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.
Kobold Press Unlocks Underworld Players Guide and Underworld Lairs
The Underworld or Underdark or whatever you call the lightness world beneath the surface in your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting is a dangerous place. You should not go alone and you should not go unprepared. In order to be better prepared perhaps you can have some extra knowledge. With that allow me to present a couple of books packed with extra fun to add into your 5E D&D game. Let me introduce Underworld Player’s Guide and Underworld Lairs from Kobold Press. These two books share themes and concepts with Empire of the Ghouls, an expansive undead themed campaign we got our hands on recently too.
Hooked on Adventure — Too Many Gnolls
In this fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure a party catches wind of villagers gone missing. If you’ve played D&D for any length of time this scenario arises fairly commonly — someone or groups of people often need rescuing — with perilous circumstances on both sides. In this case a Demon Priest of Yeenoghu orchestrates a diabolical plan to swell the ranks of gnolls in the area. Thankfully adventurers take up the cause to put a stop to the demonic designs.
New 5E D&D Magic Rings from the Gaze of the Void Eye
Are your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventurers afraid of the dark? After a jaunt into a world perpetual darkness to face the threat of the Void Eye, they will be. I felt inspired to create some new stuff to go along with Gaze of the Void eye over at Nerdarchy the Store. You might find this new NPC shadow assassin and their powerful magic rings useful to add as a precursor to an evening adventure or to take your campaign in an unexpected direction. Lair of the Void’s Eye should challenge 4-6 characters of 10th-14th level, plus there’s new Shadow Spells, magic items, creatures including Bharagru the void eye and tools for traversing a 5E D&D world of darkness.
Dungeon Tiles Perfected by WizKids WarLock Tiles
Back in December I was at PAX Unplugged and I got to have a conversation with the lovely people over at WizKids. They had a lot of projects on the horizon and I have even shared a bunch of them with all you wonderful people. Just released, hot off the presses if you will, are the amazing WarLock Tiles. These fully painted, durable and double sided tiles are perfect for setting up your dungeon scene or creepy castle hallways. The only limitation is your imagination.
3 Cool Board Games to Play While You are Stuck at Home
Here are three different tabletop board games you can use to occupy yourself and your family during the pandemic, but I assure you ]they will be fun after things calm down as well. The three games are Exit: The Game, How Do You See The World? and Tattoo Stories. These games are a lot of fun and I am going to break them each down.
Hooked on Adventure — A Froghemoth in Your Throat
Most of the time when a D&D Dungeon Master calls for everyone to roll initiative you have two choices. Your characters can stand and fight looking to slay whatever creature stands before them or they can run away to live another day. Player characters rarely seek to keep their opponents alive in battle, and hostile monsters definitely do their best to kill adventurers. On rare occasions combat might cease and segue to a roleplaying discussion. In this encounter a group of villagers tasks adventurers with occupying the attention of a froghemoth while they perform a ritual to restore its mind. For the villagers you can use grung, bullywugs or any swamp dwelling race you like. When I ran this, I used grung as I had a grung character in the party.
Exploring the use of Tarot cards for D&D
If you are like myself, you are a regular Game Master for running tabletop roleplaying games like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. As anyone who does something regularly I seek ways to improve my skills with little tips and tricks to add extra enjoyment for all involved. Recently I began looking into tarot cards and how they might be able to enhance the game. As I did my research I asked friends do readings or even had strangers do a reading in the past at events and the like. I found there are a lot of useful tools when you look at how in depth tarot cards and their meanings can get.
Crafting New Randomized Beholders for D&D
Over two years ago we had one of our writers make a fun way to look at beholders in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons in a different way. What if their eye rays and central eye were different spell options than what is listed in the book? It is a great post and I have played around with it for sure. You can check out the original D&D Beholder — Randomized! post here. With the world in a state of pandemic I have been doing a lot more crafting and I have gone in many directions. However, today I found inspiration to make a D&D beholder even though I had actually just finished a pretty kick ass beholder last weekend. But who am I to argue with inspiration?
Getting More from Mind Flayers in Dungeons & Dragons
When I say mind flayer or illithid I am certain thoughts of a tentacle faced creature looking to consume your brain or dominate your mind come rushing into your thoughts. With a long gaming history every single mind flayer I have encountered or even heard about has been a villain, set out to control the subterranean worlds where they live and serve the elder brains as well as themselves. Long ago in the early days of Critical Role Matt Mercer used an illithid to aid the party because it helped with the mind flayer’s personal goals. Did they separate on even and just terms? No, they did not. It goes to show you really should be wary of trusting an illithid. Before I dive into this, Hero Forge has just released the Octofolk over on their website, allowing you to make mind flayer custom miniatures for your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games or a close approximation and they look incredibly sweet. I have already designed my first one and I am eagerly looking forward to getting the miniature.
Join the Fight for Freedom at the Planar Zoo!
“Welcome to the Balip — Nop Pop. Trust me, it sounds more terrifying if you spoke my native language. Here we are freedom fighters, naturalists and, well, if I may be so bold, heroes! I am sure by now you have seen or at least heard of the Planar Zoo. Ran-Kitra has been taking creatures from their homes and putting them on display. Humans, orcs and other intelligent species are taken from their families and shoved into unfamiliar surroundings to be watched by those who purchase tickets. It is up to us to rescue them and return them to their native homes.” — Excerpt from a recruitment speech for Balip — Nop Pop
Real World Adventure Hooks for D&D — Locke & Key on Netflix
Hello adventures and adventurer planners of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. At Nerdarchy cleave to the concept that whether you are a player looking to make a backstory or a Dungeon Master developing an adventure hook you can get inspiration from anywhere. I am always looking at whatever I am doing to see how it can inform or inspire the games I run and the material I create. If you are familiar enough with Nerdarchist Ted, you are probably aware of my go to game. If not you can check it out here. Recently I have been bingeing the Locke & Key show on Netflix. I am not going to spoil the show so worry not. All you need to know for this post, which is in the trailer, is there is a house and it has keys that are magic. This is a simple enough concept to run with.
