Annabelle's Nerdy D&D Blog

Taking a closer look at custom mini making with Eldritch Foundry

Posted by Annabelle Collins on

Taking a closer look at custom mini making with Eldritch Foundry

  Like a lot of people, my first mini was an off-the-shelf adventurer. It didn’t really capture the essence of character, but it was ok. How things have changed! Whenever I play in a campaign now (and often when I DM), creating beautiful and accurate minis is well-loved part of my experience! The two biggest mini maker sites are Eldritch Foundry and Hero Forge.   In this guide, I'll walk you through the process of crafting your own epic custom minis using the popular platform Eldritch Foundry.     Oh by the way, this is sponsored :D   Full disclosure, Eldritch...

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How to tailor your DMing to individual D&D classes

Posted by Annabelle Collins on

How to tailor your DMing to individual D&D classes

One of the keys to DMing a great Dungeons and Dragons game is tailoring the game to the party navigating it. This is as true for a Dungeon Master journeying through established sourcebooks as it is for one writing a homebrew campaign! A fantastic starting point is to weave the strengths and abilities of each character class into your storytelling and encounters. In this guide I'll give an overview of the 12 core D&D classes, highlighting their unique capabilities and offering tips on showcasing their strengths within your campaign.   Understanding D&D Classes - A quick primer   “Classes” is the name D&D gives to the...

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The D&D Alignment System Explained

Posted by Annabelle Collins on

The D&D Alignment System Explained

So what is the D&D Alignment System?   Character alignment is how Dungeons and Dragons measures a character's moral view of the world. Alignment acts both as a guide for roleplay and as a mechanic for determining the effect of certain spells or items. Morality tends to be subjective, so I wouldn’t recommend taking the alignment system too seriously in your games! It's not set in stone either. More often than not I see a characters alignment being determined by the roleplay rather than the other way around!     The alignment chart   The D&D alignment system measures characters...

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Painting Guide: How to make realistic mossy dungeon tiles

Posted by Annabelle Collins on

Painting Guide: How to make realistic mossy dungeon tiles

Hullo all! As you probably know, I really love having modular terrain that I can use and re-use. What I love even more is having modular terrain that doesn't look modular :P In todays guide I'm going to show you how to make your tiles look even more realistic by adding a mixture of flock and sand between the surface flagstones. I would rate this tutorial as "a bit harder". It's not too hard (most of it is sponge work after all!) but it is a bit more involved than say the lava painting guide. But totally worth the extra...

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How to use AI as a Dungeon Master Tool

Posted by Annabelle Collins on

How to use AI as a Dungeon Master Tool

  We all have tools that help us dungeon master. They might be source-books, loot tables, or monster guides. They help us with our preparation, and often make our work lighter and faster to get through.  One of the newer tools in a DMs arsenal is AI. It’s something I’ve started really investigating this year. Before we begin I just want to put forth a sort of disclaimer, because people can have all sorts of preconceptions when it comes to AI. So, key thing to remember: AI is a tool that can help you do your job, it cannot do your job...

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