Game Master Tips – Giving your Players Agency in Your Campaign
Nerdarchist Ted here and today we are going to be talking about Dungeon master tips or game master tips for your Dungeons and Dragons game, or what ever RPG you play. So for those of you who are unfamiliar with this concept, lets ask the question, What is Player Agency?
Player Agency is when you allow a player to actually control the on goings of a story for a portion of the time or to create something and you allow them to run with it. Technically when a player makes a back story for their character they are doing so with agency but with most groups it actually ends there.
Do you use Player Agency in your RPG?
5E D&D Modern Magic and Campaign Rules
How can that be so? There are only a few mentions of modern weapons in d&d 5th edition. You can’t run a game with just a pile of weapons and damage… Alright, correction, you shouldn’t try! But with the good old group of D&D guys and gals...
It’s Okay to Be Cliche as an RPG Player
Maybe you are new here and want to know how to play D&D. Or, maybe you are a veteran who wants to up your game. In either case we, in the Nerdarchy, have a collection of player rpg tips to go over with you in the...
Ecology of the Mage Eater – Fast and Dirty Monsters
Spell Casters of the worlds beware. The Mage Eater lurks above stalking and hunting lone travelers with magical abilities. I present to you the Fast and Dirty Monster: The Mage Eater.
Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition presents many useful creatures to use against your player characters but perhaps that is not enough. Fast and Dirty Monsters is a series where we take a concept and convert an already created monster and give it a whole new life as a completely different monster. In this edition we have taken the Coalt, a generally good monster and turn it into something a little more vial and monster-like.
Fast and Dirty Monster: The Mage Eater
Grimm’s Fairy Tales Rumplestiltskin Scene 4
Dimensional Illustration by illworx Illustrations
The King is pleased!
Rumplestiltskin Grimm’s Fairy Tales story text:
Fast and Dirty Monsters – Ecology of the Skleee
Greetings, Nerdarchist Ted here and and today I present to you a new race and its ecology. I offer up the Skleee. These are from our Fast and Dirty monsters series. Tune in below to see how the race came about. Lets see how they stack up against other creatures in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. 
The Skleee get their name from the sound they make when startled. I would like to thank Jerel Fontenot for his suggestion for the name and concept for the name. The Sklee are an insectoid race that combines several insectoid concepts together. They have a hive mind like that of ants as well as their ability to function together as a unit.
In addition their great carrying capacity is inherent within all Skleee. But they also posses the abilities of termites in chewing through would and other things to burrow and make their dwellings.
The Sklee in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition
Grimm’s Fairy Tales Rumplestiltskin Scene 3
Dimensional Illustration by illworx Illustrations
Turning Flax into Gold!
Rumplestiltskin Grimm’s Fairy Tales story text:
Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition – Custom Race – Boarks
Nerdarchist Ted here and I get to present you an entirely new race created by Nerdarchy. Over on YouTube we do a video series called Fast and Dirty Monsters.
We take an idea for a new monster and open up our Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition Monster Manual and show you how to take a thing that already exists and change it to match our creation.
You can jump below to watch the video of how we made these pig people.
Boarks in 5th edition
Boarks are a race of gluttonous pig people. The term pig headed would most apply in more ways then one. They are possessed of an tapped well of determination. Once they are set upon a path they will not waver short of their own decision to alter their course.
Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition – World Building – Gnar-Kee-Tis
Nerdarchist Ted here and I have been running my Dungeons and Dragons campaign for around 8 months. The inspiration for my game came from one of our earlier videos.
Well now that we are well into the thick of the campaign I figured I would give you some background information on my blood demon. I am not going to give any stats as I am not sure whether the players or their characters will ever want to try and slay him.
I would hate to spoil the surprise for my players in Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. As many of them I would guess read this.
Who is this Blood Demon
What to Do When Immersive Roleplay Goes Sideways
We have all been there ...
Fantastic Fantasy Art| Tony Diterlizzi
Dragon Magazine cover of a Diterlizzian halfling.
It’s time to walk the hallowed halls of my artist pantheon, this time with the imaginative work of Tony Diterlizzi. I first knew Mr. Diterlizzi’s work from his RPG artwork for 2nd Edition Dungeons & Dragons, primarily in the Monstrous Manual… and then- Planescape! How mind-blowing was that 2nd Edition boxed-set with it’s purple and brown tones and whimsical, yet with an aspect of danger, characters? He has contributed his pencils and brushes to RPG artwork for the fore mentioned Dungeons & Dragons, Magic the Gathering, young adult book covers (“The Spiderwick Chronicles”), children’s books (“Ted” and “The Spider & The Fly”), and even a full-length young adult novel series that he wrote himself (“The Search for Wondla” series)!
Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition – Race – Catfolk
With the amount of attention that cats and kittens get on the internet I am surprised that the catfolk are not even in the monster manual let alone have the stats to use them as player characters. So let me fix that for you. Here is my take on catfolk for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition with a little bonus.
Catfolk in 5th edition
Catfolk are nomadic hunters. They have no land that they can call a determinant home in an of the known Dungeons and Dragons realms. As long as they have food and family they can be secure in any place.
5E D&D Magic-Devouring Monster — Mage Eater
Quick monster creations for D&D 5e are very easy to make in this edition. As long as you can find a decent starting point your custom monster creation will go smoothly. Sometimes one just needs to have a vague concept in mind like myself and the...
Nerd Craft | Making a Doll Furniture Spinning Wheel
A giant miniature spinning wheel!
So probably many of our regular readership would much rather be reading “Wheel of Time” than reading about how I spent my time crafting a spinning wheel, but to those interested in the fine art of nerd craft, please do read on. If you’ve been following my take on the Grimm’s Fairy Tale of Rumplestiltskin I’ve been chipping away at, you may have seen this piece in the background of a shot already.
Guest Post – Class Options For Your Steampunk 5th Edition Game – The GM’s Table
Hey guys, it’s Bobby from The GM;s Table. You can check out my blog here. Or catch me on facebook over here.