Vox Arcana: Recent Episodes
Vox Arcana
Vox Arcana is a Dungeons & Dragons podcast about game design, philosophy, storytelling, and role playing, from the perspective of three different Dungeon Masters.
This is it.
In this final episode of Vox Arcana, William, Jake, and David look back on our favorite moments from the show, and say goodbye to you, Dear Listener.
Keep subscribed to this feed to eventually get all of the Patreon bonus episodes.
Every Dungeon Master has certain quirks which make their tables unique including things that drive us nuts! This episode we look at some of our various pet peeves in our games including methods of alleviating them.
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It is impossible to tell a story without tropes. In this episode, we dive into what tropes are, how to use them in your games, ensuring tonal consistency, and how to enhance some overused tropes.
In the Question Vault, we answer a question about resisting the urge to metagame.
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Adversaries are essential in all roleplaying games. Here’s how to make those enemies strike fear into the hearts of all PCs!
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We heard hot takes are selling like hot cakes, so we decided to assemble a few of our own.
Here’s our spicy, scalding, blazing hot takes about D&D and tabletop RPGs.
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This episode we dive into gruesome injuries, lingering effects, and how to make combat more scary and less trivial. In the Question Vault we answer a question about essential GM supplies we each utilize at the table.
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Friend of the pod Matt Corley returns to talk about module design, historical fiction, and the tabletop RPG community coming together during crisis.
Check out Matt's kickstarter right here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/37222410/the-devils-city-for-5e
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Do you prefer your sessions bustling with players piled around the table or a smaller scale, more intimate experience? In this episode, William, Jake, and David discuss the pros and cons of small parties and large parties.
Finally, we dig into the newly released Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount and create a backstory utilizing some of the random tables held within.
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From world building to scene description, an element of mystery can make any game better. In this episode, William, Jake, and David discuss how to control your genre and tone, creating interesting backstories, and tips for injecting intrigue into your sessions.
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When the players aren’t traversing dungeons or slaying monsters, they do all sorts of other things: Shopping, training, carousing, running businesses, researching… The list goes on and on! This episode we dive into all sorts of downtime activities and how to make downtime incredible.
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Sadly, episode #59 is lost, but instead you'll hear one of our Patreon bonus episodes where Will tells us about his first total party kill. The conversation quickly turns into one about lethality, tone, and the nature of death in role playing games.
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Every Game Master wants to free up their players to explore the world around them, but how? In this episode William, Jake, and David go through tips and tricks for creating an amazing sandbox for your players to play in.
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The times, they are 'a changin'! Before the new year, we look back at our favorite moments and important lessons from 2019, as well as looking forward to the future in perhaps our most introspective episode yet.
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William, Jake, and David discuss a controversial gameplay philosophy to solve D&D's biggest problem: Scheduling!
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Collaboration plays a central part in every single tabletop RPG, so in this episode, dungeon masters William, Jake, and David dive into how to best collaborate with players from character creation to story arcs to mind control.
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Note taking? Game prepping? Improve your techniques in this week’s round-table discussion that will surely reduce the amount of time you spend wasting on prep!
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Gods, pantheons, cults, creation myths, crusades... This episode we get downright theological as William, Jake, and David dive into all things divine in roleplaying games. In 'The Creature Feature,' we discuss angels and how to utilize them at your table.
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In this episode William, Jake, and David dive into Matt Colville’s D&D 5e supplement Strongholds & Followers and see where it fits in the D&D product ecosystem.
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If you want more episodes of Vox Arcana, head to patreon.com/voxarcana to get access to our back-catalogue of bonus episodes.
Dirty pirates, cunning smugglers, beautiful port cities, horrors from the depths – this episode is all about maritime campaigns and what makes them great!
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If you want more episodes of Vox Arcana, head to patreon.com/voxarcana to get access to our back-catalogue of bonus episodes.
For our 50th episode, we add more thoughts on to our very first episode and delve back into the topic of dungeons! This time around, we discuss mega-dungeons, misconceptions, and exploration. In the Question Vault, we answer a question about health, long rests, and grievous injuries.
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If you want more episodes of Vox Arcana, head to patreon.com/voxarcana to get access to our back-catalogue of bonus episodes.
Those little numbers on your character sheet determine a lot about how your character operates in the game. This episode is devoted to those little numbers, their importance, and character stats’ overall effect on the game.
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If you want more episodes of Vox Arcana, head to patreon.com/voxarcana to get access to our back-catalogue of bonus episodes.
Listen up, players! It’s time to up your roleplaying game. This week, we talk about how to build better backstories and make them useful within your game as well as tips and tricks for playing the role of your character more effectively.
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There’s more to being a Dungeon Master than drawing maps and writing notes; don’t forget to roleplay! In this episode, William, Jake and David discuss how to be a better roleplayer while running your game.
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What’s the fastest way to play D&D? In a one-shot, of course! We present our best practices for making a thrilling night of gaming with the highest stakes imaginable. Towards the end, William, David, and Jake get wild while designing a one-shot based on five random action verbs.
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This episode is an interview with game designer Matt Corley, where we dive into how to infuse horror in tabletop RPGs, general game design, and the tabletop gaming industry. Matt Corley is the creator of Lamp's Light Sanitarium which is available today!
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When adventuring, death is always a possibility... In this episode, William, Jake, and David discuss encounter lethality and what to do when a character’s life ends.
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If you want more episodes of Vox Arcana, head to patreon.com/voxarcana to get access to our back-catalog of bonus episodes.
Magic is essential to nearly every fantasy roleplaying world. In this episode, Jake, William, and David discuss the importance of magic and the effects magic has on roleplaying, worldbuilding, and gameplay.
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The question vault was filling up with listener questions, so we decided to devote this entire episode to answers some of them.
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A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Stars Wars is a rich universe to explore; ripe with compelling stories and intriguing situations. In this episode we talk about role playing in the Star Wars universe and all the wonderful adventures that come with it.
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This week's episode is an interview with graphic designer and magic item creator Griffin Macaulay. We talk about what makes magic items great, how to balance all types of items, and then we take a look at some of our favorite items Griffin has created.
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Leveling up is one of the most rewarding experience in RPG games. How that happens, however, can take many forms. This episode we dive into experience systems, level ranges, and how to best allow the players to progress.
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What happened after the end of the world? In this episode we dig into how to create post-apocalyptic worlds and ways to build adventures in worlds altered by cataclysms. Towards the end, we mess around with a post-apocalyptic world generator and see where creativity takes us!
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Get in line and wait your turn! It’s time to organize ourselves into combat order and take turns discussing combat rules and their alternatives. Plus a bonus discussion on the Triton race, and a juicy question vault about the Help action.
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Filling your world with interesting groups and organizations is a great way to bring your sessions to life. In this episode, we look at how create compelling factions and how to use them effectively at your table.
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There’s a game designer inside all GMs, but everyone needs a little help sometimes. Here are our best practices for making house rules!
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Signing a deal with the devil can't be that bad, right?
This week, we conclude our series of deep-dives into the D&D 5e classes with the warlock. Enjoy the discussion about warlock patrons, abilities, and character concepts!
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From dice rolls, to random tables, to the players themselves, unpredictability is a huge part of role-playing games. Here’s some tips and tricks on how to manage randomness at your table.
This episode is a little different. As many of you know, Jake hosts a different podcast about obscure stories from history called Historium. This episode is from that podcast and is all about the origins of D&D and the moral panic surrounding the game in the 1980s.
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Holy moley! Bless up and get ready to learn about everyone’s favorite holy warrior that isn’t the Paladin.
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How do we, as Dungeon Masters, convey the tone we want? How do we use music and sound effects to create the perfect atmosphere for our games? William, Jake, and David answer all of those questions and more!
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Discussing subclasses, creating backstories, and Jake making a case that Harry Potter is actually a sorcerer... All that and more on this episode all about the Sorcerer class from 5e Dungeons & Dragons.
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Hulking bosses, set-piece encounters, epic finales. All that and more in this episode where we share all of our tips and tricks to improving boss battles in all tabletop roleplaying games.
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Fly into a ferocious rage with us as we examine the 5e barbarian class; where we look at class features, subclasses, and character concepts.
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Christopher Columbus. Lewis and Clark. Sir Francis Drake. Champions of exploration and discovery. Since the real world has been mapped out, it’s time to explore our own fantastic worlds!
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William, Jake, and David explore the fifth edition Druid class by looking at history, analyzing the subclasses, and thinking up some sweet character concepts.
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This episode we venture into our mailbag and answer some of your questions!
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Grab your best flute and put on your pants, this week the Bard is making us dance!
Introduction by Alan Moore.
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There's no school like the old school!
Much has changed in the 40+ years D&D has been around. We discuss the finer points and some major differences between the past and the present.
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Life in a monastery is tough. Carrying buckets of water. Punching through boards. Welcome to our 5e monk class episode!
Building worlds is one thing; building cities is another. We discuss our techniques for developing realistic, believable hubs of civilization.
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Alone in the wilderness, armed only with a bow and your wits. It’s time we talked about the fifth edition ranger class!
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We take a little break from D&D this week to discuss our earliest foray into tabletop RPG gaming and the design of our own system: Super Random!
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Strength. Wisdom. Honor. The Paladin is the embodiment his faith, and a paragon among men. Say a prayer and pull up a chair, this week it’s all about the Paladin!
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This extra-special episode co-stars Michael & Stephen Stagliano, the creators of the excellent Tavern of Heroes podcast. We discuss their interest in roleplaying, and in sharing this geeky hobby with our non-gamer family and friends.
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Are all rogues murderous assassins, or do they have hearts of gold? All shadowy secrets about the 5th edition Rogue class will be discussed in this week’s episode!
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Encounters are an integral part of D&D. But not all encounters are created equal! And they aren’t always combat, either.
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Unimaginable arcane power. Bending reality to suit your will. This week is all about the Wizard class from the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
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What is alignment? Does anyone truly know? This week, we talk about improving this vague and occasionally delightful concept as well as dig into systems for morality and ethics in role-playing games.
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If D&D is a game about fighting stuff, what better class is there than the Fighter?
This week, we begin our analysis of each class from fifth edition D&D, starting with the fighter. We talk about fighter archetypes, potential improvements, and how to make the class shine.
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Are you new to D&D? Here’s our guide to what you'll need, how to prepare, and general advice for making your first session the best it can be!
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Villains are a vital part of all good stories. In this episode, William, Jake, and David dissect what makes a good antagonist by looking at how we make bad guys while also analyzing villains from pop culture.
In the Question Vault, we look at our favorite antagonists from our past campaigns.
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Where did you come from? In this episode, we discuss how to develop unique and interesting character backstories, including techniques that go beyond the Player’s Handbook.
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Treasure beyond measure!
In this episode, we discuss different reward systems, from the common to the obscure. Later, we talk about some of our favorite magic items and how to best implement them in our games. In the Question Vault, we explore some of our favorite spells.
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Here There Be Monsters!
It wouldn’t be D&D without monsters to kill. In this episode, we discuss different types of monsters and how to make monsters an even better part of your game.
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As a social game, D&D can lead to social problems. Discover techniques and best practices for dealing with problem players, tense situations, and much more.
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One of the biggest parts of any roleplaying game is NPCs. Find out how to bring them to life!
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What are the best ways to draw your players into your world? Can you truly motivate people to do things in your games? Find out what separates the good plot hooks from the bad.
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We discuss our best practices for creating universes, so you spend less time writing about ancient history, and more time putting adventure in front of your players!
Dragons are a giant, terrifying, and notable part of D&D, and yet they're often unused. This week, we philosophize about dragons, their history, and how they fit into the game.
Theme music by Shadrew.
What do we love and hate about dungeons? It turns out, a number of things. We discuss ways to improve your dungeon experience with a few simple tweaks.
Theme music by Shadrew.