Joining Call Sums Up Our Worst Online TTRPG Experiences Perfectly
Ah, digital gaming. This glorious dumpster fire of a year has shifted many tables into online platforms from the comfort of gamer pads. While online tabletop roleplaying games are a boon to some they can also magnify the problems so many TTRPGs run into. Scheduling and herding players onto a single day — and then getting them to actually show up — is already an epic quest. Add in online elements, lost dice, children, drunk players and bad internet connections and we’ve got Joining Call.
D&D Party Composition — Playing an All Ranger Party
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take to the wilds for an exploration of the idea of an all ranger party for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Here on the website we take a different approach to this popular video series and continue my take on the concept of single party composition. Rangers in 5E D&D blend combat focused Ranger Archetype features with wilderness survival from the base class. But we’re focusing on a different kind of class here in our D&D academia campaign setting, the conceptual frame for this series. Courses at Ranger Conclaves offer correspondence learning for burgeoning rangers to provide practical instruction in the field. So let’s get into it.
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Aberrant Mind Sorcerer is Psion Successor
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introducing psionics changes the landscape of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Several subclasses included in the book represent spiritual successors to classes of a time gone by — the dreaded fourth edition D&D [insert dramatic music here]. In this totally not controversial and completely unbiased article I’d like to discuss why the Aberrant Mind sorcerer is the best fit as spiritual successor of the psion. I made a video on my YouTube channel giving an overview of the subclasses presented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and I promised in depth posts on each of them. This is but one of those.
D&D Ideas — Ruins
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is ruins, 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 ruins in Gone But Not Forgotten cursed plant life guards the ruins of a burial mound and awards resourceful heroes with a long abandoned tomb’s plunder. Even when others forget, the dead remember in this mysterious encounter 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, by signing up here.
Cyborgs and Robots Take Over 5E D&D through Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
I want to talk about cyborgs, robots and machines in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons (oh my)! The new Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything has everything! Well, it has a lot. Reading through the new 5E D&D subclasses I had some initial thoughts I shared on my YouTube channel and I promised to talk more about them.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Grung Grappler
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take grab onto a small idea for a grung grappler Character Build Guide for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The 5E D&D Tiniest Wrestler CBG holds on tight to this concept from character creation to 20th level while the special NPC or creature version inspired by the character build for Dungeon Masters ready to drop right into your game stands tall in the center of the arena as a main eventer. So let’s get into it.
Exploring Eberron through Artificer Specialists for 5E D&D
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted tinker with Exploring Eberron through another look at the character options included in the Dungeon Master’s Guild book produced by Keith Baker, the original creator of the megapopular Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. Eberron’s rich and detailed setting appealed to D&D players from the very beginning. Exploring Eberron wonderfully illustrates how curating character options creates a tremendous opportunity to show, rather than tell, what’s special about your world. Exploring Eberron includes several subclasses specially tailored to the setting for 5E D&D characters to choose from and Nerdarchy explores them all like we do. In the case of the Artificer Specialists I’m searching through the book to find connection points between these subclasses and the larger world they come from. So let’s get into it.
Social Interaction in 5E D&D is All About Attitude
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted interact socially for a discussion on fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adversaries whose weapons lean more towards a sharp tongue than a sharp sword. You might be surprised to learn there’s a section in the 5E D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide covering social interaction both narratively and mechanically. So let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Runes
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is runes, 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 runes in Devil’s Hospitality unwitting adventurers entangle themselves in a fiendish contract marked by deceptive runes and the race begins to find a loophole and void the binding circumstances. This guest creator encounter from Don’t Stop Thinking’s CJ Leung ensnares heroes in a devilish plot 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, by signing up here.
Write the RPG You’ve Always Wanted During GamoWriMo — the NaoNoWriMo Spinoff for TTRPG Nerds
It’s November, which means National Novel Writing Month — also lovingly referred to as NaNoWriMo. Last year, Dael Kingsmill proposed a twist on our classic NaNoWriMo called GamoWriMo. The premise of NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write at least 50,000 words of a novel in a single month. GamoWriMo’s challenge was similar: take the niggling idea for an RPG campaign that just won’t leave you alone and get it to a playtest worthy state before the end of the month. Both challenges emphasize getting words on a page as opposed to immaculate quality.
Player Choices Foster RPG Division of Labor for Better Game Experiences
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted ponder the ins and outs of Dungeon Masters recognizing and respecting player and character choices in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The discussion applies to any tabletop roleplaying game and encompasses both mechanical and narrative choices during character creation and throughout a campaign. To me this speaks to paradigm shift in the RPG hobby. So let’s get into it.
Exploring Eberron through the College of the Dirge Singer Bard for 5E D&D
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted strike a chord with Exploring Eberron with another look at the character options included in the Dungeon Master’s Guild book produced by Keith Baker, the original creator of the megapopular Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. D&D players embraced Eberron’s rich and detailed setting from the very beginning. Exploring Eberron does a terrific job illustrating how curating character options creates a tremendous opportunity to show, rather than tell, what is special about your world. Exploring Eberron includes several subclasses for 5E D&D characters to choose from specially tailored to the setting, and Nerdarchy explores them all like we do. In the case of the College of the Dirge Singer bard I’m going through the book to find the connection points between the subclass and the larger world it comes from. So let’s get into it.
D&D Ideas — Goblins
Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is goblins, 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 goblins in Aces High a gang of goblins led by a resourceful boss take to the skies on giant bats to launch aerial assaults with an explosive new weapon — grenados! This fan favorite encounter and map flies off the page and into your games 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, by signing up here.
What Do Your Unearthed Arcana Subclasses Say About Your 5E D&D Character? Part 5
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted do what they do and pour over the latest Unearthed Arcana 2020 — Subclasses, Part 5 for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. This new playtest document presents two new subclasses for 5E D&D. Way of the Ascendant Dragon monks revere the power and grandeur of dragons while Drakewarden rangers use their magical connection with nature to form an enduring bond with a minor dragon, a drake. Dave and Ted cover the subclass specifics in the video and here I’ll look at these 5E D&D playtest subclasses with a mind towards what sort of characters they might represent. So let’s get into it.
Follow the Steps to Make Best Use of 5E D&D Skills
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons skills every character should have or at least the three skills that keep coming up most often in their games. I’ve got a different Perception on when, how and what particular skills get checked during a 5E D&D game. (See what I did there?) So let’s get into it.
