RPG Crate Unboxing – March 2018
Hello adventurers! Our crate unboxing segments are moving from our video series to a new home here on the website as we shuffle things around to best provide all the things we want to offer between here and the Nerdarchy YouTube channel. This time we are going to do an unboxing of RPG Crate.
Celebrate International Tabletop Day with a Free Download of D&D Stuff
In 2017, some folks on the Nerdarchy team put together a free adventure for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons in recognition of International Tabletop Day. And for 2018 we’re at it again, and stepping up our game! To coincide with the revamp and relaunch of our Patreon rewards, we’re giving away a free download package of special rewards to everyone in the RPG community to help celebrate this most special of days on April 28. Empusia, Curator of Souls is a total package of D&D magic items, monsters, allies, enemies, dynamic and lost lore.
Empowering Your D&D Spells with Shadow Magic from Kobold Press
A couple of months ago we began reviewing the Deep Magic series for 5th Edition from Kobold Press. These are short PDFs over on DriveThruRPG and their own site. You can check out our playlist for the Deep Magic series on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel. These books are full of new D&D spells to add to your game. These e-books contain more than just new spells, feats, monsters, magic items, wizard traditions, sorcerer origins, warlock pacts and patrons, and more. This our ninth video review on the Deep Magic series from Kobold Press. I usually don’t care for a lot of third party products, but Kobold Press is one of the exceptions.
D&D Association: Pillars of the DM Craft, Part 3
Here we are, the last article in the Pillars of the DM Craft series, where we’ll talk about association: the activities in the game world that deal with cycling back into action when the party of characters is finding their way and seeking a new goal. In many ways, association is the most nebulous of the three pillars. As I mentioned in the introductory article, it’s a catch-all for the actions of the characters that don’t directly fall into the categories of action or adventure.
Party Roles: Playing D&D Games without a Tank
“D&D Tank – is it even a really thing in the game?”
This is a comment we received on our No Tank, No Problem – Running D&D Games without Filling Party Roles video. This is our first video in the Running D&D Games without Filling Party Roles series. The truth of the matter is I’ve been playing D&D games since first edition Dungeons & Dragons we looked for someone to fill the cleric, warrior, magic-user, and thief roles to fill out the D&D adventuring party even back then.
D&D Stories Bring Roleplaying Gamers Together and Create Communities
Whether gamers find themselves at a gaming store, convention, or someone’s home gaming group it’s our stories from the roleplaying games we play that unite us as a community. These bonds strengthen our existing friendship and help to create new ones.
Even if you’ve just met a fellow gamer for the first time you already have bounds to connect you together – your gaming stories. Plus what Dungeons & Dragons player doesn’t love sharing their characters or D&D builds with their peers?
Art & Arcana Celebrates Visual History of Dungeons & Dragons
Featuring one of the most iconic images in Dungeons & Dragons history on the cover, Art & Arcana is set to hit bookshelves on Oct. 23, 2018 to take fans on a visual history tour of the world’s greatest roleplaying game. Written by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson and Sam Witwer, with a foreword by Joe Manganiello, Art & Arcana is a massive 448-page tome available in hardcover and digital format from publishers Ten Speed Press.
The Psychology of a Likable RPG Character Part 3: Respect
Standard disclaimer: I got these points from a YouTube video centered around actual self help and the real life application of these points. I didn’t come up with this myself, I’m just repurposing it for fiction writing and roleplaying. I would love to be able to link that video here, so if you have it, drop a link in the comments please! (Edit: If you’ve been following, you know Nerditor Doug found it and it’s over here. Also Charisma on Command, very good material, makes a lot of Game of Thrones references, if you’re not already watching him you should be.)
D&D Power Gaming Munchkin Can Be a Fun Way to Play
You may find this hard to believe, but Nerdarchy has been accused of being power gaming munchkin players in the past. It’s true we sometimes enjoy optimizing or coming up with ridiculous character builds for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. When we analyze D&D character classes we often do it from a min/max standpoint with the mechanics. But in all fairness the mechanics are the part of the game that aren’t subjective so that seems like a fair place to start. Even though we don’t actually play our games as power gaming munchkins at the table we do have a lot of fun building crazy D&D builds and combos. We are actually likely to play suboptimal characters or even things we’ve complained about in videos.
From Hit Dice to Heroics: New Options for Your 5E Characters to be Awesome
Our fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons characters get put through the wringer on the regular during adventures, and pull off incredible acts in pursuit of quest success. And when they get a moment to catch their breath, a pool of resources – Hit Dice – waits to give them enough energy to press on. But what if there were other uses for these sometimes forgotten and often unspent dice? What if your characters could tap into these reserves outside of a short rest to perform amazing stunts? From Hit Dice to Heroics, our latest product in the Nerdarchy store, answers that question!
From Billy Goats Gruff to D&D Campaign Setting
Nerdarchist Dave here with a recap of one of our latest videos where we were inspired by Studio Woe’s Gruff – A Tactical Card Game of Mutated Monster Goats. They have a KickStarter for Gruff: Stuff of Nightmares you can check out, a stand-alone game fully compatible with the Gruff rules system and other Gruff games. Talking with the creator of Gruff really got my juices flowing for a semi-silly D&D campaign setting somewhere between Ravenloft and Dark Sun, but with evil shepherds and lots of goats.
Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #40 – “Snowblind”
Out of the Box introduction
D&D Adventure: Pillars of the DM Craft, Part 2
So far, we’ve covered the role of action throughout Dungeons & Dragons’ storied history. We’ve seen how it shifted from a heavy emphasis on combat and puzzle solving to one that balances many different kinds of conflict reflecting the enigmatic and intricate ways we as humans come across conflict in our own lives. In this article, we’ll take a look at adventure, the second pillar in my analysis of the Dungeon Master craft.
The Psychology of a Likable RPG Character Part 2: Trust
Quick disclaimer really fast; these four points aren’t something I came up with. I learned this from a YouTube video and at the time of me putting my butt in a chair and writing these articles I have no idea where that channel is or where the video is because I look at as much porn as you do and had to clear my browser history. So, if you happen to have an idea of the video I’m talking about, I would super appreciate it if you’d drop me a link so I can credit the original dude for these ideas. (Edit: Our wonderful Nerditor Doug found it for me! He’s over here, the guy is Charisma on Command, he makes a lot of Game of Thrones references and is absolutely worth checking out if you haven’t already.)
Keep Your Campaign on Track: Sidestepping Your D&D Adventure
Every RPG Game Master has been there. You’ve been hard at work preparing the next leg of your campaign, complete with great NPCs, memorable combats and lots of different possibilities depending on how your players choose to progress. You’re super excited to get into it, but your players just… don’t. There are a million ways this could happen, so I’ll begin by sharing something which happened in my Dungeons & Dragons game recently.
