D&D Court: Sexy Squirrels, Powerful Turtles, and Shambling Mounds

Im so sad the shambling mound discourse has completely overshadowed the hilarious sexy squirrell discussion.

I like how Murph read the backstory for the shambling mound and how it was formed from magical lightning and then was like "WhY iS tHiS CreAtUrE ImMuNE to LiGhtNinG". Like bro come on, you literally just read the reason why lightning doesn't effect it.

“I was created by my mother, but I’m not immune to her,” is such a profound observation!

Listening back and I absolutely hate those players checking which dice are rolling hot. Didn’t know I could loathe a play-style more than this. You must repent before Dice Christ and may he have mercy on your sad little souls.

I try and live my life Axford style everyday

Was the short rest for this episode released? I don’t see it in the collection for dungeon court

The shambling mound should not have its immunity removed as a dm can make a cinematic moment a pc had be flipped on them “The storm surges above as clouds gather into a inky mound. Energy crackles through it before striking down on the pile of sentient plant matter. As the the steam rises from the creature, you approach to see it still squelching towards you.” It adds a sense of oh fuck that the players may not be ready for, then it turns into a fun order of trying to find the creatures true weakness. Shambling mound is a good creature and did nothing wrong.

The squirrel from sword in the stone was confusing at a young age for sure.

Emily’s random 76ers references get me every time

They were in absolute rare form today lol

I'm absolutely astonished y'al talked about sexy squirrels with no mention of the Sword in the Stone metamorphosis-by-Merlin training segment.😄

Question for the room: in the long side tangent about movie theater signs… are they talking about the Energizer Bunny when the rabbit is mentioned? I think it was part of ads before movies in the 2000s

You guys should offer to send a you’ve been served official email to whoever is in these cases if the submitter supplies the email!!

The Shambling Mound case will easily get overturned on appeal.

50 shades of grey squirrels?

Absolutely despise the sexy squirrel GM, labeling any sort of plot progression as "railroading" is just so nightmarish

Well, they sure were right when they said the shambling mound defenders would be sounding off😂

holy shit it finally happened i’m a player in the redwall campaign and i was casually listening while folding laundry when i heard my DMs name and was like oh that’s funny. then heard the details and dropped a sock on the floor in shock lmao

Um, Murph, did you mean actual murderer Ricky the Dragon Steamboat?

The shambling mound case proves that this court is governed by its empathy and not by the laws of DnD. For shame supreme crit…

In defense of a false goth: there is no longer a pantheon featured in the 5.5 dnd books

The show at Radio City was AMAZING, I’m still glowing from it.

Genuinely. I think we found a prime example of taking the claws and challenge out of fights to avoid inconveniencing players with the Shambling Mound. To dogpile on the pile of dogs... Yeah guys, damage resistances and unexpected issues in fights are part of making combat varied. Fights are meant to be hard sometimes and that's ok

I love that the episode specifically called out that the shambling mound ruling may be controversial and I scroll to the comments and see nothing but comments disagreeing with the shambling mound ruling.

I think if the Shambling Mound's one trait is that it eats lightning, then it's kind of a crime to just remove it, because that's 100% of its traits, if you remove it, you have to add something else, perhaps like Swamp Thing's ability to teleport through plant life, but it takes so long he realizes it would have been faster to just drive

I have to say, I've been in a position similar to the plaintiff with the player who always pursues this story. You guys really razzed that DM hard but as a DM, whenever my wife plays she is so concerned with me and everyone else having fun that she goes out of her way to accommodate everybody else's decisions and she tries to push the party to what she thinks I want them to do. It's sweet but she's not having fun with her own character because she's more worried about everybody else, and sometimes it makes the game less fun overall (although I wouldn't tell her that) because it gets in the way when players try to go off the rails in fun ways, and can even push things in a different direction than I had planned because she misunderstands what the plan is. Honestly, I would much rather have my players be invested in their own character even if that means not following my story, after all that's the collaborative part. It's almost like she's making herself an NPC without knowing all the DM stuff.

I demand a "DM Murphy says 'Your monsters are your responsibility'" shirt or poster.

As someone who fell victim to the shambling mound as a lightening based sorcerer, I can say we genuinely found it hilarious that I could not do ANY damage to it (basically all lightening and fire spells at that point). I still joke that the shambling mound is her greatest weakness. And it definitely taught me to diversify my spell damage lol

If you asked me at the top of the episode what tangent the crew would go off on next, I’d never guess in a million years, and I think that’s beautiful

If these guys ever stop screwing around at the beginning of the episode I’m unsubscribing

I'm not part of any of these cases but I'll happily accept justice Tanner's punishment and retead 1984 Swamp Thing

Me at 1am, listening to Caldwell ramble on about Skrat from Ice Age, nodding along as if he’s reciting the Old Magic

Shout out to Brian Jacques and that DM's campaign! The Redwall series is amazing

Cart before the horse with shambling mound. If it's the first time the character has ever encountered the creature then: Use lightning -> discovery resistance -> understand resistance through research into origin. If they may have seen or heard of one before then it's a history check for the character to remember and the player to learn. If you're gonna tell your party not to use lightning on a creature that's gimmick is a rug-pull lightning absorb then you should change the monster, but then the court's issue is not with the DM but with the rules writers. RETRIAL RETRIAL RETRIAL

Mom uses “snide remark”, it’s super effective

I hate the instinct to remove any chance of failure from player action. Removing lightning absorption from Shambling Mound feels like altering a dice roll you dislike. Failure and friction are fun and an opportunity for growth as this court has stated before. I understand ditching some rules as written, but if you sand all points of friction away then why even play a game with dice? I disagree with the court entirely.

Ice age View Crew when

Umm actually, as a botanist who specializes in lightning strike impact on plant communities… (jokes) but seriously I think some folks are lost in the weeds (pun intended) focusing on game design & dms responses to it and are forgetting that a shambling mound didn’t just spawn itself out of the ether & surprise the DM. The Druid Wife got call lightning and in the very next encounter the DM *chose* to include the one creature that happens to have no obvious characteristics that are lightning themed but actually Absorbs lightning - a feat that by itself is super rare and is the *only trait listed on the card*. So DM clearly didn’t read the traits of the monsters they threw in - which is 100% a DM mistake. Also, I’m not saying DM did it on purpose but Yall KNOW that if Druid wife had written in everyone would be running to the comments to say “no way that’s a coincidence! DM was meta gaming!!!” Not saying DM should be punished for simple mistake, but if you don’t do your DM homework and then accidentally put in a monster that sneakily absorbs your wife’s brand new power- YOURE GOING TO GET RAZZED. Rightfully.

I'm gonna go to bat for the Shambling Mound for a moment and say that I think the scenario described in the case is a great example of why the game has damage types at all. An unexpected immunity like that can make for a cool cinematic moment.

I'm not comfortable with how much the absolute garbage ruling on the shambling mound case has altered my respect for this court. The only respectable one is the bailiff? Preposterous.

I would buy a poster of disapproving Murph with “Your monsters are your responsibility “ on it

“I was created by my mom but im not immune to her” tshirts PLEEEEASSSSEEEEE

The justices describe a suburban neighbor dynamic in the first case but the submitter mentioned getting busy with school, so here’s the question: is the situation more awkward or less awkward if the scene of the crime is a college dorm

How big of babies are we where were legitimately saying its mean to blow up a goofy one shot that doesnt matter. I cant imagine getting upset about a one shot ending with a guy eating a turtle, who cares 😂

IBERIAN HAM?! At the table?! With your hands? During gameplay! How far the judges morals have fallen since the four rotisserie chickens guy!!! (I regularly have a whole charcuterie board at my table can recommend)

I’m usually pretty 1:1 with Justice Murphy as I too am a wrestling enjoying curmudgeon, but I respectfully disagree with the Shambling Mound take. I think unique random abilities and resistances etc., while sometimes frustrating and yes, breaking “what we’re taught about the game,” make for a more varied and interesting playing experience, otherwise combat is just differently sized bags of hit points that play out exactly the same as every other fight would. I’m happy to stand corrected if I’m misrepresenting his point, but I think stuff like that brings variety into the game in an area that can feel very samey. Just my take!

Shambling mound does in fact have a lighting fetish.

The bailiff was a real mvp on the Shambling Mound case, good on him

i am shambling mound’s #1 fan. fuck you all

EMILY WHERE THE HECK DID THE MAXEY COMMENT COME FROM?! Why do you know who he is and who my beloved Sixers are (I love it please keep up the good work happy Easter)

The overcrowded cast of npcs is making me really appreciate how Murph can sprinkle in callbacks to, say, a Matty big crits The world can feel full, background nothing characters can be coloured in without bogging everything down

Only true jake-heads know it’s penn cooper

I think marriage means that any amount of lifetime razzing is rightful

Fun fact, despite Ricky Steamboat being an all-time babyface, he also has an all-time heel government name in Dick (Richard) Blood.

Older d&d had a lot more random immunities and weird specific interactions, if anything modern dnd has made it more pokemon-ified (not a bad thing just different)

Spoilers for Iceage. This is bullshit

Hold on, we need to discuss the fact that one of the guys at the G movie is wearing sunglasses, which are the glasses the rabbit is wearing at the NC-17 movie!! Also that rabbit is full on eyeballing the mother at the PG movie....

For a panel of judges that so commonly tout the "failure is ok and can be a good tool for growth" methodology, they seemed keenly against the Shambling Mound DM lol like, ok, your druid wasted a single turn, they weren't out of commission the rest of the combat. And if I were that druid I'd probably be more curious about monsters resistances and stuff going forward (which the have a tool for in 2024, called the Study Action)

I love it when they mutiny against Murph

So much incredible shambling mound discourse here! I just wanted to weigh in that one of the advantages of an iberico ham is that it's generally cured and you would be okay to just put it on a stand and thinly slice it while you played. I think Caldwell and Jake were thinking of a honey baked ham which would need the inconvenient heat lamp.

I did want to share some insight into the Shambling Mound and lightning. Nitrogen fixation actually helps grass etc turn green and occurs when lightning strikes 😉

As a huge sixers fan the tickling tyrese maxey comment surprised and delighted me. Unexpected crossover. Rip Embiids appendix

I would kill for a Naddpod Redwall-Humblewood mini campaign

My favorite Murph might be genuinely embarrassed covering with comedy/real aggression Murph.

Holy smokes, I'm so excited for radio city show! Possibly gonna be the only teenager there.

A little surprised everyone sided against the Shambling Mound DM lol. Not only is it fun to have weird unknowable monsters sometimes, but the DM shouldn't be punished for not knowing what new spell the Druid took. I think someone on the bench needs to play devils advocate a little harder

Can't wait for the new Murph shirt in the store now! XD

Hey Judge Brian Murphy, thanks for protecting the Temporary Protected Status of 5 thousand people the other day

I really want to listen to this but I just cannot condone Justice Murphy's frankly embarrassing lack of decorum in the opening moments of this court session. My condolences to his fellow justices whose professional reputations have no doubt already begun to suffer due to their association with someone who holds so little respect for the sanctity of the Supreme Crit.

The whole point of attacking a monster is finding out its weaknesses and strengths/resistances/immunities. You shouldn’t metagame as a DM or player. The player doesn’t have a right to be salty when it’s an innate ability of the Shambling Mound. As a DM you can’t tell a player that’s about to attack with a specific damage type that the monster’s immune. They find out by attacking, learn it doesn’t work then change up their tactics. Simple as that.

Dare i say that goth had scene kid energy

For the shambling mound type thing, have the players roll Nature/History; it'll give you a chance to explain some of the monsters background and hint towards it's abilities in a way that doesn't break immersion.

I guarantee there was hardcore Redwall fiction out many years ago. I cannot tell you how I know this, however.

At the end of my 3 year campaign, the party gathered their allies to help in the final battle, I made them name the npcs they were gathering and then I ran it Baldurs Gate 3 style where each NPC had a special ability the party could activate as a bonus action because I was not running 15 npcs in an already massive battle

I sort of want to pop over to A03 and see if there's hardcore Redwall fanfic but then I also so very much do not want to do that. Really nice energy today, guys, thanks for making my life better.

Just casually dropping the most devastating quote of all time “My mom made me and I’m not immune to her.”

Whoa Black Betty, ham demand.

Extremely funny about sexy squirrel since my kobold married a sexy squirrel 😂😂

“Your monsters are your problem” would actually make a pretty sick tattoo 👹

I totally understand the DM with the plot driven PC sometimes I cram a lot of extra junk for my players to experience and it’s getting skipped past because someone clocked the main plot hook and really tries to hold everyone’s hand that way

Shambling mound is a classic dnd monster. I think it makes sense for a dm to alter the stat block if they want, but punishing a dm for adhering to the stat block of a classic monster like this is silly. Part of the game for some people is experiencing that classic monster. Being part of a legacy of people who have fought a shambling mound. The court is usually right, but they definitely got that one wrong.

Regarding the shambling mound lightning absorption. I always assumed it was because they are basically... mounds of shambling ground, and the lightning is "grounding" and being absorbed by it because of that. I kind of like the occasional wild card ability and I think the wife needs to relax and be open to failure as part of the game, that could have been a very cool moment. That said, wives have near infinite razzing rights so... you are out of luck on that front.

In regards to the shambling mound, it feels like we are afraid of failure. Part of the fun of the game is trial and error, learning what works and what doesn't. I can agree an intelligence check would have been better, but it's okay for PCs to not know everything about a world and that a spell failed in a fight they won easily

listening to this as a goth is fantastic (absolutely sounds false goth to me imo, this ain’t what we’re about)

Would someone release the updated stats for rulings again? I think the court is heavily skewed against DMs

yeah the monster eats lightning, that’s showbiz baby

For the shambling mound case, A Razz-berry Tart is in order for the DM

Petition to name that confessor’s sin the “Dungeonian Heresy”

Shambling mound head here. I just like saying “shambling mound” in combat. I really put a lot of mustard on it. Maybe the mustard makes it eat lightning?

Murphy the DM says: Only you can control your monsters.

Re the shambling mound and call lightning, my Druid almost did the exact same thing in our campaign. I too thought lightning damage would be very effective against a plant creature. The only reason I didn’t is because we’d just hit level 7 so I was able to use Blight.

Em ball knowledge. Maxey does indeed get tickled before games, how else could he play like that?

As a Shambling Mound head myself, let me submit for the record that a creature’s damage resistances, immunities and vulnerabilities are factored into its CR. While I’m not a fan of the CR system in general, it is one way for DMs to gauge how their party will fare and simply ignoring special traits makes these encounters less challenging and less memorable.

My mom was a shambling mound and I too am very vulnerable to her psychological damage

Ken stole my name! But anyways, for the shambling mound thing, I would have let it go through once bc I failed to check the monster but then tell my players afterwards that it does have the immunity and that this time it would work only.

Murph, sir, DM, sir— you have saying things you think you screwed up in campaign one. But with the utmost respect, sir, Murph, sir, your DMliness, campaign one was art. It was heart warming and just different from now. It still sells people on Naddpod. You have nothing to worry about. ☺️

For the sexy squirrel case though it’s amazing to have the players follow your story but sometimes it loses the collaboration aspect. I have had scenes fizzle out because one player straight up said “idk what you want me to ask this guy” when they were impersonating a spy to get info. I said whatever info and called out the plot some but I don’t have a list of what they should ask prepared because I want them to figure mysteries out and want to see what their character wants and follow it. So as a dm who loves building the story around what the players want just having a “yes man” can put more of the story building including character development on the dm and not the pc. I will always still take someone who wants to follow the plot over someone who wants to be the edgy party member that goes off on their own every session but I see the point the dm was making.

I’m convinced that the squirrel DM just wanted a Disney version Sword in the Stone moment 😂

Justice for shambling mounds!

Y’all are picturing Noel fielding in IT crowd, right?

Like Charlie flair couldn’t handle being a heel so she switched back to a face. Your next game play as a face.

For the big finale, I set up the NPCs (allies and enemies) as Lair Actions, and had players roll to see what happened that round: eg. Sky Pirates broadside the BBEG Efreeti enemies create walls of flame Djinn allies gust demons away Wizard university casts helpful spell And so on. Makes each round dynamic and showcased different NPCs from the story without everyone going all the time

Rakkety Tam was one of the best later Redwall books! I think it also had the only wolverine in the series

I get to listen to this at work and then go to Radio Critty after! Life is goodn

As someone also in a final battle where the DM pulled out a ton of NPCs on a large battlefield to give it a cinematic feel - I actually quite like it. I can totally get how it might turn into a slog, but for the long "big moment" battles, I usually have a ton I'm keeping track of myself as a spellcaster and the time in between helps me get my things in order, evaluate the lay of the land, or just grab a snack or something. However, I think there needs to be a battle mat or a thing I'm able to look at to answer my own questions, if we're doing theater of the mind and the DM is moving around the NPCs for ages and then it swings around to my turn ... I'm going to have to get a recap of where everyone is and that's just no fun for anyone

Tyrese Maxey shoutout off rip???

False Goth! Shame!!

My mounds are shambling! See y’all tonight :’)))))))

Rf

feeling incredibly targeted right off the bat as someone who was hooking up with, and playing dnd with, the guy I was living with (it did in fact go incredibly poorly lmao)

They do have carving stations!! They set up the buffet like 30 minutes before and then they dissemble the buffet for the play!

Triss https://share.google/PNixBqC7Ke9LxXXvC Sexy Squirrel from Redwall

I love this thick ‘sode, so nice having longer dungeon court, please continue this trend!

Please!!! Come to Chicago!

In regards to the Shambling Mound vs Call Lightning. When lightning strikes it splits the stable atmospheric nitrogen molecules. Those free atoms then bond with oxygen to create nitrogen oxide, which dissolve in rain to create nitrates. This process is known as atmospheric nitrogen fixation and it delivers vital nutrients for plant growth into the soil.

As a goth listening to this while gardening in my skinny jeans i feel absolutely called out 😭

Complaining a monster is immune to a damage type isn't that far from a fighter demanding the monster's AC be lower after they miss by one. Better luck next time, baby

I'll happily absorb the razz lmao. In my meager defense, the monster was pulled off of a random encounter table, not planned ahead of time

I want the shirt! "Your Monsters are your responsibility"

see you tomorrow!

The movie rating system poster is a top-tier pull

sitting here with a placid smile waiting for the sally acorn reference and for jake to remind us that she is, in fact, a 10

caldwell’s sexy squirrel noise is pretty important to me

holy shit dakota johnson listens to naddpod

see y’all TOMORROW 🫡🫡

Was not expecting Emily to reference Tyrese Maxey in the opening minutes. Go Sixers!

THANK YOU TWO CREW AND TREVOR

I was excited my story was chosen that I at least had to listen to them read it before I went to bed, but I didnt name myself after a wrestler, I named myself after a painting I found in a small gallery called “Honky Tonk Man” and I said “he’s literally me.” But I’m glad to be in the same league as that wiener wrestler

I needed this rn😊

just in time for the night before radio critty slumber 🫶

First

FIRST

off to a good start for radio city weekend

Great post