Making a Low Magic Campaign for 5E D&D Work
Hail, and well met! Today I’ll be exploring something I’ve recently been asked about an awful lot lately through Discord — the concept of a low magic campaign in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The idea of a low magic campaign has been around for a while. It’s talked about enough in the D&D community for the creators of 5E D&D to discuss it from time to time. It’s mentioned in the 5E Dungeon Master’s Guide and was even mentioned as a possibility for 5E, back when it was still D&D Next, and the creators could only speculate on what 5E D&D was going to look and feel like even with the tremendous amount of playtesting for the new edition.
D&D Ideas — Bennies
Welcome once again to the weekly Nerdarchy Newsletter. This week we discuss using benefit systems in roleplaying games. But first a reminder that our Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition Kickstarter Pledge Manager is open. You can claim your Kickstarter rewards, pledge late or buy your badge to Nerdarchy the Convention 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.
Dreams and Nightmares for the Lord of Dead Dreams in 5E D&D
When we revamped the Nerdarchy Patreon in early 2018, one of the biggest changes we implemented was our Patreon rewards structure. Previously there were individual support levels giving access to more of our monthly rewards. We had Mage Forge, Monster Menagerie, Friend or Foe, Terrible Terrain and Lost Lore rewards. These digital packages included new magic items, monsters, NPCs, encounters and player options like spells, backgrounds, races and subclass options respectively. We took a big step and combined everything into a single product, giving supporters at the $2 level and above early access to our new Fifth Edition products before they get added to Nerdarchy the Store. We launched this new initiative with Empusia, Curator of Souls. And in celebration of International Tabletop Day we put it in the store for free. (It’s still there!) We’ve continued to create full color digital products every month since. And while our design skills have improved since then — both in terms of game design and layout — one of my favorites remains the Lord of Dead Dreams. This was our followup to the free launch title. Since it’s been about a year and a half since creating it I thought it would be fun to look back and see what new ideas come to mind.
Playing an Anti-Hero Like The Mandalorian in 5E D&D
With The Mandalorian Chapter 4: Sanctuary streaming now on Disney+ we are halfway through the first season of this amazing series. Thankfully season 2 is already ordered. Between chapters of the show here on the website we’ve been exploring and developing ideas for a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons bounty hunter campaign. For each installment we’re taking inspiration from various books created by Nord Games. In my home game group I’ve been putting these ideas into practice along with players in our 5E D&D bounty hunter campaign and so far we’re all loving it and having a fantastic time. After watching Chapter 4: Sanctuary I knew immediately which Nord Games product would help next. Ultimate Bestiary: Revenge of the Horde feels like the perfect fit. So let’s get into it and see how the book will help ramp up the action, tension and drama of our bounty hunter campaign for 5E D&D. (Still no spoilers.)
Out of the Box Partner ArcKnight Hosting Free Game at PAX Unplugged
Hello gamers! Will you be attending PAX Unplugged this year? If you do you will have a chance to check out some amazing things. Nerdarchy will be in attendance walking around. You might catch us at a panel or two. And we’re guest hosts for the live Nolzur’s Marvelous Tutorials event with RealmSmithtv. We’re looking forward to meeting up with our Out of the Box partners like Norse Foundry and ArcKnight too. They’ll both have booths on the floor and it will be great to visit with them.
A Group of Bards is Called a Troupe
Salutations, nerds! I’m going to keep this ball rolling right into back into bards in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons this time around. Troubadours! Thespians. Minstrels. All those fun words for people who know how to pluck a lute or give a mad soliloquy. From people busking along the side of the road to the most renowned acting troupes with real theaters to perform in, they (likely like your party) know how to make a spectacle of themselves in 5E D&D.
How to Play a Vampire or Werewolf Character in 5E D&D
One of the awesome people from the Nerdarchy community recently sent us a GM 911 question we were happy to help them answer. We discussed the topic during our Monday Patreon live chat, and we invited the questioner to join us while we talked about it and hung out with the rest of the viewers. I’m happy to report they were more than happy with the ideas we shared, thanked us for the help and became a Patreon supporter themselves. So, a win all around! It was a great question and one I think a lot of players and Dungeon Masters in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons grow curious about at some point in their D&D experiences. How do we approach the idea of playing a vampire or a werewolf in 5E D&D?
Locathah and Tortle Explore Fish Out of Water Adventure for 5E D&D
Over on Nerdarchy the YouTube channel, Nerdarchists Dave and Ted discussed the best classes to play for locathah and tortle characters in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Both of these aquatic adjacent races were introduced to 5E D&D through DMs Guild products where all the monies Wizards of the Coast receives from sales of the PDFs are donated to Extra Life. Since its inception in 2008, Extra Life has raised more than $30 million for sick and injured kids. Maybe it’s the single class party composition series we’ve been doing or the Hell & High Water expansion for 1985 Games’ Dungeon Craft product line, but adventuring parties sharing a common element have been on my mind lately.
D&D Ideas — Puzzles
Welcome once again to the weekly Nerdarchy Newsletter. This week we discuss puzzles in D&D. 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. In case you missed it the Pledge Manager is open and you can claim your Kickstarter rewards if you backed Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition. Or you can pledge late if you missed it the first time around. Get the info here.
Dangerous Combat Like the Mandalorian in 5E D&D
When season one of The Mandalorian ends following chapter 8, I’ll be a sad Disney+ viewer. I subscribed to the new streaming service only to watch this show. Incidentally The World According to Jeff Goldblum keeps me coming back, too. Even though I’ve got to wait one long week between chapters of The Mandalorian, I’ve been keeping the bounty hunt going at the gaming table. Right around the time the show premiered I’d gotten a copy of Ultimate NPCs: Skulduggery from Nord Games. Never a greater wretched hive of scum and villainy had I come across for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. A 5E D&D campaign immediately formed. The players loved it, I loved running it and we’re keeping it going. Nord Games helped created the seedy underworld with Skulduggery and engage the players through interesting encounters with Wandering Monsters. After Chapter 3: The Sin, I think Critical Hit Tables for Players and Critical Fail Tables fit the tone for this dangerous and complicated, Mandalorian inspired bounty hunter campaign. (Still no spoilers.)
5E D&D Death House — Great Starter Adventure or Greatest Starter Adventure?
Curse of Strahd is widely considered one of the best Dungeons & Dragons adventures of all time. And nestled in the back of the book, Death House is an optional mini-adventure designed for 1st-level characters to introduce them to Barovia and advance them to 3rd level. I’ve run Death House a few times myself, and played it several more. Most recently I played in a pick-up game proposed by DM Elise on Twitter. The experience was inspiring, and after a lengthy conversation with a friend I started to wonder, is Death House a great 5E D&D starter adventure, or the greatest starter adventure? Let’s get into it and don’t worry — only the mildest of spoilers ahead.
D&D Party Composition — Playing an All Cleric Party
Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore the idea of an all cleric party for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. With a couple of these videos in the can now we’re seeing lots of people enjoying them and asking for more. Requests for one character class in particular comes up quite a bit. Playing an all cleric party in 5E D&D pop up more than any other. This video series is a lot of fun but for me the real juice is here on the website. 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 cleric party composition in a 5E D&D academic setting could look like.
Are You Ready to Assimilate the Vargarian Collective in 5E D&D?
Eberron: Rising from the Last War released! For those who aren’t familiar, Eberron is an arcanepunk setting with a brand new book for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Arcanepunk as a genre focuses on magic with a twist. In the case of Eberron, the twist is magical technology, AKA magitech! Magitech is an amazing way to inspire fantastical wonder and alien mystery into your world. By assimilating (no pun intended) elements of science fiction into our fantasy we build something new, something… more intense that hits the grandiosity of fantasy while still amping up the science fiction suspense. However, there’s something else I want to talk about when it comes to 5E D&D narrative, but rather than introduce it in the traditional sense, indulge me while I make a point through narration.
Exhaustion Saving Throws in 5E D&D
There is one rule in most roleplaying games that is especially true in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. There’s a check or saving throw for everything. Does a character want to jump across the chasm? Athletics check, please. Does a character want to avoid falling over a cliff? Dexterity saving throw, please. This applies to special abilities or spells characters or monsters may have as well. in 5E D&D conditions generated by these spells or abilities have ability checks or saving throws attached to them.
A Group of Rogues is Called a Thieves Guild
Salutations, nerds! Today we’re going to talk about a fantasy staple: the thieves guild. A group of stylish rogues with a secret code language who are much of the time the best organized and most numerous group of people in the city. You see those street urchins playing over there? They’re informing for the Guild Master. The guy at the bazaar who sells terrible bread you never actually see anybody buying? I mean, you had to know he was a fence.
I’ve got a soft spot for a good heist story and I’ve always kind of wanted to run a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons game where the entire party are rogues and center it around the inner dealings of the thieves guild. So often my home town party ends up going off on tangent of stealing things anyway, after all, so why not cut out the middle man? Which got me wondering…why do people end up doing crimes so often in 5E D&D anyway?
