D&D Ideas — Tips for a New Dungeon Master
Welcome once again to the weekly Nerdarchy Newsletter. We were running late again! Between being away in the UK for D&D in a Castle and all the work for our Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition Kickstarter launch things have been crazy around here. If that isn’t enough we also had a couple of products in the Beast of a Bundle — 5E D&D related Humble Bundle which sold over 15,000 bundles to help RAINN. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy, by signing up here.
Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition Lives!
The Nerdarchy crew has been hinting and teasing for a while, and working behind the scenes even longer, and now it is finally here — our very first Kickstarter! Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition went live this morning, July 15, at 6 a.m. eastern. We could not be more ecstatic about how this project came together. The team working to bring the Out of the Box Kickstarter to life is incredible and we jam-packed as much as we could into the campaign. If you’re an experienced Game Master, you’ll find new twists and clever turns on classic monsters, traps, hazards and random encounters. Newer GMs will discover helpful insights to use these encounters to fill gaps in time or story. And players of all levels can use Out of the Box encounters to introduce new adventure hooks and add fantastic new concepts to campaign worlds.
Dungeon Craft: Build your own battle maps! now on Kickstarter
Do you like using a battle mat and terrain but you are not all that crafty? Perhaps you just do not have a lot of room to store all the cool things you would like to have. If either of these sound like you, you want to check out the Kickstarter for Dungeon Craft by 1985 Games.
To Roll, or Not To Roll?
A character’s ability scores in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons are arguably the most influential part of who they are. Ability scores determine what your character can and cannot do, and to what degree. They determine what roles your character will tend toward and where their weaknesses lie. In D&D 5E, the standard rule set for calculating ability scores is to roll 4d6 and drop the lowest. However, there’s an alternate rule called “Standard Array,” which grants the character scores of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. These are assigned to the six ability scores. Then, there’s also the point-buy system.
With how important ability scores are in this game, I wondered why there are so many options for calculation. Then, I got to wondering if the way one calculates their ability scores would affect gameplay, outside of mechanics. What am I talking about? Culture.
D&D Ideas — Castles and Strongholds
Cool Off with Deep Magic: Winter Magic from Kobold Press
With summer heat cranking up, Kobold Press has the perfect solution to bring the temperatures down. Way down. Like, subzero levels. Deep Magic: Winter Magic is a new addition to the wonderful series of magical secrets waiting to be discovered in your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings, or expand on the already incredible myth and mystery of the Midgard Campaign Setting from Kobold Press.
World of Revilo on Kickstarter: 5th Edition Campaign Setting and Monster Manual
Are you ready for a new campaign setting for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons? How about getting a book full of new and imaginative monsters to add to your game? Let me introduce you to the World of Revilo. In this Kickstarter you will get access to a campaign setting unlike any other setting D&D has had before.
Worldbuilding Society and Class Prejudice in D&D
Firstly, I should clarify that when we discuss “class” in this post, we’re talking about the character class mechanic in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, not social class as it exists in our world. The character class system is an integral aspect of roleplaying games whether tabletop, video games, or whatever. That being said, have you ever stopped to think about what a class would look like in a story?
D&D Ideas — Heroism
Welcome once again to the weekly Nerdarchy Newsletter. This week’s newsletter is coming to you from Lumley Castle, across the pond in England. The topic of heroism feels even more appropriate somehow being in an actual castle. The Nerdarchy crew has been here all week as special guest Dungeon Masters for the D&D in a Castle event.
D&D Ideas — Underdark
The Power of Escapism (or Lack Thereof)
I’ve been playing tabletop roleplaying games for ten years, this month. [Insert fanfare]
(Tearfully accepts nonexistent trophy.) You’re too kind, really.
But in all seriousness, over my years playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, I’ve noticed the RPG has always been a sort of safe space. There have been more than a few times where I’ve been able to draw comparisons between what happens in my roleplaying game group and what’s going on in my personal life. Granted, I’ve never tried to murder a narcissistic vampire, but I have had to deal with corrupt people in positions of power who think too highly of themselves. I’ve never had to argue why my character with magic shouldn’t be imprisoned simply for being a sorcerer, but I have had to deal with prejudice about my views and my sexual orientation. While I’ve never had to hunt for owlbears in a dank cave, I have had to deal with a bat in my basement.
Running Aberrations and Their Followers in Dungeons & Dragons
“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of the infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.” The Call of Cthulhu
When considering aberrations in your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons games it is important to remember the nature of these horrors. Minds and bodies made of stuff from beyond your campaign world, aberrations are truly alien things without connection to the physical laws and regular psychology of even the most foreign minds. Mastering the presentation of aberrations can be tricky, and to keep them from presenting as nothing more than just another monster require subtlety and often restraint.
D&D Ideas — Aberrations
D&D Quest Starters by Character Class — Rangers and Rogues
Looks like people are enjoying this D&D Quest Starters series so far and we are now more than half way through. The thought behind these ideas is to give simple little scenes for roleplaying, skill challenges or both, for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons characters based on their character class. These could take five minutes and can be great to give a player whose character does not normally step a chance to shine, or at least encourage them to roleplay their character. The advice here is designed to be generic but these ideas can hopefully inspire you to encourage your players. If a player latches onto the NPC you provide, then feel free to build on that scene over time to have it mean more and the character might keep coming back to the NPC or vice versa. That is why it is a quest starter — it can easily lead to some fun long term quests over time. Use the navigation bar at the top under the title to check out quest starters for other classes like barbarian and bard, and cleric and druid, and fighter and monk.
Should You Include Queer Characters in Your RPG?
It’s Pride Month, and I love it! For those who maybe aren’t as familiar, Pride Month is a time when Queer people (or people part of the ever-growing LGBT+ community) the world around celebrate love, life, and happiness. It’s a time of rainbows and good vibes and all that other stuff.
A couple of notes before delving into this article:
- I’m coming at this topic from my own perspective as a Queer person who loves tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs, for short).
- I’ll be using the term “Queer” (with the capital “Q”) to reference the LGBT+ community in its many contexts.
With the increasing visibility of Queer people in our society, the question for many Game Masters inevitably comes up, “Should I include Queer characters in my worldbuilding?” Rather than tell you you’re a jerk if you don’t or try to convince you why you should, let’s have a frank discussion about the reasons you might or might not want to take Queer people into consideration when it comes to your RPG worldbuilding.
