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Mastering Dungeons

Mastering Dungeons

RPG veterans and game designers Teos Abadía and Shawn Merwin look at the game and the hobby of D&D from a variety of viewpoints: reporting the news, understanding the business, reviewing the products, and illuminating the design. Whether you’re a fan, a player, a DM, or a designer, Shawn and Teos cover topics of interest to you!

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  • 32 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 1 hr 34 min
  • English

Episodes 32

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  • #298
    June 10 · 1 hr 21 min

    D&D Encounters Unboxing!

    Episode 295 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: D&D Encounters Unboxing! We unbox the D&D Encounters Ravenloft season contents and share the design of the Shadows of Sithicus adventure! News: WotC Changes Drops Policy, Neon Odyssey Breaks Records, Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 Remakes, Ravenloft Finishes AP, and more! Contents 00:00 Our Favorite Show 02:04 Same Kobold Lair? 04:52 What Inspires Us for Designing? 11:06 Ravenloft's Final AP and Play Pack 13:29 New Monthly Drops 18:04 Shawn on New Drops Monsters 19:49 Changes to the Drops Program 23:08 Neon Odyssey Breaks Records 25:17 Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 Remakes 28:34 AL and LoG Organized Play Update 29:59 New Greyhawk Supplements 30:52 Rise of the Lazy Gamemaster 31:55 Encounters Unboxed! 33:07 Quick Overview of D&D Encounters 37:36 Different from AL and LoG 42:15 Stores and Kits 45:30 What's In the Box? 48:33 Poster Maps! 50:38 DM and Player Rewards! 55:38 Dice Packs 58:13 What's in the Adventure? 01:03:11 Interactive Celebration Event 01:07:19 After the Celebration 01:10:44 Making Stores Happy 01:12:00 Encounters Dates 01:16:57 Shout-Outs 01:20:41 What Are We Gonna Do? Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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  • #297
    June 3 · 1 hr 40 min

    Best of Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus!

    Episode 294 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus! This adventure changed drastically to become a prequel to the highly successful Baldur’s Gate 3. We take a look at the best the adventure offers! News: Ravenloft Horrors Within Early Access, Kickstarter Backs Down, 2nd Legends of Greyhawk Pack, Latest Drops and DMAP, and more! Contents 00:00 Teos Plays Crows and Chickens 05:17 Starting a Serious Campaign? 14:59 Ravenloft Horrors Within Early Access 18:55 Free International Day of Play Adventure 20:20 Licensing Expo and D&D 25:09 D&D Advisory Group 29:10 New Legends of Greyhawk Pack 30:24 D&D Website Update 31:11 Latest DMAP and Drops 37:58 EMEA Region Release Dates 39:27 Save with Steve Conley 40:03 Kickstarter Backtracks on Mature Content 42:02 BG: Descent Into Avernus 44:43 Product History 53:21 Prequel to Baldur's Gate 3 55:37 Premise and Approach 58:46 Overview and Background 01:03:58 Cult Investigations in Baldur's Gate 01:08:40 The Evil Behind the Cults 01:12:44 Candlekeep 01:16:40 Elturel Has Fallen 01:22:46 Exploring Avernus 01:25:57 The Sword of Zariel 01:31:55 Appendices and Final Thoughts 01:35:36 Shout-Outs 01:39:53 What Are We Gonna Do? Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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  • #296
    May 27 · 1 hr 24 min

    Best of Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage!

    Episode 293 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage! Undermountain comes to 5E! We delve into Halaster’s secrets and the best of the 23 wild dungeon levels! News: Hasbro’s Strong Q1, Crows RPG Playtest, Daggerheart Birthday News, D&D Video Game Canceled, and more! Contents 00:00 Crows RPG Playtest 03:00 Attacks of Opportunity Good? 13:51 Ravenloft and Encounters Coming 17:41 June 11 International Game of Play 18:59 Gen Con D&D Event News 23:04 Hasbro's Strong Q1 26:20 Cybersecurity Incident Costs 29:43 How Big is D&D? 31:16 Hasbro Cancels D&D Video Game 32:10 Daggerheart Birthday News 33:57 Dungeon of the Mad Mage 35:47 Product History and AL Admins 42:09 Roll 20 Update and Sale 42:51 Premise and Approach 47:42 Undermountain's Story 53:20 Adventure Hooks and Secrets 56:51 Best of Mad Mage: Level 1 01:03:12 Best of Arcane Chambers 01:04:54 Best of Skullport and Trobriand's 01:06:24 Flumphs and The Matrix 01:08:38 Vanrakdoom and Spelljammers 01:11:20 Terminus and Fazrian 01:12:50 Mad Halaster's Lair 01:18:58 Shout-Outs 01:23:20 What Are We Gonna Do? Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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  • #295
    May 20 · 1 hr 39 min

    Best of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist! (MD 292)

    Episode 292 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist! Urban adventures come to 5E. Decide which faction we belong to as we find the best travel spots in all of Waterdeep! News: Daggerheart’s Birthday, Mordenkainen vs Bahamut, Crowdfunding Whale Trends, and more! Contents 00:00 Draw Steel on Our Patreon! 03:30 Our Proudest Design Work? 10:28 Key Role for Antagonists? 20:20 Chris Cocks Promises D&D Crossovers 24:06 Daggerheart's Birthday 25:17 Night Market at Gen Con 26:40 Mordenkainen vs Bahamut 27:15 Dullahan DMAP Play Pack 28:42 EN World Visits Mongoose Publishing 31:26 Scipio on Crowdfunding Whales 36:27 Dwarven Forge Caverns Reforged 37:25 Keith Ammann on Shadomain.Com 38:27 Waterdeep Dragon Heist 40:39 Product History 47:01 Credits 50:40 Premise and Approach 52:01 Story Premise 55:14 When it Takes Place? 57:00 More Factions 58:03 Introduction 01:05:59 Volo in Need 01:12:13 Trollskull Alley and Your Home 01:15:09 Fireball and Multiple Paths 01:21:05 Dragon Season 01:27:26 Seasons and Villains 01:34:27 Shout-Outs 01:38:21 What Are We Gonna Do? Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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  • #294
    May 13 · 1 hr 53 min

    The Famous and Infamous Tomb of Horrors! (MD 291)

    Episode 291 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: The Famous and Infamous Tomb of Horrors! We look back at one of the most feared adventures across RPGs! We discuss how to have fun with this adventure and revisit the most interesting challenges it presents. News: D&D Beyond Drops, Hasbro’s CEO on D&D’s Digital Future, Enormous Crowdfunders, and more! Contents 00:00 Sheep and Hikes 04:20 Patent Clarification 05:20 Converting AL to Home Play? 10:50 5E Release Freelancer Impact? 18:57 D&D Beyond Announces Drops 35:03 Chris Cocks on D&D's Digital Future 41:32 WotC Union Not Recognized 42:38 DMAP Waxworks Play-Along Pack 45:05 Tim Harford on Lee Gold 46:02 Weapons of Lore for Draw Steel 46:48 Enormous Crowdfunders 50:49 Tomb of Horrors 52:48 Product History 01:02:38 Premise and Approach 01:08:01 How to Have Fun With This 01:13:12 Introduction 01:19:23 Rooms 3-13 and Illustration Book 01:28:28 Best of Rooms 14-21 01:32:09 Best of Rooms 22-30 01:39:01 The Final Crypt 01:47:43 Shout-Outs 01:52:15 What Are We Gonna Do? Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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  • #293
    May 6 · 1 hr 33 min

    Best of Tomb of Annihilation! (MD 290)

    Episode 290 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Tomb of Annihilation! Welcome to the jungle as we explore the hottest parts of Tomb of Annihilation! News: D&D on Ted TV Show, D&D Beyond Class Packs, Small Kickstarter Math, UBI and Creative Hobbies, and more! Contents 00:00 Weekend of Annihilation 02:11 Publish Updated Adventures? 06:58 What Do You Mean by a Good Story? 18:12 D&D on Ted TV Show 22:51 Diamond Bankruptcy Update 25:21 DDB Class Packs 27:41 Mist Horrors DMAP Play Pack 29:47 D&D Rules According to Past Players 31:55 AI Popularity Drop in Music 34:13 UBI and Creative Hobbies 37:18 Draw Steel Magazine 38:32 Math of Small Kickstarters 41:15 Tomb of Annihilation 44:28 Product History 49:55 Premise and Approach 54:37 Intro and Adventure Structure 57:18 Port Nyanzaru 01:03:56 AL, Adept, and Other Add-Ons 01:05:19 The Land of Chult 01:13:25 Dwellers of the Forbidden City 01:17:36 Fane of the Night Serpent 01:20:19 Tomb of the Nine Gods 01:23:36 Cradle of the Death God 01:27:04 New Rules and Monsters and Handouts 01:28:39 Shout-Outs 01:33:03 What Are We Gonna Do? Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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  • #292
    April 29 · 1 hr 52 min

    Best of Gary Gygax’s Against the Giants G1-2-3! (MD 289)

    Episode 289 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Against the Giants G1-2-3! We revisit the classic Against the Giants Dungeons & Dragons adventure, including the very first adventure ever published for D&D! Join us as we walk the halls, glacier, and steading to find the best of this influential series. News: WotC Team Unionizing, Free Zombie Clot Encounter and Draw Steel Treasures, WotC’s AI Patent, D&D Encounters Explained, New UA, and more! Contents 00:00 PC Roles in Daggerheart 07:58 ToV Giants for Patreon! 08:47 Converting Old Adventures to 5E? 16:10 Dungeon Masters AP is Live 20:10 Free Zombie Clot Encounter 22:37 Gremishka's 2nd Play Pack 23:37 New DMAP Soundtrack 25:00 D&D Encounters Explained 39:54 WotC's AI Patent 45:54 MtG Arena Team Unionizing 46:37 UA Villainous Options 2 48:45 Free Draw Steel Magic Items 52:07 New Official Terrain 54:04 Against the Giants 56:00 Additional Disclaimer 57:20 A Brief History 01:01:03 Premise and Approach 01:11:52 Introduction 01:16:56 Wheels Within Wheels Structure 01:19:01 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief 01:24:16 Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl 01:29:20 Hall of the Fire Giant King 01:40:00 Amazing Elder Elemental God Area 01:47:16 Shout-Outs 01:51:18 What Are We Gonna Do? Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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  • #291
    April 22 · 1 hr 38 min

    How Good is D&D’s New Website? (MD 288)

    Episode 288 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: How Good is D&D’s New Website? We take a look at D&D’s new site and discuss how well it works for new players, community, Baldur’s Gate fans, new Ravenloft and actual play reveals, and much more! News: New Ravenloft Details, Dungeon Masters AP, Daggerheart Hope and Fear, Legends of Greyhawk, and more! Contents 00:00 Little Giant Patreon Creations 04:13 Is 5E Oatmeal? 10:07 Montages? 21:28 Ravenloft Horrors Within Details 23:10 D&D's New Actual Play Dungeon Masters 25:42 Actual Play Play-Along Packs 27:37 Legends of Greyhawk on DDB 30:32 Daggerheart Hope & Fear Date 32:08 Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG 34:01 Dice are 12000 Years Old 35:58 Human-Made Alternatives Guide 36:44 Indie Groundbreaker Awards 37:28 Legends of Eleanora Charity Livestream 38:28 D&D's Website 40:50 Looking Back Through Newbie Eyes 45:43 Initial Welcome Screen 49:30 Discover the Feeling of Play 53:14 Your Inner Hero 01:00:34 CPU Intensive 01:02:17 Dungeon Masters New AP 01:08:04 Community? 01:13:21 Inspiring TTRPGs 01:14:38 Digital Games 01:17:14 Cinematic 01:22:19 Ravenloft Landing Page 01:24:58 Preorders and DDB Focus 01:31:44 Shout-Outs 01:36:47 What Are We Gonna Do? Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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  • #290
    April 15 · 1 hr 55 min

    Best of Storm King’s Thunder! (MD 287)

    Episode 287 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Storm King’s Thunder! Bring the thunder with this giant-filled D&D 5E adventure! Shawn and Teos review what truly makes this adventure shine. News: Big Patreon News, New D&D Job Speculation, Hasbro’s AI Principles, Ravenloft Comics, and more! Contents 00:00 Back and Inspired 02:18 Big Patreon News! 05:12 Skip the Boring Bits? 17:19 New Ravenloft Comics 19:31 What a New D&D Job Tells Us 31:47 Evil Hat on Inflation 35:11 Hasbro's AI Principles 40:11 Darrington Press' Great Survey 44:37 Best of Storm King's Thunder 46:22 Storm King's History 52:03 Premise of Ordning and Shakespeare 56:31 Approach and Intro 01:08:31 Starting at 1st vs 5th Level 01:10:22 Chapter 1 Nightstone 01:17:38 Chapter 2 Choice of 3 Towns 01:20:01 Chapter 3 and Quests in the North 01:27:16 Chapter 4 Giant Temple 01:32:17 Chapter 5 Giant Lair 01:38:23 Chapter 10 Maelstrom and Storm Giants 01:41:23 Chapter 11 is James Bond 01:44:01 Chapter 11 Showdown with a Dragon 01:49:39 Shout-Outs and Patreon News 01:54:39 What Are We Gonna Do? Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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  • #289
    April 8 · 1 hr 43 min

    Best of Curse of Strahd (MD286)

    Episode 286 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Curse of Strahd! One of 5E's highest-rated adventures! Jeff Mueller joins Shawn to discuss why it is so good and how Jeff is running it yet again - this time for Daggerheart! News: MegaDungeon Month, BG3 TV Show Delays, UA Villainous Options, and more! Contents 00:00 Introduction 34:29 Curse of Strahd Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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  • #287
    April 1 · 1 hr 32 min

    Best of Out of the Abyss! (MD 285)

    Episode 285 of Mastering Dungeons! Main topic: Best of Out of the Abyss! Out of the Abyss may be one of the finest Underdark sourcebooks D&D has created… and it’s also an adventure! See what really shines in Out of the Abyss. News: We Try D&D Beyond’s Quickbuilder, Colbert Helms Lord of the Rings, Cookie Brigade’s History, and more! Contents 00:00 Teos Has a Sad 01:30 Elemental Evil Update 03:13 Indonesia RPG Scene Update 05:04 Fantasy Properties Into Games? 07:46 Quality of D&D Reviews? 13:48 What Makes Great Adventures 14:50 Starter Set Localized in EU 15:56 D&D Beyond Character Quickbuilder 17:47 Stephen Colbert Writing LotR Movie 19:27 Survey on Tabletop Designer AI Use 22:13 New Dragonlance War Wizards Novel 23:22 History of the Cookie Brigade 24:32 Tatters of Myth Drannor 25:15 Best of Out of the Abyss 26:11 Product History 32:41 Premise and Approach 35:54 Chapter 1: Prisoners of the Drow 42:55 Chapter 2 as Underdark Sourcebook 46:07 The Darklake and Kuo-Toa 49:01 The Instigating Plot 51:28 Gracklstugh, Neverlight Grove, Blindengstone 56:08 Escaping the Underdark to Go Back In 59:36 Mantol-Derith and Fraz-Urb'luu 01:04:42 Gravenhollow and Establishing Facts 01:08:32 Vizeran and His Plan 01:11:23 Wormwrithings and Faction Play 01:14:46 The Fettid Wedding 01:16:55 Against the Demon Lords 01:20:25 Appendices 01:22:27 Looking Back on Its Ranking 01:26:47 Shout-Outs 01:31:52 What Are We Gonna Do? Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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  • #288
    April 1 · 2 min

    Shawn and Teos Do Things For the First Time!

    Shawn and Teos Do Things For the First Time! Welcome to a special edition show, modeled after YouTube's increasingly hard-to-attain quality standards. Contents 00:00 First Read of ToEE! 00:26 First Time Rolling Dice 01:08 First Time Seeing 5.5 Thank you for listening! Get the full show notes with links on Patreon. Show Search Engine: https://mdsearch.alphastream.org/ Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). MP3 file metadata populated with Online MP3 Podcast Chapter Editor, built by Dominik Peters. https://mp3chapters.github.io/ and customized for Mastering Dungeons by Vladimir Prenner from Croatia.

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Showing 21–32 of 32 episodes