New DM Handbook: Explain Your Actions
I can’t speak for experienced players, being that my only experience is with new players, but if the show Critical Role is any indication, then it likely applies to everyone. As the Dungeon Master, you have to play the role of enemy creatures and NPCs, which means thinking like them. Your decisions have to reflect the decisions they would make. That means making a lot of unpopular decisions.
Chartopia, Part 3: Complex Tables
Hello again, friends! In the last article I showed you how Chartopia can be used to create a combat encounter table; I used a sewer adventure as an example. That table works perfectly fine by itself, but sometimes your games require something a little more complex. Let me demonstrate how to make that sewer combat table more intricate.
“A Walk in the Woods” – Out of The Box D&D Encounters #37
Introduction: The Players Handbook is loaded with spells that could be the key to an interesting encounter. One that strikes me as having a lot of potential is Awaken (Players Handbook, page 216). According to the spell, it grants a 10 Intelligence to a single plant or beast under the right circumstances. It also allows plants the ability to move. Speech in one language is also included. From what I can see, this effect is permanent. Now, imagine applying that entire array of abilities to any number of beasts or plants. Not only can this spell effect expected beasts like horses, dogs, elephants and fish, as well as plants like trees and shrubbery, but also to fungi and “giant” beasts. The only limit is a starting Intelligence of 3 or less and size of Huge or less, and the category of “beast” or “plant.”
Conscious RPG campaigning: Tyrant or Savior?
What do you fight for in your campaign? What cause is it that you strive for? Is it the meager treasures of the land or the pillaging and plundering of a city in order to fulfill selfish desires? Do you fight for a cause that is greater than your own? Do you fight to protect an entire race of people by destroying an evil tyrant who seeks to destroy an entire race of people all for his own selfish gains and ambitions? Or do you join forces to aid his fear mongering whims only to leave nothing for the creatures that follow in your footsteps? As we delve into these worlds and places in our campaigns, what is it that we are truly seeking to achieve? Why do we adventure? Why do we desire more than what we are, what we have or what we see? The act of a hero is that of selflessness and bravery in order to achieve the good of all. The acts of a tyrant are always the opposite. Do we seek to build or do we seek to destroy?
Secrets of Nerdarchy revealed! You won’t believe it!
Would you trust being at sea with this shifty lot? The Nerdarchy crew, from left to right, Ted, Dave, Ryan, and Nate, all aboard for the Fan2Sea Comic Con Cruise.
Last week the entire Nerdarchy crew set out to sea for the Fan2Sea Comic Con Cruise. That’s right. Ted, Dave, Ryan, Nate, their family and friends, the whole shebang, they’ve up and left everything behind to go play at pirate. With Frank Miller.
Minor magical items for your 5e D&D game
It seems magic items are one of those things of which players can never get enough when it comes to Dungeons & Dragons, especially in Fifth Edition where these items are not quite as easy to come by as they were in earlier versions of the game, specifically compared to Third Edition where characters could create their own magical gear.
Still, not every magic item has to be super powerful, nor does every item have to be made for combat. Below are a handful of relatively minor magical items I have created for a homebrew campaign I share with other Dungeon Masters in the Unnamed Adventurers Guild (more members are always welcome, so feel free to check out our Facebook page). Any in-world references are to this campaign, the world of Illumina and its environs. The first five items have been introduced into the game, but others have not. As a side note, there are no prices provided for these items as each is somewhat rare, sometimes unique, and will bring whatever the market will bear.
New DM Handbook: Let Your Players Inspire Your World
This article is going to largely stem from my experiences when adjusting to my Platinum Dragonborn Oath of the Ancients Paladin Gladiator, but that’s largely because she was the only one of the group who I felt required significant adjustments to my world. This isn’t to say she dictated that my world needed to accommodate her. She made her character choices, and I chose ways I felt were best to accommodate her character. I didn’t do it just to accommodate her, but because Dungeons & Dragons is a collaborative story, and it’s made all the better the more everyone is willing to work together. In my opinion, my world has been made all the better for it, and I can’t imagine too many that wouldn’t benefit from some accommodation, either.
Start coin collecting on the cheap with wheat pennies
Wheat Penny (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Wheat pennies are a common collector’s item because they usually aren’t difficult to find, sometimes still turning up in change today, and they normally don’t cost very much.
One Journey: Escape of the Prisoner, or Flight of the Deserter?
es·cap·ism
əˈskāpˌizəm/
noun; the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy.
Dungeon Masters, don’t let a bad game get you down
Even the best Dungeon Master can have an off day. Just ask Uni the unicorn!
As Dungeon Master, you’ve been preparing a week or longer, planning for your Dungeon & Dragons group’s next session, writing out stats for NPCs, trying to think through various story lines, contemplating possible player character actions and responses, etc. It can be a lot of work, and time consuming. It doesn’t necessarily have to be, but sometimes it is. Then there’s the mental exhaustion that can set it.
Finally, the game arrives! You open your rules books, lay out your maps, places the minis, maybe start a Google Hangout, whatever.
Then the game sucks.
New DM Handbook: The Tutorial Quest
For a while now, I’ve been talking mostly theoretical, while including some real-world personal experiences to support my claims. While that won’t completely go away, especially since I have a lot more philosophy I want to go through, I wanted to start talking from a place of experience.
The Tutorial Quest or:
“Heart of Darkness” – Out of the Box D&D Encounters #36
Introduction: There are many different kinds of players, but one that never goes away is the murder hobo/vandal. Their style of gaming lay in the foundations of D&D when it first hit the market. It’s still a popular style of gaming, especially with the rise of video games. Monsters and puzzles are seen as sources of loot. Everything is opened, broken, killed, or avoided if it can’t be one those three. Despite the harsh style of play, these players are also the fire under the bottoms of players who struggle with decision making or need to follow sixteen steps before opening a door. The murder hobo/vandal is always the first to launch into combat, explore a new passage, or open a stuck door. As much as they lead the way, the style of play can sometimes cut off role playing or problem solving opportunities, or create problem solving issues for others in their party.
The Wheel Of The Year With Dungeons and Dragons
The year’s seasons with D&D
The year’s seasons with D&DWe as people have such a unique connection through our similarities and natural patterns. One of those many ways we connect is with traditions and holidays! Other ways are through leisure, tribal get togethers, games and entertainment. Why not transform these connections into a tradition all of their own?
Let’s take ourselves to a lovely room with a fireplace, coffee on the pot, decanter of wine set, the smell of food, laughter of friends nearby, and the jolly sound of tavern music playing in the background specifically this one (it’s literally how I start my morning most days).
Blast from the Past: Rubies of Eventide MMORPG
Rubies of Eventide, the early days In June of 2003, a company known as CyberWarrior Inc. released a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) known as Rubies of Eventide. Unfortunately, things did not go well, and soon the company announced the new game would close down...
First Impressions of ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ movie
If you’re a fan of the Underworld series, you won’t be disappointed. It hasn’t changed at all over the past 14 years, and hasn’t bothered to modernize in any way since its last sequel 5 years ago. For those expecting more, there is a small glimmer of hope Blood Wars may not be a standalone movie. I think it’s a transition into a new direction. It wasn’t a predominant feature of the film, which largely hit all of the exact same notes as the previous installments, including the increase of power levels not too dissimilar to the Resident Evil movies, or Dragon Ball Z. That being said, the introduction of new elements to the world may be the precursor of things to come. I, for one, welcome these changes. I was never a fan of the overboard Goth/Hot Topic aesthetic, nor of the ham-fisted melodrama, but I always enjoyed the premise.
