A New Podcast for Shadowdark Fans

Started in 2024, by veteran gamers Matt Bruner and Jody Kropholler, Dungeon Master Diaries (DMD) is a podcast about Shadowdark and other roleplaying games. I stumbled across it while listening to other podcasts. My favorite is Monsters & Treasure from Daniel Norton (Bandit’s Keep) and K.R. King (D&D Homebrew). However, these guys do not cover as much Shadowdark content, so I was happy to discover DMD.

Shadowdark’s charismatic creator Kelsey Dionne just closed her second successful Kickstarter with the launch of her first setting, Western Reaches. The game is sizzling in popularity, and I hope people keep talking about it and creating fun expansions and supplements. I find podcasts like this one a lot of fun, and the community feeling with other players and creators is exciting and encouraging.

Give a listen to Matt’s and Jody’s April 8th, 2025 episode, titled “Master Cast” where they pick apart spellcasting in Shadowdark. This grabbed my eye because I love the roll-to-cast dynamic of the game. As in Dungeon Crawl Classics, spellcasters must pass a die roll check to see if their attempted spell works. And a failed spell cast means the caster cannot use that spell again until after a long rest. I like magic that isn’t automatic. It shouldn’t feel like a machine gun.. just point and shoot. And the Mishaps tables for critical failures on the dice make it dangerous and slightly unpredictable. Others may like their Vancian tier slot version of magic usage as presented in D&D, and that’s fine, but I just like this other style.

It’s a really fun podcast. Most of these episodes are an hour or so. These guys also continue discussions with friends and fans on their Discord forum. I like the accessibility to ask questions or dig deeper into rules and gameplay. I hope Matt and Jody get sponsors and a bigger listening audience so we have more of this kind of content.

I just wanted to share this recently found podcast with other fans of Shadowdark. Give them a listen. I listen on Apple Podcasts, but I bet they are on other popular networks.

Dungeon Master Diaries (DMD) Website: https://dungeonmasterdiaries.libsyn.com/

Dungeon Master Diaries is a production of the Stingbat Radio network.

You can follow me on YouTube: @EruditeDM, or on X: @EruditeDM. Feel free to email me at EruditeDM@gmail.com.

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