The Dungeons and the Dragons of Dungeons & Dragons: Wind Dragon Lairs
I can’t be held down friends. You thought I was going to keep it going on the chromatic spectrum for introducing a dragon, but here we go doing a pivot to elemental dragons enclosed in the wonderful Tome of Beasts. While I have a deep love for the chromatic dragons, I do find them a bit restrictive at times. Because they are so iconic and interesting, it feels wrong to step outside their prescribed niches. The additional types of dragons and drakes in the Tome of Beasts allow for not only a wider range in dragon types and D&D dragon lairs but built-in personalities running a much wider gamut. Let’s roll into the bullies of the sky: the wind dragons and wind dragon lairs.
MCU’s Failure Can Be Your Infinity War D&D Campaign Success
More Marvel Cinematic Universe talk within the honored halls of Nerdarchy. As I scribe away on scrolls and interdimensional glyphs, I ponder on the MCU films in D&D terms and how the limitations they had could easily be fixed at the gaming table. Let’s explore what I believe to be the largest weakness of the collective movies and how you can take advantage of the MCU’s failure to infuse a clever narrative arc and create your own Infinity War D&D campaign. Oh, fair warning, super minor Infinity War spoilers.
The Dungeons and the Dragons of Dungeons & Dragons: Black Dragon Lairs
There are two aspects of Dungeons & Dragons history that I love to include as often as I can in my campaigns. I find dungeons so important to D&D that it’s rare I will run even short arcs without them. The iconic nature or sheer power that comes with introducing a dragon into the narrative and the reaction you get from players when they find out there are rumors of a dragon… To me, these separate are wonderful, but together make for the set piece that brings D&D to firing on all cylinders. Let’s explore the different D&D dragons and the lairs they might make in a world where dungeons are reality. Let’s start out with one of my favorites: the Black Dragon.
Creating a Beholder Lair and Bringing Beholders to Life in D&D
Monster talks at Nerdarchy?! I’m there. Illithids and beholders in Dungeons & Dragons are super iconic and really weird foes for your players to be pitted against. Both of these creatures tend to be Underdark denizens, but its not unheard of for beholders to create lairs closer to the surface or in some instances, near or within cities. I have quite a bit of experience with beholders, so I’d like to walk you through my method for bringing D&D beholders to life and making their alien nature really shine through creating a beholder lair that its mere existence is a puzzle for the players to deal with.
Warlocks in D&D miscast my cantrips
I heard some rumblings here and there for awhile, but a recent video by Dawnforgedcast has forced me to sit down and contemplate on the weird class that is the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons warlock. In the video he presents the issue that the reliance many warlocks have on eldritch blast is repetitive and even boring, purposing a fix action to raise other warlock cantrips a little higher on the effectiveness scale, to give a bit more incentive to use them. After my viewing of the video, sitting in contemplation and paying special attention to warlocks at my table, I believe I’ve come to a conclusion. Eldritch blast did nothing wrong. Hear me out, maybe these one-hit wonders are working just as intended.
Top 5 Reasons to Live Stream Your D&D Game
The Nerdarchy live stream fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Spelljammer game Ingest Quest campaign wrapped up the other day. Episode 12 “Something New” came to a close and we bid bon voyage to the culinary explorers traveling the crystal sphereverse in search of the most exotic cuisine. The characters were weird and met equally unusual entities along the way. They fought some monsters, visited some other dimensions and consumed — and prepared — heaping helpings of extraordinary food. It was my first time running a live stream game. I had some observations and thought I’d share my top 5 reasons you should live stream your D&D game. If you’re on the fence or considering your own live stream RPG show, maybe it’ll convince you to give it a shot.
Delving Deep on D&D Dwarves with Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
The Nerdarchists are back into Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes and we’re talking about those bearded cannonballs, dwarves of Dungeons & Dragons. If you read my elven article, you know I prefer my humanoids to be very alien compared to humans and dwarves are no exception. What do you get when you combine long-lived, stout, stubborn, and beardy? Well, I’m not sure about you, but let’s dive into D&D dwarves and see what I get.
Getting the Most out of D&D Elves with Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
The Nerdarchists continue their dive into Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, this time pouring over the lore of the ancient and wise Dungeons & Dragons elves. A lot of interesting information within the Tome of Foes in regards to those weedy long ears got me thinking. So while Nerdarchists Dave and Ted delve into the text on what Wizard’s of the Coast has put in place for elven lore, I want to explore what I believe it must mean to be one of the D&D elves and how it effects the world around them.
RPG Character Types and the Sliding Scale of Tactical Characters vs. Heroic Characters
Salutations nerds! Today, I want to talk about RPG character types, in a way that directly lines up with playstyle. See, a lot of the players I know fall into patterns, somewhere between a couple of polls, and now that I’ve noticed I can’t help but find it kind of fascinating. I’m talking, of course, about tactical characters and heroic characters. They’re both awesome.
Crafting in D&D miscasts my cantrips
There are a lot of odd trends and desires within the tabletop roleplaying game hobby and I think that comes with the territory of imagination and group storytelling. One of these odd trends, and a crazy common request at my table, is the idea of player-controlled crafting rules. Within Dungeons & Dragons, a game with the obvious design intent of exploring dungeons and battling dragons there is an overwhelming cry from thousands of players around the world for more robust crafting rules. I want to explore and generate conversation on why I believe this might be and why I have such a hard stance against crafting in D&D.
Infusing Horror and Mystery in 5E D&D with Darkvision
Among other topics, darkvision in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons has been discussed at Nerdarchy HQ. While myself and the other Nerdarchists really don’t agree with the problem, I wanted to offer some helpful tips that I use in my sessions that might work in yours to make 5E D&D darkvision more enjoyable. There are all manner of creatures and tactics that can be used to increase the level of intrigue in your campaigns, making your players less comfortable in the dark.
D&D Player traits – Backgrounds and the dreaded Background Uploader
There are many traits players can bring to the table that are less than desirable. From the edgelord who always starts in the corner not talking to anyone, to the non-adventurer playing an adventure-focused game. These traits can be tiresome. I put forth that in your D&D games, the trait that deflates a session, and maybe even a character as a whole, the fastest is the Background Uploader. In this article, we’ll explore what makes a Background Uploader, diagnose maybe why it is they do what they do so well and then, to end on a positive note, we’ll talk about ways to avoid it to include a cool background idea.
5 Tips for Avoiding RPG Frustration
Hello folks. Your friendly neighborhood nerd here with some thoughts and tips for gaming during the summer. When you start a Dungeons & Dragons or other RPG you don’t always have a concept for timeline. The length of a game or availability to play can change drastically depending on players, work, school, or other things that could affect play. I’m here with 5 tips to help you with avoiding frustration that can come with gaming during the summer.
D&D Stream of Many Eyes Part 2 — Waterdeep: Dragon Heist AND Dungeon of the Mad Mage
The Stream of Many Eyes has ended, and what a weekend of Dungeons & Dragons spectacle! The big news from the live stream event was the announcement of TWO new adventures coming later in 2018. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage have already got everyone talking. Both set in (and beneath) the City of Splendors, Dragon Heist is meant to take characters from levels 1-5, with a delve into the largest dungeon in the Forgotten Realms carrying adventurers the rest of the way from levels 5-20.
Using Fantasy Tropes and Player Expectations in D&D
Everyone knows the standard fantasy tropes, the cliches and traditional storytelling elements that make up our favorite stories. The knight fighting the dragon, wizards studying dusty tomes, the kingdom-saving enchanted sword — they’re all pretty standard, but when you take fantasy tropes and turn them on their head against player expectations in Dungeons & Dragons you’ve got something recognizable, but new.
