Party in Peril

Party in Peril: Villains is the second season of the NerdSloth Dungeons and Dragons themed podcast, Party in Peril. The show is a real play dnd session featuring a homebrew campaign set in the DM created world of Elorwryn. The world of Elorwryn is a gigantic place full of wonder, magic, and legendary heroes that shaped history. However, our humble little dnd campaign features a group of villains having to live their lives and work in contrast to a world of heroes. The villains of our story include Wazlo Zeez, a Goblin sorcerer of wild magic, Lilith, a Yuan-Ti monk, and Len, a Pixie rogue. Known as the Hellmates, our villains have banded together to thwart any would be heroes and make a name for themselves. Party in Peril is part audio drama, part dungeons and dragons campaign with lots of music, sound effects, and voice acting to set the mood. Enjoy the adventure if you dare!

How to Listen

Enjoy This Show?

You may also like:

Commonly Answered Questions

What version of D&D is Party in Peril?
The current campaign is a homebrew version of 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons which means it's based on the 5E ruleset, but Chris has modified some rules and added many other aspects to change things up.

How do I get in touch with the show hosts?
You can email us at podcasts@nerdsloth.com with Party in Peril as the subject line.

What are Peril Points and how do they work?
Peril Points are a special in-game currency that the players can use to purchase special items from the traveling merchant named Sleazil. Peril Points are earned every time a listener leaves a new rating or review on Apple Podcats.

How can I design an item or weapon for the campaign?
Items and weapons are able to be crafted by our Treehouse members that support us through Patreon. If you would like to learn more, head over to our Support Page!

What items have other listeners crafted?
Some of the magical items you may have heard mentioned in campaign 2 that were crafted by listeners inclue the Renardin Amulet, Balloooooon, and the Horn of Jezticles.

How can I get a NPC named after me?
If you rate the show on Apple Podcasts and leave a comment, you will definitely hear some iteration of your name in the show!

What NPCs are named after listeners?
From The Celestial Odyessy: Master Kavella, Indigo, Gerrick (satyr merchant), Emily, Scotty "6 Fingers" Rathorne, Thom (Emily's Cat). From Villains: Riddik, Yanos, Soup

What is the difference between campaigns 1 and 2?
The first campaign, The Celestial Odyessy, was a much darker story featuring heroes on the run from a changing political landscape shaped by Vampires and Werewolves. Season 2, Villains, is a light-hearted adventure following a group of "villains" as they attempt to make a name for themselves in a world full of legendary heroes.

Why did so many changes occur halfway through campaign 1?
The original DM for Party in Peril agreed to step away from NerdSloth because of personal matters. When that happened, it was requested not to use many of the original names and places originally intended for the campaign.

Why was Sheppard out of commission for so long in campaign 1?
When Chris assumed the role of DM, he felt he could not continue to play Sheppard the same way as his personality required commentary often depedant on reacting to situations of surprise and unknowing. The original plan was to kill Shepard off immediately upon confronting Halsey. Realizing Sheppard was many listeners' favorite character, he instead chose to let Sheppard cling on a bit longer which allowed Sheppard to reach his full redemption and complete his story arc.

What Easter Eggs exist in Party in Peril?
There are several Easter Eggs in both campaigns:
• The group of NPCs that assembled around Avadore and Jek in campaign 1 were largely inspired by The Avengers with direct counterparts helping Chris determine how they might make certain decisions (Capt. Stein - Capt. America, Piper - Black Widow, Elros - Hawkeye, Grunewalde - Thor, Jewel - Vision, Krogg - Hulk/Bruce Banner). Two characters that could have been companions but did not end up traveling with the group included Kasmos, based on Doctor Strange, and Raya, based on Scarlett Witch.
• The NPC Krogg was intended to be Chris' very first D&D character for a campaign he never got to play. The plan was for him to be a grizzled Orc Barbarian whose chieftan father was slain by a childhood rival.
• Many NPCs from both campaigns borrow names from the players of the first campaign Chris DM'd with his friends including: Piper (Piper Tealeaf), Elros, Jewel (originally Julius Peppers), Kasmos (originally John Skamos), Raya (originally Arraya).
• Both Riza Razortail and Gregory are NPCs lifted straight out of Chris' first campaign. When Len makes a comment about Gregory's mother in the episode, it's a nod to that original game where the players killed his mother in front of him, but Elros adopted him as a son which became a long running gag in the campaign.
• The map of Elorwryn includes 3 places named after the original 3 characters created for Party in Peril: Shepard's Horn, Jek, and New Avadore.
• Avadore's name was a combination of the song title Ava Adore by The Smashing Pumpkins.
• Sheppard was originally inspired by Trevor Belmont and not Deadpool as many listeners assume.

What tools does Chris use to run the campaign?
Chris creates many of the maps using Arkenforge and has several videos available to Treehouse members through Patreon detailing those maps and how he uses the Arkenforge system. Otherwise he also uses Photoshop with many many layers. The players all connect through Discord at the moment though they would like to explore other options in the future. Maintaining character sheets is done using dndbeyond.

How can I become more involved with Party in Peril?
You can find ways of getting involved with all the shows from NerdSloth by checking out our Community Page.

How can I support Party in Peril?
You can learn how to help support Party in Peril and NerdSloth as a whole by checking out our Support Page.

Season 2 Talent

Chris Koehne

Dungeon Master/Editor

Joseph Lambert

Wazlo Zeez (Goblin Sorceror)

Shaddai Berron

Lillith (Yuan-Ti Abomination Monk)

Rochelle Koehne

Len (Pixie Rogue)