Three expert GMs explore the craft of tabletop roleplaying—why rules feel good, why scenes work, and how stories land. Through casual conversation, creative experiments, and honest breakdowns, this podcast celebrates what makes the hobby special and helps you run better games.
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Shadowdark Dungeon Crawl | Actual Play, Pt. 5 The Jaunty Mantis is a podcast of creative questions for curious gamers. New episodes every week. Run on Foundry VTT with the Shadowdark module. THE PARTY ⚔️ Jorbin Ironhelm — dwarf fighter (Matty) 🗡️ Ralina Biggins — halfling thief (Peaches, aka The Beast) ✝️ Iraga Dragu — half-orc priest (Chris) 🎲 Game Mother — Jesse This video is an independent production under the Shadowdark RPG Third-Party License and is not affiliated with The Arcane Library, LLC.
A sun-scorched courtyard. A 20-foot bull of black onyx with thirty skulls threaded onto its horns like beads. A floor of cracked, chewed bones. And hoofprints leading to a door.
The torch goes out. Something with hooves hunts these halls by sound. And the party's newest member smells faintly of pine.
A bronze bull. A cracked wall. A body pinned between them — and a gem worth dying for still embedded in the statue's forehead. The party descends deeper into the tomb and learns what happened to Orwin the Younger... and why nothing good ever comes from going down. The Jaunty Mantis is a podcast of creative questions for curious gamers. New actual play episodes every week. This episode: sprung traps, terracotta jars best left sealed, aggressive inventory management, and a locket someone will regret throwing away. Run on Foundry VTT with the Shadowdark module. THE PARTY ⚔️ Jorbin Ironhelm — dwar
Player character death is 100% on the table. No PC can see in the dark — but every monster can. The Jaunty Mantis crew puts Shadowdark RPG to the test with a real dungeon crawl. Jesse takes the GM seat and leads a dwarf fighter with immaculately waxed facial hair, a halfling thief who will absolutely pick her own party's pockets, and a soft-hearted half-orc priest into the Lost Citadel — chasing rumors of forgotten gold and magical weapons of the ancient kings. Torches burn for 60 real minutes. Hit points are low. Damage is high. And something with very large hooves has been walking these hall
We reviewed Troika! by Melsonian Arts Council once before — but we hadn't played it yet. Now we have. Does actually playing it change anything? (Yes. And no.) Jesse, Matty, and Chris dig into what it's actually like to sit down at the table with an acid fantasy OSR system, whether rules-light games are good for new players, and the eternal question: if story is all that matters, why try different games at all? Also: Matty fixed D&D 5e combat, Jesse ran vampires into emotional ruin, and someone pulls out a Labyrinth goblin field guide. Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
A bull-bodied hero eats twenty people's worth of fondant in one fistful, and asks for one thing: a sausage. They're illegal in Troika. He's offering money.
Roll to ignore the cats. The tiger can tell you really want to pet it, so it's ignoring you harder. Part 7 of our Troika! one-shot on The Jaunty Mantis. The elevator gets four new passengers, the attendant makes an extremely poor choice, and a tiny knight in painted armor enters the party's life and never leaves. Cast Jesse as Gormer the Underbursar Matty as Darlo Tik'l Anna as Moth Chris as Game Mother Featuring the silent stylings of Sir Two Stamps Find us 🦋 Bluesky: @jauntymantis 📩 jauntymantis@gmail.com Like, subscribe, and ideally find yourself in an elevator crowded with tigers at leas
Gormer pulls a gas mask out of the door in his forehead. Moth's fashion sense becomes an Art Nouveau gas filter. A small egg-shaped man hustles them out of eleven silver. Part 6 of our Troika! one-shot on The Jaunty Mantis. The party rides the elevator up through floors none of them asked for, solving puzzles that didn't need to exist. Cast Jesse as Gormer the Underbursar Matty as Darlo Tik'l, Red Priest (currently cursed to swear) Anna as Moth Chris as Game Mother Find us 🦋 Bluesky: @jauntymantis 📩 jauntymantis@gmail.com Like, subscribe, and tell us your favorite Weezer song they didn't wri
Darlo rolls double sixes. The oops table opens. From there, things only get worse. Welcome to The Jaunty Mantis — a podcast of creative questions for curious gamers. This is Part 5 of our Troika! one-shot at the Blanc Mange & Thistle, where three strangers share a hotel room on the eve of the Feast of the Chiliark. In this episode: a demonic puddle on the stairwell, an experimental burning, and a curse the Red Priest will be living with for the rest of the night. Cast - Jesse as Gormer the Underbursar, Sorcerer of the Eighth Door - Matty as Darlo Tik'l, Red Priest - Anna as Moth - Chris as Gam
Moth picks a fight with an owl. Everyone else suffers the consequences. Plus: Darlo discovers his new favorite hobby, Gormer's combat strategy is "wave knife around hopefully," and the staircase ahead has a problem the party is not prepared for. The session-one finale of our Troika! Numinous Edition mini-campaign. Session 2 incoming. CAST - Jesse as Gormer the Underbursar (Sorcerer of the Academy of Doors) Matty as Darlo Tik'l (Red Priest) Anna as Moth (Abyssal Myth Crusher) Chris as Game Mother (GM) SYSTEM - Troika! Numinous Edition by Daniel Sell, published by the Melsonian Arts Council. Buy
A staircase mural of beaked figures, serrated keys, and a horde of screaming demons. Two knowledge rolls. Both fail. The party concludes everything is fine. Spoiler: it is not. Episode 3 of our Troika! Numinous Edition mini-campaign. SYSTEM - Troika! Numinous Edition by Daniel Sell, published by the Melsonian Arts Council. Buy the game: https://www.melsonia.com/ We are not affiliated with the Melsonian Arts Council. Played for the love of weird fantasy. CAST - Jesse as Gormer the Underbursar (Sorcerer of the Academy of Doors) Matty as Darlo Tik'l (Red Priest) Anna as Moth (Abyssal Myth Crusher
Darlo bonds with his new roommates the only way he can: by demanding the most inedible pickled vegetable on the menu and sharing it with them. Plus: a herbal beverage best described as "Jagermeister, but vodka," and a hotel festival that involves shooting fireworks at neighboring rooftops. Episode 2 of our Troika! Numinous Edition mini-campaign. CAST: Jesse as Gormer the Underbursar (Sorcerer of the Academy of Doors) Matty as Darlo Tik'l (Red Priest) Anna as Moth (Abyssal Myth Crusher) Chris as Game Mother (GM) SYSTEM: Troika! Numinous Edition by Daniel Sell, published by the Melsonian Arts Co
A door-wizard with disastrous luck, a death-priest who'd rather be elsewhere, and a swamp-mystic with a mission walk into a hotel. It's the only room left. They're sharing it. Episode 1 of our Troika! Numinous Edition mini-campaign. Character creation, the first stat-roll catastrophe, and the most reluctant agreement to share a drink in podcast history. Jesse as Gormer the Underbursar (Sorcerer of the Academy of Doors) Matty as Darlo Tik'l (Red Priest) Anna as Moth (Abyssal Myth Crusher) Chris as Game Mother (GM) Troika! Numinous Edition by Daniel Sell, published by the Melsonian Arts Council.
We played a few sessions of Mothership and then immediately gathered around the microphone like a group of nervous space janitors who just opened the wrong airlock. In this episode of the Jaunty Mantis, we poke, prod, and lovingly scream about the sci-fi horror RPG from Tuesday Knight Games.
Welcome to the Jaunty Mantis Mothership RPG Actual Play series! This is Part 2 and the chilling conclusion. Mothership is a sci-fi horror tabletop roleplaying game focused on survival, panic, and cosmic dread. Previously, the crew boarded a long-lost colony ship that vanished three centuries ago with 1,000 souls in cryosleep. Fired from a massive railgun and tasked with offering a corporate “resettlement package” to any survivors, the team quickly realized that this derelict ark holds more questions than answers. Strange behavior. Failing systems. Missing time. And when one crew member disappe
Rich Ranallo of Signal Interruption drops in to run a series of Mothership sessions based on an adventure he’s bringing to publication.
Three expert GMs explore the craft of tabletop roleplaying—why rules feel good, why scenes work, and how stories land. Through casual conversation, creative experiments, and honest breakdowns, this podcast celebrates what makes the hobby special and helps you run better games.
Three expert GMs explore the craft of tabletop roleplaying—why rules feel good, why scenes work, and how stories land. Through casual conversation, creative experiments, and honest breakdowns, this podcast celebrates what makes the hobby special and helps you run better games.
Death and danger aren’t just threats in Dungeons & Dragons—they’re what give stories weight. In this episode of Jaunty Mantis, the gang digs into why real risk matters at the table, how rules and scenes create tension, and what makes RPG storytelling truly land. The Arcane Library article discussed on the episode: https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/blogs/news/the-importance-of-danger-and-death-in-your-dnd-game?srsltid=AfmBOoq7WfPKBDnaHKnVMJGfQ2PLkLYEzz8f0Ka9SGTV4qbMKFzinsbH
Should you really never split the party? In this episode of Jaunty Mantis, Jesse and Chris dig into one of tabletop RPG’s oldest rules of thumb—and turn it on its head. From D&D and Vampire to Traveler and Powered by the Apocalypse, we talk about why splitting the party can actually improve pacing, roleplay, tension, and storytelling at your table. Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
What do healthy, fun, and sustainable tabletop gaming goals actually look like in 2026? Jaunty Mantis here, this week we sit down to talk about our personal and shared TTRPG goals for the year ahead—as game masters, players, creators, and people who love this hobby but want to avoid burnout. From campaign pacing and storytelling priorities to how often we actually want to be at the table, we break down what we’re aiming for (and what we’re leaving behind). Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
Ending a tabletop RPG session can feel awkward, rushed, or flat—even when the rest of the game was great. So how should a session end? In this episode of The Jaunty Mantis, we unpack why session endings matter, why Game Masters are often overly self-critical, and how to end sessions in ways that build momentum instead of killing it. From cliffhangers and cutaways to ending mid-combat (on purpose), we explore practical techniques you can use immediately—without burning yourself out trying to be “cinematic” every time. Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
