Help out the D&D Community through DMs Guild
Part of my worldview is there’s always good things going on in the world, and there’s always bad things going on in the world, and I do my best to focus on the good. I saw this morning on Twitter a creator in our D&D community is experiencing a rough patch. Creator Cat Evans had some home repair troubles and they reached out for a helping hand through the content they’ve created at the DMs Guild. Cat’s books include material for both players and Dungeon Masters of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, so there’s something for everyone. Take a look and help Cat out by discovering cool new content for your 5E D&D games at the same time. See? Something bad happens and you focus on the good. You can find all 19 of their DMs Guild titles here.
Something for Everyone at Dungeon Masters Guild
There’s a little something for everyone at the Dungeon Masters Guild. A couple of creators got in touch with us to share their work; the Dungeon Masters Guild newsletter shared new stuff for characters, DMs and content designers; and we’re getting back to making stuff for the DM’s Guild ourselves with the Adventurers League Witch Doctor Character Build Guide adding to the marketplace this Friday, Oct. 18. A steady flow of new stuff continues to stock the digital bookshelves at the DM’s Guild, and this week we’re dipping a toe into DriveThruRPG too. The community content coming across my desk this week all had a common thread. Whether it was player-centric in the form of new character options or DM-centric like adventures there are strong worldbuilding opportunities in these products. I appreciate any D&D content that makes me start thinking about how it fits into and enhances a campaign setting.
Keep Mordenkainen Busy Keeping Track of Your DM’s Guild Content
Did you know over 4,000 new products stock the Dungeon Master’s Guild digital marketplace from 2019 alone? I read this on Twitter so you know it’s legit. Best-selling DM’s Guild author and cowriter of Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus M.T. Black shared the tidbit the other day and it really got me thinking. When I was a young Dungeons & Dragons nerd, I’d haunt the single column of bookshelves at Waldenbooks, perusing the games and modules there. They numbered in the double digits at best. It’s a great time to be a D&D player and creator. The DM’s Guild offers a marketplace to share your creations with the world, and we’ve got many thousands of products to enhance our games to choose from — including many of those old classics I browsed back in the day. Here’s a small sample of some of the DM’s Guild products that crossed my desk this past week.
Ravage — Dungeons of Plunder is an Adventure Board Game for Treasure and Teef!
Are you looking for a new board game? Do you like board games with great options like competitive and cooperative, as well as solo play? Is repeat play value through variable quests important to you? And No. 1: do you want to play with a tribe of orcs? If you answered yes to all of these questions, or even some of them, then I have a game for you! Ravage — Dungeons of Plunder is a dungeon delving board game where you play orcs, with three modes of play.
Treasures Await! Adventurers: Choose Your Own Reward
Longtime visitors here to Nerdarchy the Website may remember the very first Out of the Box encounter posted right here about three and a half years ago. Mike Gould, the writer, remains an invaluable resource for the Nerdarchy community and we were so excited to launch our very first Kickstarter with Mike’s work in the spotlight. We set out to make a hardcover book of our own, and because of the support and encouragement from the RPG community we do so much more. We met all our stretch goals, including several that evolved because of the Kickstarter’s remarkable fundraising. And now the Out of the Box Pledge Manager is live, so backers can complete their surveys and anyone who missed the Kickstarter can make late pledges. This is a perfect opportunity to get your copy of the Out of the Box book, our entire digital library and more at special pricing — not to mention badges for Nerdarchy the Convention in 2020.
Halloween D&D Adventures are a Treat at DM’s Guild — No Trick!
The fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons creative community shares their enthusiasm in lots of ways. One of those ways is the Dungeon Master’s Guild, an online marketplace where people all over the world create new content for D&D. With Halloween just a few weeks away here in the US, the jack-o’-lantern light is shining on spooky holiday themed adventures and material, so this week let’s focus on some of the Halloween D&D adventures at the DM’s Guild.
Descent into Avernus Inspiring D&D Nine Hells Adventures and Content
Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus released recently. The fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign adventure is the latest from Wizards of the Coast, and as always the creative D&D community is sharing their enthusiasm for the hellish new quest. In sales, Descent into Avernus is No. 173 on the Amazon Best Sellers Rank for books, and No. 3 for Dungeons & Dragons behind the Player’s Handbook and the Essentials Kit. New players continue to discover the game and the PHB + Essentials Kit sales, with Descent into Avernus right behind, suggests they’re diving right into the hobby. And there’s a ton of content being created by gamers and designers to support Descent into Avernus, too.
Help Kids Fight Cancer with Harper’s Tale: An Adventure Path for DnD 5e
In our Dungeons & Dragons games we talk about heroic adventure and playing the heroes who make it so. Through our characters we get opportunities to face incredible danger, take extraordinary risks and stand up in the face of adversity in ways we can’t necessarily do in our real lives. But we can also learn from our characters and, as much as they might represent a facet of our own personality, we can reflect some of their heroism too. Harper’s Tale: An Adventure Path for DnD 5e demonstrates this duality perfectly. The story, and the story of the story, behind the project currently on the path to funding through Indiegogo, represents everything that’s awesome about D&D. In every way, it will be a wonderful addition to any gamer’s collection.
Curse of Hollow Hills – Undead Miniatures on Kickstarter
From the people of Crippled God Foundry, allow me to present the Curse of Hollow Hills. Dungeons & Dragons, or let’s face it any fantasy roleplaying game, would not be the same without hordes of undead. It is that fear of a fate worse than death that can scare the normal mortal into staying in town. It takes a brave adventurer — or a foolish one — to brave the trials and tribulations of the monsters out there. And the undead are one of those. Curse of Hollow Hills is a miniatures project of fantasy heroes & undead monsters. If funded, it will include a collection of up to 50 original sculpts (including future stretch goals), inspired by the most iconic undead creatures of fantasy novels, RPGs & tabletop board games.
Dungeons & Dragons Spell Effects: Arcane Fury and Divine Might by WizKids
As a visual person I frequently like to have the battlefield fully represent what is going on during a battle. I have used a variety of markers during my many years of playing Dungeons & Dragons. With WizKids releasing the Spell Effects I feel I can better represent the magical effects at my own table. Below is the list of all the great things that come in this prepainted non-blind purchase pack. This way you know exactly what you are getting.
Strongholds and Followers from MCDM
Many of us look back at the old editions of Dungeons & Dragons with rose-colored glasses. Reminiscing about THAC0 and the uniqueness of the old races and classes. One thing I always liked though that slowly died out was strongholds as a level reward. This mostly died off after second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. There was the Strongholds and Builders Guide in 3.5, but I found it more of a Dungeon Master supplement and players never gave it a glance. This goes back to something removed from D&D — politics. Old settings like Birthright, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Ravenloft all had factions that lead to a lot of political intrigue and plots. Due to this it was not uncommon for people to be awarded baronies in these games and used as quest points themselves. As the editions changed, we would see the leadership feat come and go, and followers and cohorts fall to the wayside. Now from the brilliant mind of Matt Colville and the creative staff from MCDM they have returned these things to the light with the 5E D&D supplement Strongholds & Followers. For those of you unfamiliar with Matt Colville you can check out his Running the Game series over here. Let’s take a look at the book.
Monstrous Humanoids in 5E D&D
Over the years Dungeons & Dragons has offered many different races for players to choose from. I know that some Dungeon Masters are very much against anything that does not look normal. Let’s forget the dragonborn and tielfing and play with humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes and halflings. With those races there are plenty of options even without all the subrace choices. But if you are like me you enjoy all the choices and you want to play the things that are bizarre and interesting. If you happen to look around this site you will see many different monstrous humanoids I statted out for 5E D&D and even made up some of my own, so feel free to poke around. I’ve had a fondness for monstrous humanoid races from the beginning of my roleplaying days. The Complete Book of Humanoids was always my favorite, with races like the wemic, the ogre mage and of course the dino people — saurials. I used this book over and over again playing second edition AD&D. And now Deck of Many has an free PDF designed for anyone who enjoys anthropomorphic characters for 5E D&D.
The North Seat 5E D&D Campaign Setting from Ethan Hudgens
Often, I find myself wandering around different Discords and Twitch channels wondering what other gamers are up too. Recently I’ve been watching something on the UnMadeGaming channel and found Mike in a game being run by Ethan Hudgens, and I watched in fascination as they tried to kill a bear. As usual Mike had a rough night, but I found myself more and more curious about campaign setting. After the game I was chatting with the folks in the Discord channel and found out Ethan has his work up on DriveThruRPG presented by Encounter Roleplay (another great channel I strongly recommend you check out). After buying The North Seat primer and book one titled Hostadd, Our Home, I am completely intrigued by the story and I think you should be too. Today, we’re going to take a look at the primer and do a review of the books. Hostadd is a 5E D&D alternate campaign setting and style. After reading book one and the primer, I think you’ll really enjoy it so let’s take a jump in and start looking at things.
Dungeon in a Box Unboxing — August 2018
There are several subscription crate services out there that cater to us the gamer. The lovely folks over at Dungeon in a Box decided to send me a copy of what they do so I can share my unboxing with all of you who like these type of things. This being my first adventure into Dungeon in a Box I am not as familiar with them as I am with other monthly subscription boxes. If my information is correct Dungeon In a Box is supposed to offer everything you need to run the adventure within. So you open the box and you are prepared to play some games.
Dungeon Crate Unboxing — August 2018
Hello happy gamers. It is that time for another unboxing of a Dungeon Crate subscription box. Dungeon Crate is an awesome gamer crate designed to get you awesome adventures, swag and gaming accessories to use at your gaming table delivered to your door every month. I personally have received every crate — and even helped curate one — since the first box has gone out. Each Dungeon Crate typically features 5 to 7 items to use at your gaming table.
