Free Fifth Edition Gift for Awesome RPG Community
Over five years ago we sent out the very first Nerdarchy the Newsletter on Aug. 23, 2015. The inaugural message was delivered to 14 people who received a special message from Nerdarchist Dave along with an invitation to what would become the Company of the NAG and the platform for our monthly community one shot games still taking place to this day.
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.
Revilo Con Virtual Convention Offers Free Online Games, Panels and Events
Hello fellow gamers. I am here to share some cool information with you about the inaugural Revilo Con, a virtual convention with a weekend of gaming, events and panels including Worldbuilding with Isaac and Brian — Hosted by Ted Adams (that’s me!).
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game with 3 New Druid Cantrips
I’ve always been an avid fan of the druid class in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Whether playing a tabletop roleplaying game or MMO with friends there’s always been something I love about the notion of calling to the wilderness and having it answer in kind. In our campaign for Those Bastards! over on the Nerdarchy Live channel my character at present, Prudence, is a druid with some monk splashed in for good measure. No matter how you spin it, druids are my jam, hardcore. However, sometimes I get tired of the same old druid cantrips and I feel like there are things druids in 5E D&D should be able to do that isn’t really represented yet. As such, I’ve devised some cantrips for your favorite druid characters I think help to fill in some gaps the class currently possesses.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Raucous Satyr with Racial Feats
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted get bawdy and revel in what the satyr offers as a playable race for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Satyrs are longtime D&D monsters across all the editions and make their debut as a character race option in Mythic Odysseys of Theros. The new race boasts some powerful traits and in the context of MOoT begins play even more powerful with the addition of Supernatural Gifts. This is an important distinction because the default assumption for campaigns in the Theros setting includes a curated selection of playable races. All that said, what I’m interested in doing here is expanding the breadth of satyr adventurer life through creating some special satyr racial feats for 5E D&D characters. So let’s get into it.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game with Flair in This New Wizard Arcane Tradition
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted spread their wings and come up with a new Arcane Tradition for wizards in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Order of the Peacock began with a funny meme and Dave came to our video planning meeting pitch in hand for a new subclass. Nerdarchy’s experience at D&D In A Castle 2019 already gave us a head start with all the research we did for our triple connected epic campaign, so let’s get into it and show off the plumage of this Order of the Peacock wizard subclass for 5E D&D.
Monstrous Mutations and New Froggy Feats for 5E D&D
Looking for a creepy abomination or an ultimate big bad sure to strike horror into your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons players? Then the swampy Muckwuggle is just what you need. While reading up on Muckwuggle, the Frog God from Nerdarchy the Store I got more eldritch horror vibes than my dark fantasy loving soul knew what to do with. While this content has everything to get you started on your dark fantasy trek into the swampy planar wastes, I’ve devised some feats I think compliment this beautifully. The best part of these 5E D&D feats is each also contains an optional detriment, called a bane, or perk called a boon. This allows them the versatility of being used as blessings for evil followers and servants to the frog god or wretched curses for its enemies.
From Spelleater Minotaur to Path of the Spelleater Barbarian for 5E D&D
Mythic Odysseys of Theros is out for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and Greek myth is the name of the game! My housemate and I have been talking for a while about what sorts of third party supplements might fit nicely into a Theros campaign and we came up with several. In Nerdarchy the Store you can find Horris, the Horned Lord. Horris is a labyrinth keeper and minotaur with the power to turn magic back on those who wield it. As a labyrinth dwelling minotaur, what better place to stick this? Horris the Horned Lord contains a one shot encounter introducing spelleater minotaurs. This adventure takes less than ten minutes to read through and it’s easily adapted into any campaign setting. As I read through the adventure I got thinking, suppose there were individuals who might follow in the hoofsteps of Horris? What would that look like? Thus was born the Path of the Spelleater, a barbarian Primal Path for 5E D&D.
5E D&D and League of Legends Cross Over in D&D Beyond’s Dark Tides of Bilgewater
A new source book for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons presents not only a new setting to explore but an exciting new direction for D&D Beyond, the creators behind this League of Legends crossover with 5E D&D. Legends of Runeterra: Dark Tides of Bilgewater launched fully integrated over at DDB through a partnership with Riot Games. Lead designer and editor James J. Haeck from the DDB team along with designers Makenzie de Armas, Celeste Conowitch Todd Kenreck developed and created this sourcebook for the scoundrel’s paradise of Bilgewater, a place where everything is for sale and fortune favors the bold, for the 5E D&D ruleset. Let’s see what’s inside.
Beware the Reaver | New 5E D&D Fighter Subclass is the Darkest Yet!
Blood. Pain. Terror. For most these words evoke dread, but for the Reaver they trigger glee, excitement and promise. Some Reavers come to their powers through dark rituals or actions horrific and unspeakable and others are born with an innate connection to primal bloodlust, which fuels their sadism. Here is a homebrew fighter subclass for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons — the Reaver Martial Archetype. If you’re seeing this post for the second time, it’s due to some technical issues we had with the site, but this fighter subclass was just too good to lose.
Tame Monsters with the Creature Keeper 5E D&D Warlock Patron
It may be my recent kick of Monster Rancher on Amazon Prime or it may be my continued obsession with the monster taming genre on the whole but I’ve kept mulling over a monster taming campaign for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. A lot of it is sparked by the Bestiary of Benevolent Monsters right in our own Nerdarchy the Store here and I just couldn’t get it out of my head — there had to be a way to tame some of the amazing creatures in this supplement. At first I thought making a new Ranger Archetype would be the way to go but ranger just didn’t quite capture it for me. Then I figured maybe it could be a feat? But I quickly realized it would require multiple feats and end up becoming far too complicated. Then it hit me — warlock! Suppose there were an Otherworldly Patron whose motives were less sinister and more misunderstood? Maybe this patron wants to protect all life? But no, because druids and clerics already serve the gods and the fey. I needed something else, a different theme. At last I had an epiphany. I would return to the roots of what I wanted to recreate — monsters! Thus was the inspiration for the Creature Keeper, a being (not quite a god) all about protecting the lives of monstrosities.
Nerdarchy Live is Alive! …But What Is It?
We’ve created a second YouTube channel! There’s no sense in burying the lead and we’re proud to announce the launch of Nerdarchy Live, the new home of our longform video content. Nerdarchy the YouTube channel remains our flagship source of news, views and homebrews where we share new videos three times each week about fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons (and sometimes we talk about other tabletop roleplaying games too).
Hooked on Adventure — Too Many Gnolls
In this fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure a party catches wind of villagers gone missing. If you’ve played D&D for any length of time this scenario arises fairly commonly — someone or groups of people often need rescuing — with perilous circumstances on both sides. In this case a Demon Priest of Yeenoghu orchestrates a diabolical plan to swell the ranks of gnolls in the area. Thankfully adventurers take up the cause to put a stop to the demonic designs.
New 5E D&D Magic Rings from the Gaze of the Void Eye
Are your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventurers afraid of the dark? After a jaunt into a world perpetual darkness to face the threat of the Void Eye, they will be. I felt inspired to create some new stuff to go along with Gaze of the Void eye over at Nerdarchy the Store. You might find this new NPC shadow assassin and their powerful magic rings useful to add as a precursor to an evening adventure or to take your campaign in an unexpected direction. Lair of the Void’s Eye should challenge 4-6 characters of 10th-14th level, plus there’s new Shadow Spells, magic items, creatures including Bharagru the void eye and tools for traversing a 5E D&D world of darkness.
Hooked on Adventure — A Froghemoth in Your Throat
Most of the time when a D&D Dungeon Master calls for everyone to roll initiative you have two choices. Your characters can stand and fight looking to slay whatever creature stands before them or they can run away to live another day. Player characters rarely seek to keep their opponents alive in battle, and hostile monsters definitely do their best to kill adventurers. On rare occasions combat might cease and segue to a roleplaying discussion. In this encounter a group of villagers tasks adventurers with occupying the attention of a froghemoth while they perform a ritual to restore its mind. For the villagers you can use grung, bullywugs or any swamp dwelling race you like. When I ran this, I used grung as I had a grung character in the party.
