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You are here: Home / Archives for 2012

Archives for 2012

The Island Of Dr. Flail

October 9, 2012 by Vanir

It’s October, and I’m in the mood for some scary stuff. Problem: I’ve never really played in a good horror game and I’m about as scary as a box of Franken-Berry cereal. Time to get my vampire hat on. Come up to the lab, and see what’s on the slab.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Featured, Player Psychology, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: horror, psychological, roleplaying, scary, thriller

Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-10-07

October 7, 2012 by Gato the News Robot

RT @rpggeek: 2012 RPG Golden Geeks – Congrats to the nominees. Voting for the Winners takes place now! http://t.co/A08qgBpN # RT @TheOnyxPath: New post: Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition Deluxe Kickstarter is live! http://t.co/mBk6QfgZ # RT @AllenVarney: RT @RPGnet Our interview column returns with a talk with Greg Costikyan about the #StarWars RPG: http://t.co/9YldODlQ […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Nantes as Inspiration for RPGs: Dark Secrets and Bright Machines

October 5, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty tackles two gaming inspirations that the city of Nantes gave him. Expect dark secrets and strange machinations!

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: France, Machines, Mecha, Nantes, Secrets, steampunk, Travel as Inspiration

Epic Changes: Converting from “Pathfinder” to “Marvel Heroic Roleplaying”

October 4, 2012 by The Main Event

As our Pathfinder game progressed through 18 months, 75+ adventures, and nearly 20 levels of play it was increasingly apparent that we had captured lightning in a bottle. Despite the pressures of adulthood, careers, significant others and children in some ways our play group of nearly two decades had just started to hit its stride. Thanks to our DM, the world was teeming with possibility, fantastically developed, and linked together with a metaplot that we had been organically and naturally unraveling since day one. Meanwhile, each player had reached a synthesis of Pathfinder-style combat potency and crafting believable personalities for well-rounded three dimensional play. There was only one problem: Pathfinder itself.

Filed Under: Featured, Game Hacks & Content, Pain of Publication, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: marvel heroic roleplaying, Marvel RPG, MarvelRPG, pathfinder

Chronicles of the Bipolar Tourist: Sweet Aggravations, Nantes

October 3, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty posts about his recent visit to France, this time he visits Nantes many closed doors, meets awesome machines and discovers the dark secret of the French.

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: Bipolar Disorder, Elephant, France, Machine, Nantes, steampunk, Travel, Travelogue

Review: “Director’s Cut: Survival Horror”

October 2, 2012 by Vanir

My gaming group tried something new this past week. One of our members wanted to run a game he’d picked up at Gen Con this past August — namely, Director’s Cut: Survival Horror, a survival horror RPG in the spirit of slasher/monster/mostly-unclothed-women-about-to-die-horribly movies. Things didn’t turn out so well. The bandages come off next month, I’m told.

Filed Under: Actual Play, Dire Flailings, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: b-movie, director's cut, frustrating, not good, slasher, survival horror, troma, usa up all night

Paris as Inspiration for RPGs: Its All in the Culture

September 26, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty explores Parisian culture, it’s people, its architecture and even tries to explain why service is so bad in Paris. Added bonus, a juicy Adventure/Campaign hook based on one very disturbing picture.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: adventure hook, campaign genesis, campaign idea, hooks, Paris, Plot hooks, real world inspiration

The Possibly Accidentally Nonviolent DM

September 25, 2012 by Vanir

As you may have guessed from my past few weeks’ worth of columns, I’ve been pretty anxious about getting back behind the DM screen. That finally happened this past Thursday, and it was really fun. The story progressed and grew in ways that were cooler than I initially envisioned (I freaking love that!) and the players were emotionally engaged in what was happening. Also, there was almost no combat whatsoever. Should I be worried? I hope their lust for orc blood doesn’t need to be sated with MINE. (P.S. I game with barbarians.)

Filed Under: Actual Play, Dire Flailings, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: combat, diceless, dm tips, dungeon mastery, heavy roleplay, nonviolent, omg the roleplay it is too much, roleplay, super heavy roleplay

Chronicles of the Bipolar Tourist: Introspective Paris

September 25, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty starts spinning an introspective yarn about is recent travels in France, starting in eternal Paris.

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: Bipolar Disorder, France, Paris, Travel, Travelogue

Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-09-23

September 23, 2012 by Gato the News Robot

Fantasy Flight Games (@FFGames) announces Beginner Game boxed set for "Star Wars: Edge of the Empire" RPG http://t.co/1idy3MoG #

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

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  • Vanir

    Vanir is the sort of man who has openly wondered aloud about his own armor class in front of his own grandmother. Despite this, he has still managed to somehow become both married and a father. By day, he develops web applications. By night, web applications develop him.

    Email: vanir@critical-hits.comWeb: https://critical-hits.com//category/dire-flailings/

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