The Dungeons and the Dragons of Dungeons & Dragons: White Dragon Lairs
Now that we’ve seen the insidious and torturous nature of the black dragon and the windy torrent of the wind dragon and their D&D dragon lairs, I think we need to cool off. Let’s take this party to the frozen tundra of the north where, shockingly enough, I have no shirtless savages. Instead, there be dragons. Well, just the one really. Let’s talk about introducing a dragon with the vicious, cold, and animalistic white dragon. What do these frost wyrms have to offer, what do white dragon lairs look like, and what servants, if at all do they have? We’re going to jump into my take on this lesser used dragon and try to make a unique adventure.
New D&D Stuff! Limited Edition Covers for the Core Books, New Setting and D&D Adventures Outlined
On Twitch and Twitter, the D&D team continues to spoil us with teases and announcements about new products and projects left and right. At the Stream of Many Eyes we learned that not one, but two new storylines are dropping later in 2018. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage are separate but interconnected spawling adventures taking place in the City of Splendors. We also got some cryptic teasers from Dungeons & Dragons Senior Director Nathan Stewart about new settings coming to 5E this year. And just recently, another batch of spoilers and announcements came our way. We’re getting another new book, cool new covers for our old books and a big ol’ confirmation on what our first new 5E setting will be. Excited yet?
Top 3 Reasons to Run Published D&D Adventures Like City of Brass
Nerdarchists Dave and Ted share great insights and ideas on the reg on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel. In particular a recent video inspired by the City of Brass Kickstarter from Frog God Games is near and dear to my heart. In the video the pros and cons of a Dungeon Master running adventure paths and published D&D adventures are weighed with some surprising results. In my estimation, it’s all pros. No cons (except ones where thousands of nerds gather in one place for days of gaming celebration. Like Gen Con coming up in Aug. 2-5!)
Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #48 – “It’s Raining….Men?”
Out of the Box introduction
Terrain, planning and paranoia can play havoc with a Dungeon Master’s plans. Introducing an encounter becomes an adversarial game of justifying how an encounter could occur while any number of spells, class or racial abilities or magic items render surprise all but impossible. However, there’s always a way.
D&D Monstrous Races Really Miscast My Cantrips
If you’re a frequent reader, you know I like to jump onto whatever topic the Nerdarchists are talking about any given week and throw in my 2 cp. Recently, Nerdarchists Dave and Ted are covered the gith chapter from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes and I simply gave a soft sigh. The gith are a combination of just about everything I find uninteresting in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Living in a plane of existence beyond the material, psionics, and being a monstrous race. Let’s dive into why I dislike D&D monstrous races and ways that disdain has made my game better. Well, at least I think it’s better.
Dungeon Crate Unboxing – June 2018
Hello fellow gamer. Or are you also a nerdy collector? Here I get to share what’s inside the subscription box, in this case an unboxing of great stuff from our friends of at Dungeon Crate. I have been getting these since box No. 1 and I am surprised at how many Dungeon Crate boxes that is over the years. I actually saved a large number of them and have used them to store nerdy things in and the treasure chest feel is pretty cool.
Buff is the Stuff for D&D Support Characters
I figured it out, y’all. The secret to a satisfying session of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, especially a live stream D&D game, and more especially still a live stream D&D game with people you’ve never played with before. Fair warning, it’s not a scientifically proven method or meticulously playtested concept. And it’s definitely not a fully-realized comprehensive guide. But it is based on observations from a non-zero number of live stream roleplaying games I’ve been involved with as a player, Dungeon Master and engaged viewer. So, pretty cerebral, thinktank-level stuff on playing D&D support characters and options to buff the party. Indulge me while I attempt to take the Help action to aid your next game.
The Dungeons and the Dragons of Dungeons & Dragons: Wind Dragon Lairs
I can’t be held down friends. You thought I was going to keep it going on the chromatic spectrum for introducing a dragon, but here we go doing a pivot to elemental dragons enclosed in the wonderful Tome of Beasts. While I have a deep love for the chromatic dragons, I do find them a bit restrictive at times. Because they are so iconic and interesting, it feels wrong to step outside their prescribed niches. The additional types of dragons and drakes in the Tome of Beasts allow for not only a wider range in dragon types and D&D dragon lairs but built-in personalities running a much wider gamut. Let’s roll into the bullies of the sky: the wind dragons and wind dragon lairs.
Waterdeep Dragon Heist Brings New Icons of the Realms from WizKids
Announced during the Stream of Many Eyes were the books Waterdeep Dragon Heist, and Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage. We get to look forward to a cool city-based adventure as well as an awesome megadungeon before the year is out. But this article is not here to talk to you about that.
Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #47 – “The Stray”
Out of the Box introduction
If there is one thing consistent with nearly every campaign I have played or Dungeon Mastered, at least one player will try to turn something (if not a lot of things) into either mounts or companions. There seems to be a little of “the collector” in all of us, but in these players the collection of creatures or things is king. It can be hard to either justify or facilitate such players, as their choices may be neither logical nor timely. Circumstance and choice often work against these players. Even worse, some groups always have the player who seeks to stir the pot and sabotages such efforts.
Powerful Potions and Mutated Trolls Await Within Wyestone Horror
Another month comes with it another wonderful Nerdarchy Patreon reward. For July 2018, Critical Hit Publishing brings us a wonderful supplement by the name of The Wyestone Horror. This document is packed with interesting items, new monsters, and a great adventure appropriate for a spooky one-shot. Let’s go into some of the aspects I really enjoyed about this Patreon reward and where it has legs beyond just the one-shot held within.
Defense of the Appeal of Drow Player Character
In the world of Dungeons & Dragons clichés, there is perhaps no more universally reviled archetype than the chaotic good drow ranger. Once upon a time, drow were the evil counterpart to elves, raiding surface cities and living in a matriarchal society that worshipped the Queen of Spiders. Then came RA Salvatore and his incredibly popular character Drizzt Do’Urden, the first drow in the Forgotten Realms to throw off the mantle of evil forced on the drow and attempt to redeem himself and his heritage. Drizzt’s popularity lead to a drow player character boom inspired by or modeled on Salvatore’s work and the increased appeal of drow overall. So called “Drizzt clones” have become so cliché as to be outright banned by many Dungeon Masters.
Underprepared D&D Players Miscast My Cantrips
The longer I spend wading through the waters of Dungeons & Dragons on social media, the more I find being a Dungeon Master who makes preparations is a little more rare than I initially thought. Everyone has their own means of having fun, but I can’t roleplay comfortably without ample notes, spreadsheets, and clear understanding of a rules system. Lots of psychology to unpack there… but now is not that time! Now I must explore my commitment to D&D as a lifestyle game. I spend sometimes 8 hours writing for a session. Underprepared D&D players who come to the table over the course of months and still don’t know basic functions of their character, commonly used core rules, or which die is 8-sided really miscast my cantrips.
MCU’s Failure Can Be Your Infinity War D&D Campaign Success
More Marvel Cinematic Universe talk within the honored halls of Nerdarchy. As I scribe away on scrolls and interdimensional glyphs, I ponder on the MCU films in D&D terms and how the limitations they had could easily be fixed at the gaming table. Let’s explore what I believe to be the largest weakness of the collective movies and how you can take advantage of the MCU’s failure to infuse a clever narrative arc and create your own Infinity War D&D campaign. Oh, fair warning, super minor Infinity War spoilers.
The Dungeons and the Dragons of Dungeons & Dragons: Black Dragon Lairs
There are two aspects of Dungeons & Dragons history that I love to include as often as I can in my campaigns. I find dungeons so important to D&D that it’s rare I will run even short arcs without them. The iconic nature or sheer power that comes with introducing a dragon into the narrative and the reaction you get from players when they find out there are rumors of a dragon… To me, these separate are wonderful, but together make for the set piece that brings D&D to firing on all cylinders. Let’s explore the different D&D dragons and the lairs they might make in a world where dungeons are reality. Let’s start out with one of my favorites: the Black Dragon.
