Games Within Games — Skill Challenges and Minigames in D&D
We’ve been talking a lot about tools in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons around the Nerdarchy HQ lately. The topic was the focus for a recent weekly live chat and newsletter, and came up again during a later live chat too. One set of D&D tools in particular — the gaming set — inspired our upcoming monthly Patreon rewards too. Rolling Bones is all about games within the games of our D&D campaign settings and adventure worlds. Our talk and writing about tools and gaming sets got me thinking about minigames in D&D in different ways. So let’s get into it.
Descent into Avernus Inspiring D&D Nine Hells Adventures and Content
Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus released recently. The fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign adventure is the latest from Wizards of the Coast, and as always the creative D&D community is sharing their enthusiasm for the hellish new quest. In sales, Descent into Avernus is No. 173 on the Amazon Best Sellers Rank for books, and No. 3 for Dungeons & Dragons behind the Player’s Handbook and the Essentials Kit. New players continue to discover the game and the PHB + Essentials Kit sales, with Descent into Avernus right behind, suggests they’re diving right into the hobby. And there’s a ton of content being created by gamers and designers to support Descent into Avernus, too.
Is Using Poison in D&D Evil?
In one of the recent videos on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel, Nerdarchists Dave and Ted discussed poison in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, taking a look at the history of poison in earlier editions. Using poison in D&D has evolved over the decades for sure, and the conversation raised some interesting points. There are plenty of comments on the video too, offering lots of different perspectives. I’ve got my own thoughts on the subject, so let’s get into it and, at least from my point of view, answer the question if using poison in D&D is evil.
What is Alkemancy? An overview of Deep Magic: Alkemancy by Kobold Press
I was privileged to receive a review copy of Kobold Press’s new Deep Magic: Alkemancy supplement for 5th Edition in order to review it. The notion of potion making is nothing new to the fantasy genre, and I was eager to hop onto this. I love seeing new rules from passionate third-party publishers that I can use at my game table. That being said, this supplement is rich with content, and I cannot possibly cover all of the different aspects in a single article. As such, I’ll be writing a series of articles, each detailing different aspects of the book, and I’ll culminate the whole thing in a video review, over on my YouTube channel, once I finish the articles here. With all that out of the way, let’s dive into this overview!
D&D Ideas — Turn Anything Into an Adventure
Real World Adventure Hooks for D&D — the White Grung
The other day Nerdarchist Dave and I were talking on the phone when he spotted an unusual creature on his front porch. A white toad sat on the railing and over the next few minutes climbed, jumped and scrambled its way around the porch. He’d never seen a white toad before, and we wondered what it could be up to. How did it get there, and what was the motivation for exploring the porch? Could we glean some adventure hooks for D&D through this real world curiosity?
Foreshadowing and Campaign Unity in Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to talk about foreshadowing in your tabletop roleplaying games and how to create an experience that is “the campaign” rather than a series of interconnected sessions. Heads up, that is going to involve a lot of mystery and not explaining yourself.
Epic Destiny — Legendary Warrior Sorcerer Subclass for 5th Edition
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a D&D campaign and the lovely disasters that can ensue. As the author, I very consciously designed the story this way, because some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced have been around the game table.
A large part of what makes D&D work so well as a storytelling avenue is its codified rules. These define things like how magic works, what weapons can do, and even resolving complex maneuvers. As an author trying to capture the proverbial magic of a TTRPG story, I knew that I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. As such, I devised unique a new D&D subclass for each character.
D&D Ideas — Treasure
Welcome once again to the weekly Nerdarchy Newsletter. Apologies this week is coming a bit late. We’ve had a bunch of behind the scenes stuff going on of late. But on a personal note my wife (Nerdarchist Ted’s sister) had hip replacement this week so we’ve had some extra things on our plate. You’ll be getting two newsletters kind of closer together than usual because of that. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy, by signing up here. Now on to it. This week is all about that sweet, sweet D&D treasure.
Tales of Terror 5e Miniatures — Something Wicked (Foundations) This Way Comes
I’m taking a page out of Nerdarchist Ted’s playbook today to share some news about some highly detailed miniatures to augment your tabletop roleplaying experience. Wicked Foundations: Tales of Terror 5e Miniatures is a live Kickstarter campaign featuring some truly creepy and terrifying minis along with storytelling material to help Game Masters bring the fear!
Path of the Brawler – Pro Wrestler Barbarian for 5th Edition
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a D&D campaign and the lovely disasters that can ensue. As the author, I very consciously designed the story this way, because some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced have been around the game table.
A large part of what makes D&D work so well as a storytelling avenue is its codified rules. These define things like how magic works, what weapons can do, and even resolving complex maneuvers. As an author trying to capture the proverbial magic of a TTRPG story, I knew that I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. As such, I devised a unique new D&D subclass for each character.
Help Kids Fight Cancer with Harper’s Tale: An Adventure Path for DnD 5e
In our Dungeons & Dragons games we talk about heroic adventure and playing the heroes who make it so. Through our characters we get opportunities to face incredible danger, take extraordinary risks and stand up in the face of adversity in ways we can’t necessarily do in our real lives. But we can also learn from our characters and, as much as they might represent a facet of our own personality, we can reflect some of their heroism too. Harper’s Tale: An Adventure Path for DnD 5e demonstrates this duality perfectly. The story, and the story of the story, behind the project currently on the path to funding through Indiegogo, represents everything that’s awesome about D&D. In every way, it will be a wonderful addition to any gamer’s collection.
D&D Ideas — Gods
College of Dazzling – Special Effects Bard Subclass for 5th Edition
The Mis-Adventurers: An (Almost) Epic Tale is a new adult comedic fantasy adventure novel that hits a lot of the beats of a D&D campaign and the lovely disasters that can ensue. As the author, I very consciously designed the story this way, because some of the best stories I’ve ever experienced have been around the game table.
A large part of what makes D&D work so well as a storytelling avenue is its codified rules. These define things like how magic works, what weapons can do, and even resolving complex maneuvers. As an author trying to capture the proverbial magic of a TTRPG story, I knew that I’d have to codify many of the book’s events in terms of game mechanics. As such, I devised a unique new D&D subclass for each character.
Real Treasure in Cawood Publishing’s Treasured Finds is Storytelling Gold
The fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide describes two types of adventures: location based, and event based. But after looking through a new product from the Dungeon Master’s Guild, my takeaway is a third type of adventure — treasure based. Treasured Finds from Cawood Publishing presents organized loot for 5th Edition, and for my 2 cp it’s the storytelling elements hidden in these random tables that’s the real treasure. But the chests stuffed with magic items aren’t too shabby either.
