Table Top Babble

The End of DSPN

General / Don’t Split the Podcast Network, Geekspective, podcast, Table Top Babble / 0 comments

July 9, 2020

Check out Burn Bryte, an original science fantasy TTRPG I helped create for Roll20!

Today brings with it some bittersweet news for me. Don’t Split the Podcast Network is dissolving on December 31, 2020.

Don’t worry! All your favorite DSPN shows will still stick around. It’s only the network that’s ending. All shows will keep their same feeds, but some might have a new website. Each show will have its own information about where it is headed in the coming months. Check in with them!

The dissolving of DSPN is super amicable! We’re all friends, but Rudy and I have just got too much on our plates to keep it going. We love every show on DSPN and will keep listening after we’re gone. If you haven’t checked out the amazing shows on our network, please, please do. Every single one is worthy of your ears and support.

Rudy and I want to thank all the DSPN shows, contributors, and listeners who have been with us. These last four years have been incredible, and we’re looking forward to the future.

On a personal note from me, I’m going to buckle down and really focus on tabletop roleplaying game design. I’ve loved tinkering with TTRPGs since I was a kid. Getting to do so professionally has been a super lucky and fun career change for me, and I’d like to dedicate more time to it. Podcasting and running a network was starting to feel more and more like a chore, so it wasn’t fair to the shows or the audience to keep the network going while our hearts weren’t 100% in it.

Which brings me to the biggest change that goes hand-in-hand with the dissolution of DSPN. I will be stepping down as the showrunner and host of Table Top Babble after episode 200. Creating, hosting, and producing this show has been such an amazing honor, but the listeners deserve a host who is really dedicated to making an amazing show. As my own interests pull me more and more in the direction of game design, I wanted the show to have hosts who are really passionate about talking to amazing people in the TTRPG community. That’s where Geekspective comes in.

The Geekspective podcast network will own Table Top Babble from episode 201 on, where Amber will become the new showrunner along with support from two co-hosts, Kenny and Crossways GM. More info on show structure soon to come, but I’m excited to become a listener and hear all the ways they revamp and pump up the show. The people at Geekspective are amazing friends who really love and know TTRPGs, so I’m sure they will carry on and vastly improve the legacy of Table Top Babble.

Just because you won’t hear my voice on Table Top Babble every week does not mean I’m leaving TTRPGs. This blog will still be rolling, and I plan to put out bigger and better projects than ever before. I’ll still be on Twitter and happy to be a guest on any stream, podcast, YouTube show, or other platform that will have me.

Please sign-up for my BRAND NEW mailing list to get updates about what I’m working on.

To all my listeners and the people who support DSPN, thank you so, so much. You have truly made the last seven years podcasting so very special, and I hope that I get to roll some dice with each and every one of you. Keep rolling doing amazing things, and I cannot wait to listen to the Geekspective version of the show with you.

If you like what you’re reading please consider supporting me on Patreon, supporting me on Ko-fi, follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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Gen Con 2018

General / Dames & Dragons, Don’t Split the Podcast Network, DSPN, Gen Con, roll20, Table Top Babble, Venture Maidens / 0 comments

June 28, 2018

Hey guess what? You can preorder my level 1 – 20 fifth edition adventure right now!

I’m on vacation this week, but I wanted to give a quick update to let you know where you can catch me at Gen Con!

Here’s the panels I’m on… They’re all Saturday 8/4:

2PM Exploring a New Game System for a Digital Tabletop Era hosted by Roll20
4PM From Pen & Paper to Virtual Tabletop: Designing through the Culture Shift hosted by Roll20
5PM Don’t Split the Podcast Network Q&A Panel hosted by DSPN

If you come to that last one (our sweet, sweet podcast panel) you’ll get the location of our after hang! Plus prizes, Rudy Basso, Venture Maidens, Dames & Dragons, and more!

There’s also some VERY cool announcements happening in those Roll20 panels. See ya at the con!

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, like World Builder Blog on Facebook, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

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How I Got to Write for Dragon Heist and Dungeon of the Mad Mage

General / D&D, D&D fifth edition, D&D Next, D&D5e, DnD, Dragon Heist, Dungeon of the Mad Mage, dungeons and dragons, Stream of Many Eyes, Table Top Babble, Waterdeep / 2 comments

June 7, 2018

Hey guess what? You can preorder my level 1 – 20 fifth edition adventure right now!

Just a quick update here this week because I am swamped!

If you missed the announcement over the weekend on the Stream of Many Eyes, Wizards of the Coast is releasing two new hardcover D&D adventures this year. I had the fortune to contribute to both Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Here’s a description of both from the D&D website:

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

A fantastic treasure trove is yours for the taking in this adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

Famed explorer Volothamp Geddarm needs you to complete a simple quest. Thus begins a mad romp through the wards of Waterdeep as you uncover a villainous plot involving some of the city’s most influential figures.

A grand urban caper awaits you. Pit your skill and bravado against villains the likes of which you’ve never faced before, and let the dragon hunt begin!

Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

Explore the mega-dungeon of Undermountain in this adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

In the city of Waterdeep rests a tavern called the Yawning Portal, named after the gaping pit in its common room. At the bottom of this crumbling shaft is a labyrinthine dungeon shunned by all but the most daring adventurers. Known as Undermountain, this dungeon is the domain of the mad wizard Halaster Blackcloak. Long has the Mad Mage dwelt in these forlorn depths, seeding his lair with monsters, traps, and mysteries—to what end is a constant source of speculation and concern.

This adventure picks up where Waterdeep: Dragon Heist leaves off, taking characters of 5th level or higher all the way to 20th level should they explore the entirety of Halaster’s home. Twenty-three levels of Undermountain are detailed herein, along with the subterranean refuge of Skullport. Treasures and secrets abound, but tread with care!

A lot of folks have asked how this gig came to be. Wizard of the Coast reached out in the beginning of 2017 and asked if I had any work on the Dungeon Masters Guild I thought was a good example of my work. How did they know to reach out? Likely because of some of the previous work I had done and my sales numbers on DMs Guild. I sent them two D&D Adventurers’ League adventures I had worked on: A Dish Best Served Cold and Tales of Good & Evil. (Many thanks to Travis Woodall and Shawn Merwin for editing these adventures and everyone who playtested them for making them awesome.)

As they have said before, Wizards of the Coast is using the DMs Guild as a way to look at potential new authors. They plan their releases so far ahead, you’re just hearing about people’s first experiences now, but I’m sure there will be more names from the Guild contributing to official D&D products.

Several weeks went by and then I was offered the chance to contribute to Dragon Heist with James Haeck. Many folks from the D&D team and tons of freelance artists worked on the book as well.

When Dragon Heist wrapped, Wizards of the Coast reached out again, asking me to write a bit for Dungeon of the Mad Mage, which had many awesome freelance contributors already working on the book.

In the coming months, keep your eyes here and your ears on Table Top Babble for me to talk with other collaborators about the process. We can’t say much until the books are released, but I will say that working on official D&D adventures was as awesome and creatively fulfilling as I had hoped. Now I hope you have as much fun playing as we did creating!

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