Fantasy – Polygamerous Podcast Network

Thac0 with Advantage 61. Mixing and Matching Player Types

Posted on February 20, 2025February 20, 2025 by Christopher Sniezak

Welcome to THAC0 . . . with Advantage! We’re two friends who have been playing D&D for a long time. While we both love lots of other RPGs, D&D keeps us trying to find new ways to start over again.

We’ve talked about starting campaigns from the perspective of setting expectations, getting buy-in, and incorporating information from your session zero, but what about one step beyond that? What does the actual beginning of the campaign look like, and how can you frame your beginnings in new and different ways? That’s what we’re going to look at today on the show.

Thac0 with Advantage 60. Mixing and Matching Player Types

Posted on February 6, 2025February 3, 2025 by Christopher Sniezak

Welcome to THAC0 . . . with Advantage! We’re two friends who have been playing D&D a long time. While we both love lots of other RPGs, D&D has taught us to fill empty voids with creative material

It has become almost standard for gamemaster guides to discuss player types. It’s important to identify what your players want from the game and how to balance the expectations of the table. But how many people fit into these categories? Can you mix and match player types in the same individual? Is someone always the same player type? That’s what we’re going to look at today.

Thac0 with Advantage 59. Lair Actions

Posted on January 23, 2025January 20, 2025 by Christopher Sniezak

Welcome to THAC0 . . . with Advantage! We’re two friends who have been playing D&D for a long time. While we both love lots of other RPGs, D&D is a funhouse that has a mind of its own.

Have you ever had that feeling that you just walked into a dangerous area, where at any moment, something bad could happen, you just don’t know what? We’re going to be talking about mechanizing that feeling for your D&D campaigns with lair actions. This episode will start playing on initiative count 20, losing initiative ties!

Thac0 with Advantage 58. 2024 Year in Review and Looing Forward to 2025

Posted on January 9, 2025January 9, 2025 by Christopher Sniezak

Welcome to THAC0 . . . with Advantage! We’re two friends who have been playing D&D for a long time. While we both love lots of other RPGs, D&D

This past year was a busy, chaotic thing, even if you just look at RPG gaming. Today’s episode will look at what fantasy gaming looked like over this past year, both in the broader industry and in all our gaming groups. We’re set to recap 2024 in fantasy gaming, and talk a little about 2025.

Thac0 with Advantage 57. DnD and Diversity

Posted on December 12, 2024December 11, 2024 by Christopher Sniezak

Welcome to THAC0 . . . with Advantage! We’re two friends who have been playing D&D for a long time. While we both love lots of other RPGs, D&D keeps us company on the long roads we travel.

Sometimes, when an adventuring party loves an NPC very much, they start traveling together and setting common goals. We’re going to talk about the companion characters, those NPCs with their own goals and sidequests, that we love from CRPGs, why you might want them in your campaign, why you might not, and how to make a standard NPC feel like a companion character.

Thac0 with Advantage 56. Companion Characters

Posted on November 27, 2024November 27, 2024 by Christopher Sniezak

Welcome to THAC0 . . . with Advantage! We’re two friends who have been playing D&D for a long time. While we both love lots of other RPGs, D&D keeps us company on the long roads we travel.

Sometimes, when an adventuring party loves an NPC very much, they start traveling together and setting common goals. We’re going to talk about the companion characters, those NPCs with their own goals and sidequests, that we love from CRPGs, why you might want them in your campaign, why you might not, and how to make a standard NPC feel like a companion character.

The Heroes of Hovel’s Way. Chapter 7 – Wards

Posted on November 22, 2024November 21, 2024 by Christopher Sniezak

The Heroes of Hovel’s Way is an epic fantasy story about two young heroes, Odie and Eremon. These heroes have the potential to deal with a dire threat from an ancient time that is poised to return to the world. A titan destroyer, Valhalmorris the Mountain Strangler, stirs. The fate of the Barony of Kastakin may be in their hands. We play the game to find out. We invite you to join us on the journey.

The Heroes of Hovel’s Way. Chapter 6 – 1729

Posted on November 15, 2024November 13, 2024 by Christopher Sniezak

The Heroes of Hovel’s Way is an epic fantasy story about two young heroes, Odie and Eremon. These heroes have the potential to deal with a dire threat from an ancient time that is poised to return to the world. A titan destroyer, Valhalmorris the Mountain Strangler, stirs. The fate of the Barony of Kastakin may be in their hands. We play the game to find out. We invite you to join us on the journey.

Thac0 with Advantage 55. Worldbuilding Part 2

Posted on October 30, 2024October 30, 2024 by Christopher Sniezak

Welcome to THAC0 . . . with Advantage! We’re two friends that have been playing D&D a long time. While we both love lots of other RPGs, D&D.

A few episodes ago, we talked a little about homebrewing and setting building, but much of that was hypothetical. This week, We’re getting practical by talking to Chris about his homebrew ideas and how he’s used them in our play, The Heroes of Hovel’s Way. We’ve custom-crafted a new episode just for you.

Thac0 with Advantage 54. Range of Player Skill

Posted on October 15, 2024October 15, 2024 by Christopher Sniezak

Welcome to THAC0 . . . with Advantage! We’re two friends that have been playing D&D a long time. While we both love lots of other RPGs, D&D was our training wheels for getting into roleplaying games.

How much experience do your players have? Not their characters, but your players. What do you need to do to run a game for players that don’t think about tactics and how classes complement one another, versus players that know the best collection of abilities to actions to defeat monsters way above their weight class. On the other hand, what about players that are naturally tactically minded, but haven’t quite warmed up to the aspects of D&D that doesn’t revolve around finding the best way to navigate combat? We’re going to look at different levels of player and their ability and appetite for tactics.