Tycho's Tales
Tycho's Tales is an informal discussion podcast about tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Episodes are released every Tuesday at 5 pm GMT (or, for the Kiwis, every Wednesday at 6 am NZST). Find out more about us at https://tychostales.com/about. If you enjoy the pod, please rate or review us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Episodes
41 episodes
New beginnings
We're about to make characters for a new campaign, so we talk about how we think about character motivations, alignment and backstories; how you should use your own personality; the relationship between min-maxing and roleplaying; and why it's ...
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Season 1
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Episode 41
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31:30
Magic in real life
We talk about spells we'd like to take in real life, and why The Lord of the Rings is still so damn good.
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Season 1
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Episode 40
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33:25
Modern fantasy
We talk about the relative value of a life; inherent evil in modern fantasy; and RPGs as vehicles for moral questions.
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Season 1
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Episode 39
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38:47
Tycho's Tale: Divine Intervention
The story of the first time I used the classic Cleric feature, Divine Intervention. Note that my interpretation of a d100 is inconsistent with rules as written; I've writ...
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Season 1
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Episode 38
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16:35
Granny Gumboot
We make a level two Fighter using the 2024 rules. It's recommended only to listen to this episode if you have a great disdain for your own time.
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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30:01
Fantasy book club: Discworld
We talk about audiobooks, Discworld, The Name of the Wind, Game of Thrones, the Stormlight Archive and Cosmere RPG, and other nerdy things.
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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31:59
The Hangover: Part 2
In which Stringybutt Lotsalegs has her special day.Music by Robert Mullis, Olivia Moore and Tabletop Audio.
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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1:42:26
The Hangover: Part 1
The gang goes to Fellbarrow...Music by Olivia Moore, Calum Robertson, and Aim to Head.
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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1:35:31
The Hangover preview
We talk about our upcoming actual-play homebrew one-shot, The Hangover.
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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24:06
Dungeon design
We talk about dungeons. (No dragons though.) And puzzles.
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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33:53
LLMs in tabletop RPGs
We talk about LLMs in tabletop RPGs, Wild Shapes, the danger of jumping to conclusions, and NPC personalities. The 'jumping to conclusions' chapter contains some minor spoilers for the Storm Lord's Wrath module.
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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34:28
GM support group 4
We're back with a GM support group, where we talk about directing player characters, low-prep campaigns, and preparing NPCs before environments.
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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26:07
The state of the tabletop
This week we talk about the state of the tabletop RPG scene, including recent WoTC drama, and competition among different systems.
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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22:02
Fantasy book club: Riftwar Saga
This episode contains minor spoilers for the Riftwar Saga book series by Raymond E. Feist. Welcome to our inaugural fantasy book club episode! Besides talking about a few fantasy books, we talk about an alternative mana system for manag...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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29:12
Gritty realism for data analysts
We wonder whether a gritty-realism campaign would actually be fun, and talk about AD&D's resurrection mechanic, the rarity of magic, righteous and wrong character decisions, wish fulfilment and roleplaying the apocalypse. Refer...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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24:01
Cartels of evil Druid masterminds
In this episode, we talk about currency and the economy in TTRPGs, why you should consider playing a Druid if you're planning on becoming an evil mastermind, and living with the consequences of your actions.
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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25:35
The Golden Gnome
We talk about our magical evening at The Golden Gnome, Little Beer Quarter's fantasy alter-ego.
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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27:21
Sorcerer changes in D&D's 2024 rules update
We're reviewing all of the changes to classes in D&D's 2024 rules update; this time, the Sorcerer! We cover changes to the spellcasting rules and existing features Font of Magic, Metamagic and Sorcerous Restoration; as well as new features ...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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55:18
Fighter changes in D&D's 2024 rules update
We're reviewing all of the changes to classes in D&D's 2024 rules update; this time, the Fighter! We cover changes to Fighting Styles, Second Wind and Indomitable; as well as new features Weapon Mastery, Tactical Mind, Tactical Shift, T...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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41:49
Wizard changes in D&D's 2024 rules update
We're reviewing all of the changes to classes in D&D's 2024 rules update; this time, the Wizard! We cover changes to cantrips, the number of prepared spells, spellcasting foci and Spell Mastery; as well as new features Scholar and Memorize ...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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40:06
Barbarian changes in D&D's 2024 rules update
We're reviewing all of the changes to classes in D&D's 2024 rules update, starting with the Barbarian! We cover changes to Rage, Danger Sense and Relentless Rage, as well as a bunch of new features including Weapon Mastery, Primal Knowledge...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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53:34
GM support group 3
This episode contains minor spoilers for Exandria Unlimited: Calamity and the Mistborn series. In this GM support group episode, we talk about making three-dimensional antagonists; gods and religion; improvisational and empathetic ...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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28:54