Comics and D&D Q&A with Artist Kate Sheridan
Hello! Today I’m happy to share a Q&A with Dungeons & Dragons nerd, illustrator and comic creator Kate Sheridan. Kate appeared on the Nerdarchy live chat with Nerdarchist Dave, which you can find below, and had a great conversation about art, comics and D&D. After watching the chat, I checked out Kate’s work and picked up her comic Fallow Time, a terrific story that really captured my imagination. She has a wonderful art and storytelling style and I highly recommend checking out her work. I’m looking forward to adding a print of one of her pieces to my office. Kate was kind enough to share her time answering some more questions, so let’s get into it.
Nestling into Slow Burn Pacing in a D&D Campaign
They are innumerable ways to start a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign and none of them a the right answer. My absolute favorite method of starting a campaign is the low level, very grounded slow burn. It does take a group who shares a deep level of trust and players who are really willing to experience a slow narrative, especially in the beginning where they may not be deeply involved. Let’s go into the nature of slow burn pacing in a D&D campaign, talk about what makes it something I love, and some pitfalls that can come with it.
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes Stone Cursed Finds a Rock Solid Friend
Nerdarchists Dave and Ted are at it again, and they’ve jumped back into Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. This time we’re looking at a curious fifth edition D&D monster entry, the stone cursed. The Nerdarchists threw out some great ideas that got me thinking how I would use this entry. I’m a sucker for using under appreciated monster entries and I intend on throwing a creature of two that you might not have seen or used yet. Let’s get into the Stone Cursed and their presence in this encounter line.
D&D Planes, Cosmology, and Welcome to the Realm of Chaos
Delving back into Nerdarchy’s homebrew campaign setting Chimes of Discordia for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, I want to talk to about some of our D&D cosmology and our Realm of Chaos or the Chaos Realm. We have this Stranger or Traveler god that either was spawned from the Realm of Chaos or created the Chaos Realm with their birth. Like many creation myths the multiverse started out as chaos. Powerful beings that would come to be known as gods came forth from somewhere else, looked upon the chaos and brought order to it. They gathered up all of the chaos and cast it out and far away. That mass of chaos condensed and built up over the ages.
Mind Flayer Meets the Nerdarchy Homebrew Campaign Setting
I started talking about using the mind flayer and beholder in our homebrew campaign setting in a previous article. Mainly I covered the beholder re-imagined as dread spheres. In the previous article I talked about the idea of a Chaos Realm and powerful beings known as Travelers. One of these creatures took control of an elven city named Karsha Luceen.
Metagaming as a Tool for Creating Tension in D&D
There’s always a conversation going on about metagaming in Dungeons & Dragons somewhere. Many argue over what it is but few people argue for its merits. I’m here to put forth that metagaming, like many aspects of D&D or any tabletop roleplaying game, is a tool to be applied with skill and nuance. There is good and bad with every tool, but I believe I’ve built a case for helping you find where those lines are at your table and it all revolves around creating tension in D&D.
The Iconic Dungeons & Dragons Monster – A Love Letter to Them
The beholder was introduced with the first Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Greyhawk in 1975. The mind flayer first appeared in the official newsletter of TSR Games, The Strategic Review No. 1 in spring 1975. These are two of the most iconic Dungeons & Dragons monsters in the game. I’d love to know how many players have met their end to one of these two baddies. Of course D&D is rife with monsters what makes the beholder and mind flayer so special. I think it’s because they are so alien and bizarre that they really capture the imagination of players and Dungeon Masters alike in a way that very few other Dungeons and Dragons Monsters do.
Feats of Inspiration – D&D character building from a single feat
I’m in the mood to flesh out some characters and I like the idea of using the variant D&D rules for feats to infuse some flavor into a character concept. Let’s jump into it with three more feats in D&D and maybe these traits will spark some inspiration for your D&D character building on existing characters or ones you might be writing for an upcoming campaign.
Wizard Willy’s Wily Weasels – Beyond Bandits in D&D
Nerdarchists Dave and Ted are talking about bandits in D&D and giving out lots of great ideas and examples. However, the segment is intended to be monster replacements and it got me thinking about how I would replace bandits without simply going right back to something commonly used like goblins and kobolds. I got to flipping through the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual, looking for creatures I’d never used to replicate the feeling and challenge of bandits. I came to a rather odd inspiration: giant weasels. How do we use weasels in place of bandits? Let’s explore some ideas together!
Using Exotic Mounts in D&D – The Knights of the Crimson Spiral
Nerdarchy plays fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons in the our own campaign setting Chimes of Discordia. The world is Ulthe-Ganya, a hodgepodge one of our early campaigns we are currently doing in D&D games. In that world there is our god of war Stromguard, the lord of battle, bloodshed, and warfare. He is a brutal being that lives for strife and conflict. It is only fitting he has champions to match his demeanor. His followers are drawn from warriors, soldiers, and more primitive tribal peoples. Mechanically his followers in our campaign setting will be drawn from the barbarian, fighter, and War Domain cleric character classes. Some outliers would be bard (skalds), ranger, monk (brawlers), and paladin. Paladins in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons have become holy warriors dedicated to a particular oath. The most violent and warlike of these might find that oath sworn before the altar of Stromguard. Two oaths in particular stand out for Stromguard — Oath of Conquest and Oath of Vengeance. These champions are both revered and feared even among the faithful of Stromguard.
Nerdarchy Patreon Evolved! Original 5E Content — Bigger, Better, Bolder
Since 2014, Nerdarchy has been hard at work creating content all over the place. What began with a video featuring Nerdarchist Dave geeking out has grown to a library of well over 2000 videos on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel. Here on the website, you’ll find over 1500 posts sharing news, views, and homebrews as well as the Nerdarchy Store with even more original content. But there’s another place we create even more content still! Through the Nerdarchy Patreon, we’ve been rewarding supporters with original 5E content since 2016. And now it’s evolved!
Khorvaire, Sharn and More D&D Campaign Setting Just a Wayfinders Guide to Eberron Away
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons players have been clamoring for it for years. Diehard fans have homebrewed content for it. Popular streamers like Maze Arcana have embraced it wholeheartedly. And now it’s here. Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron dropped at both the Dungeon Master’s Guild and D&D Beyond, opening the door to a whole new world of adventure. The book provides an overview of the core themes of the D&D campaign setting and rules to connect Eberron to current campaigns. The continent of Khorvaire and the great city of Sharn are covered inside, along with races like kalashtar, shifters and the megapopular warforged, dragonmarks, magic items, and a guide to further reading to learn more about Eberron.
Icons of the Realms – Waterdeep – Dragon Heist Minis Revealed
Hello miniature collector or mini lover. I did a tease article about the WizKids Icons of the Realms: Waterdeep Dragon Heist set being released but there was not a lot of information at the time. Well, the great people over at WizKids sent me a few boxes so I could share what is coming out with this set later this year.
New D&D Campaign Setting Leaked a Day Early
If you were waiting with great anticipation for Monday, July 23 for the announcement and news of a new D&D campaign setting, today is your lucky day. An Amazon product page that went live early this morning looks like it lets the surprise out of the bag a day early. The D&D Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica shows what looks to be the announcement we’ve all been waiting for.
D&D Improves My Quality of Life
The Nerdarchists are covering a list of benefits to playing D&D and these really do apply to all roleplaying games. The RPG hobby is wonderful for building you up as a multifaceted person, but what about the people who have been in the hobby for 15 or more years? We may still benefit from those basic concepts and learning how to play, but there are diminishing returns. For me, I know the longer I play the benefits I get are much different than when I started, especially now that I’m playing as an adult.
