D&D Ideas — Dice
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is dice, 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 dice it may be a Coin Flip to determine fortune or misfortune but the roll of the dice generates the effect every step of the way across a strange dungeon hazard. A floor made of giant coins, each promising fortunate or unfortunate effects, challenges heroes to cross 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.
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Fixes the 5E D&D Beast Master Ranger
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons is full of new options for players and Dungeon Masters. The book adds new content for characters in 5E D&D and provide alternatives for existing character options. While 5E D&D has been incredibly successful many players feel certain discrepancies exist among the classes, frequently with the ranger at the forefront of these views. Several times over the years the 5E D&D design team released Unearthed Arcana playtest documents focused on the ranger class with one iteration removing magic from the class entirely. This muddies the ranger’s identity without really addressing the balance concerns. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything offers new and exciting optional class features for all the core classes providing players a plethora of options to help each character feel unique — even those of the same class. The book’s Beast Master Companions optional class feature is the focus for this post.
D&D Ideas — Invisibility
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is invisibility, 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 invisibility in Three Eyes Are Better an imp uses it’s power to turn invisible to manipulate a budding warlock and cause no end of strife for adventurers. A devious imp uses lures heroes into a destructive trap — battling a magic wielding cyclops — 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.
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.
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.
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).
D&D Ideas — Tag
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is tag, 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 tag in Shell Game adventurers learn to share the burden and work in tandem — especially when they’re marked by weird energies! An oddball moment occurs when adventurers face a series of puzzling circumstances 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.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Mind Killer
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted focus their mental energies to a razor’s edge and dissect the concept of a mind killer for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The Soulknife Roguish Archetype in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything put a splinter in their mind and they take mix and match some 5E D&D class features to come up with a mind killer character build guide focused on stabbing enemies in the brain with Psychic Blades. So let’s get into it.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Way of the Unseen Fist Monk
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted channel their inner energy to create a new Monastic Tradition for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. They set out to develop an idea for a 5E D&D monk utilizing the ki of their mind to affect the physical world. The concept begins with the mage hand spell and by using ki a Way of the Unseen Fist monk can strike at enemies by channeling their energy through an invisible fist. So let’s get into it.
