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Author: Ted Adams

Nerdarchy > Articles posted by Ted Adams (Page 6)
Hero Forge customized miniature undead

Play Your Halloween 5E D&D Game as an Undead Character with Hero Forge

I have played more characters than I care to try and count in the decades I’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons. Plenty of those campaigns featured fun and interesting character concepts and with Halloween right around the corner I thought I would approach the idea of playing an undead adventurer for fifth edition D&D. This undead character might not be for a main campaign, but I could totally envision playing such a character in a fun 5E D&D one shot. But if your Dungeon Master and group leans more into story and you have a good character idea then why not allow an undead adventurer into the party?

RPG random tables Matt Davids

Adding Randomness to Your RPG

The controlled chaos of randomly rolled characters or randomly created events within tabletop roleplaying games appeals to many gamers. Even the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide contains a nice chunk of random tables and charts to create NPCs, treasure or campaign events. But sometimes you crave even more RPG randomness. Allow me to present some system agnostic books to add some randomness to your RPG game.

WizKids Captures the Terror of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden in Miniatures

A new book for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons released and with it another fantastic set of miniatures blows in from the north courtesy of our friends over at WizKids. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frost Maiden pits players against a harsh winter environment and the denizens dwelling there. So whether you are running this adventure or looking for awesome winter themed miniatures these ones certainly inspire some great roleplaying games. The Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden set of miniatures comes with over 40 options in blind purchase boxes as well as a massive Chardalyn Dragon miniature as part of the D&D: Icons of the Realms series available for purchase singly.

5E D&D Hero Forge epic double weapons

Play Your Next 5E D&D Game with Epic Double Weapons by Hero Forge

It is time again! Hero Forge continues to put out new additions and features for their customized tabletop miniatures every week called Treasure Tuesdays. I have been talking about how great Hero Forge is for a while but if you’re seeing this post as your first preview by Nerdarchy then let me tell you they are an amazing service allowing you to 3D design your customized miniatures for tabletop roleplaying games. The options are astounding with all the races, gear, accessories and articulation with more new options every week. And in the very near future the color printing options from their Hero Forge 2.0 Kickstarter will be available in wide release for everyone to use and be astounded by. The revised website is smoother and even more user friendly. I love Hero Forge and have loads of miniatures and STL files purchased from them. You have to check out all the wondrous options from the wonderful people over at Hero Forge.

Adventure Down a 5E D&D Dark Path of Frozen Terror

Winter Lord’s Throne debuted as a new product in Nerdarchy the Store this week. Every month we create new products for our Patreon supporters who get early access to all of these products, which are then released on our store the following month. Each product offers new things for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons players and Dungeon Masters alike. Winter Lord’s Throne is an adventure I ran, though it is written by the wonderful author and staff writer Megan R. Miller. They are a fantastic writer and Game Master as you can see from Those Bastards! on the Nerdarchy Live channel where we just finished up a 12 session story arc. The adventure is designed for 9th level 5E D&D characters and certainly offers up a nice challenge complete with new monsters and new rules for a condition called frostbite.

Put the Sparkle on Your 5E D&D Game with WizKids Sapphire Dragon

Dragons are an important part of Dungeons & Dragons. Lets face it — they’re built right into the name of the game I have been playing for almost 30 years. Gem dragons came to my notice in third edition D&D through the Monster Manual 2, an edition with five such books as well as several others with monsters. But when you have something as amazingly powerful as gem dragons do you really want them to be a throw away in a sequel book? Dragons have a rich lore, with metallic dragons being the good ones and chromatic dragons the bad ones. There is a bit of safety built into knowing you can trust the dragon or if it will betray you or eat you because of the scale color. Granted, dragons are individuals who have their own set of ideals and morals, but good is good and evil is evil. So how do you handle neutral gem dragons represented the middle ground like the sapphire dragon in 5E D&D?

Play Your Next 5E D&D Game with 6 Epic Weapons Inspired by Hero Forge

Smiths and magic users across the multiverse of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons seek to create better artifacts than those of legends. Most fail — especially when compared to the epic weapons detailed below. The incredibly high detail on the customized tabletop miniatures of Hero Forge inspired me to create these six magic weapons for 5E D&D, and you can certainly change the weapon type to whatever awesome weapons of destruction best fit your game and the heroes wielding them. Epic weapons should bring powerful features to bear so I aimed to make these give characters cool and iconic abilities.

Make Family Board Game Night an Experience to Remember with Kosmos Games

Greetings! It is no secret I am a board game nut in addition to a tabletop roleplaying game nut. Likewise my family loves board games and gaming together. Today I want to share with you a selection of a few of our favorite board games by Kosmos Games. These games keep your mind sharp and provide opportunities to work together to complete common goals. My family has had tons of fun enjoying these games together and I hope these recommendations lead to creating memorable gaming experiences for you and your family too.

Step Aside Owlbear, the Flamingox is a New 5E D&D Mashup Animal Monster

Dungeons & Dragons has a long tradition of making monsters that are a mashup of different things, creatures inspired by legends and mythology and creatures that are mixed together and combined. The owlbear is one such iconic monster mashup of D&D and over the years a few here and there get added to the game. Other creations pay homage to this tradition by combining creatures together as part of the worldbuilding. My kids and I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender and combined creatures abound in the series, sparking my imagination to create something new for 5E D&D.

Discover the City of Lost Omens with Exciting New WizKids Miniatures

When you look at prepainted miniatures for tabletop gaming WizKids continues to stay at the top of the game. Whether you are playing Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder or any number of other fantasy roleplaying games, miniatures from WizKids are great and the new City of Lost Omens set is no exception. I always look forward to the next set of miniatures from WizKids as each one gives me new options for threats to challenge characters and adventuring parties. In addition to the blind purchase in recent years WizKids began doing the nonblind purchase associated with each set. I am a huge nerd and collector when it comes to miniatures in particular. The minis included with City of Lost Omens inspired tons of ideas to bring to the gaming table already.

Embrace the Hero Forge Foxfolk Spirit in Your 5E D&D Game

Nerdarchist Ted here to expand upon the lovely post written by Steven about the vulpin, a foxfolk race for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons right on our site here. I think this is a great start and I wanted to expand upon it by making a new racial feat available for the foxfolk race that captures some of the Japanese folklore about the mythical figures called kitsune. And for Dungeon Masters out there I’ve included a vulpin spirit caller ready to drop right into your campaign as an insightful NPC. Whether you’re a player or DM, or simply think foxfolk are really fun and cool you can create your own customized miniature and get it 3D printed — in full color — from the amazing Hero Forge.

Invoke Planar Powers with Hero Forge Celestials and Infernals in 5E D&D

In the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, or really any fantasy based roleplaying game the theology is very important. In the real world, where we all live our daily lives, I think a smaller amount of people think about their immortal soul than those who live in a world where it is incontrovertible that magic exists and there is an afterlife. It is even possible to visit the realm of the dead or come back to life. With this in mind and considering there are agents working both sides, why are angels and fiends not seeing more of a hand in the events of the mortal world? We know there are playable races with divine or fiendish blood, and we hopefully do not need a biology lesson of the birds and bees to know how you got there, but why are the celestials not serving major cities as advisors, looking out for a family line? Or why are their not infernals attempting to do the same?

Peering Into Shadows with One of Those Bastards 5E D&D Live Play

Over at our second YouTube channel Nerdarchy Live the crew brought our private game to the public. Every Tuesday 8-10 p.m. we stream our live play fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons game. Currently we’re playing a campaign with Dungeon Master Megan R. Miller called Those Bastards. This campaign began several years ago as a convention one shot and when Megan’s turn to be the Game Master arose we decided to bring it back. To help you catch up and get familiar with the characters and setting we’ve been writing here on the website. This installment comes from Nerdarchist Ted and aims to shed some light on the Shadow Magic sorcerer and big brother to a gaggle of half siblings.

Happy Father’s Day from the Tribe of Polywugs for 5E D&D

Inspired by the Father’s Day holiday celebrating dads across the world as well as my friend Brian Colin from Creature Curation and the World of Revilo I wanted to make something fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons related with my kids. The other day I was taking a walk with my eight year old daughter and I issued a challenge to her: come up with an idea of a race of creatures or a monster to be used in 5E D&D. She has been playing roleplaying games since she was four. Just a few months before her fifth birthday we played No Thank You Evil! by Monte Cook Games and quickly transitioned into 5E D&D. Now with several years of irregular gaming and quite the imagination I wanted to see what she would come up with on her own.

Playing D&D in the World of Avatar: The Last Airbender

I just blew though the Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix in about four days and really enjoyed this television series. If you are looking for a great TV show to binge I cannot recommend this strongly enough. To me it is clear the creator of this is a fan of Dungeons & Dragons with all the hybrid animals, which has always been a classic D&D staple originating with the owlbear. The challenge in running a D&D game in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender is a heavy on unarmed martial combat. This is easily fixed with characters either taking a level in monk or taking the feat Tavern Brawler. (The name of the feat does not mean you are limited to bar fights.) We should not get attached to how things are named unless it take us down a hole we cannot escape from. So let’s get into it further.