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Game Master Tips

Nerdarchy > Game Master Tips (Page 39)

A Group of Paladins is Called an Order

Salutations, nerds! Today, we’re going to be talking about paladins in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Grab your trusty steed and shining armor and get ready to do (hopefully) good things in the name of your order. The current 5E D&D paladin model draws power from the strength of their convictions, which aren’t necessarily good or in service to any particular deity. That much is true, but imagine being so confident in your beliefs that the magic actually agrees with you.

5E D&D Mandalorian bounty hunter campaign

A Ragtag Crew in a World of Scum and Villainy like The Mandalorian in 5E D&D

I ate up The Mandalorian every week until the final episode of season one dropped this past Friday. The Disney+ show hooked me immediately and the series takes the top spot for Star Wars productions in my book. I enjoy the show so much I started running a bounty hunter campaign for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons inspired by the show after the first episode. I know there’s a Star Wars RPG, several of them in fact but 5E D&D suits my needs just fine. The final episode of The Mandalorian takes the series protagonist full circle from where his most important job began, so it’s only fair to wrap up this bounty hunter campaign walkthrough the same way. Bounty hunting is a complicated profession, no need to further complicate things. When I prepped for the first session of our 5E D&D bounty hunter campaign I took a lot of inspiration from Ultimate NPCs: Skulduggery from Nord Games. Here at the end of the journey it’s got plenty of juice to help finish off the campaign. Let’s get into it.

5E D&D all barbarian party composition

D&D Party Composition — Playing an All Barbarian Party

Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore the idea of an all barbarian party for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. People really enjoy the video series and I’m having a blast with the concept here on the website. Playing an all barbarian party in 5E D&D looks to split in the video comments between people who think it sounds great or who are already playing such a campaign, and those who feel like there are too many drawbacks.  Dave and Ted can give you the insights into 5E D&D party composition and over here we’re continuing to build the scenario we started with the all bard party — a campaign setting of academia for each particular character class. So let’s get into it and consider what an all barbarian party composition in a 5E D&D academic setting could look like.

D&D alliances

D&D Ideas — Alliances

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is alliances, and we’ve got a promo code to go along with this week’s Product Spotlight from Nerdarchy the Store, plus an update on our end of the year mega giveaway and changes coming to our 2020 schedule. 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. Speaking of alliances the image below is from our wildly successful Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition Kickstarter. In Dinner Party, alliances between adventurers themselves get put to the test. The Out of the Box Pledge Manager reamins open for late pledges. You can get your hands on the book and all the add-ons including presale badges for Nerdarchy the Convention, or upgrade your badge to Legendary or Artifact level. There’s also a FREE encounter Seizing the Means you can download for a sneak peek at the sort of content you’ll find in the book. Check it out here.

What You Do and How You Do It Are Two Different Things in RPGs

Over the holiday break I received a very exciting email from Free League Publishing. Backers of their recent Kickstarter got a great surprise with an Alpha PDF of the Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying core rulebook. Notwithstanding my Dungeons & Dragons advocacy the evocative art drew me into this game, something Free League accomplished for me already with Tales from the Loop. Those two Free League games share another similarity. Both games clearly define what you do when you play them. D&D will always be my favorite game, and folding elements from different genres into the swords and sorcery setting is as much a part of the D&D tradition as armor class and hit points. But the way stories are told through different game systems with tighter frameworks is fertile ground for exploration. A couple of cliches come to mind when the ubiquitous nature of D&D intersects other tabletop roleplaying games, so I thought it might be useful to consider them and maybe broaden the horizon for both camps.

diana acrobat 5E D&D acrobatics

Acrobatics 101 — 5E D&D Skills and Skill Checks

Skills are a staple of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, but many Dungeon Masters find themselves unsure of when to call for a player to roll Investigation vs. Perception, or Deception vs. Performance. In this new series we’ll explore each skill in depth, and hopefully by the end of it all you’ll answer instinctively when asked to differentiate Sleight of Hand from Stealth from Performance. As a quick disclaimer, every 5E D&D DM has their own right to call for any skill check in any situation; this is just meant as a general reference. Today, we’re looking at the first skill you’ll see at the top of a skills list on your character sheet: Acrobatics.

5E D&D aasimar

Your Aasimar Character’s Angelic Guide is a Link to 5E D&D Adventure

Over on Nerdarchy the YouTube channel, Nerdarchists Dave and Ted take a closer look at the aasimar for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons with an eye towards what character classes fit well with this playable race from Volo’s Guide to Monsters. As always they start with a broad look at the race both mechanically and thematically, diving deeper into each subrace with expected and unexpected class choices. Whether your aasimar character for 5E D&D is fallen, protector or scourge, they posses powers granted from their celestial heritage including darkvision, resistance to necrotic and radiant damage and the ability to heal with a touch. On top of all these amazing abilities, aasimar receive a special link to an supernatural being too. The angelic guide doesn’t carry any explicit mechanical attributes. But it is a really cool aspect of a character to explore and incorporate into your roleplaying.

WizKids 4D settings castle barracks jungle shrine gas station

WizKids 4D Settings Miniatures Spotted at PAX Unplugged

I know that some of you out there turn to us when it comes to getting new information about miniatures. Perhaps like myself you look fondly upon all these great pieces of plastic and gain delight at the the thought of how this is going to be used on the gaming table. Perhaps you enjoy having the options, or perhaps you delight in getting new miniatures to showcase the amazing collection you have on display. Whatever your reason I am glad you stopped by and I hope these teases are fun and give you a delight as you look forward to the great things WizKids has in the lineup for future miniatures entering into 2020.

Deck of Many Shares Free Big Bad Booklet for Your Holiday Adventure Boss Monster

Whether you are running a one shot, a small campaign or a long story arc for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, coming up with a compelling, interesting and unique story end villain or boss monster can be trouble sometimes. Well, what would you say if I told you I have a solution for you? Have you heard of the Big Bad Booklet by our friends over at the Deck of Many?

5E D&D travel out of the box kim van deun

D&D Ideas — Travel

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is travel, and we’ve got a few more new segments including a Product Spotlight from Nerdarchy the Store, an update on our end of the year mega giveaway and changes coming to our content release schedule. Speaking of travel check out the image below from our wildly successful Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition Kickstarter. In Down on the Farm, adventurers encounter an unusual merchant with a very select clientele. The Out of the Box Pledge Manager remains open for late pledges. You can get your hands on the book and all the add-ons including presale badges for Nerdarchy the Convention, or upgrade your badge to Legendary or Artifact level. There’s also a FREE encounter Seizing the Means you can download for a sneak peek at the sort of content you’ll find in the book. Check it out here.

A Homebrew Healing Cantrip for 5E D&D

Over at the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Facebook group I came across a post sharing a very intriguing idea for a healing cantrip for 5E D&D. I know what you’re thinking — it’s madness! — and believe me I’d agree with you almost all of the time. But I think there’s some merit to this homebrew healing cantrip worth considering. Maybe it’s perfect for your game or maybe it would break the system asunder. Character death in 5E D&D doesn’t occur with the kind of frequency it has in past editions. Your mileage may vary of course but the rules for death and dying lean towards the forgiving side. At any rate I think close wound is worth taking a closer look at and sharing with the D&D community. So let’s get into it and see what this homebrew healing cantrip for 5E D&D is all about.

hogfather fantasy worlds holiday

How to Create Holidays in Your RPG Fantasy Worlds — Taking a Tip from Terry Pratchett

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! Blessed Yule! Phew! Happy Hogswatch! *Wipes sweat from brow* There are a ton of holidays this time of year, and that last one mentioned is what sparked the inspiration for this article. Hogswatch is a fictional holiday presented in the Discworld. During my annual re-read of Hogfather by Terry Pratchett I got to thinking about creating original holidays in fantasy worlds.

Centaur Knights and Fantasy Cultures in 5E D&D

Over on Nerdarchy the YouTube channel, Nerdarchists Dave and Ted came up with ideas for a classic fantasy character concept, a centaur knight. The image of an half human, half horse warrior in shining armor captivated me since I was a little kid and after helping plan this video, watching it and putting the Character Build Guide together I’m thinking about how awesome this concept is all over again. This got me thinking how there’s not a whole lot of centaur action going on in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, at least not in my experience. Centaurs get a bump in Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica, there’s a centaur mummy in Tales from the Yawning Portal’s Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and the terrifically named Centaur of Attention encounter in Dragons of Icespire Peak. And that’s about it in beyond the Monster Manual entry. Never a better time like the present to take a closer look at centaurs and by extension fantasy cultures for our 5E D&D campaign settings.

3 Christmas and Holiday Adventure Ideas from Folklore for 5E D&D

Salutations, nerds! And happy holidays. Today we’re going to be taking a second to talk about holiday adventures for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. We’re always mining folklore for monster ideas, and ideas for things to happen in a 5E D&D campaign setting, and there’s a lot of folklore surrounding the winter solstice. It’s the longest night of the year, and that’s always been something fascinating and mysterious to people. Ergo, naturally, it’s collected a lot of stories and folklore we can use to inspire a holiday adventure.

Following Leads and Finding Jobs like The Mandalorian in 5E D&D

If you’ve been following along with this series on creating a bounty hunter campaign inspired by The Mandalorian for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons you’ll notice I’ve mentioned a book called Remarkable Inns several times. This nearly 90 page resource details 8 distinct taverns and inns with wonderful detail along with tips and options for developing your own memorable establishments and everything that goes on within. When I prepped for the first session of our 5E D&D bounty hunter campaign, Remarkable Inns became an important tool for worldbuilding and providing an avenue to two very different paths the bounty hunting characters could take to begin their first contract. Let’s get into it.