It’s A Mimic!

E072 – Dungeon Mastery - Condition Effects: You Can Hide, But You Can’t Run

In this week's episode, the panel of Dungeon Masters cover four of the most common and most commonly ill-used conditions in Dungeons and Dragons 5e - Hidden, Grappled, Restrained and Prone.  They get tripped up grappling over these restraining conditions, and by the end are down and out... but not before giving out some clarity about these often misunderstood ailments.  They also, as is It's a Mimic's way, try to look at these conditions with some fresh eyes, coming up with fun and interesting uses in your campaign.

So relax with a warm blanket like the hug of a loved one, and enjoy as Terry, Adam and Megan discuss the benefits of invisibility, the lack of a pinned conditions (like other editions) and the benefits in a often-negative line of conditions!  We hope you'll be charmed by this ep---  wait, what?  Not covering Charmed on this one?  What am I supposed to pun about now?  

 

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Intro/Outro Music by: Cory Wiebe

Logo by: Kate Skidmore

T004 - Touring the Multiverse - Eberron: Breland to the Shadow Marches

Floating Fortresses! Secret Police! Monster Nations! In this week's episode of Touring the Multiverse, Dave takes you (and Adam!) on a trip through the Southwest portion of Eberron's main continent! From secret societies to deeply-rooted xenophobia, there's heaps of intrigue and high adventure to be found in every corner of the map!

 

Nations:
Breland
Zilargo
Droaam

 

Cities:
Sharn
Wroat
New Cyre
Argonth, the Floating Fortress
Blackpit
Trolanport
Korranberg
Thurimbar
Zolanberg
Graywall
The Venomous Demesne
Zarash'ak

 

Landmarks:
Broken Blade Castle
Blackpit
Blackcap Mountains
The Dagger River
The Tower of the Triumvirate
The Codex Vault
Citadel of Cazhaak Draal
The Great Crag
Calabas
The Shadow Marches
Vvaraak's Cave

 

Organizations:
The Boromar Clan
Daask
House Tarkanan
The Black Lanterns
The Swords of Liberty
The Triumvirate
The Trust
The Order of the Emerald Claw
The Daughters of Sora Kell
The Dark Pact Alliance
The Church of the Silver Flame
The Daelkyr
The Gatekeepers
The Cult of the Dragon Below
The Marcher Tribes

 

Dragonmark Houses:
House Cannith
House Kundarak
House Tharashk

 

People:
King Boranel ir'Wynarn
Prince Oargev ir'Wynarn

 

Gods:
Aureon
Kyber
Dyrrn

 

Planes:
Xoriat (Plane of Madness)
Kythri (Plance of Chaos)

 

Monster Breakdown:
Dolgaunt

 

And remember to stick around after the outro music to join Dave and Adam as they head into Sharn to meet up with Djed, who's trying to pawn off a Speaking Stone!

 

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Intro/Outro Music by: Melodica's Music

Logo by: Kate Skidmore

B019 - Campaign Builder - Catharsis (Level Three)

It's the end of Level Three in this week's episode of the Campaign Builder on It's A Mimic!, and it's time for some much-needed catharsis for the players. Twelve episodes is a long time, and the campaign is just now starting to get rolling, so Dan and Adam look at how to help the players wrap up their first major storyline and feel good doing it!

 

Takeaways:
- Catharsis is a unique and powerful reward that is often overlooked by new Dungeon Masters.
- Knowing what a party does when given power over their enemies is an invaluable tool for Dungeon Masters to understand their players.
- The resolution of the first subplot should establish a new status quo for the party.
- Positive NPC reactions to finished quests give the players an incredible pride and sense of accomplishment.
- Very subtly introducing new details of the world and NPC's during the lead up to cathartic moments will help make all your different subplots feel like a cohesive, organic story.
- Raising the stakes just before the payoff will help give a sense of more intense victory as everything comes to a head and is suddenly, finally over.
- Be careful not to let the next plot hook steamroll the emotional catharsis of the current victory.

 

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Intro/Outro Music by: Cory Wiebe

Logo by: Kate Skidmore

E071 - Port-FOE-lios - Celestials: A Slice of Piety

In this weeks episode, the panel of DM's put on their collars and cassocks to get all holy as they take on the Lawful Good-est foes in Dungeons and Dragons 5e - The Celestial.  They break down the big 4 angels - The Empereon, Deva, Solar and Planetar.  The angelic hosts have some troubles meeting the glory that the hosts are meant to have so Terry, Adam and Megan discuss how to use them to full effectiveness in your campaigns.

After shrugging off their robes to get down and dirty with these inexplicably blue (teal?) feather-boys, the DM's brainstorm for interesting campaign uses for the angels and why theyre not just bad guys for your evil campaign. Wait, is it bad guys if you're playing the baddies?  Or are the angels the good guys for your evil campaign?  From your parties perspective, they'd be the "bad" guys, but you'd be playing...  Know what?  I need to think about this.  Enjoy the episode.

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Intro/Outro Music by: Cory Wiebe

Logo by: Kate Skidmore

T003 - Touring the Multiverse - Eberron: Mournland to Q'barra

"Eberron is a racist place." ~ Coffee Bitch Dave
On this episode of Touring of the Multiverse, Dave and Adam take you on a tour of four incredibly different neighbouring countries of Eberron. From dense jungles to Elven warriors, and from Goblinoid hosts to physics-bending wastelands, this episode covers everything from lost holy temples to xenophobic lizardfolk. So strap in for another trip to Eberron in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition!

 

Nations in this Episode:
Q'barra
Valenar
Darguun
Cyre/Mournland

 

Regions of Q'barra:
New Galifar
Hope
The Unexplored Lands of the Scales

 

Cities:
Newthrone
Ka'rhashan
Rhukaan Draal
New Cyre
Metrol, the Rising City
Eston
Making

 

Landmarks:
Endworld Mountains
Blade Desert
Kraken Bay
Seawall Mountains
Khaar Mbar'ost, aka the Red House
Gorgonhorn
The Cathedral of the Sovereign Host
The Vault
The Clockwork Menagerie
The Steel Garden
Vermishard
The Glass Plateau

People:
King Sebastes
High King Shaeras Vadallia
Lhesh Haruuc Sharaat'kor
King Jarot ir'Wynarn
Princess Mishaan ir'Wynarn
Prince Oargev ir'Wynarn

 

Organizations:
The Cold Sun Federation
The Poison Dusk
The Ghaal'dar
The Marguul
The Sovereign Host
The Silver Flame

 

Dragonmark Houses:
House Cannith

 

Monster Breakdown:
The Lord of Blades
(Warforged Titan and Warforged Colossus, briefly)

 

And don't forget to follow Dave and Adam into Sharn after the credits, so they can check in with everyone's favourite slinger of magic items: Djed! This week, he's slinging items for Warforged, including Docents!

 

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Intro/Outro Music by: Melodica's Music

Logo by: Kate Skidmore

B018 - Campaign Builder - Unreliable NPCs (Level Three)

 On this episode of the Campaign Builder, Dan and Adam sit down to give you some solid advice about using NPC's. Or do they? This week is all about characters who may or may not be able to be trusted, how to keep the players from killing them, how to encourage trust or breed mistrust, and tactics for Dungeon Masters to use when designing ambiguous Non-Playable Characters.

Takeaways:
- Unreliable NPC's add a weight to a campaign that may make players pay more attention to what's happening around them.
- A lot of adventuring parties like to kill unreliable NPC's, so make certain that you have some tactic for endearing the NPC to the party before they reveal that they're unreliable.
- Too much confidence or not enough confidence can make players stop and question whether or not an NPC is as useful as they might appear at first.
- A Non-Playable Character with a sense of humour is a great way to keep the players defending the NPC, regardless of their reliability.
- Sometimes having a character that seems too good to be true is enough to make the party incredibly suspicious of any help they may offer.
- Having strange customs or a language barrier may also provide confusion that will keep the players guessing about an NPC's reliability and motivation.

 

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Intro/Outro Music by: Cory Wiebe

Logo by: Kate Skidmore

E070 – Class: Gathering the Magic - Wizards: The Nerd’s Nerd

It's another round of mages and magic in this episode of the It's A Mimic! podcast, as the panel of Dungeon Masters opens up their dusty tomes to study Conjuration, Evocation, and Transmutation!  As isolation keeps each of the Dungeon Masters locked solidly away in their own respective wizard's towers, they pour over Xanathar's helpful additions to wizardly character creation, and continue to work their through the many subclasses in the Players Handbook!

From cantrips to world-altering magic, this episode traverses the weave and reveals the secrets of the subclass features, and you might just be surprised at which one is the most powerful!  Kick the necromancers and illusionists aside, it's time for blasting, polymorphing, and summoning in three of he most interesting subclasses in 5e!

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Intro/Outro Music by: Cory Wiebe

Logo by: Kate Skidmore

T002 - Touring the Multiverse - Eberron: Aundair to the Demon Wastes

Dave is back again to lead you (and Adam!) through Eberron, and in this episode, we zoom in on the Northwest corner of the continent of Khorvaire, where you'd find wizards, paladins, rangers, druids, and rogues! From talking trees and Archfey to forbidden orcs and missing populations, there is a lot to unpack and investigate in the second episode of Touring the Multiverse from the It's A Mimic! podcast!

 

Nations in this Episode:
Aundair
Thrane
Eldeen Reaches
Thronehold
Demon Wastes

 

Cities:
Arcanix
Fairhaven
Thaliost
Flamekeep
Shadukar
The City of Rose and Thorn
Throneport
Blood Crescent
Desolate (previously Greenholt, Newholt, and Kymar's Folly)

 

Geographical Landmarks:
Scions Sound
The Towering Wood
Greenheart
The Gloaming
The Twilight Demesne
Icehorn Mountains
The Shadowcrags
Stone Cage Mountains
The Labyrinth
Ashtakala
The Ash Beacon
Lake of Fire

 

Other Planes:
Mabar
Thelanis

 

People:
Lyrian Das
King Jarot ir'Wynarn
Queen Aurala ir'Wynarn
Queen Diani ir'Wynarn
Jaela Daran, The Keeper of the Flame
The Great Druid Olian
The King of Summer
King Galifar I

 

Organizations:
Morgrave University
The Arcane Congress
The Noble Eyes
The Knights Arcane
The Church of the Silver Flame
The Council of Cardinals
The Warden of the Woods
The Throne Wardens
Ghaash'kala
Carrion Tribes

 

Dragonmark Houses:
House Deneith
House Tharashk

 

Monster Breakdown:
Dusk Hag
(Bonus: Tanarukk from Volo's)

 

And don't forget to follow Dave and Adam into Sharn after the credits, so they can check in with everyone's favourite slinger of magic items: Djed! This week, he's slinging Feather Tokens and Cleansing Stones!

 

Available On: iTunes | Spotify | Podbean | YouTube

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Intro/Outro Music by: Melodica's Music

Logo by: Kate Skidmore

B017 - Campaign Builder - Strange New City (Level Three)

Fantastic settings for fantastic campaigns! How do you encourage a party to explore a bizarre new setting, and keep the tone and feeling different from their hometown? In this episode of the Campaign Builder, Dan and Adam look into crazy settings and how to have your players intereact with the new environment in easy, organic, and interesting ways.

Takeaways:
- When designing a fantastical location, spend some time thinking about how daily life would be effected by unique geography.
- Incredible landmarks often breed outlandish religions and worshippers.
- Knowing only the general geography of a town, and not specific points of interest, allows you to listen to your players' needs and explore a town organically.
- When introducing a complicated world or setting, start simple and slowly introduce complexity to your players so they don't become overwhelmed.
- Injecting real life tactile puzzles, board games, and escape rooms into a session is a great way to break up a routine, especially if the outcomes directly affect in-game situations.
- New settings provides the opportunity to introduce many new NPC's, and that means many new kinds of relationships.
- Reintroducing street-level danger is adding a sense of distrust is a great way to subtly shift the tone and emphasize a new kind of location.

 

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Intro/Outro Music by: Cory Wiebe

Logo by: Kate Skidmore

E069 – Class: Alternative Adventuring - Rogues: Expensive Sneakers

Time again for a class overview of the Rogue options and subclasses for Dungeons and Dragons 5e.  Dan, Adam and Terry get together on this 69th (nice) episode and talk about dump stats before kicking things off with a bang, covering the the flavour options presented in Xanathars Guide to Everything.  After showering praises on the options that would help any player character develop into a deeper, more fleshed out narrative dynamo, the guys then move to the subclasses.

On the slab this week are the Scout, Swashbuckler and Inquisitive Rogues.  The guys debate back and forth about power creep and overall opinions while defining and interpreting some vague rules.  After that, they move onto tossing out character ideas that will hopefully spawn some inspiration for amazing characters at your table.

 

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Intro/Outro Music by: Cory Wiebe

Logo by: Kate Skidmore