Claim to Game Podcast
047: Haunted Holiday & Beyond: Call of Cthulhu, One-Shots, and Holiday Adventures
Claim to GameOctober 16, 2025
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047: Haunted Holiday & Beyond: Call of Cthulhu, One-Shots, and Holiday Adventures

#47 - Anthony from The Daily DM returns for his third appearance on Claim to Game. We start with Call of Cthulhu, one of the most popular TTRPGs worldwide, breaking down why it works so well for horror, suspense, and cosmic dread. Anthony shares advice for running unforgettable one-shots, from Halloween showstoppers to eerie additions in long-running campaigns, plus stories from The Haunt series for D&D 5E. To wrap up, Anthony tackles the Rapid Fire Holiday Round, recommending systems and adventure hooks for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and more. Seasonal scares and festive fun, all in one episode.

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00:00:00
>> Clint Scheirer: Anthony from the Daily DM returns for his third

00:00:03
appearance on Claim to Game number three. We'll

00:00:05
start with Call of Cthulhu, one of the most

00:00:08
popular tabletop RPGs in the world. Breaking down

00:00:11
why it works so well for horror, suspense and

00:00:14
cosmic dread. Anthony also shares his advice for

00:00:18
running unforgettable one shots from Halloween

00:00:21
showstoppers to eerieitionss for long running

00:00:24
campaigns. Well even move beyond Halloween. That

00:00:26
way you can pull out an adventure no matter the

00:00:28
holiday Groundhogs day. Lets s go make that claim

00:00:31
to game game.

00:01:05
You know, before we get into being spooky, there

00:01:08
are three big tabletop rpgs like the big three

00:01:12
that if you go on Google or you go on any sort of

00:01:15
search engine and you type in what are the most

00:01:19
popular RPGs in the world? Depending on whether

00:01:22
you're in the United States or if you're somewhere

00:01:24
else in the world. U really there's three, there's

00:01:26
three main ones. There's Dungeons and Dragons,

00:01:29
right? You called it the the infamous Ampersand.

00:01:32
Yeah, yeah, the Ampersand. there is Pathfinder,

00:01:35
right? The, the cousin and branch off of Dungeons

00:01:38
and Dragons 3.5 and now it's on its second

00:01:40
edition. And then there is Call of Cthulhu. And I

00:01:45
want you to tell me what you think because you

00:01:48
have more experience doing Call of Cthulhu than I

00:01:50
do playing it, running it. Why do you think that

00:01:54
that is a top tier rpg?

00:01:56
>> Anthony: For a couple of reasons. Number one is the brp,

00:01:59
the basic role playing system. It's ah, percentile

00:02:02
based. and it'it tends to be a little bit

00:02:05
crunchier than say D20 & D or Pathfinder 2E, but

00:02:09
it's much more thorough in how it deals with

00:02:12
things in my opinion. and the BRP is that defining

00:02:17
factor. in fact it's also the basis for two other

00:02:21
games or several other games that Chaosium makes.

00:02:23
The people who make Call of Cthulhu. and that's

00:02:26
Rune Quest, which is how I got introduced to the

00:02:29
BRP. and then there is 7C, 7th C 7Cs and then

00:02:35
Pendragon, all very good games. U but the BRP is

00:02:39
that that differentiator that really makes colic

00:02:43
Cthulhu work.

00:02:45
>> Clint Scheirer: All right, so a couple things you just mentioned,

00:02:47
you mentioned crunchier and handles things more

00:02:51
thoroughly. So in our, our listener knows that in

00:02:55
our terms for crunchy it means that it is a more

00:02:58
simulationist game, meaning it tries to take

00:03:01
things in the world and create rules and ways that

00:03:05
those those situations are determined and the

00:03:07
results and outcomes are crystal clear. So one of

00:03:11
those things, and I'm going to bounce back and

00:03:13
forth. There's a percentile die. And anytime you

00:03:18
get more numbers and maybe more modifiers or lack

00:03:21
thereof, modifiers, some, some folks will get that

00:03:24
feeling in their stomach like, oh, what did I get

00:03:26
myself into? Why am I playing this game? And

00:03:29
others are like, bring it on. bring it on. And I

00:03:31
want the complexity.

00:03:32
So can you talk a little bit about what makes this

00:03:34
game unique? With the basic role playing system,

00:03:37
the D100 skill checks Sanity points. How do those

00:03:42
rules affect gameplay? Why is it so cool?

00:03:46
>> Anthony: It's cool because unlike other games where you

00:03:50
wanna roll high, you want that natural 20 in D20 &

00:03:53
D, you want, you know, you know, you want those

00:03:55
high rolls in the brp, you don't want anything

00:03:59
that high. You wanna pull out that percentile set

00:04:03
of percentile dice that never rolls well. And you

00:04:05
wanna use those because the idea is that your

00:04:09
skills, whatever, ah, number they are, they're

00:04:11
usually in the like 60s, 50s to 80s, generally

00:04:16
speaking and you wanna roll that number or less.

00:04:20
Now the cool thing about the brp, and most BRP

00:04:23
games is the fact that they have this thing called

00:04:26
degrees of success which things like D20 & D don't

00:04:29
have. And what I like about the degrees of success

00:04:32
is I didn't just succeed. Maybe, with Runeest at

00:04:36
least. And call Cthulhu for sure you have a half

00:04:40
value and a fifth value. So say my value, my score

00:04:44
is an 80, I've got an 80 in strength. Okay, that's

00:04:48
one of your skills. Strength is your skills

00:04:51
abilities. Yeah, one of your ab abilities. Okay,

00:04:52
yeah. and you roll a 40 or better, that is a

00:04:56
better success than just getting under 80. Then if

00:05:00
you get under 20, you get even better success and

00:05:03
better things happen. That is one of the things I

00:05:05
really like about the BRP is you're not just

00:05:08
looking at six pass or fail. It's did you pass?

00:05:12
How well did you pass? Because there are some

00:05:14
instances in Call of Cthulhu, especially where you

00:05:17
don't need just a success. You have to have a half

00:05:20
a half score success which they called a hard

00:05:22
success. You have to have a hard success to

00:05:25
actually get the, get the bit or, or do the, the

00:05:28
thing.

00:05:29
>> Clint Scheirer: You know, you know what it reminds me of is it

00:05:31
reminds me of the, and this is not a crunchy

00:05:35
system, but you know Powered by the Apocalypse,

00:05:38
right. When you're rolling your D20 or, sorry,

00:05:40
your D6, you are either completely failing with an

00:05:44
obstacle, you are succeeding. You know, just flat

00:05:47
out succeeding, or you are going to succeed with a

00:05:51
success. And I think there's something in between.

00:05:53
I probably missed a couple of steps there. but

00:05:56
this, this makes it more mathematical. Like, this

00:05:59
is stretching it out between 1 and 100. And in

00:06:03
terms of percentile, as opposed to 1 through 12,

00:06:06
or if you have bonuses sometimes in, you know,

00:06:09
Powered by the Apocalypse, you can get higher

00:06:11
than. Than the basic 12.

00:06:13
So I think my question here. I do have a question.

00:06:16
I promise. I pinky promise. How do these rules and

00:06:20
the different degrees of success and characters

00:06:24
that can be fallible, right, you have. This isn't

00:06:27
your superhero super duper. you know, Superman

00:06:30
people. They're very real people. Real, very real

00:06:34
characters. How does that contribute to what we're

00:06:37
gonna be talking about today, which is horror and

00:06:40
suspense and cosmic dread and tension, not just in

00:06:45
Call of Cthulhu, but also in other RPGs. Like, how

00:06:48
does this range contribute to that?

00:06:51
>> Anthony: That's a great question because, short story, a

00:06:53
long time ago, about six or seven years ago, a

00:06:56
friend of mine. No one was longer than that.

00:06:58
anyways, a friend of mine by the name of Greg

00:07:00
Albo, he was u, trying to get me into Runst U,

00:07:04
Chaosium's other big campaign, setting. And he's

00:07:08
like, dude, this is really cool. You got to check

00:07:10
it out. I kind of like, ah, E, you know, I'm a D20

00:07:12
& D fan, blah, blah, blah. And I kind of looked

00:07:14
over it went E. Okay. But I didn't really get into

00:07:17
it. and I regret that so much. U. because later

00:07:21
on, when my normal group wasn't meeting that, that

00:07:26
week, and I said, hey, man, you got a game going

00:07:28
on? He goes, yeah, we're playing. We're playing

00:07:30
Call of Cthulhu. I said, that's great. Can I join?

00:07:32
He goes, yeah. And I start making my character,

00:07:35
and I'm realizing how fragile this character is.

00:07:38
Like, and I'm looking at things and I'm like, wow,

00:07:43
this is this. There's not a, I'm not going toa

00:07:45
take a lot of damage before I just keel over. He

00:07:48
goes, that's the point. in Run Quest,

00:07:51
specifically, his. His joke is, you can always

00:07:53
take an arrow to the isolate, you know, and, a

00:07:57
wrong step U. and suddenly you're getting Pushed

00:08:00
out of a second story window, and taking

00:08:03
considerable amount of damage. You know, that is

00:08:05
something that is very unique to the. To most

00:08:09
systems that run the brp. Your person, your

00:08:12
character, it'not an unstoppable juggernaut like

00:08:15
in D20 & D the jugal, it doesn't have that

00:08:18
advancement type where you are just becoming

00:08:21
beefier and beefier and one way or another and you

00:08:23
can do all these things. U. there is an

00:08:25
advancement mechanic, for Call of Cthulhu and,

00:08:29
those similar systems. But, u. It's much different

00:08:33
and it's much more gradual than something like D20

00:08:37
& D, where you get these big jumps every time you

00:08:39
level up.

00:08:41
>> Clint Scheirer: It makes me think of Dungeon Crawl classic. Have

00:08:44
you ever played dungeon crawl class? So, like, the

00:08:47
characters are squishy there because they have

00:08:49
such low HP and very, very little skill. Like,

00:08:54
you're just talking like, I he pick plucked a

00:08:56
farmer out of medieval Europe and stuck him in a

00:08:58
dungeon. Like, that's kind of the character that

00:09:01
you. You run in the dcc. So I, you know, with

00:09:05
that, that, that weakness, the ability to die,

00:09:11
like, that's something very real. Like, we

00:09:14
experience that when we drive in our vehicle going

00:09:16
down the road, but now we're simulating it in a

00:09:19
game. Like, what do you think about that?

00:09:21
>> Anthony: That, is fascinating to me, and it's the reason

00:09:23
why I've fallen in love with the brp. don't get me

00:09:26
wrong, I still play D20 & D. It's a big part of

00:09:29
the games. I like to run. But, I have the rabbit

00:09:33
hole. I've been down, lately is I've been running

00:09:35
a lot more Call of Cthulhu. and the thing I like

00:09:39
about it is that now take the real world fragility

00:09:43
of humans now put them against these cosmic

00:09:47
horrors, these things that are incomprehensible,

00:09:50
these things that are. Could squash you, you know,

00:09:53
with a flick of a finger, basically, you know, and

00:09:56
it becomes much more, much more intense that. That

00:10:00
idea of. Of cosmic horror and dread. And you're

00:10:04
going around this building and there may be

00:10:06
cultists there, or there may be, a monster of some

00:10:10
kind, some horror in there. And you're going in

00:10:12
there going, we've done a lot of investigating,

00:10:14
we've done a lot of research on what is probably

00:10:16
in here. my little cult 45 may not be good enough

00:10:21
for what I'm dealing with. It may be enough to

00:10:23
slow it down, but not stop it and everybody be

00:10:25
prepared to run. A, friend of mine always joked

00:10:28
that your best case scenario for K of Cthulhu is

00:10:31
for your character to go insane or die. Because,

00:10:34
you know, your characters are that fragile. in

00:10:37
fact, there's mechanics that if you take so much

00:10:39
damage in a single go, you're taking what they

00:10:43
call a serious wound, and you have to see a

00:10:45
doctor. You have to go to a hospital and see a

00:10:47
doctor to regain any hit points, you know? so that

00:10:51
kind of fragility lends itself to this. These

00:10:54
games where you can explore tension and suspense

00:10:58
and horror, because you never know when that last,

00:11:01
that next step might be your last.

00:11:03
>> Clint Scheirer: So this is. I have a friend. her name is Caitlin,

00:11:06
and she does not like playing tabletop RPGs. And

00:11:10
here's why. She likes to win. She likes to win a

00:11:15
game and know that she won. And I would argue

00:11:19
there are times where you and your party do win in

00:11:22
Dungeons and Dragons, right? There's, a quest that

00:11:25
you take, and collaboratively you overcome the

00:11:28
obstacles. You, you take down the big, bad evil

00:11:30
guys, you get the treasure, the magical object,

00:11:33
you save the town, you know, whatever it is for,

00:11:36
call it Cthulhu. Would my friend Caitlylin really

00:11:39
not like it? Like, are you really not going to

00:11:42
ever win in Call of Cthulhu? Or is there that

00:11:45
same, ability to, as a team, get out of the cosmic

00:11:49
horror, you know, survive? Can you survive a game

00:11:53
of Call of Cthulhu?

00:11:54
>> Anthony: Absolutely. But, to answer your question about

00:11:57
your friend, she probably would not be a huge fan

00:12:01
because the idea of Call of Cthulhu and something

00:12:03
unique, with other horror games to call a Cthulhu

00:12:06
compared to other horror games is the fact that

00:12:10
you never win. You're only holding back the

00:12:13
darkness for another day. You're only stopping it

00:12:16
this time. And there's always gonna be something

00:12:19
else rearing its head and something else that

00:12:22
you're gonna have to go to.

00:12:23
>> Clint Scheirer: Stop that then makes me shift when somebody says,

00:12:27
well, I want to win. Winning is telling a really

00:12:29
good story.

00:12:31
>> Anthony: Yes.

00:12:32
>> Clint Scheirer: Like, it's the storytelling. U, back in Episode, I

00:12:36
believe it was 18. U, I. I mentioned this episode

00:12:39
all the time because it was something that really,

00:12:40
changed the way I think about horror. Ken Height,

00:12:43
Trail of Cthulhu. Trail of Cthulhu, second

00:12:45
Edition. U, is on the Cannon Robin, podcast. They

00:12:49
talk about stuff, I think is the name of their

00:12:51
podcast, that he was saying. You know, a lot of

00:12:54
times it's the experience of having these emotions

00:12:56
that are very visceral, very real. And fear is one

00:12:59
of those basic human emotions, that you can feel

00:13:02
in a tabletop rpg. And so what I'm hearing you say

00:13:05
is that Call of Cthulhu does that really well

00:13:08
because of the fallibility of the characters. It

00:13:10
does it really well because the obstacle that

00:13:13
you're coming up against can't truly be beaten. It

00:13:16
can only be held off. So that tension never really

00:13:18
goes away. Even if you get through the adventure,

00:13:22
you're still stuck with like that big bad evil guy

00:13:25
is still out there and he's way more powerful than

00:13:27
you.

00:13:29
So here's my question for any game master

00:13:31
listening. How can they hop in to run a game like

00:13:36
Call a Cthulhu that is a little different than

00:13:39
Dungeons and Dragons? It's not completely

00:13:41
different. They're still tabletop RPGs. You're

00:13:43
still pretending to be charact, pretending to be

00:13:44
people u, in a made up world where something is

00:13:47
going on. But what does a gm, a game master need

00:13:50
to have in their mind when they're going to run a

00:13:52
game of Call of Cthulhu without feeling

00:13:54
overwhelmed or without u, I don't know,

00:13:56
overwhelming their players?

00:13:58
>> Anthony: Yeah, first off, I would actually recommend

00:14:00
starting with chaosium.com comm, their website. if

00:14:03
you go to the bottom left corner I think it is,

00:14:05
they have a link, labeled resources and one of the

00:14:08
links is there is a really good starter adventure.

00:14:12
It's an intro to Call of Cthulhu. And they've got

00:14:15
a big section for the keeper, a big section for

00:14:16
the players. They've got pre generated characters,

00:14:19
the, for the what they call them scenarios. They

00:14:21
don't call them adventures, they call them

00:14:22
scenarios, but we all know it means same thing.

00:14:25
And it is a really good intro to what K of Cthulhu

00:14:31
is all about. You have a very interesting bad guy.

00:14:37
and the whole idea behind it is you are hired, you

00:14:40
are investigators hired to figure out what is

00:14:43
going on with a house that may or may not be

00:14:46
haunted. So it gives you the idea of, you know,

00:14:53
this is what an investigator is, this is what they

00:14:56
do. You know, they, they dig up research in all

00:14:58
the different ways and on all the different

00:15:00
aspects of this. Then they go in doing the

00:15:02
practical stuff where they, they go in and they're

00:15:05
looking around and they're trying to find more

00:15:07
clues as to what's going on. And I don't want to

00:15:09
spoil it for those who haven't, but it's called

00:15:10
the Haunt. U. and it's a really good starter

00:15:14
adventure. Yeah.

00:15:17
>> Clint Scheirer: So the Haunt. You mentioned that, you mentioned

00:15:20
that to me before when we were going back and

00:15:21
forth about what we wanted to talk about today.

00:15:23
And is it, is there one that goes over with fifth

00:15:27
Edition, like with D20 & D, or is it just with

00:15:30
Chaosium? Are those two different things, Two

00:15:33
different.

00:15:33
>> Anthony: Adventures, two different oay? The Haunt, I think

00:15:36
I may have gotten it wrong. May be the Haunting.

00:15:38
But they're very similar titled. But yeah, the D20

00:15:43
& D version is much more different. that one is

00:15:49
much different. in that the premise is that you

00:15:54
are caught outside in a horrible storm. It's, you

00:15:57
know, starting to be pebble sized, then marble

00:16:01
size and golf ball and bigger and bigger hail is

00:16:04
coming down and there's no, there's no shelter in

00:16:09
sight except you see this old house up on a hill,

00:16:11
this massive manor house up on a hill. And of

00:16:14
course as players we all go, that's not good.

00:16:17
>> Clint Scheirer: That can't be good.

00:16:19
>> Anthony: But as characters you're like, that's the only

00:16:21
place we have. And you go through this house and

00:16:25
trying to figure out the history of the house and

00:16:27
what's going on. And there's a very, two very

00:16:30
unique villains, in that adventure. and that one,

00:16:36
because of one of the villains specifically lends

00:16:38
itself to a lot of the Terran horror, even in D20

00:16:40
& D. even as far as a D20 & D adventure, it's

00:16:44
generally run at lower level. this one runs

00:16:46
around, I think third level or so. But one, of the

00:16:50
aspects of it is the fact that, And again, I don't

00:16:53
want to spoil it, but one of the main recurring

00:16:57
bad guys that keeps coming and going has the

00:17:00
ability to shadow bend, meaning as they come out

00:17:03
and attack, they can meld in. They literally fall

00:17:05
back into a shadow and disappear.

00:17:08
>> Clint Scheirer: Okay.

00:17:09
>> Anthony: and the fact that they can come and go as they

00:17:12
please, and constantly torment the characters. in

00:17:15
fact I have sound effects for this particular.

00:17:19
This particular character, sounds like running

00:17:22
steps running down a hall, and some other sound

00:17:25
effects that go along with it. If you ever look at

00:17:26
it and play it, you'll get the idea. But, I can

00:17:30
play that sound of running up and down the hall

00:17:33
and I have players who are literally like, no, no,

00:17:36
we are not going through that again. We're not

00:17:37
doing that again. No, that visceral reaction to

00:17:41
that caused fear in a player for their character.

00:17:46
Like you were saying it'something is very real.

00:17:49
That when you can get a player to feel what their

00:17:52
character is feeling, the horror and terror that

00:17:54
their character's feeling. Oh man. That's when

00:17:56
you've done your job as a DM or a keeper.

00:17:59
>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah. So. Yep. And keeper is what Call of Cthulhu

00:18:03
calls the game master. For anybody who's like, oh,

00:18:06
it's that.

00:18:06
so one of the things we we said was players and

00:18:09
GMs who are new to Call of Cthulhu start with the

00:18:11
starter edition, the starter set. the starter

00:18:14
scenario. For those who are like, I still want to

00:18:17
play D20 & D. There are horror themed D20 & D

00:18:21
scenarios and adventures and one shots. So that's

00:18:26
sort of where I wanted to begin thinking, about

00:18:29
the one shot and the holiday. Right. Like, not the

00:18:32
holiday, the movie with, Jack Black and I think

00:18:35
Camen Diaz and all those other people that are in

00:18:37
my, U whoever was in Titanic, Oh, shoot, I can't

00:18:40
remember her.

00:18:41
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:18:41
>> Clint Scheirer: Kate Winslet. Yeah.

00:18:43
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:18:43
>> Clint Scheirer: Somebody else too. U, Jude Laws. There we go. I

00:18:46
got all the four main actors. That's what

00:18:47
everybody wanted. They wanted me to be able to

00:18:49
name that. U. I have only watched it once, I

00:18:52
promise. but for, for players and GMs, start with

00:18:55
that. Start with other things. But one shots. I

00:18:58
love doing one shots for anything that is a

00:19:02
holiday. So whether it is Halloween, which is

00:19:05
coming up here around the time of this release,

00:19:07
whether it is Christmas, whether it's any other

00:19:10
holiday of the year, doing a one shot is awesome.

00:19:14
And specifically for Halloween and coming up with

00:19:17
a horror themed rpg. U, there are elements of

00:19:22
Halloween and the suspense and the thriller that's

00:19:25
built into Call of Cthulhu. but my question is, do

00:19:28
you know of any other RPGs that you love or that

00:19:32
you've heard of that you feel do that really well,

00:19:35
that have that element of psychological thriller,

00:19:38
cinematic horror? U characters that are fallible.

00:19:41
U, you know, you mentioned, I'm gonna go off on a

00:19:43
tangent here, that D20 & D adventure was only

00:19:46
level three, which to me makes sense for a horror

00:19:51
game because if you put them at level five, that's

00:19:53
when they power up and start having second attacks

00:19:55
and fireball and like all this other stuff. But

00:19:57
when they're not quite there yet, then there's an

00:20:00
element of like, oh crap, I could die. This could

00:20:02
be really bad.

00:20:04
So back to the question, what are some other RPGs

00:20:06
that work really well to create Horror.

00:20:09
>> Anthony: My favorite Dread. And it says it's everything is

00:20:13
in the name. It's Dread. And it has such a unique,

00:20:17
awesome mechanic to it. It doesn't use dice.

00:20:20
>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah, you go through it. We've talked about that

00:20:22
here on this channel before, but I would love your

00:20:24
take on it. What is Dread? For the person who this

00:20:26
is their.

00:20:27
>> Anthony: Very first episode, Dread is probably the most

00:20:32
interesting and fun horror RPG I have ever gotten

00:20:36
to play. serious rpg. There's some others that are

00:20:41
a little tongue in cheek, but Dread is the best,

00:20:44
in my opinion, because the mechanic is a Jenga

00:20:48
tower. You start with the. Whoever's telling the

00:20:52
story, whoever's the narrator is what they call

00:20:55
the GM dm. Whatever you want to have it. They

00:20:58
start by taking a full size Jenga tower and they

00:21:01
pull three pieces and put them on top. In this

00:21:04
rpg, Djenga rules do apply. You touch it, that's

00:21:07
the piece you have to pull. So as you go through

00:21:11
the narrator, as you want to do things, sometimes

00:21:14
it'll be something innocuous, sometimes it might

00:21:17
be something stressful, but at any time, the

00:21:20
narrator can say, give me a polull or give me two

00:21:23
poles, or everybody has to give me a pull. And

00:21:26
this Jenga tower is slowly building on itself and

00:21:30
getting more rickety and taller and more rickety

00:21:34
and taller. And it's building that idea of dread

00:21:38
that, that tension that this tower is going to

00:21:41
fall at any time. And the cool part it is, is with

00:21:44
if that tower ever falls, either that character is

00:21:48
doomed or their character dies some horrific

00:21:52
death. one of my absolute favorites, Dread

00:21:55
scenarios to run, is one that I found on a message

00:21:59
board ages and ages ago. And I'm so glad I did

00:22:03
what I did with it. But it's called Hope'end.

00:22:06
Hopes End. And I literally. I found it. I could

00:22:10
not tell you who wrote it, but I found it. I copy

00:22:13
pasted into a Word document, and I have a copy of

00:22:16
that Word document. I will never let it go. I have

00:22:18
it in hard copy three different places. So I never

00:22:22
lose this thing. Because what it is, the scenario,

00:22:25
is funny. It's interesting and horrifying and

00:22:30
funny all at the same time. Because you are

00:22:32
playing the part of Scooby and the gang, right?

00:22:37
Put in a actual colic Cthulhu type scenario. Like,

00:22:45
yeah, if you took an actual Call of Cthulhu, like,

00:22:47
you're running straight up, real Call of Cthulhu,

00:22:49
but the characters are running or Scooby in the

00:22:51
gang, that is a recipe for Fun. In fact, I ran it

00:22:57
recently for a friend of mine, his birthday. He

00:22:59
wanted to run, something new and I was like, let's

00:23:02
play Dread. And they were having a blast, getting

00:23:06
to play the different characters, getting into

00:23:08
their characters, reacting to all the funny

00:23:11
things, and you know, seeing who survives and who

00:23:15
doesn't, you know, at the end kind of thing. Yeah.

00:23:18
Dread is amazing. And it even comes like the

00:23:21
rulebook even comes with three scenarios that're

00:23:23
all great. Like, absolutely great.

00:23:26
>> Clint Scheirer: I think I chose Beneath the Metal sky when I ran

00:23:29
it, which I think is in the back of the rule book.

00:23:31
So.

00:23:32
>> Anthony: Correct.

00:23:33
>> Clint Scheirer: wonderful. So for those of you guys that want that

00:23:35
scenario, if you're not into Scooby and the Gang,

00:23:38
what I would say is Beneath the Metal sky is very

00:23:41
Alien esque. Like if you've ever seen those movies

00:23:43
with Sigourney Weaver, it is like an alien themed

00:23:49
version of Dread. And everybody gets on this

00:23:52
derelict ship and that's all I'm gonna say. So

00:23:55
it's a, ah, different, different feeling but still

00:23:57
that sense of like, if this falls over, I'm done

00:24:00
for, the game's done and nobody wants that to

00:24:02
happen.

00:24:03
>> Anthony: Yeah. I would, I would argue, my favorite only

00:24:05
because I. Of the three, because I've seen it play

00:24:08
out so fascinatingly. We'll say, is the second

00:24:12
one. I can't remember, but it takes place at a,

00:24:15
like a lakeshore lake house. Yeah, I, you know

00:24:19
what I'm talking about. It takes the lake house.

00:24:21
>> Clint Scheirer: I can't remember the name, but it's very like,

00:24:23
it's very Halloween. and Shredder, you know,

00:24:28
terror. Kind of horrorying.

00:24:30
>> Anthony: Exactly. And, and it's for. That is one of my

00:24:34
favorites. some of my favorite, memories with

00:24:36
Dread, come from that, that particular scenario.

00:24:40
>> Clint Scheirer: And it has a cult following. Like you were talking

00:24:42
about a blog and like you can go online and there

00:24:45
are s. So many people that wrote their own very

00:24:47
fantastic scenarios.

00:24:48
>> Anthony: Oh yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. There was a gentleman and

00:24:52
I'm blanking on his name, but he had a website,

00:24:55
was nothing but new. Dreadnareos wrote he was

00:24:57
Australian. And one he had was written around

00:25:00
those birds that come and attack everybody every

00:25:02
year. So it was like Alfred Hitchcock's the Birds

00:25:05
but with these, these. This one specific type of

00:25:08
bird that Australia is known for. And it. That

00:25:10
was, that was fun to run too. Yeah, I've run a lot

00:25:13
of Dread.

00:25:14
>> Clint Scheirer: There's another, there's another game That I have

00:25:16
to mention because I actually have the copy right

00:25:19
here. It's called 10 Candles by Steven Dewey. if

00:25:24
have you ever played it, Anthony?

00:25:25
>> Anthony: I've heard of it, but I've never played it. It's

00:25:27
one of on my, my wish list.

00:25:29
>> Clint Scheirer: It's amazing. And here's, here's where the dread

00:25:33
starts. You begin letting your players know they

00:25:36
will not survive. Every single person in this game

00:25:40
will die. But you're trying to die in the best

00:25:44
possible way. So the candles are actually the

00:25:47
mechanic that allows the time to pass as you go

00:25:50
through the game and as you move on from scene to

00:25:54
scene, you extinguish a candle. In the very end

00:25:58
you are in pitch blackness and it is so awesome.

00:26:02
It's one of the best games. Pretty sure George W.

00:26:05
Bush showed up three different times with some of

00:26:06
my goofy players. U and happened to be a big bad

00:26:10
evil guy.

00:26:11
But all joking aside, it can be as funny, it can

00:26:14
be as serious. But ultimately everybody dies. And

00:26:18
yeah, to me that's horror. Like there is no way

00:26:21
out. The drums are beating in the deep. It's like

00:26:23
Kazad dum. There is no way out. So yeah, very cool

00:26:29
game.

00:26:30
Why are one shots so good for holidays?

00:26:34
>> Anthony: Oh man, great questionm. because they give a break

00:26:40
from every day. Like you have your regular game,

00:26:44
you know what to expect. There's a story going on

00:26:46
that you guys as a whole are telling. but it gives

00:26:50
a. It breaks up the routine of what to expect in

00:26:54
the game. For example, one of my favorite,

00:26:57
Christmas ones, to run. I'm not gonna mention my

00:27:00
absolute favorite, but one of my favorites is one

00:27:02
about Krampus where the party wakes up in this

00:27:06
frozen ice cavern. Beaten. They're like only in

00:27:12
the regular clothes, they have no weapons and they

00:27:14
feel like they, their backsides have been beaten

00:27:16
with. With rods. With, with beaten like with a

00:27:21
switch. And they're waking up going what happened?

00:27:26
And they keep hearing u they keep hearing hoof

00:27:29
like cloven hooves walking throughout these

00:27:32
hallways. And it's, it's a horror Christmas themed

00:27:35
one. Right. But it's the idea that Krampus is

00:27:38
coming to get you and they have to find a way to

00:27:40
defeat Krampus and, and all these things. And it,

00:27:44
that one is it breaks up the campaign into

00:27:49
something new, something novel, something

00:27:52
different. U and that's why I think they work so

00:27:55
absolutely well. Whether you're running like you

00:27:57
said, a Halloween one. my absolute favorite, the

00:28:00
Haunt. Is actually you know we talked about that

00:28:03
one runs at level three. There's actually three

00:28:05
parts to it. There's a part one, two and three and

00:28:08
the third one actually ties all of the storyline

00:28:10
from the first first one and the second one all

00:28:13
together and brings hopefully a successful

00:28:16
conclusion. I don't just run a one shot. I run

00:28:19
them in a way that is probably different than most

00:28:22
people run one shots because I run the one shots

00:28:24
with whatever characters they're currently

00:28:26
playing.

00:28:27
>> Clint Scheirer: You build it into the campaign as a disruptor in

00:28:30
the normal pattern.

00:28:31
>> Anthony: Correct, Correct. But I have a very unique thing I

00:28:34
do with it that I'm not sure many ATMs do. I have

00:28:38
what's what I call my canon. Not canon. Okay, yes,

00:28:42
all good things that happen are canon. All bad

00:28:45
things that happen are not canon. So if somebody

00:28:47
dies, something happens like that they lose magic

00:28:49
items or whatever, that's not canon. But anything

00:28:52
that they gain or anything that they do, that's

00:28:55
considered canon. and so I do that as a way to

00:28:59
make it more fun and make them get their buy in

00:29:02
more to the adventure. and makes it so that they

00:29:07
are more willing to, to play the game if that

00:29:12
makes sense.

00:29:13
>> Clint Scheirer: It doesn't make them fearful that playing the side

00:29:15
quest is goingna ruin their actual campaign goal.

00:29:18
>> Anthony: Exactly, exactly that. And that is one of the

00:29:22
differences I do with specifically with my

00:29:24
Dungeons Dragons one shots.

00:29:26
>> Clint Scheirer: This is something TV series have done very well

00:29:29
for years. Right. There's always the Friends

00:29:32
Thanksgiving episode or the Office Christmas

00:29:35
episode. It breaks up the general storyline.

00:29:39
>> Anthony: Yes.

00:29:40
>> Clint Scheirer: There's so many different holiday themed TV

00:29:43
series. even my kids like it'll they'll be

00:29:46
watching something on PBS and it's like the Nature

00:29:48
Cat Christmas episode or Winter festival or

00:29:51
whatever they want to call it. there's so many

00:29:53
different ways to break it up using what people

00:29:56
are experiencing in their real lives. Which is

00:29:58
whatever holidays going through. Even if it's not

00:30:00
there, even if it's not a religious holiday. you

00:30:03
know there are some non religious holidays here in

00:30:05
the US that we all, all celebrate. I'm thinking

00:30:08
4th of July. U there are some 4th of July themed

00:30:11
video games. U I think Broforce is one of the ones

00:30:13
I think of. if anybody's ever played on Steam,

00:30:16
it's like the cheapest game where you can pretend

00:30:18
to be Arnold Schwarzenegger in every action movie

00:30:21
character ever. Yeah, very Metal Slug esque. But

00:30:24
it breaks up the pattern is really what we're

00:30:27
Getting at here.

00:30:28
>> Anthony: Yeah, yeah. and they can be as serious or as

00:30:32
tongue in cheek, jovial as you want. especially

00:30:34
with Christmas. There are some really good ones

00:30:36
out there. of course, how the Lich dol Christmas,

00:30:39
my absolute favorite to run for, for low level

00:30:42
parties. If you're gonna run it as a one shot, one

00:30:45
off, you know, new characters kind of thing, not

00:30:47
in your campaign, run it for tier one. Trust me.

00:30:51
DMs. Trust me. the players will thank you for it

00:30:55
later. and there's another one that's really good

00:30:58
that is called Last Christmas by. Let's see, I

00:31:01
wrote this down. Jek Seli Sellici I think is the

00:31:05
name. it's on the drive thru rpg. But it's unique

00:31:09
because you are playing Christmas holiday

00:31:12
villains. and although they're not named, you know

00:31:17
who they are. There is the Grinch, there is

00:31:20
Scrooge, there is Marv and Harry from Home Alone.

00:31:24
There is there is the Wet Band. We are the Wet

00:31:28
Bandits. Yeah, there's all these Christs

00:31:32
Christmas, villains that apparently the Grinch

00:31:35
took it too far this year and Santa went a little

00:31:39
crazy and went evil and decided nobody is good

00:31:43
enough and locked himself up in his workshop. And

00:31:47
so it's up to all the villains to save the day.

00:31:50
Because no hero is going to want to. Is going to

00:31:54
have the ability to attack Santa regardless of

00:31:57
what's going on. But the fun thing about it is, is

00:32:00
you're not just playing your villain trying to

00:32:02
save the day. You have a secret agenda. So like

00:32:05
for Harry, the Harry and Marv, you want to find

00:32:08
Kevin's letter and destroy it. Yeah, that's one

00:32:12
of. That's their secret agenda, you know, u. You

00:32:15
know, and it's fun to be able to play those things

00:32:18
that may or may not hinder or help the, the

00:32:20
adventure. but that's one of those fun ones that's

00:32:23
like tongue in cheek kind of thing that. Yeah,

00:32:26
again a good, good break from, from the normal

00:32:29
routine.

00:32:30
>> Clint Scheirer: That idea of the hidden ah, agenda that makes me

00:32:34
think of Fiasco with Jason Morningstar because

00:32:37
they always have that like you're connected to

00:32:40
this person but you're trying to do this and

00:32:42
you're not really together. But there is kind of a

00:32:45
synergy of what you're trying to get done and

00:32:47
accomplished. I love that flip. Flipping the bad

00:32:50
guys on their head.

00:32:51
>> Anthony: U.

00:32:52
>> Clint Scheirer: so what advice do you have for people who are

00:32:54
trying to pace any atmosphere, whether it's a one

00:32:58
shot or you're trying to integrate it into the

00:33:01
campaign. Kind of like what you're talking about

00:33:02
where you break up the normal campaign with your u

00:33:05
your players by doing a holiday themed adventure.

00:33:08
And if it is horror, if it is Halloween, how do

00:33:12
you balance tense versus fun from start to finish?

00:33:17
You know you mentioned taking the this is gonna

00:33:19
screw up your campaign out of it by having canon

00:33:22
and not canon. What are some other ways that you

00:33:24
can keep it from being pushed over the edge?

00:33:29
>> Anthony: Number one, make sure that you have the players

00:33:31
buy in say hey I want to run a horror game for

00:33:35
Halloween or for whatever. I want to run this

00:33:37
horror game. It's going to have these elements

00:33:39
have that conversation first. Okay. That, that

00:33:42
makes sure that when you do when you run it and

00:33:45
you make those really tense moments and those

00:33:47
really scary moments, that you can do it with the

00:33:51
understanding that the player is like okay, I know

00:33:55
what I'm getting myself into. Right. practically

00:33:58
speaking, from a DMGM keeper is you want to do

00:34:03
this when you're giving a room description. You

00:34:07
want to talk in a slightly lower tone. You want to

00:34:11
give the room description much more slowly and you

00:34:15
want to do it much more quietly. That from a

00:34:20
psychological standpoint draws the players in.

00:34:24
Especially when something happens like a bang and

00:34:27
you slam your hand on the table for a bang and

00:34:30
watch everybody jump. You know the jump scare.

00:34:33
Right. U like I said, the sound effects I use for

00:34:36
the haunt U for one of the villains in the haunt U

00:34:39
things like that. All those kind of things are

00:34:42
things to build that atmosphere to run a

00:34:47
successful horror game. also. And it doesn't hurt

00:34:50
U Tacata fuseion D minor I think is what it's

00:34:53
called.

00:34:54
>> Clint Scheirer: Okay.

00:34:55
>> Anthony: The D that that that definitely I am in a horror

00:35:00
game. You know, I'm in a horror scenario kind of

00:35:04
thing that, that I always do that to make sure my

00:35:13
players know we are getting ready to go into a

00:35:15
horror filled adventure. Be on your toes.

00:35:18
>> Clint Scheirer: I I definitely have a dread and 10 candles

00:35:23
playlist that I created from all the different

00:35:26
horror and suspenseful themed and the D minor like

00:35:29
that's a proven known fact that people don't their

00:35:32
bodies react mentally like if brain scans and also

00:35:37
physically when that is played it doesn't feel

00:35:39
good. It's a discord.

00:35:42
>> Clint Scheirer: For, for more than one reason.

00:35:43
So you're talking about the way you talk. You're

00:35:46
talking about getting player buy in that's so big

00:35:49
to anything. what I will do for anybody who's

00:35:52
listening, the listener. I'm going to give you my,

00:35:55
sort of my safety tool survey. I'm gonna put that

00:35:58
as a, A, link for anybody that can copy that as a,

00:36:02
It's just a way to get a survey of what do people

00:36:04
feel comfortable with. Because there are certain

00:36:07
topics that you don't want to breach on with

00:36:09
certain people. Not because, they can't handle it,

00:36:12
they just may not want to handle it. because it

00:36:15
touches on trauma as opposed to fear, which can be

00:36:19
fun. Like if you're going to a haunted house. But

00:36:21
if you're going to a haunted house with something

00:36:22
that invokes a traumatic experience from real life

00:36:25
that they're not ready to talk about, especially

00:36:27
among friends when they're supposed to be having

00:36:29
fun, that could be not good. Give me an example.

00:36:32
You were talking about slamming down on the, on

00:36:35
the table where everybody's like. And you smell

00:36:37
urine. Like, could you share a favorite scary

00:36:40
moment or unexpected twist from one of your games?

00:36:44
It could be from, you know, the haunt. It could be

00:36:46
from anything. Like, give me, tell me the story.

00:36:49
>> Anthony: Okay, so, minor spoiler in the haunt, you have

00:36:54
this entryway and you've got a little gallery

00:36:57
right below beyond it where there's a. Some kind

00:37:00
of like portrcullis over the stairs that go up.

00:37:05
but you see stairs that can go down and you have a

00:37:08
big room, a like a ballroom, not a ballroom, like

00:37:11
a big dining room type area or some kind of like

00:37:14
tea area that's got this massive chandelier. And

00:37:18
it's very obvious. You see the chandelier,

00:37:21
everybody's walking around it. Everybody goes in

00:37:23
the room. Everybody is like going like this around

00:37:27
where the chandelier is. Everybody says that

00:37:30
chandelierue is gonna fall, but it doesn't. The

00:37:33
whole time in the room, it doesn't. Nothing

00:37:34
happens the moment they leave that room. M. I have

00:37:39
my volume cranked on a chandelier falling and

00:37:42
crashing glass. And so I, you know, there's the

00:37:46
slam, there's the thing, there's all the sound

00:37:48
effects, but this one, that one scared the

00:37:51
bejeebas out of my players. I had two of them

00:37:53
going, dude, what just happened? I said the

00:37:58
chandelier broke and it just crashed on the floor

00:38:00
there. And immediately, that villain that I was

00:38:04
telling you about that has all the interesting

00:38:06
sound effects, one of these sound effects for that

00:38:08
villain that it kind of announces their arrival. I

00:38:11
play that and they're like oh no, no no no, not

00:38:14
right now. We're not ready for that right now. And

00:38:16
that was, that was hilariously unique. Especially

00:38:19
considering that there's a mechanic, a mechanical

00:38:22
pull lever at some point that That you separate

00:38:27
the party to advance further the party has to

00:38:29
splitay. You know that, that, that'saying never

00:38:34
split the party. There's a song about it. You have

00:38:37
to split the party to advance further.

00:38:41
>> Clint Scheirer: Don't you know you never split the party.

00:38:44
>> Anthony: Clerics in the back, people'fighters hailing

00:38:46
hardy.

00:38:47
>> Clint Scheirer: That happens in all horror movies. Right. Like the

00:38:51
splitting, the aloneness. They. There is no help

00:38:54
coming. Like that kind of splitting of the part.

00:38:57
Yeah. That adds to the tense, the intensity.

00:39:00
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:39:00
>> Clint Scheirer: What do you use for sound effects? What, what's

00:39:03
your main jam when it comes to using music? Like

00:39:06
what are the tools you like to use whether you're

00:39:08
in person or online?

00:39:10
>> Anthony: I am thrifty and In that manner. And I go straight

00:39:13
to YouTube. Right. You can find all sorts of

00:39:16
different sound effects and things on YouTube. I

00:39:19
will tell you, the Jurassic Park T. Rex roar has

00:39:21
been my big monster roar for ages.

00:39:25
>> Anthony: You know I, I have ah, certain playlists of music.

00:39:29
I also run of all the other campaigns I run. I run

00:39:32
Tales from the Loop. Y which is kids. You know

00:39:36
kids in the weird 80s. So I have an 80s theme

00:39:38
track, you know playlist that, that I use. So

00:39:41
yeah, YouTube is a really big one for me. But I

00:39:43
might find some other u thing. that I find Or a

00:39:48
sound I've heard that I'll be able to recreate and

00:39:51
I'll record and use that for later.

00:39:53
>> Clint Scheirer: But yeah for some people, If anybody uses Foundry

00:39:57
VTT a lot of times if you buy certain adventures

00:40:01
it comes with built in sounds and built in

00:40:04
soundtracks so that, that's like the people who

00:40:07
are willing to pay So that they don't have to do

00:40:09
it themselves. One way to do it. People like

00:40:12
Anthony and I who are a little bit more thrifty.

00:40:14
you can you you can start building those playlists

00:40:16
now so that by the time you're 80 years old you

00:40:18
have the full sound effect library.

00:40:21
>> Anthony: Right. Absolutely.

00:40:23
>> Clint Scheirer: Now here. So blending. You were talking about

00:40:26
blending the. The one shot, the horror, the long

00:40:29
running campaign. You already answered how you

00:40:31
make it so that the quest doesn't Go sideways. You

00:40:33
make it that it's all for fun and not for keeps.

00:40:37
which is, which is really helpful.

00:40:40
What is your approach in transitioning back to the

00:40:43
normal campaign? And I'm, you know, you have this,

00:40:47
this disruptor, the next session. How do you start

00:40:52
it? You know, how, how do you be like. And now

00:40:55
we're back to our normal programming. Like normal.

00:40:58
How do you do that?

00:41:00
>> Anthony: Yeah, it starts out with, for me doing a debrief

00:41:04
and check in after the actual adventure.

00:41:07
>> Clint Scheirer: Okay.

00:41:07
>> Anthony: you know, it starts out with that, you know, the,

00:41:11
like you would call it aftercare. Right. You want

00:41:14
to make sure everybody's good. Are we all good?

00:41:16
Cool. Great. Awesome. Want to make sure

00:41:18
everybody's doing all right, make sure everybody's

00:41:21
had fun. and that is when I say okay, so this is

00:41:25
how we're going to fit it into the campaign where

00:41:27
it happens. Usually it's like during travel. Like

00:41:31
they were going from point A to point B and

00:41:32
they'll run into the, the mansion on the hill or,

00:41:35
you know, what have you. Or with the Krampus one,

00:41:37
they, they wake up, you know, in clothes, and they

00:41:42
are not sure what's going on or where they are. A,

00:41:45
lot of my favorite one shots go that way. For our

00:41:48
more, mature listeners. U, there is a really good

00:41:52
horror one called the. The Madhouse of Tasha's

00:41:56
Kiss. Yes. definitely more for more mature u.

00:41:59
listeners, to run through a play. I don't

00:42:02
recommend it for our younger listeners. but also a

00:42:04
very good horror one. there's a lot more body

00:42:07
horror. If you run something particularly intense,

00:42:09
you're like, hey, this one takes place, for

00:42:11
example, while the adventures are on vacation.

00:42:14
They're taking a break from adventuring. And you

00:42:16
go to this town because there's a festival there

00:42:18
and there're supposed to be a festival there and

00:42:20
there's nobody in town. You know, that kind of

00:42:22
thing. U so I fit them in. I figure a way to fit

00:42:24
them in, in what little ways I can.

00:42:28
>> Clint Scheirer: Beyond October, beyond Halloween. Like, horror has

00:42:31
a place in campaigns, right? Like when do you feel

00:42:36
you invoke horror or tenseness or suspense or or

00:42:41
any of those feelings. Like when do you find

00:42:44
yourself using it as a storytelling element?

00:42:46
>> Anthony: I like to do it at times where there is definitely

00:42:51
you can, as a DM or GM or keeper, whatever have

00:42:54
you. You can feel that the players are uncertain

00:42:59
where the players are starting to feel. We're not

00:43:02
sure what's going on and then you, you can feed

00:43:06
into that and let them build it more up in their

00:43:08
own minds then originally, you possibly originally

00:43:12
have had it planned. And you can make it more

00:43:14
suspensible. You can make it more. More than it.

00:43:17
You originally even wrote it. yeah, that is, that

00:43:20
is a definite big thing. Feeding off of your

00:43:23
players'own worst fears. Be afraid. Be very

00:43:26
afraid. Wow.

00:43:28
>> Clint Scheirer: We don't sound psychotic at all, do we?

00:43:29
>> Anthony: No.

00:43:32
>> Clint Scheirer: So, okay, we're go goingna do a little bit of a

00:43:34
rapid fire. And besides, so we're go goingna start

00:43:38
with a couple of holidays. And, and not everybody

00:43:40
may celebrate these holidays, but they're ones

00:43:41
that at least in the US like we're familiar with.

00:43:44
You know, Christmas, Valentine's Day, St.

00:43:47
Patrick's Day, April Fool's Day, New Year's Eve,

00:43:49
Earth Day, which. That kind of made me giggle when

00:43:52
I thought about that. Like, made me think of

00:43:54
Captain Planet. Ah, a Captain Planet themed D20 &

00:43:56
D Y U adventure where we're, you know, heart or

00:44:01
whatever else we're all doing.

00:44:02
>> Anthony: Fire. Yeah.

00:44:03
>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah. So I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say the holiday

00:44:06
and you give me a game campaign. It doesn't have

00:44:10
to all be D20 & D. It can be whatever rpg. We just

00:44:12
want to get it out there for the listener. So

00:44:14
besides how the Lich stole Christmas, what do you

00:44:18
got for Christmas last?

00:44:20
>> Anthony: Christmas. The one where you're playing the

00:44:22
villains.

00:44:23
>> Clint Scheirer: The Christmas, Valentine's Day, easily.

00:44:26
>> Anthony: That, one is any date night dungeon, adventure.

00:44:30
it's more. It's a one dm, one player. It's for

00:44:33
couples, lot fun.

00:44:34
>> Clint Scheirer: I'm gonna throw another one in there. Bluebeards's

00:44:36
Bride is another really good one.

00:44:38
>> Anthony: Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:44:39
>> Clint Scheirer: it's kind of got a romance thing going on. I don't

00:44:41
know if it can be one on, you know, one person,

00:44:43
one player. But that came to mind right away. St.

00:44:47
Patrick's Day.

00:44:48
>> Anthony: The leprechauns plagued by Amon Hansen. I was

00:44:53
actually asked to test run, one of their other

00:44:55
horror games, one of their horror one shots. and I

00:44:58
started looking up everything else that they wrote

00:45:00
and I'm like, some of these are really good.

00:45:02
>> Clint Scheirer: All right, April Fools.

00:45:04
>> Anthony: It's, actually a D20 & D beyond a, free. It's not

00:45:07
an adventure so much as an extended encounter

00:45:10
called April Fool's. Apostrophe s. April Fools

00:45:14
Gold. gold. April Fool's gold. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

00:45:18
Kind of giving a take On Fools s Gold and April

00:45:21
Fools at the same time. Yeah.

00:45:22
>> Clint Scheirer: New New Year's Eve. Bringing in the New Year. How

00:45:24
do you do it?

00:45:26
>> Anthony: That one's a toughy. I honestly don't know. I

00:45:32
don't know that I've run a New Year's, a New

00:45:33
Year's scenario. Now you have me thinking I got

00:45:35
toa go find one.

00:45:37
>> Clint Scheirer: Well, if you were to create one, let, let's pivot.

00:45:41
What kind of scenario in a campaign would you put

00:45:45
your players in? If it was Dungeons and Dragons,

00:45:48
where there was the start of a new year and what

00:45:51
kind of hook do you think you would pull people

00:45:53
into? And it's okay if you need to pause for a

00:45:55
moment.

00:45:55
>> Anthony: Oh no.

00:45:56
>> Anthony: I. I've been dming too long to be able to not have

00:45:59
stuff like this on the tip of my tongue.

00:46:01
>> Clint Scheirer: On'the Spy.

00:46:02
>> Anthony: You. There's a ritual happening to bring in the

00:46:05
New year where you stop the new year from

00:46:07
happening. And like not just end of the world, but

00:46:11
you just stop time. And in order for this to. In

00:46:15
order for this to be stopped, the heroes actually

00:46:18
have to go and stop this ritual from being

00:46:20
performed so that the bbeeg, for whatever reason,

00:46:24
is wanting to stop time and keep time from

00:46:27
advancing.

00:46:28
>> Clint Scheirer: I've never more badly wanted to play a campaign

00:46:31
than what you just said right now. And I've never

00:46:33
more badly wanted to be a cleric of the opposing

00:46:37
evil God that is trying to stop time. Like how

00:46:40
much fun would that be?

00:46:42
>> Anthony: Oh yeah.

00:46:42
>> Clint Scheirer: okay, so last one. Earth Day. If there's not a

00:46:46
capttain planet version.

00:46:48
>> Anthony: I am going to bring it back to some stuff I wrote

00:46:51
myself, U which was a. An adventure based on. We

00:46:56
talked about the ecological horrors. You know that

00:46:59
thing that we talked about a few episodes ago. you

00:47:01
know where it starts with an angry treant, you

00:47:04
know, who's. And some other woodland creatures who

00:47:08
are like we have to survive. But the, but the

00:47:12
winter, the winter laden villagers are like, we

00:47:15
have to survive. And so that conflict between the

00:47:19
two and how you navigate that.

00:47:20
>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah. And, and you know anybody who's new to, to

00:47:25
fantasy, role playing games if they've seen Lord

00:47:27
of the Rings-esque, like that's a natural buy in.

00:47:30
Right. If you've seen any of the movies, you know

00:47:31
about treants, you know about Ents, you know that

00:47:37
they don't like their trees being cut down or

00:47:40
destroyed or nature being touched. Awesome.

00:47:43
Is there any other games that you feel play into

00:47:47
holidays, play into one shots. Play into something

00:47:51
that you can do with your friends to break up the

00:47:54
pace of a normal campaign or just have a lot of

00:47:56
really good fun.

00:47:57
>> Anthony: I have not gotten a chance to play it but I've

00:48:00
heard so many things about it. I feel like I have

00:48:02
called the House on the House on the Haunted Hill.

00:48:06
I think it's.

00:48:06
>> Clint Scheirer: What is that a board game?

00:48:08
>> Anthony: It's a board game that has really good elements of

00:48:11
u. of horror and, and that sense, that is that is

00:48:17
everything I've heard about is absolutely

00:48:18
fascinating. And I've got some friends who are

00:48:20
actually running it for me for my birthday.

00:48:21
>> Clint Scheirer: Okay.

00:48:22
>> Anthony: which for those who are. Who are listening, will

00:48:25
have been last month. but yeah, I'm gonna be able

00:48:29
to play it for the first time coming up this, this

00:48:31
week. So I'm excited.

00:48:33
>> Clint Scheirer: I think I almost ran that for my mother in law and

00:48:35
father in law and then I realized they are not the

00:48:38
audience for a game like that.

00:48:40
>> Anthony: Yeah.

00:48:41
>> Clint Scheirer: So maybe, maybe one day I'll get to play it too.

00:48:44
Anthony, is there anything else that you feel like

00:48:46
it would be a shame if we didn't talk about it.

00:48:48
>> Anthony: Running holiday one shots, of any kind, is always

00:48:52
worth it. it is always worth it. It's that time to

00:48:58
take whatever holiday you're celebrating, whatever

00:49:01
you're celebrating and you know, put that bit ofo

00:49:05
your favorite hobby into it. You know, be able to

00:49:08
explore it with your favorite hobby. and I think

00:49:11
that's super important for people that they should

00:49:13
do. And when it comes to horror specifically scare

00:49:18
your players. Their buy in with their buy in. Yes,

00:49:23
absolutely. But don't be afraid to scare your

00:49:25
players.

00:49:27
>> Clint Scheirer: Now Anthony, if people haven't heard you before,

00:49:29
which you can go back and listen to the episode

00:49:32
where Anthony is s talking about the nature and

00:49:35
how nature can play into games. We, we also talked

00:49:38
about running games that are not professionally

00:49:42
led games. What were we talking about?

00:49:44
>> Anthony: organized play.

00:49:45
>> Clint Scheirer: Organized play. We were talking about organized

00:49:47
play with the Adventures League. We were also

00:49:50
talking about a Pathfinder 2E Society or any way

00:49:52
that you could start in a, in a school or any

00:49:55
organization where you were organizing it

00:49:57
together. you are able to be connected with. How

00:50:01
do people connect with you?

00:50:03
>> Anthony: I'm reachable on my website, the daily

00:50:06
dungeonmaster.com. blue sky, let's see. I'm also

00:50:10
on TikTok, although my. I will be honest. the Mrs.

00:50:13
Daily Dungeon Master is my face of my TikTok. but

00:50:16
yeah, those are pretty much my biggest platforms

00:50:19
that I am on. and of course you can always email

00:50:22
me at the dailydm blog gmail.com.

00:50:26
>> Clint Scheirer: Very good.

00:50:27
And Anthony, you were so kind to give a discount

00:50:30
to any listener of the CTG its claim to game. That

00:50:34
is our promo code that you can go to the daily DM

00:50:37
store and 15% anything in the store if anybody

00:50:41
wants to make some purchases. So Anthony, as

00:50:43
always I ask every person and I've asked you two

00:50:47
times now because this is, this is part three of

00:50:49
your attendance here on the CTG. 10 word phrase so

00:50:53
that our listener can remember. What do they need

00:50:55
to know about any game that they're running for a

00:50:58
holiday? What do they need to know about any game

00:51:00
that they're running beyond just horror? What do

00:51:03
they need to take with them today? 10 words.

00:51:06
>> Anthony: Holidays are just as good, for gaming as any

00:51:10
other.

00:51:12
>> Clint Scheirer: Yes. Do not, do not take a hiatus from gaming just

00:51:16
because of holiday is around. Bring your friends,

00:51:18
bring your family. Yeah. Ah, bring your next door

00:51:20
neighbor, whoever they are.

00:51:22
>> Anthony: Absolutely absoly good.

00:51:23
>> Clint Scheirer: Well thanks again for joining Anthony. We always

00:51:25
appreciate it and I will be looking forward

00:51:27
forward to part four because it is emminnt.

00:51:30
>> Anthony: Absolutely. Thank you so much Ly. I appreciate

00:51:32
being on.

00:51:33
>> Clint Scheirer: Don't forget to check out Anthony's other two

00:51:35
episodes, episode 44 where he talks about natural

00:51:38
threats and environments and gameplay as well as

00:51:40
episode 45 where he talks all about organized

00:51:43
play. He was also super generous and gave you a

00:51:45
15% off promo code to anything in his online

00:51:48
store. You're go going toa find that promo code in

00:51:49
the show notes as well as a link to the Daily DM

00:51:52
blog. Please hit like or subscribe if you enjoyed

00:51:54
what you heard today. If you listen on Spotify or

00:51:56
Apple PO podcast, go ahead and give us five stars

00:51:59
for the CTG and a review.

00:52:01
>> Anthony: Review it, Review it.

00:52:02
>> Clint Scheirer: And may you keep having fun as you have a great

00:52:04
time with friends and experience amazing stories

00:52:07
through tabletop role playing.