‘Tis the Season for 5E D&D Holiday Adventures
Thanksgiving has come and gone again, Charlie Brown, and this means the holidays are officially upon us. With the season comes an urge to run holiday themed adventures and one shots. Whether you want to do a one night session with all new characters or you want to incorporate a holiday session or two into your holiday season I’ve got thoughts on how to run a great holiday adventure for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons this year!
Play Your Next 5E D&D Game with the Break System from Octopath Traveler
Fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons has seen a boom in success like never before. So many people are playing and talking about 5E D&D and a robust community of homebrew and indie content has flooded the community with enough ways to tell and play so many types of stories with the system. Even when 5E D&D can’t accommodate a certain type of game or story there are a wealth of other systems to choose from. Much like the golden age of JRPGs this is the golden age of TTRPGs and as such I’ve had both on the brain lately.
Simplifying Distances for Theater of the Mind in 5E D&D
We love some fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons here at Nerdarchy, and we love streaming over on Nerdarchy Live. Part and parcel with streaming comes a need to adjust things and make them more cinematic for an audience. While minis are great they kind of bog down a stream if you’re not really skilled at multitasking or have a huge production team like Critical Role. As such we use theater of the mind, which comes with its own challenges.
Find Roleplaying Inspiration On Your RPG Character Sheet
It all started when our Tuesday night RPG group started a new campaign with me at the helm. For my turn in the Game Master seat I chose to run Quest, an all around favorite of mine. It’s a wonderfully streamlined and narratively focused roleplaying game. One particular standout from the rulebook describes the nature of each character’s abilities, which direct players to “Think of your abilities as ways to take control of a scene.” Acknowledging this concept in a deeply meaningful way changed how I look at RPGs for the better so let’s get into it.
Expand Your Roleplaying Through Heritage and Culture in 5E D&D
If you want to stir the pot with the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons fandom then bring up the topic of race and watch the opinions flow. Race is a core mechanic of 5E D&D and while some prefer the term lineage (see Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything) the two terms are used interchangeably within the community. The way I like to run D&D games, I view any mechanic as having a direct influence on the story and likewise I believe every mechanic’s existence ought to be justified by a story element. Race is just one of these areas so let’s break down character race, what it means, and how to use it more effectively in your 5E D&D games.
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.
Unleash Your Hero on Demiplane’s Pathfinder Nexus
Pathfinder players can celebrate an exciting development today as Demiplane announces a partnership with Paizo through the creation of Pathfinder Nexus. Demiplane is a top digital platform for tabletop roleplaying games and will be home for an official digital toolset and game companion for Pathfinder.
Level Up Your 5E D&D Game with Evocative Descriptions
I play Dungeons & Dragons three times a week. On Tuesdays I play with the gang on Nerdarchy Live. On Wednesdays I play in my home game with my chosen family and every other Thursday I play with my author friends on Quill & Sword. Having played so much 5E D&D I’ve learned that descriptions are utterly vital. Dungeons & Dragons is a type of theater of the mind. You and your friends share a story experience much like a play or a movie except the experience is different for each person because there are no screens or stages — only your imagination. As such, Dungeon Masters must take a role similar to an author. They craft stories with descriptions to help their audience (in this case the players at the table) to envision what’s happening.
Halloween RPG Adventure Hooks Sure to Get Your Gaming Group Screaming
Nerdarchy is doing a Halloween one shot special with our monstrous friends from the McDonner Manor! Whether you’re running Quest, fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons or another tabletop roleplaying game we’ve got you covered with some ideas for you guys and ghouls! With the most spooktacular time of year in full swing it should come as no surprise many Game Masters are looking for ideas to run a quick and easy one shot for Halloween, Day of the Dead or a number of other holidays to incorporate into their campaign settings. To assist, I thought it would be fun to come up with a few prompts to help springboard your twisted imagination!
Crown of the Oathbreaker is a Truly Amazing Adventure Envisioned by the Elderbrain Community
The community at Elderbrain.com have come up with a grandiose adventure module. It’s called Crown of the Oathbreaker and it is a 500-page D&D 5e adventure module and campaign setting with player options and also a free 5e compatible character sheet you can download from here.
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?
Penny Dragon Games Unleashes a Horde of Horror for Halloween
By guest poster Ben Doherty, founder of Owlbear Press
*Inhales* Ahhh… Can you smell it? The sweet stench of decay? That magical time of year draws close. The leaves are falling from the trees. The dead are rising from their graves. Halloween, like a werewolf stalking in the moonlit night, is almost upon us. And you’d best be prepared. Stock up on supplies — bobbing apples, candy corn, and plenty of pumpkin spice — and barricade yourself inside, whether it’s a suburban home, a cabin in the woods, or your recently deceased estranged uncle’s castle. It’s time to get the gang together, formulate a survival plan… and play some D&D.
Mag of Holding Haunts Your 5E Games with Gothic Horror Just In Time for Halloween
Penny Dragon Games added another title to their Mag of Holding series, following up on Frozen Wastelands and Pirates & Seafaring with Gothic Horror. This collection of encounters, creatures, curses and lore makes a fantastic asset for any Game Master and with the Halloween season upon us it’s the perfect thematic content for Fifth Edition players.
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.
Quest RPG is Perfect for a Live Roleplay Stream and You’ll Never Guess Why
Recently on Nerdarchy Live we completed Ingest Quest 2, hosted by our own beloved Nerditor Doug. Quest RPG was the system powering our romp through culinary weird space and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit skeptical of this new system. However by the end of everything, I think Quest RPG is one of the best systems out there for running an entertaining game stream. Let’s explore some takeaways from the game and what Quest RPG does really well to make itself an ideal system for roleplay heavy groups and thus, conducive to a great stream game.
