2017 Holiday Nerdy Gift Ideas for Roleplaying Gamers

The holiday season is upon us and it’s time for this year’s gift suggestions for the nerdy gamers in your life. Whether you’re a Game Master of player, dig your digital products or prefer physical swag in hand, there’s a little something for everyone here. This past year has been incredible for roleplaying gamers, with tons of new games and new stuff for games we’ve all been playing like good ol’ Dungeons & Dragons.

If you still have some shopping to do (or you want to treat yourself to some nifty stuff) here’s a selection of suggestions for 2017. This feature has become something of a tradition around here, and as Nerditor-in-chief I’m honored to carry on with what was passed to me by my predecessor Ty Johnston. Everyone at Nerdarchy wishes you the happiest of holidays and as the close of 2017 nears, until the 2018 gift guide stay nerdy!

A nerdy gift for…

For Digital Gamers

Kindle Fire 8

If you like to look at game books in PDF form, consider the Amazon Fire 8. I got one this year for looking at PDFs exclusively. I like the size and form factor and find it easy to read most books on. There are good accessibility features for those that need them. The Fire 7 doesn’t run as fast and has very little available memory; I haven’t looked into the Fire 10 but it might be a better choice for PDF reading. I like the fact that I can fit the Fire 8 into a jacket or sweatshirt pocket. It feels book-sized to me. – Hans Chun

Click the image or this handy link here to pick up a Kindle Fire 8

Drivethru RPG PDFs

There are lots of awesome games best available in PDF format at DriveThruRPG. These can be out-of-print products or things that benefit from digital enhancement. Some manufacturers update products in PDF form frequently, so they are definitely worth considering for cost and space savings. – Hans Chun

Speaking of out-of-print products, if you’re looking for a fun, unusual direction to take your D&D campaign pick up a copy of Spelljammer: Adventures in Space! Give your D&D group a gift and take them on a ride through wildspace. It’s a second edition AD&D book but it’s not too tough adapt the material for fifth edition. The mechanics behind travel aboard a spelljamming vessel can be a bit kludgy but I guarantee this setting will inspire your imagination. Pick and choose the parts you like and make it work for you and your gaming group. If you poke around here on the Nerdarchy website you’ll find more than a little content for running 5E Spelljammer games, too. – Nerditor Doug

Critical Role Origins Comics

If you’re a Critical Role fan, these Vox Machina Origins comics have been a great way to continue the story of Vox Machina. The digital versions of the comics are affordable and full of life. Like (most?) Kindle products, you can give these as a gift! – Hans Chun

Critical Role: Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting

For the Critters in your life who enjoy watching a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons, and they’re keeping up with their origins through the comics, help them take the next step and delve into Exandria in their own games. The Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting has new player options like feats and subclasses, DM information for running games set in the world of Critical Role and bits of lore about the lands where Percy, Grog, Vax and Vex, Scanlan, Keyleth, Pike, Tiberius and Taryon adventured. Side note: I can’t wait for the next campaign to begin. Fingers crossed Travis will play a wizard. For a deeper look into this book, the Nerdarchy YouTube channel has a playlist of videos highlighting different sections of the book. – Nerditor Doug

D&D Beyond

I can’t say enough good things about D&D Beyond, the digital toolset for fifth edition D&D. You can get started using it for free, and with their pricing structure you can unlock only the additional content you need. If you only want to use it to manage your character, you can get individual races, classes and options from the marketplace. And if you ever want to unlock an entire book, the cost is prorated by any content you already purchased. Need to run an impromptu D&D session but don’t have your books on hand? Unlock the Monster Manual and send adventurers on an impromptu, improvised quest. Consider unlocking some content for your D&D playing friends, or if you’re really ambitious, go for a Legendary Bundle and unlock everything D&D has to offer plus get a lifetime discount on all future releases. D&D Beyond has become an indispensable resource for me. I use it everyday to look things up with the intuitive search feature, organize my campaigns and engage with the community through the forums. As a gift item, your whole gaming group can benefit through campaign content sharing, so getting a Legendary Bundle for your Dungeon Master gives the whole group access to D&D content. – Nerditor Doug

For Players

Easy Roller Dice

Everyone who plays Dungeons & Dragons needs a set of polyhedral dice! If you have a seasoned player in your life, they may have many sets – but metal dice are especially prized for their sound and weight. Easy Roller has some great metal sets!

A new player may just want some simple acrylic dice, which Easy Roller also sells! There are some good deals on bulk dice that could satisfy a whole game group.

Finally, not everyone plays D&D. Many games like Blades in the Dark only use six-sided dice. Others like 7th Sea use only 10-sided dice. You can get a bulk quantity from Easy Roller. – Hans Chun

If you head over to Easy Roller Dice here and use the coupon code New2DnD you can get a one-time 20 percent discount on your order!

ThinkGeek

There’s all sorts of nifty nerdy stuff over at ThinkGeek for unique gift items. Your Dice, Camera, Action friends can join the Waffle Crew on their quest with a fresh stack of waffles courtesy of the Critical Hit D20 Waffle Maker? Perfect for any alignment, from waffle good to waffle evil. For those more into Demon Princes, help them join Demogorgon’s crew with a souvenir jacket showing their devotion to the classic D&D entity. The old school artwork comes straight out of the Abyss. As it bonus it works just as well for fans of Stranger Things, giving extra D&D street cred. Click the link above or the image to summon this sweet jacket.

Being a nerd is cool! – Nerditor Doug

For Game Masters

As a Game Masters, I always want a new game to check out for Christmas. Here are a couple of outstanding games to consider.

Genesys RPG

This brand new Genesys universal roleplaying game system has just been released by Fantasy Flight Games. This is the same system they use in their Star Wars RPG products Edge of the Empire, Force & Destiny and Age of Rebellion. The book is clean and clear with lots of ideas for settings and making mash-ups! You can play a fantasy or sci-fi game easily, but why stop there? You can mash them up for the ‘elves and aliens’ Spelljammer campaign you always wanted or the streamlined Shadowrun game you never got.

There are also setting ideas for steampunk and modern campaigns, optional systems for magic and computer hacking. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, the book has a lot of suggestions on how to hack the system. If you’ve ever wanted to create your own Star Wars RPG races but wondered about balance, it’s all laid out in this book. This is one of the best system books for Game Masters who want to do it themselves. There are no included complete settings or adventures but all the tools you need for a lifetime of play.

Genesys dice

It’s important to note there are custom dice used for the Genesys game. I have several sets of Star Wars dice and no intention of changing them out. There is an official dice app as well as a number of online dice apps that are free, but if this is a holiday present you may want to splurge on the custom dice to complete the experience. – Hans Chun

Cypher System Rulebook

If you like describing things in words, not statistics, Cypher System is the best. This is a super fast, light, easy-to-play game with tons of flavor. Monte Cook Games makes Numenera and The Strange which use this ruleset at their core, but this generic system book takes things up to 11 by adding lots of suggestions and alternate systems for fantasy, horror, sci-fi and superheroes. The system is easy for a Game Master to run and requires little reading to become familiar with.

Additionally, Cypher System has 3 really interesting setting books released for it, any of which could be a full campaign. Predation has time travelers with future technology stuck in the Cretaceous with dinosaurs. Everyone gets a dinosaur or early mammal companion. This is one of my favorite settings of all time!

Gods of the Fall is a high fantasy setting where the previous gods have died and the players take on their mantles, growing into divine powers. This reminds me a lot of the Exalted RPG but has a lot of very unique and cool elements.

Unmasked is the newest setting and focuses on teens gaining super powers from strange masks in 1986. The game deals with the weird things that happen as the teens develop their powers as well as their everyday teen lives. – Hans Chun

Gods of the Fall and Predation

Humble RPG Book Bundle

Available until Dec. 20, 2017, this massive bundle of digital RPG books from Frog God Games and Kobold Press makes an incredible gift. Any one of the bundled products is worth more than the cost. On top of the unbelievable savings spread across three tiers of bundles, purchasing a bundle donates money to charity. What better way to celebrate the holiday spirit than helping support charity: water, the Navy-Marine Corp Relief Society or other charities of your choice while stuffing digital bookshelves with awesome RPG books like Tome of Beasts, Quests of Doom, Bard’s Gate, Deep Magic and a whole lot more? You can find out more about the Humble RPG Book Bundle right here on Nerdarchy’s website, or head directly over and snag your own bundles right here and bring some holiday cheer to RPG players and Game Masters in your life, all for a great cause. – Nerditor Doug