A Legion of Monsters and Heroes with Pathfinder Battles: Ruins of Lastwall Miniatures
It is time to look at some more miniatures. This time we are going to look at Pathfinder Battles: Ruins of Lastwall miniatures from WizKids. One of the things I really enjoy about the Pathfinder minis is these sets occasionally come with set dressings or terrain pieces. By slowly adding new items to my collection I get inspired by the items that have come out of the boxes. Some things I might not choose to purchase if I just saw them on the table, but if I get them by chance, I already have them so might as well use them.
3 New Cantrips for D&D Inspired by The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons 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 TTRPG story, I knew that I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. Among these are three new cantrips. Each of these new cantrips for D&D was designed with the classes listed in mind.
Build Your World on the Table with Dungeons & Lasers
Hello gamer friends out there. There are lots of ways to use terrain in your tabletop roleplaying games and there are loads of options when you are looking at modular dungeon tiles. I am here today to talk to you about one of those options — Dungeons & Lasers now on Kickstarter.
D&D Ideas — Scaling Encounters
D&D Ideas — Random Dungeon Building
WizKids Icons of the Realms: Descent into Avernus Brings the Blood War to You
Nerdarchist Ted is back to talk about some miniatures again and I have to tell you, I dig the stuff WizKids keeps coming up with. They have another 44 miniature set with alternative sculpts and those super cool promo items that are always amazing standouts for your Dungeons & Dragons game. Check it out and grab some of the awesomeness here.
D&D Ideas — Three Pillars of 5E D&D
D&D Ideas — Using Monsters
D&D Ideas — Encounters
Trade Blood for Power with D&D Blood Magic
Looking for a way to darken magic in your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games? Then have I got the perfect homebrew rule for you — Blood Magic!
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.
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.
Dungeon Craft: Build your own battle maps! now on Kickstarter
Do you like using a battle mat and terrain but you are not all that crafty? Perhaps you just do not have a lot of room to store all the cool things you would like to have. If either of these sound like you, you want to check out the Kickstarter for Dungeon Craft by 1985 Games.
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.
