Chaos Magic and You: Designing Unique Magical Mechanics for Your Campaign
Chaos magic introduces an element of delightful unpredictability to any tabletop RPG campaign. It upends player expectations, sparks creative problem-solving, and can shift a carefully orchestrated scene into unexpected chaos. Inspired by the Under the Dome campaign, where chaos magic shapes much of the world,...
Exploring the Aether Skies: A World of Magic, Espionage, and Horror
Starting in the near future Nerdarchist Dave will be returning to the world we started making years ago for a campaign on the channel. We have three videos talking about it already on the channel with more to come. We also did a full fledged...
Faction Wars: Integrating Gang Politics into TTRPG Gameplay
How Gang Rivalries Shape Player Choice, Storytelling, and the World of Crystalia In many tabletop RPG settings, factions act as power players in the world’s social, economic, and criminal ecosystems. Whether they’re noble houses, religious sects, corporate overlords, or underground crime syndicates, factions provide conflict, intrigue,...
Post-Apocalyptic Roleplay: Building a City Like Crystalia
Creating a vibrant, self-contained city for your post-apocalyptic tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) campaign requires a careful balance of exploration, societal tension, and intrigue. Inspired by the dome-covered metropolis of Crystalia from the Under the Dome D&D campaign, here are actionable insights to help Game Masters...
The Karthid – The Tideforged of the Black Tides
If you have been following the channel for a bit you would know the direction of the things that Dave and I are working on. My big push right now is building out some great content for Under the Dome. This is a post apocalyptic...
Capture the Classic Spelljammer Feel in Your 5E D&D Games
Spelljammer is coming to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons! For years 5ED&D has expanded into Magic: The Gathering worlds, Critical Role’s Exandria and even universes like Rick & Morty and Stranger Things. However, some classic settings like Dark Sun and Planescape have yet to make an appearance. It occurs to me there might be those who aren’t familiar with Spelljammer so let’s talk about how to get the feel for the setting and how it might be used in my own campaigns.
Dragon Armies Wage War in D&D Direct Dragonlance Trailer for 5E D&D
https://youtu.be/DE69_iKAWIs The D&D Direct press kit material related to Dragonlance included only this teaser trailer. After the live streamed public event and private press events related to the astonishing deluge of announcements we'll have more details. The standout feature for me in this trailer is the...
D&D Direct Announces WizKids Spelljammer Figurines Including Gargantuan Astral Dreadnought
https://youtu.be/Isd_OhDF6_8 Coinciding with the announcement at D&D Direct about Spelljammer for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons there a whole bunch of incredible new miniatures and figurines from WizKids. This highlight video evokes strong Thor: Ragnarok vibes, which I'm totally on board with for a Spelljammer campaign. The...
D&D Direct Announces Spelljammer Confirmed with Astral Adventurers Guide, Boo’s Astral Menagerie and Light of Xaryxis
https://youtu.be/rPfsTlxJh9o When I saw the D&D Direct press kit for the first time the astounding variety of folders no doubt containing awesome 5E D&D content barely registered because not far from the top of the list Spelljammer snatched my attention right away. Now this is how...
5E D&D World of Monsters — Beasts
Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted picked up a video series called Nerdarchy’s Guide to D&D Monsters. We launched this series a few years ago with aberrations but one thing led to another and yadda yadda yadda we’re revisiting the topic now. These video guides cover tips for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons players on what to expect and how to manage things when a particular creature type shows up in your campaign setting and adventures. I dig this series personally because a theme like this makes a great jumping off point. Here on the website I take the topic in a different direction and ask what if beasts are the only type of monsters in your 5E D&D world?
Ember Roc and Other Monsters of Tal’Dorei Inspire New Characters and Adventures
Tal’Dorei Reborn recently released and if you managed to get your hands on a copy from the wonderful people over at Critical Role’s Darrington Press you’ve seen a bunch of new monsters and their respective stat blocks for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. But enough of the book for now — you can hear more on this from us over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel.
Discover Critical Role Campaign 3’s Wild New Party of D&D Adventurers
Critical Role just began Campaign 3 of its fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons game. The continent where the campaign takes place this time is Marquet and the southern accents, which we were previously introduced to via Fjord of Campaign 2, are in full swing . Before we delve into this post please know there might be some spoilers ahead for the first session of Critical Role Campaign 3 as well as spoilers for all episodes leading up to this point. If you’re not into those maybe come back and read this after catching up.
Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep Revealed for 5E D&D
That mystery book for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons showing up on Amazon recently now has a name — Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep. According to the official D&D website this epic Critical Role campaign asks adventurers — can you change fate?
Top 5 Official Campaign Settings for 5E D&D
Here at Nerdarchy we love our fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The system is fluid and elegant, allowing for play in a variety of different settings. But maybe you’re new to the RPG hobby and you’re just not sure where to start when it comes to a campaign setting. While we tend to like our own homebrew settings, building an entire world can be a daunting task — especially for someone who’s just picked up a book and a set of dice for the first time. But don’t let your knickers get in knots; we’re here to help.
Advancing Your 5E D&D Franchise with Acquisitions Incorporated
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons’ campaign setting books do a masterful job providing all the tools and resources players need to create unique experiences within each particular environment including inspiration, encouragement and guidance for developing your own ideas. My favorite book of the bunch — Acquisitions Incorporated — expands tremendously on the concept of running a business included in the 5E D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide. Let’s get into it.