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Nerdarchy > Editorial  > Kickstarter Korner for September 2018, Week 2

Kickstarter Korner for September 2018, Week 2

Critical Successes and Critical Failures from 1 to 20 in D&D
Making a Memorable NPC for Dungeons & Dragons

Each week during the Quests & Adventures live chat, Saturday at 2 p.m. eastern, Nerdarchists Dave and Ted and Nate the Nerdarch hang out live with fans from the Nerdarchy YouTube channel. It’s a chance to share announcements and news, answer questions from the live chat and generally just hang out and talk nerdy with the Nerdarchy community.

In the description of each weekly video, Nerdarchist Ted compiles a list and links to all the videos and website content from the week. But he also shares a selection of cool Kickstarter campaigns. As an avid Kickstarter supporter, he’s happy to share his favorite RPG and gaming-related Kickstarters with you, the Nerdarchy community. Enjoy!

RPG Related Kickstarters

Protip: Double whammy of awesome new stuff for Dungeons & Dragons has gamers abuzz the last couple of weeks — Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Creature Codex are released into the wild. Both of these new books have already energized my gaming group. It’s no secret I’m a huge Kobold Press fan, so when Creature Codex arrived in the mail I couldn’t flip through it fast enough and discover all the wonderful new monsters inside. My home campaign, a gonzo Spelljammer adventure, leans heavily into the void stuff from various KP books like Deep Magic: Void Magic and void dragons (AKA the best dragons) from Tome of Beasts. Naturally, the void giant, whisperer in darkness and three void-touched NPCs immediately secured a place in my campaign notes and spreadsheets.

Dragon Heist

More gold, more problems. A gold dragon protects a pile of golden dragons as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

As for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, I’ve been anticipating this for months. An urban heist adventure sounds like a blast, and the hype that began at Stream of Many Eyes kept me excited during the wait for this new adventure’s release. My gaming group plans to start playing this later today as a matter of fact (assuming you’re reading this post on the day of publication). A couple of weeks ago I watched Oceans 8, which really ramped up my desire to play in a group of schemers.

While talking with the DM for our upcoming game, I threw out the idea of the party being retired adventurers and grifters who get back into the game for one last shot at the Big Score. In the case of Dragon Heist, we’re talking 500,000 gold dragons somewhere in the City of Splendors. (Dragons is the name of the gold piece currency in Waterdeep.) Why would a group of old-timer former adventurers only be 1st-level characters? They all hung up their adventuring packs decades ago and haven’t gone on any quests since. I’m doubly excited to play this one because I’m dusting off my favorite character to play — Mesmogdu the charlatan drow Enchanter.

Inspired by Creature Codex and Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, my protip to y’all this week is to take your inspiration from anywhere and everywhere for your D&D games. Creature Codex and all the other sources I’ve snagged stuff from for my Spelljammer campaign blends together into something wholly new throughout our adventures in the crystal spheres.

The void stuff, my all-time favorite video game series Mass Effect, classic D&D adventures like Quest for the Heartstone, and art and maps found on Pinterest are just some of the places I’ve pulled material from to cobble together our longrunning campaign. We’ve been playing for almost two years, the characters are 8th level, and none of us are in a hurry to wrap it up.

In the case of Dragon Heist, I know it’s not likely by any means the party will be the ones who wind up with a half million in gold, but it sure is fun to imagine the adventuring group as a team of grifters with designs on all that loot! Countless movies, TV shows, books and other entertainment builds on the concept of crooks hoping to make that one last score. Often they fail (and often with dismal results for those involved). You could certainly take a dark and gritty approach to Dragon Heist and play a group of ruthless criminals, or a lighter approach with more scheming and deception like the Oceans film series. Knowing my gaming group, our Dragon Heist will wind up pretty zany.

How about you? Have monsters from the Creature Codex found their way into your games or inspired new adventures yet, or have you faced any of them as a player? Is your group planning to play Waterdeep: Dragon Heist? What are some of the movies, books or shows that have inspired your adventures? Let me know in the comments below!

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