D&D grung and other monsters are people, too
Monsters as notable NPCs and player characters in D&D is something I’ve touched on in past columns, including last week’s exploration of the similarities between a TTRPG GM and a Swiss Army knife. Since then, I ran the “Grungle in the Jungle” adventure idea for my gaming group. Inspired by Stream of Annihilation’s One Grung Above from WotC Product Manager Christopher Lindsay this adventure puts the players in control of a band of grung from Volo’s Guide to Monsters.
Dealing with PTSD for RPG Characters
PTSD in gaming
Many Marines return to the states with vivid memories of their combat experiences, and the array of emotions they face internally may be hard to detect. While changes in behavior are more obvious, symptoms can also manifest in physical form. [Marines from Arlington, VA, United States/Wikimedia Commons]
Open Legend RPG character build – Kryzikk
A kobold from the fifth edtion Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.
Hey, guys, Professor Bill of Comic Book University and I guess I’m up next to talk about my character for the Open Legend RPG game on Fridays at noon Eastern on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel. I think that, by now, it’s pretty obvious that I have an affinity for comic books, so I took my inspiration from the comics to get in my character’s head. Open Legend RPG is an open source roleplaying game designed by Brian Feister, who sponsors our weekly live game. The core rules for the game are available for free online here.
Starfinder Twitch premiere reveal event June 13!
The cover for the Starfinder Core Rulebook, from Paizo Publishing
Hey, nerds! We’re sure you’re all super excited for the upcoming release of Starfinder. We sure are! There are a lot of really cool things coming up in this game. Seven classes, rules for starship combat, magic — in space! And coming from the people who brought us Pathfinder you know this is going to be something really excellent.
So just in case you’ve been living under a rock or somehow stumbled onto the Nerdarchy website on accident due to a malfunction in your operating system or through a random surge of black magic, let’s review. Starfinder is a science fantasy game, set thousands of years in the future of its predecessor, Pathfinder. That means all of your old favorite races are still viable, and there are some new ones, too.
Open Legend RPG character build: Israel Amadeus
On Fridays at noon, the Nerdarchy crew as well as the writers here at the site have been playing an Open Legend tabletop RPG campaign live on YouTube. For those not familiar with the game, I thought I would offer up my own character, Israel Amadeus, as well as provide some info on his background and character creation. I also thought it might be interesting to see an Open Legend character sheet. For those who have watched the game, and especially those who have played with this character, I feel it necessary here to provide a spoiler warning. If you are interested in learning more about the campaign, please check out a sampling of the cities involved.
Open Legend RPG character build – Roz Rakheta
Open Legend character build from concept to gameplay
As a relatively new staff writer for Nerdarchy.com the opportunity to join my colleagues William C. (aka Professor Bill from Comic Book University), Megan R. Miller, Nerdarchy.com editor-in-chief Ty Johnston and Nerdarchist Ted in a weekly live stream game run by Nerdarchist Dave is phenomenal.
Not without trepidation I quickly agreed. The game is a wholly new system for me, for one, and for another I’d never played a tabletop roleplaying game online before – let alone live streaming!
Matt Mercer of Critical Role talks Tal’Dorei with Dungeon Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eXwQ8oWcZ0
Dungeon Life’s Todd Kenreck was one busy journalist at Wizards of the Coast’s Stream of Annihilation June 2-3, 2017. On his Twitter feed, Kenreck shared that he was able to score 29 interviews with various D&D dignitaries, including the inimitable Matthew Mercer, actor and Dungeon Master for Geek and Sundry’s Critical Role.
RPG: Playing by Post
The roleplaying community is typically populated with people who have strong tabletop roots. This isn’t surprising. After all, Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop game. However, using dice and a rules system in meat space around a gaming table isn’t the only way to roleplay. There are a great many people who play-by-post instead.
Jon Heder’s lesson in design elements for role play
Barbarian duck. Art by Stephen Prescott (deviantart user stephenartist)
Episode 99 of Critical Role may have irrecoverably changed my perspective of role playing games forever. Well, that’s not 100 percent sure. Jon Heder, who is coincidentally from my home town, made my favorite D&D move I’ve ever seen. He took Path of the Duck Totem Warrior. That’s right, instead of Bear, Wolf, or any other standard Totem, he went with Duck, which I assume he worked with Matt Mercer to custom make. My mom and I talked about it, and we kinda figured that being from Oregon played a role in him wanting to be a Duck, because there are tons of other ridiculous animals that he could’ve gone with. But the point is that he chose to do something ridiculous, and ridiculous it was. Not only was it ridiculous, but he used the opportunities to largely squander them. One of his skills was Commune with Ducks, which he used to get completely useless information.
A TTRPG GM is like a Swiss Army knife
GM tools for adventure – you only need a few
My TTRPG group keeps me on my toes as a GM. Comprised of adults, all of whom have varying degrees of adulting to do, our get-togethers are infrequent. It averages out to about twice a month on Sunday evenings. Within that group, everyone has varying schedules for work, family responsibilities and so forth. This results in a flexible group makeup on top of everything else. That last part usually isn’t a problem, as PCs can fade into the background or remain on their spelljammer ship while the present players form an away team.
But what happens when a particular character is important to the story for that session? Maybe the previous session ended on a cliffhanger or dramatic moment and a character’s absence would be awkward Or you as the GM simply aren’t prepared to continue your usual campaign?
Nerdarchy the comic book! Issue No. 1
Face front, True Believers! In addition to his mild-mannered position as a Nerdarchy staff writer, William C.‘s alter ego is that of Professor Bill. In this other guise he runs Comic Book University, a YouTube channel dedicated to all things comic book. You may also recognize him from the recent live streaming game at Nerdarchy’s YouTube channel. Thursdays at noon EST, Professor Bill takes on the great power and great responsibility of acting as Judge for a game of Marvel Super Heroes RPG.
Creature Symbiosis is an Underutilized RPG Tool
Symbiosis is an amazing thing within nature. Symbiosis is defined as the “interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both.” Now how does this work within Dungeons & Dragons (as well as other games)? Well, amazing Nerdarchy reader, symbiosis is something that both players and Dungeon Masters can use to fill their world with amazing, multilayered experiences that will blow your players’ minds. Below I will be listing a few situations of symbiosis that are already in Dungeons and Dragons, and a few I think would work well within it.
The clownfish Amphiprion ocellaris (known from the Walt Disney/Pixar cartoon Finding Nemo). Photo is from a coral reef near the Japanese island Sesoko and taken 2 m below water surface. In the background is the giant carpet anemone Stichodactyla gigantea with which the clownfish forms a symbiosis. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Top 10 Stereotypical Roleplaying Gamers
Here we go again. I like top tens. They have a certain charm to them. Being a gamer, I get to see a lot of roles played by an amazing variety of people such as yourself. I know that they can be good, bad, or just plain hilarious. Can you think of the various role players you have seen at your table? I am sure if you think hard enough, something your great mind is highly capable of doing, you can match up at least a few of those listed below with your table. In no particular order, here is the repeated role player types I have seen. Some of these I like, and some I do not. Though I would love to hear your opinions and stories on such.
Yes, YOU can take part in a Marvel Superheroes RPG online!
Hey guys, Professor Bill from Comic Book University, and I’m going to talk (write) about the game I’m running for Nerdarchy on Thursdays. Marvel Superheroes Role Playing Game is an old love for many of us, but that’s not the crux of what I want...
Blast from the Past: Nerdarchy Invades the Marvel Universe
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpBK1lZg32c&w=560&h=315] Class was in session when Professor Bill from Comic Book University (aka Nerdarchy staff writer William C.) took a group of mild-mannered nerds for a trip to the heart of the Marvel Universe for a game of the Marvel Super Heroes Role-Playing Game. [caption id="attachment_19932"...
