Black Lodge Games Podcast

Victor Raymond of the Tékumel Foundation was kind enough to sit down with us to discuss Professor M.A.R. Barker's monumental contributions to TTRPG history. Empire of the Petal Throne was one of the first RPG settings, and it is no longer out of print! Black Blade Publishing was hosting both the Tékumel Foundation as well as a huge assortment of amazing products from small indie publishers at North Texas RPG Con 2024. This was ...

This episode, we sit down with our good friend Spencer who was there 3000 years ago when Dungeons and Dragons first hit the scene. We talk about how gaming changed, what it was like to see D&D develop, and how to make everyone rage quit a multi year campaign because you never revealed your true alignment. Great stories, and much more to come with this level 98 Grognard. #dnd #dnd5e #osr #rpg #ttrpg #dragonlance #ravenloft #dnd...

-There may not be a way to win at Dungeons and Dragons, but there is certainly a way to LOSE. This week we talk about the fruits of the #brosr gaming efforts and the principles behind them. Some of the principles of the BrOSR style of play are legitimately interesting but it is put into practice with stoner-tier, "lol so random" world building and a commitment to dog-shitism. This is the trash game, the shit tier slop, t...

This week, we discuss why roleplaying in character adds more to any game of any style, why you should want excellence at your table, and how the villains at Onyx Path Publishing (armed with a practically unlimited art budget) ripped the heart and soul out of the aesthetics of the Exalted game line. #exalted #onyxpath #whitewolf The art of Exalted 3rd edition and Exalted Essence is a crime against aesthetics and should land ever...

Within the Ring of Fire is a dark fantasy roleplaying game from RAW Immersive Games over at  @woodwwad  #rpg #dnd #ttrpg This game is one of the weirdest and most compelling RPGs we have ever played and helped crystalize our views of what RPGs can be. This is a game that is primarily focused on immersion through roleplay, and though flawed in many respects, is deeply compelling. We cover the good, the bad, and the utterly inco...

Today we talk about hostility to actual roleplay at the table. Getting into character is one of the easiest ways to enhance immersion at the table and aversion to it is largely rooted in a fear of embarrassment for bringing a little sincerity to the game. Cynicism and the hatred of sincerity is a plague on mankind and poisons everything. If you want a better experience at the table, go beyond doing the bare minimum. This doesn...

The OSR has an extremely autistic view on what constitutes story in Dungeons and Dragons. Any mention of character backstory, plot hooks, or even role play constitutes "story gaming" as opposed to the truth as revealed by Gary Gygax that D&D is nothing more than a sandbox exploration game in pulp fantasy hex maps. This is utterly deranged and the lowest form of play imaginable. We agree that story is the emergent re...

Alignment in Dungeons and Dragons is not something to just tack on to your game as an after thought. This week, Nick and Matt dive deep on what the purpose of alignment is in table top roleplaying games, how it defines the boundaries of play, and how it ultimately improves both the game world and your roleplaying experience. Even games like Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Requiem have alignment deeply embedded within the...

When should you be rolling dice in your tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons? Outside of obvious situations like combat scenarios, skill based systems in TTRPGs often become a crutch for bad game masters as a way to artificially inject drama or tension into their games. This week on the Black Lodge Games Podcast, Matt and Nick dive deep on when you should and should not be calling for players to make skill rolls...

Why do so many table top roleplaying campaigns end up on rails? How can you successfully run a sandbox game where you player characters have agency and the story emerges organically out of play instead of playing out like a novel written by the Dungeon Master? Matt and Nick delve deep into this issue today and discuss the differences between an old school style of play relying on random encounter tables vs the more modern "na...

This week, Nick and Matt (two men with Adonis-like visages) diagnose a massive problem in the hobby: lack of toxic masculinity. The current culture of D&D 5e is progressing further and further into feminization and young men are being sold a poisonous world view about heroism and strength. These games are not therapy, they are fantasies about adventure, danger, heroism, and daring. We check in on @PlayYourRole who makes horren...

This week, Nick and Matt stare into the abyss of YouTube RPG content creators. From the depth of the sewer, we find a true pearl of insanity:  @JScottGaribay . This man is a prolific YouTuber who posts multiple unhinged and nonsensical vlogs every day that are related to... D&D? Humanitarianism? The new social gospel? Who knows! Join us as we *try* to understand his incoherent babbling about Dungeons & Dragons and get a who...

Welcome to the first episode of the Black Lodge Games Podcast! Join your hosts Matt Pritchard and Nick Guidotti, two experienced GMs with more than three decades of combined table top role-playing game experience, as they dive deep into the world of immersive role-playing games. In this episode, Matt and Nick discuss their thoughts on modern RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons and why they believe that these games have become stale ...