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You are here: Home / Archives for The Chatty DM

Tweaking Classes for Cooler Characters

September 9, 2007 by The Chatty DM

The following is a Crunch-heavy post on tweaking the mechanics of D&D 3.5 character classes. As D&D 4e draws nearer I feel more and more comfortable with playing under the game’s hood. Something I would never had dared with previous editions of the game. One of the things that came out of last Friday’s game […]

Filed Under: Game Hacks & Content, Musings of the Chatty DM, Player Psychology Tagged With: Crunch, DMing, rule of cool, Tropes

DM Chronicles, Session 2: When Cool Meets Satisfaction (Part 2).

September 9, 2007 by The Chatty DM

Scene 3: Evil is a matter of style Following the Self-Employed Mensa Troll, who just happened to be going where the map was leading, the PCs came into another burst Sewer tunnel leading into the darkness. That time, the passage looked like it had been man/thing made. This brought the party to a largish Cavern […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Chatty's 2007-2008 campaign, DMing, rule of cool, Tropes

DM Chronicles, Session 2: When Cool meets Satisfaction, (Part 1)

September 8, 2007 by The Chatty DM

Previously in Phil’s game: The PCs got their asses handed to them by an overwhelming encounter with a group of Yugoloths in an Elven temple. Invited to leave rapidly because of threats of open rebellion and slashed tires, the fiends disappeared in the Ptolus night. Battered and bitter, the PCs meet with Ptolus’ elven leadership […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 3.5e, Chatty's 2007-2008 campaign, DMing, rule of cool, Tropes

Why yes Dr, I do own a copy of the DMG!

September 7, 2007 by The Chatty DM

While browsing through the DMing Blogosphere I came upon an older post by Dr.Rotwang that talked about the place that the 1st edition A D & D Dungeon Master Guide occupies in a DM’s library. Instead of posting a comment on an article dated November 2006 I decided to ponder about it here. A copy […]

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

The start of a new thing

September 7, 2007 by The Chatty DM

Shamus of DM of the Ring fame has completed his first Opus. Before even letting the dust settle he presents us with his new comic over at the Fear the Boot site. Like a lot of his readers I stumbled upon DM of the Ring quite by accident somewhere around the story arc of the […]

Filed Under: Newest Critical Hits, Uncategorized

Game Prep: The Mental State

September 7, 2007 by The Chatty DM

Preparing an adventure represents about 80% of my game prep process. This includes stating the Bad Guys, setting the difficulty of the various Non-Combat challenges and creating loot that the players will appreciate. Aside: One of my last D&D 3.5 purchases was the Magic Item Compedium. This book is phenomenal and a preview of what […]

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Player Psychology, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: DMing

Adventure Prep, Session 2

September 6, 2007 by The Chatty DM

I’m still shocked that people other than my close friends actually read this and even more shocked to have been mentioned by other DM bloggers. (I’m not going to Ego it up by linking to their post, but these guys have gotten added to my DM Blogroll). Oh and this is not a Meta-Blogging post […]

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: DMing, rule of cool, Tropes

Exploring Evil in RPGs

September 4, 2007 by The Chatty DM

As promised, Vanir over at StupidRanger posted is 1st part of a series on defining Evil in NPC. His definitions of evil and the motivations that may lead a non-evil being to cross the line are spot on. A lot can be said on Evil and we actually have quite a few gaming books written […]

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

The Rule of Cool

September 4, 2007 by The Chatty DM

Image Source: The TV Tropes Wiki. I just found out about possibly the coolest site for failed writers (raises hand), Meta-plot analyst (raises hand… again) and just plain Story-driven entertainment junkies (Me me me!!!). It’s called the TV tropes Wiki and it may very well Ruin your life. (God! I must be the billionth blogger […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: DMing, rule of cool, Tropes

The Campaign Elevator Pitch: Selling your game to your players

August 31, 2007 by The Chatty DM

A few months ago, I stumbled upon Martin Ralya’s GM Wiki (well, it’s a collaborative effort, but he hosts it) and one concept in it really inspired me, the RPG Elevator Pitch. A short, concise description of a RPG system, like if you were trying to sell someone over a new game within the time […]

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

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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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