How to Increase Suspension of Disbelief in Your Roleplaying Game
Tabletop roleplaying games are legitimately one of my favorite means of storytelling. There’s something incredibly special about about gathering your friends together for a night of fun and enjoyment. Instead of catching up on your favorite streaming show or spending a small fortune getting drinks, everyone sits around a table to collectively craft their own stories with their own original characters. But let me stop myself before I gush off topic. To set up this discussion, I first have to talk about “suspension of disbelief.” Boiling it down, suspension of disbelief happens when a storyteller (or Game Master) and their audience (or players) both understand that a work of fiction is not real, but all parties agree to suspend their disbelief. There’s a sort of unspoken contract between storytellers and audiences that certain core aspects of a fiction story (i.e. the existence of magic, other races, fictional technologies, etc.) are going to remain unaddressed outside of the fact they’re presumed to be true.
Put a Pin In Your D&D Game — The Pinterest Dungeon Master
Fantasy art influences my fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games to an extraordinary degree. One of the themes running strongly in the great documentary Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons is how playing D&D gives us an opportunity to discover what would our characters do in these fantastic settings. The fantasy art inspiring our D&D games also provides a tool to help us vividly describe the creatures, places and things adventurers see. For players and Dungeon Masters alike, the fantasy art that speaks to us leaves an indelible mark on our gaming. And for my money, there’s no better place for unending discovery of amazing fantasy art than Pinterest. It’ll improve your D&D games as a player and DM, I guarantee. So let’s get into it.
Make Your Own D&D Maps with Dungeonfog
Let’s face it — Game Masters can never have enough tools to help make running their D&D games easier. DUNGEONFOG is just one of those tools. The fine folks over at DUNGEONFOG sent us over some copies to check it out and sponsored this article and some videos. They were even nice enough to give us the promo code Nerdarchy so you can score a 10 percent discount on the annual subscription which is already discounted from the monthly subscription. There are a ton of features to help GMs run their games and prepare beautiful maps. Not only that, there are tons of maps already on DUNGEONFOG that you can drop into your games or modify to your needs. Go sign up for free here.
Roleplaying the Other: The Queer Experience
Hello, and welcome to Roleplaying the Other. In this column, I’m going to be largely focused on roleplaying, worldbuilding, and interactions at the table. They will be filtered through my own personal lens of queer experiences in the hobby. Firstly, I should define that when I say “queer,” I am referring to LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) experiences. This is a blanket term that encompasses asexuality and other distinct identities, as well. If you are not one of these letters of the acronym you may be asking yourself what you’re doing here. I’m glad you asked. I’m going to be sharing insights I’ve gained that can, hopefully, help anyone’s table run a better game. I am not a spokesperson for all identities and I’ll be reaching out to people within the community for their perspective from time to time.
4 Ways D&D Enthusiasts Can Run a Business in Their Spare Time
Playing Dungeons & Dragons requires a lot of different skills: leadership, storytelling, acting, math, teamwork, communication, strategizing, resilience, and a whole host more. These aren’t just qualities that help you in D&D. They’re talents that you can use to run a casual business. Below I’ve listed four great businesses that are ideal for D&D enthusiasts to run in their spare time.
5E D&D Villains: Social Villains
Salutations, nerds! We’ve reached the end of my list of kinds of villains to talk about finally, and we’re bringing it to a close with social villains. These are going to be best if you’re playing something that leans more toward political intrigue, like Houses of the Blooded or Vampire: the Masquerade, but they can add some spice to any social heavy situation whether it’s 5E D&D or whatever tabletop roleplaying game suits your fancy.
D&D Barbarian 5E — Path of the Frost Wyrm
Nerdarchy has teamed up with Pacesetter Games & Simulations as well as Vallejo Paints to put together something special in our opinion, but we might be a bit biased. For one, both companies are sponsoring this article, video, and contest. So, disclaimer out of the way if you care about such things. Inspired by the Frost Wyrm miniature by Pacesetters Games & Simulations we came up with the concept of the Frost Wyrm barbarian tribe. As well as a brand new D&D barbarian primal path for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. For some extra inspiration we had our former intern Jake Kosman work his magic with Vallejo Paints.
Become a Legend in a 5E D&D Spell Duelist Campaign
One of the most recent videos on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel is the Ultimate Spell Duelist 5E D&D character build. From the initial planning discussion all the way through the comments on the video, my imagination was firing on all cylinders. And based on the video comments, a lot of other people were too. Like all the recent 5E D&D character builds, we set out to create a character legal for Adventurers League play. This of course limits our character options, but that makes it a fun extra little challenge, plus it’s really rewarding to consider not just mechanical benefits but roleplaying opportunities for these characters as well. Outside of Adventurers League play is where this character really got our creative juices flowing, from chances for personal character moments and growth to campaign implications. So let’s get into it.
5E D&D Villains: Rivals and Frenemies
Salutations, nerds! Continuing on with talking about 5E D&D villains, this time I want to take a moment for one of my favorite kinds of bad guys, and the kind that tend to go over the best at my table personally. I’m talking rivals. Also known as frenemies. Players love this type of villain because it doesn’t get more personal. If you do it right, a rival can be an incredibly multi-faceted character, and by turns both a help and a hindrance. Sometimes, even a romantic interest. So let’s get down to business, shall we?
Kickstarter Korner for November 2018, Week 4
Each week during the Quests & Adventures live chat, Saturday at 2 p.m. eastern, Nerdarchists Dave and Ted and Nate the Nerdarch hang out live with fans from the Nerdarchy YouTube channel. It’s a chance to share announcements and news, answer questions from the live chat and generally just hang out and talk nerdy with the Nerdarchy community.
In the description of each weekly video, Nerdarchist Ted compiles a list and links to all the videos and website content from the week. But he also shares a selection of cool Kickstarter campaigns. As an avid Kickstarter supporter, he’s happy to share his favorite RPG and gaming-related Kickstarters with you, the Nerdarchy community. Enjoy!
Monstrous Humanoids in 5E D&D
Over the years Dungeons & Dragons has offered many different races for players to choose from. I know that some Dungeon Masters are very much against anything that does not look normal. Let’s forget the dragonborn and tielfing and play with humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes and halflings. With those races there are plenty of options even without all the subrace choices. But if you are like me you enjoy all the choices and you want to play the things that are bizarre and interesting. If you happen to look around this site you will see many different monstrous humanoids I statted out for 5E D&D and even made up some of my own, so feel free to poke around. I’ve had a fondness for monstrous humanoid races from the beginning of my roleplaying days. The Complete Book of Humanoids was always my favorite, with races like the wemic, the ogre mage and of course the dino people — saurials. I used this book over and over again playing second edition AD&D. And now Deck of Many has an free PDF designed for anyone who enjoys anthropomorphic characters for 5E D&D.
Kickstarter Korner for November 2018, Week 3
Each week during the Quests & Adventures live chat, Saturday at 2 p.m. eastern, Nerdarchists Dave and Ted and Nate the Nerdarch hang out live with fans from the Nerdarchy YouTube channel. It’s a chance to share announcements and news, answer questions from the live chat and generally just hang out and talk nerdy with the Nerdarchy community.
In the description of each weekly video, Nerdarchist Ted compiles a list and links to all the videos and website content from the week. But he also shares a selection of cool Kickstarter campaigns. As an avid Kickstarter supporter, he’s happy to share his favorite RPG and gaming-related Kickstarters with you, the Nerdarchy community. Enjoy!
New D&D Campaign Setting — Guildmaster’s Guide To Ravnica
We got our hands on the new D&D campaign setting — Ravnica from Wizards of the Coast, aptly named Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica. It is a great resource for players and Dungeon Masters alike. It’s full of D&D monsters, subclasses, spells, backgrounds, and more. Ravnica is a fantastic setting. Different from any other D&D campaign setting. It’s a whole planet that is a city — a city run by guilds and full fantastical creatures and beings. Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica is Wizards of the Coast’s first official Magic: the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons mash-up.
What’s in a Dungeon Master’s Screen?
We’ve seen them since the dawn of Dungeons & Dragons. For every player, the sight of the Dungeon Master looming mysteriously over the Dungeon Master’s screen telling the precarious plight of the characters. Over the years people have started speculating on why to use the DM screen, it’s cheating to use the DM screen, or you have to use a DM screen to tell the story. Why the attitude change? What is the purpose of it, and why do we use it or not use it?
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power as a 5E D&D Campaign Setting
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power dropped on Netflix today and although I’m only a few episodes into season one’s 13 episode run I am hooked. Big time. It’s got awesome characters, a terrific fantasy setting, great villains and a wonderful story of heroism. So naturally, my first thoughts are how to turn this into a 5E D&D campaign setting and adventures. Let’s get into it and see what comes about on the fly.
