Cover-to-Cover Awesome Inside Creature Codex from Kobold Press
Kobold Press, you did it again. By now, backers for the Creature Codex have the publishers’ follow-up to the much-loved Tome of Beasts in their hands, and what a follow-up it is! Over 400 5E-compatible new monsters lurk within, ready to burst from the pages and inspire your own fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventures and campaigns. Designed by an impressive host of designers including Kobold-in-chief Wolfgang Baur along with personal favorite Dan Dillon joined by a warren of others — plus creatures commissioned by monster patrons — Creature Codex has a lot to love. And with art direction and design by KP mainstay Marc Radle guiding a team of incredible artists like frequent collaborators Bryan Syme and Marcel Mercado along with a whole bunch of others, discovering each page of this massive tome is a visual joy. So let’s get to it.
WizKids Miniatures Review – D&D Icons of the Realms – Monster Menagerie 3
I know everyone who collects or uses miniatures on their gaming table buys them in different ways. If you are a casual user or player you might buy a few things here or there. I have done a couple of articles so far where I bought the booster brick, which comes with 8 boxes, of minis. I feel this is a good method to really see what the set is all about and gauge what the split is going to be much easier than if you buy a single box every so often. But that is my strategy. Please feel free to do as you like. Today I wanted to talk to you about D&D Icons of the Realms: Monster Menagerie 3, a series of WizKids miniatures for use with Dungeons & Dragons or any tabletop roleplaying game. This set was released in March 2018 and I have bought some previously but recently I got a booster brick to really get into the heart of it. You can take a look at the full gallery of miniatures in the set over here.
WizKids Miniatures Review — Pathfinder Battles — Jungle of Despair
Hello again. I sometimes feel most of the articles I write seem to be reviewing products but I am certain I do more than that. Today however, as I am certain you can see from the title, it is another review. This time I am diving into the Pathfinder Battles series of WizKids miniatures and looking at Jungle of Despair. It is a great set and you can see the full set listed here.
RPG Crate Uboxing — July 2018
Hello gamer, it is time to dive into another RPG Crate unboxing and see what treasures or loot we get to walk away with. If you are interested in signing up for this subscription box service and getting awesome fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons related material you can sign up at RPGcrate.com. Just make sure you use the promo code NERDARCHYRPGCRATE for 10 percent off your first month’s RPG Crate. Without further ado, lets dive into the crate unboxing and see what’s there.
Dungeon Crate Unboxing – July 2018
I have been getting Dungeon Crate subscription boxes since box No. 1 and I am, as always, generally pleased with every unboxing to discover what’s inside. The rumors according to the Dungeon Crate newsletter are there’s some changes on the horizon.
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.
Digital Cartography and RPG Map Maker Software
With the internet slowly being taken over by RPG nerds and geeks we are seeing many more streams of various roleplaying games. Lots of people out there want to join the club, but many don’t know how to make something more digital. When they start with digital cartography to make the maps they go to Photoshop or its less expensive counterpart Gimp. After a few hours of frustration and confusion the idea is given up on and the stream never comes to life. I thought it a good idea to take a look at three sets of RPG map maker software: Campaign Cartographer 3, Dungeon Painter Studio, and Dungeonographer/Cityographer. These programs vary in price, sometimes drastically. These are all programs I personally use. There is no paid endorsement for these products, but I believe in them and strongly recommend them.
RPG Crate Unboxing — June 2018
Hello adventurer. It is that time again when we ask, “Whats in the box?” June’s RPG Crate subscription box just arrived and as I peek inside the theme is Wondrous Power. We are hopefully all familiar with figurines of wondrous power so I wonder (get it? Wonder…wondrous…yeah it is a pun) if it has anything to do with the theme. Unboxing is the only way to find out for sure.
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. 
Board Games in Review: Professor Evil and the Citadel of Time from Fun Forge
Professor Evil and the Citadel of Time is a game published by Fun Forge. They contacted me and asked if I wanted a review copy and since I am a sucker for board games I said why not. This is a cooperative game and that works out really well for our family. The major concept of the game is that Professor Evil has traveled throughout time and stolen major artifacts and it is the players’ job to sneak into his castle, or citadel, and steal them before they are locked in his super secret vault.
Dungeon Crate Unboxing – June 2018
Hello fellow gamer. Or are you also a nerdy collector? Here I get to share what’s inside the subscription box, in this case an unboxing of great stuff from our friends of at Dungeon Crate. I have been getting these since box No. 1 and I am surprised at how many Dungeon Crate boxes that is over the years. I actually saved a large number of them and have used them to store nerdy things in and the treasure chest feel is pretty cool.
Unearthed Arcana – D&D Giant Soul Sorcerer
Another month, another Unearthed Arcana for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons and while I’m often “meh” about most of them, I am particularly pumped about the D&D Giant Soul Sorcerer. I’ve never really cared to much about the sorcerer either direction. It’s a fine class, it just doesn’t really interest me. Now my mind is racing with possibilities and I’m ready to get big. I imagine if you’re reading this you’ve already read it so I’ll leave the rules narration to the other guys. Let’s jump right into the juicy character stuff with the D&D giant soul sorcerer!
RPG Crate Unboxing – May 2018
Hello gamer. It is time for another unboxing and I think this one is a darn good one. Presenting from RPG Crate subscription box — 5th Edition Foes. This is their crate from May that sadly had an issue and arrived a little late. But no worries, it got here and I am so glad it did. This is crate number 22 so RPG Crate has been going strong for almost two years. Well done.
WizKids D&D Minis Get Raw with Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures and Deep Cuts Miniatures
Minis, miniatures — call them what you will, you know Nerdarchist Ted is obsessed with them. We know that most people who use 3-D miniatures at the table are getting them from one of two places. You either have Reaper Miniatures of you have WizKids. (Our our own Nerdarchy store of course!) There are two new lines of WizKids D&D minis. They have unpainted Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures and Deep Cuts Miniatures.
