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A podcast where we create and discuss homebrew content for tabletop roleplaying games, primarily Dungeons and Dragons 5e. Here, we try to expand on the options presented to us in the published material, to offer some guidance for aspiring storytellers trying to figure out how to make their big ideas become reality. Here, we stir the pot and lick the spoon. Logo art by David Sutherland - find him on Deviant Art: https://rb.gy/hqmjgo
Episodes
4 days ago
4 days ago
This week, we welcome returning guest Clark (C.R.) Rowenson, who has come to discuss his new LitRPG novel Spawn Point. Join us as we discuss the his new book, the LitRPG genre as a whole, and some ways to adapt LitRPG into your tabletop games (and vice versa).
You can preorder Spawn Point for Kindle here (Release date Oct. 24th, 2025): https://www.amazon.com/Spawn-Point-New-Eternity-Book-ebook/dp/B0DVF4LX4N/
You can find Clark's other work on his website (crrowenson.com), his Patreon (patreon.com/crrowenson), or his YouTube channel, The Magic Engineer (youtube.com/@themagicengineer5314).
Clark was last on way back in Episode 48, talking about his (then new) book The Magic System Blueprint. You can find it here: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-a349q-10a6743
Our website is live! Head on over to undercommontaste.com to find links to all of our social media, streaming sites, Patreon, Itch store, and Discord.
Our theme song is Massacre Anne, written and performed by Mary Crowell, and used with permission. You can find Mary's work online at marycrowell.bandcamp.com, or on Patreon at patreon.com/DrMaryCCrowell.
Our logo was illustrated by David Sutherland. You can find David's work online at instagram.com/wilex_73, or on DeviantArt at deviantart.com/davidsutherland.
Wednesday May 21, 2025
Wednesday May 21, 2025
This week, we make the best of our scheduling conflicts to talk about some of our favorite depictions of dragons in non-D&D media. Join us as we talk about some of our favorite dragons, what makes them different, and ways to change up how you run dragons in your game.
As noted, we had some scheduling conflicts come up and were unable to get our interview with C.R. Rowenson done in time for this week's release. We have rescheduled, and will be releasing that interview as our next episode.
Our website is live! Head on over to undercommontaste.com to find links to all of our social media, streaming sites, Patreon, Itch store, and Discord.
Our theme song is Massacre Anne, written and performed by Mary Crowell, and used with permission. You can find Mary's work online at marycrowell.bandcamp.com, or on Patreon at patreon.com/DrMaryCCrowell.
Our logo was illustrated by David Sutherland. You can find David's work online at instagram.com/wilex_73, or on DeviantArt at deviantart.com/davidsutherland.
Wednesday May 07, 2025
Wednesday May 07, 2025
This week, we return to our draconic conversation by visiting the third major dragon category - the gem dragons. Join us as we discuss these neutral, neurotic, and psionic dragons, plus how to incorporate dragons narratively into your game in a meaningful way.
The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is almost over! You still have until May 20th, 2025 to pick up this bundle, which you can find here: https://itch.io/b/2865/solo-but-not-alone-5. The bundle goes to support the mental health charity Take This!, so please consider supporting it if you haven't already.
Our website is live! Head on over to undercommontaste.com to find links to all of our social media, streaming sites, Patreon, Itch store, and Discord.
Our theme song is Massacre Anne, written and performed by Mary Crowell, and used with permission. You can find Mary's work online at marycrowell.bandcamp.com, or on Patreon at patreon.com/DrMaryCCrowell.
Our logo was illustrated by David Sutherland. You can find David's work online at instagram.com/wilex_73, or on DeviantArt at deviantart.com/davidsutherland.
Wednesday Apr 23, 2025
Wednesday Apr 23, 2025
This week, we're taking unconventional inspiration from the holiday season to discuss different ways to bring characters back from the dead. Join us as we talk about boons from otherworldly entities, reincarnation, reanimation, and what comes back when you call across the veil.
The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is also still ongoing, and it has reached its $20k goal! You still have until May 20th, 2025 to pick up this bundle, which you can find here: https://itch.io/b/2865/solo-but-not-alone-5. The bundle goes to support the mental health charity Take This!, so please consider supporting it if you haven't already.
Our website is live! Head on over to undercommontaste.com to find links to all of our social media, streaming sites, Patreon, Itch store, and Discord.
Our theme song is Massacre Anne, written and performed by Mary Crowell, and used with permission. You can find Mary's work online at marycrowell.bandcamp.com, or on Patreon at patreon.com/DrMaryCCrowell.
Our logo was illustrated by David Sutherland. You can find David's work online at instagram.com/wilex_73, or on DeviantArt at deviantart.com/davidsutherland.
Wednesday Apr 09, 2025
Wednesday Apr 09, 2025
This week, we're continuing our draconic conversation by discussing the metallic dragons. Join us as we talk about ways to play with the "physical vs. magical" nature of dragons, the evolution of metallic dragons through the editions, and some interesting ways to implement metallic dragons in your settings.
I mentioned a video by TikTok creator Felix in this episode. Here's a link to the video in question: https://www.tiktok.com/@nobody.important000/video/7487847148566957367
Here's a link to his YouTube channel, if you prefer, though he hasn't yet uploaded this particular video to that platform: https://youtube.com/@nobody.important000
Josh (Lone Colossus Games) has launched a BackerKit campaign (not Kickstarter; sorry, misspoke) for Tome of Intangible Treasures 2. We had him on to discuss Volume 1 last year (Episode 135, HERE), and you can check out the already fully-funded campaign here: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/lone-colossus-games/tome-of-intangible-treasures-2-a-hunter-s-guide-to-rituals
The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is also still ongoing, and between recording and release of this episode it has reached its $20k goal! You still have until May 20th, 2025 to pick up this bundle, which you can find here: https://itch.io/b/2865/solo-but-not-alone-5. As mentioned, Sam Leigh's game Death of the Author (Episode 140, HERE) is included in the bundle, along with 106 other games. The bundle goes to support the mental health charity Take This!, so please consider supporting it if you haven't already.
Our website is live! Head on over to undercommontaste.com to find links to all of our social media, streaming sites, Patreon, Itch store, and Discord.
Our theme song is Massacre Anne, written and performed by Mary Crowell, and used with permission. You can find Mary's work online at marycrowell.bandcamp.com, or on Patreon at patreon.com/DrMaryCCrowell.
Our logo was illustrated by David Sutherland. You can find David's work online at instagram.com/wilex_73, or on DeviantArt at deviantart.com/davidsutherland.
Wednesday Mar 26, 2025
Wednesday Mar 26, 2025
This week, we're revisiting an aspect of a previous topic and talking about festivals. Join us as we discuss celebrations of all types, a food-eating contest minigame, and some ideas about how to implement these ideas in your home game.
As mentioned in the episode, we had another episode a little over a year ago where we talked about creating holidays for your game. There are multiple topics which overlap between the two, so if you'd like to listen back to that episode, you can find it here: Episode 129 - 'Tis the Season https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-dhbsq-14fc77b
The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is approaching the last month of availability. You can find it here: https://itch.io/b/2865/solo-but-not-alone-5
Our website is live! Head on over to undercommontaste.com to find links to all of our social media, streaming sites, Patreon, Itch store, and Discord.
Our theme song is Massacre Anne, written and performed by Mary Crowell, and used with permission. You can find Mary's work online at marycrowell.bandcamp.com, or on Patreon at patreon.com/DrMaryCCrowell.
Our logo was illustrated by David Sutherland. You can find David's work online at instagram.com/wilex_73, or on DeviantArt at deviantart.com/davidsutherland.
Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
This week, we're fulfilling a promise from almost a year ago and starting our discussion about dragons. Join us as we briefly discuss D&D cosmology from a draconic perspective, followed by an analysis of the five primary chromatic dragon types - black, blue, green, red, and white - and some unconventional ways to incorporate them into your games.
The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is finally live! You can find it here: https://itch.io/b/2865/solo-but-not-alone-5
Our website is live! Head on over to undercommontaste.com to find links to all of our social media, streaming sites, Patreon, Itch store, and Discord.
Our theme song is Massacre Anne, written and performed by Mary Crowell, and used with permission. You can find Mary's work online at marycrowell.bandcamp.com, or on Patreon at patreon.com/DrMaryCCrowell.
Our logo was illustrated by David Sutherland. You can find David's work online at instagram.com/wilex_73, or on DeviantArt at deviantart.com/davidsutherland.
Wednesday Feb 26, 2025
Wednesday Feb 26, 2025
This week, we're still talking about the economy, but not the monetary kind. Join us as we discuss different forms of player economy, from action economy in game design to how to prioritize which (and how many) aspects of gameplay you want to focus on with your players at the table.
As I mentioned in the insert at the beginning of the episode, we were invited by Eric and Matt to join them for The Goblin's Corner's 200th episode. It's a bit of a beast, but we had an amazing time. Here's a link if you want to listen to/watch it for yourself: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OWNZHFIZIU
The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is finally live! You can find it here: https://itch.io/b/2865/solo-but-not-alone-5
Our website is live! Head on over to undercommontaste.com to find links to all of our social media, streaming sites, Patreon, Itch store, and Discord.
Our theme song is Massacre Anne, written and performed by Mary Crowell, and used with permission. You can find Mary's work online at marycrowell.bandcamp.com, or on Patreon at patreon.com/DrMaryCCrowell.
Our logo was illustrated by David Sutherland. You can find David's work online at instagram.com/wilex_73, or on DeviantArt at deviantart.com/davidsutherland.
Wednesday Feb 12, 2025
Wednesday Feb 12, 2025
This week, we're talking about economies. Join us as we discuss ways to use economy, currency, and wealth as worldbuilding tools.
The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is finally live! You can find it here: https://itch.io/b/2865/solo-but-not-alone-5
Here are a couple of bonus links for this week. First off, here's a link to YouTuber RamsesThePigeon's video about aluminum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob-PiPJBHdc
And here's an article talking about bathtub gin and why it was (potentially) really bad for you. Turns out James was right about the methyl alcohol making you go blind; what I was thinking of was tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate, which can cause partial paralysis or death.
Our website is live! Head on over to undercommontaste.com to find links to all of our social media, streaming sites, Patreon, Itch store, and Discord.
Our theme song is Massacre Anne, written and performed by Mary Crowell, and used with permission. You can find Mary's work online at marycrowell.bandcamp.com, or on Patreon at patreon.com/DrMaryCCrowell.
Our logo was illustrated by David Sutherland. You can find David's work online at instagram.com/wilex_73, or on DeviantArt at deviantart.com/davidsutherland.
Wednesday Jan 29, 2025
Wednesday Jan 29, 2025
This week, we're taking a step back to discuss where we see the podcast now, four years in, and what we're planning to do in the future. Join us as we talk about why we're stepping away from making content specifically geared towards D&D, what we're going to do instead, and how we aim to get from Point A to Point B.
The Solo But Not Alone 5 bundle is finally live! We got word from Cat that the bundle went live shortly before this episode released. Here is the new, functional link to find it: https://itch.io/b/2865/solo-but-not-alone-5
Our website is live! Head on over to undercommontaste.com to find links to all of our social media, streaming sites, Patreon, Itch store, and Discord.
Our theme song is Massacre Anne, written and performed by Mary Crowell, and used with permission. You can find Mary's work online at marycrowell.bandcamp.com, or on Patreon at patreon.com/DrMaryCCrowell.
Our logo was illustrated by David Sutherland. You can find David's work online at instagram.com/wilex_73, or on DeviantArt at deviantart.com/davidsutherland.