You guys got all excited about Chains of Asmodeus...and didn't talk about the co-author Adrian Tchaikovsky. The man has 3 Hugos and a pile of other awards. he's one of the best authors to touch a D&D product in years.

YEAAAH MORE NINE HELLS!!

James Ohlen's first DMsGuild product was Heroes of Baldur's Gate followed by Minsc and Boos Journal of Villainy. So, Chains of Asmodeus is Ohlen's 3rd product.

Warduke and all of those characters were published in some OD&D Products after the action figures came out. The Shady Dragon Inn and Quest for the Heartstone.

As a DM, I encourage players to explore creating the items they would like to have. With this, I will create a components list that will be needed to craft these items and let the players learn what they will need as the campaign progresses. I will sprinkle these components throughout the campaign in treasure hordes, or side quests that they are told about that will lead to a particular component, and the like. I like doing this, as it makes the items feel like they are much more amazing and... well... magical. This particular approach also allows you to tailor it to the particular theme of whatever kind of campaign you are running, whether it is dark horror, whimsical feywild, gritty realism, high magic fantasy, steampunk-ish(like Eberron), etc.

I would like to see a magic item creation guide, that way I can make it more of an adventure that they need to go out and look for components and such.

The best artwork came from 2nd Ed from the four horsemen of Elmore, Caldwell, Parkinson, and Easley. I want to see art like that again.

My players love stopping in to Fantasy Bunnings for all their magic item needs. Plus, grabbing a sausage in a bun of course.

Always be car designing Evermore for gamers. Hey I just keep living my nearly optimized professional quest. Really saves that useless vehicle wait. Xylophone...

At 53:05 James talks about the non-canonized secondary characters from the D&D cartoon (Warduke, Strongheart, etc) that were also action figures. These were first canonised in the TSR module adventure: XL1 Quest for the Heartstone, written by Michael L. Gray. It is fun to play and run, has a lot of great art (Jeff Easley), and it provides stats for all the cartoon action figure monsters and characters (my favourite was the Hook Horror). Many of the characters have been snuck into TSR/WotC products since. :)

While I agree production value is important (especially sound quality) in actual play streaming, I prefer to hear a good story than be wow’d by set design. After years of impressive sets and filmed vignettes to support the LA by Night and NY by Night games (whaddup vamily) the Seattle by Night game on Penny Arcade is just a intimate table telling a good story, and it is better than ever, I think.

I really like what Cypher system does with magic items, i.e. cyphers, they are plentiful however one use. That way you get to doll them out and not worry about screwing over long term balance.

My DM had an interesting approach. A guy with a wagon that had a magic shop inside it (think the inside of a Tardis) approached us. We bought what we wanted, but he also started giving us free magic items. We thought, cool, we earned the item because we've been working hard. Nope, that wasn't it. We learned much later that the shopkeeper was actually a minor deity who was trying to indirectly save the world by empowering us. I don't remember what he said his name was. We always called him "the Magic Man." In any case...in a general sense, I usually have my characters earn magic items. I just made them custom ones, and the Bard is freaking out about the Encore Bow. Can't wait to see it in action.

I like how Matt Colville has the powerful groups of people have a collection.

James' shop and trading system for magic items is dope af

Ms Kingsmill's comment at 4:00 reminds me of Goblin Markets from Changeling: The Lost.

I look forward every week to hearing what you guys are going to discuss. Always good stuff. Thanks!

The sekers guide to enchanitng emporiums going to kickstarter so soon after the wanderers guide to enchanted emporiums form a much smaller publisher is a very unfortunate coincidence

Deborah Ann Woll's Relics and Rarities was her dnd show (available on KZfaq)

Congrats on the Arora adventure, Mr. Merwin!

Can we get an isolated clip put up of Dael's amazing speech last week?

Love the show. I just wanted to point out that Ben’s only reference for the “shop the wasn’t there yesterday” trope is the satire/homage to it and not any of the classic works. For the love of Pete, the Rick and Morty episode is titled, “Something Ricked This Way Comes.”

Imagine an edition illustrated by rob leifield.

Ben, if you haven't seen it, you might enjoy (and agree with) Professor Dungeon Master's video about the evolution of art in D&D over the years/editions.

Great discussions! I love that you talked about the over all art style of each edition. I grew up with the 2nd & 3rd editions, so those are my faves (and man, do I miss seeing the amazing setting logos on covers, like Ravenloft, Dragonlance, etc.), but every edition for sure has its own personality. I loved the Wayne Reynolds covers of 4th edition, and I do think 5th edition has a LOT of great artwork, though I agree that it's very kid-friendly... which makes sense, but still, my personal preference is grim, adult, childhood-scarring, etc. :) #WardukeForever

I shall not stand for this Warduke slander! 😠

I used to feel weirder about magic item until i figured out how they kinda are balanced around players levels. Which each magic item rarities maximum power reflects the power level of when the PCs would get them. (From the DMG p285) Common max power is 1st-level spells Uncommon max power is 3rd-level spells Rare's Max power is 6th-level spells Very Rare's max power is 8th-level spells Legendary's max power is 9th-level spells In the distribution table, once you enter the tier of play where characters innately have a certain spell level of power pretty much at will, they start to give you a lot of magic items of that rarity, you can see this in the Magic item tables distribution, and in Xanathars when they laid it all out. Ive been following this ever since just giving them magic items when they get access to those spell levels, made me realize the progression of when they expect you to get some rarities(you can see this in the distribution tables), is like this. 1st-level. Common Permanent/Major Magic Items, Uncommon consumables/Minor Magic Items.. 5th-level. Uncommon Permanent/Magic Magic Items, Rare consumables/Minor Magic Items. 11th Level. Rare Permanent/Major Magic Items, Very Rare consumables/Minor Magic Items. 16th. Very Rare Permanent/Major Magic Items, Legendary consumables/Minor Magic Items. 20th. Legendary Permanent/Major Magic Items It works surprisingly well, give it a shot.

Magic item shops made a lot of sense in 3.5 and 4E because the game was overflowing with magic items of all different power levels and usefulness. 5E pulled way, way back on magic items and so stores selling items feels out of place because there is a decided lack of variety in the core rules. Not to mention a lack of listed prices in the items’ stat blocks

Monster art: original Fiend Folo, some of that was so creepy. 😊

Magic item shops with character can offer a lot to a campaign. Something with its own internal lore, like the Black Emporium from Dragon Age 2.

Question- what dose the wizard employ rules mean for Odyssey of dragonlords and raider of serpent sea going up on dndbeyond?

Well when they announced the book releases last year like bigby's, book of many things etc. They also had a second flash card up with other titles we haven't seen yet, a book of Vicious Mockery, and a Battle of Barovia sequel to Curse of Strahd.

I'm waiting for print on demand for Chains of Asmdeus.

Relics and Rarities! What a gem of a show

Always be car designing everywhere friends go

I have to admit that I appreciate the more PG art work, partly because I am a parent and want my kids to play as well and if there was scarier artwork, they would be less likely to play or use those monsters.

A little childhood trauma is always good!

Vaiggedda vaiggedda? Oh! It's Dael - she said "vague and evocative"! Back to concentrating on the show...😅

There was also a Module the "action figures" were in: XL-1 Quest for the Hearstone that also tells the story of how Strongheart and Warduke were originally friends. And I believe the Action Figures got stats in an NPC book in the early 80s.

Great podcast.

The streams that are successful are ones that have gamers first, and just celeberties first. Also, they are the ones that naturally transition between humor and serious drama. The streams that focus on just being funny or big names all fall flat in my opinion.

Always Be Car Designing Especially For Grim Hollow.. ABCDEFGH.. that's as far as i got without resorting to cheap tricks.

Picked up Piranesi after hearing you talk about it on MF! Absolutely loved it!

the tail eating the snake

37:29 ah lion’s gate, our local studio that made a name for itself. I will not be surprised if these shows are kept on… and somehow these stream shows become an advertisement feeder program for guest appearances from whatever slasher/horror film Lion’s Gate is making at the time. I think they were involved with properties like Power Rangers the movie previously as well, so there could be some “inside baseball” happening between hasbro and lion’s gate in that eons deal… formalizing eone as an in-house of Lion’s Gate to reduce costs in some measure, but still maintaining all the power relationships previously involved.

what a great way to end the episode. more children need scarred by media :D

would love to know more on how 5e adventures translate to adapting them to black flag

November 8, 2027 - Ask about Shawn's NDA information now that it's expired.

"Art from 4th seems pretty distinct from art from 5th edition." Mostly true! Except, you know, when 5e reuses art from 4e, sometimes for things totally unrelated to the original context. Not that I'm against reusing old art or anything. I just figure that is something noteworthy.

WHERE will we find the D&D streaming at?

Art style won't change much if at all because they are also using a bunch of the old pieces, especially for the MM.

Holy crap I remember Warduke from my youth. Had no idea that was his name lol

I would watch the hell out of the cooking show

most magic items are made better for having to seek out Hattori Hanzō for special item.

Most of the action figures appeared in the cartoon, and the basic D&D supplement The Shady Dragon Inn during the 80's. They were also used a lot in all of the marketing products like beach towels, shrinky dinks and things like that.

Regarding the art: I'm with you, Ben. They are marketing D&D to younger audiences, striving for G and PG markets, making death a temporary inconvenience, and making sure the players have more power so they always win. I would like to see heavier consequences become a thing again. I would like players to have some fear when facing a powerful enemy and honestly question, "Can we do this?" rather than assuming they'll hear, "How do you want to do this?"

Technically speaking, the AD&D action figures from LGN in the 80s did include a figure for a character that appeared first in the game: Melf. The figure was named "Peralay" for the toy line for whatever reason, but the design was taken from the description of Melf.

My personal take on Magic Items shops is based on how I use economy within my games. I make my players take time and that time costs GP to level up time for training, gold to hire trainers and the cost of living expenses so players need to be saving gold if they want the benefits of levelling up. This feeds into my magic item shop allowance they do exist but if you are spending huge sums on a magic Item you may not be levelling up to level 5 until you are already mid way through level 6. This encourages my players to consider carefully their priorities when using party funds, and let me take this opportunity to shout out to Timothy, the Awkward Ettercap, whose shop with so many trinkets and just the occasional actual item has been the source of so many rp moments.

Magic item “shops” per se don’t exist in my campaigns. However, PCs can have items created out of “harvested” monsters or mundane armor/weapons by seeking artificers, blacksmiths, wizards, or relevant crafters Typically per the XGtE prices and times.

James, did you mean "Relics and Rarities"

...and scarred adults, I don't remember that 3rd edition Drider artwork and as an arachnophobe, I really didn't need to know of its existence ;-) But year, I get the point, that artwork tells a lot more of a story...

I don’t provide or sell magic items to players anymore. Now, I provide magical crafting materials and encourage them to commission or craft the items that they want. A crafting oriented reward structure creates more room for player expression and ensures that the items they get reinforce their character fantasies.

Why *isnt* everyone talking about this D&D adventure?

I'm ONLY liking this video to scar little children like Ben told me to.

I wish D&D art was like old editions and old Magic the Gathering (from Alpha to Tempest edition). Now it's all about being flashy, comics books and manga like and of course woke as hell...

so why wont you let me give you my money now

@17:04 did you say ShiPP-Grave Reef? Watch that diction buddy!

The title is about The Chains of Asmodeus. 14 minutes in and nothing yet. I call cap.

I hate to break it to Ben, but WotC D&D IS PG rated. The art is "toothless" because it's meant to be. If you want scary D&D, play something else, like maybe Grim Hollow or something...

The 5e artsyle is just meh. Its fine, it's pretty but its hardly what I would call distinctive to D&D. 4e art on the other hand. Everything I see from that is just epic. As for the 2024 product slate, do we really care until after the 2024 5e refresh? That is what we are all waiting for, and we have all talked that to death so what really needs to be said?

IMO, 3 problems WoTC faces with players losing interest after 10th level is the structure of level advancement, CR system and the number of different challenges players would face past say 12th level. These add up to: Players don't feel like death is still around every corner once they get past 10th level. The CR system has helped to create that vibe because the DMs as a whole just run with the existing CR system. But the biggest problem is with the younger generation. THEY SEVERELY LACK THE ATTENTION SPAN to stay involved in a campaign that goes into the 20s. They are the victims of Video Games, Social Media and the internet (give it to me quickly) culture. And WoTC, like many other things, has failed to recognize this.

@jamesjhaeck Relics and Rarities. Anyone who has not seen that show. Go watch it.

Nentir Vale, maybe?