DMs After Dark

(Bonus!) Meet the DMs - Troy

In our penultimate Meet the DMs, we meet the 2nd half of the Bot, the 2nd half of the gingers within DMs After Dark, and everyone's favorite corn-shuckin Iowan Troy!
Troy regales us with his history of roleplaying which goes back to him in 2nd grade making up stories with a D&D 3.5e PHB!  He talks about the power of RPGs, his love and involvement with Studio Agate's Shadows of Esteren, which was the first game we ever played on stream, and how it's shaped his life.
We also promise, he's a great dad despite having to lock his kid out for the interview.
 
 
If you've got any questions for Jess' interview or in general for the rest of our crew, reach out to us on our social media, our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are fun and active, or you can email us directly at DMsAfterDark@gmail.com 
 
Next Stream: Invisible Sun Episode 1, DM'd by Christian
Next Podcast Drop: Modified Rolls - How to Write, Prep, and Run Homebrew Games
Next (and final) Meet the DMs: Jess
 
Music in this Episode:
Current Affairs from www.Zapsplat.com 
SirensCeol - Nostalgia [NCS Release]Music provided by NoCopyrightSoundsFree Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/nostalgia Watch: http://youtu.be/geW8xN7grpg 

Invisible Sun | Session 0 & Character Creation

Welcome back from the Shadow, our fellow Vislae, take a stroll and reacquaint yourself with ... the Actuality. 
 
In this session zero for Monte Cook's Invisible Sun, Christian does his best to herd the cats that are the other DMs as we navigate the complex terminology and incredibly surreal world of Invisible Sun.  The DMs sit at computers in the Shadow (our Earth world simulation) to create a crew of vislae (beings of magic) back in the Actuality (the waking real world everyone we know is totally running from in a dream), and we make a few important narrative decisions for Christian to use in our upcoming series.
 
For all its complicated jargon and disorganized pdfs, Invisible Sun just oozes flavor and incredible worldbuilding, and the Monte Cook classic "You're a(n) [adjective] [noun] who [verbs]" really shines when you can ignore the rules of our shared reality and get really, really weird.
 
We aren't the most organized we've ever been in a session, we do a fair amount of ranting, but we hope you enjoy the first bits of your time in the Actuality with us...
 
If you enjoy our streams, podcasts, or just our general nerdiness, please consider giving us a rating on your podcast app of choice! Like, follow, and subscribe to our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so you can comment & chat with us about all things RPGs.  
And, as always, come hang out and catch our live streams on our Twitch or catch up on our YouTube.
 
Music in the Episode:
Song: Lochlainn - The Garden [NCS Release]Music provided by NoCopyrightSoundsFree Download/Stream: http://NCS.io/TheGarden Watch: http://youtu.be/tZYlqiGgKQ4

(Bonus!) Meet the DMs - Amber

In this installment of our interview series, Meet the DMs, we learn all about one half of our librarians and one half of what we affectionately call the Bot (along with her brother Troy), Amber.  Rene interviews her about her history with RPGs, how she's turned her love of the hobby into part of her career, and all of the amazing things she believes games can do.  She's by far the most professional of the DMs After Dark, and we really owe the entire endeavor to her efforts at our local library, which brought us together as a group.
 
Please do Amber a favor and head out to your local library, see if they've got any games programs or would be interested in starting one (especially if you'll help out)!  Keep your eyes and ears peeled for later this year when the 4th annual West Warwi-Con happens, maybe you can get in a game with one of us!
 
If you've got any questions for her or the rest of our crew, reach out to us on our social media, our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are fun and active, or you can email us directly at DMsAfterDark@gmail.com 
 
Next Stream: Invisible Sun Episode 1, DM'd by Christian
Next Podcast Drop: Invisible Sun Session 0
Next Meet the DMs: Probably Troy? Other 1/2 of the Bot.
 
Music in this Episode:
Current Affairs from www.Zapsplat.com 
SirensCeol - Nostalgia [NCS Release]Music provided by NoCopyrightSoundsFree Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/nostalgia Watch: http://youtu.be/geW8xN7grpg 

Modified Rolls - How to Prep & Run Published Adventures (Modules, APs, Campaigns, etc.)

We're back with another episode of Modified Rolls, continuing our little run of "How to Prep & Run [Blank]."  Last episode talked about the wonderful world of one-shots, the stress-free experimentation station of RPGs.  This time, we're going bigger - the published stuff.  That's right, you bought a big written adventure and you're going to run your friends through an epic tale and all the good stuff is right there in that book, right?
 
... Hopefully! But we're here to help make sure you'll take the extra steps, ignore the unnecessary ones, and be skipping in tandem with your players along a beautiful road to glory. 
 
Take-Home Points: The book is just a series of prompts with some of the prep done for you, but don't be afraid to change as much as you want to tailor it to your players' PCs to make the story even better (after all, it's their story, not the book's).  Even if you'll never run the whole thing, steal the cool stuff for other games you run!. And, lastly, find the one YOU want to tell, not just the one that looks cool.  It'll feel a lot less like prep and stress if you're into the story and you let that come first.
 
Please rate us on your podcast app of choice and catch our live streams alternating Friday nights over on Twitch or catch up on our games over on our YouTube.
Like, follow, and subscribe to our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Feel free to email us with questions, comments, or just to tell us how awful our ideas are at DMsAfterDark@gmail.com
 
Music in the episode:
Sneaky Adventure by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4383-sneaky-adventure License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Song: DigEx - Fall In Love [NCS Release]Music provided by NoCopyrightSoundsFree Download/Stream: http://NCS.io/FallInLove

(Bonus!) Meet the DMs - Sara

Good morning, afternoon, and/or evening, and welcome back to another deep dive into the DMs as we continue our Meet the DMs series with an interview of Sara by Christian.
Sara regales her journey in RPGs starting from the amazing 1st Edition D&D game with her grandfather and family, her long and storied history with Pathfinder's Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, one-shots and her work with the library, and how she fell into and found her GM style through the years.
If you want to see Sara's skills behind the screen, check out our amazing Good Society series, available on this feed as a podcast or up on our YouTube!
 
If you like these interviews, reach out to us on our social medias or emailing us directly at DMsAfterDark@gmail.com to suggest questions for future interviews!
 
Like, follow, and subscribe to our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so you can comment & chat with us about all things RPGs.
 
Music in this Episode:
Current Affairs from www.Zapsplat.com 
SirensCeol - Nostalgia [NCS Release]Music provided by NoCopyrightSoundsFree Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/nostalgia Watch: http://youtu.be/geW8xN7grpg 

Good Society Episode 3 (Finale) - Letters, Ledgers, and Forbidden Pleasures

Thank you for joining us for the final installment of Good Society, the Jane Austen RPG from Storybrewers Roleplaying.  In this dramatic finale, horses will race, hearts will break, and fortunes will be on the line. 
 
If you enjoy our streams, podcasts, or just our general nerdiness, please consider giving us a rating on your podcast app of choice! Like, follow, and subscribe to our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so you can comment & chat with us about all things RPGs.  
And, as always, come hang out and catch our live streams on our Twitch or catch up on our YouTube.
 
Music in the Episode:
Music: Regency Baroque by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
There is Romance by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4520-there-is-romance License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license 

(Bonus!) Meet the DMs - Christian

Welcome back to Meet the DMs, our interview style series where we sit down with one another and ask the hard-hitting questions, get real deep and introspective and... or just talk about what we love about RPGs and what led us to this wild endeavor we call DMs After Dark!
 
In this episode, Jess interviews Christian, the elder among the DMs, and he regales us with tales from the beforetimes of RPGs.  Joking aside, he shares his humble origins (RIP the 1e Thief), love of comics (leading to Mutants & Masterminds), and his experiences running, playing, and writing for Call of Cthulhu.  We learn more about his RPG collection and even his favorite curse word!
 
Christian is also running our next series, which will be Monte Cook's Invisible Sun.  Stay tuned for more of the bizarre psychedelic reality-shaping setting!
 
If you like these interviews, reach out to us on our social medias or emailing us directly at DMsAfterDark@gmail.com to suggest questions for future interviews!
 
Like, follow, and subscribe to our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so you can comment & chat with us about all things RPGs.
 
Music in this Episode:
Current Affairs from www.Zapsplat.com 
SirensCeol - Nostalgia [NCS Release]Music provided by NoCopyrightSoundsFree Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/nostalgia Watch: http://youtu.be/geW8xN7grpg 

State of the DMs 2022

Hello all you listeners of what we've been referring to as the After Dark Army (let us know if you like the term or not), join us for a little look behind the screen of our first 9 months of streaming and podcasting.  Christian, Jess, and Rene briefly discuss what we've learned so far, how we're doing our best to improve quality of our episodes both from a roleplaying game experience for you to watch and listen, but also all the technical stuff that goes into livestreaming, audio and video editing, and creating fun, engaging, interactive posts on our social media apps.
We have been loving every bit of playing games and hope that you are enjoying our efforts to put them out there on the interwebs, we would love for you to reach out to us, comment, like, subscribe, donate Jeff Bezos' money to our Twitch streams, tell your friends if you think they might enjoy us, honestly anything you do means the world to us.  We're not looking to make money off of this, but we do discuss the potential of a Patreon or monetization of our gaming, which would only go toward improving the quality of our streams, podcast episodes, and equipment.  If you think we should consider this, we need to reach more people and get the support to move on those ideas.
 
Anyway, enjoy the little glimpse into our daydreaming about bigger things, but otherwise just stay tuned for more great games and our silly shenanigans.
 

(Bonus!) Meet the DMs - Rene

Hello everyone, a quick little bonus episode for you to kick off this week, something we've been wanting to do since much, much earlier in our existence - an interview-style little blurb where we discuss our journeys as DMs/GMs and all things gaming.
 
In this first episode Troy sits down with Rene and asks him about what got him into the hobby (and who, because that just happened to be Troy) and what's taken him to where he is, why does he hate 5e so much, and a few little personal details sprinkled in there.
 
If you like, please consider reaching out to us on our social medias or emailing us directly at DMsAfterDark@gmail.com to suggest questions for future interviews!
 
Like, follow, and subscribe to our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so you can comment & chat with us about all things RPGs.
 
Music in this Episode:
Current Affairs from www.Zapsplat.com 
SirensCeol - Nostalgia [NCS Release]Music provided by NoCopyrightSoundsFree Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/nostalgiaWatch: http://youtu.be/geW8xN7grpg

Our God Is Dead One-Shot

Come, all ye faithful, to the annual festival of the turning, a time of goodbyes and new beginnings, when our goddess The Hourglass is sure to renew all in our lives and nothing at all is wrong or anything... Seriously, we've been talking, she's good... She, uh, told me to enjoy the pope corn and pay the tithes and ... bless ... uh oh.
 
Welcome to another one-shot, this time playing Jordan Palmer & Murder Publishing's Our God Is Dead, a hilarious rules-light game with a built-in 3 act structure sure to go horribly, horribly wrong.  We play clerics, priests, otherwise faithfuls of a god who has suddenly gone unresponsive, but we've got to keep the people fooled by putting on the annual ritual like nothing's wrong.
Enjoy, please consider picking up the game, which is also available in the TTRPGs For Trans Rights in Texas Bundle over on itch.io, which is so incredibly worth the $5.  Great games, great cause, no reason not to pick it up.  There's only a few days left as of this episode going live, so get on it!
 
The DMs After Dark will actually, seriously, we promise, return to wholesomeness with the finale of Good Society Friday April 8th on our Twitch or catch up over on our YouTube channel.
Like, follow, and subscribe to our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so you can comment & chat with us about all things RPGs.
 
Music in this Episode:
Ghost Dance by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3802-ghost-danceLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Song: Dirty Palm - Freakshow (feat. LexBlaze) [NCS Release]Music provided by NoCopyrightSoundsFree Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/Freakshow Watch: http://youtu.be/2jwj9wVx3mg