GM Word of the Week

Yes, once again it is time for another of our world famous Lost Episodes. The problem is, there’s been a whole bunch of extenuating circumstances, which we try to explain somewhat unsuccessfully. But at least you get to hear some bits about swords, socks, and ninjas, along with a couple of people who really were in charge, like it or not. The whole episode just oozes with predicaments for you to try to sort through. We’re switching up our means of support. Now, if you’d like to help...

How’s the weather up there? Well, if you were a giant, you would know. But since you aren’t, we’d better have a discussion about what makes giants giant. Should be easy, right? Because we all know what a giant is. But then again, do we? And what does it all have to do with basketball and the Air Force? Find out, inside. GM Word of the Week is brought to you buy our generous supporters. If you’d like to join them, here’s how: https://www.gmwordoftheweek.com/support

Everything is already in shape around here, so we’ll discard that pun immediately. But otherwise, we have an episode for you about whips and their varied uses. Except, obviously, we have to agree to some ground rules about our discussion before we start. They aren’t the most popular of Dungeons and Dragons weapons, but maybe there’s a reason for that. Let’s find out. And then! After the credits roll on GM Word of the Week, let’s take a listen to the new show, FolkLiar. What could that...

It’s in the theaters, but what’s it all about? We discuss the main players of the new film. But really mostly we discuss the characters of Gawain, whose name you are pronouncing wrong, and the reasons why that is, and the Green Knight and enigma or meaning that no one seems to agree on. So, it’s probably best we take a look at what might have inspired him. Oh, and we can’t help but feel as if we forgot something in this episode. Hmmm. You can help support the show by heading to our support...

We started with a question about types of books. But after answering it, there was a whole lot of episode left to go. Fortunately, we ran across a book that helped us talk about other books, in particular, the very interesting books in a xylothek. But first, as we always do, there was some explanation to be had about where they came from and why they existed in the first place. Along the way, we meet some important renaissance figures. You can get The Madman's Library: The Strangest Books,...

We’ve all seen jousts in the movies and probably enjoyed them. Well, shame on you. That’s not what jousting is like at all, and it certainly wasn’t the only kind of jousting available at the tournaments of the Middle Ages. Of course, the real problem is that we don’t understand what we, or even they, meant when they said jousting and tournament. So maybe we can help straighten things out and increase your actual appreciation of all things jousting. Support GM Word of the Week on Patreon:...

There’s a whole world of things in our adventuring worlds and it’s really very important to keep track of it all for consistencies sake. Which is why such things as canon exist. Not the shooty bang bang kind of canon, but rather the body of work which explains what is right and proper and what isn’t. And it really is vitally important, as we’ll demonstrate with two very solid examples. First, one of religious importance, and second, one about the Word of God. So, join us and listen to this...

Sometimes we give advice along with our helping of information and today we’re going to talk about how GMs can make best use of the supernatural. But first we have to understand what counts as supernatural in the typical fantasy world. You might be tempted to think that anything magical counts, but that’s not the case, as we will happily explain to you. In the real world, supernatural might mean magical, but not so in a world where actual magic actually exists. Let’s take a look at one...

We often think of nostalgia as a pleasant memory associated with happier times. Which is nice. But also, not true. Which is often the case with nostalgia, the things we remember fondly, were never as good as we remember them and the thing about remembering how nice nostalgia feels is that it was never that nice to begin with. No, indeed. Nostalgia can make you sick, or worse, it can kill you. So let’s see what’s going on with nostalgia and the Swiss Army. Remember how nice it is to support...

We’ve done this before, but it didn’t go so well. In fact, it went so badly we removed it from the feed. But now it’s back and it is much, much better. See, sometimes we make embarrassing mistakes, but it’s always nice to finally fix them. In this episodes you’ll hear about coolness, dual-wielding, guns akimbo, exciting stories of weird science, dominance, and, of course, the main gauche. Which we do know how to pronounce. Support the show on Patreon for more interesting episodes.

He’d sell you your own grandmother if he could, but the Merchant turns out to be one of those essential fantasy characters which no town can do without. But how did they get that way and what, if anything, can be done about it? The answers are, not much, and let us explain. Let’s take a look at the Merchant from the very beginning to the very right now. CONTENT WANRING: We use the word fungible. More than once. GM Word of the Week is proudly supported by our patrons on Patreon.

We found it! We found it! It’s Lost Episode 16! In which we reconnect with our Connections, go a little bird brained, and finally hear from the number 10,001 fan. It’s a brief but exciting tour from ancient Greece to South America and mostly about things that fly. So, please return your tables to the upright position and let’s go! Remember to check out the exciting designs on our freshly updated merch store. Just swing by the Support Page at https://www.gmwordoftheweek.com/support and click...

How do you say it? The sordid history full of lies and deceit about the origins of the Sahuagin. Err. That is to say, the poorly recalled and potentially easily forgotten history of the Dungeons and Dragons NPC known as the Sahuagin. Who, we’re sure, are very nice people if you happen to meet them socially. Once you get past the cannibalism. Thanks to Retroist for the unwitting help. New merch in the Redbubble Merch store. Check it out.

We get letters from time to time from our listeners and most of the time, they make some kind of sense. But, every so often a listener will write in that makes us wonder just exactly which show they’ve been listening to. This is one such case. Never mind though, we’re happy to take the time to explain why it might sometimes appear that we’ve drifted far from our original charter but really haven’t. Come along with us in this episode of the show as we make an example of the word Chalcedony....

The last thing we want to do is provide too much information, but it seems inevitable that we’ll need an extra episode to complete our four-part series on Persia. See, the problem is the Battle of Marathon and the need to discuss it in order to put a cap on Darius’ reign as King of Persia and the etceteras as well as everything that happened after. There’s just no way around it. So, we did our best to be brief, concise, and remain informative. And we still ended up with a longer episode....

Darius' position was precarious. He might have been just a bit nefarious. The Persians were mad that he took a little stab, but he ended up becoming imperious! And to see how he did it all, listen to this episode. Just keep in mind one thing: Persia was a big empire, and to get around it successfully, Darius had to use a Mazda. Persian Fire by Tom Holland is available on Amazon. Support for GM Word of the Week comes from our Patrons on Patreon. You can learn more here:

Will he or won’t he? King Croesus, we mean. But beyond that, what is it that makes Cyrus the Great, so great? Is it the size of his empire? Perhaps. But, arguably, it’s more to do with the way he treated those he conquered and the legacy he left to his sons. And what a pair of sons they were. Granted, they might have tried to follow in their father’s footsteps, but you might almost think they were doomed from the start. Find out what happens to everyone inside this episode. Persian Fire by...

Long ago there was a great empire. Probably the greatest ever seen.. But for some reason, it gets left by the wayside when Empires are discussed. Which is unfortunate, because the Persian Empire is at least as interesting as anything the Greeks or Romans ever did. In any case, we’ve resolved to talk about the Persian Empire for the entire month, and what better place to start than at the very beginning. Before there even was one. Meet the Medes. Persian Fire by Tom Holland The show lives and...

Where did all this history come from and why has so much of it been left laying around the place? History must be important. We spent so much time learning so much of it in school. It has to count for something right? But what did we really learn and what can you really say about it? Was it really important to know all those names and dates? Or was there something more we should have been told? Let’s see if we can figure out by going all the way back to ancient Greece and meeting the person...