D&D Flavour Shot: Dark Fey Portals
A Flavour Shot is a short description of game artefacts and phenomena for use by Dungeon Masters, Game Masters and Storytellers in their roleplaying games. Feel free to drag and drop these into your own games, and modify to suit. Let us know if you end up using them. Some will be portals to other realms, some will be magic items, others will be monster encounters. This time, it’s…
Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #23, “The Librarian”
Out of the Box introduction
Gazing Into Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons
Whether you started playing Dungeons & Dragons out of the original woodgrain-colored box and the three little brown booklets inside or you’re new to the hobby and go completely digital with D&D Beyond, before you make a single die roll, you’re drawn in by art. From Greg Bell’s Doctor Strange “inspired” mounted warrior on the original 1974 box cover to Tyler Jacobson’s depiction of an adventurer battling King Snurre on the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook, fantasy art’s history and influence on D&D is woven into the fabric of the game.
The stories behind the art, helping to create the worlds we play in, are the focus of the new documentary Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons from the team of X-Ray Films and Cavegirl Productions. The film profiles artists who contributed to the rich world of fantasy D&D art and features insiders, designers, writers and fans sharing the impact of art on their games and lives.
Hyperlanes Classes: Sci-Fi for D&D
Following up a live chat and offline interview with Hyperlanes creator Ryan Chaddock and a look at species from the cinematic sci-fi ruleset fueled by the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons engine, we’re continuing on through the Hyperlanes corebook with Chapter 3: Class.
One of the best things about D&D 5E is the modular design philosophy. Stripping away all the class features, slots and so forth, D&D character classes are great framework to hang homebrew elements onto. I’ve had a lot of fun creating and playing with things like the barbarian Path of the Azure Primal Path and warlock Void Pact. There are six core classes in Hyperlanes, each with their own archetypes just like D&D. In fact, the class options in Hyperlanes are each built using one of the core D&D classes as a chassis. I’ve read through them all several times, ran a couple of sessions for players using them and certainly imagined more than one character I’d like to play.
Curious as to which ones?
D&D Flavour Shot: Druid Portals
Any Dungeon Master will be able to tell you how hectic running a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons session can get, especially when your players go in a totally unexpected direction and you start having to make stuff up on the fly to accommodate them. To make life a little easier, I’m putting together the Flavour Shot series. They are descriptions you can drag and drop into your D&D campaigns to quickly introduce mechanics for players to make use of.
Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #22 – “A Cry for Help”
Out of the Box introduction
D&D Creature to Character Conversion: Darklings
A few times in the past, I've written articles about elements of the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons homebrew world I'm building (which I'm temporarily calling Gladius). One of my earlier D&D creations was the aatier, a half-tiefling half-aasimar race. Not to long ago, I...
D&D Beyond Campaign Creation Walkthrough
As an unabashed D&D Beyond advocate I discover new and useful aspects of the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons digital tools service everyday. Developer responsiveness to issues is top notch and the monthly live developer updates with product lead Adam Bradford show dedication to continual improvement and innovation.
One particularly useful area of DDB is the campaign tools. As both a player and Dungeon Master I’m involved in two games using these tools and they’re invaluable for both. While not as robust as I imagined the tools would be, they’ve already updated capabilities several times and I’m confident they’ll continue evolving.
Worldbuilding: My D&D Campaign Setting Approach
My usual week is taken up with many mundane tasks. Between getting my son up and ready for school, generally keeping the house and preparing materials for games, videos and articles, I keep pretty busy. One thing I try to do is keep my articles about things I think others will find interesting to read about.
A rule of thumb I go by is if someone can read my article and use something in it either in their games or elsewhere in their life (the interdisciplinary applications of the Reroll Rule Problem for example) then I have succeeded in my task.
Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #21 – “The Solution”
Out of the Box Introduction
The Evils of Exposition Ex Machina in D&D and Other Roleplaying Games
It would be be completely understandable if you don’t understand what I mean by Exposition ex Machina. It’s a derivative phrase I’ve personally been using for a very long time, but it’s by no means commonly used. It’s derived by the very old ancient Greek theater term, Deus ex Machina, which is translated as “god from the machine.” (Critical Role fans might be interested to note that Vox Machina is literally “voice machine.”)
In modern usage, a deus ex machina is a narrative device where an outside force abruptly saves the day, which is mostly used when the protagonists are bound by an impossible to escape scenario. To me, it’s one of the most abhorrent plot devices, and easily the laziest. That’s generally the implication when I use a term followed with “ex machina.” It’s a mechanical, forced plot device.
D&D Worldbuilding: Fictional Song and Things a Bard Does
Salutations, nerds! What are the bards in your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons world singing about? That’s what we’re going to be talking about today.
The songs of a fictional D&D world are a really big deal in terms of how the world breathes and the general feel of it as a setting. Remember, once upon a time before we had easy access to the printed word, news was spread through story and song and spake in rhyme so the layfolk would more easily remember it. And if a few things got embellished along the way, well. That’s just the nature of the music made to sooth the beast, isn’t it?
Mists of Ravenloft Engulf D&D Online
Mark your calendar for Dec. 5, 2017 and stock up on garlic and wooden stakes – Dungeons & Dragons Online delves into darkness with the Mists of Ravenloft expansion release! Featuring 12 new quests, a new raid, new wilderness area, two new public areas, a brand new saga and more, Mists of Ravenloft has been a long-rumored addition to DDO players will finally be able to enjoy…if they dare.
Count Strahd von Zarovich casts his shadow over the lands of Barovia from Castle Ravenloft. Are you brave enough to face him?
Kobold Press Prepared 2 Adventure Collection: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
