Best products from r/Harmontown

Brandon Johnson comptrols for the fourth episode in a row; Jeff will finally return the following week.


Dan's Instagram songs have really taken on a life of their own (especially now that he has a self-driving car).


Dan is referencing the bizarre (and highly meme-able) story about Trump touching a glowing orb in Saudi Arabia.


The image of feeding checks into the heart monitor is so hilariously dystopian -- it really conjures up the perfect genre-based feeling.


Dan's Kumail impression still isn't great (or even good, really), but it's come a long way. Not sure when his previous attempts were, but it's definitely been a while.


I had entirely forgotten about this pug rant, but it is absolute gold. His rescue dog joke didn't land for me because I immediately thought of a pug trying to rescue someone instead of a dog being rescued. Also, Dan is referencing the music video for Blind Melon's "No Rain", which has such a heartwarming concept.


I really don't know what to make of Dan's approach of not hiding red flags but waving them like a matador. Maybe it's a good way of getting rejections out of the way early on so time isn't wasted on people who are pretty certain to not end up working out anyway.


"In his defense, he didn't know what he was doing was illegal." I love how this is just thrown away.


"Getting defensive over nothing" is such a pithy summation of Dan's M.O., isn't it? It's good that he's at least acutely aware of it here, and I think therapy continues to ameliorate this tendency.


This is such a beautiful title quote, though.


It's really incredible how "Ram Dass ain't no joke!" was set up four episodes ago in "The Final Meltdown." Brandon Johnson, you sly motherfucker.


Nothing is funnier than imagining someone narrating their own mushroom trip.


"It never gets any better than sitting under a tree, grooming each other, and waiting to die."


Fred Stoller doesn't feel to me like the best fit for Harmontown (maybe it's his particular energy or older comedy style), but he's at least entertaining. Here are My Seinfeld Year and Five Minutes to Kill.

I prefer Reaper to Audacity, but that's just personal preference. I find it waaaay easier to edit. It's not free, but it has a pretty much unlimited trial with no restrictions other than a box telling you to buy it when you open the program. Should you get use out of it though, you totally should buy it. It's cheap as hell for a DAW and worth every goddamned penny.

I use an Audio Technica AT2020, which should be a decent step up from your ATR2100. If you want a leap up, the Shure SM7B is one of the best mics you can get, but it requires a shitload of gain so you have to make sure you get a mixer or audio interface that can support it. Since I can't afford to get both a new mixer and a new mic, my next mic will likely be an Electro Voice RE320 dynamic microphone, which seems like a great mic for the price.

Making your audio sound better is not a cheap venture. Once you start your way down this rabbit hole, be prepared to spend a lot of money over the years on it. I'm a voice-over artist, and most of the money I make doing that goes right back into my setup. This room needs audio treatment, I need a better mic, I need better isolation, maybe a full recording booth, but god damn I could build that myself for a fraction of the cost, but will my mediocre craftsmanship be worth the savings? etc etc etc.

If you're just looking for a good setup for a podcast, an XLR AT2020 and a Focusrite Scartlett 2i2 should keep you satisfied for a while. Make sure you also get a pop filter, and good XLR cables.

Happy to help!

Getting started... hmm... I think everyone will have different advice on this. Here's mine.

Give your players a reason to band together in the game, a challenge that requires all of their different skills, or an enemy tough enough that all of them really feel like they've contributed to defeating it.

One thing I'd try to do is start with smaller, one-off, episodic adventures - perhaps short enough to resolve in one or two sessions. You can start linking this into your grand, complex campaign narrative soon enough, but to start with this will give everyone a nice feeling of accomplishment. Delayed gratification is a great tool for later on, but it's nice to start by establishing a proper sense of having achieved something.

World-building is a great way to build immersion. When they visit the tavern they could hear rumours about what's happening in distant lands, some of which they might want to follow up! It helps if things make sense - why is this town here? What is this dungeon, why has it fallen into evil hands? What motivates character x to do action y? Politics? Religion? History? Geography?

This can be a HUGE amount of work for a committed DM (though it's also fun!). A nice way to get into this kind of depth without so much work is to get hold of a campaign setting (I like the 3E Forgotten Realms one: http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Campaign-Setting-Dungeons-Roleplaying/dp/0786918365/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381667228&sr=1-1&keywords=forgotten+realms+campaign+setting) and use that as a starting point. Or, even better - just set it in a universe you're already nerdily knowledgeable about. Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Greendale Community College, etc... carve out your own corner.

So, I think most of the free online ones don't seem that great. But the NHS (UK) recommends these two programs: Fear Fighter is for people with phobias or panic attacks; Beating the Blues is for people with mild to moderate depression

and this book to patients which works pretty much how the paid for online courses work I believe, but much cheaper to start and get an idea.

I'm pretty sure if you do some googling you can also find most of the parts of the book as free pdfs online. All these online ones are based around CBT but really it needs that interaction and adaptation to you that only a professional can do, but the self help CBT stuff works well enough for quite a few people and for others it gives them the bump they need to progress to an actual therapist.

Hope it helps anyhow. I'm not a doctor (just as a disclaimer) but I am a researcher in the neuro field (though (again) this isn't my specialty). But if you have any other questions I might be able to help with let me know.

This depends on what type of D&D you want to play. I play 4e. From my understanding of previous editions, much more of 4e happens on the table. If you have experience with tabletop games like I, and my friends, had, you should try this out. If not, it's very easy to pick up.

I'm pretty sure that Spencer is DMing a Pathfinder game in the podcast. It's definitely 3.5.

Anyway, back to the starting point. If you're interested in trying 4e, skip the starter set. It's useless. It gives you enough information to get 4 classes to level 2, and incorrectly at that. The provided adventure is boring, and you're not left with a whole lot to do after that.

If you're looking for the cheapest game possible, you'll need:

Players Handbook 1 http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Players-Handbook-Roleplaying/dp/0786948671/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381660555&sr=1-1&keywords=4e+players+handbook

Monster Manual 1 http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Monster-Manual-Roleplaying/dp/0786948523/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381660601&sr=1-1&keywords=4e+monster+manual

Core Rulebook http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Dungeon-Masters-Guide/dp/0786948809/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

If you want to play 4e correctly, these are the three books you need. Characters, maps, and monsters can be improvised as needed.

If you're willing to spend more, I would suggest this map:

http://www.amazon.com/Chessex-Role-Playing-Play-Mat/dp/B0015IQO2O/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1381660750&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=d%26d+vinyl+mat

With some wet erase markers (WET, not DRY), you can build any dungeon, castle, or moon colony you can imagine. Beyond those three books, I think this is the best investment you can make to immerse yourself and your friends into another world.

Wizards provides character sheets at the backs of some books, but there are better ones on their website for free.

https://www.wizards.com/dnd/Tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/charactersheet

Last, if you really want to make things as simple as possible, subscribe to D&D Insider.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/tools.aspx

It's worth it for the character builder alone.

EDIT: Don't forget the dice!

Wholeheartedly recommend the Starter Set as well. Best with a group of 6 friends (Whichever of you likes reading and rulesing the most should be the DM). It really does a great job of guiding the players into D&D a little bit at a time, and gives them pretty grounded characters that are easy to get a handle on.

I've run the opening adventure twice now with different groups (each with a mix of experienced RPGers and complete newbies who have only listened to Harmontown) and it's been pretty great for everyone.

I'd always recommend buying from a local gaming store, but if you're an amazonhead (or want to support Feral thru their portal), this is what you want to look for: http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Roleplaying/dp/0786965592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410197959&sr=8-1&keywords=d%26d+starter+set

Hey friend, there's a whole range of ways to purchase and watch Harmontown :)

Stream it through VHX for $6.99

Stream/Rent the movie here on iTunes for $14.99 (or rent for $6.99, thank you /u/MawsonAntarctica)

Rent Harmontown on Google Play for £3.49, big thank you to /u/kafja. All my love from AU to UK

Stream it on Amazon for $14.99

Do enjoy it and let us know what you think afterwards: http://www.reddit.com/r/Harmontown/comments/2i5rhh/the_official_harmontown_movie_thread/

Hey there, fellow board game designer! I've got one game on shelves called Double Double Dominoes, and another few that'll be coming out over the next couple years. It's hard work, but lots of fun.

The same is true for the baby--I've got a brand new one myself, just turning three months old. Nice to be adding another play tester to the in-house group.

It's funny because I was tempted to correct your initial summation Campbell's work but decided against it since I was also in the process of admitting how shitty it is to correct someone on something that's not even part of the point they were making.

But to say that Campbell's work is a simplification or "plebeian bastardization" of Jung's work is not accurate. It's common practice in academic writing for a scholar to build upon the work of another. So it's more accurate to say that Campbell was influenced by or that he built upon Jung's writing on archetypes and the collective subconscious. But while Campbell is writing on the nature of myths, Jung was a psychologist building upon Freud's earlier work to a completely different end.

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is that the sentiment in this sub regarding Campbell's work being derivative and therefore less valuable is unfair because it is the nature of academic writing to build upon the writings of your predecessor.


The Hero with a Thousand Faces is the seminal work in the field and clearly the source of Harmon's inspiration. I'd also recommend Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey as the best and most succint interpretation and analysis of Campbell's ideas as a framework for contemporary story and writing.

Don't worry, I've already been through and love all of his story circle stuff. I found the workbook on Amazon, but it's described as "The Perfect Companion Volume to Syd Field’s Revised and Updated Edition of Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting", so I might pick up both. Thanks!

I found a copy of the whole she-bang at my local comic shop. They didn't stock it for the longest time, but finally got a few copies. I'm pretty sure any comic shop will special order it for you if you ask.

It's available on amazon too. https://www.amazon.com/Scud-Whole-Shebang-Rob-Schrab/dp/1582406855/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=scud&qid=1556458325&s=gateway&sr=8-2

>Early release - Harmontown Original Motion Picture soundtrack composed by Ryan Elder. Delivered through iTunes and other aggregators shortly. Get it here now in one convenient zip file.

>Ryan Elder has composed music for numerous TV shows (Wizards of Waverly Place, Acceptable TV, Just Shoot Me) and ad clients (Nike, Toyota, US Bank) in partnership with Emoto Music. In 2010 he won a London International Award for his work on New Balance's "Feet on Head." He has been writing music for Los Angeles' monthly Channel 101 screenings since 2006, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. Ryan is currently composing for Cartoon Network's hit show, Rick and Morty.

If you want this via iTunes or other (not yet named) music systems, and you can be patient, this will show up there. But, you can right now pay $9.99 to get a .zip of MP3s of the music used in the film. No DRM or copy protection. Upload it to any device you own.

This includes the often requested spooky music that plays when /u/thesixler is doing his "Last time on Harmontown D&D" segment.

EDIT: This is now available on Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify.

Looks like its going to be on Amazon, as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Harmontown-Dan-Harmon/dp/B00NTSUVJK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411516401&sr=8-1&keywords=harmontown

Here's a link to the Harmontown Movie soundtrack. The songs used on the podcast are the Bonus Tracks at the bottom.

Ryan Elder created all the music for the tour and the movie. He put a lot of the tracks up for sale here... doesn't look like the piano track is one of them, though.

Get the 5e starter set. Costs $12 and will be at your door within the next couple o' days. It runs you through the game basics. It slowly exposes you to character sheet changes without dropping you into a boiling pot of water. It has enough monsters/enemies to not require a monster manual. It has a whole, decent story which doesn't require a DM manual.

The starter set is solid for ~3-5 players and a DM. Give the DM a week to read over the story / character backgrounds and get together with some quality beer. Keep us posted!

Also, check out /r/dnd/.