Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM.

Today, Tanner and Justin talk about the joys of 2023 and what to look forward to in 2024. The transcript is below.

We also mention today's sponsor, Magic Mind.

Get 1 month free off of a 3 month subscription by going to https://www.magicmind.com/JANbetterdm and using the code BETTERDM20 at checkout!

Justin (00:03.449)

Welcome back to How to be a Better DM, the official podcast of Monsters.Rent. I'm your host today, Justin Lewis, here with Tanner Wayland, my brother in arms, my compadre, my colega. How's it going?

Tanner Weyland (00:18.222)

Such a good man. I'm so many things. I'm excited.

Justin (00:22.386)

Well, you are everything, but you're also Tanner. And that's exactly what we need. I'm being a little nostalgic today because today is the last podcast episode of 2023. Now I never thought we would get to 2023, right? Because you never see yourself moving forward in time. But I think today it would be ad propo, whatever that means, to take a look back.

Tanner Weyland (00:28.891)

Hahaha

Justin (00:50.253)

at 2023 and also take a look forward into 2024, maybe do some divination magic and see what the future holds for us. What do you think, Tanner?

Tanner Weyland (01:00.042)

I'm down for that. Yeah, let's, oh, go ahead, sorry.

Justin (01:01.773)

Excellent. Well, I was gonna say, let's start with 2023. And Tanner, if you want to kick us off.

Tanner Weyland (01:07.463)

Ciao.

Tanner Weyland (01:10.826)

I mean, yeah, just to on a personal note, it's been, it's been a busy year. One things have gotten busier with the podcast as we'll talk about, but also, uh, I mean, just personally got a dog. We got a house, uh, a house at the start of the year, dog halfway through the year, good old banjo. He's a, he's a cutie. He probably just heard me bless his heart. Um, but yeah, it's been a great Christmas season. Uh, Kirstie and I are doing well. Uh, otherwise, you know, just.

Things are busy, but we're keeping up over here. How about you, Justin?

Justin (01:42.841)

Yes, things are also busy for us. We had a baby. That's probably the biggest thing that happened to us personally this year, back in August, my wife and I had a baby. Funny story, for nine months, we thought the baby was gonna be a girl. The ultrasounds told us it was gonna be a girl. And then the baby came out as a boy. So check your ultrasounds, people. You don't wanna surprise like that. But having a baby has been very rewarding, very tiring.

both those things.

Tanner Weyland (02:13.962)

Yeah. And I mean, I believe that that's, that's the thing about kids. You get a lot from them, but, uh, they request everything from you.

Justin (02:22.277)

Absolutely, absolutely. Well, specifically talking about the podcast, we've had actually a really good year. It's been fun seeing the podcast grow. And one of my favorite things this year has been just in November, we had our highest download month. We had 5,000 downloads in the month, over 5,000 downloads, which is not a small thing, right? I think...

Most podcasts never get past 10 episodes, right? Just that's how it is statistically. And you're in the top 50% of podcasts if you get more than 100 listens on any episode within the first seven days, and we get around 200. So we're probably in the top 70% of podcasts maybe. Obviously it is kind of an exponential curve, but it's really cool to see the growth we're having. And more than that, I think is

you know, having people reach out and being like, yeah, you guys are helping us, you know, DM better or helping me. I just like listening to you guys. And it's just, it's fun to think, you know, we did something that people like, which in this day and age is pretty, pretty rare.

Tanner Weyland (03:40.914)

Yeah, you know, I think that it's a great thing just seeing that, you know, I don't think of us as any kind of exceptional people. Like, obviously, we have a lot of advice on being DMs, but it's nice to know that it's like, hey, if we and, you know, the guests we bring on, just share some of our thoughts, you know, think a little deeper about the individual parts of being a DM, then you can do really good work. It's kind of like a journaling in your personal life where it's like, yeah.

If you just spend a little bit more thought deconstruct things a little bit, uh, regurgitate it in a good way, then essentially you, you learn, there's a lot to learn from just a simple review of things. Right. And so that's, that's been kind of an interesting thing. And I've loved knowing that we're, we're helping people that way.

Justin (04:30.853)

Absolutely. I mean, even though we talk a lot about DMing, I would in no way, shape or form claim us to be the world's best DMs. Well, I can't speak for Tanner, but myself, I DMed just last night, and afterwards I was like, man, I need to get way better. But I'm sure that that's how a lot of people feel. And honestly, that's why how to be a better DM exists, because we want you to not feel that way instead. Finish the session being like, wow, that was so great. I'm just so happy.

Tanner Weyland (05:01.65)

Yeah, exactly. And you know, we try and change it up with the with the topics if you know, in the future, if you guys ever are like, hey, we want specific topics or types of content, like, we've considered, you know, reviewing

other people's games, you know, as they DM we considered a lot of different types of things. We always try and get on guests who we think would be valuable. But if any of you have any ideas, we of course welcome that.

Justin (05:32.785)

Yeah, actually, you can go on Instagram, look up at howtobetterdm or at monsters.rent, send us a message, suggestions, or even content that we missed in an episode. You know, if you think that a particular episode needs to be fleshed out a little bit more, definitely let us know. Or if, like Tanner said, you want us to basically, you know, commentate on your session, you just have to record your session and send it to us. But...

Really over this last year, like Tanner mentioned, we had some pretty great guests. I think one of my favorites was Victor Bovine. And that's mostly just because, you know, I kind of cut my teeth on the Forgotten Realms by listening to the Drizzt o'Urden series by R.A. Salvatore. And Victor Bovine was the voice actor, right? And so, you know, his voice for me is Drizzt o'Urden. And it was really cool to, you know, to listen to him. It was also fun, you know, hanging out with Andy from WeGeek together. And,

having like that live podcast feel, which is kind of rare for us just because our guests are mostly not in the same locale. Though I do think, you know, moving into the next year, I think it would be cool to have more and more in-person guests if we can get them.

Tanner Weyland (06:47.254)

Yeah, agreed. Like Andrew, he was great. Cause I mean, you should have seen all the technical issues we had going into that. Cause we, we weren't onsite, you know, we, we didn't do it at either of our places or at a studio, we went to we geek together, you know, his store set up there, just so many technical issues getting it set up. And then once it was finally done, it was just cool to actually have a chill conversation and we even thought that we had lost like the, the recording and we found it. And so like that one.

I think I'm nostalgic for it from like a trauma standpoint because it was like both you had the bitter and the sweet you know but that one was memorable for me

Justin (07:26.663)

Yeah.

Justin (07:29.817)

Agreed, agreed. Also, we want to say thank you to everyone who participated with us in the one-shots of last year. We know that they weren't as periodic. They didn't happen every month. But we were grateful to you for joining us and having fun with us, even amidst the technical difficulties of the one-shots. I know the last one that I did, very technically difficult.

And hopefully in the next year we can have more one-shots and more people join. Even if there are opportunities for live one-shots in person, if there's a group of listeners here in the Utah region, we can get together and do a one-shot that way. That would be fun, I think. But again, just wanted to say thank you for everyone who participated and also for all the guest DMs we've had over the last couple of years.

Tanner Weyland (08:24.298)

Yeah, absolutely. It's always fun seeing you guys, meeting you guys, and also just playing. We learn a lot every time that we do, because it's one thing playing with a party that you've played with consistently. Playing with a new one always is such a learning experience. So thank you for being, I mean, our friends and our guinea pigs to some extent. So thank you.

Justin (08:48.895)

Yeah

Absolutely. Another great thing that we did this year was the guild. And the guild is sort of a kind of collaboration between the podcast and Monsters.Rent. And really it's all the same thing, but just for your information, the guild is basically a free community that the goal is to connect people.

who are like-minded in the same space, but also give them resources and things like that, right? We have the beginning of a Dungeon Mastering course, and we have some downloadable resources available online through the guild, again, all free. And for me, the coolest thing of the guild has been, one, seeing people slowly kind of come in, right? And every new person that enters the guild adds so much to everyone who's already there, and...

hopefully to themselves, but also seeing the collaboration between the people within the guild, seeing people talk about homebrew monsters that they're working on or puzzles that they found. It's just really cool to sort of sit back and see you guys, because if we could bottle up all of your knowledge and experience, I think that would be way more informational and helpful than what we can say.

And it's frankly just kind of a treat just to be kind of on the receiving end of that.

Tanner Weyland (10:18.93)

Yeah, absolutely. That one's been just fun seeing like it's growing slowly because we haven't been doing it that long. But but every time it does then you feel you know, like, like you each new person is like a measurable help to everyone else. And I love that.

Justin (10:35.013)

Yeah, yeah. It's also growing slowly, I'd say, because I don't know about you, Tanner, but I have no idea how to do Discord, right? Like, I don't know technically very well. But also, I'm not like a people person, per se, so it's kind of a stretch for me being like, yeah, welcome, let's talk about these things. So it's definitely a new experience.

Tanner Weyland (10:58.962)

Yeah, absolutely. So thank you for your patience with us, if you are a part of that. And if you're not, come join, you know? Add to the milieu, as the French say, of the voices and everything. For us, I mean, probably the thing that's made me busiest this year is, I mean, aside from the podcast in general, it's Monsters.Rent. You guys have heard us talk about that, you know, for a hot second now. But...

Yeah, it's just been kind of an eye opening experience where it's like, yeah, there's a lot more to a, uh, miniature rental business than you'd think. Uh, but it's, it's had a lot of, uh, a lot of ups, some downs, but, um, you know, I think for me, like, uh, a big up was just, you know, at the start, there's always a question when you're starting kind of like a side venture, a side project.

of like, okay, how much do we throw ourselves into it at the start? And do we do it slowly? Do we just jump in and, you know, see if we can swim? And I think we got a good experience with that with the dead wars that we geeked together through, through back in, was it May?

Justin (12:14.773)

I think it was May, April, around there.

Tanner Weyland (12:17.25)

May, April. Yeah. Because you know, we, we made and painted like, what it was like 200 minis for that. And then beyond that, we, like we went to the show, we had a booth, you know, we got a sign printed, you know, we kind of put our best foot forward. And that was kind of a an interesting experience. I really like that.

Justin (12:26.345)

200. Yep.

Justin (12:43.293)

Yeah, I think it was fun for us because it helps solidify kind of the real business aspect. When you start a business, it's sort of like in your head until it goes out in public, right? Once you start getting people signed up and people buying things from you, then you're like, wow, this is like a real business. And for me, that was just really fun. It was also sort of...

kind of validation, talking to a lot of people saying, yeah, this is like a really great idea. Now, obviously, people saying that and people buying whatever you have to sell, two very different things, but it was a big event for us. And I think it did move us forward, at least in maturity, business-wise, right? But another kind of highlight was when we sort of upgraded our boxes, and we're still sort of working on this process actually,

Tanner Weyland (13:33.303)

Yeah.

Justin (13:41.001)

the inside of the boxes, but we started using these wooden boxes that were kind of custom designed. They have the Monsters.Rent logo and everything on them. Actually, if you go to our website on mobile, you can see there's like a cover image of a video that actually displays the box really well on the homepage. But those boxes are pretty sweet. And honestly, just the box itself is like cool enough that...

someone should like want to buy it, but I mean, who knows?

Tanner Weyland (14:13.798)

Yeah, exactly. That was, it's kind of nice having a little bit more individuality, uh, to our products, cause that's what we hope to do. The priority obviously is just like, Hey, we want to make easily accessible and rentable minis, you know, that are affordable so that people don't have to, you know, buy a bunch that just sit around cause they don't want to reuse same minis all the time, but it's also nice to, you know, make a little bit more of an individual product that way. Uh, I've really enjoyed, uh,

beyond that, also we've just gotten some really good help, like some amazing help from a few influencers. And obviously, you know, it's more in the D&D space and the, you know, but we really like Bennett and Courtney, Bennett, you, if you don't follow him, you should, you absolutely should. He's at, he's at the Ben Chewie, C-H-E-W-Y. And Courtney, she's at the Curly.

K U R L I G I R L I cosplay. So it's the Curly Gurly Cosplay. They've both been so helpful, honestly. We really loved the videos that they put out for us and kind of having that partnership set up. And if you haven't heard of them, go check them out, because they're great.

Uh, regardless though, we're so grateful for them and everyone else who's been helpful along the way, because you know, we've, we've worked with quite a few people, some people haven't been able to keep working with us, uh, like just because of time constraints or, or other things, and we're just so grateful for anyone who's, you know, put any time into this and, and also to any of you who, you know, gave us a shot. And so we were truly appreciative for that.

Justin (16:02.737)

Absolutely. Uh, probably the biggest thank you that we can give from a monsters.rent is to the current users of it, uh, the people who are sticking with us regardless of, you know, how many technical hiccups we have or, or how, uh, non user friendly the website may or may not be at any given moment because, you know, it's always in flux, um, and actually, you know, Bennett going back to that.

Uh, the video, he made us a video and you can see that video on the homepage right now, if you, if you go there, uh, it's a pretty sweet video, uh, really well done, so definitely go to at the Ben Chewie on Instagram, tick talk and you know, give them a follow, but I think another cool thing that really for us has been just kind of a treat has been the ability to accumulate or have the ability to produce something like over a hundred

different minis, including 12 bundles of different themed minis. And seeing the different files and things has been really fun and nice. We actually signed up for the commercial license of someone on my mini factory. Right. And that's allowed us to kind of accumulate these minis and they're really well done. But I think moving forward, we have hopefully, you know, some other plans. We'll tell you that in a second.

But anything else you want to talk about in terms of 2023?

Tanner Weyland (17:30.606)

Uh, mostly I, one thing that we forgot to mention with the podcast was just sponsorships really, because we've been, you know, one nice thing is we, we like putting out the podcast, uh, up till now though, we like, with a couple exceptions, it hasn't really made us money, you know, which we're happy to still do it, but it's nice that the sponsorships allow it to be more of a long-term thing.

And like for example, Magic Mind. Honestly, we've been working with them recently and they've been so helpful and supportive and we just really appreciate that.

Justin (18:10.909)

Yeah. Uh, when they first reached out, um, and this is sort of a little bit behind the scenes, like how the sausage is made kind of deal. Obviously the podcast costs money every month for the hosting and things like that. It costs us time. And, you know, we really love it. And. We, if we do the podcast, we can't do other things that might provide for us financially, you know, for our families and things like that. Tanner has a wife and a dog. I have a wife and a dog and a baby.

So we can't do this all day every day just because we have jobs. When Magic Mind reached out and they're like, yeah, we'd like to partner with you. Honestly, it sounded a little bit too good to be true. So I was like, is this real? Just because I've had people, on Instagram you always get those people are like, yeah, you're woman of the year. And I'm like, I'm a man. So they were like, yeah, we'd like to work with you guys. And

through the whole process, they've just been so nice. And to me, it shows me really what's behind their product, which is Magic Mind, it's a productivity shot, but it shows kind of the culture of their company. With our first sort of promotion, it was kind of a little creative, I was a little nervous of how they'd receive it, and we sent it over, and our contact over there was just like, yeah, this is so great, she was just so praising of us, that to me, again, it just showed

if they are that excited and that emotional and energetic about, you know, the promotion, then that's obviously what's behind the productivity shot, Magic Mind, which is, you know, a subscription for it's supposed to replace your coffee or your...

Welcome back to How to be a Better DM, the

official podcast of Monsters.Rent.

2

I'm your host today, Justin Lewis, here

with Tanner Wayland, my brother in arms,

3

my compadre, my colega.

4

How's it going?

5

Such a good man.

6

I'm so many things.

7

I'm excited.

8

Well, you are everything, but you're also

Tanner.

9

And that's exactly what we need.

10

I'm being a little nostalgic today because

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Now I never thought we would get to 2023,

right?

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Because you never see yourself moving

forward in time.

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But I think today it would be ad propo,

whatever that means, to take a look back.

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at 2023 and also take a look forward into

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see what the future holds for us.

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What do you think, Tanner?

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I'm down for that.

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Yeah, let's, oh, go ahead, sorry.

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I was gonna say, let's start with 2023.

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And Tanner, if you want to kick us off.

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I mean, yeah, just to on a personal note,

it's been, it's been a busy year.

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One things have gotten busier with the

podcast as we'll talk about, but also, uh,

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I mean, just personally got a dog.

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We got a house, uh, a house at the start

of the year, dog halfway through the year,

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good old banjo.

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He's a, he's a cutie.

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He probably just heard me bless his heart.

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Um, but yeah, it's been a great Christmas

season.

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Uh, Kirstie and I are doing well.

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Uh, otherwise, you know, just.

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Things are busy, but we're keeping up over

here.

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How about you, Justin?

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Yes, things are also busy for us.

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We had a baby.

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That's probably the biggest thing that

happened to us personally this year, back

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in August, my wife and I had a baby.

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Funny story, for nine months, we thought

the baby was gonna be a girl.

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The ultrasounds told us it was gonna be a

girl.

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And then the baby came out as a boy.

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So check your ultrasounds, people.

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You don't wanna surprise like that.

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But having a baby has been very rewarding,

very tiring.

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both those things.

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Yeah.

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And I mean, I believe that that's, that's

the thing about kids.

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You get a lot from them, but, uh, they

request everything from you.

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Absolutely, absolutely.

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Well, specifically talking about the

podcast, we've had actually a really good

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year.

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It's been fun seeing the podcast grow.

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And one of my favorite things this year

has been just in November, we had our

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highest download month.

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We had 5,000 downloads in the month, over

5,000 downloads, which is not a small

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thing, right?

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I think...

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Most podcasts never get past 10 episodes,

right?

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Just that's how it is statistically.

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And you're in the top 50% of podcasts if

you get more than 100 listens on any

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episode within the first seven days, and

we get around 200.

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So we're probably in the top 70% of

podcasts maybe.

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Obviously it is kind of an exponential

curve, but it's really cool to see the

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growth we're having.

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And more than that, I think is

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you know, having people reach out and

being like, yeah, you guys are helping us,

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you know, DM better or helping me.

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I just like listening to you guys.

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And it's just, it's fun to think, you

know, we did something that people like,

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which in this day and age is pretty,

pretty rare.

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Yeah, you know, I think that it's a great

thing just seeing that, you know, I don't

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think of us as any kind of exceptional

people.

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Like, obviously, we have a lot of advice

on being DMs, but it's nice to know that

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it's like, hey, if we and, you know, the

guests we bring on, just share some of our

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thoughts, you know, think a little deeper

about the individual parts of being a DM,

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then you can do really good work.

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It's kind of like a journaling in your

personal life where it's like, yeah.

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If you just spend a little bit more

thought deconstruct things a little bit,

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uh, regurgitate it in a good way, then

essentially you, you learn, there's a lot

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to learn from just a simple review of

things.

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Right.

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And so that's, that's been kind of an

interesting thing.

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And I've loved knowing that we're, we're

helping people that way.

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Absolutely.

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I mean, even though we talk a lot about

DMing, I would in no way, shape or form

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claim us to be the world's best DMs.

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Well, I can't speak for Tanner, but

myself, I DMed just last night, and

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afterwards I was like, man, I need to get

way better.

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But I'm sure that that's how a lot of

people feel.

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And honestly, that's why how to be a

better DM exists, because we want you to

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not feel that way instead.

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Finish the session being like, wow, that

was so great.

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I'm just so happy.

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Yeah, exactly.

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And you know, we try and change it up with

the with the topics if you know, in the

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future, if you guys ever are like, hey, we

want specific topics or types of content,

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like, we've considered, you know,

reviewing

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other people's games, you know, as they DM

we considered a lot of different types of

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things.

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We always try and get on guests who we

think would be valuable.

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But if any of you have any ideas, we of

course welcome that.

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Yeah, actually, you can go on Instagram,

look up at howtobetterdm or at

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monsters.rent, send us a message,

suggestions, or even content that we

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missed in an episode.

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You know, if you think that a particular

episode needs to be fleshed out a little

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bit more, definitely let us know.

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Or if, like Tanner said, you want us to

basically, you know, commentate on your

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session, you just have to record your

session and send it to us.

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But...

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Really over this last year, like Tanner

mentioned, we had some pretty great

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guests.

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I think one of my favorites was Victor

Bovine.

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And that's mostly just because, you know,

I kind of cut my teeth on the Forgotten

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Realms by listening to the Drizzt o'Urden

series by R.A.

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Salvatore.

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And Victor Bovine was the voice actor,

right?

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And so, you know, his voice for me is

Drizzt o'Urden.

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And it was really cool to, you know, to

listen to him.

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It was also fun, you know, hanging out

with Andy from WeGeek together.

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And,

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having like that live podcast feel, which

is kind of rare for us just because our

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guests are mostly not in the same locale.

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Though I do think, you know, moving into

the next year, I think it would be cool to

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have more and more in-person guests if we

can get them.

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Yeah, agreed.

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Like Andrew, he was great.

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Cause I mean, you should have seen all the

technical issues we had going into that.

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Cause we, we weren't onsite, you know, we,

we didn't do it at either of our places or

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at a studio, we went to we geek together,

you know, his store set up there, just so

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many technical issues getting it set up.

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And then once it was finally done, it was

just cool to actually have a chill

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conversation and we even thought that we

had lost like the, the recording and we

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found it.

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And so like that one.

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I think I'm nostalgic for it from like a

trauma standpoint because it was like both

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you had the bitter and the sweet you know

but that one was memorable for me

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Agreed, agreed.

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Also, we want to say thank you to everyone

who participated with us in the one-shots

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of last year.

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We know that they weren't as periodic.

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They didn't happen every month.

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But we were grateful to you for joining us

and having fun with us, even amidst the

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technical difficulties of the one-shots.

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I know the last one that I did, very

technically difficult.

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And hopefully in the next year we can have

more one-shots and more people join.

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Even if there are opportunities for live

one-shots in person, if there's a group of

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listeners here in the Utah region, we can

get together and do a one-shot that way.

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That would be fun, I think.

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But again, just wanted to say thank you

for everyone who participated and also for

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all the guest DMs we've had over the last

couple of years.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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It's always fun seeing you guys, meeting

you guys, and also just playing.

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We learn a lot every time that we do,

because it's one thing playing with a

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party that you've played with

consistently.

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Playing with a new one always is such a

learning experience.

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So thank you for being, I mean, our

friends and our guinea pigs to some

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extent.

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So thank you.

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Absolutely.

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Another great thing that we did this year

was the guild.

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And the guild is sort of a kind of

collaboration between the podcast and

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Monsters.Rent.

161

And really it's all the same thing, but

just for your information, the guild is

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basically a free community that the goal

is to connect people.

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who are like-minded in the same space, but

also give them resources and things like

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that, right?

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We have the beginning of a Dungeon

Mastering course, and we have some

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downloadable resources available online

through the guild, again, all free.

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And for me, the coolest thing of the guild

has been, one, seeing people slowly kind

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of come in, right?

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And every new person that enters the guild

adds so much to everyone who's already

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there, and...

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hopefully to themselves, but also seeing

the collaboration between the people

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within the guild, seeing people talk about

homebrew monsters that they're working on

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or puzzles that they found.

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It's just really cool to sort of sit back

and see you guys, because if we could

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bottle up all of your knowledge and

experience, I think that would be way more

176

informational and helpful than what we can

say.

177

And it's frankly just kind of a treat just

to be kind of on the receiving end of

178

that.

179

Yeah, absolutely.

180

That one's been just fun seeing like it's

growing slowly because we haven't been

181

doing it that long.

182

But but every time it does then you feel

you know, like, like you each new person

183

is like a measurable help to everyone

else.

184

And I love that.

185

It's also growing slowly, I'd say, because

I don't know about you, Tanner, but I have

186

no idea how to do Discord, right?

187

Like, I don't know technically very well.

188

But also, I'm not like a people person,

per se, so it's kind of a stretch for me

189

being like, yeah, welcome, let's talk

about these things.

190

So it's definitely a new experience.

191

Yeah, absolutely.

192

So thank you for your patience with us, if

you are a part of that.

193

And if you're not, come join, you know?

194

Add to the milieu, as the French say, of

the voices and everything.

195

For us, I mean, probably the thing that's

made me busiest this year is, I mean,

196

aside from the podcast in general, it's

Monsters.Rent.

197

You guys have heard us talk about that,

you know, for a hot second now.

198

But...

199

Yeah, it's just been kind of an eye

opening experience where it's like, yeah,

200

there's a lot more to a, uh, miniature

rental business than you'd think.

201

Uh, but it's, it's had a lot of, uh, a lot

of ups, some downs, but, um, you know, I

202

think for me, like, uh, a big up was just,

you know, at the start, there's always a

203

question when you're starting kind of like

a side venture, a side project.

204

of like, okay, how much do we throw

ourselves into it at the start?

205

And do we do it slowly?

206

Do we just jump in and, you know, see if

we can swim?

207

And I think we got a good experience with

that with the dead wars that we geeked

208

together through, through back in, was it

May?

209

I think it was May, April, around there.

210

May, April.

211

Yeah.

212

Because you know, we, we made and painted

like, what it was like 200 minis for that.

213

And then beyond that, we, like we went to

the show, we had a booth, you know, we got

214

a sign printed, you know, we kind of put

our best foot forward.

215

And that was kind of a an interesting

experience.

216

I really like that.

217

Yeah, I think it was fun for us because it

helps solidify kind of the real business

218

aspect.

219

When you start a business, it's sort of

like in your head until it goes out in

220

public, right?

221

Once you start getting people signed up

and people buying things from you, then

222

you're like, wow, this is like a real

business.

223

And for me, that was just really fun.

224

It was also sort of...

225

kind of validation, talking to a lot of

people saying, yeah, this is like a really

226

great idea.

227

Now, obviously, people saying that and

people buying whatever you have to sell,

228

two very different things, but it was a

big event for us.

229

And I think it did move us forward, at

least in maturity, business-wise, right?

230

But another kind of highlight was when we

sort of upgraded our boxes, and we're

231

still sort of working on this process

actually,

232

the inside of the boxes, but we started

using these wooden boxes that were kind of

233

custom designed.

234

They have the Monsters.Rent logo and

everything on them.

235

Actually, if you go to our website on

mobile, you can see there's like a cover

236

image of a video that actually displays

the box really well on the homepage.

237

But those boxes are pretty sweet.

238

And honestly, just the box itself is like

cool enough that...

239

someone should like want to buy it, but I

mean, who knows?

240

Yeah, exactly.

241

That was, it's kind of nice having a

little bit more individuality, uh, to our

242

products, cause that's what we hope to do.

243

The priority obviously is just like, Hey,

we want to make easily accessible and

244

rentable minis, you know, that are

affordable so that people don't have to,

245

you know, buy a bunch that just sit around

cause they don't want to reuse same minis

246

all the time, but it's also nice to, you

know, make a little bit more of an

247

individual product that way.

248

Uh, I've really enjoyed, uh,

249

beyond that, also we've just gotten some

really good help, like some amazing help

250

from a few influencers.

251

And obviously, you know, it's more in the

D&D space and the, you know, but we really

252

like Bennett and Courtney, Bennett, you,

if you don't follow him, you should, you

253

absolutely should.

254

He's at, he's at the Ben Chewie,

C-H-E-W-Y.

255

And Courtney, she's at the Curly.

256

K U R L I G I R L I cosplay.

257

So it's the Curly Gurly Cosplay.

258

They've both been so helpful, honestly.

259

We really loved the videos that they put

out for us and kind of having that

260

partnership set up.

261

And if you haven't heard of them, go check

them out, because they're great.

262

Uh, regardless though, we're so grateful

for them and everyone else who's been

263

helpful along the way, because you know,

we've, we've worked with quite a few

264

people, some people haven't been able to

keep working with us, uh, like just

265

because of time constraints or, or other

things, and we're just so grateful for

266

anyone who's, you know, put any time into

this and, and also to any of you who, you

267

know, gave us a shot.

268

And so we were truly appreciative for

that.

269

Absolutely.

270

Uh, probably the biggest thank you that we

can give from a monsters.rent is to the

271

current users of it, uh, the people who

are sticking with us regardless of, you

272

know, how many technical hiccups we have

or, or how, uh, non user friendly the

273

website may or may not be at any given

moment because, you know, it's always in

274

flux, um, and actually, you know, Bennett

going back to that.

275

Uh, the video, he made us a video and you

can see that video on the homepage right

276

now, if you, if you go there, uh, it's a

pretty sweet video, uh, really well done,

277

so definitely go to at the Ben Chewie on

Instagram, tick talk and you know, give

278

them a follow, but I think another cool

thing that really for us has been just

279

kind of a treat has been the ability to

accumulate or have the ability to produce

280

something like over a hundred

281

different minis, including 12 bundles of

different themed minis.

282

And seeing the different files and things

has been really fun and nice.

283

We actually signed up for the commercial

license of someone on my mini factory.

284

Right.

285

And that's allowed us to kind of

accumulate these minis and they're really

286

well done.

287

But I think moving forward, we have

hopefully, you know, some other plans.

288

We'll tell you that in a second.

289

But anything else you want to talk about

290

Uh, mostly I, one thing that we forgot to

mention with the podcast was just

291

sponsorships really, because we've been,

you know, one nice thing is we, we like

292

putting out the podcast, uh, up till now

though, we like, with a couple exceptions,

293

it hasn't really made us money, you know,

which we're happy to still do it, but it's

294

nice that the sponsorships allow it to be

more of a long-term thing.

295

And like for example, Magic Mind.

296

Honestly, we've been working with them

recently and they've been so helpful and

297

supportive and we just really appreciate

that.

298

Yeah.

299

Uh, when they first reached out, um, and

this is sort of a little bit behind the

300

scenes, like how the sausage is made kind

of deal.

301

Obviously the podcast costs money every

month for the hosting and things like

302

that.

303

It costs us time.

304

And, you know, we really love it.

305

And.

306

We, if we do the podcast, we can't do

other things that might provide for us

307

financially, you know, for our families

and things like that.

308

Tanner has a wife and a dog.

309

I have a wife and a dog and a baby.

310

So we can't do this all day every day just

because we have jobs.

311

When Magic Mind reached out and they're

like, yeah, we'd like to partner with you.

312

Honestly, it sounded a little bit too good

to be true.

313

So I was like, is this real?

314

Just because I've had people, on Instagram

you always get those people are like,

315

yeah, you're woman of the year.

316

And I'm like, I'm a man.

317

So they were like, yeah, we'd like to work

with you guys.

318

And

319

through the whole process, they've just

been so nice.

320

And to me, it shows me really what's

behind their product, which is Magic Mind,

321

it's a productivity shot, but it shows

kind of the culture of their company.

322

With our first sort of promotion, it was

kind of a little creative, I was a little

323

nervous of how they'd receive it, and we

sent it over, and our contact over there

324

was just like, yeah, this is so great, she

was just so praising of us, that to me,

325

again, it just showed

326

if they are that excited and that

emotional and energetic about, you know,

327

the promotion, then that's obviously

what's behind the productivity shot, Magic

328

Mind, which is, you know, a subscription

for it's supposed to replace your coffee

329

or your tea in the morning, whatever you

use to kind of get your energy.

330

And it's all natural.

331

And it has lots of, I actually have the

list up, lots of really great nutrients in

332

there.

333

things that honestly I don't completely

understand because frankly I'm kind of not

334

intelligent, but there's matcha, there's

bacopa manieri, which sounds really cool

335

and it also sounds kind of like a spell.

336

There's ashwagandha, rhodiola rosea, which

again sounds like a spell, lion's mane

337

mushroom, cordyceps mushroom.

338

So lots of things that

339

right here?

340

It says Vita men.

341

Huh, crazy.

342

I didn't, I don't, like, Vita means life,

so maybe it's like living men or

343

something?

344

I don't know, I don't know.

345

But, yeah, but, you know, when I took it,

it was a very interesting experience,

346

because I'm honestly, I don't drink

coffee, I don't drink tea, so I've never

347

really relied on sort of energy drinks, I

don't drink energy drinks.

348

And I definitely felt it, you know,

throughout the day, I felt the difference.

349

And what it is, it's supposed to help you

with your focus without the crash, right?

350

We all know the haste spell.

351

Once it's done, you know, you're stunned

for like one or two rounds with the haste

352

spell.

353

You don't get that with the productivity

shot Magic Mind.

354

And actually, they're doing a small

campaign for the month of January.

355

So I know this is the Thursday before

January, but we're giving you a little

356

heads up.

357

You can go to magicmind.com slash

JanBetterDM.

358

again, magicmind.com slash janbetterdm,

and then use the code BETTERDM20, and you

359

get one month free when you subscribe for

three months.

360

And that's a really awesome offer because

it's an extra 20% off, which gets you to

361

75% off because they're kind of running a

deal right now.

362

But again, it only lasts for January.

363

So if you are interested in this,

subscribe for three months, you get one

364

month free.

365

So essentially you're getting

366

you're subscribing for two months, but an

extra month, right?

367

Math.

368

Magicmind.com slash Jan BetterDM with code

betterdm20 at checkout, or you can find

369

these at any sprouts, farmers, markets

near you.

370

And moving into 24, our goal is to get

more subscriptions, sorry, more

371

sponsorships like Magicmind and continue

our sponsorship with Magicmind.

372

So that's definitely big on our.

373

Radar.

374

Yeah, because we just want to be able to

keep doing this podcast for you guys.

375

And so thank you for your support.

376

And, uh, let's talk about 2024 Justin.

377

Uh, first off for the podcast, I mean,

honestly, we really want to, uh, have more

378

creative episode, like ideas, you know,

just like where, like we kind of rethink

379

the concept of instead of just like

picking a topic, uh, from D and D.

380

We instead, you know, maybe we do.

381

a little bit more interesting, like maybe

it's themed or it's a comparison list or

382

you know, there's a lot of different

things that we need to do.

383

And so we're excited to try those out.

384

We're definitely going to get more guests.

385

I mean, that you know that we were always

trying to get new guests.

386

And so, Justin, what have you been

thinking about with as far as like the

387

types?

388

actually with regards to guests, I've been

thinking, I've been watching a lot of

389

YouTube videos of, you know, from like

insider or the breakdown where, you know,

390

they take an expert and then they have the

expert sort of rate or review movie clips

391

that involve their expertise and sort of

tell you, yeah, this part isn't realistic

392

or this is realistic.

393

For example, you know, a wildlife expert

watches movies with like...

394

lions or they watch part of free willy and

they're like, yeah, this is this is why

395

that is and stuff like that.

396

I thought that it might be useful and

interesting to have sort of the same thing

397

but as it regards to D&D so maybe we might

have someone who is a blacksmith and we

398

have them come on and we ask them.

399

Yeah, so if someone wanted to buy

something, how long would it take, you

400

know, ask some real questions that would

sort of inform how you roleplay a

401

blacksmith or

402

You know, up in Salt Lake, I know that

there is a armored combat team.

403

Literally it's a martial arts, mixed

martial arts sport where people dress up

404

in full suits of armor and they like punch

each other and kick each other and hit

405

each other with kind of dulled swords.

406

You know, we might have someone like that

come in and kind of walk us through like,

407

yeah, if someone was putting on armor, you

know, da da, or if you're describing

408

combat, what are some ways that

realistically this could kind of play out?

409

Um, I thought that might be more

interesting.

410

than just having everyday guests.

411

I also thought it would be good and useful

for us to try and start to reach out to

412

some more high profile guests.

413

You never know if you might get them, but

if we do get them, that would be just so

414

much more fun.

415

Yeah, absolutely.

416

You know, I think something to be said for

the profession, style of guest is that you

417

know, as a DM, there's a lot of

performance, like especially description

418

that we have to do.

419

And if we don't know anything about it,

you know, then the for example,

420

pickpocketing, how many of us actually

know how that works?

421

or leatherworking or blacksmithing, right?

422

We've seen like little images or little

clips on, you know, maybe a knight's tale

423

is the most we've ever seen of anything

relating to blacksmithing.

424

And all we're like is like, oh man Heath

Ledger is really cool.

425

And we don't actually know anything about

blacksmithing.

426

And yet we're supposed to describe the

situation when our party goes into the

427

local blacksmith dwarf.

428

looking for a whole new set of armor,

right?

429

And so, you know, every little bit helps.

430

Obviously, you know, email us or reach out

at Monsters Rent on Instagram.

431

Let us know if you think this is a good

idea.

432

We think it is, but we're very excited for

that.

433

And then, you know, we're hoping to play

more.

434

It's obviously, like we said, it's kind of

been a crazy busy year.

435

So we haven't had as much time to play

either one shots or just, you know.

436

Individually as much and so we're hoping

to have more opportunity for that and at

437

the very least we have planned to You know

have a live play campaign in this next

438

couple months So we're pretty stoked about

that and we don't have all the info for

439

you, but You know we It's going to take

place in Well, it's gonna start in hell,

440

which is which is nice.

441

You know, that's always a nice opener

442

Palette Cleanser for a campaign.

443

Um, but anyway, I've been talking too

much.

444

Just, are you excited for the new live

play?

445

Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how excited I

am.

446

So it's gonna be myself, Tanner, and

Kayden, our partner from Monsters.Rent as

447

the players, and the Dungeon Master is

going to be Jake Packham from the Dungeon

448

Mastermind podcast.

449

He's a friend of ours, and frankly he's a

really talented DM, right?

450

I've played with him once or twice before,

and he's just, I don't know, he's really

451

good.

452

So I'm super excited and like Tanner said,

basically the story, the campaign's gonna

453

start up with all of us, Tanner, Caden and

myself, all of our characters, having been

454

sent to the nine hells as some sort of

punishment or some other means and we're

455

basically starting in hell with nothing.

456

So if you wanna see other people suffer,

definitely tune in, we'll let you know

457

when it's going to be released and

actually,

458

If you want to kind of get the scoop, the

latest information on when it's going to

459

be released, sign up for the guild because

that's where we're going to do a lot of

460

our announcements.

461

All you got to do is go to monsters.rent

slash subscribe slash the guild or sorry

462

slash the dash guild.

463

Again, it is 100% free and then you get

access to our, you know, our Discord

464

server and everything and you become part

of the community.

465

But going to be super fun.

466

It's going to be set in the homebrew world

of Kalignos.

467

which is something Jake has been working

on.

468

Going back a little bit to having more

guests on the podcast, I just thought of

469

this.

470

I think it even goes beyond just

blacksmithing, things like that, but like

471

we could have experts on marshes or forest

life or caves, places where adventurers

472

would go to kind of help inform what kind

of conditions are gonna be there, how

473

would you travel, things like that.

474

And then, you know.

475

As far as more creative episodes go, if

you want an example of this, next week's

476

episode is a little bit more creative.

477

It's going to be talking about the

Shadowfell in a very interesting way,

478

hopefully.

479

Hopefully it's not off-putting, but join

us next week for that episode for more of

480

a creative show.

481

And as far as the one-shots go, not just

playing more one-shots, but having less

482

technical difficulties and also

483

possibly opening up the opportunity to,

you know, you the listener to host the one

484

shot as the DM.

485

You know, we don't always have to be the

hosts.

486

So if you're interested in that,

definitely reach out to us.

487

But speaking of the guild, this next year,

I think the guild is gonna be sort of a

488

big focus for us because it's not just the

community, but it's also the downloadable

489

resources and also the Dungeon Mastering

course.

490

And we've started on that.

491

And I think this next year, a focus of

ours should be to finish that course

492

because, you know, we all want to become

better DMS and if we have resources like

493

that available, it just makes it so much

easier.

494

Yeah, absolutely.

495

And, and I think, you know, we, we just

hope to see a lot more of you in there so

496

that when we have questions or when, uh,

our fellow DMS have questions, that

497

there's going to be just a readily

available source.

498

Um, but, uh, yeah, it was so basically a

lot happening with the podcast.

499

I'm very excited about that.

500

Um, the main thing that, uh, that we have

a lot of.

501

you know, of hope for, we're, you know,

we're crossing our fingers.

502

We'll be able to get it all done, but

monsters.rent.

503

We have a lot of plans for that.

504

Uh, beyond like, we're planning on being

involved with the dead wars again this

505

next year.

506

Which of course will be awesome,

especially since we'll be, you know, we

507

won't be on our back foot as much this

year, we'll have a bit more time to

508

prepare, which we're excited for.

509

And then, you know, we're also hoping to

get a booth at FanX.

510

If you're not from Utah, maybe you don't

know what this is, but it's a really big

511

comic con esque, you know event Where

there's you know celebrities a lot of

512

gaming?

513

D&D like just a lot going on there and

it's for fans of pretty much any genre but

514

certainly the fantasy D&D genre and Yeah,

we're hoping to get a booth there and

515

we'll have more info for you going forward

516

Yeah, I've actually already reached out to

them to see if we could host a panel

517

talking about being a dungeon master.

518

I might have to follow up with them.

519

But I think another focus of ours for

Monsters.Rent is creating the ability on

520

the website to sell the minis just

straight up.

521

Early on in Monsters.Rent, we had some

confusion with people who signed up for

522

subscriptions to rent the minis.

523

And then they reached out to us and

they're like, hey, why am I being charged?

524

I bought these minis.

525

And so we're thinking that it might be a

good idea, or at least, you know, I, I

526

definitely, I think that we should put

forth this opportunity for people to just

527

buy the minis, uh, it would provide

obviously some cash for us and a simple,

528

simplified product model.

529

Uh, and also it might tell us which people

want more, whether they want to rent more

530

or just buy more.

531

Um, and.

532

you know, if both options are available, I

don't see why that would be a bad thing.

533

I think another thing we're also going to

look to do is more merch, you know,

534

t-shirts and t-shirt designs.

535

I think we talked about in the past,

creating specific designs around each

536

class, including a DM shirt.

537

When we were at Dead Wars last year, we

were selling shirts that were specific to

538

the event.

539

It said World Record Beholder, kind of a

play on words there.

540

And that sold really well.

541

And I think having things like that for

people to buy would be a good idea for us

542

as well, because again, it would kind of

be an influx of cash, pretty hands off.

543

And, you know, we're pretty clever guys,

so I think we can come up with pretty fun

544

t-shirt ideas.

545

Exactly.

546

And so, yeah, we're hoping just to, you

know, get a lot more things that we've

547

been talking about for a sec rolling on

that with monsters.rent.

548

One thing specifically that if any of you

have any suggestions, like Justin said, we

549

were always looking for feedback.

550

We're also always looking for

collaborators and whether that's

551

right whether that's you know graphic

designers or 3d modelers or whatever right

552

we're always looking to partner with those

people and give them a chance to make

553

money while we do as well and also just

improve the product in general so yeah it

554

definitely reach out I guess you know it's

easy to say that or see that we've got a

555

lot planned a lot on our plate

556

And we're really hoping that you'll be

with us on this journey and we're so

557

excited.

558

Absolutely.

559

I mean, obviously we have a lot going on

this year.

560

We're going to work on the website, make

sure that it's very user-friendly.

561

We're going to take better photos of the

minis and things like that, collaborate

562

with more influencers.

563

I think the biggest thing we're going to

focus on, so our core values here are, and

564

Intentor, you might have to help me with

this, but number one, community, and

565

number two, wow, right?

566

We want...

567

every interaction anyone has with

monster.rent, how to be better DM the

568

guild, just to be blown away by their

experience.

569

And we want to build the community, our

community, the D&D community at large, and

570

obviously the world.

571

So with those two core values, our biggest

focus will be, you know, you, the

572

listener, who may or may not be also our

customer or user.

573

We want you to be the best dungeon master

the world has ever seen.

574

Because statistically speaking,

575

someone out there is that Dungeon Master

and why couldn't it be you?

576

So our goal is to help you reach your full

potential.

577

Gotta catch them all.

578

Um, we're, we're a Pokemon podcast now.

579

Uh, yeah, that's, sorry, D and D got a new

catchphrase.

580

Uh, we're just, we're just honestly want

to give you the most value, uh, that you

581

can get because, you know, being a DM

while it's so rewarding, it's also takes a

582

lot.

583

And there's always room for improvement.

584

And so we, we always hope that you're not.

585

depressed by that or overwhelmed, but

rather that you feel empowered by, you

586

know, by the podcast we offer, you know,

the minis or anything else, like the

587

community with the guild.

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We just want you to feel like, like you

and any friends that you have who are kind

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of like, oh man, DM, DMing kind of takes

it out of me.

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It shouldn't feel that way, right?

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It's supposed to be fun first and

foremost, and it's supposed to be

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something that doesn't stress you out.

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And, and I think we've done well at like

trying to help change the mindset about

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that is like, Hey, it's not all about

knowing all the stat blocks from, from

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heart and it's not all about, uh, about

having like spent a hundred hours of prep

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for each session.

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It's more about like, Hey, how do you

approach different aspects of the game?

598

Um, in a more natural fluid and less

stressful way.

599

So.

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We hope to be able to do that a lot more

going forward.

601

Yeah.

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A big thank you to you, all your support.

603

If you weren't listening, this would be a

lot less fun.

604

We'd probably still do it, but I don't

know how long we would do it.

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So thank you for keeping us going just by

being here, listening to us and maybe

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laughing at one or two of my jokes.

607

You know, here's to a very good 2023 and

hopefully for all of us and even better

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2024.

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We'll see you next week.

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In the new year, let's go ahead and roll

initiative.