I have a problem with movie remakes and reboots these days, in that I was but a wee lad when the originals came out and I’m viewing things through the rose-tinted awesomegoggles that comes standard with being that age. There are things labeled as “awesome” and “the definitive one” in my mind that really ought […]
Archives for 2013
Criminals: An Experiment in Card Game Publishing
Around 2006-2007, I was involved with a small startup game company called Robot Martini. We focused at first on making small card games by friends. The whole thing didn’t work out. But we did make some cool games. Flash forward to 2012 when I heard a rumor that the company behind DriveThruRPG was starting their […]
I Have A Reaction To Console Gaming
When I was 4, I got an ear infection or strep throat or some other relatively minor infection, and my parents gave me some sort of Sulfa-based antibiotic. That was a really bad idea, because it turns out I am crazy allergic to that, and I basically turned into a tiny red Frankenstein with crazy […]
Chatty DM, Freelancer, Epilogue: Tales of Ubiquity
Between May and August of 2011, I wrote a series of articles that looked back on the different stages of my life which led me to become a RPG freelancer. This an epilogue of sorts. You can read the previous articles here: Part 1: Lessons from Academia Part 2: Lessons from Day Jobs Part 3: […]
Flank You Very Much: Tactical Play in D&D
An interesting question came up in an online discussion of D&D Next, and I very much anticipated seeing how the answers would play out. The question regarded how players and DMs handled flanking in the playtest, since the current iteration of the rules do not mention flanking. I was most interested in not what people […]
Hollywood Halaster’s All-You-Can-Eat Buffet And Love Fortress
It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to play D&D (curse you, real life!), but I have managed to consume many fantastic high-budget entertainment products (featuring stunning pieces of intellectual property) in the meantime. As I write for a gaming blog, this usually leads me to considering the various ways I can (and sometimes do) cause […]
Preview: “Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management”
Engine Publishing, the book publishing arm of our blog rivals/friends at Gnome Stew, has tackled all kinds of subjects before: from NPCs, to plots, to adventure preparation. Their newest book, Odyssey, takes the long view that encompasses aspects of all of these in macro, looking at the campaign as a whole and strategies to deal […]
Interview: Bill “Dungeon Bastard” Cavalier on “The World’s Worst Dungeon Crawl”
Here at Critical Hits, we’ve been following the advice of Bill Cavalier, Adventure Coach AKA “The Dungeon Bastard” for some time now. At first it was because we mistook him for someone else entirely, but we grew to value his advice on WINNING Dungeons & Dragons after years of treating it as a collaborative activity […]
Of Tables and Games: What I’m Playing Now
Before I start, a little Chatty update: Winter and Spring have been my crazy freelancer months for a few years now. I’m knee-deep in pushing the Cortex Plus Hacker’s Guide to layout. Dave and I released the preview version of the Fantasy Heroic Roleplaying game to backers and the response has been both positive and […]
Get Out Of My Dreams, Get Into My TARDIS
I recently finished BioShock Infinite. I know an army of people who loved everything about this game, especially the story. I enjoyed it, but the ending left me a little flat. I’m not going to discuss the details here other than to say it got all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey (well, sort of) and I found myself […]
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