Tag: D&D

Crowdfund This: RealmSmith’s Incredible ‘Immersive D&D Adventure Boxes’!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Typically for our ‘Crowdfund This’ column, we feature neat-looking campaigns that have just started, or that could use a little bit of a final push to get it over its finish line.

This project from RealmSmith Inc. is something completely different, as it actually hit its original goal in less than 48 hours, and is already more than 200% funded.

The company makes incredible sounding, super-immersive Dungeons and Dragons adventure boxes, and they’re looking to take their passions to the next level with this Kickstarter campaign.

They’ve already been shipping boxes for over a year — each adventure consisting over a 6 part story, delivered through 6 monthly boxes. It sounds like they’ve already made a pretty massive impact, as folks like DwarvenForge founder Stefan Pokorny and Luke Gygax, the son of the freaking creator of Dungeons and Dragons, among with other creators and influencers in the industry, have shared support for this bad-ass idea.

The goal of the campaign is to “to raise awareness, build community, and take our existing subscription boxes to the next level.” The campaign video (watch it near the bottom of the page, details a few of the ways that the team at RealmSmith plans to do this, and it begins with the packaging for the box itself. Rather than, well, a box that you’ll just throw away, the freaking box turns into a DM Screen, Dice Tower, and Initiative Tracker… yes, all of them!

Along with the sick-ass packaging, the team also plans to enhance the boxes with more immersive items, better printed materials (and paper stock), improved artwork, better marketing to help build awareness even further, and faster shipping!

Each box is meant to be extremely immersive, from what you see, hear, and smell when you’re running your campaign — the goal here is to take out the monotonous side of being a GM, so that they can instead “take a lot of the monotonous prep-work out of each session a Game Master prepares while equipping them to maximize creativity and spend time crafting a world for their players.

Honestly the boxes sound sick. Each one includes:

Full-color Adventure Module: 5th edition compatible module written and designed by our own staff which provides cues on when to play moods from the Soundset and when to light the candle, etc. Each module can be used as a one-shot or to continue the ongoing campaign.

Premium Plastic Unpainted Miniatures: Curated to provide everything needed for a major encounter within the module.

Papercraft Terrain: Printed on premium card stock for you to simply cut out and build. We also offer the digital PDFs to download to print your own as well as instructions on how to assemble it all.

Hand-Drawn Map: Drawn by our very own Jason Azevedo. The map provides information on the major encounter and a guideline of how the paper craft should be set up.

Custom Syrinscape Soundset: A Soundset for the Syrinscape fantasy player designed by our own team that includes original sounds recorded by RealmSmith.

Themed Scented Candle: Soy-based hand-poured scented candles that set the mood for a major encounter within the module.

Mystery Player Item: A themed prop that is intended to be given to the players to enhance the story.

The campaign’s first stretch goal, an online adventure builder, has already been reached at a cool $40,000, and it’s just $2000 away from its second stretch goal, which would add a ‘Trade Route Expansion’ to your box.

Rewards start as low as $7CAD (did I mention that these guys are from Toronto?) for a digital download of an adventure module and a subscription discount, to about $3300 which nets you a custom sculpted and painted DM screen, along with every RealSmith box, and a subscription voucher. Naturally, there are a ton of other options in-between, including wooden mugs, candles, subscription boxes, art by Spider-Man, X-Men, and Black Panther artist Ken Lashley, and even more.

Really, this is just a sick looking project that really makes me want to give D&D a go again (damned work and schedules eating up all of my time).

Take a look at the Kickstarter video below, and let us know if you’ll be backing the project! You can learn more, as well as back, right here.

Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 128 – “Damsels and Dragons”

by Courtney Dossett

Join Courtney and special guest star Rosie Makar as they discuss their love of Dungeons and Dragons.

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D&D Beyond: Phase 1 Beta Has Us Wanting More

by Courtney Dossett

The hardest part of playing Dungeons and Dragons, especially when you’re first starting, is figuring how the rules work. The Player’s Handbook gives you the framework of the game, spells, character creation, but it’s hard to find exactly what you need quickly. If you’re the Dungeon Master, you have additional materials to consult as well, like the Monster Manual, loot tables, crit charts – the list goes on. Looking up information on the fly can be time consuming and slow the pace of play.

Up until now, there haven’t been any official electronic resources from Wizards of the Coast, although there are some decent 3rd party apps, as well as pirated (illegal) PDFs of the handbooks.

Last week, Wizards teased us with the release of D&D Beyond, which promises to be an in-depth, cohesive, digital resource of all things 5th edition D&D to be released in 3 Phases. Phase 1 of the beta was released today, and it is already more than I had hoped for.

Phase 1 has several sections: the compendium, spells, magic items, and monsters. The compendium includes the basic rules of the game; how to run the game, how combat works, how to do different ability checks and when each type is appropriate. The layout is easy to navigate and makes finding details quick and easy, without having to pause the game for long periods of time to find the rules as written.

Each section has clickable links that lead you to more detailed information. Organized and easy to use!

Spells, Magic Items, and Monsters all have extensive browsing and search abilities. For instance, you can look at spells based on class, or do a search with the filters and look for spells by name, school of magic, or casting time.

You can click on individual spells listed and get a general idea of what is required for each spell, and who can cast it. This is basically a digital spell card.

Magic Items can be browsed through by type of item (like a ring) or with the search function, by how rare an item is, or what abilities it gives the bearer.

The filters for searches are very details for each section. This shows exactly how far down you can drill to find an item to purchase or verify that a player is using their items within the rules as written.

Monsters can be filtered by regional type, class range, abilities or just by what kind of monster it is (like a fey or dragon).

I haven’t had the chance to use D&D Beyond at the table yet, but just by searching for some basic information while creating a campaign, I have high hopes for it’s usability. I definitely think that this will be a good tool for getting more people to start playing D&D, since the fat handbooks are intimidating when you first start, and finding information in them can be difficult.

 

I’m looking forward to seeing what else Wizards has in store for Phases 2 (character building and character sheets) and 3 ( Homebrew Integration and Campaign Management).

D&D Beyond is an open beta worth signing up for, whether you’re new to the game and just looking to start, or a seasoned adventurer.

Sign up here, and let us know if you like this new edition as much as I do!

The 12 Days Of Switchmas: Day 8 – TableTop Crossover

by Courtney Dossett

The Geekscape staff have done a great job of covering so many different aspects of what we want out of the Switch, but what about tabletop applications?

I like to play games with friends in the same room, which means hauling your gear over for a LAN party (console or PC).The gear is heavy and cumbersome (I’ve almost broken my monitor on more than one occasion), everyone’s rig takes up a lot of room, and it’s hard to get everyone into the same room without overloading a power circuit. This is one of the reasons why I love playing tabletop games, especially Dungeons and Dragons, because you can have a large (read: more than 2 or 3) friends come over and play without having quite so much hassle.

What does that have to do with the Switch? Well, I’m hoping it could mean that there will be options for tabletop gamers to use the Switch to enhance their role playing for table tops. There are some great programs already available for PC, like TableTop Simulator, and Roll20, which allow you to have your player sheet, character avatar, maps, ambient sound and music, and roll your dice, all digitally. If these programs, or one like it, could run on the Switch, it would be like creating your own RPG with your friends, that you could see on TV in real time.

There are two ways that I think this would work. The first option option would be to have one Switch that would be controlled by the dungeon master would be able to show maps on the TV, control the character placement, and could also incorporate sound effects and music. The second option would be if every player and the dungeon master had their own Switch. The players would be able to access all their player sheet, have custom spell cards, and roll dice available on their individual tablets. The dungeon master would be able to control the map display and character placement. Currently in Roll20, dice rolls are shown in a chat on the side bar, as well as on the map, so that the whole group can see how good or bad your roll is.

This is a screenshot from Roll20, which operates in a browser. The turn order and character placement make playing live a lot easier.

Custom figurines are also really popular in Dungeons and Dragons, and could possibly cross over into an amiibo option that you could integrate with the Switch, so that as your character changes and levels up, you can level up your character in game.

I haven’t been able to find anything specifically related to tabletop gaming for the Switch, however, there are some options available already for the NVIDIA Shield, and Steam Machine, so it’s not a completely crazy idea for Nintendo to add this capability to the Switch.

Do you think tabletop gaming would marry well with the Switch? Let us know in the comments below!

‘Dungeons And Dragons’ Unearths Dark Paths For Paladins

by Courtney Dossett

I have never enjoyed playing paladins. They always seem to fall into one of two categories: either they are rigid, sanctimonious killjoys, or air headed do-gooders, who are so syrupy-sweet, it makes you a little sick. I like characters with a dark side to them (I think it keeps things interesting), and even when I made a paladin and tried to make her different, she fell into the stereotype.

The new Unearthed Arcana offers a change from that status quo. While these paladins are probably still going to fall into a lawful alignment, they do create an interesting alternative for those with a craving for a new lawful evil. Wizards offers two new Oaths for paladins: Oath of Conquest and the Oath of Treachery.

The Oath of Conquest boils down to three simple words: might makes right. The tenets of this oath ensure that you not only conquer your enemies, you crush and subjugate them. At third level, you can Channel Divinity as a Conquering Strike to strike fear into your enemy for one minute, or a Guided Strike, which adds +10 to your attack roll. At higher levels, paladins under the Oath of Conquest earn additional spells and skills that help them strike fear and control their enemies (like Hold Person, and Blight) and increase the damage dealt to their enemies.

The Oath of Treachery is designed for egocentric paladins who are less concerned with bettering a cause, and more interested in doing what’s best for themselves. It’s a great tool for when your paladin has had enough of being following the status quo, and has forsaken their Oath. Channel Divinity with this oath, and you can Conjure Duplicate  to create an exact copy of yourself to confuse your enemy, or Poison Strike which adds 2d10+ your level poison damage (20 + your level on a roll with advantage). Higher level perks give you the ability to have advantage against enemies in groups, Treacherous Strike, which lets you attack as a reaction on a missed attack by an enemy, and at level 15, invisibility.  Oath of Treachery would be an interesting multi-class with a rogue assassin, and cause some serious damage.

Wizards of the Coast has again given us some amazing new options for character creation, and in my opinion, flushed out the paladin class to be more interesting.

What do you think? Do these new oaths make you more inclined to play a paladin? Let us know!

Geekscape Games: ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Cleric Domain Additions

by Courtney Dossett

Wizards of the Coast has been releasing new content for 5 edition Dungeons & Dragons left and right the last few months. The biggest changes I’ve been happy to see were the changes and additions to the various classes you can play in 5th edition. These tweaks for existing classes help to balance some classes, and add more options for merging your character’s backstory with their playstyle.

You lookin at me? YOU LOOKIN AT ME?
You lookin at me? YOU LOOKIN AT ME?

Take, for instance, the new Divine Domains for Clerics. The original information in the Player’s Handbook includes seven different Divine Domains (Life, Light, Tempest, Nature, Trickery, and War), with accompanying gods and ideals. Each domain gives the cleric spells and abilities related to the domain, and helps shape the background and story of the character, as well as their holy symbol. For instance, a Cleric in the Tempest domain may be associated with Zeus, and would have the ability to cast spells associated with the weather, and use Channel Divinity to deal maximum damage with a storm spell instead of rolling.

The Unearthed Arcana, released November 21st, announced three additional domains for clerics to choose from – Forge, Grave, and Protection.

The Forge Domain gives players skills and spells associated with smithing (like searing smite, wall of fire, elemental weapon), and clerics can use their ability to Channel Divinity to create simple items starting at level 2. A Forge Cleric also gets increased AC (armor class) and resistance to damage and fire damage at higher levels, making it a great option for a tank.

The Grave Domain is reminiscent of necromancy. Clerics in the Grave domain have spells that allow them to raise the dead, deal necrotic damage and detect the dead.They also have the ability to cast spare the dying as a bonus action at first level, and turn a critical hit by an enemy into a normal hit (once per rest), preventing your party from taking as much damage.

Protection Domain gives clerics spells that allow them to increase party defenses with shield spells, and giving enemies disadvantage on attack rolls. At 6th level, you also gain the ability to heal yourself when you heal an ally. Protection Clerics have the ability to be deal out a lot of damage, and help the party block damage and resist damage. This would be great for a small group, who might be squishy or not have a dedicated healer.

Ten domains seem like a lot of choice to have when creating a character, however, considering how diverse some pantheons can be, the wide variety of choice when creating a cleric and deciding their religious path gives the player more tailored options.

For details on all three new domains, click here.

What do you think of these additions to the Cleric class? Are there too many options to choose from? Let us know in the comments below!

Watch A New Trailer For ‘Zero Charisma’

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Zero Charisma has to be my most anticipated film for the remainder of 2013, and this trailer is absolutely wonderful.

Following the poster release earlier this week, Nerdist today debuted a phenomenal new trailer for the comedy. Zero Charisma premiered at this year’s SXSW, and has been garnering universal acclaim ever since. Our very own Jonathan London even said that “Zero Charisma is one of the best Geek culture films of all time.” Yep, it’s that good (check out his full review here).

Sadly, I still haven’t had an opportunity to see the film. That’s all set to change next month however, as Zero Charisma is scheduled to hit VOD and iTunes on October 8th, before beginning its theatrical run on October 11th. I can’t freaking wait.

Take a look at the new trailer below, and let us know just how much you want to see the film!

As the strict Game Master of a fantasy role-playing game, Scott (Sam Eidson) leads his friends in a weekly quest through mysterious lands from the safety of his grandmother’s kitchen. But his mastery of his own domain starts to slip—along with everything else in his life—when neo-nerd hipster Miles (Garrett Graham) joins the game, winning over the group with his confident charm and dethroning Scott with an unexpected coup. Caught in delusions of grandeur, Scott must roll the dice and risk everything to expose Miles as the fraud he believes him to be. A darkly comedic fable of epic proportions, Zero Charisma is an ode to nerds from every realm.

‘Zero Charisma’ Gets A Wonderful New Poster!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Preceding a brand new trailer that’s set to be released on Monday, Nerdist today debuted a phenomenal new poster for Zero Charisma.

Zero Charisma premiered at this year’s SXSW, and has been garnering universal acclaim ever since. Our very own Jonathan London even said that “Zero Charisma is one of the best Geek culture films of all time.” Yep, it’s that good (check out his full review here).

Sadly, I still haven’t had an opportunity to see the film. That’s all set to change next month however, as Zero Charisma is scheduled to hit VOD and iTunes on October 8th, before beginning its theatrical run on October 11th. I can’t freaking wait.

For now, take a look at the new poster below. We’ll be sure to share the new trailer when it’s released on Monday, and be sure to watch for more Zero Charisma in the coming weeks!

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SXSW 2013 Review: ‘Zero Charisma’

by Jonathan

A few weeks ago we had filmmakers Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews on the show to talk about their SXSW film Zero Charisma, the story of a tabletop RPG obsessed 20-something living with his grandmother who begins to lose control of his gaming group (and more) when a new table member threatens to sway his carefully crafted social order. At the time, I didn’t know Katie and Andrew, and they didn’t know me, but I really responded to the sincerity, and humor, of the Zero Charisma trailer and wanted to help them with their IndieGogo campaign to finish the film before the premiere. Sure, I had fears that most trailers are better than their actual films and that Zero Charisma might follow in a long line of indie films about our geek culture, and specifically the tRPG sub-culture, that have missed the mark. And every single one of them, from The Gamers to Role Models, have missed that mark, choosing the safety of goofing on the film’s subjects to actually compelling the audience to feel for them.

And not to say that it’s an easy temptation to avoid. We geeks and our and social idiosyncrasies are so particular that it’s just easier to point a camera at what’s loud and funny than what’s true. We spend so much time in fantasy (especially when tabletop roleplaying is concerned), that it’s almost always more appealing to narrate the fantasy of our lives than the oftentimes painful inadequacies underneath. But something in the trailer for Zero Charisma and its anger possessed main character of Scott, told me that Katie and Andrew’s film might just avoid those trappings and get right to the heart of the cultural and social re-appropriations that fantasy culture is all about. Going in to the film’s premiere on Monday night, and as the lights dimmed in the theater, I had hope (for all us geeks).

ZeroCharisma2

I’m happy to report that my hope in Zero Charisma was beyond well placed. Katie, Andrew and company knocked this one out of the park. Before there was even an image on screen, the music hit and I knew I was in good hands. The first thing that you hear is shrieking fantasy metal. I let out a loud “fuck yes” (which most at the after party admitted to hearing… sorry!). I’m a huge Luca Turilli and Rhapsody fan and the music that starts Zero Charisma off was right in line with the heavy metal songs of wizards and fantasy that inhabit his music. I even let out another shout when an extra in the film wore a Rhapsody shirt later on. The movie opened up and there was Scott, alone and head banging down a grocery aisle stocking up on snacks for his gaming like a playable character would on questing supplies. The journey was about to begin and I was thrilled knowing that I was in good hands.

The actual plot of Zero Charisma is simple. Scott lives with his grandmother and runs a tabletop RPG a few times a week for his similarly geeky group of friends. He invests everyting into the game and the experience he is creating. So when one of the longtime players drops out, it leaves Scott (and his sidekick Wayne), searching for a replacement. They find their fifth player in Miles, a hipster geek who is just looking for a group of guys to play with. Miles brings beers (and levity) to their first game, and quickly becomes its most popular and successful member and Scott’s alpha grip on the game begins to erode. Scrambling to keep the script that he’s written for everyone else on track, Scott wrestles to take back control and things go from bad to worse.

ZeroCharisma

 And that’s what Katie and Andrew got the most right: the personal nature of who we are. The group of gamers are a surrogate for Scott’s powerless role in a family that doesn’t really exist. His father is non-existent and his mother abandoned him long ago to move out of state. His Grandmother has had to look out for him long past the expiration date on his social maturation and he is angry. The failings of others in his life, and subsequently the excuses that have led to his own, have turned Scott into a short fuse who doesn’t see the dangers in scripting friend’s lives or trying to control others. From the opening metal music, he is both alone and ready to explode and watching newcomer Sam Eidson portray him is awesome. Sam’s not an actor playing a geek. He is a geek, and he gets the pain that makes our lots in life so compelling and Katie and Andrew don’t avoid going there. In fact, they go there a lot.

Other reviewers have said that when Scott’s mother shows up halfway through the film, that it feels like a plot device, because she only shows up to complicate things for Scott and his grandmother. I think those viewers need to re-role their Perception checks because you don’t need to hit a 20 to realize how wrong this is. The very antagonist of Scott’s fantasy quest is The Goblin Queen, a shadowy matriarch of a dark kingdom who rules from a distant tower. He’s enlisted his friends in helping him destroy the Queen and when that obsessive goal is challenged by Miles “just wanting to have fun”, Scott’s fuse is lit. Everything Scott does in the film is informed by the pain he feels towards his mother’s abandonment, and her showing up only makes a bad situation worse as he scrambles for a way to cope with a rapidly deteriorating social order that he had only a fabricated control of in the first place. Andrew’s script is fantastic on a character level and I urged he and Katie to continue Scott’s story in whatever other ways they could.

I know I’ve given a pretty serious review for a movie that is being showcased as a comedy. And I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. Zero Charisma is hilarious. The crowd responded vocally to the many jokes in the film and I watched it in a constant state of losing my shit laughing. If I hadn’t had to return to Los Angeles, I would have caught the rest of the screenings in Austin, I am that obsessed with the film. I even B-lined it for the filmmakers and gave them a hug for how incredibly moving the movie is. It just does so many things right in regards to a subject matter that we care so much about (almost similar to Scott’s obsession!). From skewering hipsters for their misappropriation of Geek culture (that scene in amazing) to our intensely passionate debates (like if the USS Enterprise is faster than the Millennium Falcon), Zero Charisma does everything right. The comedy flies pretty frequently but never at the expense of what makes Zero Charisma work the most: its sincerity.

As I said to Katie and Andrew Monday night, I’ve been attending the SXSW Film Festival since it began playing films in 1994 and this is one of my favorite SXSW films that I’d ever seen. But beyond that, and probably more importantly, Zero Charisma is one of the best Geek culture films of all time. We will definitely be championing it here on Geekscape. Come to think of it, I can’t think of a quest more worthy of the undertaking.

‘Zero Charisma’ Gets An Awesome SXSW Poster!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Last month we showed you the wonderfully impressive trailer for Zero Charisma, the upcoming comedy by Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews.

 

The movie looks like an absolute blast, and will be premiering at next week’s SXSW. If you find yourself in Austin next week, I implore you to give Zero Charisma a shot, this one looks to be something special.

 

To celebrate the upcoming world premiere, a new poster for the film has been crafted by artist Jay Shaw. It’s quite the piece of work, and has some cool history behind it too; the weathering and texture from the poster is actually lifted straight from an old D&D Player’s Manual.

 

Check out the poster below, and let us know what you think! If you’re one of the lucky folks attending this year’s SXSW, the film will be screening at the following times and locations:

 

Monday, 3/11 @ 7:15 PM – Rollins Theater at the Long Center – World Premiere

Wednesday, 3/13 @ 7:00 PM – Rollins Theater at the Long Center

Friday, 3/15 @ 11:00 AM – Topher Theater at Zach Scott

 

ZEROCHARISMA_FINALPOSTER

 

Bah, I’d kill for a copy of that poster. Again, if you haven’t seen the trailer, watch it here, and get excited!

 

‘Zero Charisma’ Looks Amazing, But It Needs Your Help! Watch The First Trailer!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Since discovering the trailer for Zero Charisma just a few days ago, I honestly couldn’t tell you how many people I’ve shown it to (I may be slightly hyperbolizing here, so let’s just say at least a dozen).

 

The movie looks like absolute gold, and as wonderful as the final product is sure to be, Zero Charisma also has quite the story behind it. Directors Katie Graham (Cinematographer of Best Worst Movie and The American Scream) and Andrew Matthews (Editor on Best Worst Movie and The American Scream) raised over $25,000 in preproduction over the course of their successful IndieGogo campaign in Spring 2011.

 

As I mentioned above, the first trailer for the film has just been released. Trust me, you’re going to want to keep your eye out for this one.

 

 

Metal-loving gamer geek Scott Weidemeyer lives with his ornery grandmother and works a lousy job at a donut shop. But every Tuesday night, he is the omnipotent Game Master, guiding his role-players through a tabletop journey of fantasy and adventure. However, when neo-nerd hipster Miles joins his game, Scott begins to resent the admiration Miles receives from the other players. To make matters worse, the health of his grandmother begins to falter, and his estranged mother visits town, reminding Scott of a childhood he’d just as soon forget. Caught in a spiral of rage and delusion, Scott is forced to take drastic steps to reclaim his honor, and his identity as the Game Master.

 

Of course, independent films are costly to make. Zero Charisma is currently in post-production, and Katie, Andrew, and everyone else involved need your help so the finished product can see the light of day. Another IndieGogo campaign is currently underway, with a goal of $30,000 (currently sitting just under $10,000). This campaign will take the film from post production through to distribution, and you can score lots of cool goodies by backing it (including of course, a copy of the finished feature).

 

You watched (and very likely loved) the trailer above, so why not throw them a few bucks and score yourself a copy! I’m sure they’d be forever grateful (as would I, as I really, really want to see this)!

 

Zero Charisma is set to premiere at this years SXSW, where Jonathan will be watching, and I’ll be stuck in Canada.

 

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Geekscape 245: Satine Phoenix

by Jonathan

Warning! This episode has a ton of sex talk in it! Satine Phoenix is an artist, sculptor, roleplaying game enthusiast and model. She invited me to be a part of a fundraising D and D gaming event and I thought it was long since she should have come on the show to talk Dungeons and Dragons,  her former career as a stripper and porn actress and her own writing and artwork. Why not have her on to talk about this fundraising event? Also, she talks all about the scandal of purposefully bringing women by the Geekscape booth at Comic Con to try and ruin Jonathan’s life!

Find it on iTunes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:48 — 40.7MB)