Claim to Game Podcast
044: Natural Threats - How Environment Shapes Story in TTRPGs
Claim to GameJuly 31, 2025
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044: Natural Threats - How Environment Shapes Story in TTRPGs

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#44 - Environmental factors like weather, terrain, and landscape can powerfully shape a tabletop RPG session’s mood, challenges, and player choices. In some “eco-horror” style narratives even the land itself can strike back – trees moving, rivers flooding, and storms arriving seemingly at will. Seasoned GM and author of the Daily DM Blog, Anthony shares how setting details and natural forces to deepen immersion, influence decisions, and enrich storytelling in D&D and other role-playing games.

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00:00:01
>> Clint Scheirer: Tree. I am, no tree.

00:00:04
I am an ant.

00:00:06
>> Anthony: I am an ent.

00:00:08
>> Clint Scheirer: Whether your party is trying to face off against a

00:00:11
giant anthropomorphic tree or just trying to hide

00:00:14
in a cave during a bad thunderstorm, the

00:00:17
environment and environmental factors can shape the way

00:00:20
you tell stories. When tabletop rolepl playing.

00:00:22
Anthony, author of the daily Dungeon Master blog, is going to

00:00:25
tell you all about how environmental factors like weather,

00:00:28
terrain, landscape, flora and fauna

00:00:31
can alter the mood, challenge the senses

00:00:34
and make for some interesting character choices during

00:00:37
gameplay.

00:00:37
Let's go make your claim to game.

00:01:11
>> Clint Scheirer: Hey, welcome Anthony. Good to have you here on the Claim to

00:01:14
Game Podcast. I am really excited today

00:01:17
because we are going to be talking about one of the things that I think is

00:01:20
so under talked about when it comes to

00:01:23
storytelling in any tabletop game. And that is

00:01:26
how the environment plays a part

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in storytelling, how it plays

00:01:32
and shapes what our characters do, when we're players and

00:01:35
also maybe some of the strategy that we do as a GM

00:01:38
to try to mix things up for the characters. So thanks for being

00:01:41
here.

00:01:41
>> Anthony: Absolutely. Glad to be here.

00:01:43
>> Clint Scheirer: How can we as game masters or Dungeon

00:01:46
Masters if we're the the D20 & D type, how can we

00:01:49
leverage the environment? And when I say environment, what I'm

00:01:52
talking about is terrain, weather.

00:01:55
I'm thinking of, you know, if you insight if your

00:01:57
characters are indoors, you know, anything that's in

00:02:00
the room or anything that's in the building that they're in

00:02:03
to help deepen immersion. Right. Reinforce

00:02:06
the character'tone or the campaign

00:02:09
tone more rather that we want to have our

00:02:12
characters feel and think and

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live and breathe.

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>> Anthony: I think it starts with setting that expectation

00:02:19
at the first session, you know, that, that

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there is going to be environment and that

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environment is going to have an effect whenever I

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give a description of say a

00:02:30
room. Right. and there may be

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something with that room that is story

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important. I will describe the room and there

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will be a clue, maybe very subtle, that

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maybe you should check this room a little more. like I'll

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talk about it being a disheveled, like a

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water dragon heist. It's a disheveled former

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office. There's a little bit of dust everywhere. There's

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drawers that are partially open,

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you know, and the windows are really grimy

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or something of that nature. The party will

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naturally say okay, they're on

00:03:04
a mission for one thing. But hey, there's these

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desk drawers. Maybe something

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left, something there. And without saying that

00:03:13
in that description in your Initial description of the room

00:03:16
when they enter, they may not actually see those

00:03:19
things otherwise, when it comes to

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environment, oh my gosh, terrain,

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and I know not everybody can play with miniatures and terrain,

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but you can even do it on a 2D

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mat game mat by saying hey, these are

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trees or these are boulders. You can't

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see on the other side of these. One of the ways I

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play primarily although I love my in person

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games, is via virtual tabletop.

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Right. and I love roll 20 especially

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the dynamic lighting feature. Right. their

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dynamic lighting feature makes life so easy for

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me because they're only going to see what they can

00:03:55
see. And the best part about is there's actually

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a functionality for the GM to click on

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one of the PCs and hit a

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macro. it's control I, I believe. And you

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see only what they see. Now of course you get God's eye view, right

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of everything. But you can click on them and go

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okay, I want this guy to be hidden. Where is it

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they can see? And then put them just out of

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sight. Know where they would be or

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just insight. So they're like hey wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, there's somebody

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there, you know. so yeah,

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environmental features can

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totally shape where they are mentally

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and as their characters being able to step in their character's shoes.

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>> Clint Scheirer: So what I heard you say is that as the, the game

00:04:38
master you can

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put yourself in the shoes of the character,

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imagine what the terrain looks like to them and

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then plan where enemies might be.

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surprises.

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>> Anthony: U.

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>> Clint Scheirer: you're kind of, if you were an author writing a story,

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it's like you are, you are outlining what your

00:04:57
characters might stumble upon as they're reading the narrative.

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>> Anthony: Exactly. if you have for example a narrow

00:05:03
gorge, where there's boulders everywhere

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and they have to navigate through this narrow gorge as a dm,

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you're, if you just sit up and draw that

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map and there's a narrow gorge, they're like okay, we're pulling

00:05:14
out minis, there's an ambush there. They're straight. I'm going to

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tell you. But if you're like hey, yeah, you're passing through these narrow

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gorges, blah, blah, ah. And you just do that. The

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players have the onus then becomes on the players to be

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like no, this is definitely a

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spot, for an ambush. and

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the trick for the GM is to just make it

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casual how you describe it. You make it

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casual. It just a Matter of fact, hey, you guys are passing

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through these narrow gorges. there's boulders everywhere

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throughout. So that the players have to think

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about the description

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instead of you standing up and drawing a map. They're like ohe,

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we're pulling out minis. There must be something there. You

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know. so when you're describing something, don't put

00:05:56
out the terrain ahead of time.

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Wait for wait for the,

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the, the party to pick up on those things or

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for the reveal of oh, and you're ambushed by all of

00:06:07
these bandits, you know, what have you.

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>> Clint Scheirer: El yeah, as you were talking, I was thinking of

00:06:12
Luke Skywalker talking about Beggar'canyon back

00:06:15
home in his T16 shooting

00:06:18
Womp Rat. Well, I guess I'll go bull eyes.

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>> Anthony: And womp rats to my T16. Yeah, exactly,

00:06:23
exactly. And that gives that visual

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to say okay, it's a, it's you

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know that, oh, it's like this.

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So if a player can connect two things, something they

00:06:34
know to something you're trying to describe in a fantasy world or a

00:06:37
sci fi or whatever have you, they can connect those things

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and get a better mental image of what's going on

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and really more make it more immersive for

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them.

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>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah, the schema that we come to the table with with

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all these different movies and books and, and

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everything. I, you know what I just heard when you were

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talking about gorges and boulders,

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like I instantly went to tatooing.

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other people might go to a completely different place. So

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you know, I think what we bring to the table will shape

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the environment as well.

00:07:08
here's my next question. So you talked about the strategies of

00:07:10
surprise for a dungeon master or game

00:07:13
master. and you know, traveling to different

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landscapes like the forest, the desert. We already talked about the

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gorges and more of that desert like thought

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a meaningful part of gameplay. for

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me when I'm, when I'm playing with terrain is,

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and I'm going to jump around a little bit here is how do I

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use the terrain if I am ambushed?

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Okay, so let's say I am ambushed by

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those bandits. you talked about as the

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GM putting the bandit behind a boulder.

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So that's just out of reach as a

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player. What, how can I use my terrain

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to my advantage? You know, in D20 & D, I know there's

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rules that go along with this. Other games it's a little bit more

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narrative. But how can you use the boulders,

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use the sand when you were talking about water

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Waterdeep Dragon Heist. You talked about there

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being a dusty room. And instantly as

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a player I was like, oh man, maybe I could pull up some of that

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dust and if somebody came in I could throw it in their eyes

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and you know, make them unable to see or give them

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a disadvantage of some sort. So, you know, how do

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you see players or have you seen really

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cool ways that players have used their environment to their

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advantage?

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>> Anthony: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I have

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a game I've. I created. I

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created this world called Southuria the Savage

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Marches. I wanted to create a West Marches

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style campaign. and I've adapted it for

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single player, single party, play.

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and it's funny because I put terrain

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in there, but terrain has to have a purpose,

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right? There's got to be a reason why

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this is there, and why this is important

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in this part of the story. one of the parts that I

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did, was a

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tem, A shrine to a sea God,

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alongside a river God of the sea.

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He was really like a waterways type God.

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but part of the

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shrine was subsumed by the river

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itself, right? So it was

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literally on the edge, physically on the edge of the water. So

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that the river is going by and that part of

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the shrine is open to the water. Well,

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the party went into the shrine to try to get these stones.

00:09:27
Oay. and it was hilarious because they

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were approached by a bunch of water creatures, intelligent

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water creatures, merfolk. And the merfolk were like,

00:09:36
hey, what are you doing here? And immediately the party goes,

00:09:39
we're here to take these things. The merfolk were like, no you're

00:09:41
not. And so then the party ends up with this

00:09:44
combat where they were.

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The enemy was using water to suck the party into

00:09:50
the water, making it so it's difficult for them to

00:09:53
fight. And the party started having to think creatively

00:09:56
of how do we not let that be a thingus.

00:10:00
one of them had an ability to basically taking

00:10:03
one of the PCs and drown them, pull them underwater.

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So other PCs were like shape water to

00:10:09
put a bubble of air around their head, right? Or to

00:10:12
do things like that. They were using

00:10:14
their understanding of the terrain

00:10:17
in combat to be able to

00:10:20
affect the enemy. just like you were saying, like

00:10:23
dust. They were using things like shape water,

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create, destroy water, you know, things of that nature,

00:10:29
to affect the battlefield. And I've seen that

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countless times. and it's always

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amazing to watch when players get creative with these

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things.

00:10:38
>> Clint Scheirer: I was thinking of Harry Potter with the bubblehead spell. I

00:10:41
think that was how they went into the water. Spoiler alert for

00:10:44
anybody who hasn't seen Harry Potter 4.

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You talked about combat. We talked about

00:10:53
how players can use it for themselves, how

00:10:55
NPCs and combatants can use it against

00:10:58
the players. U there's a element that

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when you were talking about a shrine to a sea God,

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you know there's a bit of lore in our

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world, right? There's a bit of a lore into a homebrew

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world or a world in a pre made

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adventureh. and you,

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you mentioned for combat. You know, just trying to be

00:11:18
casual saying oh these are boulders and we're

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going through a gorge. what about revealing bits of

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the world that you don't just want to, I don't know, throw,

00:11:26
throw a history book over your your players's head and be like

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here's the entire world that you're going to be in. Read up on

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it so you know every bit of lore. How do you use the

00:11:35
environment that they're walking through to help them,

00:11:38
help them learn more about, about the world they're exploring.

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>> Anthony: One of the things that I like doing, especially with my

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west marches style campaign that I've turn it into

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Single party but I've used with other

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ones and I've seen with at least one premade

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adventure is weather.

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Right?

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>> Clint Scheirer: Yes.

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>> Anthony: Weather can have a huge effect. so

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in my sel sery campaign I actually have a

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table depending on what biome they're in and

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what the weather could be like. so if it's up high in the

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mountains and there's precipitation. Well if it's that high they're getting

00:12:10
snow. There is a fel voice on the end.

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What is that gonna look like to them? How heavy of snow?

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you know we, for those of us who live in colder climates,

00:12:20
I'm actually moving from the deep south to

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a much colder climate where a heat advisory

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is the mid to low 80s.

00:12:29
Yeah. And so winters there, when you get a heavy

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snow, you're not seeing a lot. Right. It's

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going to be very difficult visibility. Well that's going to have an effect

00:12:38
in the game. You're gonna have visibility only out just X

00:12:41
amount of feet. And so you're gonna be

00:12:43
making those perception checks,

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those attack rolls. if you can't

00:12:49
see, you can't shoot, you can't target. Right.

00:12:52
so those have an effect. Ah,

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fog was a big one. You know you're

00:12:58
Wandering through a forest and you have a very dense fog in

00:13:01
the morning. Well, when there's gonna be an

00:13:04
encounter possibility, they're not

00:13:06
gonna see it until they, they and possibly

00:13:09
even the enemy stumbles upon each other. Well, what is that gonna

00:13:12
look like? Right? but one of the best ways I've

00:13:15
seen it that I didn't create was, in. And

00:13:18
I used the example earlier, but. Watereeap Dragon heist.

00:13:21
spoiler alert. The adventure is different

00:13:24
depending on what season of the year you decide

00:13:27
to set it in. the summer version of

00:13:30
the adventure runs completely different than the

00:13:33
winter version or the spring version of the,

00:13:35
adventure. And that they even make it so that the

00:13:39
Big Bad is different depending on which

00:13:41
season you're picking. Right.

00:13:43
>> Clint Scheirer: Cool.

00:13:43
>> Anthony: but they have an effect so that, if you're playing the

00:13:46
summer, you're wearing heavy armor,

00:13:49
it gets pretty warm, right? Heavy armor.

00:13:52
You're going to start having issues where wearing heavy armor is going to

00:13:55
like, you might as well have heat, almost have heat

00:13:58
metal being cast on you because you're frying in your armor. You're just

00:14:01
drenched in sweat. just like, during the

00:14:03
spring heavy rain visibility,

00:14:06
you're trying to shoot an arrow in heavy rain

00:14:09
or something of that nature

00:14:12
trajectories are gonna be different, so you're gonna have penalties

00:14:15
to shoot in heavy rain. and, those kind of

00:14:18
things, make the world a

00:14:21
living world. Right? And I love that. I

00:14:24
love having a living world. Something that you can

00:14:26
see, for the players that says it's not

00:14:29
just bright sunshiny day every day.

00:14:32
No, there's a living world going on. There's weather

00:14:35
effects, there's all these other things. and we even see that in the

00:14:38
real world, they delayed the Normandy

00:14:41
invasion because of weather, because

00:14:43
of weather. So those are kind of

00:14:46
things that you think about when you have

00:14:49
these, environmental effects on the players.

00:14:52
>> Clint Scheirer: You know, I had an interview with David North, East, who's

00:14:55
a professional GM out in the uk,

00:14:58
and he was talking about kind of the same thing

00:15:01
with a town, right? You go to

00:15:04
a town, if the same vendor is always in

00:15:07
his shop, every single time that anybody

00:15:10
goes to that shop. That's not realistic. Shops

00:15:12
close, people go on vacation. You,

00:15:15
you can't always go, every day of the week and get your

00:15:18
goods and your services. So that living, breathing

00:15:20
world based on like, what, what changes in

00:15:23
our world and make it also

00:15:26
change in a game world.

00:15:29
another person who I highly admire and if

00:15:32
anybody ever wants to go to the Third Floor Wars

00:15:34
Tabletop talk podcast Craig Shipman was on here

00:15:38
trying to help people figure out what's a good fit

00:15:40
RPG for your table. For some people that's D20

00:15:43
& D. For other people that might be a different game.

00:15:46
But he said what sometimes really is, the crux

00:15:48
is how much do you want to simulate

00:15:52
the real world?

00:15:53
>> Anthony: How crunchy do you want it to be?

00:15:55
>> Clint Scheirer: Exactly? Cause I said crunchy. And he's like well

00:15:57
Clint.Scheirer@claimtogamepodcast.com, I think

00:15:58
crunchy really is

00:16:00
simulationist. You know, who, who wants to

00:16:03
simulate our real world as much as possible. And then you do have

00:16:06
rules for travel and rules for

00:16:08
encumbrance when you have too much stuff on like the armor in

00:16:11
the summer.

00:16:12
>> Anthony: Ye.

00:16:12
>> Clint Scheirer: Or, or all these different rules. So it's really

00:16:15
interesting to think about that. Like some folks

00:16:18
would like to have environmental things feel

00:16:21
real and I think there are other people that just want to hand

00:16:24
wave it.

00:16:25
>> Anthony: Yeah, yeah. You know, know, for my Sel

00:16:27
Sera campaign it is very exploration heavy

00:16:30
and I'm very upfront in sessions here. This is very

00:16:33
exploration heavy. This is resource management. So

00:16:36
they're tracking, they're beaning.

00:16:38
Right. they're making sure that hey, we have rations

00:16:41
that don't expire. We want to

00:16:44
forage on the way. You know, we want to forage for

00:16:47
food. but I think a ah, better

00:16:49
simulation. Right. Type setting. And

00:16:52
you can do that in the infamous Ampersand. Right.

00:16:56
you can do that. There, there are ways to do it. like the

00:16:58
other thing I have in that one, I tell them turn off.

00:17:01
Coins don't have weight. Coins have weight. And they went

00:17:04
what? I said I hope you brought a bag of holding

00:17:07
a portable hole for that Dragon Hordard you just found. And

00:17:10
they went ``h ah, so now

00:17:13
they have additional goals right in

00:17:16
the story to find certain items so that they

00:17:19
can carry more things.

00:17:22
>> Clint Scheirer: Well I mean that's been around forever. I think of Token.

00:17:25
Right. When you, when you think of the story of Bilbo

00:17:27
and the. The trolls hoard.

00:17:30
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:17:30
>> Clint Scheirer: That they found after that whole interaction with the 3

00:17:33
trolls

00:17:34
mercy3mon.

00:17:37
They couldn't take that Hordard with them.

00:17:39
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:17:40
>> Clint Scheirer: And so I believe in the book they actually buried some of

00:17:43
it next to a stream so that when they came back on the return

00:17:46
journey, hopefully they would be able to go pick up

00:17:49
that. That treasure.

00:17:50
>> Anthony: Exactly. Exactly. And you know

00:17:53
u. That and that. And as far as that

00:17:55
goes, that's, that's why I like u, other systems

00:17:58
you know, you were talking about other systems that have a little

00:18:01
crunchier, more simulationist rules and environment

00:18:04
ends up being much more important in those, even more

00:18:07
so than the Ampersand. I'm thinking

00:18:10
specifically for everybody who's.

00:18:11
>> Clint Scheirer: Like what's the Ampersand? It's D20 & D, right?

00:18:14
>> Anthony: Yeah, D20 & D. Yeah, Yeahah. you

00:18:17
know the rune quest and Call of

00:18:19
Cthulhu, you know you're playing one of those

00:18:22
games, basic role playing game system. Right.

00:18:25
You are more restricted to what you can

00:18:27
carry because realistically you're not go going to

00:18:30
be Bristling, with 15

00:18:33
weapons and you're wearing one armor but

00:18:35
carrying something, you know you're gonna have some

00:18:38
issues if you're not strong enough to carry that

00:18:41
full rune quest. For those who don't

00:18:44
know it, whereas D20 & D is more high

00:18:46
fantasy, Tolkien esque Runest is more

00:18:49
like m like Greek mythology

00:18:52
type setting. It's really cool. For those who haven't seen

00:18:55
it, check it out. Chaosium, makes it, it's

00:18:58
amazing. but yeah, those things, Call of

00:19:01
Cthulhu where you're really looking at what can I

00:19:04
realistically or what would I realistically be carrying

00:19:07
on me, as a human being? We

00:19:09
don't think about that with D20 & D because it's this heroic

00:19:13
know I'm marching into the dungeon with you

00:19:15
know, mites my flame tongue and

00:19:18
my fourpole sword and, and, and and you know,

00:19:21
that's not realistic in any way.

00:19:24
and when you're looking at Call of Cthulhu, you were actually thinking of

00:19:27
an actual person who's going

00:19:29
wow, what, what, what, what do I have on me? And

00:19:32
that can affect what's around you.

00:19:35
>> Clint Scheirer: Well, and with a horror story, when I was talking with Ken

00:19:38
Height who's he's wrote

00:19:41
so many Wonderful RPGs, you know, Delta

00:19:43
Green, He's also. I can't think of all of them off the top

00:19:46
of my head. But when he was talking about

00:19:49
horror, what is, what is the

00:19:52
experience that we're going through? It's fear. Like we're

00:19:55
trying to experience fear. If you're going in and you

00:19:58
are the untouchable Superman,

00:20:01
that there's no kryptonite in sight. So you're just going

00:20:04
to be walking in, you know, Avengers style with no

00:20:07
obstacles. you're not going to be getting what

00:20:10
you're looking for, which in that case is fear and

00:20:13
the opportunity to potentially fail.

00:20:15
>> Anthony: Oh yeah, yeah. Which is why environmental,

00:20:18
ah, effects and environmental factors are so

00:20:21
important. You know, an adventure player is

00:20:24
going to think I'm this unstoppable juggernaut. I'm

00:20:27
the juggeraut. Well, when you're fighting

00:20:30
the big bad on

00:20:32
a u, rickety rope

00:20:35
bridge right over

00:20:38
a 200 foot pit of lava,

00:20:41
I might be a little concerned even as this

00:20:43
juggernaut, because I'm like, well, what happens if

00:20:46
he can fly and I can't and he cuts the rope but I

00:20:49
have to take down this bad guy who won't leave this

00:20:52
area. what do I do with

00:20:55
If I'm hunting a red dragon and I go into the cave

00:20:58
and there are pools of lava everywhere and I keep using

00:21:01
lava, but I mean, or

00:21:03
maybe a green dragon. There's pools

00:21:06
of poison things everywhere.

00:21:09
Something that the bad guy is or

00:21:12
the enemy is immune to or has resistance

00:21:15
to but where the party has to worry about that. And the

00:21:18
biggest one that comes to mind for me there is the

00:21:21
dungeon dude setting. The Dungeons of Drachenheim. They

00:21:24
have this thing called the Haze. And there are

00:21:27
so many creatures that are like meh,

00:21:30
you know, and if you make And

00:21:32
there's one faction that has the capability of

00:21:35
ignoring the effects of the haze. One,

00:21:38
and another faction who can gain that ability.

00:21:40
Right. But even then it's more resistance,

00:21:43
not immunity. so you end up

00:21:46
with the players going, we can't stay

00:21:49
here too long because we're gonna start

00:21:52
mutating. Whereas the bad guys are like, I can

00:21:55
do this all day long.

00:21:56
>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah. There's a time crunch on the effects

00:21:59
that are, you know, what you're talking about is another part

00:22:02
of our environment that unfortunately, I think in the

00:22:05
last, you know, post five years ago we become more

00:22:08
aware is disease.

00:22:09
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:22:10
>> Clint Scheirer: And you know, with the pandemic and COVID

00:22:13
19 and just any, anything that can affect

00:22:16
health. We don't always think about that in

00:22:18
RPGs. I was, I was listening. One of my absolute

00:22:21
favorite actual plays is the Glass Canon podcast.

00:22:23
>> Anthony: Oh yeah.

00:22:24
>> Clint Scheirer: I love glass cannon. I'm actually wearing a glass,

00:22:27
glass cannon hat right now. This is from one of their

00:22:29
individual live sessions that they do. But

00:22:32
in one of their campaigns, I believe

00:22:35
it might have been a giant slayer.

00:22:38
The party got fleas.

00:22:40
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:22:41
>> Clint Scheirer: And these. And they couldn't get rid of these

00:22:43
fleas. And it was bad. Like the effects of

00:22:46
these fleas and how it affected their,

00:22:49
their day to day. I would say you know, Pathfinder 2E 1st Edition

00:22:52
and even Pathfinder 2E 2nd Edition are some of those games that are a

00:22:55
little bit more simulationist and crunchy and

00:22:58
have rules for just about everything,

00:23:00
including disease. Have you ever

00:23:03
seen or experienced that in a game where

00:23:06
disease severely handicapped you

00:23:09
or somebody in the party?

00:23:10
>> Anthony: Oh, yeah, yeah. u. I mean, let's think

00:23:13
about going through a sewer. And

00:23:16
most, most people don't think about it.

00:23:19
>> Clint Scheirer: But not like a Ninja Turtle sewer, which is really

00:23:21
cool and rad. We're talking like a real

00:23:24
sewerage. Yeah. Filthy.

00:23:26
>> Anthony: And even though although fantasy, but a

00:23:29
medieval sewer. Right. That's gonna be gross.

00:23:32
you know, there's so many adventures that write, that have

00:23:35
scenes and parts of the adventure that take place in the sewer,

00:23:38
but don't consider that that place is gross. That place

00:23:41
carries disease. And when you are

00:23:44
hacking and slashing your way through and taking wounds

00:23:47
and you're standing in even ankle deep,

00:23:50
or water. Right. Sewage,

00:23:52
water, that's gonna have an effect. And that's one of the things

00:23:55
that. There are so many things in Dungeons and Dragons that are hand

00:23:58
waved that you could totally do. People

00:24:01
say, oh, it's too simplistic.

00:24:04
There are so many rich rules in there,

00:24:07
that work for you. There's a whole

00:24:10
table full of different diseases and how the vectors of

00:24:12
those diseases. Right. there's another one,

00:24:15
I thought of that. A, pre written one

00:24:18
that I like, which is Tomb of

00:24:21
Annihilation.

00:24:22
>> Clint Scheirer: Oh yeah. That's a, that's a classic, right?

00:24:25
>> Anthony: Oh yeah.

00:24:25
>> Clint Scheirer: Did that one show up in Ready Player One?

00:24:28
Wasn't that one of the. It might, it might

00:24:31
be.

00:24:32
>> Anthony: Tell me not too. Before Annihilation.

00:24:35
>> Clint Scheirer: Very campaign.

00:24:36
>> Anthony: Yeah, the big campaign.

00:24:37
>> Clint Scheirer: I would have got so many bad comments from people are like, you're

00:24:40
wrong, Clint.Scheirer@claimtogamepodcast.com.

00:24:41
>> Anthony: Right. no. Tomb of Annihilation takes place in this

00:24:44
massive jungle of chultt in the forgotten

00:24:46
Realms. And one of the things that you have to

00:24:49
run with is water. If you

00:24:52
drink water from one of the sources out there, guess what there's a chance for?

00:24:55
Throat leeches. Leeces.

00:24:59
Yeah. which are a real thing, you know, with unfiled,

00:25:02
>> Clint Scheirer: These aren't the leeches that used to take out your bad blood in the medieval

00:25:04
times and make you better, right?

00:25:06
>> Anthony: Oh, no, they're those leeches, but you're drinking them, they attach to the back

00:25:09
of your throat and suddenly you're choking and dying.

00:25:12
you know, or mosquitoes. If you're in an

00:25:15
area that's heavily infested with Undead. Well, there

00:25:18
are, there are things that are

00:25:21
attracted that undead attract for, you know,

00:25:24
bugs and diseases and you know,

00:25:27
and if you're out there, we all know that one of the

00:25:29
biggest, vectors, for disease,

00:25:32
in a lot of places are mosquitoes. Those annoying little

00:25:35
things and then you slap it, you

00:25:38
know. But those things can carry diseases.

00:25:41
and again, there's so many things in D20

00:25:44
& D where you're like, you're walking through a jungle. Hey, make

00:25:47
a cons save. But why? There's a lot of bugs out

00:25:49
here and you're getting bitten. you're

00:25:52
not able to scratch that itch where a, mosquito got into your

00:25:55
armor and you're like trying to slap away, you

00:25:58
know, not to mention we talked about that environment earlier. Are you

00:26:01
wearing heavy armor, walking through a hot jungle?

00:26:04
You know, so those are things that we like to. That I

00:26:07
like to think about, and look at.

00:26:10
>> Clint Scheirer: So this was a question that I originally was gonna ask you.

00:26:13
I took it out and now I'm gonna ask it. Cause it just makes sense,

00:26:17
right? There is potential

00:26:20
to so much simulate the real world,

00:26:23
that we can crush our players as game

00:26:26
masters. Right. Like if you have a,

00:26:29
if you have this thing where the player has a

00:26:32
disease and they just can't

00:26:35
shake it and there's no way they're going to get rid of it. And

00:26:38
it's constantly like a thorn in their

00:26:40
side as they're trying to play the game and do cool

00:26:43
things and tell an amazing story. They could get really

00:26:46
demotivated and they might come and say, man, this just isn't fun.

00:26:49
I hate that my player has like

00:26:51
uncontrollable dysentery and I can't like do

00:26:54
anything but just play like the.

00:26:57
Or, yeah, it's like the Oregon Trail. Like

00:27:00
how do you, how do you include environmental factors

00:27:03
without crushing your player spirit and still give them an

00:27:05
opportunity to, to play the game that they want to play? What, what are

00:27:08
some thoughts?

00:27:09
>> Anthony: Absolutely. and that's where it has to have a

00:27:12
story reason. Right? When you're going to include

00:27:15
environmental things, there has to be a story reason

00:27:18
for it. for example, I'm

00:27:21
not going to throw them in a sewer and

00:27:24
have them possibly pick up a disease. but

00:27:26
then also say, oh yeah, by the way, it's heavy rain, it's

00:27:29
flooding. Know you could do

00:27:32
that, right? and give that as a challenge

00:27:35
for the players to overcome.

00:27:37
>> Clint Scheirer: Literally, when it rains, it pours.

00:27:38
>> Anthony: Exactly. but you know, and you could give that as A

00:27:41
challenge to the players, as way of doing that. But when

00:27:44
you have something like that, where, like you

00:27:47
said, you have a disease, they're not shaking it, there's

00:27:50
constant effects with it. you're right. It can demotivate

00:27:53
a player. but that's where, as a dm, you need to

00:27:56
turn that around and make that an adventure all of its own.

00:27:58
You have a. You have a party member that has

00:28:02
got this disease. How do we cure

00:28:04
them? You know, we don't have cure disease. We don't

00:28:07
have a palate in the party. We don't have the capability

00:28:10
of the magic to be able to do that. So how do you do that?

00:28:13
Well, you go searching for a cure.

00:28:15
Say you go to the temple. The temple's like, we

00:28:18
don't have that capability. Then,

00:28:22
you go out into the wilderness and find this witch

00:28:25
doctor who's like, yes, I can totally do this. But you need

00:28:28
to go find these rare ingredients.

00:28:30
>> Clint Scheirer: The sweet taste of my homemade organic

00:28:33
fuel.

00:28:33
>> Anthony: And meanwhile, you have this player, like, my life

00:28:36
sucks. You know, and so up to the party

00:28:39
to help that character, who

00:28:42
is temporarily disabled,

00:28:45
helping, them. And it fosters a sense of teamwork,

00:28:48
I think, as well it can.

00:28:50
>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah.

00:28:50
>> Anthony: Ah, making it so that the player affected

00:28:53
is still part of the story. And now the

00:28:56
effect is woven into the story and

00:28:59
creates story moments.

00:29:01
>> Clint Scheirer: Would you say? are

00:29:04
you an advocate for always in the right

00:29:07
setting, giving your characters a glimmer of hope?

00:29:10
>> Anthony: Absolutely.

00:29:10
>> Clint Scheirer: Like, so it's not easy, but

00:29:13
there's always a chance. Like, ablly, I'think thinking

00:29:16
of Dumb and Dumber, you're saying I have a chance. So you're

00:29:19
telling me there's a chance.

00:29:21
>> Anthony: Exactly.

00:29:22
>> Clint Scheirer: They have a chance to succeed, but they could

00:29:25
fail and they could die. Like, there are real consequences, but there's always a

00:29:28
hope.

00:29:28
>> Anthony: Absolutely. one of the games that

00:29:31
I. That I used to run until I had to put it on

00:29:34
pause, was this game I called the Four

00:29:36
Horsemen Campaign. And the party is trying

00:29:39
to stop a resurgence of the Four Horsemen of the

00:29:42
Apocalypse. yeah. And it's all leading up to

00:29:45
this one. They believe this

00:29:47
bbeg, and they think they know who it is.

00:29:50
and, they're going for to try to defeat

00:29:53
each of the Horsemen. They've defeated war, they've defeated,

00:29:56
Famine, and they're working on Pestilence right now.

00:29:59
and one of the things I have in there is,

00:30:02
in that campaign that I tried to do, and I've

00:30:05
actually had to modify. Cause I've taken it,

00:30:08
one point. It was a little

00:30:11
too rough on them. And I got asked, hey,

00:30:14
man, this is really, like, starting to get grim,

00:30:16
dark. And I'm like, e. It was not my intention. I want there

00:30:19
to be this level of hope, but I want it to

00:30:22
be something where you understand

00:30:25
the bad guys are smart.

00:30:28
it was after I read this book. The enemy knows what they're

00:30:30
doing. The game mast.

00:30:32
>> Clint Scheirer: The monsters know what they're doing.

00:30:33
>> Anthony: Yeah, Yeah.

00:30:34
>> Clint Scheirer: I actually have it right here. What is the dud's

00:30:37
name? Keith

00:30:39
Aman.

00:30:40
>> Anthony: Yes. Yes.

00:30:41
>> Clint Scheirer: Keith Aman. The monsters know what they're doing.

00:30:43
>> Anthony: Absolutely amazing author. I recommend reading it. There's actually a

00:30:46
part two to it as well. but, when I read

00:30:49
that, I was like, these creatures are. Some of these

00:30:52
creatures are smart. And the big bad guy, looking

00:30:55
at his stat block, he is super

00:30:57
intelligent. He's gonna be thinking steps ahead.

00:31:00
So one of the things I introduced was, Because

00:31:03
this set also takes place in a multiverse where

00:31:06
there's other. You know, you can go from place to

00:31:09
place. Like the Forgotten Realms is their own crystal sphere. I use spell jamming

00:31:12
in part of Itkay. and this bad guy went

00:31:15
through all these other places,

00:31:17
getting one of the big bad guys. A big bad guy

00:31:20
from each one, gathering them, and making an evil adventuring

00:31:23
party whose whole job was to foil the

00:31:26
actual adventuring party.

00:31:28
>> Clint Scheirer: nice. A Dark team.

00:31:30
>> Anthony: Yeah, yeah. The A

00:31:32
team. If they were bad guys, you know. Ye.

00:31:35
>> Anthony: And so the party then found

00:31:38
every time they were trying to get something, these guys had gotten

00:31:41
it, or these guys were in the middle of getting it. And the party

00:31:44
was like, no. And they'd have to fight

00:31:47
these big bad guys. And early on they realized they were

00:31:49
outclassed. And this

00:31:52
is a.

00:31:53
Goes to a different, modifier as far

00:31:56
as, environment. is the idea

00:31:58
that environment doesn't have to be

00:32:01
the setting. A dungeon, a forest, anything else.

00:32:04
An environment can be a

00:32:07
showdown between two

00:32:10
rival adventuring parties. And Drakenenheim does the same thing.

00:32:13
Right? there are rival adventuring parties. There's no

00:32:16
necessarily. No bad blood between them. But,

00:32:18
hey, Faction A sent this group to

00:32:21
go get this item. And

00:32:24
the faction you're working for sent you to get the same item. And

00:32:27
you get there together, and you're like, well,

00:32:30
who's going toa get it? Well, we want to succeed. Well, we

00:32:33
want to succeed. And those things

00:32:36
can be an environment of themselves,

00:32:39
right?

00:32:39
>> Clint Scheirer: so those are different things to A social environment.

00:32:43
>> Anthony: Exactly, exactly.

00:32:44
>> Clint Scheirer: Okay.

00:32:45
>> Anthony: Eberron does the same thing. There's a campaign called ah, Eberron,

00:32:47
the Oracle of War, where you're on a ship

00:32:50
during a ball, ah, during this gala.

00:32:53
And it's a social environment where

00:32:57
you're trying to navigate this thing

00:33:00
to get a MacGuffin for that adventure. all

00:33:03
the while trying to navigate

00:33:06
this social stuff. and there's a lot of

00:33:08
things factors in that one that make it interesting.

00:33:11
You're not allowed to bring weapons and there's

00:33:14
a, or magic items of any kind. And there's

00:33:17
a mage sitting there, an Arch Magge sitting there with detect

00:33:20
magic going constantly just watching.

00:33:23
And so you're trying to avoid her

00:33:25
while trying to get the thing. You have

00:33:28
people sneaking onto the boat, trying to sneak onto the boat to

00:33:31
try to get the thing. and

00:33:34
that social aspect makes it an even

00:33:37
more enriched environment that, that can tell

00:33:39
a story, you.

00:33:41
>> Clint Scheirer: Know, for anybody who wants a really good

00:33:44
political intrigue. Mistborn the Final

00:33:47
Empire by Brandon Sanderson. Yeah, he does such a

00:33:50
good job talking about that, that social

00:33:52
environment and how do you navigate without getting found out.

00:33:55
And then when you are found out, then you can have combat.

00:33:58
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:33:58
>> Clint Scheirer: Then you can fight. but until then you're, yeah.

00:34:01
>> Anthony: You choose violence, we accept, kind of thing. But

00:34:04
yeah, that is it's really fascinating

00:34:07
that. and RPGs. I

00:34:09
love all RPGs. I like trying new

00:34:12
ones. I found one by accident,

00:34:15
by a group, by a guy, whose company

00:34:18
is called Davis and Daughter Games. And it was

00:34:21
a game, an RPG that is a

00:34:24
combination of like D20 & D Ultralight.

00:34:27
And if you remember that old 90s

00:34:30
80s 90s board game that got revamped

00:34:32
ah, in the recent history called Hero Quest.

00:34:36
>> Clint Scheirer: Oh yeah.

00:34:36
>> Anthony: So you had.

00:34:37
>> Clint Scheirer: My buddy loves Hero.

00:34:39
>> Anthony: Yeah, yeah. and you have these tiles that are the

00:34:42
terrain and you have monsters on there,

00:34:44
but they're social settings.

00:34:47
And I play it with my seven year old

00:34:49
son. he loves the game and it's all D sixes

00:34:52
with various. Like some sides have three, sometimes have one

00:34:55
or zero, whatever, depending on the color of the dice,

00:34:58
whatever. but he walked in and I said, I was like, you

00:35:01
don't have to just fight the monsters. He goes, oh.

00:35:04
I said, yeah, you don't have to fight the monsters. Sometimes you can talk to the

00:35:07
monsters and you can talk to them and

00:35:10
maybe discover something what's going on

00:35:13
or maybe convince them not to Fight. And he goes,

00:35:16
that just blew his mind. He's like, because he's watching,

00:35:19
he watched cartoons like Spidey and Friends, things like that.

00:35:21
And I tell him it's like that. I said what do they do? Do they fight

00:35:24
right away or what do they do? He goes, they try to talk

00:35:27
to them. I said yeah, you could do that.

00:35:30
Yeah, you could fight the monster but you could also try talking to

00:35:33
them. so the first mission, he walks in and

00:35:36
there's these goblin workers, these low level goblin

00:35:38
patsy'and he's like, hey,

00:35:43
we're the good guys. Do you want to be

00:35:46
here? And they're like no, not really. We

00:35:49
don't like our boss. Well, if you clear out we'll take

00:35:52
care of your boss. And of course it's in seven year

00:35:54
old speak. But you know, it was this really

00:35:57
good thing. And those social

00:36:00
environments are so important,

00:36:03
to be able to throw those in there as well.

00:36:06
For, for I would say

00:36:09
story and player enrichment and character,

00:36:11
character driven storytelling.

00:36:15
>> Clint Scheirer: So this isn't quite the same

00:36:17
thing but you recently wrote a blog

00:36:20
post, at least recently right now called

00:36:23
Ecohresros in the Wild.

00:36:25
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:36:26
>> Clint Scheirer: And it talked about, it made me very much

00:36:28
think about Ents. It made me think about

00:36:31
tokens whole like hidden

00:36:34
meaning behind like nature and the natural

00:36:37
way of the world getting ah, taken over by industrialization. It

00:36:40
was very cool. how do you adapt

00:36:43
that idea of like,

00:36:47
you knowususe there's an idea of like a faction

00:36:50
and organized like bad guys. But then

00:36:52
there's also like this is just the natural way that

00:36:55
the saber tooth, tiger, lion, bear or

00:36:58
whatever you know, crazy creature we're fighting

00:37:01
acts. You know, it's just defending

00:37:03
itself. This is just its natural way of things

00:37:07
and it's trying to preserve itself.

00:37:10
How do you, how do you integrate that into

00:37:12
a game without

00:37:15
turning into an all out horror fest?

00:37:18
you know, I know there's a little bit of conversation. There's a

00:37:21
little bit of conversation that you have in the session. 0 like what are we looking

00:37:24
for in this game? What, what are, you know, what do we not want? Like there's

00:37:27
some people that are like do not include spiders. If

00:37:30
you include spiders in this, I'm not playing. Yeah, because spiders

00:37:33
are awful and like that, that gets like a phobia instead

00:37:36
of a fear that, that's kind of fun to overcome.

00:37:38
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:37:39
>> Clint Scheirer: You know, how do you incorporate nature, striking

00:37:41
back and enjoy it

00:37:45
a couple ways.

00:37:46
>> Anthony: number one you get into morally gray

00:37:48
areas, Which I love, throwing morally

00:37:51
gray areas to my players.

00:37:54
but with regards to that one, Myl Suria campaign,

00:37:57
just south of town is, ah, a forested area in

00:37:59
which there's a grove. It's a dryad grove.

00:38:02
And if you engage dryad, they're like, hey, you, what's

00:38:06
hanging out in the rest of this forest? Give, us an idea of what

00:38:08
we're looking at. And she starts listening up. She goes, well, there's this

00:38:11
treant friend of mine named Narlroot. He hangs out over this

00:38:14
way. There's a big nest of giant

00:38:17
spiders, down that way. you may want to avoid

00:38:20
them. They're not very nice. and, oh, and there's the grumpy

00:38:23
old owl Beare that patrols this forest. What is that

00:38:26
again? Owl bear. And they go, I'm sorry, wait, wait, wait,

00:38:29
wait. Grumpy old Albert. Oh, yeah.

00:38:32
his mate has a den over on the south side of the forest.

00:38:35
And, he patrols the woods. This is kind of his territory. he and

00:38:37
I get along well because, you know, dry it. but, he's.

00:38:40
Yeah, he tends to be a little grumpy, with his

00:38:43
territory. And the party goes,

00:38:45
oh, that. Oh, okay.

00:38:49
and we're north of town. There's this

00:38:52
Treian, that is very angry.

00:38:55
Like, he chooses violence

00:38:58
first to

00:39:01
war. And you have to talk him down

00:39:04
before he decides to go into his rage.

00:39:07
Because there are. There's another

00:39:10
settlement. And I'm not going to spoil why there's another settlement

00:39:13
outside of town, but there's another settlement where they've been cutting down

00:39:16
his saplings and taking them for firewood

00:39:19
and building materials. And he's angry about it.

00:39:21
so he attacks any humanoid that walks through

00:39:24
because he assumes they're going to do that. and it works like

00:39:27
that for a lot of things. We saw it in Tolkien,

00:39:30
right? The Trons, when they come through and they're like, I knew

00:39:33
these trees, they were friends. And suddenly

00:39:36
you have battle music playing. And all the

00:39:39
Treons come emerging from the forest and they start

00:39:42
laying waste to everything Sauron did or

00:39:45
Saraman did. those are things I

00:39:48
love doing.

00:39:49
but one of the examples that I put forth in my

00:39:52
blog, which is, an adventure I wanna run

00:39:55
eventually, and I talk about moral ambiguity,

00:39:58
is the idea that this town

00:40:01
has a forested area nearby. And normally

00:40:04
they would just take little bits,

00:40:07
but they're experiencing a brutal winter.

00:40:10
Well, what do they do? They've got cut down more wood, you

00:40:12
know, and the forest creatures

00:40:15
suddenly have less forest

00:40:18
and that deforestation is happening as a result of. We just need to

00:40:21
survive. And like the dryad,

00:40:25
the niadss, the Trions, the whatever is

00:40:27
out there, go, hey, this is our home. You

00:40:30
can't do this. So you have to go as

00:40:33
a party, as a player, you're looking at,

00:40:36
well, we get both sides and both sides have a valid

00:40:39
point. How do we do

00:40:42
this without causing them to go into

00:40:45
conflict? Because one side will eventually wipe out the

00:40:48
other. Things aren't dealt with. I like those,

00:40:51
like I said, those morly gray areas, where

00:40:53
you have,

00:40:56
you have creatures

00:40:59
or things that are just

00:41:02
trying to survive.

00:41:04
>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah.

00:41:04
>> Anthony: You know, just trying to survive. So how do you deal with that?

00:41:08
>> Clint Scheirer: What a lesson about life. Like, you

00:41:10
will always come into contact with people that have a

00:41:13
valid point. How do you hold both

00:41:16
loosely and be able to come up with a

00:41:19
common solution? Like man,

00:41:22
if people just played tabletop role playing games, maybe we'd

00:41:25
have a.

00:41:26
>> Anthony: Happier world, you know, and that's

00:41:29
great. That's why I like introducing young,

00:41:31
people to tabletop games. Because it

00:41:34
gets those conversations happening, especially when you put them in

00:41:37
those situations. Right. I recently

00:41:40
helped a, friend, who's a high school, teacher

00:41:43
stand up her, her tabletop club. And

00:41:46
when I help run tables for her,

00:41:49
run games with these young people, I put

00:41:52
these morally ambiguous things and half

00:41:55
the table'like hey, let's just do this. The other table'like wait a

00:41:57
minute, but what about this?

00:42:00
and the other side of the table goes,

00:42:02
well, I mean this needs to happen, this

00:42:05
is our mission. But the other side of the table is going, but

00:42:08
wait, what about them?

00:42:11
You know, and they're starting this conversation

00:42:14
early so that when they get to

00:42:17
adults, you know, they have a better idea of

00:42:19
navigating those things in real life.

00:42:23
>> Clint Scheirer: Super cool. And we are going toa do

00:42:25
a complete episode all about

00:42:28
organized play. it's going to be so great. But that's such a

00:42:31
good segue. Like that makes so much sense to,

00:42:34
you know, this is a safe place where

00:42:37
we can have really tough conversations. So it

00:42:40
doesn't just have to happen right away. You know, that's kind of how

00:42:43
I'm a parent. I'm a parent. I have kids.

00:42:47
Right. And we try to have conversations at home. Working

00:42:50
through conflict.

00:42:51
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:42:51
>> Clint Scheirer: So that hopefully my kids can go out into the world and not, you

00:42:54
know, somebody in the face.

00:42:56
>> Anthony: Exactly.

00:42:57
>> Clint Scheirer: You know, murder, hobo.

00:42:59
>> Anthony: Yeah, exactly. you know,

00:43:03
I look at some of these things and I like

00:43:05
putting morally,

00:43:09
not necessarily mor ambiguous but making sure that there

00:43:12
is a point in the

00:43:15
story to these things. one of the

00:43:18
things that I did and I used to be a foster

00:43:21
parent. and ah, and we're

00:43:24
getting into this next episode. But you know,

00:43:27
how I started an organized play was by accident. I

00:43:30
was giving my wife a day off without having to worry about the kids. And I

00:43:32
took all my kids and the foster kids to go play D20 & D.

00:43:36
you know, and I liked watching them

00:43:39
react to situations and even adult

00:43:42
players, I like watching them react to situations where

00:43:45
there is no clear good guy or bad guy.

00:43:48
Right. and seeing what they do with it.

00:43:51
But when it comes to things like environment,

00:43:56
setting the scene has a lot to do

00:43:59
with that. And I talked about it at the beginning.

00:44:02
But setting the scene has everything to do with

00:44:04
that. describing the plight

00:44:07
of this town with a brutal winner. You know,

00:44:10
describing how they're. How everything is so

00:44:13
cold. and then

00:44:15
describing the scene of the forest and you see

00:44:18
nothing but tree stumps for miles.

00:44:21
Know, setting those scenes to having that

00:44:24
descriptor like I was talking about in the very beginning. You know,

00:44:27
that has a big thing to do with

00:44:30
giving an emotional connection. You

00:44:32
knoweah, putting that emotional connection in there

00:44:35
so that they, they really get that immersive

00:44:38
feeling.

00:44:39
>> Clint Scheirer: We're such visual creatures and this game

00:44:42
that we play, this, this this make believe

00:44:45
environment, Making it more real and more tangible and

00:44:48
more physical or social. Right. With

00:44:51
these different environments, really, really really bring it to

00:44:54
life. for, for game masters and for players.

00:44:56
>> Anthony: Absolutely.

00:44:58
>> Clint Scheirer: You've mentioned a couple modules, a couple

00:45:00
games, a couple of paths. Can

00:45:03
you list off and recommend some of the published

00:45:06
adventures, whether it's D20 & D or just games in general

00:45:09
that you think exemplify a strong use

00:45:12
of the environment and landscape and storytelling that

00:45:15
our listener can, can check out.

00:45:17
>> Anthony: Absolutely. And I've mentioned some of them. Waterap Dragon

00:45:20
Heist is a really big one. it's one of my favorites because of the

00:45:23
replayability. it's never the same game twice.

00:45:26
the MacGuffin is the same but how you go about getting it,

00:45:29
maintaining it and or everything else with it

00:45:32
is completely different. but I love Watery Dragon

00:45:35
Heist because it really used environment. Another

00:45:38
one that's really good that I mentioned briefly was the

00:45:40
Eberron campaign, Oracle of War. It was originally

00:45:43
written for organized play, but I ran it without

00:45:46
organized play. and it is amazing

00:45:49
because it has this very unique

00:45:51
place called the Mororland, where the environment

00:45:54
is huge part of the story.

00:45:57
Living spells and bodies don't

00:46:00
decompose. So, you know, things of that

00:46:02
nature where you get some really cool, weird

00:46:05
environmental effects.

00:46:06
>> Clint Scheirer: Was there automatons introduced in that?

00:46:09
Was Eperon the campaign where you could be a

00:46:12
forged. Yes. I played one of those

00:46:15
one time in a one shot. It was super fun.

00:46:17
>> Anthony: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I loved War Force. When the E. Evern

00:46:20
setting came out, I was like, war Force are cool,

00:46:22
let's do this. But,

00:46:25
yeah, that. So Eberron and the whole

00:46:28
campaign revolved primarily around the mournland. Right?

00:46:31
You spent more time in the mournland than you did anything

00:46:34
else. but, the last one I would say that I

00:46:37
recommend would, be

00:46:40
Dungeons of Drachenheim. That whole idea of the

00:46:43
haze, you know, the idea

00:46:45
that you can't take a long rest in town because you'll pick

00:46:48
up contamination. And if you long rest

00:46:51
with contamination, there's a chance you get another level of

00:46:54
contamination. And if you get too much, you

00:46:57
irrevocably turn into a horrific monster.

00:47:00
which is great. It's awesome.

00:47:03
so, those are things that,

00:47:06
when it comes to environment, they're

00:47:08
really, really, good resources and really good

00:47:11
games. I've taken my homebrew stuff. I've stolen stuff

00:47:14
from each of those campaigns.

00:47:16
>> Clint Scheirer: Steal like an artist?

00:47:17
>> Anthony: Exact.

00:47:18
>> Clint Scheirer: It's a real thing. Y.

00:47:19
>> Anthony: Exactly. so I've taken those things and

00:47:22
incorpor into my own homebrew games. much to

00:47:25
everybody's, delight, usually. Delight.

00:47:27
>> Clint Scheirer: All right, finally, Anthony, there is one thing that

00:47:30
I do every time I have a guest on the show. I'll even do it the

00:47:33
next time that you're on the show. but it's an activity that I

00:47:36
learned from Eric Newsom. he worked for npr. He's

00:47:39
now, you know, a writer and a blogger and a

00:47:42
podcaster and it does his own thing. But his

00:47:44
activity is to create a ten word phrase,

00:47:48
no more, no less. You have to use the economy of words to try

00:47:51
to encapsulate the core message of what we've been

00:47:54
trying to talk about today. So could you give us a

00:47:56
ten word phrase for our listener to help them

00:47:59
consider using the environment in their game settings and

00:48:02
also in the storytelling, of the games they play?

00:48:05
>> Anthony: Oh, yeah. I would say

00:48:08
actions have consequences. You must face or

00:48:10
consequences face you.

00:48:13
>> Clint Scheirer: Interesting. Can you say it one more time?

00:48:16
>> Anthony: Actions have consequences that

00:48:19
or actions have consequences you must face

00:48:22
or consequences face you.

00:48:25
>> Clint Scheirer: Very good. And the consequences can

00:48:28
sometimes be our environment, whether we like it or

00:48:30
not.

00:48:31
>> Anthony: Exactly.

00:48:32
>> Clint Scheirer: If people want to find you or

00:48:35
find what you do or you know what, where

00:48:38
would you direct people? Where's the best place for people to connect

00:48:41
with what you do and what your work is?

00:48:43
>> Anthony: Absolutely. I'm on Bluesky, Instagram

00:48:46
and TikTok. and I

00:48:49
have my obviously my website, the

00:48:51
dailydungeonmaster.coma, where I have my blog.

00:48:54
I also have an online store there, where you can buy

00:48:56
things. in fact I've got a ah, discount

00:48:59
code for anybody who's listening, ah,

00:49:02
claim to the number two game. and that

00:49:05
will give you a 15% off anything in my online

00:49:08
store.

00:49:09
>> Clint Scheirer: Nice. We'll include all that in the show notes, all of

00:49:11
Anthony Social'his website and the discount

00:49:14
code. Thank you. That's super generous. Absolutely. Well,

00:49:17
thanks for being here today. So glad we were able to connect

00:49:20
and hope you have a good one. Want to have you on again

00:49:23
for sure for the next episode.

00:49:24
>> Anthony: A.B. absolutely. Thanks Clint.

00:49:26
>> Clint Scheirer: Thanks again Anthony. And remember, actions have

00:49:28
consequences you must face, otherwise those

00:49:31
consequences face. You use nature as

00:49:34
a way to enhance your storytelling. Whether you're the game

00:49:36
master or the.

00:49:38
>> Anthony: Player, the master of games.

00:49:40
>> Clint Scheirer: Please hit like or subscribe if you liked what you heard today. And if you

00:49:42
listen on Apple Podcast or Spotify, Go ahead and give

00:49:45
the CTG five stars and leave a review. And

00:49:48
may you keep having fun as you continue to have a great time with friends

00:49:51
and tell amazing stories through tabletop role playing games.