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You are here: Home / Archives for 2009

Archives for 2009

The Most Important Games of the Decade

December 31, 2009 by Dave

As we roll over to ’09 to ’10, getting nostalgic for the advances and updates for the past 10 years is inevitable. 2000 to 2009 was an important decade for gaming, and the landscape for us gamers has changed dramatically. Here, on New Year’s Eve, we look back on our opinion of some of the most important games of the decade. While they are not all necessarily great games in and of themselves, they have made their impact on the gaming industry for many years to come.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Editorial, Roleplaying Games, Video Games Tagged With: carcassonne, Dungeons & Dragons, grand theft auto 3, halo, mage knight, world of warcraft, yu-gi-oh

Chatty’s Year 2009 and the Importance of the Tribe

December 31, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Yes, Yet another Year End Post.  I’m sure the RPGbloggers network‘s first page must crumble under that Echo Chamber effect. But I don’t quite care about that.  🙂 The Year in Review Oh man what a year.  Last year you could taste the the first signs of the rapid unraveling of my mind in my […]

Filed Under: blogging, Freelance Writing, Geek Stuff, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games

Nico’s Lego RPG: Assault on the Crystal King’s Cave, Part 2

December 30, 2009 by The Chatty DM

See part 1 here. Cave of the Crystal Kings I set up the second and final encounter of our little game by piling books and boxes to create a ‘throne’ for the Crystal King. Chatty: All right,  the king awaits your arrival. Nico: Oh Dad, wait, I’ve got these gems in the Rock Wrecker. Chatty: […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: gaming with children, Gaming with Kids, Lego RPG

YouTube Tuesday: Squiggle Piece Edition

December 29, 2009 by Dave

How are the blocks chosen in Tetris? If you said some kind of random generation, you’re wrong. Next time you play, make sure you pray to the God of Tetris.

Filed Under: Humor, Video Games, YouTube Tuesday Tagged With: tetris

Nico’s Lego RPG: Assault on the Crystal King’s Cave, Part 1

December 29, 2009 by The Chatty DM

I was thinking how long it had been since I played a post-worthy RPG session with my soon-to-be 8 years old son Nico.  A few weeks ago, I made him a Swords and Wizardry PC and we started doing a random dungeon crawl but I made the bad decision of using the 1e DMG dungeon […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: gaming with children, Gaming with Kids, Lego RPG

Inq. of the Week: 4E D&D in 2010?

December 28, 2009 by Bartoneus

This week I’m taking a hard look at what has been announced for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition in the coming year (you can see them all at WotC’s catalog in wondrous chronological order) and wondering what’s in store, getting a taste of what I’m going to like and what I won’t in 2010.

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 2010, catalog, D&D, dnd 4e, Dungeons and Dragons, Inquisition of the Week, products, roleplaying games, Roleplaying Games, wizards of the coast, wotc

Critical Bits for the week ending 2009-12-26

December 26, 2009 by Gato the News Robot

RT @InitiativeGames: LOTR done on Facebook. Hilarious! http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1796048 # Dungeon Master Monster Library/Encounter Builder http://bit.ly/8kXEfz # Review by @wotc_rodney of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3e, includes comparisons to D&D 4e http://tinyurl.com/ycucpoa # Dare you face: Savage Maul Santa, the Gingerdead men, and a Silent Wight? http://bit.ly/6DW017 (via @JaredvonHindman) # Review that matches my feelings perfectly: RT […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Merry Chirstmas and Happy Holidays

December 25, 2009 by The Chatty DM

It’s X-mas morning and my family is doing geeky things. My daughter asked to play on the CBC kids website right after watching the Disney Parade. My son and wife are playing Wii Sports Resort and I’m just checking a few things online before joining back the fun. I just thought I’d take a few […]

Filed Under: blogging, Geek Stuff, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games

New York, New York, It’s a Hell of a Town

December 24, 2009 by Dave

Adventure premise is simple: it’s New York, modern day. An election is coming up. Some bad guys are conducting dark rituals to try to steal said election by sacrificing creatures in Brooklyn. Those dark rituals, it turns out, were a favorite of Hitler’s.

Filed Under: Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: call of cthulhu, new york, snows of an early winter

Mouse Guard Diaries: Delivering the Mail, Part 4, Finale

December 23, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Player Turn: In the player turn, each player gets to spend a free ‘token’ called a ‘check’ to do one thing, of his own choosing, like  recovering from a negative condition, playing a scene to achieve an unmet goal or interact with the story in some way.  Players each get 1 free check.  They can […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Game Demo, Mouse Guard

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  • 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.

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