PODCAST · leisure
Running Off The Rails
by Raymond O'Connor and Ariel Rascoe
Ray and Ariel equip new and experienced tabletop RPG players with actionable tips and tricks to bring their game to the next level.We have been playing Dungeons and Dragons for years now and truly believe that tabletop RPGs offer a unique life experience that everyone should enjoy. Find out how you can adapt your game to your players and ensure a successful adventure at your table.
Episodes
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How to Introduce a New Setting | The final Armorsmith's Handbook episode
In this episode Ariel and Ray take one last look at the Armorsmith's Handbook, a massive endeavor from the Grim Press that has to introduce twenty unique places to your campaign setting. Ray and Ariel discuss how to read and prepare box text so that your players immediately know where they are…
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The Armorsmith's Handbook is Live! Ray Dives Into The Character Creation Process
Sign up for your copy of the Armorsmith's Handbook at bit.ly/armorsmith today! Included in this this 175+ page sourcebook, we've created 20 drop-in merchants for your game of 5th Edition. Accompanying each armorsmith is A fully-illustrated portrait art piece A detailed background and roleplaying...
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What Makes Compelling Magic Armor? Ft. Armorsmith's Handbook
In this episode, Ariel tries to convince Ray that the very best magic items have abilities that make your character immediately recognizable, but don't overshadow their already heroic abilities, using magic items that Ray himself designed in Grim Press's new Armorsmith's Handbook! Ariel picks his...
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Freelance RPG Writing and the Armorer's Handbook Kickstarter
Last Summer Ray collaborated as a co-author on a book of 20 Armorers and the 200 pieces of magical armor that they offer. Ray discusses what the experience of writing the ~35,000 words was like and what the book has to offer players and Dungeon Masters.
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Catching Up
Ray and Ariel play 2024 catch up. We discuss what has been going on in our lives and chat about books and media we've been consuming. We will return to topic-focused, prepared content next episode. Website: https://runningofftherails.com Emery's Physical Copy:...
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Notoriety in D&D | Why One Piece is Better Than Gloomhaven
Ray and Ariel discuss how to make your players feel like they are as infamous as Robin Hood or Geralt of Rivia in their own fantasy worlds. Unfortunately, these cherished characters from fiction are also infamous, and risk being chased out of any town they enter. So we need a system of notoriety...
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Kick The Dog | A Guide To Dastardly Villains
Ray and Ariel discuss how to make a villain that your characters will care about—specifically care about killing them ASAP. This episode covers a classic screenwriting technique called "Kick the Dog" which establishes the bad guy by having them hurt a helpless character in the world. Ray and…
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Sentient Magic Items | Sapient VS Awakened Vs Alien
Ray and Ariel discuss the different categories of sentient magic items that appear in popular fiction and Dungeons and Dragons. From Nightblood to the One Ring, we deconstruct their sentience so that you can use the pieces to build your own items at your own tables. Website:...
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The Medium | Previewing Ariel's Class for the Planescape
Ray and Ariel discuss Ariel's homebrew class he first played seven(!) years ago that is in its final stages before publishing to the DMSGuild. The Medium is a fortune-telling, multi-verse traveling class for 5th edition inspired by all kinds of plane-shifting experiences from Stranger Things to...
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Playtesting a Boss Battle
Ray and Ariel have a more casual conversation this episode discussing the playtest Ray ran for the Emery's kickstarter stretch goal, featuring Za'ul the Lich King. They discuss what to prioritize for a major boss battle, and how to inject some new mechanics into minion fights with Za'ul's magical...
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New Tradeoffs, Counters, Hands, and Throws For Your Game of DnD
Ray and Ariel provide mechanics that address specific criticisms they made of 5e in the previous episode. Here are some short rules that will... Prompt players to choose between a more diverse set of weapons Inspire new rivalries between different types of spellcasters Help you to present more...
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D&D Decisions are Dull | Using Video Games to Create Fun Choices
Ray and Ariel discuss the three design tools modern games use to make interesting encounters: power budgets, counters, and hands/throws. Dungeons and Dragons falls short in implementing these design principles sometimes for the sake of simplicity, but often because it is catering to a different...
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Finding Fantastic Familiars ft. The Fox from Worlds Beyond Number
Ray and Ariel discuss how to spice up the Find Familiar spell in dungeons and dragons. Familiars can often feel like a spell effect in our campaigns rather than fully fledged characters. Ray and Ariel were both inspired the hilarious fox familiar in Worlds Beyond Number to think up different ways...
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Prestige Classes, Paragons And Other Discovered Character Paths in D&D
Ray and Ariel discuss achieving prestige fantasies in D&D 5e. Why did the 5e Prestige Classes unearthed arcana miss the mark? Then Ray and Ariel present mechanics for how they think that discovered and unexpected character paths can be successful in D&D 5e. Website: https://runningofftherails.com...
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Worlds Beyond Number
Link to Worlds Beyond Number: https://worldsbeyondnumber.com/ Ray and Ariel discuss their newest source of D&D inspiration, Worlds Beyond Number. Their first project, The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One is a captivating coming of age story. The story told by Brennan Lee Mulligan, Erika Ishii,...
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Perfect Puzzles Cont | This time with examples!
Ray and Ariel continue their discussion on how to create puzzles ingrained in the setting of your world that your players will enjoy. They have each prepared puzzles to add some concrete examples for how to run puzzles effectively and published them in the RotR blog here...
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How to Make the Perfect Puzzle
Ray and Ariel discuss their problems with puzzles in the traditional D&D style. They talk through different ways puzzles can be more involved in the story of your campaign, while simultaneously not getting in the way of a good role playing session. The best puzzles can be the focal point of a fun...
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2022 In Review | Our Favorite Episodes, Emery's Updates, and the Future of RotR
Ray and Ariel look back on the year, share updates on Emery's Log of Legendary Resistances kickstarter, and discuss plans for the future of the podcast. Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/RunningOffTheRails/ Website: https://runningofftherails.com Emery's Log of Legendary Eminences:...
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Cliffhangers, Leave Your Players Begging For More
Ray and Ariel layout examples and tools that will dungeon masters implement cliffhangers in their games of D&D. Cliffhangers define how the time in between sessions feel to your players. They can be crucial for keeping a new group of players together during the time before they are invested in...
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The Legacy of the Ranger | ft. Heavyarms
Game designer Heavyarms joins Ray to discuss the Legacy of the Ranger in 5th edition dungeons and dragons. Ray and Heavyarms take a look at the fantastical origins of the ranger and try to make sense of the different versions that have been published by Wizards of the Coast. Then Heavyarms...
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Creating an Emotional Journey | How to Pace Your D&D Campaign
Ray and Ariel discuss how to pace your dungeons and dragons adventure so the players have enough time to process all the great emotional stories you want to tell. When players are presented with conflict after conflict, the emotion of one story beat can get overshadowed by another. On the flip...
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Three Ways to Split the Party
Ray and Ariel discuss one of the classic problems in dungeons and dragons: what to do when your players decide to split up. Specifically, they look at three different ways player characters can be separated during your sessions, even if they are technically in the same location. Ray and Ariel…
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Running 100 Demons! | Taking On Armies And Huge Scale Battles In D&D | Featuring Flee Mortals Minion Rules
Ray and Ariel discuss Ray's recent experiences running a 100 Demon army against in his players. How can you as a DM deliver the fantasy of battling in an army in Dungeons and Dragons? We provide tips and tricks to help army combat be a hit at your table, no matter your player's level. Ray used...
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Gloomhaven | Bring Retirement And Asymmetry To Your D&D Game
Ray and Ariel discuss Ray's recent experiences playing Gloomhaven with his dungeons and dragons group. Gloomhaven has 11 secret classes that players unlock and play as they retire characters. This is very different from how folks typically play D&D 5e where they typically play one character per...
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What Fifth Edition is Missing | Choosing a Setting For Your Campaign
Ray and Ariel discuss the the benefit of running dnd in a detailed setting. Fifth edition is largely setting agnostic. People have used the fifth edition ruleset to run games in modern, ancient, high-magic, and low-magic fantasy genres. This gives people a ton of flexibility, but is in stark...
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Does Your Character Know Too Much? | Exploring The Implicit Knowledge Disparity
Ray and Ariel discuss the Implicit Knowledge Disparity—the gap between what a player knows and what their character knows. When the player and their character are expected to know very little about the setting, dnd tends to run very smoothly. But when the character is expected to know a lot about...
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Taking On High Level D&D | Lessons from EXU Calamity & DOTA Dragon's Blood
Ray and Ariel both have found running high level dungeons and dragons to have serious challenges. Players have so many tools it can be hard to challenge them while building a story for your players that feels satisfying. Ray and Ariel look to examples of high magic, high power level adventures in...
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Buff Your Fighters, Nerf Your Wizards
Ray's player JJ feels that his Barbarian isn't as fun to play as Mark's Warlock or Ali's Cleric. This feeling that martial classes are under-tuned compared to spellcasting classes is a feeling that many players feel and take to the internet to discuss. Ray and Ariel lay out the meta reason why…
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How To Effectively Evaluate Game Balance At Your Table
Ray and Ariel discuss the loaded subject of "balance" in D&D. Ray asserts that balance is an illusion and that chasing it can be fruitless or a false target. After listening to this episode players and DMs will be able to more effectively evaluate balance at their table and make meaningful...
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Better Mysteries Pt. 2 | Putting Pen to Paper With Examples
Ray and Ariel follow up on the principles for great mysteries that they discussed in the previous episode to create their own mysteries. They each go through the mystery they wrote, discussing the specific tools and strategies they used to ensure that their players would get the full Mystery...
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Better Mysteries in D&D | Build Setting Appropriate Evidence & Ditch Skill Checks
Ray and Ariel lay out how to deliver on the promise of the mystery genre at your D&D table. They start by teasing apart the nuances of an adventure that is structured around a mystery and how to give players the opportunity to solve a mystery themselves rather than explaining it as the players…
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Your First Homebrew Class | A Conversation with Cory Wilson
Cory joins Ariel to discuss the extensive process he went through when designing his first homebrew class. They discuss how to balance mechanics and thematics, and how to take a concept for a class and split it into subclasses. Then Ariel talks through some of the challenges he's having refining...
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The Morals in Our Games | A Discussion on Presentism
Ray and Ariel discuss how to have constructive conversations about the morals your party will live by and society's morals you introduce as a DM. D&D is only partially a medieval fantasy analog, and our morals as people outside the game are going to influence what we enjoy roleplaying at the…
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Creating Iconic Heroes With Gestalt Leveling
Ray and Ariel discuss how to emulate larger-than-life characters from fiction in TTRPGs with a tool called Gestalt Leveling. Gestalt Leveling means that when your characters level, they gain the features of two different classes simultaneously. This works particularly well for small parties that...
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Escapism | Choosing Hard Problems To Avoid
Ray and Ariel discuss how to maintain Escapism in your game of Dungeons and Dragons. We discuss how tools like Lines and Veils can be used effectively to be deliberate about which hard problems you want to place front and center in your games, and which hard problems are better avoided. Don't...
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4 New Fiend Eminences | Janek Joins The Team | We Hit Our First Stretch Goal | Also Dice!
Ray makes a status announcement on behalf of the Emery's Log team. Janek has joined the team as an editor and prompted us to create 4 new fiend eminences. We hit our first stretch goal, and we will begin work on Za'Ul and his Spire of Bones. Also 5 new raffle entry methods are detailed on the...
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Betraying The Party
Ray and Ariel discuss how to betray the party without ruining a campaign. Betrayals are the climax of many great stories, and we want to include them in our tabletop fantasy fulfillment. Ray and Ariel discuss different ways a betrayal can be a win-win for the party and the betraying character...
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$1000 Milestone And New Stretch Goals
Ray announces our Stretch Goals on behalf of the Emery's Log team and celebrates hitting the $1000 milestone. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/runningofftherails/emerys-log-of-legendary-eminences Running off the Rails website: https://runningofftherails.com/kickstarter Instagram:...
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Kickstarter Thank You Gift
Ray thanks the community on behalf of the Emery's Log team and announces an exciting thank you gift that will be getting added to Emery's Log. Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/runningofftherails/emerys-log-of-legendary-eminences Running off the Rails website:...
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Kickstarter Is Live Right Now
Emery's Log of Legendary Eminences is live on Kickstarter Right Now. We added some early backer options explicitly for long time listeners of the show, so be sure to check out the kickstarter sooner rather than later. If you would like a sample of the kickstarter, fill out the form at...
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Changing Objectives In Combat
Ray and Ariel discuss how to design encounters using round-by-round objectives. Players can often go through a combat on autopilot, just using their strongest attack every round, and not feeling engages. If the stakes of the combat change each round, players have to pay attention and think on…
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Gemstone Dice Giveaway | Kickstarter Announcement
We are excited to announce that on Wednesday, April 13th at 11am EST, our first ever Kickstarter goes live. We are announcing this early so that our long-time listeners are prepared to take advantage of a limited number of discounted backer options. We created these explicitly as a way of saying...
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Bring 4th Edition Creature Roles To Your D&D Combat
Ray and Ariel discuss 4th Edition Monster Roles and how they can be applied to make your 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons combat encounters more exciting. If you have played games like Team Fortress 2, Overwatch, and League of Legends, you are acutely aware of how unit specialization can make a...
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Arcane | Lessons Learned From the Hit TV Series
After watching Riot's hit new show Arcane, Ray and Ariel both wanted to recreate the epic drama they saw in their home games of D&D. In this episode, they answer the questions: Why were the character arcs and the drama of Arcane so engaging? And how exactly can we bring these to our tables? Ray…
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It's A Trap! Unrealistic Expectations Of High-Level Play And AD&D
Ray and Ariel examine the explicit expectations of high-level characters in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (D&D 2nd Edition). In D&D 2e, it is clearly stated that high-level characters are expected to manage forts, temples, and sanctuaries. The Druid even goes so far as to remove levels from...
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The Beastheart! | Divergent & Convergent Design
Ray and Ariel discuss Convergent and Divergent design. When is each useful? Then Ray and Ariel apply these concepts to an analysis of MCDM's new Dungeons and Dragons class, the Beastheart. MCDM's Beastheart:...
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Unconsciousness | What To Do When Players Get Knocked Out
Ray and Ariel respond to a question from a listener who asked what they can do to make combat more interesting for a player whose character is unconscious. They discuss all kinds of potential solutions, from incentivizing other players to heal downed characters, to wholesale changes to the rules…
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Progression and Rewards | Thinking About Leveling in D&D
Ray and Ariel discuss how previous editions of dungeons and dragons made progression feel more earned, and how we can get use these lessons to improve our fifth edition games. There are three priorities Ray and Ariel outline when deciding how to level your party: 1) Player engagement, 2) Realism...
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Problematic Skill Checks | Add Suspense To Your Skill Encounters
Ray and Ariel discuss how some skill checks can feel anti-climactic. How can we make important Persuasion, Insight, and Investigation checks feel more suspenseful? How can we mitigate the risk of an important narrative moment going "all wrong" because of a single bad dice roll. How can we make...
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Running off the Rails Year in Review
Ray and Ariel do something a little different and look back on the past year of making this podcast together. They discuss some of the advice that has impacted their own games the most, the published materials they've been inspired by, and the future of the podcast going forward. If you enjoyed...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Ray and Ariel equip new and experienced tabletop RPG players with actionable tips and tricks to bring their game to the next level.We have been playing Dungeons and Dragons for years now and truly believe that tabletop RPGs offer a unique life experience that everyone should enjoy. Find out how you can adapt your game to your players and ensure a successful adventure at your table.
HOSTED BY
Raymond O'Connor and Ariel Rascoe
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Running Off The Rails have?
Running Off The Rails currently has 102 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Running Off The Rails about?
Ray and Ariel equip new and experienced tabletop RPG players with actionable tips and tricks to bring their game to the next level.We have been playing Dungeons and Dragons for years now and truly believe that tabletop RPGs offer a unique life experience that everyone should enjoy. Find out how you...
How often does Running Off The Rails release new episodes?
Running Off The Rails publishes regularly with 102 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Running Off The Rails?
You can listen to Running Off The Rails on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Running Off The Rails?
Running Off The Rails is created and hosted by Raymond O'Connor and Ariel Rascoe.
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