The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

D&D Direct Debrief | The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

We debrief on D&D Direct and talk about the new 2024 Players Handbook, the upcoming "total rewrite" of the Dungeon Masters Guide, and potential balance issues to look out for until the new Monstrous Manual comes out. Also, we try to decide Wizards of the Coast employees were actively trolling Josh on the pronunciation of "Sigil" during GenCon, and Brandon makes another push for new box set releases when we talk about the two new Forgotten Realms books coming out as part of the 2024 refresh. Somewhere in there we also mention the Dragon Anthology.
We recorded a couple of longer Deep Dive videos for Patreon that will come out over the next couple of weeks. One of them is on branding and strategy mistakes that WotC has made throughout this whole edition refresh and the other is a discussion about the business end of third-party content on D&D Beyond.
If you like the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon -- we're working on new content that we can deliver there, both podcast-related and non-podcast-related.
 
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An RPG for Kids - Chatting with Nomnivore Games | The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

A great treat today. After probably about 6 weeks of comparing schedules and various people fighting COVID, we were finally able to get together and chat with Kate, Kerby, and Britt from Nomnivore Games. We've run into the Noms a handful of times at various cons and it was great to get a chance to sit and talk with them. While you might know them from games like "Dungeons & Dinos" and "Emberwind," they're here to talk to us about their live Kickstarter for "Nomventure," a modular, stat-less RPG for kids. As of release day, their Kickstarter is going for another week, so check it out as soon as you can. The KS has links to a free rules primer and a basic adventure so you can see what the game is like. We're so happy they were able to make the time not only for this chat but also for three Deep Dive videos on our Patreon that will come out over the next few weeks.
More info on Nomventure here: https://nomnivoregames.com/nomventure-adventure/
 
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GenCon Trip Report: We Had Access to VIPs | The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

In our efforts to become more pro, we sent Josh to GenCon as a correspondent because we were able to get invites to a bunch of industry networking events. It's a tale of long-haul driving, spaceship administration, and insomnia. Despite being a multi-year veteran of DragonCon, this was Josh's first trip to the Hoosier state for THE largest tabletop gaming convention.
Josh was able to chat with Jess Lanzillo, the head of D&D for Wizards of the Coast, and Kobold Press COO, Alexander Stangroom, to get some insight about D&D's plan for digital copies of books for print buyers and Kobold's Black Flag Resource Document.
Something to take note of: We had a TON to talk about from this trip and some of it is super in the weeds. We didn't want to spend weeks on the main feed downloading from GenCon, so we've got four other videos that are like 15-20 minutes or so a piece. We've been planning to reboot our Patreon and breathe some new life into it after some COVID- and general stress-related neglect, so those coming out on our Patreon over the next few weeks. You'll be able to find them here: https://patreon.com/goblinsgrowlers
Also, here are some links for things we talk about in this episode:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dicedungeons/80s-adventures
https://playskellies.com
https://magehandpress.com/2023/04/introducing-insomnia.html
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mythicgrove/session-zero-system
https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/
 
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Dice, Roleplaying, and False Dichotomies | The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

Back from our break, sort of. Josh is out sick, so I'm joined by my friend and occasional legal counsel, Noah Downs. I'm in the last couple of weeks of my grad school experience, so Noah was kind enough to suggest this episode's topic, too, to give my brain a bit of a break. We're talking about the virtues, vices, and play strategies for dice-heavy players versus role-playing players. Role versus Roll.
Also: Get "City of Six Moons" so we can all talk about it together: https://hollandspiele.com/products/city-of-six-moons
 
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The Future of Third-Party TTRPG Crowdfunding | The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

Just where is the future of third-party content going? There's been some doomsaying about the level of support those kinds of Kickstarters are getting now compared to what they were. We take a look at some Kickstarters in the continuing analysis of the OGL fallout from last year. 
We also dig in a little on the philosophical differences between efforts like DC20 and Tales of the Valiant. And you know we have thoughts on Tales of the Valiant. 
Some days, we get dangerously close to analytical journalism. 
 
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Vecna! Vecna! Read All About It | The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

Josh takes a look at the new Vecna book from Wizards of the Coast. It's been hyped a bunch and is the marquee release of the year (unless you care a whole whole lot about the revised Core Rules). One of the top contenders for the name of today's episode was "Quantum Leap Fetch Quest."
Do you dig on full campaign books? Do you actually get through them, do you buy them for shelf decoration or completionism, or do you cherry pick little things from the campaigns for your own homebrew?
 
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WotC Nixes A La Carte Buying on D&D Beyond and Other News | The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

A bit of a news breakdown today. Wizards of the Coast is surprisingly adding the new Core Rulebooks's updated SRD to Creative Commons. But then they juke in another direction and make some unpopular changes to D&D Beyond! Kobold Press issues has some things to say about the reception of their Black Flag Reference Document, and Josh compares *just how similar* it is to D&D's 5.1 SRD (spoilers: a lot).
D&D Beyond Changes: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1709-d-d-beyond-marketplace-redesign-see-whats-new-here
New Core Rulebooks SRD will be Creative Commons: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1717-2024-core-rulebooks-to-expand-the-srd
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Castle of the Winds and The Wild West of Win 3.1 Gaming | The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

It's simple this week: We play Castle of the Winds and talk about it. The game holds a special place in Josh's personal gaming history.
Castle of the Winds is a PC RPG/Roguelike from the Windows 3.1 era, which is a weird time for games. We get into this in the episode but, basically, Win 3.1 was very much primarily a business application and its native games were like a square peg in a round hole. All the good games were on DOS anyway.
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Heckna! Heckna! Read All About It! | The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

Join the Revalia with "Heckna!" from Hit Point Press. This is a campaign setting that seems to take a little bit from Final Fantasy 6 and a little bit from Ravenloft. It's described as a sandbox setting, but there are a couple of arguments as to why it might not be. It's 300 pages, incredibly well done, and professional... which you'd expect from a Kickstarter that raised more than $600,000!
If you decide to pick up a copy, be sure to let us know what you think and whether we're totally off-base in our assessment.
Also, file your taxes if you haven't already:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiSC5R3XAMo 
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Hasbro CEO: Let's Use AI in Dungeons & Dragons | The Goblins and Growlers Podacast

The CEO of Dungeons & Dragons' parent company, Chris Cocks, gave an interview where he talked about AI and Hasbro's research and development into how to apply it to Dungeons & Dragons. It's an interesting interview (link below the jump) that more or less spells out that they're likely to use it for some kind of virtual DM - but that's still just speculation. We discuss the likeliest manifestation of something like that and how they could make it work while respecting the work of human writers and gamemasters.
Also, we do a quick preview of the new "Quests from the Infinite Staircase" and mention a Humble Bundle for tons of great RGP books from Magpie Games!
Finally, if you're listening to this on Monday, April 1, tomorrow is the last day of the Kickstarter for "Born from Ice." Help them hit that Neanderthal stretch goal! They're so close. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lorenthegm/born-from-ice-stone-age-role-playing-5e?ref=c6djgl&token=7da324ce
 
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