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.
Wringing Out 5E D&D’s Eldritch Adept Feat for More Eldritch Invocations
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted contemplate the potential of the Eldritch Adept feat for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons characters. The new Eldritch Adept feat found in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is available for 5E D&D characters with the Spellcasting or Pact Magic features and allows them to learn one Eldritch Invocation option of their choice from the warlock class. Let’s get into it.
Fancy Familiars for 5E D&D
Most of us know when it comes to fifth edition Dungeons & dragons usually you cannot directly pick your familiars. The familiars more or less choose you. This mystery and gamble so to say offers a lot of suspense and curiosity to the general game play. The great thing about any 5E D&D game is you can always expand and allow for more options of course within the agreed upon terms with your Dungeon Master and fellow adventurers.
D&D Ideas — Tragedy
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is tragedy, 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 tragedy in Mirror, Mirror adventurers encounter a forlorn spirit with a tragic tale they can help resolve. A Hearth Hope reflects on their former life and seeks to carry out one last task 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.
Firearms Create Fantastic 5E D&D Storytelling Opportunities
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted get locked and loaded for a discussion of the place for firearms in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. They go over where and how firearms appear in 5E D&D and touch on perspectives related to included them in games. For me the question of whether firearms feel appropriate for D&D brings up a broader view of just what kind of fantasy D&D represents. So let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Comedy
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is comedy, 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 comedy in Wooden Dragon clever kobolds use a quirky magic item and ingenuity to make their way in the world. Kobolds pilot a wooden dragon construct to terrorize travelers and exact a toll to pass 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 Bardbarian
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted pluck a chord discussed in a video from long ago and give it the ol’ Character Build Guide treatment for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. A bardbarian is a multiclass mashup of bard and barbarian (duh) and beyond this parameter the 5E D&D conceptual space remains wide open. In the video the character build they come up with incorporates a little trick to overcome one of the challenges to syncing these two characters classes up. So let’s get into it.
Quantum Leap into Your Next 5E D&D Campaign
While talking with a friend recently I mentioned the idea of a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign based on the totally awesome science fiction television series Quantum Leap. This is a friend who’s played in my campaigns many times over the years yet never stepped into the role of Dungeon Master. Our conversation was aimed at encouraging him to run a game sometime and after playing a session I showed him my notes to illustrate how it’s nowhere near as complicated as he suspected. I could tell he was still unconvinced but when I mentioned creating a campaign inspired by Quantum Leap his whole demeanor changed. If he’ll ever run such a campaign (or any campaign!) remains to be seen but it seemed like a cool idea so I’ll share it here too. Let’s get into it.
Imbue a 5E D&D Warlock with Eldritch Invocations from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted took my pitch for the Ever Living One Character Build Guide complete with Mumm-Ra and Ma-Mutt inspiration and instead dove deeper into the key part of the concept. Gift of the Ever-Living Ones is an Eldritch Invocation for warlocks in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons found in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Perhaps in the future we’ll give it the full CBG treatment and maybe we’ll add the Sword of Plun-Darr to the Sword of Omens and Claw Shield we translated into 5E D&D too. But there’s eight new Eldritch Invocations in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything though and they’re on the list to cover here on Nerdarchy the Website and this video provides an easy segue. So let’s get into it.
Weird and Wonderful Warlock Otherworldly Patrons of 5E D&D
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted talk about splashing some levels in warlock to gain the Gift of the Ever-Living Ones Eldritch Invocation from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. A warlock in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons makes pacts with beings more powerful and ancient than the mind can fathom. Rivaling the power of the gods warlock Otherworldly Patrons in 5E D&D are wily, wonderful and sometimes downright weird. Seeing this conversation got me thinking about the nature of splashing classes by taking only a few levels in a class to gain access to a particular feature and what that might look like in roleplay.
