Last week I touched on the amount of role-playing the Dungeon Master has to do during a session of Dungeons & Dragons.  Even further back, all the way back in mid-October, I focused on the, arguably, most time intensive part of taking on the role of Dungeon Master in the group: preparing for a session.  While role-playing and preparing some sort of session for the other players make up part of the difficulty of being Dungeon Master, the DM also has the rather intimidating job of running the game.  For the inexperienced, Dungeons & Dragons seems like a mess of rules and numbers and information.  And for the DM, it is generally expected that they know all of this.  In reality, they do not need to know everything there is to know, and there are ways to make this task easier.

The three books that make up the foundation of a DM’s arsenal for running a D&D session. Published by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

A Dungeon Master does need to know the gist of the rules for D&D, such as how to create characters, run combat, and check skills.  This is by far the most important thing a DM will need to know, as new players will generally turn to the DM for explanations and clarifications on various rules, although experienced players will also aid with teaching new players.  It is a team effort, so it only makes sense for everyone to ensure all players know how to play the game.  But, for obscure rules or if the DM simply blanks, there’s no harm in quickly consulting the Player’s Handbook, or better yet, just winging it.  The choice is up to you; however you want to run the game is up to you.  One of the trickier things to remember is specific numbers for skill checks and stats for monsters.  For skill checks, the difficult class (DC) is the number above which a player, NPC, or monster must equal or beat in a roll on a d20.  Depending on how difficult the task is determines the DC, with easier challenges lower in number and more difficult higher in number. DMs can remember the general idea for skill checks immediately and use it from there on out.  For monster stats, the job is not to remember them, but rather, to anticipate and prepare the stats from the Monster Manual and then have them with you in case they are needed.  In general, this tip is the solution to remembering everything: just don’t.  Lists are the perfect way to quickly access any knowledge you may need.

The cast of Critical Role during a session, a group of voice actors led by DM Matt Mercer. Photo from Geek and Sundry.

When it comes to the nitty gritty of running the game, it all comes down to being able to improvise and adapt to what the players offer to the DM.  Always remember, no matter what the Dungeon Master anticipates, the players will almost always end up pulling tricks out of their sleeves.  What makes a good DM is when they are able to take the unexpected and use the skills they have to turn it into a successful session.  However “successful” is defined is up to the entire group, but we can go with it meaning the players accomplished their goal and had fun while doing it.  To build these sort of improvisation skills, I personally recommend playing as a character for a while to become acquainted with the game’s mechanics and rule.  But in the case where the entire group is new, someone will unfortunately need to learn through trial by fire.  Even then, the experience from crashing and burning is still useful.  All of it culminates to build the strengths of the Dungeon Master and allow them to host a great session.

Despite the concept being in the name itself, I have somehow neglected to discuss the idea of role-playing in tabletop role-playing games up until this point.  It is the fundamental aspect of what makes tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, or Call of Cthulhu the games they are today.  All the way back in my first blog post, I set the scene with the stereotypical idea of what D&D players are like.  But, as I said several months ago, a group of nerds in costume isn’t what all players are like, and for those that are the kind to dress up, all the more power to them.  The game is what you want it to be and you should make it fun in whatever way you see fit.  But, back to the role-playing.

The whole point of role-playing games is that they give you the freedom to be whomever you like.  A badass orc barbarian? D&D has you covered.  Morally grey detective investigating Lovecraftian horrors?  Call of Cthulhu.  Or maybe you want to play the role of a character similar to Han Solo?  Star Wars: Edge of the Empire.  There are games for every type of genre, meaning that the options for characters you can role-play are endless.  Who they want to be is entirely up to the players.

Vin Diesel playing D&D with the cast of Critical Role. Picture from Geek and Sundry.

For those unfamiliar with role-playing games, the concept can be a bit unusual or confusing.  But, players are essentially taking the role of actor for the character they design.  Different game masters may do things differently, but from my experience, a majority of people follow a similar method of facilitating role-playing in a session.  For the most part, players will talk primarily as their character when the session is in a “scene.”  Example: my group was one time looking for a ship captain in a new town and role-played asking around town for her and talking amongst each other.  The entire time during this scene, talked in character, while I played the roles of all of the non-player characters they interacted with.  This feature of play is what extends the “acting” aspect of role-playing games to not just the players, but also the game master.

While the game master ends up role-playing more than the players, this does not necessarily make them better at it, as there is more to role-playing than just speaking for the character.  Much like actors do with their roles, players become better at role-playing through thinking about what their character would do in a situation and what their motives, values, and experiences are.  All of this is made easier by the portion of character creation that deals specifically with fleshing out backgrounds and the “traits, values, and bonds” section presented in D&D 5e, which gives personality to the characters.  The effort put into creating a character is what gives players an edge over game masters in terms of role-playing.  While a GM may have a couple of reoccurring NPCs, they will generally play as countless people who the group never interacts with again.  Players, on the other hand, are role-playing as the same character, giving them the time to really develop their quirks and traits, making the characters feel more alive and vibrant.  But at the end of the day, both the GM and the players can role-play good characters.

One of the most important things required of the GM and the players is the ability to improvise.  The stories are dynamic.  GMs can plan everything down to even the smallest of details, but players will always find a way to do the unexpected.  As such, everyone will constantly be role-playing situations in which anything can happen.  Unlike acting, there are no scripts.  It’s up to the group to try and guide the situation to fit their goals.

Players and GMs alike are both equally important to role-playing in games like Dungeons and Dragons.  They fulfill different roles, but combine to form the essence of what makes role-playing games so fun: having the chance to act as someone else.

Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin playing D&D, from the Netflix Original Stranger Things.

During band camp for my junior year in high school, one of my marching band’s directors introduced us to a new card game one of his friends from Wizards of the Coast showed him: Star Realms.  For those that have played the classic trading card game Magic: The Gathering, this game is quite similar in concept, but has become vastly more popular among my friend group.  This is partly due to the main reason the game was created in the first place.  For some of the employees of Wizards of the Coast, they all had some of the best cards for Magic: The Gathering, so games against each other were no fun.  In addition, there was a massive gap between players in regards to how good their cards are (due to the sealed mystery packs in which cards are sold).  To solve this, a group of WotC employees developed a game in which players would not have such an awful card gap between them.  And thus, Star Realms was born.

The simple and compact box for Star Realms, photo by Vincent Paone.

Instead of using the repeated purchasing of card packs, Star Realms instead sells a singular base game that includes all you need for a two-player game.  Magic: The Gathering requires that each player has around sixty cards each, while Star Realms has everything for a cheap $20, a meager price compared to the hundreds of dollars a serious M:tG player can end up spending.  This factor alone made the game much more appealing to someone like me, who was turned off by the massive amount of money needed to really getting into M:tG.

An example of several cards in Star Realms, from White Wizard Games LLC.

Looking at gameplay, Star Realms really differs from Magic: the Gathering in that it is a deck-building game, rather than a trading card one.  This means that players build their decks as the game goes on, while in M:tG, players bring their deck pre-made.  The interesting thing about this concept is that players are taking cards from the same base deck.  As such, it adds another layer of skill to the game, as different cards allow you to take cards out of the trade row (the set of cards players can currently buy cards from).  Each player starts off with a total of ten cards in their deck: two fighter ships and eight trade ships.  From this, trade can be used to purchase more cards to add to their deck and fighter ships can be used to attack the player.  Cards are divided up into four different factions, each faction focusing on a different style of play.  For example, the Trade Federation (blue cards) have cards that focus on giving the player more trade to purchase cards and the Machine Cult (red cards) focuses on taking cards from either your deck or the trade row out of the game entirely or discarding them.  Combinations of factions allow for a greater variability of play styles to be used, while also not constricting the player too much.

Beyond the base game, Star Realms has come out with a multitude of different expansions.  The big one is Colony Wars, which adds an entire other base deck in addition to the original.  Other expansions include smaller packs of heroes, events, multi-faction cards, and special abilities.  The great thing about these packs is they are only around $5, keeping the entire cost of the base game and its expansions well below the cost of a very good Magic: the Gathering deck.

Overall, learning about Star Realms several years ago was a great experience that introduced me and my friends to what we believe is a far better game than Magic: the Gathering.  It is a much fairer and balanced game, while also not hurting your wallet nearly as much.

While most people unfamiliar with the topic of role playing games have heard of Dungeons and Dragons at the least, I can assure you that most have probably not heard of Pathfinder.  In many respects, the two games are incredibly similar, and if you go back far enough to the beginning of Pathfinder, the two are almost identical.  It all started back with the release of Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition (or more commonly, 4e).  The company that makes Pathfinder, Paizo, originally published magazines about Dungeons and Dragons, but were upset with the 4e release.  So, in response, Pazio began publishing their own version of Dungeons and Dragons that was almost identical to 3.5e, but included their own versions of some rules, as well as feedback gathered over a year from fans in a large-scale beta of sorts.  In essence, the Pathfinder books are “backwards compatible” with those of 3.5e D&D.

Cover of the Pathfinder core rulebook, by Paizo Inc.

Much like D&D, the Pathfinder game also includes a plethora of supplemental material.  A different way of doing this is through Adventure Path, which is a monthly service by Paizo.  Each month, parts of an adventure are released, resulting in a large, interconnected world that players can take part in.  As of right now, there are currently twenty one different adventures that are a part of Adventure Path.  Beyond that, there are also a few more games connected to the base Pathfinder game than there are for Dungeons and Dragons.  Take for instance the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.  This card game essentially turns the role playing game into a card game, which utilizes decks of cards for each player to improve a player’s character.  There are various base sets which have different adventures to play, in addition to smaller decks that can be used to expand characters or classes.  Between the Adventure Path and Adventure Card Game, there are plenty of options for fans of the Pathfinder series for ways to play.

One of the many Pathfinder Adventure Card Game base sets, by Paizo Inc.

Much like Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder has its own line of miniatures to go along with the game’s various supplemental adventures.  Both brands are also of comparable price, averaging between $15 and $20.  Compared to Wizard of the Coast’s miniatures, Paizo’s ones tend to be of a higher quality paint job.  But, on the other hand, the WoTC minis seem to be made with a stronger plastic that is more resistant to bending.  So, depending on what you value more, one or the other could be better for your style.  Another major difference between the two is the inclusion of very rare “set pieces” for Paizo miniature series.  For each adventure, there are several pieces that are things such as tables, chairs, gates, barrels, etc.  While they are great for showing the setting even more clearly, it is understandable if a person did not want to end up these set pieces in place of another miniature.  Either way, the products are still of a high quality and are ones that I would definitely recommend.

As a whole, the Pathfinder role playing game is a great series that rivals that of the original Dungeons and Dragons (especially if you look at sales of the games; Pathfinder is definitely sold more).  While it may be based off of the now dated 3.5 edition of D&D, Pathfinder has developed into its own game and has its own following.  For any fan of the older style of play of tabletop role playing games, Pathfinder hits the perfect amount of nostalgic and practical.

When I first found out that there was a Dungeons and Dragons movie, the first thought to run through my head was, “Oh great, this has got to be absolutely terrible.”  I was naive then.  Now that I have seen it, I know the truth.  The movie is far worse than I could have imagined.  But on the bright side, my brother and I were able to get a good number of laughs out of what could have otherwise been a dreadful experience.

This handsome devil is Profion’s buddy Damodar. Just look at those amazing blue lips. Photo from New Line Cinema.

With winter break winding to a close, my brother Eric and I decided to watch the first (yes, the studio was somehow able to convince executives to let them make a second) Dungeons and Dragons film.  After slumping onto the couch with root beers and popcorn, the adventure opened to an evil and manipulative wizard named Profion, played by Jeremy Irons, most recently known as Alfred in the new DC movies.  The obvious protagonist has created a golden scepter that controls golden dragons, but he fails and must kill his only captive dragon.  As his loyal right-hand man Damodar goes to steal the map to a better dragon-controlling scepter, the protagonists Ridley and Snails happen to steal the same map, while also picking up wizard apprentice Marina.  The trio goes across the land, gaining a dwarf and elf and companions, before eventually finding the scepter, losing Snails in the process.  The party ends up saving the day as the princess and Profion have a battle above the Wizard’s Guild through the enslaved dragon armies of the two.  Using the special scepter, Ridley overpowers Profion and sends all the dragons away.  And as if through some miracle, the group is blown away into the wind as they stand over Snails’ grave, supposedly to some place where he is alive.

Even though it is a live-action movie, here is the *ahem* pretty gold dragon. Photo from New Line Cinema.

As a whole, the film boasts a very less-than-stellar plot, unattractive costume, unfunny jokes, bad acting, and not to mention, some of the worst CGI I’ve seen.  Fans and critics alike found the movie to be pretty abysmal.  With a budget of $45 million, the movie was a flop, grossing only around $33 million worldwide.  I can honestly call it one of the worst movies I have ever seen, if not the worst.

But, despite all of the movie’s pitfalls, my brother and I still had a good time.  As long-time players of Dungeons and Dragons, being able to watch the film and laugh at the attempts to squish in every reference was surprisingly enjoyable.  Sure, we didn’t get a good movie, but we had a bonding experience, one that put a great end to winter break.

On the horizon though, there is a now-confirmed date for a new Dungeons and Dragons movie, one that will most likely be far better and successful.  Paramount is set to produce the film.  The most exciting tidbit of the news is that Baby Driver’s Ansel Elgort could be the lead character.  With both a strong production company and talented actor, the chances for a Dungeons and Dragons that isn’t complete trash is higher.  Although my fingers are crossed, my hopes still aren’t set too high.  Plenty of seemingly-great movies have fallen far below expectations (not to name any movies, but most definitely Batman v. Superman).

So would I recommend this movie?  Simple answer: no. This movie is definitely not worth the watch, unless you, like my brother and I, are fans of Dungeons and Dragons and are looking to laugh.

The revival of the Star Wars film series has created a whole new generation of fans, while also rekindling the fervor of older fans.  The incredibly large popularity of the new trilogy has led to the release of a line of Star Wars RPGs and a tabletop game known as Star Wars Armada.  Both have been widely successfully and have garnered strong following, although the Star Wars Armada is smaller.

The much larger of these two games, the line of role-playing games, is very similar in idea and spirit to Dungeons and Dragons, but in the expansive space opera galaxy we all know and love.  While there have been various versions of role-playing games for the series over the years, this edition is the first to have risen to wider popularity.  The main difference between D&D and the Star Wars RPG is that the rules of the game are broken up into three different sets of rule books, which focus on three different styles of play.  These books are Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion, and Force and Destiny.

The three books of the Star Wars RPGs, by Billy Coffing.

The first, Edge of the Empire, came out in 2013, much to the surprise of fans.  There was little-to-no announcement prior to its release, but the game was still able to quickly gain a large following.  For EotE, the book focuses on a play style and set of rules that is designed specifically for the smugglers and mercenaries of the Outer Rim, players that would be very much akin to that of the charismatic Han Solo.  Campaigns designed with this rule set can be expected to focus on smuggling, heists, far-off worlds, and dealing with crime lords.  Next came Age of Rebellion in 2014, which shifted the focus from distant worlds to the center of the action.  In this rule set, players are part of the small Rebel Alliance, rising through the campaign to become heroes of the rebellion.  Characters could be fighter pilots, spies, troopers, and the like.  In 2015, the final core rulebook came out: Force and Destiny.  Players could finally become the staple force user of the Star Wars universe.  Characters can choose between embracing the light or dark side.  While all three books offer different races, classes, and skills, each one is able to be used with any of the others in any combination, allowing for a truly unique experience for players.

The odd dice mechanics of the Star Wars RPG is quite distinctive from the d20 system of D&D.  Instead of the rather cut and dry success-failure of the d20 system, this RPG uses a dynamic mix of success or failure with advantages and disadvantages.  For example, if a character attempted to shoot down a ship, they could fail to shoot it down, but with advantage, they knock out its guns.  From this, gameplay unfolds in a way that feels more realistic and fluid than that of D&D.

Each of the different dice used in the system, by Lucasfilm Ltd.

The Star Wars Armada game is completely different from the RPG.  Designed for two players, this game has players taking control of a fleet of ships they have put together and engaging in a space battle.  The rules are rather complex, but for those that play, it only adds to the fun of the game.  With the core set alone costing almost $100, the game is very expensive and not something you can dive right into.  As such, it is often best to visit a local game store and find out more about it from those who play.  To see more about what the game is like, there is also this video from the Star Wars Armada 2016 World Championship.  Forewarning, games usually last two hours long, although the one in the video is a brisk hour and a half.

Between the RPGs and Armada, Star Wars fans have been blessed with a great set of games that add a whole other dimension to the Star Wars universe to explore, one in which fans have the pleasure of taking part.

Prior to moving to the great state of Pennsylvania, I came from the small college town of Newark, Delaware.  Yes, there is the University of Delaware, but there are also plenty of great stores and restaurants.  There is Klondike Kate’s, National 5 & 10, the Stone Balloon, Duck Donuts, Blue Hen Comics, and Rainbow Records.  But of all these stores, the one near and dear to my heart is Days of Knights, the local nerdy store, perfect for all of your tabletop role-playing game needs.  Funnily enough, it wasn’t until my junior year of high school (about ten years after I moved from Newark to Kennett Square).

The front of Days of Knights, photo from MapQuest.com.

Towards the end of my junior year, my younger brother Eric (a freshman at the time) and I finally decided to check out Days of Knights.  By this time, I had already convinced him to try Dungeons and Dragons and he had fallen in love with it.  Unfortunately for us, there are no shops for tabletop RPGs in our area, besides this one.  So, it was only so long before we would find ourselves there.  It was way beyond what we could have imagined.  The entire store is filled to the brim with all manners of board and card games, posters, dragon sculptures, role-playing game materials, incense, and other nerdy items.  Since that day, my brother and I have made many trips, much to our wallets dismay.  My friends also love the store, with each of them finding their own thing that they like from the store.

It was here that I bought my first miniatures, as well as the rest of my growing collection.  But it is not just Dungeons and Dragons that kept bringing me back to the store.  Among the numerous sets of different card games they sell, lies a personal favorite of mine: Star Realms, a sci-fi deck-building game.  After playing a couple of games with my friends, we were addicted and ended up purchasing several of the game’s expansion, all of which are sold at Days of Knights.  Right next to the card games sits an entire shelf dedicated to dice, perfect for adding to an experienced player’s sets or for getting a new player’s first set of dice, as was the case with several of my friends.

One of many filled shelves in the store. Notice the large amount of Catan sets. Photo by Connie Chen.

If there is a board game you have been looking for, chances are Days of Knights has it.  You’re especially in luck if you want anything for the game The Settlers of Catan, which I would highly recommend to anyone who has not played it.  They sell a lot of the expansions, as well as sets from Germany.  Besides that, there is a whole back corner of the store that is dedicated to board games, which houses an incredibly diverse stock of games, many of which I have never heard of or seen anywhere else.

With a shop like Days of Knights being within such a close proximity back home, coming to Penn State brought with it a new challenge: where could I go to buy nerdy things?  My answer came in the form of Comic Swap, a local comic book shop that also happens to sell a limited amount of tabletop role-playing game items.  While not quite stocked to the same degree as Days of Knights, Comic Swap still gets the job done.  But, Days of Knights will always be my favorite, if not for being one of the best nerdy stores out there, then for being snugly in the middle of my hometown.

Over the winter break, I was lucky enough to get several gifts relating to Dungeons and Dragons.  Most prominent of these was the topic of one of my previous blog posts, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. In addition, I also received some miniature figures, dice, and a double-feature DVD of the first and second Dungeons and Dragons movies (yes, those are indeed a real thing, and yes, they are as bad as you think they are).

As a gift from my two brothers, I was given my own copy of the latest supplemental book for Dungeons and Dragons, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.  After an initial perusing, I was able to see that this supplemental material was exactly what I was hoping for.  The guide is broken up into four main parts: Character Options, Dungeon Master’s Tools, Spells, and an appendix of names.  The first two parts offer a great balance of new material for both players and DMs, with the Character Options section offering further subclass options (a total of 33 new subclasses) and the DM’s Tools section bringing another level of roleplaying with discussions on various aspects of the game.  The inclusion of new spells is always welcomed, but the appendix of names is rather unnecessary with sites such as this one, which forever eliminates the need to struggle with procuring names. The great thing about this site is that its generators span a wide range of genres, making it perfect for any role-playing game.  As a whole, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything is a wonderful addition to my collection of D&D books and a great present from my brothers.

The miniatures I got were not from D&D’s parent company Wizards of the Coast, but rather, a role-playing game based off of D&D 3.5e called Pathfinder.  This set of

My new nightmare dragon miniature, photo by Ryan Salameda.

four miniatures came from the “Maze of Death” set, and I would have to say that the ones I got were quite nice.  The largest of the four, and most interesting, was the nightmare dragon, which also turned out to be the rarest of the bunch.  Additionally, I got a witchfire, an ulat-kini mystic, and a penanggalen, which are essentially a green fire thing, an angry frog man, and a floating head (featuring lungs and spine).  Each of the miniatures had very nice details and the paint jobs were well done, so this set was another wonderful gift.

For any fan of role-playing games, dice are always a solid gift.  This year, one of my friends gave me a set of dice with some rather odd ones thrown in, such as a d3, d60, and, most interestingly, an actual d100.  Yes, there was indeed a die with one hundred sides.  Although a d100 is not exactly the most practical die, the novelty of it is well worth the difficulty of rolling a die the size of your fist. Disclaimer: d100s are very prone to rolling off of tables and desks.  These dice will hopefully see some use soon, once my group finishes settling back in.

Out of all of my gifts, the double-feature DVD of the Dungeons and Dragons movies is both the best and the worst.  The two films are well-known for being truly awful, to the point where they are laughable.  While I have not yet seen either of the films yet, I do plan on subjecting both myself and my friends to this one-of-a-king experience soon.

All in all, the gifts I got were very nice and are sure to be put to good use, especially as my D&D group is finally back together and able to play again.  Break was a great opportunity to destress and get some new material for playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Here’s the deal.  Although tabletop role-playing games grew in popularity during the 80s and 90s, the realm of role-playing games began to expand more in the video game industry during the mid-90s and began to dominate nerd culture in the 2000s.  Released in 1994, The Elder Scrolls: Arena became the first game in the hit fantasy RPG series The Elder Scrolls.  The series reached the height of its popularity with the 2011 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which brought the series to an even wider audience, introducing a whole new set of people to RPGs.  But what did this mean for tabletop gaming?

With the advent of RPG video games, it became easier for players to truly immerse themselves in a fictional world, one in which they did not have to put the same amount of time designing as with those of tabletop RPGs.  Besides the ability to jump right into a video game, this new media gave players a stronger visual component, which has only grown more impressive as time as gone one.  One such game is Horizon Zero Dawn, an action role-playing game that boasts incredible graphics and an equally intriguing plot.  The old-fashioned tabletop games were beginning to show their age.

A screenshot from Horizon Zero Dawn which shows the kind of high-quality graphics typical of modern games. Picture by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

In response, two things occurred.  Tabletop RPGs began to revamp their systems, such as the fan favorite 3.5e D&D in 2000.  The games became less convoluted and complex.  The systems were more innovative and fun.  More material was released to aid DMs in creating their worlds.  All of these changes helped to keep the tabletop RPGs alive.  But, most importantly, these games made their way into the digital media as well.  Although games were made starting in 1988, the video game variants of D&D did not become as popular until 1998 with the release of Baldur’s Gate.

The cover of one of the Star Wars role-playing games. Cover and book by Fantasy Flight Games.

Within the last decade, tabletop role-playing games have experienced a resurgence in popularity, thanks in part to the industry’s actions to renovate the systems and stay relevant, but also due to a greater societal acceptance of the hobby into the mainstream culture.  As mentioned in an earlier post, the inclusion of Dungeons & Dragons on shows such as Community and Stranger Things has helped this process.  This reawakening of tabletop gaming is apparent through the rise of new games such as the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire role-playing game.  It’s an old series in an old style, but still new and widely popular.  It epitomizes the future of tabletop role-playing games, one that will continue to entertain fans for years to come.

When it comes to supplementary material for Dungeons and Dragons, one of the more recent additions to the lineup of books is Volo’s Guide to Monsters.  Released on November 15th of 2016, the book was an additional Monster Manual of sorts.  The Monster Manual is one of the three core books, which contains minor lore and information for use in the game on a plethora of different monsters.  Volo’s Guide to Monsters provides similar content, while also giving an in-depth look at nine different groups of monsters, as well as content for playing as new and different races for player characters.

The alternative cover to Volo’s Guide to Monsters, by Hydro74.

This addition to the list of supplementary material provided a much needed difference to the number of pre-made campaigns and singular book on lore for the Wizards of the Coast world of D&D.  Rather than providing content simply from the minds of the WotC development team, Volo’s Guide to Monsters gives players the ability to use the content as a base off of which they can build their own content for their individual games.  As such, this book sets itself apart from the rest as a true companion for any Dungeon Master, regardless of experience.

One of the best pieces Volo’s Guide to Monsters has to offer is the section on new player races for characters.  Not only does the ability to introduce new races give the DM more room for a diverse and interesting world, it also allows the players to branch out into creating characters to which they aren’t accustomed.  The combination of creativity given to both the DM and players enhances the experiences of all playing.  This experience is further deepened by the content on the different groups of monsters.  From the in-depth background and content for the monsters, the DM is given the ability to develop enemies for the players that are more detailed and thrilling.

The alternate cover to Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, by Hydro74.

Besides Volo’s Guide to Monsters, the latest supplementary material will hit the shelves on November 21st.  Xanathar’s Guide to Everything follows in the steps of Volo’s by focusing less on the established lore of the WotC world and more on providing DMs with the means to further develop their own.  It is described as “designed to enhance a D&D campaign and push it in new directions.”  With a new trend for supplementary material being more focused on providing tools and resources for the DM and players, 5e continues to be the most player-friendly edition of Dungeons and Dragons.