Nerdarchy on New D&D Spells from Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFsCeS7f3po In this 15-minute video on Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted dive back into the latest fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons book Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos to take a look at the new spells within. There are five spells included in the book, which...
Great Magic Items Inspire Amazing Stories for Players and Characters Alike
We love magic items! The source of power for adventurers may have slowly migrated from external to internal over the years but this hasn’t taken away from the joy of discovery when characters glean such treasures from the hoards of conquered monsters or unearth them in long-lost vaults. In our own fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games magic items play pivotal roles whether this means providing the power to best terrible adversaries, grant capabilities otherwise impossible for a character or complement existing features.
Game Masters Aren’t Always the Smartest Person at the Table
One of the benefits of working in the tabletop roleplaying game industry is exposure to lots of different perspectives when it comes to gaming. Whether my takeaway from these is good, bad or indifferent there’s always at least a nugget of insight and ideas upon which to chew. A conversation I frequently encounter deals with the concept of consequences and very often focuses on the notion of dumb decisions from players leading to their characters’ death or otherwise adverse results. Adopting the same parlance I’m coming at this from the perspective the whole debate is dumb. Let’s get into it.
Heroquest Action!
What’s the saying about the best laid plans? Heya folks. It’s been a while. I was all ready to write a lot over the summer then life became even more complicated. People I know became sick, including family. I lost several friends, some to natural causes like cancer and few to untimely endings. This happens as you get older. Friends become fewer due to attrition and there’s no saving throw. In any case, today I’m setting the Delorean back to the early 1990s. Back then Milton Bradley decided to work with a small game company in the UK called Games Workshop on a series of games based upon their intellectual property. One, Space Crusade, was based on Warhammer 40,000 and released only in Europe. The other was sword and sorcery and released here as well — Heroquest. Eventually they also released Battle Masters in the US as well.
D&D Ideas — Reflections
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is the reflections, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy Live to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of reflections we’re encouraging your serious thought or consideration for our latest big project. Mage Forge is ideal for GMs who run short on time for game prep by providing magic items with the potential to define your adventures and the characters who uncover them. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Magic Items by a Factor of Three — Wondrous Items
The homebrew content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons found at D&D Beyond is astounding. You’ll find hundreds of thousands of spells, races, subclasses, monsters, magic items and more over there and I’ve looked at quite a lot! All the schools of magic, subclasses for each class individually, feats, monsters, races and a variety of other categorizations of 5E D&D content all fell under my gaze here on the website. Most recently I’ve been going through magic items one category at a time, which includes homebrew armor, potions, rings, rods, scrolls, staffs, wands and weapons. Now I’ve come to the end when it comes to magic items and it’s time to check out the over 100,436 homebrew wondrous items at DDB. Let’s get into it.
Work for the Collective as a 5E D&D Warlock with a Cyberpunk Otherworldly Patron
The power of friendship is a staple in fantasy, science fiction and beyond. Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaigns often revolve around this concept but why do we see villains and sinister folk employ this theme so little? I was contemplating the nature of millennial plights and the work force in general and my thoughts drifted to the cyberpunk genre and whether 5E D&D could be set in a cyberpunk campaign. (Watching Batman Beyond certainly didn’t have anything to do with my musings either.) I wondered what a cyberpunk setting for 5E D&D might look like and what kinds of unique subclasses might inhabit this space.
Dissecting the 5E D&D Giant Creature Type
Salutations, nerds! The fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons creature type I’m covering today is a pretty big deal if I do say so myself. No? Well, I can’t see myself out so I’ll just have to write this one while I’m sitting in pun jail. Grab your magic beans and say Fee Fi Fo Fum with me because I smell something and I don’t think it’s the blood of an Englishman. That’s right, I’m looking at 5E D&D giants! From the big stompy boys who appear in your standard fairy tale fair to the jotun from Norse mythology, giants figure in a lot of fantasy’s source material so it’s no small wonder they also figure prominently in D&D.
Flames of Enchantment Erupt from the Mage Forge!
So many memorable moments from our fantasy roleplaying game experiences originate through the amazing magical items our characters possess. Drawing your sword accompanied by the roar of a dragon to signify the blade as a relic of an ancient order and your wielding it proving your right to carry on the legacy. Plumbing the depths of eldritch knowledge through your ring’s cursed connection to an unfathomable entity plumbing the depths of your soul in trade. Capturing the souls of dying creatures in your lantern to draw on their essence for aid in your darkest moments. These are the kinds of moments we adventure for as fantasy RPG players. And as creators we’re throwing open the doors to our magic item vault in Mage Forge — Magic Items for 5th Edition!
Tabletop Roleplaying Game Expectations in 2022
It’s the first day of a new year and reflection on the previous year naturally comes to mind. Recently we shared a collection of Nerdarchy’s Top 10 of 2021 and for a companion piece I’m looking forward to 2022 like I did 12 months ago for the year that’s just ended. I’m a lifelong nerd and now partner in our company so I spend considerable time thinking about the hobby personally and professionally. From this perspective here’s my thoughts about the future of the tabletop RPG industry including what I hope emerges. Let’s get into it.
