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You are here: Home / Archives for 2011

Archives for 2011

I Am Fortune’s Fool

April 27, 2011 by Dave

There’s a new article up on the D&D website, available to everyone, about alternate uses for Fortune Cards. The article was written by Sarah Darkmagic, Greywulf, Tim Brannan, and oh yeah, me.

Filed Under: News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, fortune cards

It’s Got Electrolytes

April 26, 2011 by Vanir

One problem I keep running into with my campaign is that I have tunnel vision. I see the story, I see the characters, I see the players, and I have a tendency not to think about the existence of other things without some effort. One major side effect of this is that we’re 5 sessions in and nobody has received any loot. We also don’t use XP in my campaign. I think my players are getting antsy. I’m worried they might snap and hold me for ransom if I don’t figure out how to reward them somehow. If I suddenly stop tweeting one day, don’t wait. Call the cops.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: beef xtreme, brawndo, electrolytes, experience, Experience Points, gold, gp, idiocracy, iron rations, iron spikes, its got what plants crave, loot, platinum, player rewards, pp, torches, Treasure, xp

Unboxing – The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond Boxed Set

April 25, 2011 by Bartoneus

We were extremely fortunate to get an early copy of the upcoming D&D boxed set called The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond to unbox and show you all today. It comes packaged in a thin box the same size as the Red Box starter set and comes with a very sturdy 127 page paperback Campaign Guide, a 31 page Encounter Book, two sheets of cardboard tokens, one poster with a map of gloomwrought on one side and an encounter map on the other, and a Despair deck of 30 cards.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, box set, boxed set, D&D, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, game, gloomwrought and beyond, new, preview, Reviews, roleplaying, Shadowfell, the shadowfell, the shadowfell gloomwrought and beyond, unboxing

Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-04-24

April 24, 2011 by Gato the News Robot

From the Archives:: Tales of Draconis, Part 3 http://bit.ly/dWGlsY #charchive # RT @SlyFlourish: My first Monster Makeover article, Shademaw(lvl26 black dragon), just got published to the #dnd website! http://j.mp/idTUxw #

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Review: Nightfall (Card Game)

April 21, 2011 by Bartoneus

Nightfall is a new deck-building card game from Alderac Entertainment Group that is set in a dark world of vampires and werewolves. The game supports between 2 and 5 players and takes roughly 45 minutes to an hour to play. The basic set for the game comes with over 300 cards that include minions you can recruit into your deck, actions that you can play during your turn and other player’s turn, several types of wound cards representing different types of damage taken (bite, burn, and bleed), and draft cards that are used during the game’s set up.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Featured, Reviews Tagged With: action, alderac entertainment group, card game, deck building, gothic, horror, modern, nightfall, preview, Reviews, vampires, werewolf, werewolves

Chatty’s Adventure Scaffold #1 : Words with Fiends

April 20, 2011 by The Chatty DM

Where Chatty makes his triumphant return by being all cryptic about what he did these last few weeks. At least, you’ll get a cool adventure plan for your reading troubles.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: adventure design, Adventure Plan, Adventure Scaffold, gming advice, Mouseburning, old school

26 Years of Gaming Lessons

April 20, 2011 by guest

My wife’s birthday is coming up, which made me think of my birthday, which made me think of my age, and thus, the length of time I’ve been a gamer. I’ve been a gamer for 26 years, and in that time: I’ve lost an arm and a leg in the same fight; witnessed the best […]

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: AD&D, Life Lessons, Rifts, wil wheaton

The Creme Filling Of The DM Soul

April 19, 2011 by Vanir

In which I ignore good advice, accept better advice, accidentally stumble into great adventure, and achieve my heart’s desire. If you’re a cinnamon roll aficionado and this is making you hungry, then this post is probably going to disappoint. Only I can eat my words. Shame they don’t taste like cinnamon rolls.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: bone phone, bones, cinnamon rolls, combat, combat length, combat speed, gentle necromancy, hearts, initiative, mr rogers, necromancy

Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-04-17

April 17, 2011 by Gato the News Robot

Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple – A Storytelling Game by @DanielSolis influenced by Avatar: The Last Airbender http://is.gd/Ri0RmL # From the Archives:: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (No Book 7 Spoilers) http://bit.ly/efi8KZ #charchive # RT @WyattSalazar: Get the revised and improved High Score here: http://is.gd/XhcsZv Hope you playtest and enjoy! # RT @AAGAD_GAMA: […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Can 4e Be Old-School D&D?

April 15, 2011 by Shawn Merwin

My most recent design project for Wizards of the Coast has left me thinking a lot about old-school D&D.  I have been reminiscing about my early days of playing, when my Jr. High school friends and I could play first-edition AD&D for 72 hours straight without having to worry about jobs or families or responsibilities […]

Filed Under: Columns, Editorial, Know Your Roll, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games

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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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