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You are here: Home / Archives for 2009

Archives for 2009

Chatty’s review: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery, Part 1

September 23, 2009 by The Chatty DM

There’s a Method to my Madness Shortly before Gen Con and after completing the very long series of blog posts about Robin Laws’ Rules of Good Game Mastering, I contacted Tracy Hickman and asked if he could send me a review copy of his newest book, X-treme Dungeon Mastery.  He was gracious enough to do […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: XDM

YouTube Tuesday: What Would Gordon Freeman Do? Edition

September 22, 2009 by Dave

What happens when video game characters come to life, giant sized, and terrorize the city (and in particular, a group of video game fans)? You get Cloverbrawl, this 20 minute film that is amazingly made and combines horror and comedy. Part 1 up top, Part 2 below the fold. (via Offworld)

Filed Under: Movies, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, Video Games, YouTube Tuesday

City of the Overmind: Of Beholders and Mind Control, Part 2

September 22, 2009 by The Chatty DM

See part 1 here. House of the all seeing Eye As the PCs entered the administrative building of the re-education camp, I described how the first floor was deserted and was reminiscent of a U-store where the whole floor was separated in compartment where stuff could be stored.  Said stuff was mostly armor, weapons and […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, Chatty's 2009-2010 Campaign, Mouse Guard, Primal/Within

City of the Overmind: Of Beholders and Mind Control, Part 1

September 22, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Previously in Chatty’s Game Our heroes were transported into a monstrous city ruled by a mad, fascist Mind Flayer called The Overmind.  After learning that there were pieces of a  key to the Flayer’s castle strewn all over the city, the adventurers set out to seek them out.  They obtained one from a friend and […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: 4e, Burning Wheel, chatty's, Mouse Guard, Primal/Within

Inq. of the Week: Tears or tiers?

September 22, 2009 by Bartoneus

I have a small handful of polls that creep back into my consciousness every year or two and the few that I’ve done multiple times before have been very enlightening. On that note I’m bringing back a poll that I last ran in March of 2008…

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week Tagged With: Inquisition of the Week, reader poll

Critical Bits for the week ending 2009-09-19

September 19, 2009 by Gato the News Robot

Looking for Playtesters for our new Licensed Fantasy RPG. (via @cubicle7) Awesome scoop over at newbiedm : There won’t be a new class in Dark Sun, but will have an entirely new mechanic Check out SpyParty, where one player tries to look like an AI at a cocktail party, the other tries to shoot him […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

The 4th Power Project: Core Design Elements

September 18, 2009 by Dave

This week I’m going to tell you what my goals for the game are and some broad strokes as far as the rules go. However, I’m going to cover two things up front, which may disappoint some of you.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th power, 4th power project

Something Old, Something New: What Makes a Great GM?

September 18, 2009 by The Chatty DM

A few weeks ago I had an idea and I pitched it to my friend the NewbieDM: What if we created a series of dual posts comparing the views of a new DM and one with 25+ years of experience?  We would pick a subject and each write an opinion post about it and cross […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games

Caspule Reviews: Heavy Gear, Adventurer’s Vault 2, Eberron Campaign Guide

September 16, 2009 by The Chatty DM

I’m going to try something new here.  I have a pile of products to review and, to be quite frank, I don’t like doing long-winded reviews anymore. I think that the true appeal of a product can be projected in less than 100 words.  I also believe that what many people look for in a […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, Heavy Gear

In Depth: 4E Assassin and Q&A with Mike Mearls

September 16, 2009 by Bartoneus

Last week Wizards of the Coast released a new class for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition called the Assassin, an exclusive class only available to subscribers of their D&D Insider service. I was very intrigued by this new class, so I asked if designer Mike Mearls would be able to answer some questions for us.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e dnd, 4th Edition, answers, assassin class, D&D, D&D Insider, design, Dungeons and Dragons, Interviews, mike mearls, q&a, questions, Roleplaying Games, roleplaying games, tabletop

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About the Author

  • The Chatty DM

    The Chatty DM is the "nom de plume" of gamer geek Philippe-Antoine Menard. He has been a GM for over 40 years. An award-winning RPG blogger, game designer, and scriptwriter at Ubisoft. He squats a corner of Critical Hits he affectionately calls "Musings of the Chatty DM." (Email Phil or follow him on Twitter.)

    Email: chattydm@critical-hits.comWeb: https://critical-hits.com//category/chattydm/

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