Table Talk - A D&D Podcast

Join us for the second...?...new segment we're kind of trying out! Roll for World Building, where the dice tell us what fresh hell we'll be making up today and eventually playing it in, for realsies! This session gives brings us the long-awaited sequel to the fictional hit arcade game loosely inspired by the Oregon Trail meets Wreck it Ralph, "Cowboys vs. Dragons 2: From the Ashes" . Unsuspecting players are sucked in to a post-apocalyptic western ravaged by dragons that were thought previously defeated by the mighty cowboys, but have begun to rise from...THEEE...

Listen in as we talk about playing at our first 8-person table in a world we stole with a system we mostly made up with people that met that day, Percy Jackson!

Join us for a (not so new) review of a sourcebook that was hot off the presses when we recorded, but is now probably outdated enough that you’ve already moved on to Daggerheart (like we have) as we unpack the 2024 New Player’s Handbook! This long-awaited update to Dungeons and Dragons 5e, now One DND, by Wizards of the Coast certainly made some much-needed improvements, from its layout, finally ending the debate on whether potions should be an action or bonus action, and Robert Lopez’s personal favorite, Mexican Orcs.

Woah there, it’s been a minute! In fact, it’s been long enough that theoretically, you could’ve had a baby! Join Maddi and Robert for one of our favorite Table Talk traditions, session zero, where we shoot the shit and talk about what we’ve been up to, get philosophical about why we like the TTRPG’s, how to win at roleplaying, and getting mono. Don't think too hard about that last one.

Fetch and Smoke have 2 hours left until they become fish food. They’re plan is fool-proof (or Fetch-proof, if you ask Smoke): Blow up a cell tower, ambush the convoy, get the package and deliver it safely to Codfather’s lair with absolutely NO hiccups on the way. But add a friendly neighborhood vigilante, a lot of guns and a few grenades, things look like they might be shaping up in Fetch and Smoke’s typical fashion- chaos.

Fetch and Smoke have 2 hours left until they become fish food. They’re plan is fool-proof (or Fetch-proof, if you ask Smoke): Blow up a cell tower, ambush the convoy, get the package and deliver it safely to Codfather’s lair with absolutely NO hiccups on the way. But add a friendly neighborhood vigilante, a lot of guns and a few grenades, things look like they might be shaping up in Fetch and Smoke’s typical fashion- chaos.

Welcome back to the 14th episode of season 2 of Table Talk! It has been a while since we last uploaded for you all, and on today's episode we'll get into why. The short answer? Life. The long answer? Everything in between. Pull up a chair as we trauma dump about the last 3 months of navigating all nine layers of scheduling hell with no wish spell in hand, the ridiculous amount of one shots we've run in between, and what's to come for the rest of this poor season and a sneak peek into the exciting season 3.

Gather round the campfire and let the nectar flow for the second episode of From Our Table to Yours - Camp Half-Blood edition for our “Media to TTRPGS (shitty working title)" miniseries! Join Maddi and Robert as they adapt the bestselling Percy Jackson by Rick Riordian series into playable mechanics in 5e, where your Godly parent determines your class, from the spellcasting abilities of children of the Big Three to the fighting capabilities of children of Athena to Ares. Led by one co-host who’s a longtime reader of the books and another who has only seen the movies (and loved them), be assured we totally know what were doing. Just ignore the 20 minute long debate we have on how to actually kill Percy Jackson.

Welcome back to another episode of Table Talk! Join Robert and Madi for the newest installment on a reoccurring segment, From our Table to Yours, where they kick off their first of many "Media to TTRPGS (shitty working title)" where they turn their favorite media from books to video games into a bare bones TTRP system. Today's session is all about The Last of Us, a gritty and dark post apocalyptic United States post-fungal-zombie-outbreak where anything that can go wrong...absolutely will 100% of the time. Using the lore from the award winning video game series The Last of Us by Naughty Dog and the incredibly popular MAX live-action adaptation, our intrepid hosts create a brand new hybrid system mixing mechanics, gameplay, and character creation from 5E AND Kids on Bikes. From replacing hit points with three hits total to assigning benefits of being from the cannibal club, listen in for a fungus filled session to help you fill your players with an inescapable feeling of certain death! But ask for consent before traumatizing them! Just good manners.

Are you afraid of becoming one of them? A couple of your friends ask you about touching a fire-breathing lizard with wings or running around a "dungeon"? Is that a sex thing?? We agree, dragons are boring and these dungeons aren't nearly freaky enough, but in this episode our brave friend and roommate gets brave and makes...an adventurer! A strictly watch-and-cringe English Literature major, Elle makes her Table Talk debut and creates the sweetest fairy to ever wander the FeyWilds. Join Robert and Maddi as they walk a newbie (who refuses to play the game) through making Dewdrop, a clueless rogue who finds herself in all sorts of crazy shenanigans simply by being...pretty? Silent as a raindrop, Eliana Dewdrop is one for the books and proves all those hobby-haters that even watchers can get a little dungeon action.

What's more fun than playing superheroes in a city full of neon lights and concrete heights? Join Robert and Maddi as they play the villainous vigilantes Smoke and Fetch. On a night out gone wrong (or right, according to Fetch) full of dancing on tables, sneaking into a club, and almost stabbing a puffer-fish bouncer, Smoke and Fetch end the evening with a block party for the books, quickly starting their morning. They're offered a job by Sapphire City's Codfather, a half-shark half-man gangster, leading them into a series of wild escapades. From fighting the city's deviant task force to dealing with a drug-fueled superhero, Smoke and Fetch aim to pull off one last job to settle debts and secure their future. But with complications at every turn, failure means facing the Codfather's wrath or worse, DRT's bullets.

What's more fun than playing superheroes in a city full of neon lights and concrete heights? Join Robert and Maddi as they play the villainous vigilantes Smoke and Fetch. On a night out gone wrong (or right, according to Fetch) full of dancing on tables, sneaking into a club, and almost stabbing a puffer-fish bouncer, Smoke and Fetch end the evening with a block party for the books, quickly starting their morning. They're offered a job by Sapphire City's Codfather, a half-shark half-man gangster, leading them into a series of wild escapades. From fighting the city's deviant task force to dealing with a drug-fueled superhero, Smoke and Fetch aim to pull off one last job to settle debts and secure their future. But with complications at every turn, failure means facing the Codfather's wrath or worse, DRT's bullets.

What's more fun than playing superheroes in a city full of neon lights and concrete heights? Join Robert and Maddi as they play the villainous vigilantes Smoke and Fetch. On a night out gone wrong (or right, according to Fetch) full of dancing on tables, sneaking into a club, and almost stabbing a puffer-fish bouncer, Smoke and Fetch end the evening with a block party for the books, quickly starting their morning. They're offered a job by Sapphire City's Codfather, a half-shark half-man gangster, leading them into a series of wild escapades. From fighting the city's deviant task force to dealing with a drug-fueled superhero, Smoke and Fetch aim to pull off one last job to settle debts and secure their future. But with complications at every turn, failure means facing the Codfather's wrath or worse, DRT's bullets.

We’ve covered the basics…Capes and Crooks by Crit Academy is a sci-fi super-powered 5th Edition RPG from the goons you fight to the quips you make! Now it’s time to use our own campaign, The Sapphire Prodigies, and the lovely sourcebook to create two brand new (not really)...villains? Join us as we build Fetch and Smoke, two rebellious deviants hellbent on surviving by any means necessary in Sapphire City. Fetch is a high octane neon powered punk with a mean streak as hot as the plasma she wields, taking her anger out on the local government task force, the Deviant Response Team. Smoke on the other hand prefers to rebel by using his gaseous powers to fly through vents and scale large buildings, defacing any government owned property with his own brand of anti-establishment graffiti, making sure every “message” he leaves is loud and permanent.

You’ve heard us talk about it way too much… so here it is! We return to our Tales from the Inn series where we tell you a tale from our very own table. This time, join us to hear about our current campaign- the Sapphire Prodigies, a cyberpunk city filled with super powered people called Deviants, ranging from a random civilian with the ability to call lightning, or a plant that gained sentience and now stops crime with it's massive vines. Our story follows Knightlite, Shadow, Chip, Kaze and Volt - a ragtag group of heroes all trying to make it big in Sapphire City, one of the last sanctuaries for Deviants and non-deviants in the world. They find themselves forced to work together in order to keep their City safe, and quickly become an unwilling and unruly team of misfit Devants out to do the right thing (some times?).This campaign is loosely based on Capes and Crooks 5E and uses their amazing systems, setting touchstones, and character creation process.

Did you know gargoyles, y'know the living statues- are considered elementals? Neither did we! In this episode, Robert and Maddi (attempt) to dive into classic D&D lore trivial pursuit style - and how little they actually know. Playing an (unsponsored and unaffiliated) game of Trivial Pursuit: D&D Edition, we show you that you don’t have to know anything about the lore of the game to be a fan- or host an entire podcast about it! From the silly, numerous names of the "Outer Planes" to what type of seed is required for gust of wind, join us as we stumble our way through what has to be the worst game of Trivial Pursuit: D&D edition of all time.

Join us for a talkback session about Maddi's first time GMing her own one-shot from the last session. From one-shot versus campaigns, roleplay driven versus more combat encounters, homebrewing versus pre-written- we compare and contrast our own experiences DMing, as well as reflect on favorite moments from our first time Point Pleasant.

Tony starts the field trip with a normal goal: set up Aster with Jason and land a date with Stacy. Of course, things can never be that easy as he now has to find another bottle of whiskey, keep Stacy from making Aster's life a living hell, and beat Jason at the Strength Tester game. With a bit of day drinking, some really cool- almost magical- prizes, and moves straight out of 1980s teen rom com, Tony and Aster set out to achieve their new goal: dethroning Stacy and Jason. That is, until they hear some noises coming from the woods...

What better way to start your GM-ing experience than trying it in front of a microphone for everyone to hear? Maddi takes the reins and leads her first ever damn-near-homebrew one shot, taking place in a small town on the Jersey Shore, and follows Tony Zuko, a greaser dressing cool kid and the rest of the junior class at Hidden Harbor as they prepare for the annual field trip to Port Pleasant, an overnight camping trip just a short walk away from the Boardwalk. From secret friendships to evil science teachers, makeovers, the social maze of hormonal teenager’s and more can be found inside this totally normal and definitely not cursed town. Link to Patreon Post with Behind the Screen info here!

Robert and Maddi switch seats this episode as she takes the lead in talking about a different system, Kids on Bikes! Join us as we explore the rulebook, talk the pros and cons between 5e and Kids on Bikes, and highlight the SICK modules and settings in the back. To wrap things up, join Robert and Maddi as they build characters using the Kids on Bikes system: the Plastic Beauty, Tony, and the Conspiracy Theorist, Aster.

Now that you’ve presumably listened to our episodes on how to build a character, join us as we take it a step further with multiclassing! We discuss the pros and cons of taking levels in different classes at the same time, several different insane combinations, and what tends to work the best and what works the worst. This especially includes Robert’s personal beef with Sorcerer/Warlock multi-classing, broken in many ways. In response of course, Maddi builds her PC Sparrow into that very multi-class, as Robert builds Ybba into a fighter/barbarian for maximum hits.

In honor of a belated love day, Robert and Maddi tackle two things: an incredible and in depth D&D feedback quiz by Justice Ramin Arman linked here, and in depth and intimate looks at character relationships. How do you flirt at the table and not make it weird? How do the villains you make reflect the party they're fighting with? What NPC’s do your player’s connect to and why? Or maybe you just want to listen to Maddi go into excruciating detail about character foils and over analyze every action other PC’s and NPC’s make.

Join us at the table as we take you through Capes and Crooks, a 5e Superhero RPG by Crit Academy that we recently started using at our own table in our current campaign, The Sapphire Prodigies! We unpack the inspiration behind our campaign, our experiences with comic books, a quick look at an amazing sourcebook, and give you a run down of the characters at our table. The Sapphire Prodigies, written and DM'd by our very own Robert Lopez, follows a mixed bag of heroes, old and new, human and not so human, who all "coincidently" meet on a high stakes mission gone wrong. Each hero has their own unique power set from Light to Shadow, Lighting to Wind, and of course the obligatory robot, and each is striving to become Sapphire City's top hero in 2099, the new golden age of technology and super-powered beings.

Welcome back to season two of Table Talk! Join for another session 0, a laid back episode where Robert and Maddi catch you up on what they’ve been up to since the last time you’ve heard from them. Listen to Maddi and Robert review her first time in GM seat, a la Kids on Bikes, Percy Jackson style. Then get ready for some tonal whiplash as they tackle the latest in their Super Hero campaign where everyone cried by the end of the last session, even Robert. Finally, stick around for a new segment where the two answer viewer submitted questions!

The season finale of Table Talk! In celebration of almost 24 hours of content, join Maddi and Robert as they play through Table Talk’s first official actual play- The Spire and the Scab by Jasmine Bhullar. Robert DM’s the tale and the DMPC Ybba, the goliath fighter as Maddi plays the puzzle solving Sparrow, a tiefling sorcerer. Full of chaos, four nat ones in a row, cheese, and some interesting attempts at accents, this season finale has everything you could wish for and more.

The season finale of Table Talk! In celebration of almost 24 hours of content, join Maddi and Robert as they play through Table Talk’s first official actual play- The Spire and the Scab by Jasmine Bhullar. Robert DM’s the tale and the DMPC Ybba, the goliath fighter as Maddi plays the puzzle solving Sparrow, a tiefling sorcerer. Full of chaos, four nat ones in a row, cheese, and some interesting attempts at accents, this season finale has everything you could wish for and more.

Does your DM take a sick and twisted pleasure in killing characters? Maddi’s does! (A little, at least). How do you deal with character death, from both the DM’s and player’s perspective? What do you even define as death in D&D? A fun little episode for heavy topics, including unsatisfying character deaths, sunsetting characters and the concept of schrodinger's encounters.

What makes the big difference between your campaigns and Critical Role? Production value? Years of experience? Talent? None of the above. It’s the power of friendship! No seriously, join us for a conversation all about approaching one of the most terrifying parts of role play: kissing the other players. Pull a seat up to the table as we go in depth about the lack of relationships at our own tables and ways to get your fellow nerds involved with one another beyond the pizza order.

AI. Thoughts? We have plenty. Maddi and Robert have a conversation from two different ends of the spectrum: welcoming our AI overlords in with welcome arms and waiting for AI with a sniper rifle trained on it. From where AI fits in at the table to the recent strikes from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, we dissect and debate Artificial Intelligence and it’s future in our world.

Do you ever rank moments you’ve had at the table in your head? Are there moments that keep you up at night in real life? Join us as we share ours and draft our best and worst moments from each of the campaigns we’ve played together.

Have you ever wanted to throw a stick of deodorant at another player? What about the sourcebook when a player says they know more than THE PERSON WHO WROTE THE STORY??? Join us at the table as we talk all things pet peeves, both as a player and a dm. Using some too true to life examples from our own adventures at the table, we dig deep into the things other people do that just piss us off. From practicing good hygiene to just staying off your goddamn phone, listen in and relate to all things we hate to hate.

Loki, Darth Vader, Sauron, and… Robert? BBEG’s and villains are the backbone (and bane) of many a D&D campaign- so how do you make a good one? Join us as we walk through the different archetypes of villains, talk tropes, and most of all: how to make every player at your table hate the villain so much they do the unthinkable: work together.

From scratch or from Wal-mart? As the most recent host for our friends-giving, we can confirm it is a delicate balance. How far can you go when making your own make-believe world? Does every twig have a backstory? Do the ants have social-security numbers? Or are you buying a 200 page source book and stretching that as far as it can go? Join us as we talk making stat blocks, the basis for every great campaign, theft, and how sometimes you just have to make. shit. up.

Fantasy racism. Thoughts? We share ours! Join us for an episode all about ethics at the table as a DM and as a player. How does a DM broach sexism and discrimination in a make believe universe? Negotiating players who want shopping episodes and a DM who wants blood, guts and glory? How do you DM ethically so that everyone walks away with acceptable trauma? Is it okay to lie about dice rolls? And what does it mean to be a good player even if you’re playing an evil character? Heavy topics for sure, so strap in and listen up as we dive off the deep end straight into moral and ethical hell.

Ah, the scariest part of DnD: role playing. How do you act like an elven ranger at a table full of friends or strangers without looking and feeling like a total dumbass? How do you stay in character when your PC is so different from you? How the fuck do you even do voices?? All questions will be answered, rest assured, as well as rants about Bean Soup on Tik Tok, how to navigate metagaming, and how to Yes And your way out of any situation your DM throws your way.

Join us for our 10th episode AND our longest episode yet...again! A whopping 2 hours, we spend the first half talking about how to select those fancy spells for Madison's make-believe spell caster, Sparrow! After she's done telling you about her all time favorite spells, listen in to the second half all about everyones favorite cathartic exercise, combat! Ybba and Sparrow go on the hunt for some very hungry wolves, where Robert plays both friend and foe, killing wolves and himself??? Join us for our very first player kill where Robert kills Madison, then saves her after slaying a flame headed werebear.

Talking about something we want to for once, listen in as we start a new series all about our previous campaigns: Tales from the Inn! First up is our first ever campaign together, The World Serpent's Inn. Can you guess where the series title came from? Join us as we do a deep and off-the-rails dive into part 1 of the most convoluted campaign. Ever. With twists worse than M. Night Shyamalan and backstories more complicated than a twig in a Tolkein book, get ready to be just as confused as we are.

Part two of character sheets! Join us as Robert takes the lead on character building as we make a Goliath fighter inspired by Abby from The Last of Us - Part Two. We also talk about flavor and how to deviate characters from their original counterparts to play in your game. Like last time, pull up a character sheet and play along or click here to follow along with us!

Join us for the long awaited character sheet creation episode! Well, part one, anyway. Bearing through technical difficulties (Maddi’s mic breaking in the middle of the episode), join us as we walk you through making a character in real time as we build Sparrow, a wild magic sorcerer tiefling! Pull up your own character sheet and join along, or, click the link here to look at ours and follow along.

Everyone’s favorite topic: failure. What happens when you roll a nat one at the wrong time? How do you keep from getting mad at the table? What happens when you accidentally kill your BBEG halfway into the campaign? Join for an episode all about failing forward (cringe, I know), our relationships with failure at the table, and a few highlights from one of our own games where we ate shit. Hard.

In the fifth session of Table Talk, join us at the table as we talk flavor and all the fun ways to turn your character from an extra in Baldur's Gate to a Lord of Waterdeep. All that to say in this episode, we officially hit part three of our series on character creation and cover everything background. Sit down and listen for an hours worth of families dying in tragic fires and of course, how not to be Batman, or if you're so inclined, how to be Batman. From a barbarian fairy just trying to make it on her own in the big city to an elvish necromancer determined to party with the dead, how do you make these characters interesting? Original, even? News flash, it all starts with YOU.

In the fourth session of Table Talk, join us at the table to talk everything classes, from clerics to...rangers. This time around, we somehow have and even LARGER episode of you all, coming in at just under 2 hours. I know. Listen in as we give an "in-depth" breakdown of the core classes, minus most sub-classes, and the various features your pact-making warlock has to the extra attack the samurai-wannabe fighter boasts!

In the third session of Table Talk, join us at the table as we attempt to cover the behemoth topic that is: Character Creation. Having gone way over per usual, we just barley make it through all of our races, not including every. single. sub race. Listen in as we give an "in-depth" breakdown of the core races like humans...elves, and dwarves, to a few guest races like the angelic Aasimair and the hilariously broken Warforged in a our first multi-parter!

In the second session of Table Talk, dive into the terrifying waters of worldbuilding, and ask the question: how does your DM sift through all that information to make a world that rivals Tolkien? Join us as we talk about stealing anime plots lines, acknowledging that you're not Christopher Nolan, the Barbie movie, how to make a world that fits your PC's and learn that sometimes, it's okay to just make shit up.

In the first proper session of Table Talk, we tackle what exactly DnD is, and answer the age old question: what is a TTRPG anyway? Join us as we talk about where and how to get into your first game of D&D, our favorite actual plays (shoutout Dimension 20), and talk about places where you could happen to find sourcebooks at affordable prices.

Our pilot session! A laid back, formatless session where we introduce ourselves (and our podcast) to you. Prepare for a winding conversation that takes many sidequests, from how our backgrounds drew us to DnD, some of our favorite moment’s we’ve had at the table, companies calling the Pinkertons, and how Stranger Things single handedly saved Robert’s favorite hobby.

Table Talk is a passion project hosted by two sides of the TTRPG table: Maddi Conway (she/her), the player, and Robert Lopez (he/him), the Game Master. Whether you’ve never rolled a D20 before or have DM’d for twelve straight campaigns, Table Talk welcomes you in. From Dungeons and Dragons to Kids on Bikes, the two tackle topics ranging from character creation, to dealing with that player at the table, and everything in between. Through humor and ADHD fuelled conversations, we welcome you to the table.