How to DM — Cheat With The Lazy Dungeon Master
Hello and welcome fellow Nerdarchists. I’ve got a great way for you to up your tabletop roleplaying game skills. It’s called The Lazy Dungeon Master written by Michael Shea. Don’t worry about which edition of Dungeons & Dragons you are playing. This book is useful. As a matter of fact I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest you could use nearly all of the advice given for any tabletop RPG. This book is short, sweet and packed with valuable Dungeon Master tips. If you are looking for a how to DM resource this one is at the top of my list. It weighs in at an anemic 123 pages but offers storm giant sized value. If I would have stumbled across this book there is no way I would of bought it, but because a friend recommended it I decided to give it go. At 123 pages I was thinking what the hell is this Michael Shea guy going to tell me about how to DM? I mean, I’ve been gaming for over 30 years at this point.
Creating the Most Foul 5E D&D Lich Villain Straight from the Monster Manual
Welcome fellow Nerdarchist. Today I’ll be guiding you through the horrors of the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual as we discuss a villain most foul. Nerdarchy was asked to do a video about a 1,000 year old lich who was a human and is chaotic evil from one of subscribers over at the Nerdarchy the YouTube channel. The request was for both a story and stats.
Top 5 D&D Campaign Settings
Hello and well met. I’m here to discuss my top 5 picks for D&D campaign settings through out my 30+ years of the game. First and foremost we will be skipping Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms. I find these to be the most generic of D&D campaign settings. They could literally be anyone’s homebrew game. Oh wait, Forgotten Realms was Ed Greenwood’s. Nothing against those settings it’s just there isn’t anything really different in them. The only reason Forgotten Realms is interesting at all is because of the amount of detail that has gone into it, with tons of authors having written in that setting. Even with all of that it strikes as being incredibly generic. Personally if I’m going to play in a generic setting I’d rather just run my own homebrew.
5E D&D Character Builds — Dragonborn Paladin
Hello Nerdarchy reader, Nerdarchist Dave here to talk character builds. I got me a hankering to delve into a dragonborn paladin for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Paladins are an iconic character class harkening back to the very beginning of the game. Dragonborn on the other hand are a bit newer, first appearing in 3.5 D&D towards the end in a different incarnation than the current version. They really came into their own with fourth edition D&D. To be honest it took me a little while to warm up to them as player character race. Honestly it was the 4E D&D art that killed them for me. Two words: dragon boobs! The idea of a mammalian trait slapped onto a reptilian race seemed ridiculous to me. But I’ve decided to grow as a person and get over it. Not too long ago I wrote an article about dragonborn that kind of made me want to play one hence this article where we build a dragonborn paladin.
Exploring 5E D&D Multiclass Character Builds
Welcome and greetings fellow nerdarchist. Nerdarchist Dave here to talk D&D character builds. But first you might be wondering if you are a Nerdarchist or not. You decide:
5E D&D Customized Races — Subraces of the Underdark
Hey Nerdarchists out there, it is time for yet another installment of customized 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons races. We have a request from Nerdarchist Ashton Smyth who is running an Underdark campaign and wanted my take on the duergar. Thanks for the great suggestion I hope you like it and agree with my take on it. And since I am doing the dark dwarves why not add the deep gnomes as well? I have included the full race write up so you can use this as an easy reference for creating your own duergar or svirfneblin character. Some changes needed to be made to the base races for thematic or mechanical purposes.
Wemic — Monster and Playable Race for 5E D&D
Hello fellow Nerdarchists, today I want to bring you one of my favorite races from Dungeons & Dragons past — the wemic. I fell in love with the wemic back in my early days of playing second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. When I got my hands on the Complete Book of Humanoids I played many of those races and wemic was absolutely my favorite. You have to admit the wemic is a realy cool race. So I am proud to give you my take on the wemic both as a monster and a playable race.
Customizing 5E D&D with Feats and Spellcaster Cantrips
Hello and welcome, reader. Nerdarchist Dave with a tale of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons feats and how I accidentally created my first one. It all started with a question from a viewer. The same person also asked about casting cantrips using higher level spell slots. At first I balked at the higher level spell slots, but than I thought about it. Most cantrips only effect a very small area with a limited range for the most part — only one target — or a saving throw avoids all damage so I don’t think it’s game breaking. Then you add in having to use an ability score increase to take a feat to do it. A maximized fireball is still usually a better option than an empowered cantrip. But if you want a spellcaster with a certain flavor, why not? This is the first 5E D&D feat I’ve homebrewed and it’s a really great example of how easy this edition of the game is to customize.
Gaming Through the Editions of D&D
Hello. Nerdarchist Ted here and today I am just going to go through the editions of Dungeons & Dragons I have played and my opinions on them. I have been tabletop roleplaying for over two decades and I started with second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Some of the people who have been on Nerdarchy have a longer history and started earlier than I did. I have the red box that Nerdarchist Dave started with.
5E D&D Monsters — Goblins and Their Goblinoid Cousins
Hello Nerdarchy reader, Nerdarchist Dave here to talk Dungeons & Dragons monsters, in this case goblins. The D&D goblin has been around for as long as the game has existed, actually longer. Goblins have been lurking around folklore and mythology for ages. Goblins and their ilk are classic D&D monsters we love to hate. It’s one of those monsters adventurers encounter in the beginning of their careers. The downside to all this is goblins have become mundane and dare I say boring to today’s gamer. Heck I bet most Dungeon Master’s don’t even both to describe them to their players anymore. “You see a goblin,” is what a lot of DM’s more than likely say.
How to Find a Gaming Group for Tabletop RPG Games
Hey folks Nerdarchist Dave here to talk about the age old question: how do I find a gaming group? This can be super easy or a Herculean task especially among us tabletop RPG gamers. Let’s face it, inside the gaming community there are more socially inept people than you can roll a d20 at. I feel like can say that, being one of the inept. I personally have always gotten anxiety when placed in large social gatherings with people I don’t know.
Custom 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Races — Reptilians
Hello gaming fans, Nerdarchist Ted here. I know Nerdarchist Nubz has been doing a series called Savage Species and many of you have liked it. So I have decided to give it a go and give you a couple of my favorites written from my point of view. Let me let you in on a little secret. I am a huge fan of playing monster characters. For you old hats out there my favorite book from second edition Dungeons & Dragons was clearly the Complete Book of Humanoids. Once I got a hold of that I saw no reason to play any other race unless the Dungeon Master forced me to. All right, with my background covered lets get to the fun with my take on some 5E D&D monster races! Please consult with your DM ahead of time before you make a character with these rules.
Exploring Spelljammer for 5E D&D
Flashback to 1995 — Spelljammer. The second edition campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons I liked playing. Flash forward some to 3E D&D, an edition I enjoyed for many years but an edition I will not be playing in the foreseeable future. Will I ever get to play Spelljammer again?
Build a Better Adventure with Terrible Terrain in Your RPG
Nerdarchist Dave here and it’s time to talk about some RPG encounter building. I’m going to make this a miniseries article containing four parts. On Nov. 15, 2014 Nerdarchy took part in the online convention called Brigade Con. Brigade Con is dedicated to tabletop roleplaying games. There was a ton of online games and discussion panels going on for just over 24 hours. Terrible Terrain was the name of the discussion panel we ran. Later in this article you can check out the video. In the meantime I’m going to elaborate on our discussion and break down the encounters more in depth.
Running a Game of 5E D&D
Hello, Nerdachist Ted here to talk about fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. With each edition of D&D there are changes in perception and rules to challenge Dungeon Masters. With the Player’s Handbook and Monster Manual now completely available, running a game is easier but we have yet to get the Dungeon Master’s Guide. I wonder what new secrets or bits of information lie in those pages. I have run two sessions of 5E D&D for the Nerdarchy crew and friends and in just those two sessions it has changed my perspective of being Dungeon Master.
