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Game Master Tips

Nerdarchy > Game Master Tips (Page 4)

D&D Ideas — Class

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is class, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of classes our Character Build Guides have been described as essentially custom classes, which we think is a pretty awesome description. We’ve got 70+ modules over at the DM’s Guild, all for pay what you want and including both the player guide and a DM version inspired by the character. You can get Nerdarchy the 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.

What’s Really Going on With One D&D?

The paradigm shifts once again! Set aside all the crunchy calculations and simultaneous calls of nerfing and power creep. Something else is taking place through Wizards of the Coast’s move towards the One D&D experience. During our recent live chat discussing Unearthed Arcana 2022: Expert Classes we touched on parts of the latest playtest reminiscent of earlier editions of the game. Several people watching along called out stuff bringing to mind third and fourth edition, which for at least one commenter felt exhausting and an oversimplification. In my estimation something deeper than mechanical callbacks seems to be happening and that’s what’s got me fascinated. Let’s get into it.

Tales from the Shadows Dares D&D Adventurers to Tread the Twisting Paths of Shadow

I’m just going to come right out and state Kobold Press is the best third party publisher of material for Dungeons & Dragons. Their brand of D&D fits right in with my own approach to the game and whenever I get my hands on a new title of theirs I always find lots of stuff for my games. Recently I shared my thoughts about their Book of Ebon Tides and in this post I’m looking at its companion title Tales from the Shadows. The former already had me feeling excited to explore the Shadow Realm (what I call the Dreaming World) in my own games and the latter makes it even easier with 14 adventures playable separately or in sequence. Let’s get into it.

D&D Ideas — Races

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is races, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of races we put together a collection of five racing teams, two backgrounds and semi-sentient vehicles with guidelines for incorporating arcanotechnological vehicles along with a high-octane race straight from Nerdarchist Dave’s Under the Dome campaign. You can get Nerdarchy the 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.

D&D Ideas — Keys

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is keys, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of keys our module Trip to the Planar Zoo includes a very special set of Keys of Danger, each one a magical wand and together capable of opening the gates to a blissful oasis — if the adventurers can survive the Humanoid Exhibit! You can get Nerdarchy the 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.

Book of Ebon Tides Holds a Dark Mirror Up to Your D&D World

The concept of other dimensions overlapping the real world captured my imagination decades ago with an RPG called Wraith: The Oblivion and in my D&D setting this holds true. Like the Dungeon Master’s Guide describes the Feywild and Shadowfell exist in parallel to the Material Plane, occupying the same cosmological space but distorted and exaggerated (in my setting they’re combined into a singular Dreaming World to mirror the Waking World or Material Plane). Despite presenting a compelling dynamic with very little exception neither the DMG nor any other official material really explores any of this space. Book of Ebon Tides from Kobold Press, like so many other titles in their library, represents a terrific grab bag of ideas to help make your shadowy fey realm exciting, engaging and unforgettable. Let’s get into it.

D&D Ideas — Plants Revisited

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is plants, which we revisited for discussion in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of plants there’s no shortage of different ways your characters can interact with the plants in your games with the power contained inside magic items from the Mage Forge! We’ve got the digital versions done and production on the physical card decks begins very soon. There’s still time to preorder — but not too much! Learn more here. You can get Nerdarchy the 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.

Create an Immersive RPG Campaign Using These Two Principles Just Like Those Bastards!

For years now Nerdarchists Dave and Ted, Nerditor Doug, Robin Miller and I have been gaming on YouTube. It all started with a simple concept story: all of us were half-siblings with a human father. We needed to find him. Why? We didn’t know but we did have destiny on our side! This plot was a fantastic setup and just one of the many elements of what makes this game great.

Make NPCs Essential in Your D&D Games

In my games I have seen characters develop long lasting relationships with NPCs. Nerdarchist Dave’s dwarven wizard Uthen-Gar crafted a magic item as a gift for the elven librarian who initially looked down on him for being a dwarf. I felt it was a rich relationship built over years of game play. That same dwarven character found a wife, even though we did not play out a romance, and became wed before the campaign was over. While romance can happen we developed that dwarves often wed as political arrangements to strengthen the clan. It was not originally planned that way but that’s how it panned out and it was awesome! I have had non-player characters on my mind and I’m interested in exploring concepts surrounding them from both the Dungeon Master and player perspectives.

Crime Role-Playing Game, Bosses

D&D Ideas — On the Fly

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is on the fly, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of on the fly some unexpected circumstances kept us away from the usual weekly live chat so this week it’s anything goes! You can get Nerdarchy the 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.

Feel the Fallout of All-Out Dragon War in D&D

With Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen on the horizon for D&D, I have dragons on the brain. I only read the first three books in the Dragonlance novel series. Sadly, I felt Raistlin was so over-hyped that the draw to read other books was greater to me than to continue. But as awesome as Dragonlance is this is not the focus of today’s musings. Instead I want to explore more broadly the concept of using a war of dragons as a backdrop for a campaign.

Conflict Constructs is the Battle Bots of D&D

I keep looking for way to add more magic and more non-standard fantasy into my D&D games. I feel the way the game is going is to keep increasing the magic in the world and I am on board for this. We have the normalization of the construct-like race in the warforged (and now true construct with the autognome). Baldur’s Gate: Decent into Avernus gave us magical hell vehicles usable by individuals or the whole party. Nerdarchist Dave even began a campaign with some minor conversions to use them in a post apocalyptic setting. I am sure there are other examples as well if you look at other third party stuff. But why stop there?

Explore the Darkest Shadows of D&D at Your Peril

The other day I was lying in bed before falling asleep and an idea jumped into my brain. It is a weird concept but nothing groundbreaking — a dark elf riding a displacer beast. If you know me you know displacer beasts are my favorite D&D monster, so much so I think it will be my next tattoo. My imagination cascaded from there. I I jumped from a dark elf on a displacer beast to what can I do with shadows? Focusing on the “dark” in dark elf lead me to think about shadow powers, which lead to the shadow monster and the terror they can elicit.