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.
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.
Tome of Heroes from Kobold Press is My Kind of Campaign Resource
Later this very evening Nerdarchist Dave and I plan to focus on Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel for this week’s Monday Live Chat. For a very brief preview during our meeting this morning I expressed how campaign settings hold very little interest for me. In contrast I’ve been pouring over Tome of Heroes from Kobold Press the last couple of weeks and I’m pointing at books like this as exactly the kind of resource I cherish when it comes to my own fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Let’s get into it.
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game with Pride as a Circle of Manifestation Druid
Happy Pride Month to all! It’s June, which means it’s Pride month once again. If you remember last year I created the Rainbow Domain for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons clerics on Nerdarchy the Website right here. This year I thought it might be fun to transform it into a tradition. You heard right. I’m creating another 5E D&D subclass for Pride.
Defend the Forests of Your 5E D&D World with a Radiant Treant
A while back I wrote about Treants. These glorious creatures exist in the realms of Dungeons & Dragons but why do we not have a variety of options such noble creatures. Other creature types have martial versions and spellcaster options and ones with extraordinary abilities. Sure, it is easy to combine some monsters together but not everyone is ready to do this. For those folks and any Dungeon Masters interested in more treant variety I am making my first treant for fifth edition D&D.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Backgrounds by a Factor of Three
I know, it’s crazy. Nerditor Doug wrote so many of these but now I’ve taken over, at least for this one. Backgrounds in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons have so many criteria so we get to see how they all stack up. But like usual we are going to look at the backgrounds and evaluate them three different ways and see which of these fan created backgrounds you want to add to your 5E D&D game.
Retooling the Bladed Gauntlet for 5E D&D
We started a new video series over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel where we look at things from previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons that have not made it into fifth edition. In the first video we talk about the ridiculously powerful character builds you could make with the bladed gauntlet, a weapon from 3.5 D&D. As a follow up I am making a bladed gauntlet inspired weapon to fit the themes and tone of 5E D&D.
Nerdarchy on D&D Gnoll as Playable Race by Nord Games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqT4FZ4bEgk In this 12-minute video on Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore Dungeons & Dragons races to play in your game. Nord Games has a book called Ultimate Bestiary: Revenge of the Horde for fifth edition D&D. In there are stats to play...
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Magic Items by a Factor of Three — Wondrous Items
The homebrew content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons found at D&D Beyond is astounding. You’ll find hundreds of thousands of spells, races, subclasses, monsters, magic items and more over there and I’ve looked at quite a lot! All the schools of magic, subclasses for each class individually, feats, monsters, races and a variety of other categorizations of 5E D&D content all fell under my gaze here on the website. Most recently I’ve been going through magic items one category at a time, which includes homebrew armor, potions, rings, rods, scrolls, staffs, wands and weapons. Now I’ve come to the end when it comes to magic items and it’s time to check out the over 100,436 homebrew wondrous items at DDB. Let’s get into it.
Work for the Collective as a 5E D&D Warlock with a Cyberpunk Otherworldly Patron
The power of friendship is a staple in fantasy, science fiction and beyond. Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaigns often revolve around this concept but why do we see villains and sinister folk employ this theme so little? I was contemplating the nature of millennial plights and the work force in general and my thoughts drifted to the cyberpunk genre and whether 5E D&D could be set in a cyberpunk campaign. (Watching Batman Beyond certainly didn’t have anything to do with my musings either.) I wondered what a cyberpunk setting for 5E D&D might look like and what kinds of unique subclasses might inhabit this space.
Flames of Enchantment Erupt from the Mage Forge!
So many memorable moments from our fantasy roleplaying game experiences originate through the amazing magical items our characters possess. Drawing your sword accompanied by the roar of a dragon to signify the blade as a relic of an ancient order and your wielding it proving your right to carry on the legacy. Plumbing the depths of eldritch knowledge through your ring’s cursed connection to an unfathomable entity plumbing the depths of your soul in trade. Capturing the souls of dying creatures in your lantern to draw on their essence for aid in your darkest moments. These are the kinds of moments we adventure for as fantasy RPG players. And as creators we’re throwing open the doors to our magic item vault in Mage Forge — Magic Items for 5th Edition!
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Magic Items by a Factor of Three — Weapons
There’s a lot of homebrew content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons found at D&D Beyond. Despite the hundreds of thousands of spells, races, subclasses, monsters, magic items and more I’m frankly shocked how many magic weapons exist in the database. I’ve looked at all the schools of magic, subclasses for each class individually, feats, monsters, races and a variety of other categorizations of 5E D&D content. Most recently I’ve been going through magic items one category at a time, which now includes homebrew armor, potions, rings, rods, scrolls, staffs and wands. Time to check out the over 102,531 homebrew magic weapons at DDB. Let’s get into it.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Magic Items by a Factor of Three — Wands
There’s so much homebrew content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons found at D&D Beyond! Tens of thousands of entries include spells, races, subclasses, monsters, magic items and pretty much everything you’d expect. We’ve even got a presence over there in what I believe is the only third party creator to achieve. (I do totally mean to toot our own horn 100%) In videos and posts we’ve looked at all the schools of magic, subclasses for each class individually, feats, monsters, races and a variety of other categorizations of 5E D&D content. Now I’m onto magic items and already explored the homebrew armor, potions, rings, rods, scrolls and staffs so now it’s time to take up a trusty staff. There’s enough of the over 3,649 homebrew magic wands at DDB to include something for any character so let’s get into it.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Magic Items by a Factor of Three — Staffs
There’s so much homebrew content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons found at D&D Beyond! Tens of thousands of entries include spells, races, subclasses, monsters, magic items and pretty much everything you’d expect. We’ve even got a presence over there in what I believe is the only third party creator to achieve. (I do totally mean to toot our own horn 100%) In videos and posts we’ve looked at all the schools of magic, subclasses for each class individually, feats, monsters, races and a variety of other categorizations of 5E D&D content. Now I’m onto magic items and already explored the homebrew armor, potions, rings, rods and scrolls so now it’s time to take up a trusty staff. There’s enough of the over 8,704 homebrew magic staffs at DDB to include something for any character so let’s get into it.
Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Magic Items by a Factor of Three — Scrolls
The homebrew content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons found at D&D Beyond includes tens of thousands of entries and browsing them is a regular habit of mine. I’ve gone over all the schools of magic, subclasses for each class individually, feats, monsters, races and a variety of other categorizations of 5E D&D content. Now I’m onto magic items and already explored the homebrew armor, potions, rings and rods so now it’s time to unfurl those scrolls. If I’m honest I was surprised to see a respectable 1,688 homebrew magic scrolls at DDB. Let’s get into it.
