Thrust Player Agency Upon TTRPG Players with Questions to Engage
Whether I’m acting as Game Master or not the thing I dislike the most about any tabletop roleplaying game experience is a group who interacts in isolation from each other. As a player I want to interact with the other players through our characters and as a GM I hope to see this behavior from the people in the group. There’s several reasons for this and a technique I began using a few years ago helps tremendously. So let’s get into it.
Use This Circle of the Moon Druid for Your Next 5E D&D Game
When it comes to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons the druid is probably my favorite class. Reasons for this abound. The 5E D&D druid is super versatile and comfortably fills the role of healer, defender, controller or damage dealer. Even when players focus on one particular aspect through one of the Druid Circles and other choices druid characters can still fill the other roles in a pinch. Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted cover one such aspect in a discussion about different Wild Shape forms a druid (specifically a Circle of the Moon druid) might use.
Making the Most of Wild Shape Forms for 5E D&D Druids
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted get animalistic and take a look at the best beasts in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons for a druid to Wild Shape into during tier one of game play. While they point out the highlights of various beasts I’m of a mind to expand on this and see all the possibilities from official 5E D&D sources along with the environments in which they’re typically found. So let’s get into it.
Cawood Publishing Challenges Adventurers with Monsters of the Wilderness
Our friends at Cawood Publishing unveiled a new excursion into the World of Myrr unfolding through their series of monster books. Monsters of the Wilderness for 5th Edition is the fourth book in the series and the Kickstarter campaign bringing it to life for gaming groups all over the world launched today and runs through March 4.
The Five Room Backstory for 5E D&D Characters
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted look at ways for a Dungeon Master to use a character backstory as a resource to create dungeons for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Building on their ideas I’m curious about approaching from the opposite end and exploring how players can set their DMs up for success by constructing their character backstory like a dungeon for 5E D&D. So let’s get into it.
Start Your 5E D&D Campaign with a Single Encounter
How long is a typical session of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons? When I was much younger with many fewer responsibilities my friends and I gathered to play D&D for a lot longer than the game sessions I experience these days. Scheduling and time management are factors in this as well as the influence of online gaming both streamed or simply using communication software to connect with fellow players. Newer Dungeon Masters and those curious about what life is like on the other side of the DM screen already have lots to consider (and feel anxious about) and session length is rarely something I see discussed when it comes to 5E D&D or any other tabletop roleplaying game for that matter. So let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Guilds
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is guilds, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy Live to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of guilds in Phoba’s Bet a guild or other organization dispatches a very special kind of bounty hunter to track down an adventurer who did them wrong. A rogue medusa leverages heroes into paying for her dark services or simply hunts them while seeking a cure for her curse along with 54 other dynamic scenarios in Out of the Box. Find out more about it here. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.
Explore the Wonderful World of Millinery with 5E D&D Hats, Helms and Headwear
Let’s think about hats! Headwear or hats could include a number of types such as circlets, standard hats, crowns, cowls and hoods. When you look at gear, headgear usually includes masks and goggles as well. If there is not enough loot in your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons group there is always room to make more. However there seems to be a fair amount of headgear within the standard 5E D&D books.
Behind the Scenes of Untraditionally Arcane — an All Wizard Campaign for 5E D&D
It is time for a new campaign on the Nerdarchy Live YouTube channel with the Chaos Crew. One of the players tossed out the idea of doing an all class party and we were off and running. Untraditionally Arcane is a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign featuring a party of wizards. The campaign premiere on Jan. 29, 2021 at 8 p.m. eastern streamed at Nerdarchy Live with future episodes streaming the last Friday of each month for viewers to watch live.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Boom Boom Wizard
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted put their faith in an Awakened Spellbook to suss out a special kind of spellcaster for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The Order of Scribes Arcane Tradition in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything charges up this wizard’s spells with lightning and thunder damage to pay homage to the meteorological forces they devote themselves to. This Boom Boom Wizard mixes and matches 5E D&D class features to assault enemies with the raw power of the tempest. So let’s get into it.
Behind the Scenes of Dungeons & Delving — the World’s Greatest Game Show!
Over at Nerdarchy Live on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. a group of nerdy gamers muster to play tabletop roleplaying games. Players in the group rotate Game Master duties after each campaign wraps up following a preset number of sessions. On Jan. 19, 2021 a new campaign began. Dungeons & Delving is a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Gameplay sessions tend to jump right into the action so whether you follow along live each week or catch up with VOD here’s some background information and guides to the players, characters and campaign scenario for the world’s most popular dungeon delving game show.
Make Flanking More Dynamic in Your 5E D&D Game
Flanking is an optional rule from fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons I’ve heard much debate on. The usefulness and overpoweredness of flanking and lacks thereof emerge in many 5E D&D discussions. Flanking is certainly a strange rule and much as I stated in the D&D Tag about the rules I just don’t get advantage is both generic and complicated — a bizarre duo to say the least. Nerdarchists Dave and Ted address this concern and others in a recent video. After watching I got to thinking about ideas to make 5E D&D combat more dynamic and homebrew rules to make combat faster paced and, well, engaging.
Does the Power of 5E D&D Characters Eclipse the Game’s Original Intent?
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take a look at a social media thread about the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons experience from a “self-parody account” that tagged Nerdarchy. The thread presents a fun topic for consideration and discussion. Do the onramps to great power for 5E D&D characters reflect a community and rule set much different than the creators of the game’s original vision? It’s a deeply abstract notion to explore. So let’s get into it (a little bit anyway — I’m not writing a master’s thesis here).
Unearthed Arcana 2021 — Gothic Lineages Presents New Direction for 5E D&D Characters
The first Unearthed Arcana playtest document of 2021 arrived today. Gothic Lineages presents three fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons character options, which build on the optional material found in last year’s Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Dhampir, Hexblood and Reborn illustrate three new special race options to playtest taking a different approach. Players can choose one of these options at character creation or during an ongoing campaign to transform their character at an appropriate time. So let’s get into it.
Taking Inspiration from the Language of Flowers for Your RPG Campaign World
Salutations, nerds! Today I’m writing about flowers in tabletop roleplaying games. Specifically I’m thinking about how back in the Victorian era people were way extra and liked to make codes out of everything. How ladies held their fans was a language in and of itself to the point the hand they carried it in could indicate whether or not they were available for someone else to pursue. In a culture that really didn’t like saying things outright there was a lot of reading between the lines — a lot of implication. Floriography, or the language of flowers, says this poignantly. If you’ve ever wanted to passive aggressively flip someone the bird this was a really excellent way to do so.
