Limitless Monsters Kickstarter from Limitless Adventures Unleashes 100 D&D Monsters!
Do you like monsters? Of course you do. Whether you’re a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master on the lookout for exciting new creatures to challenge adventurers or a player whose character seeks fame, glory, gold and heroic deeds, monsters are one of the most amazing parts of the game.
Fortunately for you, there’s still time to head over to Kickstarter and back Limitless Monsters – the latest campaign from Limitless Adventures. (Campaign ends on Oct. 28). With two other successful Kickstarters to their credit already, this campaign is already funded with content written in advance to ensure delivery of high-quality material on time.
Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #19 – “Genie in a…”
Out of the Box introduction
Worldbuilding: Fantasy Currency
Hey nerds! I’ve been thinking a lot lately about coinage and currency and how they relate to worldbuilding. In Dungeons & Dragons, we pretty much accept that ten copper pieces are a silver piece, ten silvers are a gold, ten golds in a platinum and we leave it at that. It doesn’t matter, most of the time, where you are, the same coins still apply. [EDITOR’S NOTE: But what about poor, forgotten electrum, the US half dollar coin of D&D? Read on…]
Anyone who’s ever traveled abroad in real life, though, and had to go through the awkward song and dance of having their money exchanged for local tender knows that isn’t true at all. Of course, we don’t bother tinkering with that in D&D most of the time because it’s not really the focus of what we’re doing and for most campaigns – it’s going to be way too distracting to be worth it. But for things like fantasy fiction and the rare campaign that gets down to a lot of roleplay and the brass tacks of the world you’re in, this can be a really nice touch.
D&D Ranger Beast Master: Beast and Ranger are One
The video above from the Nerdarchy You Tube channel is part of the ongoing series “New Ways to Use Recovery Dice in D&D.” In each installment, Nerdarchists Dave and Ted and Nate the Nerdarch discuss alternative uses for hit dice, presenting class-specific options. Focusing on each character class as they appear in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook, the options are designed to provide one use for the class in general, plus an additional use specific to each archetype.
One of the class archetypes for the D&D ranger, which is a point of contention among many players, is the Beast Master. A few Nerdarchy staff writers and i recently discussed the Beast Master archetype, and part of our conversation dovetailed with the alternative hit die option in the video.
D&D Beyond Previews Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Plus Pre-Order Bonus
Have you been keeping up with Todd Kenreck’s work as host and content director for D&D Beyond? On top of bringing his skills as a journalist and documentary filmmaker to bear to help tell the story of Dungeons & Dragons, Kenreck’s D&D Beyond video series began sharing previews of some of the new character subclasses in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Closer to the release date for the hotly anticipated book, the previews have included additional material too.
Geek and Sundry GM Tips with Satine Phoenix…and Nerdarchy!
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztH7NtxVl2M[/embed] Thanks to so many awesome Nerdarchy fans and supporters, Nerdarchists Dave and Ted were able to make it out to Los Angeles earlier this year to appear on GM Tips with Satine Phoenix. The Geek and Sundry program features different Game Masters each week tackling...
Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #18 – “Pull!”
Out of the Box introduction
A pair of hill giants can make a very bad day for a village in a D&D game. [Art by Wayne Reynolds]
Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms is Free to Play Dungeons and Dragons in Early Access on Steam and it’s Awesome
Salutations, nerds! And good news for fans of idle games like Cookie Clicker and AdventureQuest Dragons. Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms is a Dungeons and Dragons game in early access on Steam right now, free to play, and I have to say it’s exactly what I needed.
It’s an idle game, and if you’re not already aware of what that means I’ll give you the run down: you don’t have to do a whole lot for the game to do what it does. You click a couple of times and get it started and then watch the numbers go up and get ridiculously high as the story progresses and in this case, as your heroes do more damage.
Kobold Press Holds All The Cards in Deck of Beasts
Kobold Press deals a winning hand with Deck of Beasts
Greetings Nerdarchy readers! Has anyone told you that you are awesome today? Well you are, and I believe that awesome people deserve equally awesome things. That being said, I have had the immense pleasure to speak to Kobold Press’s Wolfgang Baur and Inkwell Ideas’ Joe Wetzel about a product they created that has not only amazed me but impressed me. Their creative minds have shuffled together to deal us the amazing, the stupendous, the inspiring Deck of Beasts and Sidequest Decks!
What are these items I speak of you ask? Well let me tell you dear Nerdarchy reader about a dark age in gaming where one would have to lug around entire books just to include one monster. These days, the dark ages if you will, your Dungeon Master would have to turn and reference things which could take up valuable time. As a Dungeon Master, I always wanted to show the amazing artwork detailing the monster they were facing.
Despite my illustrious ability to spout adjectives with prolific prose, a picture is indeed worth a thousand words. Well this is where the Deck of Beasts comes in.
The Deities of Gladius, part 2
[caption id="attachment_24045" align="alignleft" width="241"] The gods of the Greek Olympus[/caption] This is part 2 of the deities of Gladius, click here for part 1 to go into the first 12 deities. As I stated in the previous article, when I was writing my article about using Unearthed Arcana...
The Deities of Gladius, part 1
[caption id="attachment_24045" align="alignleft" width="241"] The gods of the Greek Olympus[/caption] When I was writing my article about using Unearthed Arcana for world building, I ended up going through all of the UA articles. In light of my article, especially in anticipation of at least some of...
Out of the Box, D&D Encounters, Series 2, #17 – “The Ante”
Introduction to the Out of the Box Encounter: [caption id="attachment_24661" align="alignright" width="355"] DMG5e Feywild Cladio Pozas pg 50 CC SA 3.0[/caption] The series of articles have touched on the Feywild before, but it was more from the point of view of chasing or following denizens there. In...
Dark Sun Ever Mindful of D&D Psionics
Like Nerdarchists Dave and Ted and Nate the Nerdarch mention in the video above, psionics has been a part of Dungeons & Dragons since 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. In the interest of utmost accuracy, the supernatural power of psionics were first introduced to D&D in Eldritch Wizardry, a 1976 supplemental rulebook for the original edition. Also of note are the other now-iconic facets of D&D included in that 60-page digest: the druid class, demons and demon lords like Orcus and Demogorgon, mind flayers, and artifacts like the Rod of Seven Parts and Axe of the Dwarvish Lords.
With those bits of long forgotten secrets behind us now, let’s turn our clairsentience to the future. Based on hints and bits of information shared through social media and in interviews, a fifth edition D&D iteration of Dark Sun is almost certain.
We’ve already got the mystic class available through the Dungeon Master’s Guild, giving D&D players the opportunity to utilize the awesome power of psionics in D&D 5E.
Now we only await the introduction of the sun-scorched setting of Dark Sun.
Constructing Fantasy Weapons for 5E D&D Races
Fantasy Weapons and Equipment for d&d 5e races
So over the years, I have written various bits of lore that pertain to the d&d 5e races as well as several campaigns.
mithrodin sword by rstovall CC -BY-ND 3.0 License.
That being said, the part that I see missing from Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition is the specific equipment that each race has at its disposal.
To this end, I did a bit of thinking and propose the following items and racial trait for your campaign. Now one could ask why one would even need or want more choices when choosing a weapon for your character.
The reason is that it adds a depth and flavor to the world, enhances roleplay, and adds mechanics to back the craftsmanship that is spoken of so often in lore.
From fine Elven blades to sturdy Dwarven axes and brutal Orcish weaponry these weapons are famous and iconic when one thinks of these d&d 5th edition races.
Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #16 – “Stomp”
Out of the Box Introduction
There are two approaches to scaling encounters for players when using lower CR monsters. The first is to just add more of the same. The second is to change how they are used, or use them in a way in which they act in concert with another monster type or mechanic.