Star Wars The Force Awakens – Beginner Game Review – More in the Box than You think
Hello fellow Nerdarchist and Star Wars enthusiasts. It is ground breaking time here at Nerdarchy. We 
have been blessed with getting an advanced copy of the Force Awakens beginner game from Fantasy Flight games. It is not even available to pre-order and we already have our copy. This is a first to get a review copy from a major publishing house like Fantasy Flight Games, so a big Thank you to them.
Dave and I each have our own copies of each of the other box sets. You can check out the reviews I did on them here: Star Wars Edge of the Empire beginner game, Star Wars Age of Rebellion beginner game & Star Wars Force and Destiny beginner game.
Taken from the website:
Enjoy all-new adventures in the Star Wars universe with The Force Awakens™ Beginner Game!
The perfect entry into the Star Wars roleplaying experience for players of all skill levels, The Force Awakens Beginner Game introduces a complete, learn-as-you-go adventure that carries you from the sands of Jakku deep into the heart of a mystery that could change the course of the galaxy.
Note: Unlike our other Beginner Games, The Force Awakens Beginner Game will not be followed by a new Star Wars RPG game line. Instead, it draws upon the core mechanics shared by Star Wars®: Age of Rebellion™, Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™, and Star Wars®: Force and Destiny™. Players interested in continuing their Star Wars adventures can do so through any of these fully compatible systems.
Titanic Miniatures for your Tabletop Roleplaying Game
Not everyone uses miniatures when you game but many of us do. How amazing is it when the DM places 
an amazing model on the table and the mini is so much bigger than the party. Do you worry that this is the time that the DM is finally going to bring you down?
Imagine how much more terrifying it will be when the mini is of colossal size. Yeah those of us playing 5th edition know that they have removed this size category from the game but gargantuan is only limited by your imagination. I for one love the large size.
I am a proud owner of the Collosal Red Dragon released by WOTC all those years ago. You can Grab one here. The red dragon is big enough that a standard size mini fits in its raised claws. I typically display it that way for humors sake. Dragons are a staple of the D&D game and any fantasy tabletop roleplaying game. With that it is always great to have that looming threat that you can drop that mini on the table.
Until recently there have not bee many options other than this colossal red. Either you had to have something that was a reasonable facsimile or you had to do painstaking work to make your own. Based on the conversations with many gamers and DMs over the years there are far fewer DMs out that that take the time to make individual minis of that size to use as a single encounter. even if they think that they will get to use it again later. Do not get me wrong your crafters are out there. I have seen some spectacular work, but in our diverse niche you are not the norm.
Dungeon Explore – Tabletop RPG Tile Card Deck on Kickstarter
How would you like to be able to just build your dungeon room by room as you go? Would you like visual
cues to help you design your dungeon while the group is not around? Well now you can with this easy deck of cards. They are double sided with a standard 3 by 3 tile on one side and a more interesting side on the other.
The Dungeon Explore Card Deck is a deck of 48 square tile cards each printed with detailed dungeon artwork. The cards use a 3×3 grid that can be interconnected by passageways and doorways to create an endless variety of combinations. Whether you play Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, or any other fantasy tabletop RPG system, this portable and affordable deck of cards will integrate right into your game.
While GMs are free to imagine up their own ways to use the Dungeon Explore Card Deck, here are a couple suggested ways to try them out.
Quick Encounters
Painting Miniatures and Modding Miniatures – The Basics.
Many of you out there might be like myself and have an addiction to plastic. You collect Dice and 
Minifigures. It can be a consuming hobby that lands in FB groups and Forums looking for the one mini to complete your collection. You might spend loads of time on Ebay looking for deals and steals just to boost up the extras bin or that one exclusive piece you just found out about.
Well if you are like that, then you are like me, Nerdarchist Ted. I cannot fathom a guess as to how many hours I have spent searching for deals on Amazon or Ebay because of my habit/addiction. I have it under control based off of the argument my wallet had with me some years ago. Enough was enough.
As I sat and looked at the hundreds if not thousands of little pre-painted plastic miniatures It begged to question what was I going to do with it all. My friends and I spent years playing Mage Knight. I have loads of them. I spent years playing Heroscape and I had loads of them. I bought loads and loads of D&D minis as well as they were perfectly sized for our Table Top role playing game.
Mage knight there was variety and you had lots of uses for them. With Heroscape unless you were planning to play a 10 player game, not recommended by the way, and everyone wanted the same pieces there was no need to have that many copies of the miniatures.
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
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.
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.
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.
Player Tips – Adding more Class to your Class – Warlock
Well my friends you have made it to successfully to another Friday. It is time for some more player tips, Adding more class to your class and this time I am going to tackle, arguably the crowd favorite class, Warlock. Last week we talked on the Sorcerer, and you can read about it here.
The warlock has the ability to do things all because a Faustian bargain made with a ‘dark’ power. Well that is stretching it a little. There is nothing that says it has to be a dark power and in fact with the Unearthed Arcana the pact of Light warlock looks like it is designed for good guys.
The sorcerer is born with power and the warlock makes bargain to get it so in that they are the same that they do not have a lot of time spent in there back story where they are trapped in some kind of training mode. So because of this they too have a lot of time free to enter a lot of story into it.
Buyers Guide- 5E D&D for Dungeons and Dragons for Beginners
Nerdarchy has been asked many times what do I need to play Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. Before I get into that last week we covered non combat encounters.
Dungeons and Dragons RPG has been around for a long time. For as long as it has been around to be a player all you need is a players handbook and a set of polyhedral dice. You can grab the products here.
The players handbook has all the rules you need to play the game with loads of race and class options. With the many different races and a dozen classes there are more options then a person can play over the years.
So lets actually talk some numbers. If you count subraces you can technically play 24 different races. That is a ton of options. While there are 12 different classes in 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons they have options within each class giving you even more options and flavor. If you count all the archetypes available you actually have 40 choices in classes. So if you want to count alignment out of the equation that is potentially 960 mechanically different race class combinations. If you do add alignment into it is over 8500 possible combinations.
Player Tips – Adding more Class to your Class – Sorcerer
Greetings and Happy Friday. Today we will delve deep into the Sorcerer class. Last week we did a player tips, adding more class to your class with the Rogue. If you missed it you can read that article here.
So first we look at the sorcerer and see what it really means to be one. A sorcerer is one who is blessed with magical power. It is something they are born with. A warlock makes a pact with a being of significant power. A wizard studies and learn with a tedious amount or work and memorization. A sorcerer just is magic.
That statement means several things. One we have to look at the origination of that power. As of now we only have chaos and dragons in the Players handbook and the storm from an unearthed arcana as sources of where this power comes from.
Player Tips – Adding more Class to your Class – Rogue
Today we are going to get sneaky and talk about rogues. If you missed last weeks article where we added more class to your class Ranger you can check it out here.
So how do you add more to class to your class rogue? Well other than cleric I find that it is entirely possible that rogues off the next in diverse possibilities. If you have been playing a while you might see it but you also might not. Most classes do not have the ability to offer so many possibilities across the alignments other than a difference in personality.
So let me offer up this player tips. Rogues exist on every side of the law and are your specialist within the D&D worlds. Now since they all get sneak attack it does not always make sense but you can play these concepts with ease. You want to exist as law enforcement? Sure you can go warrior but where are you going to get all you skills from? You want to go as an explorer, say an Indiana Jones? He is a perfect fit into the rogue class.
So the next time you are feeling like playing a sneak there is no need to look solely at the petty thief with his only goals being that of wealth. Look to the broader spectrum. You can play a character who at the surface looks boring and blends in with society but when it is time to put on the hat and whip fits in there just as perfectly.
Game Master Tips – Using Long Rest, Short Rest and Random Encounters
Nerdarchist Ted here and Nubz had an emergency and I am here to fill in. If you missed his article on the World of Darkness, you can check it out here.
In Dungeons and Dragons the mechanics have built in the use of Long Rest and Short rest as a way of getting back hit points as well as abilities. Some classes are built on needing these while others function just off of their hit point pool.
So because of this need to get abilities back the party is going to want to take a breather now and again. If you have marched, exercised or fought hard for any length of time you know how important it is to actually sit down and try to catch your breath.
Game Master Tips – Random Encounters
Player Tips – Adding more Class to your Class – Ranger
Last week I delved into adding more class to your class with the paladin. You can read about it here. Today however we are going deep into the forest with the Ranger. The ranger is one of my favorite class as I am an outdoors kind of guy. Perhaps Because Strider was so powerful that D&D in early editions made it hard to be one but what ever it was the fact that in 2nd Edition you could not just play a ranger made it an impactful class.
With the last several iterations of Dungeons and Dragons they did away with stat requirements to qualify for a class and 5th Edition too away all restrictions. So now those choice classes are ripe for the picking.
So ranger, the class that typically is more at home in the wilderness than in a city. So when making a ranger character there are questions you need to ask. What does it mean to be a ranger? Did you grow up in the wilderness? Did you leave civilization because the people there lied to you and harmed you a deep way? Do you have a connection with nature you do not understand? How did you get started along this career path?
