side project from DM Rob. Down on his luck retro gaming YouTuber Jeff discovers a strange video game that leads him down a path of mystery and unsettling revelations.

Spotify Apple YouTube

Howdy Ophoi-heads, game designer Federico Sohns joins DMs Rob and Matt to chat about social science as game and world-building inspiration and the two brilliant TTRPGs they have designed: Zephyr and Nibiru!

Zephyr: An Anarchist Game of Fleeting Identities

Nibiru Revisited: A Science Fiction Game of Lost Memories

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Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Matt and Rob talk about the greatest city of Khorvaire, Eberron's Sharn, and the very good 2004 campaign setting book that covers it. Grab your trenchcoats, fedoras, wands and featherfall tokens, because we're headed into the city of a thousand towers folks!

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Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Crows: Fortune or Death is the newest TTRPG system from MCDM productions! DMs Rob and Matt are joined by designer and game director James Introcaso to discuss what makes Crows different from other fantasy adventures. Strap on your pack, pass some equipment cards around, and get ready to head out beyond the light of the beacon and into a dungeon.

Crows: Fortune or Death on Backerkit

MCDM's Crows

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Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Matt and Rob discuss the news, and there's a lot of it! Dark Sun returns, World of Warcraft and Star Wars will be 5e-ified, there's a new King of Kickstarter, and more! https://www.ttrpginsider.news/p/fighting-oppression-in-new-ways-d-d-s-designers-on-adapting-dark-sun-to-modern-times

https://www.enworld.org/threads/dungeons-dragons-icons-line-announced-bringing-back-classic-creators-to-classic-settings.720054/

https://www.enworld.org/threads/million-dollar-ttrpg-kickstarter-club.678540/

https://magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-thoughtlessness-of-deathbringers_02053113930.html

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Out—out are the lights—out all!

And, over each quivering form,

The curtain, a funeral pall,

Comes down with the rush of a storm,

While the angels, all pallid and wan,

Uprising, unveiling, affirm

That the play is the tragedy, "Man,"

And its hero, the Conqueror Worm.

DMs Rob and Matt are back for another classic Actual Prep, in which your hosts prep their next game "live" for your listening enjoyment. This time, it's a Mothership adventure!

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Music:

Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Matt and Rob recorded a cheeky little episode from their hotel room before heading out on the final day of GenCon -- listen to our SPICIEST takes, reserved just for you, dear listener.

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Pac Div - Roll the Dice

DMs Rob and Matt journeyed to Indianapolis, Indiana for Geneva Convention LIX! Here's the episode as it was broadcasted from the beautiful Tennessee Ballroom in the Marriot Hotel.

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Matt and Rob discuss Travis McElroy's second foray into gamemastering on The Adventure Zone: Abnimals! What can we learn from a comedy podcast about animal-human hybrids with huge muscles? Well, how much time do you have...

Travis's hyperfixation

The Abnimals

Travis and BleeM

Abnimals Rules

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Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Well met, traveler! Welcome to our isolated and dangerous corner of a distant realm...the realm of Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons. DMs Rob and Matt explore the greatest (or worst?) D&D campaign setting that never quite was...Nentir Vale. Tune in if you want some inspiration for a wilderness crawl, a West Marches game, or just some cool factions to steal for your campaign.

Links: Dungeon Master's Guide 4e: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/56694/dungeon-master-s-guide-4e

Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale 4e: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/158948/monster-vault-threats-to-the-nentir-vale-4e

Dungeon Master's Kit 4e: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/121978/dungeon-master-s-kit-4e

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Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Matt and Rob review Hull Breach, an anthology of Mothership assets that includes horrible monsters and adventures of course, but also horrible legal procedures, horrible shopping malls, horrible bosses, and more!

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Music:

Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Did you want every single WotC book (from bonus bestiaries to campaign guides) ranked? DMs Rob and Matt hope you do because that's exactly what we did! Think of this as a reference list if you need a quick guide to decide where you may or may not want to invest your DM time and money. Don't forget that we have review episodes of almost all of these books in our back catalogue!

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Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Matt and Rob talk about all the various and wonderful ways to reward your players beyond just loot and experience.

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Every couple of years, DMs Matt and Rob get curious about what systems people are playing. While there isn't a lot of data out there over the last couple of months, we've been blessed with a couple interesting new TTRPG datasets:

Bob the World Builder's RPG Poll

Foundry VTT's System Percent Installed Time-Series (2024-2026)

ratInASuit's Reddit /rpg TTRPG Community in 2025 Poll

GenCon's Latest Events

ICV2 Retail Survey Data compiled by EN World

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^Check it out for our cool data viz

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Music:

Pac Div - Roll the Dice

Matt and Rob work through some thorny issues in Rob's ongoing West Marches-style Mothership campaign. We talk about balance, character progression, loot, combat, and more! Remember, in space, no one can hear you scream (unless you pay your monthly scream subscription).

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https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/53237/roleplaying-games/tempest-cluster

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https://smamwise.itch.io/weapon-stat-block-gen

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Music:

Pac Div - Roll the Dice