Kickstarter Korner for August 2018, Week 2
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!
Dungeon Crate Unboxing – July 2018
I have been getting Dungeon Crate subscription boxes since box No. 1 and I am, as always, generally pleased with every unboxing to discover what’s inside. The rumors according to the Dungeon Crate newsletter are there’s some changes on the horizon.
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes — Halflings and Gnomes in D&D
For a long, long time, I didn’t like gnomes in Dungeons & Dragons and I wasn’t too keen on halflings either. Like Nerdarchists Dave and Ted point on in the video where they discuss the Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes chapter on halflings and gnomes in D&D, gnomes in past editions were billed as sort of dwarf-adjacent but more lighthearted and magical. Their prankster and kooky inventor archetypes didn’t appeal to me or find their way into my own campaigns and settings. Halflings for their part fared better in my imagination. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings certainly played a role there, but despite those wonderful stories halflings were never very compelling for me. I’ve since changed my tune and had a lot of fun playing characters of both races. After reading through Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes my appreciation for these cultures in D&D deepened.
Complacent Corner – Let’s talk about Blood Bowl
I like to think of myself as an eclectic hobbyist. At least when it comes to the tabletop hobby as a whole, I tend to have a wide array of favorites throughout. While I’m quite mad about Dungeons & Dragons, either playing or writing about it every day, I started as a miniatures game enthusiast. One of my favorite games that I still love is Blood Bowl. There has been a fairly recent resurgence in the popularity of Blood Bowl so I figured what better time than now to talk about the strengths of the game and why you might find something to love in it.
Rant: D&D, RPG Games, and YouTube — You Love What You Hate
Hello and well met traveler of the internet. I’ve got a little bit of a rant. Nerdarchy has been accused of using clickbait titles in the past. Sometimes it’s true and they are a little clickbaity. Other times we just don’t talk about a D&D or roleplaying game topic the way a viewer thought we were going to or how they thought we should. Let’s start by looking at some good examples of this.
Celebrate Nerd Culture at Gen Con 2018 — the Best Four Days in Gaming
Hello! The Nerdarchy crew is back home from Indianapolis and back to work on all our nerdy projects. Gen Con 2018 was an incredible experience for Nerdarchists Dave and Ted, Nerditor Doug and Intern Jake, and we wanted to share some of the highlights from our excursion to the Best Four Days in Gaming. Our favorite thing about conventions is meeting up with and hanging out with friends from all over the place; seeing all the awesome roleplaying games, art and other swag; and the incredible costumes and cosplay. But more than anything, the best part is hanging out with thousands of fantastic folks from around the world to celebrate nerd culture. Down below you’ll find links to a lot of the stuff mentioned in this recap, in case you’re interested, plus a photo gallery of our adventures at Gen Con 2018.
Hands Off! When Mage Hand Thwarts All the D&D Puzzles
As a cantrip in fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, the mage hand spell is easily one of the most used and useful spells in the game. Combined with the Arcane Trickster rogue’s increased control over it and a dash of player cleverness your dungeon may very well end up stripped of its loot — and its tension. But wait! Before you start slapping antimagic fields all over the dungeon like a buzzkill Banksy let’s think of a couple ways we can challenge the mage hand caster and make things a little more interesting for the whole party like D&D puzzles. And we’ll consider some creative uses for cantrips along the way.
Kickstarter Korner for August 2018, Week 1
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!
Comics and D&D Q&A with Artist Kate Sheridan
Hello! Today I’m happy to share a Q&A with Dungeons & Dragons nerd, illustrator and comic creator Kate Sheridan. Kate appeared on the Nerdarchy live chat with Nerdarchist Dave, which you can find below, and had a great conversation about art, comics and D&D. After watching the chat, I checked out Kate’s work and picked up her comic Fallow Time, a terrific story that really captured my imagination. She has a wonderful art and storytelling style and I highly recommend checking out her work. I’m looking forward to adding a print of one of her pieces to my office. Kate was kind enough to share her time answering some more questions, so let’s get into it.
Nestling into Slow Burn Pacing in a D&D Campaign
They are innumerable ways to start a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign and none of them a the right answer. My absolute favorite method of starting a campaign is the low level, very grounded slow burn. It does take a group who shares a deep level of trust and players who are really willing to experience a slow narrative, especially in the beginning where they may not be deeply involved. Let’s go into the nature of slow burn pacing in a D&D campaign, talk about what makes it something I love, and some pitfalls that can come with it.
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes Stone Cursed Finds a Rock Solid Friend
Nerdarchists Dave and Ted are at it again, and they’ve jumped back into Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. This time we’re looking at a curious fifth edition D&D monster entry, the stone cursed. The Nerdarchists threw out some great ideas that got me thinking how I would use this entry. I’m a sucker for using under appreciated monster entries and I intend on throwing a creature of two that you might not have seen or used yet. Let’s get into the Stone Cursed and their presence in this encounter line.
D&D Planes, Cosmology, and Welcome to the Realm of Chaos
Delving back into Nerdarchy’s homebrew campaign setting Chimes of Discordia for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, I want to talk to about some of our D&D cosmology and our Realm of Chaos or the Chaos Realm. We have this Stranger or Traveler god that either was spawned from the Realm of Chaos or created the Chaos Realm with their birth. Like many creation myths the multiverse started out as chaos. Powerful beings that would come to be known as gods came forth from somewhere else, looked upon the chaos and brought order to it. They gathered up all of the chaos and cast it out and far away. That mass of chaos condensed and built up over the ages.
Mind Flayer Meets the Nerdarchy Homebrew Campaign Setting
I started talking about using the mind flayer and beholder in our homebrew campaign setting in a previous article. Mainly I covered the beholder re-imagined as dread spheres. In the previous article I talked about the idea of a Chaos Realm and powerful beings known as Travelers. One of these creatures took control of an elven city named Karsha Luceen.
Metagaming as a Tool for Creating Tension in D&D
There’s always a conversation going on about metagaming in Dungeons & Dragons somewhere. Many argue over what it is but few people argue for its merits. I’m here to put forth that metagaming, like many aspects of D&D or any tabletop roleplaying game, is a tool to be applied with skill and nuance. There is good and bad with every tool, but I believe I’ve built a case for helping you find where those lines are at your table and it all revolves around creating tension in D&D.
Kickstarter Korner for July 2018, Week 5
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!
