“All That Remains” Out of the Box D&D Encounters #3
Introduction:
Out of the Box D&D Encounters #3 – “All That Remains.”
Kickstarter Behemoth is this the new Tarrasque
I try not to share too many Kickstarter projects here, but every once and a while I feel that a project is
200 px (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
worth sharing. Over the years Dungeons and Dragons as well as Pathfinder have released a number of large or should I say gargantuan miniatures. Most of the miniatures I have that get big are Dragons.
Lets face it the game many of us play is called Dungeons and Dragons so why make the other stuff? We as players all want to face down the big bad monsters, save the world, get the treasure and save the girl.
The biggest monster that anyone has put out was the Colossal Red Dragon. It is a wondrous figure and I am happy to say that I do own one. The dragon can actually hold a standard size human in one claw and I typically store one there for fun.
But if you want to deal with something other than dragons what are you options. Not many and there
The Basics: Getting started in Western martial arts
If you came here after reading the headline to this article, your mind is probably filled with images of longswords. While longswords are indeed a major component of the modern trend of Western martial arts, they are by no means the only weapon utilized within the art itself. Also, longswords come from one fairly narrow era of time, mainly from the 14th through 16th centuries, and Western martial arts covers a much broader period, going back at least several thousand years. You will find the study and practice of such weapons as the rapier, the Roman gladius, the bowie knife, and many, many other weapons, many bladed but not all.
Why Western martial arts?
May Dungeon Crate, Tiki Tiki Board Games, and The Weekly Wrap
Hello and well met traveler of the internet Nerdarchist Dave here with another Weekly Wrap. As usual we had a week full of articles here on the website, memes on Facebook, pics on Instagram, and of course videos on YouTube. Essentially it was another week of our regularly scheduled nerdiness.
Last week we announced our monthly game with the fans- Here
“A Friend in Need”- Out of The Box D&D Encounters #2
Out of The Box D&D Encounters #2 - "A Friend in Need" Environment: Variable** Suggested Level: 5-7 ** The environment for this encounter was originally intended as a Wilderness encounter, but there’s no reason why such a location might be found in an urban environment. It could even...
Nerdarchy Revises the 5th Edition Beast Master Ranger
Hello everyone. Now those of you who like the Beast Master as is written in the Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Players Handbook can just just consider the options listed below. If you feel, as Nerdarchy does, that the Ranger Beast Master does not hold up in comparison.
So as we see it here are the issues.
Shared Actions. While mechanically this is to make sure that the Ranger with an animal companion is not performing better than the fighter, which is supposed to be the optimal fighter type. Or doing more damage than the Barbarian which is supposed to be the high damage dealing warrior type.
Spell casters have the ability either by magical summoning or by magical control they do not have to give up their action in order for the other to perform their control. We also cannot over look things like familiars which have the ability to act on their own as well.
Review: Challenger, a free role-playing game
The cover of the Challenger RPG.
In the early days of tabletop role-playing games, mainly meaning the early days of Dungeons & Dragons, there was a certain amateur charm and excitement to the products. The artwork was decent, but not quite up to professional levels. The writing was personal, not full of corporate speak, with the occasional error. Even the rules were somewhat questionable, fairly simple but not always making sense.
The Challenger free role-playing game reminds of those days.
Obviously an amateur work, though a work of love, the Challenger game is written as if one of your gaming buddies was sitting across a table from you while excitedly telling you about his or her latest creation. The rules are simple, especially by modern standards, but they still seem to get the job done. The focus is upon rolling fewer dice so the role-playing aspects of the game can shine through, all while working hard to present a
The NAG, Our May Game, and Where is Nate in this Weekly Wrap 5-1-2016
Hello and well met traveler of the internet. Once again Dave here with another edition of our weekly wrap. We’ve got a couple of announcements to go along with what we did last week.
We are extremely happy to announce Mike Gould has joined us and contributing weekly a D&D series here on the website. Mike Gould has been a long time viewer over on the YouTube Channel. He’s notorious for his very long, in depth, and insightful comments on Nerdarchy videos. The series which debuted this week will help Game Masters plop encounters right into their game. The series is called “Out of the Box D&D Encounters”.
First off this is time sensitive the Easy Roller kickStarter is wrapping up in a day and half. It’s funded and they have reached all of their stretch goals. Vid and link below
Gunmetal Polyhedral RPG Dice In Complete Sets
Player Tips – Adding More Class to Your Class – Blood Hunter
Yes I lied last week when I said I was finished . Sorry about that. But we received a bunch of comments and requests to do this for Matthew Mercers Blood Hunter class. Last week we did do the last class in the Players handbook, the Wizard.
So today we are breaking off from the official, PHB classes, and focusing on the awesome class made by Matthew Mercer. I am sure that most of you know this legendary name in table top RPGs. If you do not know who he is feel free to search it out.
The Blood Hunter was created and off of the Witch hunter played by Vin Diesel so how many names can we jam into one article? Now Nerdarchy played a game play testing this class and its three archetypes. You can check out that video here.
If you are unfamiliar with the class there is a pay what you want copy at the DMs Guild here. The Blood Hunter goes further than heroes to defeat the evil, they become that which they fight. The class comes with a stigma and there is some role playing built into the class, but of course you can play it as you see fit.
“Chickening Out”- Out of the Box D&D Encounters #1
We’ve all had those moment. Writer’s Block. You’re out of ideas. Something unexpected happens and you’re not sure how to handle it. A player takes your story down an unintended path and the urban adventure you planned on is now on the road.
Blast from the Past: Spaceward Ho!
This screen shot of a game of Spaceward Ho! looks rather busy, but don’t let that fool you. This is a relatively simple game.
Imagine you are in charge of an alien race that must expand across the galaxy. You send out spaceships to find new planets, then you have to rework those planets so they can support your species. Along the way you strive to increase population levels and to raise funds to keep expansion rolling. Then the worst happens and you run smack into another alien race doing the same as you. It’s war! And intergalactic war at that. All with ships that look like flying sharks, planets that wear cowboy hats, and special events that happen on holidays.
I’m talking about Spaceward Ho!, a computer video game that was first released in 1990 by Delta Tao Software. Originally created for Macintosh computers, this strategy game has earned its fair share of praise and a number of awards, and it was inducted into the MacWorld Game Hall of Fame. The game proved so popular it was reviewed not once, but twice in Dragon magazine, in issues 196 and 202. Even Wil Wheaton back in 2013 tweeted about his excitement when Spaceward Ho! became available for Android through GooglePlay.
Spaceward Ho! alive and kicking
Cyber Punk with Shadow Run, Steam Punk, and Dungeons & Dragons Another Weekly Wrap 4-24-2016
Hello and well met traveler of the internet, Nerdarchist Dave here with another weekly wrap. I’m excited to announce that we’ve conducted our first social contract this past weekend. Of course we recorded it. We also did our session zero for that game.
Scott Garibay will be the GM using the Cypher System to run a Shadow Run campaign. You can start looking for those videos this week.
Both sessions the social contract and session zero went well. They were Scott’s first foray into either. He came super prepared for the session zero which made for a great intro into Shadow Run and the campaign Scott plans on running. Most likely I’ll split the session zero into several videos since the whole video is over two hours in length.
Here is one of our 1st vids on this upcoming game-
Shadow Run Cypher System Smash-UP
Player Tips – Adding More Class to Your Class – Wizard
And with this we have a wrap. Last week I covered the warlock with the Player tips adding more class to your class. Today I finish the series with the last class in the players handbook: the Wizard.
Wizards come in all shapes and sizes. They wield the power to change the world. You will find many great heroes across the worlds of D&D that are wizards but you can probably find just as many if not more so as Villains. You see because they get to have all that power it takes a strong moral character to wield it properly.
So beyond the idea of power what is a wizard. A wizard is one who possesses a mind capable of memorizing many facts and symbols. They have spent hours and hours studying strange things that make normal people bored or sick. Some of their simple spells might not be too hard to memorize but as a Wizard unlocks new levels or power or spells those spells could be pages and pages worth of material that they need to commit to memory.
Board Games in Review – Pyramid Arcade, Looney Pyramids – Kickstarter
I know what you are thinking, It is not Monday what is up with that. Last week I went over the books you may want to buy for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. Today however I am going to revisit one of my favorite board game options. Looney Pyramids.
If you have been reading a lot on our website, particularly the board games in review, you will have seen some of my articles on Looney Pyramids, Martian Coasters. Well if you were slightly enticed by these reviews here is your chance to go and grab an all inclusive box with 22 games to play with those awesome pieces.
It is available on Kickstarter right now with under a week to go. It is already back with two stretch goals left.
Some of the games have had the rules out for a while, while others are unreleased games only play tested with devoted fans.
In Role Play, Description isn’t Always a Good Thing
These are dice. They decide things in RPG combat, but they don’t describe the combat. Maybe we could learn from this.
The most dreaded words I can hear from a game master are, “Describe your attack.”
I’m not talking about describing complex character actions. That I understand. If the game master needs explanation on how one of my characters is trying to perform a certain act, especially an unusual one, that makes perfect sense.
No, I’m talking about the rather mundane, usually involving combat.
My character steps into a fight, swings his or her weapon. I roll dice. The weapon hits. I go to roll damage and …
