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House Of Bards

by The Bards

Long-time friends Alex and Beth look at the challenges and techniques involved in tabletop roleplaying via the "shared narrative" style.

From the show's RSS feed, refreshed Jan 16, 2026. Source feed.

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Episodes

  1. Wizards Of The Coast Post Cringe And Loose Subscriber

    The Bards stir from their slumber to take a three and a half hour stock of the fat WotC L everyone's talking about. Follow our Twitter: @Bardscast TRACK DOGS on itchio: https://clevercrumbish.itch.io/track-dogs and on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/Z4Kuzq5 The Alexandrian's Video:...

  2. Actual Play Update (Q-Con XXVI and Critter Castle)

    An episode from a while ago, about events from even longer back. Join the bards, with special guest Maxi (@marquessm0nk) as they talk about running actual play games at Q-Con and Critter Castle. Steve "Vorpal" Fidler, creator of the Prism class Maxi mentions: https://twitter.com/vorpaldicepress...

  3. Separation of Church and State

    Alex rants for an hour and fifteen minutes about the worst decision Wizards Of The Coast have made in the last five years and their apparent hostility to their audience, and Beth eventually gets on board. Follow our Twitter: @Bardscast "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under...

  4. QCon XXV: Part 2

    In the second part of the recap of events at 2018's Q-Con, Maxi tells a tale involving a two-part game about revenge. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  5. QCon XXV: Part 1

    In the first part of the recap of events at 2018's Q-Con, Alex talks to Beth and Maxi about running a game about time travel- and the 50 character sheets it unfortunately required. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  6. Combat

    Beth drags Alex along on an bumpy ride across the subject of combat in tabletop roleplaying. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  7. Matt

    In an admittedly slightly self-indulgent episode of House Of Bards Alex and guest bard Matt discuss... Matt, and his characters and their outlooks. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  8. Politics: Part 2

    Alex and Beth continue talking, sometimes even about politics, which is supposed to be the topic at hand. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 From Alex's original post on youtube regarding this episode: "Okay, so, this episode. This...

  9. Politics: Part 1

    With some trepidation and a lot of tangents, Alex and Beth attempt to discuss putting politics in your game, and the futility of attempting not to. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 From Alex's original post on youtube regarding…

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  10. The Q-Con Correspondent

    Alex couldn't make it to Q-Con this year, but thankfully friend of the show Maxi made it there to continue the tradition of weird exciting D&D. In Beth's absence, Alex asks her all about it. Maxi on twitter: twitter.com/MarquessM0nk "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under...

  11. Monstrosity Manufacturing Facility: Part 2

    Alex and Beth continue to build a horrifying monster for dungeons and dragons 5th edition. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  12. Monstrosity Manufacturing Facility: Part 1

    Alex and Beth draw the scope of the custom content miniseries back inward again, and discuss making your own monsters for 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  13. Strange Games: Part 2

    Alex and Beth embark on an epic two-part journey to come up with the next big tabletop RPG. Hilarity Ensues. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  14. Strange Games Part 1

    Alex and Beth embark on an epic two-part journey to come up with the next big tabletop RPG. Hilarity Ensues. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  15. Building your first scenario

    Alex and Beth discuss writing your first original adventure, and then brainstorm an example scenario where the party must save a magical school from an evil basilisk. Cause that's original. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  16. Getting started on a budget

    Beth and Alex have talked about getting started roleplaying before, but this time, with the help of Elaine, a hypothetical farm-dwelling amateur writer from Illinois, they delve into the subject of trying the hobby for free or cheap, and the resources available to help one do so. "Crunk Knight"...

  17. Class studies: The Warlock

    Alex and Beth discuss the relatively recent innovation of the Warlock in Dungeons and Dragons, and some of its influences in media. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  18. Qcon XXIII

    Alex and special guest Maxi talk to Beth about their activities at Q-con 2016 and the following Tuesday. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  19. Backstories

    Alex and Beth discuss how to properly integrate player characters' backstories into the wider campaign. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  20. Mary Sues

    Do Mary Sues exist, and if they do, what are they, and is Rey from The Force Awakens one? Alex and Beth tussle with the thorny issue of the woman who can ostensibly do everything. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  21. Playing Outside Yourself

    As a partial excuse for Beth to publicly condemn The 100 showrunner Jason Rothenberg, the Bards discuss how best to handle playing a character who is emphatically not like their player. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  22. The OGL and You

    Wizards Of The Coast recently made an announcement that might be pretty important to some of you. Alex and Beth chat about the Open Gaming Licence and what it and similar policies mean for roleplaying games in general. Link to the SRD:...

  23. PC Rivalries

    How to be two people who don't like each other in the pretend, by Alex and Beth. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  24. DM Improv

    Alex and Beth talk about what it falls to a DM to do when a game goes off the rails. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  25. Game Starts

    Alex and Beth talk about what's wrong with some the "classic" ways to begin a campaign. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  26. Class studies: The Bard

    In the first episode of a new House Of Bards subseries, Alex and Beth discuss the titular Bard. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  27. Crack a Monster Manual Part 2

    In this two-part Halloween special, Alex and Beth embark on a journey through the 5th edition D&D monster manual's spookiest offerings. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  28. Crack a Monster Manual Part 1

    In this two-part Halloween special, Alex and Beth embark on a journey through the 5th edition D&D monster manual's spookiest offerings. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  29. Worldbuilding from the ground up

    Alex and Beth perhaps inadvisably try to fit the whole premise of the podcast itself into a single episode. Standford University Polygon Map Generation: http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/game-programming/polygon-map-generation/demo.html "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)...

  30. Relationships

    Alex and Beth tackle the tricky subject of inter-character relationships in RPGs. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  31. Cynicism vs Idealism

    Alex and Beth discuss the problems that can arise when two players with very different expectations sit down at the table together, and Alex explains why Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership election. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By…

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  32. NPCs

    House Of Bards returns with a discussion on playing Non-Player Characters as a DM. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  33. Armageddon

    Alex and Beth attempt to tackle dealing with the end of the world. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  34. Gods and Religion

    Religion is a pretty inescapable part of D&D, so Alex and Beth go over how to make it interesting and what living in a world where all gods are real truly means. "Crunk Knight" and "Anxiety" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  35. Magic Vs Technology

    The topics from episodes 2 and 5 return, and Alex and Beth ask: Is pitting them against each other a good idea? "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  36. Fantasy Tropes

    Beth leads Alex down a journey of common fantasy tropes. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  37. The Wildlife

    Alex and Beth talk about monsters and environments. Donjon: http://donjon.bin.sh/ Lomion 2e Monster Manual: http://www.lomion.de/cmm/_contents.php Tucker's Kobolds: http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/ "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  38. Magic

    Alex and Beth talk about ways to model magic in your setting. Mette Ivie Harrison's 12 questions about magic: https://metteivieharrison.tumblr.com/post/29057069965/12-questions-to-ask-yourself-about-your-magic "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By...

  39. Villains

    Alex and Beth talk disjointedly about villains and villainy. There's a bit of REAL TALK, and Beth expresses a childhood disappointment in Lauren Faust. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  40. The Q-Con XXII experiment

    Burglars and poisonings and not-quite-time-travel-shenanigans, oh my! In this episode, Alex talks about running a series of games at QUB Q-Con XXII. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  41. Technology

    You should probably stop worrying about anachronistic technology in your game world quite so much, and Alex and Beth are here to tell you why. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

  42. Getting Started

    Alex and Beth work through creating a game world for DMs, and creating characters for that world for players. Alex cringes during editing and makes a mental note to acquire a pop screen. "Crunk Knight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

About this show

Long-time friends Alex and Beth look at the challenges and techniques involved in tabletop roleplaying via the "shared narrative" style.

Hosted by

The Bards

Categories

Frequently asked questions

How many episodes does House Of Bards have?

House Of Bards has 42 episodes on PodParley. The most recent episode was published on January 20, 2023.

What is House Of Bards about?

Long-time friends Alex and Beth look at the challenges and techniques involved in tabletop roleplaying via the "shared narrative" style.

How often does House Of Bards release new episodes?

House Of Bards publishes about every 68 days, based on its 42 episodes since June 2015.

Who hosts House Of Bards?

House Of Bards is created and hosted by The Bards.
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