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Critical Hits Podcast #9: Actual Play with James Wyatt

August 22, 2008 by Dave

During GenCon 2008, Bartoneus, ChattyDM, GamingSteve, and myself had the privilege to be in a D&D session run by James Wyatt, author of the DMG (who we interviewed later on in the con– this is the game we referenced at the beginning of the interview.)

It was a straightforward dungeon delve, with Wyatt starting the game by asking us questions to let us shape our quest. Of course, being bloggers, we didn’t exactly take everything seriously. At the beginning of the game, we told him that we would easily be as funny as the Penny Arcade guys.

We managed to record the first encounter, plus some of the second. After the recorder died, we took out the hobgoblins, but then were defeated by the hag in the room. What followed was an awesome impromptu skill challenge, negotiating with the hag to save our miserable lives. And just when we had reached an agreement… we had to go. But still, the whole thing was a blast, and I hope by listening to the recording that you are able to experience part of what it’s like to play with a celebrity DM.

Critical Hits Podcast #9 (40 MB, approximiately an hour and a half long)

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Filed Under: Critical Hits Podcast, Roleplaying Games

About Dave

Dave "The Game" Chalker is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Critical Hits. Since 2005, he has been bringing readers game news and advice, as well as editing nearly everything published here. He is the designer of the Origins Award-winning Get Bit!, a freelance designer and developer, son of a science fiction author, and a Master of Arts. He lives in MD with e and at least three dogs.

Comments

  1. The Chatty DM says

    August 23, 2008 at 7:05 am

    Thank you for recording this, it will help me remember this game for all my life.

    James is an awesome DM and I’m very happy that he co-designed my favorite game.

    Oh and the tiles he used were all from the Halls of the Giant Kings Tiles.

    The Chatty DM’s last post: Chatty’s Bedtime Campaign: Bend it like Nico!

  2. the_blunderbuss says

    August 23, 2008 at 10:38 am

    I’m actually looking forward to listening to a D&D play for the first time. My experience has been first handed (is that how you say it?) and this should add some perspective to it.

    By the way, how were the Gen Con games organized? How much time did you have to play and what were the general guidelines?

    the_blunderbuss’s last post: Gorilla Jam! ep2: Good Vibrations!

  3. The Game says

    August 23, 2008 at 10:45 am

    Chatty: You should make your players listen to it, so they can hear what a disruptive player you are 😉

    Blunderbuss: Our experience was a bit different than most, since it was a press game arranged outside of the normal GenCon system. We had a block of three hours scheduled, but there were some delays getting James the equipment he needed, so we probably played for about 2 hours all together. Though I really enjoyed just sitting around and talking to him before the game started.

  4. Mark says

    August 23, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    Thanks a lot for recording the play session. I’m DM’ing KotS right now after a 15 year layoff, and I need all the pointers I can get!

About the Author

  • Dave

    Dave "The Game" Chalker is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Critical Hits. Since 2005, he has been bringing readers game news and advice, as well as editing nearly everything published here. He is the designer of the Origins Award-winning Get Bit!, a freelance designer and developer, son of a science fiction author, and a Master of Arts. He lives in MD with e and at least three dogs.

    Email: dave@critical-hits.com

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