Unleash 5E D&D Horror with Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
Creatures of the night can rejoice (in a dark and brooding way) when Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft releases on May 18. Arguably fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons’ most popular adventure Curse of Strahd pulls adventurers into the Mists of Ravenloft where they contend with supernatural horror in Barovia. The campaign reimagines one of D&D’s most beloved settings and Wizards of the Coast revisits the dark realm along with many others in the newly announced 5E D&D book.
Wanderhome RPG Warms Your Heart with Charming Whimsy
A deep and abiding affection for tabletop roleplaying games and they experiences they facilitate dwells deep in my heart. So when I recently read an article about RPG releases in 2021 I didn’t make it further than the second one on a list of ten. Described as a game where players “live a peaceful life as gentle woodland creatures in an upcoming fantasy RPG about pastoral lifestyles” Wanderhome captured my whimsy right away. The Kickstarter for Wanderhome launched in August 2020 and funded in three hours and continued on to spectacular success. The game’s creator Jay Dragon shared some time and insights about the game and I’m excited to pass them along with my own enthusiasm for this terrific RPG.
Channel Your 5E D&D Druid’s Inner Circe with a Wild Shape Optional Class Feature
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted double, double toil and trouble themselves discussing witches in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Fire burns and caldrons bubble while they go over what it means to be a witch, different approaches to bringing out a character’s witchy nature and the possibilities for new 5E D&D classes and subclasses. Inspiration for the topic comes from the video’s sponsor Hexbound: A Witchy Supplement for 5E from Hit Point Press. One of the ideas they brought up during the video captured my imagination — using the druid Wild Shape feature in a distinctly witchy way. So let’s get into it.
Discover Incredible Magic Items Inside Vault of Magic from Kobold Press
The industrious kobolds of Kobold Press launched a new Kickstarter and not surprisingly they’re knocking it out of the park once again. This time our friends over at Kobold Press crack open the Vault of Magic for 5th Edition to uncover over 800 new magic items created by leading tabletop roleplaying game designers and Kobold Press veterans bringing wild surprises to your games.
Getting More from 5E D&D Monsters — Stonesnapper
The semi-sapient stonesnapper plant tends to grow where creatures that petrify like to make their lairs. The stonesnapper is a common fixture in many basilisk caves and there have been stories of medusae cultivating them and keeping them as pets in bygone eras. The flowers grow in vibrant colors, capable of motion and closing their petals around small objects. Their vines are also ambulatory. The stonesnapper doesn’t require much sunlight and in fact gets most of its nutrients by scooping up the leavings of creatures that have been petrified and then devoured — the crumbs left behind by things like gorgons, basilisks and medusae. The acidic fluid built up inside the stonesnapper in order to digest these leavings is a natural remedy for petrification. These plant monsters appear in Garden of Statuary, one of the digital fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons products we create for Patreon supporters and later for Nerdarchy the Store. Here you’ll find expanded 5E D&D content inspired by these opportunistic plant creatures along with the stat block as it appears in the book ready to drop into your games.
Take Hold of Powerful 5E D&D Magic Items from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
A fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons book named after one of the iconic wizards of D&D lore all but guarantees new objects of power. While this wasn’t the case in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (barring a couple of creature specific ones) the titular wizard of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything references her colleague in the book’s section on magic items and notes how she finds common ground with him in their shared desire for them. Inside the book players can find 47 individual new 5E D&D magic items. So let’s get into it.
Take a Deep Dive Under the Seas of Vodari for Fifth Edition
Tribality Publishing took Fifth Edition adventures to the magical high seas with their successful Seas of Vodari Kickstarter and now they’re plunging heroes beneath the waves with the follow up Under the Seas of Vodari Kickstarter that fully funded in under six hours.
Thrust Player Agency Upon TTRPG Players with Questions to Engage
Whether I’m acting as Game Master or not the thing I dislike the most about any tabletop roleplaying game experience is a group who interacts in isolation from each other. As a player I want to interact with the other players through our characters and as a GM I hope to see this behavior from the people in the group. There’s several reasons for this and a technique I began using a few years ago helps tremendously. So let’s get into it.
Making the Most of Wild Shape Forms for 5E D&D Druids
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted get animalistic and take a look at the best beasts in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons for a druid to Wild Shape into during tier one of game play. While they point out the highlights of various beasts I’m of a mind to expand on this and see all the possibilities from official 5E D&D sources along with the environments in which they’re typically found. So let’s get into it.
Cawood Publishing Challenges Adventurers with Monsters of the Wilderness
Our friends at Cawood Publishing unveiled a new excursion into the World of Myrr unfolding through their series of monster books. Monsters of the Wilderness for 5th Edition is the fourth book in the series and the Kickstarter campaign bringing it to life for gaming groups all over the world launched today and runs through March 4.
The Five Room Backstory for 5E D&D Characters
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted look at ways for a Dungeon Master to use a character backstory as a resource to create dungeons for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Building on their ideas I’m curious about approaching from the opposite end and exploring how players can set their DMs up for success by constructing their character backstory like a dungeon for 5E D&D. So let’s get into it.
Start Your 5E D&D Campaign with a Single Encounter
How long is a typical session of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons? When I was much younger with many fewer responsibilities my friends and I gathered to play D&D for a lot longer than the game sessions I experience these days. Scheduling and time management are factors in this as well as the influence of online gaming both streamed or simply using communication software to connect with fellow players. Newer Dungeon Masters and those curious about what life is like on the other side of the DM screen already have lots to consider (and feel anxious about) and session length is rarely something I see discussed when it comes to 5E D&D or any other tabletop roleplaying game for that matter. So let’s get into it.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Boom Boom Wizard
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted put their faith in an Awakened Spellbook to suss out a special kind of spellcaster for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The Order of Scribes Arcane Tradition in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything charges up this wizard’s spells with lightning and thunder damage to pay homage to the meteorological forces they devote themselves to. This Boom Boom Wizard mixes and matches 5E D&D class features to assault enemies with the raw power of the tempest. So let’s get into it.
Does the Power of 5E D&D Characters Eclipse the Game’s Original Intent?
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take a look at a social media thread about the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons experience from a “self-parody account” that tagged Nerdarchy. The thread presents a fun topic for consideration and discussion. Do the onramps to great power for 5E D&D characters reflect a community and rule set much different than the creators of the game’s original vision? It’s a deeply abstract notion to explore. So let’s get into it (a little bit anyway — I’m not writing a master’s thesis here).
Unearthed Arcana 2021 — Gothic Lineages Presents New Direction for 5E D&D Characters
The first Unearthed Arcana playtest document of 2021 arrived today. Gothic Lineages presents three fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character options, which build on the optional material found in last year’s Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Dhampir, Hexblood and Reborn illustrate three new special race options to playtest taking a different approach. Players can choose one of these options at character creation or during an ongoing campaign to transform their character at an appropriate time. So let’s get into it.
