Campaign Rebirth: How to Keep Your Campaign Fresh
Campaign Rebirth
How to Keep Your Campaign Fresh
All campaigns experience highs and lows, even if you’re the party on the cover of the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. [Art by Tyler Jacobson]
This is something many groups fail to do in various roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, World of Darkness, and Pathfinder. Changing the focus, the goals, or the theme to spice things up. The problem is that not every group can do this, and some cannot even recognize when it is happening.
I hope that this little article will help you in both these regards and assist you in steering the proverbial horse away from the cliff. Let’s delve into campaign rebirth
Slavery in RPG Campaigns: Making a Case for Inclusion
Slavery.
A master leading his slave. [“Iron Ring Slaves” art by Jason Engle]
Slavery is a thing that’s been a problem throughout human history as much as it is exists in modern a fantasy tabletop RPG campaign like D&D.
It’s not necessarily everywhere, but it’s in there. Slavery is a subject included in these entries in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual: on page 5 (under towns and cities), and described in the aboleth, azer (the efreeti attempted to enslave them), beholders, bugbears, devils, red dragons, driders, duergar, drow, fomorian, genies, fire giants, gith, grimlock, hags, hobgoblins, jackalweres, kuo-toa, lamia, mind flayers, mummies, salamanders, yuan-ti, and even the commoner.
It’s in there.
RPG Trickster Character NPCs: When and Where to Use Them
John de Lancie portrayed Q in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Salutations, nerds.
I’m willing to bet, at one point or another, a lot of you have come into contact with a roleplaying game nonplayer character who played a little bit like Q from Star Trek.
The trickster NPC sweeps into your RPG, snaps their fingers, causes a boatload of trouble for the player characters and there isn’t anything you can do about it.
If it happened with a good Game Master, you were probably able to kick their butt afterward, but most of the time that isn’t the case and the only person who has fun is the GM sitting behind the screen going “haha look how frustrated you guys are.”
Yeah, it pretty much sucks. Except for when it doesn’t.
Gen Con 50: Live Stream Your Game with Maze Arcana’s Expert Help
Rolling dice? Roll that camera!
Gen Con 50 celebrates gaming history with a milestone for North America’s largest tabletop game convention.
“How to Live Stream At Home: the Hands-on Approach with Maze Arcana & Blackmagic Design” gives gamers the tools and knowledge to become part of that rich history and share their own unique experiences with the vibrant, growing tabletop game community.
A seminar and two workshops are open for registration. The events from some of the most popular and professional live streaming tabletop gamers partnered with leaders in the professional studio equipment industry aim to empower others to reach out and connect with the greater community.
Participants have chances to win thousands of dollars in giveaways including video cameras, technical studio equipment and applications over the course of the events, too. Check the links ahead and at the bottom to preregister and make sure you have a spot in these events.
Chartopia, Part 4: Rollable lists
Unique results with Chartopia lists, tables and charts
Any of these and more sewer encounters could take place in a setting just like this. [Art by Alexlinde from deviantart.com]
[they mistakenly believe you’re hostile/cultists/etc; they attack because they think you’re after the same treasure they’re searching for; they’ve been hired by an enemy to kill the party]
So what else can you do with a rollable list?
Homebrew RPG Gaming Tips
Well, 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.
Q&A: Starfinder RPG from Paizo Inc.
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
I know patience is difficult, but we really are looking at ways to bring all the settings back. Even Spelljammer! #WOTCstaff https://t.co/eKu48e5RjF
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) July 3, 2017
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.
