Podcasts by The GMs Guide

The GM's Guide

In-depth podcast on how to improve your campaign, focusing on the adventure, world and character design. We apply proven and practical game design techniques to the world of running pen and paper campaigns. There's a lot to get into, so let's get started.

Further podcasts by Dan Felder

Podcast on the topic Spiele

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The GM's Guide
Trail of the Behmoth is Out! from 2022-10-24T01:44:15

Check out Trail of the Behemoth on Drivethru RPG!

Seamus and I go deep behind the sc...

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The GM's Guide
I'm Releasing a Game! from 2021-06-25T16:00

Trail of the Behemoth is an game about hunting giant monsters, a TTRPG you can bring to a boardgame night. I'm working on it with Seamus Allen, and we're going to talk about wha...

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The GM's Guide
Dealing with Evil PCs (and Paladins) from 2021-05-31T02:49:32

A listener sent me a question on how to deal with evil PCs, and how to deal with lawful-stupid paladins. I answer.

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The GM's Guide
Designing Your Own RPG System (Part 3) from 2021-05-07T16:00

How do you identify an inherently fun mechanic anyway? What's this 'Decision Engine' thing Dan loves so much and how do you make one yourself? Listen and find out.

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The GM's Guide
How to GM for New Players from 2021-05-01T04:50:42

Want to run RPGs for new players? Want to get them hooked on this hobby we love? Here's how Dan does it.

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The GM's Guide
Live World Building Part 2 from 2021-04-09T16:00

The second part of Dan and Reuben's live world building session. This time we're digging into Adventure Hooks and Sample Locations in the Necropolis.

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The GM's Guide
Live World Building! from 2021-04-02T16:00

Dan and Reuben recorded a live session of their world building. They had fun recording it. Will you have fun listening to it? Let's find out.

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The GM's Guide
Designing Your Own RPG System (Part 2) from 2021-03-26T16:00

We didn't finish everything about this topic in one podcast? Huh, who would've thought? Game Designer Dan Felder breaks down how he starts working on a game and the common pitfalls new designers...

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The GM's Guide
Designing Your Own RPG System from 2021-03-21T00:57:36

I get a lot of requests to talk about designing and hacking TTRPG systems, so here we go! I make my own systems for nearly every campaign I run. It's a huge topic, so today we're going to lay th...

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The GM's Guide
Content Forge - The Gardens of Ynn from 2021-03-15T07:04:20

First example of the Content Forge, where we talk about a setting, system, or adventure we've found inspiring and pulled pieces from to use in our own games. Sometimes it'll be the royal we, but...

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The GM's Guide
Boss Battles from 2021-02-12T05:00

Designer Reuben Covington returns to chat about designing Boss Fights in TTRPGs. The two give some advice, and tell a LOT of stories about memorable boss battles they've made and played against....

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The GM's Guide
Prepare to Improvise! from 2021-02-07T06:35:06

Dan and guest Reuben Covington break down how to design and run Dynamic Adventures, where the GM role is treated more like a player than a job.

Link to the adventure notes: Listen

The GM's Guide
One-Page Settings from 2021-02-07T04:33:35

Prepare a full adventure setting, a full region of your world, with just a single page of notes. This format, the one-page setting, is what I use to prepare vast open worlds with diverse and int...

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The GM's Guide
Let's Build a Sandbox! from 2021-02-01T08:46:03

A great sandbox campaign is incredibly fun to play in, and it’s a great introduction for new players. I often start new groups in sandboxes rather than carefully ...

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The GM's Guide
Give Players a Chance to Shine from 2021-01-31T07:17:16

I love making combat encounters. I have a lot of advice on how to make them, but there's one point that I come back to more than any other:

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The GM's Guide
Designing Great Random Encounters from 2021-01-31T03:30:31

Random Encounters are a classic element of TTRPGs, but most aren't fun in practice. Often the table just turns up entries like "2d4 wolves" or "two gnomes are arguing about which way the nearest...

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The GM's Guide
GM's Guide 36 - LIch-Disney Magic from 2018-12-10T07:17:08

Part 2 of our epic Disney World adventure.

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The GM's Guide
GM's Guide 34 - Lore Dungeons with Gabe! from 2018-07-09T00:27:27

Lore Dungeons are a concept that have worked out incredibly well for my circle of gaming friends. We're talking about them. It's fun. Gabe's here too.

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The GM's Guide
GM's Guide 33 - The Most Common Mistake from 2018-03-18T23:45:45

The most common mistake GM's and adventure designer's make, and how to avoid it.

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The GM's Guide
GM's Guide 32 - Plot Twists and How to Write Them from 2017-08-06T23:36:38

The GM's Guide is a podcast all about writing and game design through the lens of RPGs and how to run a great game. Today we're tackling Plot Twists, one of the most powerful and easy to misuse ...

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The GM's Guide
GM's Guide 31 - Building Ravenshadow's Characters from 2017-07-03T07:24:30

We apply the principles of how to create great characters and start building Ravenshadow's key NPCs.

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The GM's Guide
GM's Guide 29 - More Worldbuilding with Mark from 2017-03-05T22:19:42

Part 2 of the great conversation with the creator of Primordia about world-building.

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The GM's Guide
GM's Guide 28 - Conversation with Mark Yohalem from 2017-01-30T20:13:47

The brilliant Mark Yohalem, brilliant writer and designer of the cult classic Primordia, drops by for a chat about world building.

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The GM's Guide
GM's Guide 27 - The Final Player and Destroying Writer's Block from 2017-01-22T14:29:44

We establish our final adventurer's character arc, then lay out the core process I use to destroy writer's block and build the materials for my campaigns. We even start putting together a soundt...

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 26 - The Unworkable Character from 2016-12-26T09:53:12

Not all characters are easy to work with. Even the best players sometimes pitch spitballs at a GM. Chad's character was a nightmare for the campaign. While the character would be great for a nov...

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 25 - Building Campaigns Around Your PCs from 2016-12-20T09:38:58

Premade Adventures train us to build a campaign first, then figure out how to 'hook' a group of players and drag them into it. Here's how you can build a campaign where your players are truly th...

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The GM's Guide
GM's Guide 24 - The Triumphant Tragedy from 2016-12-12T00:05:55

We return to building a campaign step by step and create the core character and history of the setting's arch-villain, as well as many of the important locations we'll use throughout the campaig...

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The GM's Guide
GM's Guide 23 - Black Holes and Intimidation from 2016-09-23T16:00

How do you make something scary to your players, when they know they're the heroes? We develop the core concept of the camapign's key setpiece and build Ravenshadow's creative playlist.

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The GM's Guide
GM's Guide 22 - Gothic Horror and Hallowed Ground from 2016-09-16T16:00

We start creating the foundation of Ravenshadow's world and design a way to get the most out of our player's characters.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 21 - Michael Bay D&D from 2016-09-11T16:03:18

The beginning of my richest stories was within the ashes of transformers style action.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 20 - Building a New World from 2016-06-27T22:56:13

It's time to play god.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 19 - Bringing your World to Life from 2016-05-23T15:46:50

We all have worlds we love. Let's make them feel as real as possible.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 18 - The Great Debate about PCs from 2016-05-15T20:55:21

"Why would anyone play a human fighter?" "Why would anyone ever play anything else?"

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 17 - Dan Makes an Adventure from 2016-05-01T23:16:56

Dan designs an adventure from scratch live on the podcast.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 16 - Villainous Practices from 2016-04-08T23:00

Tips and tricks and example villains.

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The GM's Guide
The GM"s Guide 15 - Creating Great Villains from 2016-04-05T19:27:12

Three principles go into making a great villain for a heroic campaign.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 14 - Traps I've Made from 2016-03-24T19:23:02

Here's a bunch of traps I've made and run for my players. Feel free to introduce them to your own players.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 13 - Puzzles and Traps from 2016-02-20T19:03:29

Traps have a huge history in RPGs and they're a MOUNTAIN of missed opportunity.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 12 - Adventure Deep Dive from 2016-02-13T19:41:57

Dan takes apart some of his adventures to show how they work. It's also an example for how Climactic Event Structure and Four Act Adventure Structure work in practice. Feel free to take any of t...

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 11 - Dungeon Design from 2016-02-06T01:35:28

When new GM's ask me for advice on how to build a great dungeon, this is the foundation of it all.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 10 - Four-Act Adventures from 2016-01-28T17:49:25

When new GM's ask me how to create great adventures, this is what I go through first. No, it's not the hero's journey.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 9 - Story Structure from 2016-01-21T19:46:31

We're back! Story Structure is one of my favorite topics and I've spent more time studying it than probably anything else. If there's anything I can give to new GM's to help them set up great ad...

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 8 - High Difficulty, The Epic Finale! from 2015-12-25T19:46:42

It's The GM's Guide's Christmas gift: The third and final installment of the epic difficulty trilogy!  Today we dig into the secret of weaving in the benefits of high difficulty adventure design...

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 7 - High Difficulty is Still Awesome from 2015-12-17T17:00

One podcast wasn't enough. Today we dig further into why High Difficulty is the sonic screwdriver of rpg adventure design and how to implement it successfully into a campaign.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 6 - Why High Difficulty is Awesome from 2015-12-13T01:26:12

High Difficulty is the sonic screwdriver of RPG design. While not technically necessary, it does SO many things, comes with SO many advantages to make your games extremely difficult that I can b...

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 5 - Environment of a Battle from 2015-12-05T01:07:38

Don't set your encounter in an empty box. 

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 4 - Combat Encounters from 2015-11-26T17:00

Why does D&D's own Creative Manager include "Throw out what the rulebooks say about building encounters" in his advice to new DMs? Because the rulebooks have been leading us wrong for years. Tun...

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 3 - Creating Awesome NPCs from 2015-11-19T20:37:45

DMs have to create tons of characters to fill their world. Here's how to make them interesting and memorable.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 2 - Derailing Part 2 from 2015-11-17T19:41:03

Players want meaningful choices that determine what happens in their adventures. Here's how you can add them to your game without needing to create lots of extra content.

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The GM's Guide
The GM's Guide 1 - Derailing from 2015-11-17T18:43:44

The Dungeon Master's Guide provides useful and practical advice on how to deal with a DM's greatest challenges. In the process, we learn about game design. It's as awesome as it sounds.
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