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D&D Ideas — Encounters

Welcome once again to the weekly Nerdarchy Newsletter. We’ve got one of our biggest announcements to date — Our first ever Kickstarter is now live! Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition has been in the works for years now. You can see the project and learn all about the incredible team and everything we’re putting into this project on the Out of the Box Kickstarter page to find the pledge level that’s right for you. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy, by signing up here. Since we’ve just launched a Kickstarter about D&D encounters that seems a fitting topic for this week’s newsletter.

Interpreting Dungeons and Dragons Dice Rolls

When it comes to Dungeons and Dragons dice here at Nerdarchy I have to say I’m the collector on the team. When it comes to rolling and interpreting them there are a lot of random possibilities that can come out. I will admit, in the early days of being a Dungeon Master, I rolled behind a screen and cared much more about the lives of my NPCs and monsters. I fudged rolls and gave extra hit points to make the monsters more challenging.

I have grown as a Dungeon Master over the years, and since starting Nerdarchy I have learned an awful lot over the last 5 years. I learned that sometimes in the heat of combat as a DM you want to preserve the level of the challenge. You want the players to feel threatened. I understand this. It is something I struggle with every time I run a combat. Now, when I roll I almost always roll out where the players can see and if I don’t I still leave the dice as they lie.

I am not here to convince you that Dungeon and Dragons dice rolls need to held on a pedestal but to show how even the bad rolls can be something great.

RPG Game Master

D&D Ideas — Tips for a New Dungeon Master

Welcome once again to the weekly Nerdarchy Newsletter. We were running late again! Between being away in the UK for D&D in a Castle and all the work for our Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition Kickstarter launch things have been crazy around here. If that isn’t enough we also had a couple of products in the Beast of a Bundle — 5E D&D related Humble Bundle which sold over 15,000 bundles to help RAINN. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy, by signing up here.

Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition Lives!

The Nerdarchy crew has been hinting and teasing for a while, and working behind the scenes even longer, and now it is finally here — our very first Kickstarter! Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition went live this morning, July 15, at 6 a.m. eastern. We could not be more ecstatic about how this project came together. The team working to bring the Out of the Box Kickstarter to life is incredible and we jam-packed as much as we could into the campaign. If you’re an experienced Game Master, you’ll find new twists and clever turns on classic monsters, traps, hazards and random encounters. Newer GMs will discover helpful insights to use these encounters to fill gaps in time or story. And players of all levels can use Out of the Box encounters to introduce new adventure hooks and add fantastic new concepts to campaign worlds.

To Roll, or Not To Roll?

A character’s ability scores in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons are arguably the most influential part of who they are. Ability scores determine what your character can and cannot do, and to what degree. They determine what roles your character will tend toward and where their weaknesses lie. In D&D 5E, the standard rule set for calculating ability scores is to roll 4d6 and drop the lowest. However, there’s an alternate rule called “Standard Array,” which grants the character scores of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. These are assigned to the six ability scores. Then, there’s also the point-buy system.

With how important ability scores are in this game, I wondered why there are so many options for calculation. Then, I got to wondering if the way one calculates their ability scores would affect gameplay, outside of mechanics. What am I talking about? Culture.

Cool Off with Deep Magic: Winter Magic from Kobold Press

With summer heat cranking up, Kobold Press has the perfect solution to bring the temperatures down. Way down. Like, subzero levels. Deep Magic: Winter Magic is a new addition to the wonderful series of magical secrets waiting to be discovered in your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings, or expand on the already incredible myth and mystery of the Midgard Campaign Setting from Kobold Press.