D&D 5E – Page 2 – Andrew J. Luther

Factions in D&D 5E – The Harpers

Last week, I talked about the factions in Dungeons & Dragons 5E, their purpose, and how they might also be used in home campaigns that don’t involve the Adventurer’s League organized play program. This week, I’m going to focus on the Harpers, an organization that has been around since the original Forgotten Realms boxed set.ContinueContinue reading “Factions in D&D 5E – The Harpers”

Factions in D&D 5E Campaigns

One interesting element in the Dungeons & Dragons 5E game that has actually gotten fairly limited attention is the group of factions that are available for player characters to join. Factions were primarily created for use in the Adventurer’s League, the D&D organized play program run by Wizards of the Coast. But the factions canContinueContinue reading “Factions in D&D 5E Campaigns”

Developing an Old School Sandbox for 5E – Part 3

I’ve posted a couple of times about developing a sandbox setting for D&D 5E (Part 1, Part 2), and this week I’m going to expand on the climates, terrain, and monster selection. Climates As my sandbox is an island, and it’s not so large as to be a full continent, there is a limit toContinueContinue reading “Developing an Old School Sandbox for 5E – Part 3”

Creating New Gamers

Recently, I got the chance to introduce two new people to Dungeons & Dragons, and the roleplaying hobby in general. I always love doing this, as this is a hobby that has brought me so much enjoyment over the past 30+ years. I’ve introduced many people to gaming over that time frame, and had theContinueContinue reading “Creating New Gamers”

One Adventure per Campaign?

When I first starting playing D&D a million years ago (give or take), an actual campaign was something that just never happened. I was in sixth grade, and started with the Tom Moldvay red box Basic Set (published in 1981). It was the beginning of a lifelong love of roleplaying games. But back then, thoseContinueContinue reading “One Adventure per Campaign?”

Developing an Old School Sandbox for 5E – Part 2

Back in May, I posted an article about developing an old school sandbox setting for 5E. In that post, I described my core objectives for this campaign setting and talked about some elements that I would need to consider. I’m revisiting that idea again this week, where I’ll talk a bit about monsters. A Few,ContinueContinue reading “Developing an Old School Sandbox for 5E – Part 2”

The Low-Level Monster Problem?

For those gamers who are brand new to Dungeons & Dragons, everything feels new. No one yawns when they first encounter a kobold or a goblin. Orcs and hobgoblins are unknown entities and there’s a level of excitement that comes with encountering the unknown. For example, in the game that I’m running for my sonContinueContinue reading “The Low-Level Monster Problem?”

What’s Wrong with Drizzt, Anyway?

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of the Forgotten Realms as a setting for fantasy roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons. I discovered the Realms with the original grey box and a handful of the early 1987 and 1988 sourcebooks, such as Waterdeep and the North, Moonshae, The Savage Frontier, and Dreams of theContinueContinue reading “What’s Wrong with Drizzt, Anyway?”

D&D Beyond – Is it Worth It?

For those who are not aware of it, D&D Beyond is a digital offering from Curse LLC, also known as Twitch Interactive that provides online tools for running and managing a D&D 5E campaign. Not only does it contain a compendium of every official rule, class, subclass, spell monster, magic item, etc., but it alsoContinueContinue reading “D&D Beyond – Is it Worth It?”

Developing an Old School Sandbox for 5E – Part 1

I’ve recently talked about using the D&D 5E rules for old school play (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5). As I mentioned last week, I’ve been really interested in putting together an old school sandbox (also known as a hexcrawl) campaign. I’ve been a DM since I bought the original TomContinueContinue reading “Developing an Old School Sandbox for 5E – Part 1”