Game Master's Journey

Lex discusses traps in 5th edition D&D--how to detect traps, how to figure them out and how to disarm them. He also discusses his own experiences with traps in the game and gives some tips on how to use them well.

Bryn receives some valuable information from her dreams and the dryad, Anna.

This week Lex responds to your feedback! He shares a couple more strategies to cope with GM burnout, and he discusses tools he’s used for grid play at the table. He revisits his opinion on alignment, sharing some more instances in which it can be useful, as well as his advice on how to avoid annoying your players with it. Finally he talks about why he stopped playing Numenera and gives some behind-the-scenes information on why he shut down GM Intrusions and began Game Master’s Journey.

Lerissa, the tiefling bard, gets up to some shenanigans while the rest of the village of Dianara’s Rest sleeps.

Lex returns to his exploration of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. This week he explores adventuring in settlements, underwater, on the sea and in the sky. He also responds to some Listener-GM thoughts on alignments and gives his own opinions on alignment in D&D.

Wahl's mother, Eliira, angel of Elandra, visits him in a dream.

Lex returns to his exploration of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. This week he discusses mapping a wilderness and wilderness survival. He shows how concerning yourself with how the PCs survive in the wilderness can really add a lot to your game and enhance the players’ feelings of accomplishment as their characters progress through the game.

Lex returns to his exploration of the Dungeon Master’s Guide to discuss techniques for using wilderness travel in your adventures. He outlines two basic techniques—the travel-montage approach and the hour-by-hour approach—and he gives advice and strategies for both.

Any GM (or player!) can experience burnout. Lex investigates signs of possible burnout and explores various strategies of coping with GM burnout.

Even with the near-glacial release schedule for D&D fifth edition, the game is long enough in the tooth now that we have quite a few products to choose from. Which products are the most useful? Lex gives his opinions on which order to purchase the various supplements in today's episode of Game Master's Journey.

Lex gives an overview of the new D&D supplement, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.

Lex returns to his exploration of the Dungeon Master's Guide to discuss one of his favorite adventure environments--dungeons.

Lex investigates the rules and (not-so) common sense of darkness & light in D&D.

The PCs finally reach the magic tree and negotiate with Anna, the dryad, for a seedling to take back to Dianara’s Rest.

The PCs enter the Faerie Forest and search for the magic tree. They get to know their new companion Dahlia, and they learn that not all denizens of Faerie are friendly.

The PCs continue their journey to the Faerie Forest, and they meet a new companion along the way.

Lex returns to his exploration of the DMG. He discusses Chapter 4: Creating Nonplayer Characters. This chapter has lots of useful advice and tables for fleshing out your NPCs.

In the latest installment of the Hinterlands of Elandria D&D actual play, Lex gets together with Jaime to flesh out the backstory of his character, Marcos the College of Lore Bard.

How much of the rules should you know as a beginning GM? Lex gives a breakdown of where the basic rules of the game can be found and what to focus on. He also gives his thoughts on how to approach campaigns that make certain classes, subclasses, races, etc. undesirable to play as PCs.

This episode's topics of discussion are guided by fantastic feedback from listener-GMs. Lex discusses his new Relics of Power supplement for D&D, some thoughts about organized play as a first experience with RPGs, and a blast from the past--some thoughts on the Tyranny of Dragons campaign.

This week the PCs continue their struggle against the horrors spewing from the rift to the far realms. They meet a new friend and have to save a friend from a fate worse than death.

Things get real in this episode as the PCs endure the consequences of past actions. They also are reminded that the Breaking of the World and the Time of Rifts are still occurring in Primordia.

This episode is a vignette featuring Fir, the fire genasi lore master wizard. Fir returns to Elandria to report back to Druinda on what the party has found in the village of Dianara’s Rest. While she’s there, she learns some new spells, goes shopping for Lerissa, and acquires a new member of the party...sort of.

The PCs leave Korcyryx’s lair to continue their journey to the Faerie Forest. They learn first-hand that the Wilds of Primordia are a very dangerous place.

This week our heroes leave the village of Dianara's Rest in search of a magic tree....

Wahl has a vivid dream, perhaps sent by the goddess Elandra herself.

Lex covers a variety of RPG and GMing topics. How do we deal with players who make rolls we haven’t called for, or expect to always “win” the game with little to no effort? How do we know what kind of magic items and treasure to hand out? Lex also discusses an upcoming supplement which will allow you to create relics in your game—magic items that grow with the PCs who wield them.

The heroes defend the people of Dianara's Rest from a vicious attack.

Lex discusses the ins and outs of running the second session in his latest D&D campaign, Hinterlands of Elandria.

This episode follows the PCs as they spend a week in Dianara’s Rest. Each character pursues their own and the party’s goals in their own way, and hilarity ensues.

Matthew Colville rejoins Lex on the show today to discuss his upcoming D&D 5th edition supplement, Strongholds & Followers. This long-awaited tome is just part of Matt’s Kickstarter campaign, Strongholds & Streaming. The campaign is also providing some awesome gemstone dragon miniatures as well as studio space so Matt can produce a high-quality actual play of his next campaign.

Hinterlands of Elandria is a new D&D campaign set in Lex's homebrew campaign world, Primordia. Five years after the beginning of the Breaking of the World, the Time of Rifts and the Retreat of Humanity, a new team of adventurers leave the safety of the city of Elandria to explore rumors of a lone village somehow surviving in the Hinterlands to the east. Very few cities survived the Breaking, and it's believe no smaller settlements did. If there is a village out there, how has it survived on its own? The answer to this question could decide the fate of the thousands of refugees packing the streets of Elandria.

Lex continues his exploration of the Dungeon Master's Guide with discussion of random encounters from chapter 3. He discusses how, why and when to use random encounters, and he explains how they don't really have to be random at all. A better term to describe how Lex, at least, uses these types of encounters is "flexible encounters".

Hinterlands of Elandria is a new D&D campaign set in Lex's homebrew campaign world, Primordia. Five years after the beginning of the Breaking of the World, the Time of Rifts and the Retreat of Humanity, a new team of adventurers leave the safety of the city of Elandria to explore rumors of a lone village somehow surviving in the Hinterlands to the east. Very few cities survived the Breaking, and it's believe no smaller settlements did. If there is a village out there, how has it survived on its own? The answer to this question could decide the fate of the thousands of refugees packing the streets of Elandria.

Hinterlands of Elandria is a new D&D campaign set in Lex's homebrew campaign world, Primordia. Five years after the beginning of the Breaking of the World, the Time of Rifts and the Retreat of Humanity, a new team of adventurers leave the safety of the city of Elandria to explore rumors of a lone village somehow surviving in the Hinterlands to the east. Very few cities survived the Breaking, and it's believe no smaller settlements did. If there is a village out there, how has it survived on its own? The answer to this question could decide the fate of the thousands of refugees packing the streets of Elandria. 

Hinterlands of Elandria is a new D&D campaign set in Lex's homebrew campaign world, Primordia. Five years after the beginning of the Breaking of the World, the Time of Rifts and the Retreat of Humanity, a new team of adventurers leave the safety of the city of Elandria to explore rumors of a lone village somehow surviving in the Hinterlands to the east. Very few cities survived the Breaking, and it's believe no smaller settlements did. If there is a village out there, how has it survived on its own? The answer to this question could decide the fate of the thousands of refugees packing the streets of Elandria.

This is the seventh prelude in Lex's Hinterlands of Elandria D&D campaign. Lex talks with Manny about his character, Lerissa, the tiefling glamour bard.

Today Lex returns to his exploration of the DMG with a discussion on creating encounters.

Hinterlands of Elandria is a new D&D campaign set in Lex's homebrew campaign world, Primordia. Five years after the beginning of the Breaking of the World, the Time of Rifts and the Retreat of Humanity, a new team of adventurers leave the safety of the city of Elandria to explore rumors of a lone village somehow surviving in the Hinterlands to the east. Very few cities survived the Breaking, and it's believe no smaller settlements did. If there is a village out there, how has it survived on its own? The answer to this question could decide the fate of the thousands of refugees packing the streets of Elandria.This is the sixth prelude in Lex's Hinterlands of Elandria D&D campaign. Lex talks with Craig about his character, Quincy, the human hunt cleric of Dianara.

Lex returns to his exploration of the Dungeon Master’s Guide with a discussion of the first part of chapter 3: Creating Adventures. Lex covers the elements of a great adventure, running published adventures versus adventures of your own creation, location-based adventures, event-based adventures, mysteries, intrigues, framing events, moral quandaries, side quests and more!

Hinterlands of Elandria is a new D&D campaign set in Lex's homebrew campaign world, Primordia. Five years after the beginning of the Breaking of the World, the Time of Rifts and the Retreat of Humanity, a new team of adventurers leave the safety of the city of Elandria to explore rumors of a lone village somehow surviving in the Hinterlands to the east. Very few cities survived the Breaking, and it's believe no smaller settlements did. If there is a village out there, how has it survived on its own? The answer to this question could decide the fate of the thousands of refugees packing the streets of Elandria.This is the fifth prelude in Lex's Hinterlands of Elandria D&D campaign. Lex talks with Danielle about her character, Fir, the fire genasi wizard.

Hinterlands of Elandria is a new D&D campaign set in Lex's homebrew campaign world, Primordia. Five years after the beginning of the Breaking of the World, the Time of Rifts and the Retreat of Humanity, a new team of adventurers leave the safety of the city of Elandria to explore rumors of a lone village somehow surviving in the Hinterlands to the east. Very few cities survived the Breaking, and it's believe no smaller settlements did. If there is a village out there, how has it survived on its own? The answer to this question could decide the fate of the thousands of refugees packing the streets of Elandria.This is the fourth prelude in Lex's Hinterlands of Elandria D&D campaign. Lex talks with Brett about his character, Wahl, the aasimar paladin.

Hinterlands of Elandria is a new D&D campaign set in Lex's homebrew campaign world, Primordia. Five years after the beginning of the Breaking of the World, the Time of Rifts and the Retreat of Humanity, a new team of adventurers leave the safety of the city of Elandria to explore rumors of a lone village somehow surviving in the Hinterlands to the east. Very few cities survived the Breaking, and it's believe no smaller settlements did. If there is a village out there, how has it survived on its own? The answer to this question could decide the fate of the thousands of refugees packing the streets of Elandria.This is the third prelude in Lex's Hinterlands of Elandria D&D campaign. Lex talks with Steve about his character, Maligar, the half-night-elf bard.

Hinterlands of Elandria is a new D&D campaign set in Lex's homebrew campaign world, Primordia. Five years after the beginning of the Breaking of the World, the Time of Rifts and the Retreat of Humanity, a new team of adventurers leave the safety of the city of Elandria to explore rumors of a lone village somehow surviving in the Hinterlands to the east. Very few cities survived the Breaking, and it's believe no smaller settlements did. If there is a village out there, how has it survived on its own? The answer to this question could decide the fate of the thousands of refugees packing the streets of Elandria.In this episode, Lex gets together with Phoebe to discuss her character, Bryn, and her place in the world and adventure.

Hinterlands of Elandria is a new D&D campaign set in Lex's homebrew campaign world, Primordia. Five years after the beginning of the Breaking of the World, the Time of Rifts and the Retreat of Humanity, a new team of adventurers leave the safety of the city of Elandria to explore rumors of a lone village somehow surviving in the Hinterlands to the east. Very few cities survived the Breaking, and it's believe no smaller settlements did. If there is a village out there, how has it survived on its own? The answer to this question could decide the fate of the thousands of refugees packing the streets of Elandria.In this episode, Lex gets together with Brett to discuss his character, Wahl, and his place in the world and adventure. This is the first prelude of the campaign.

Listener-GM Ali Buck joins Lex on the show to discuss her experiences as a new GM.

Martin Hébert, a professor of anthropology, joins Lex to talk about how anthropology can help us create more realistic and more interesting cultures and worlds for our RPGs. They discuss some of the most common mistakes made by worldbuilders, and they tell you how you can avoid making those mistakes yourself.

Lex continues his exploration of Xanathar's Guide to Everything, the latest rules supplement for Dungeons & Dragons. This week he digs into Chapter 2: Dungeon Master's Tools. Topics include basic rules & assumptions of the game as well as expanded rules for falling, sleeping, adamantine weapons, tying knots, identifying spells, random encounters, downtime activities and awarding magic items. 

Lex discusses how he created the encounter table for the Misty Wood, the first area players will likely explore in the campaign.

Lex discusses how he prepared for the second session of his new D&D campaign, Hinterlands of Elandria.