Effective Habits for Beginning the Tabletop RPG Session
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about effective practices for before the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons game session begins. I’m sure you know what I mean. We’ve all had moments where we’ve been sitting around the table and the chitter chatter is happening and getting everyone in the mindset to actually start the game can be a hassle at best. There are a few handy tips and tricks to make the task a lot easier on both the Dungeon Master and the 5E D&D players.
Effective Use of Geas in D&D
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to talk about geas and magical compulsion in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The way this spell is written and the way people typically tend to use it would have you believe the best purpose is setting someone to watch over an NPC you don’t want the Dungeon Master to attack or putting them under magical compulsion not to hurt you, but it was used very differently in folklore and that’s what I want to discuss tonight.
What Constitutes Bad Roleplaying at the Tabletop?
Salutations, nerds! I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what constitutes bad roleplaying and I know there’s a lot of talk about this sort of thing floating around the internet as regards tabletop roleplaying games like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Let me start by saying we’re not going to be talking about elitist nonsense today. So if you clicked this thinking you were going to find some vitriol about people playing pink haired characters with cat ears, look elsewhere. Also I’m going to go roll a pink tabaxi after this. Instead, after a lot of consideration and deliberation I’ve come to the conclusion a lot of what people consider to be bad roleplaying actually boils down to selfish roleplaying.
Title and Nicknames are 5E D&D Loot that Costs Nothing
Salutations, nerds! We’re going to talk about something fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons players absolutely love to flash around, something that doesn’t break your game or have a value in gold points. All it takes is a little creative thought on your part. I’m sure most of you have read or at least seen Game of Thrones so you’re probably aware of the nicknames pretty much everyone in the series has. The Mountain, the Hound, the Imp. Sobriquettes, kennings, titles in 5E D&D — that’s what we’re going to be talking about today.
Writing a Roleplaying Profile for an MMO RPG
Salutations, nerds! I’ve noticed a massive spike in the number of people roleplaying in my MMO’s lately, which is a good thing generally but probably pandemic related. But I’m sure for every person that’s jumped on the wagon for it, there’s another hesitating. If you play games with a big player base and any sort of roleplaying to be had, you’ve probably been in a situation where you’ve gone into an RP hub and found yourself lingering along the outside of the action looking in. It’s an unfortunate place to be, especially when what you really want is to play. It can be incredibly discouraging. This is a situation I have been in many times myself. Fortunately for you, I’ve tripped and fallen flat on my face many times so you do not have to. I’ve narrowed down seven points to bear in mind when crafting your roleplaying profile to elicit the responses you want and get some of those sweet, sweet interactions. Shall we begin?
A Group of Wizards is Called a Coven
Salutations, nerds. We have arrived at our wizardly destination for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. You know, the ones in the pointy hats who constantly gather up in big towers and work together. As I was mentioning last week wizards group up in order to...
A Group of Sorcerers is Called a Cabal
Salutations, nerds! Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons sorcerers are on the menu today and as opposed to wizards, who are constantly gathering up in big towers and working together, sorcerers don’t tend to really travel in groups all too often. Regardless, we’re going to push forward and see what we can discover together about sorcerers in groups. Wizards will get their own turn, but where they have this tendency to group together in order to share their studies and research, in 5E D&D sorcerers just get their power from a variety of sources and don’t really have to share anything in order to use their magic. But there are plenty of other reasons for sorcerers to group up, including self preservation.
A Group of Rangers is Called a Lodge
Salutations nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about rangers in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Now I don’t know about you but I’ve heard them taking a lot of grief lately for being one of the objectively less powerful classes in 5E D&D, but that wasn’t always the case. I’ve also heard rangers attacked for having less of a class identity as some of the others out there, but I don’t feel like that’s true at all. So let’s delve into the woods. Let’s do some tracking and nature stuff. Let’s walk a couple of miles without it being difficult terrain and see how far out this ranger stuff goes.
A Necropolis of Civilized Undead Awaits Inside the Death Pit for 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! Imagine a sordid tale of betrayal, magic, a Necropolis and severe unsanitary conditions. Something lurks in the cavern of refuse. Something displeased with the way its dead things have been treated. That’s right, we’re talking about The Death Pit. This is our upcoming Patreon reward content for March, so if you’re not subscribed to the Patreon and any of the stuff I’m rambling about over here interests you, sidle on over and subscribe here. We share early access to these Fifth Edition products before they make their way here to the store on the website. Every month we create new products with material for Game Masters and players alike, ready to drop right into your 5E D&D games. In February we stumbled upon an ancient mystery of the Forgotten Oasis. Within Death Pit you’ll find churchgrims (both regular and corrupted), a master necromancer and his three apprentices, the dead (both civilized and shambling), as well as an angry half-elf who may or may not be a murderer. And let’s not forget the Death Pit itself.
A Group of Monks is Called a Fellowship
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about monks in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, and I have been waiting an eon for this because it comes with music. Okay, so those monks read more like clerics than actual monks in terms of the 5E D&D class, but humor me this once. It’s been stuck in my head for what feels like an age and if I have to suffer, so do all of you. Of course 5E D&D monks tend to feel more like the martial artists you would find in a Xiaolin temple than the shaven headed eastern kind who spent most of their time reading and writing while a lot of the rest of the populace didn’t know how to do that. We’re talking unarmed strikes, flurry of blows, catching arrows in midflight…monks are pretty awesome. In fact, I think that’s the adjective I’m going to use for them.
A Group of Fighters is Called a Club
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about fighters in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and honestly I feel like this is going to be the most difficult one because as far as all the 5E D&D classes go, I feel like fighters have the least cohesive class identity. So let’s see what we can coax out of this one. Fighters…fight things. And that’s pretty much the unifying feature. Some of them cast spells, some of them are just straight up masters of weaponry, some of them are ranged and some of them are melee. It’s not even a more interesting word than that, it’s just ‘fighters fight’ because that’s what they do. But there’s something to be said about simplistic melee, and something else entirely to be said for groups of fighters, especially when they’re trying to keep up with classes like wizards and rogues. There’s a trope, the badass normal, and that’s what I think of when I think of a straight up fighter. Someone who is just good because they’re good and not because of any magic or special trick they use. They keep up, and they keep up with people who should be way over their heads, and that alone is worth the effort.
A Group of Druids is Called a Grove
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about druids in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and I don’t know about you but I don’t tend to run into them as often as I do some of the other classes so brace yourselves for an adventure, because I’m learning a lot this time right along with you. Druids are the nature class. Devoting oneself to the wild is not a whim, it’s a lifestyle. I know in 5E D&D they kind of swerved away from this, but once upon a time druids were so devoted to the natural order of things they weren’t even allowed to wear metal on their person, so often you’d find them in armor made of bone or ironwood instead of steel. Druids are promoters of growth, defenders of the wild and they can even take the shapes of animals. With all that going for them, it’s a shame they don’t get as much attention as some of the other classes available. I mean, I get it, kind of. They’re not the best class mechanically, and you can always play an Oath of the Ancients paladin, after all. So today, I’m going to try to convince you (and convince myself) to go druid and give it a shot.
Find Solace in the Desert (and Ghosts!) at the Forgotten Oasis for 5E D&D
Salutations, nerds! It’s that part of the month again, and today I want to talk to you a little bit about the Forgotten Oasis, our upcoming Patreon reward content for February, so if you’re not subscribed to Patreon and you’re interested in receiving this content, go ahead and pop on over there, cause it’s right around the corner and we share early access to these Fifth Edition products before they make their way here to the store on the website. Every month we create new products with material for Game Masters and players alike, ready to drop right into your 5E D&D games. In January we uncovered Treasures of the Tundra, and now we’re switching things up and heading to a warmer climate in the desert.
A Group of Barbarians is Called a Horde
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about barbarians in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, the true punk rockers of the D&D world. Throw on some hype music, jump a couple of times, rough your mind up and let’s get ready to rage. Once upon a time barbarians of the horde didn’t get to read unless they took it specifically as a skill, and I think that’s very telling of this class in general. Reading is a thing you have to slow down to do, and barbarians typically don’t want to slow down for anything. Save that double speak for your rogues and mages, because barbarians like things straight forward and simple. Why would you pick a lock when you can just bash the door down, after all? But there’s a certain allure to that simplicity. A 5E D&D barbarian doesn’t want your bull.
A Group of Clerics is called a Priesthood
Salutations, nerds. I know we just got done talking about paladins, but don’t put down your holy hand grenades just yet because this week we are discussing clerics in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons! And yes, I do mean priests and priesthoods administering to the people, and also healers in big metal cans who usually carry a holy symbol or a mace, that is true. I’m also talking about ye olde exorcist types and barrier maidens and everything in between for 5E D&D.