When is D&D no longer Dungeons & Dragons?
I’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons for some time now and until D&D 5E, the number of people playing has never been higher. The landscape of the community has also changed quite a bit. With live stream games and actual play series like Critical Role, and online play, the hobby is vastly altered. All these aspects make for a wider and better hobby. But it does bring up questions in my mind. I’m seeing more D&D playstyles than I ever have in the past and often the games I watch at other tables is much different than the game at my table. This leads to the question: when is D&D no longer Dungeons & Dragons?
Nerd Travel — D&D in a Castle
I got some nerd travel in this summer for the ultimate D&D vacation. Nerdarchy got invited to Chateau Challain in France as guest player at D&D in a Castle. Four days of gaming at an exotic location. Two sessions of D&D a day.
How To Set Up A Nerd Business & Launch It With A Bang
The convention calendar is packed, coding is a pressing priority in the education system, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe maintains its unrelenting assault on our wallets. If not quite at an end, the days of nerds being ostracized or considered lesser are certainly well past their middle — and where there’s cultural change, the business world will invariably follow. Today, the market for niche, nerdy business pursuits is bigger than ever before, bolstered by the community-building interest-sharing power of the internet. Unashamed to spend huge sums supporting their interests, proud nerds will readily welcome relevant new products and services with Fry-like fistfuls of cash. So if you’re looking to make money doing what you love (and who isn’t?), you can set up your own nerdy business and have a great chance of making it a huge success — but you need to do it the right way. Here’s how to set up a nerd business and launch it with a nuke-level bang.
WotC Products and New D&D Stuff on the Way in 2018
New products for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons have rolled out relatively slowly. Compared to previous editions of the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game, it’s been at a flail snail’s pace. (Speed 10 ft. for a large creature? That’s pretty slow.) The pace certainly picked up now in 2018, starting at the Stream of Many Eyes when Wizards of the Coast announced two new story adventures set for release later in the year, followed by Nathan Stewart’s cryptic tease of new campaign settings. And then we got two of those! Of course, there’s always new third party content rolling out, but we’ll get our hands and bookshelves full from all the new stuff on the way from WotC itself. A handy post over on the D&D subreddit compiled the list, so let’s check it out.
Celebrate Nerd Culture at Gen Con 2018 — the Best Four Days in Gaming
Hello! The Nerdarchy crew is back home from Indianapolis and back to work on all our nerdy projects. Gen Con 2018 was an incredible experience for Nerdarchists Dave and Ted, Nerditor Doug and Intern Jake, and we wanted to share some of the highlights from our excursion to the Best Four Days in Gaming. Our favorite thing about conventions is meeting up with and hanging out with friends from all over the place; seeing all the awesome roleplaying games, art and other swag; and the incredible costumes and cosplay. But more than anything, the best part is hanging out with thousands of fantastic folks from around the world to celebrate nerd culture. Down below you’ll find links to a lot of the stuff mentioned in this recap, in case you’re interested, plus a photo gallery of our adventures at Gen Con 2018.
Comics and D&D Q&A with Artist Kate Sheridan
Hello! Today I’m happy to share a Q&A with Dungeons & Dragons nerd, illustrator and comic creator Kate Sheridan. Kate appeared on the Nerdarchy live chat with Nerdarchist Dave, which you can find below, and had a great conversation about art, comics and D&D. After watching the chat, I checked out Kate’s work and picked up her comic Fallow Time, a terrific story that really captured my imagination. She has a wonderful art and storytelling style and I highly recommend checking out her work. I’m looking forward to adding a print of one of her pieces to my office. Kate was kind enough to share her time answering some more questions, so let’s get into it.
D&D Improves My Quality of Life
The Nerdarchists are covering a list of benefits to playing D&D and these really do apply to all roleplaying games. The RPG hobby is wonderful for building you up as a multifaceted person, but what about the people who have been in the hobby for 15 or more years? We may still benefit from those basic concepts and learning how to play, but there are diminishing returns. For me, I know the longer I play the benefits I get are much different than when I started, especially now that I’m playing as an adult.
Enjoying Origins Game Fair with My Nerd Adjacent Wife
This year it looked like I’d be attending Origins Game Fair 2018 solo. My fellow Nerdarchist and colleagues in Nerdarchy couldn’t get away from their muggle lives and jobs. It so happens my wife had been recently been laid off from work after being diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease and wouldn’t have any obligations holding her at the home front. I invited her to come along rather than worry about things we have no control over. I was hoping she’d be able to take her mind off some of our troubles for a bit and treat it like a mini vacation. The only problem is the Origins Game Fair is a bit of a Nerd Mecca for tabletop gamers. It’s a whopping five days of tabletop card, board, and RPG games.
D&D Adventure in Real Life with True Dungeon
At Origins Game Fair 2018 I had the pleasure of running through True Dungeon alongside my wife Stephanie and Dan Dillon. My wife is more nerd adjacent than actually being a gamer herself. 
Dan on the other hand has written a ton of published material through Kobold Press as well as being on the latest Wizard of the Coast product D&D Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.
Underprepared D&D Players Miscast My Cantrips
The longer I spend wading through the waters of Dungeons & Dragons on social media, the more I find being a Dungeon Master who makes preparations is a little more rare than I initially thought. Everyone has their own means of having fun, but I can’t roleplay comfortably without ample notes, spreadsheets, and clear understanding of a rules system. Lots of psychology to unpack there… but now is not that time! Now I must explore my commitment to D&D as a lifestyle game. I spend sometimes 8 hours writing for a session. Underprepared D&D players who come to the table over the course of months and still don’t know basic functions of their character, commonly used core rules, or which die is 8-sided really miscast my cantrips.
The Nosey Tavern Owner – Top 5 D&D Things I Saw Today
Hi, I’m Drew, professional Game Master and amateur opinionated guy. I see lots of things posted online and I want to get involved in discussions on all of them, but I don’t have the time to think about reasoned responses to everything. So instead, I’m going to respond to the top 5 D&D related things in my Facebook news feed and see where this take me. Should the GM be trying to kill the characters? Can the world survive a Superman vampire? Read on…
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.
MisCon 32 – A Convention to Celebrate Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror
MisCon is my local convention here in Missoula, Montana. All of the common trappings of the small convention are present and, in some cases, exceptional. This is really the thing that not only differentiates MisCon from other small cons but makes it absolutely special among conventions. All of the advantages of a small convention (small crowds) with standout special guests and incredible panels, art shows, and much more.
D&D Stories Bring Roleplaying Gamers Together and Create Communities
Whether gamers find themselves at a gaming store, convention, or someone’s home gaming group it’s our stories from the roleplaying games we play that unite us as a community. These bonds strengthen our existing friendship and help to create new ones.
Even if you’ve just met a fellow gamer for the first time you already have bounds to connect you together – your gaming stories. Plus what Dungeons & Dragons player doesn’t love sharing their characters or D&D builds with their peers?
