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Roleplaying Games

Nerdarchy > Roleplaying Games (Page 44)

Homebrew RPG Gaming Tips

RPG gamingWell, today is a day of heat and sweat here in Washington, but I am still riding the high of an amazing gaming session last night.

The thing is we ended up having to wing a lot of thing to make the game as immersive and fun as possible. This got the old grey matter working – how can I pass on a few homebrewed solutions I have learned with experience and innovation?

A list of as many things as I can think of seems like a good place to start. After all, what is Nerdarchy but a place that is not just entertainment but for information of all kinds. Some of these will be no-brainers but some are actually pretty interesting, or at least I think so.

Starfinder

Q&A: Starfinder RPG from Paizo Inc.

Starfinder RPG Paizo

The cover for the Starfinder Core Rulebook, from Paizo Publishing

2017 is a huge year for tabletop roleplaying games. Rich and rapid growth of the industry has ushered in a new golden age for what we all know is the greatest hobby in the world.

Or perhaps it’s a space age. With all the space fantasy and science fiction themed RPGs entering the marketplace, it might be more accurate to say tabletop RPGs are the greatest hobby in the universe.

Leading the fleet of these myriad cosmic game enterprises, Starfinder is set for launch on Aug. 17 at Gen Con 50 where the hardcover version drops, with the PDF version of following in September. Preorders are open now, so you can head over to Amazon here and get your copy of Starfinder reserved.

Nerdarchist Ted had an opportunity to playtest the game in a live stream event run by Owen K.C. Stephens, game designer and developer for Paizo. If you missed that event, you can still watch the VOD on WebDM’s YouTube channel. And in the video above Nerdarchist Dave welcomed Stephens to the live chat to talk about Starfinder as well.

Here on the website, we had a chance to pose some questions to Rob McCreary, a senior developer at Paizo Inc. and founding member of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game development team. McCreary also holds the distinction of being the first author in the Starfinder Adventure Path line (among many other distinctions in his career!). Incident at Absalom Station kicks off the Dead Suns adventure path and is available for preorder now, with a scheduled release date of Sept. 5.

Effects Of Age On A D&D Character Can Enhance the Experience

Effect of age in D&D

age effect

Opening phrase of Prince Hamlet’s soliloquy in William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet,” Act III, Scene I.

Age is a usually inescapable villain that hunts down any and all who walk this mortal coil.

That being said, there are ways to escape it. What we will deal with here are reactions left to those who don’t have the ability to visit the fountain of youth, become a lich or vampire, and have no chance to ascend to godhood.

The touch of age is something a lot of gamers forget but could do well to keep in mind. After all, the effect of it could very well enhance your gaming experience.

In previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons the effect of age was pretty easy to document.

“To be or not to be? Not to be.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jack Slater, playing Hamlet in the 1993 Columbia Pictures film “Last Action Hero”

In fact, your character could even use it as a form of min/maxing as your physical stats drop while your mental stats raise.

This could be a godsend to casters, especially the wizard and sorcerer who would want to push the DC of their spells as far as possible.

Conversely, a more physical type would run from the cold hand of time, as those physical abilities are their very bread and butter.

Gaming Has Changed My Media Expectations

Gaming media characters

Jon Heder, as the titular Napoleon Dynamite, and Aaron Ruell as Kip engage in a nerd battle in the independent film “Napoleon Dynamite.”

Arguing about media is a staple of the nerd subculture. We spend an inordinate amount of time going over our favorite shows, movies and books with a fine-toothed comb picking out small details and jabbing at each other with them, because as nerds it’s just what we do. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise, then, that my friend group is no exception to this.

I’m not going to lie, much of the time it’s my fault. I am a total killjoy to watch a movie or anime with, because I absolutely hate it when the main character does everything.

GM’s Can Create an Adventure in Five Easy Pieces

In the video above from the Nerdarchy YouTube channel Nerdarchist Dave, Nate the Nerdarch and Nerdarchist Ted explore an approach to creating tabletop roleplaying game adventures. Based on the Five Ws – traditional basic information gathering and problem solving steps – this method makes creating adventures for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons or any RPG much easier.

By asking yourself who, what, where, when and why a Game Master turns what could be a daunting task into a quick process. Preparing RPG adventures this way provides a solid foundation for both GM and players. Building on the basic structure you create is absolutely possible. But this simple method alone offers ample material to work with at your gaming table for fun, rewarding experiences.

D&D stuff

A D&D Player Needs All the Stuff, a D&D DM Needs Even More Stuff!

In this ArmorClass10.com-sponsored video Nate the Nerdarch and Nerdarhchists Dave and Ted approach the idea of bookkeeping for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons or any tabletop roleplaying game from several avenues. Pregame preparation, character maintenance and efficiency during play are some of the topics discussed.

The standout aspect for me is preparing for a game session by making sure you have all the materials you need. My group meets to play D&D or whatever game we get into at a local coffeeshop. There’s a private room we reserve in the back to while away the evening rolling funny-shaped dice and speaking with funny-sounding voices. Every session requires a mental checklist before heading out the door to account for all the necessary stuff. And then a double-check. And then a quick assessment of more stuff that might be needed.

Elven Tower Maps a Course Through D&D Content Creation

Elven Tower maps

2017 Ennie Award nominee Elven Tower creates maps and original content for D&D and other RPGs

Derek Ruiz – or Derek von Zarovich as he’s widely known to fans on the internet – is an 2017 Ennie Award nominee for best website. A year ago he was an English  teacher. With the flip of a coin, he launched Elven Tower and now “maps” his way forward to continued success as a content creator for D&D and other RPGs. In August, Elven Tower celebrates its one year anniversary. Along with his Ennie Award nomination, Ruiz won the One Page Dungeon contest earlier in 2017 with his entry “Where are the Villagers?”

“I had this idea. I’m going to do something with the internet – start a website or something. I had two options, because this is going to be out of love. This is going to be something that I enjoy. Either it was going to be something about D&D, or it was going to be about science. Believe it or not I just flipped a coin, and I said okay, this is going to be about D&D.” – Derek Ruiz

RPG Game Master

Worst Ways To DM D&D

There was an interesting ArmorClass10.com-sponsored video done on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel that detailed not just the worst ways to Dungeon Master, but the worst ways that the Nerdarchy crew have DM’d. This caught my ear for the humorous humility one has to have in order to present such. This of course is right up my alley, and akin to my usual theme of humor in the day-to-day discussions of Dungeons & Dragons. So of course I simply had to volunteer to speak on the worst ways to DM, and add my mistakes to the list. Let’s jump in and speak of various mistakes I’ve made, shall we? Let the roast begin!

Marvel Super Heroes RPG Live Game All About the Chat

Hey, guys, Professor Bill of Comic Book University and I want to talk about you.
No, seriously, all of you guys who appear in the chat for the Marvel Super Heroes Roleplaying Game FASERIP live game I run for the crew on Mondays. Also, all of you who comment afterward in the comments section of those videos, I try to go back to the videos once in a while to see if there are questions I can answer or see your opinions.

D&D 5E Spelljammer Makes the Most of Monsters

It’s been a few weeks since the last trip into the wildspace of Spelljammer for D&D 5E. My home game dabbled in a few one-shots and welcomed a new, first time Dungeon Master. Origins came and went, and several Nerdarchy projects kept me from sharing more insights into the exploits of a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Spelljammer campaign.

Then I saw this tweet from Mike Mearls the other day.

And the enthusiastic replies.

And a long list of other Spelljammer fans sharing affection for the setting.

And fan groups on Facebook, Google+ and more.

We’re out there, Wizards of the Coast! While I can’t speak for all of us, it’s encouraging to know the folks behind the game we love include all of our favorite aspects from its rich history in their grand vision. In time, I’m confident we’ll get our Dark Sun, Al-Qadim, Dragonlance and Eberron fixes in official capacities.

RPG character change: An Open Legend example

Change in character

open legendOften there are comparisons made between tabletop role-playing games and fiction, and though there are a lot of differences, there are similarities as both can be storytelling mediums. One similarity is in the importance of characters and character growth or change.

In fiction, character change is often thought of as a character arc, a transformation inwardly or outwardly or both during a character’s journey, during the character’s story. The same can apply to our characters in RPGs.

No Campaign for Old Men: Shout Out to Older Protagonists

Hey, nerds. Today we’re going to talk about character ages. Most people go for younger protagonists, younger D&D characters. Twenty-somethings tend to be the staple in most games I’ve been involved in, and that makes sense to a degree. Part of the allure is wanting to watch a character mature, play them from an early age and see them grow into someone else, especially if you’re starting at Level 1 and don’t have a lot of room for back story.

But not every campaign starts at Level 1 and that’s to say nothing for NPCs and other works of fiction. There’s a place for older characters; it’s something I don’t see done often, but I’d like to see it done more.

D&Dized Spider-Man build for D&D 5E

Spider-Man D&D 5E build

Spider-Man in Columbia Pictures’ “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” [Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures]

As a dutiful nerd and lifelong comic book fan, I went to see “Spider-Man: Homecoming” on opening weekend. There will be no spoilers for the film in this article, but I will say that it is a fantastic movie. It’s also worth noting I’m typically not that much into action movies in general and my critical eye is more than average when it comes to superhero movies.

But all that aside, what I’ve really been thinking about all day is a character build to represent Spider-Man in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. The Nerdarchy YouTube channel has a long history of D&Dizing fictional characters and objects, and it sounded fun to take a shot at this iconic, beloved Marvel Comics character. My previous crack at D&Dizing something – the Sword of Omens from Thundercats – was tons of fun to work on.

5 Laughable RPG Campaign Destroyers

“Cambers Quarreling” by Jan Steen, circa 1665 [Image courtesy of Detroit Institute of Arts]

Well here we go again with a response to a video from our Nerdarchy YouTube channel. Specifically the bearded boys had listed what they have seen destroy a campaign to the point that those occurrences can guarantee the fall of your campaign.

I do believe any campaign could survive things that would destroy others, and D&D is a game that can accommodate so many different styles to the point I do not feel safe guaranteeing anything will happen.

What I will say is I have seen things destroy campaigns that would make you roll save vs death from laughter. That being said, I will not name the people who destroyed these campaigns, but I will describe things as I remember them now.

Ahh yes, the mists of time cloud all. Here we go with my experiences, and I would love to hear your experiences.