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You are here: Home / Archives for Dave

Interview: Rich Baker on “Primeval Thule”

July 22, 2013 by Dave

If you know D&D, you probably know the name Rich Baker. From his role in development of settings like Birthright, games like Alternity and the new Gamma World, many Forgotten Realms supplements and novels, war games, and much more, Baker has many years of industry experience on all kinds of products. Now, Baker has teamed up […]

Filed Under: Featured, Interviews, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 13th Age, 13thAge, 4e, campaign setting, D&D, pathfinder, Primeval Thule

Review: “Night’s Black Agents”

July 3, 2013 by Dave

Sometimes, there are games that just don’t click at first, for whatever reason. For example, I remember years ago at a convention demoing Give Me The Brain to a group of congoers, which isn’t exactly Advanced Squad Leader in terms of complexity. Yet there was one person I was demoing to that would not get it. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: gumshoe, night's black agents

Criminals: An Experiment in Card Game Publishing

June 12, 2013 by Dave

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 […]

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Editorial, Featured, Newest Critical Hits Tagged With: criminals, drivethrucards, drivethrurpg, game design, publishing

Preview: “Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management”

June 3, 2013 by Dave

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 […]

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: campaign advice, campaign preparation, Campaigns, gm prep, odyssey

Interview: Bill “Dungeon Bastard” Cavalier on “The World’s Worst Dungeon Crawl”

May 15, 2013 by Dave

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, Humor, Interviews, Newest Critical Hits, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: dungeon bastard, Dungeons and Dragons, gen con, gen con 2013, Kickstarter, lawful badass, TPK, world's worst dungeon crawl

“Get Bit!” and the Tabletop Effect

March 27, 2013 by Dave

Reflections on the story of Get Bit! and how it made the journey onto Tabletop, and what effects it has had on one game designer’s life.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Editorial, Featured Tagged With: geek & sundry, get bit!, tabletop

Cortex Plus Hacker’s Guide and Fantasy Heroic Roleplaying

January 25, 2013 by Dave

As you might know, Phil and I have been D&D fans for decades. Here on Critical Hits, we’ve spent a lot of time writing about, musing about, and generally playing with D&D and games like it.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Featured, Game Hacks & Content, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Cortex Plus, cphg, D&D, leverage, marvel heroic roleplaying, mhrp, smallville

Back Catalog D&D PDFs Begin to Resurface on DriveThruRPG

January 22, 2013 by Dave

PDF editions for D&D products have begun to reappear on both DriveThruRPG and the new completely branded site D&D Classics.

Filed Under: Featured, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 1e, 2e, 3e, 4e, D&D, drivethrurpg, OD&D, PDF

My Year in Gaming Kickstarters

December 31, 2012 by Dave

As 2012 wraps up, I wanted to take a look at the Kickstarters I supported this year, and ultimately focusing on the games, particularly the RPGs, my most-supported category.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Comics, Critical Threats, Editorial, Featured, Movies, Music, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, Video Games Tagged With: Kickstarter

2012: A Good Year for Cooperative Gaming

December 28, 2012 by Dave

This year has been a great one for new games of all kinds. As I look back at the ones I’ve put the most time into and been most excited about, I was surprised to pick up on a pattern: most of them are cooperative games. While cooperative games are often a mixed bag for me, this year has produced some that I’ve gotten lots of mileage out of. Presented here are five of my very favorites that I encourage you to check out.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Critical Threats, Editorial, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: agents of smersh, artemis, artemis starship bridge simulator, dungeon fighter, escape, escape: the curse of the temple, spaceteam, tales of the arabian nights

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About the Author

  • 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.

    Email: dave@critical-hits.com

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