Disrupting the Status Quo in Established Campaign Settings
Salutations, nerds. Today I want to talk to you about playing in tabletop roleplaying games like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons in established campaign settings and disrupting the status quo. Not clinging by wrist and ankle to the cannon so you don’t get fired across the playmat — it’s canon? Hmm. Okay, well, that metaphor’s over, now, moving on.
Real World Adventure Hooks for D&D — Kingly Presence
Real world history and mythology intersect in Tintagel, a village in the United Kingdom. Sculptor Rubin Eynon’s Gallos overlooks the Atlantic Ocean on the cliffs of the village in Cornwall, England. The 8-foot-high bronze statue is inspired by the legend of King Arthur and also the rich Cornish history of the region. And to a fan of fantasy tabletop roleplaying games like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, it gets me thinking about adventure hooks.
Are Tool Proficiencies Worthless in 5E D&D?
Whenever I see tool proficiencies in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons come up in online conversations, I make a point to participate. Tool proficiencies, along with backgrounds, are one of my favorite things about 5E D&D. To me they represent a character’s hobby or vocation and add a significant lens for a character to view the world through. When we choose tools for our live chat and newsletter topic recently, it was a real joy to engage with the audience in the live chat and later share my own thoughts. We incorporated tools into our October Patreon rewards, and in a few days our November rewards build on those concepts. And today we took a closer look on the YouTube channel with a follow-up here to discuss if 5E D&D tools are worthless.
Tier 2 Cleric Spells and Spellcasting in 5E D&D
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel one of our popular video series is Go To Spells for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In the series Nerdarchists Dave and Ted go through each D&D spellcaster class and discuss the most all-around useful spells. The discussions are divided by the tiers of play. Tier 1 is 1st-4th level, tier 2 is 5th-10th, tier 3 is 11th-16th and tier 4 is 16th-20th. For each discussion they choose a go-to spell for attack, defense, buff and utility plus an iconic class spell. Since I am involved with the video planning, we’re all on the same page with the selections. So let’s look at what tier 2 spellcasting means for the D&D cleric.
Way of the Third Eye — Blind Fighting Psychic Monastic Tradition for 5th Edition
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a D&D campaign and the lovely disasters that can ensue. As the author, I very consciously designed the story this way, because some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced have been around the game table.
A large part of what makes D&D work so well as a storytelling avenue is its codified rules. These define things like how magic works, what weapons can do, and even resolving complex maneuvers. As an author trying to capture the proverbial magic of a tabletop roleplaying game story, I knew I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. As such, I devised a unique new D&D subclass for each character.
Get Badges for Nerdarchy the Convention at Presale Pricing
So, we’re doing Nerdarchy the Convention. That’s a thing, that’s happening. Nerdarchy the Convention rolls into the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center for Halloween weekend 2020 and we are beyond excited for this inaugural event. We’re celebrating our core philosophy of for nerds, by nerds with everything we love about the culture and community surrounding tabletop roleplaying games at one of the largest suburban exposition centers on the East Coast of the United States.
The One Thing You Want to Know About NPCs in RPGs
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to be talking about character motivations, particularly of the NPC variety, in tabletop roleplaying games like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. We Game Masters know we’re not supposed to get too invested in these characters because they are not spotlight characters. Not really. The game should focus on the player characters. But there’s an art to NPCs, and not being the focus doesn’t mean they don’t have to be complete characters. No, I’m not saying you need a dozen notes for the backstory of Bob the Baker. What I’m saying is, you should know what his goals are, what he wants, and how to leverage him.
D&D Ideas — Words of Power and the Power of Words
Welcome once again to the weekly Nerdarchy Newsletter. 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. This week we delve into the power of words. Before we do we’ve got a freebie to offer up. Over on the Pledge Manager for the Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition we put a free download of a new encounter. Grab it here.
Real World Adventure Hooks for D&D — The Bones Await You
When you hear “Chapel of Bones” you probably think nercomancer. It’s at least in your surface thoughts. But there is a real Chapel of Bones in Portugal where the interior walls and columns are covered and decorated with human skulls and bones. The 16th century Franciscan monks who built the place meant to represent the concept of life being transitory best summed up by the motto memento mori. The bones of the chapel are very literal reminders of death. But I don’t see any animated dead or other signs of necromantic shenanigans.
D&D Adventurers League Witch Doctor Delivers Instant Funk
Of all the Adventurers League Character Build Guides we’ve done, this one might be my favorite. I should preface by letting you know I think this almost every time. What captures my attention more than anything in these guides are the character backgrounds and narratives we come up with for each one. Whether it’s a pure class 1-20 levels or a mashup of several classes, each choice from race to deciding between ability score improvements or feats and go-to spell loadouts make every character unique. The thing I love about the witch doctor is before Nerdarchists Dave and Ted get around to choosing their first class level, the character already has a rich story, fertile grounds for roleplaying and an impressive set of skills and knowledge.
