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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits / Columns / Musings of the Chatty DM / Tropes

D&D Zombie Apocalypse, Part 1: Genesis

October 27, 2011 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty tells the story of a great 100% made up on the spot D&D 4e game he ran for new players at the New York ComicCon. Be careful, it contains zombies and wolves.

Filed Under: Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: D&D, d&d 4e, Mini-Campaign, nycc, setting

Friday Chat, Early Edition: The Geeky Road Trip

August 26, 2010 by The Chatty DM

In about 24 hours, I’ll be leaving for the Toronto Fan Expo with my friend PM. The Expo is Canada’s largest event for Sci-Fi, Horror, Anime and Gaming fans where they get to meet some of their favorite industry personalities and stock up on merch. I have a 5 hour car trip to plan so I thought I’d reach out and share/ask how the travelling part of the trip should be prepared!

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Geek Stuff, Movies, Music, Musings of the Chatty DM, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, Television, Tropes Tagged With: Car Trip, Geek Trip, iphone, Montreal, Mp3, Music, Road Trip, Smart Phones, Toronto, Toronto Fan Expo 2010

Barf Forth Apocalyptica! Review: Apocalypse World

August 15, 2010 by The Chatty DM

Not for the faint of heart from both a thematic and playing philosophy point of view, Apocalypse World presents a very clever and potentially engrossing game. It’s main focus is not so much on player accomplishment (or setting exploration) but rather the relationships that form between PCs and the constantly mutating loyalties and rivalries between them.

If you’ve started enjoying story games that thrive on failures like Mouse Guard and Burning Wheel but want to explore a darker, very adult theme, Apocalypse World is worth giving a try.

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Newest Critical Hits, Reviews, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: Dogs in the Vineyard, games indie, Post-Apocalypse, Reviews, Rules-light, sci-fi, story games, Vincent Baker

Chatty’s Halloween Post: The 2012 Zombie Apocalypse

October 31, 2009 by The Chatty DM

This one is for The Maze, Scott, and HermitDave, and is a 100% RPG post inspired by my Influenza article. I give you the Zombie Apocalypse RPG Trope Post! Zombies are people, too… Okay, dead people, with poor verbal skills. And the only communication they understand is blowing off their heads. – USA Network commercial […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: halloween, Influenza, Tropes, Vaccine, Vampire, Zombie

Afterschool Trope Special: The Dungeon Crawl, Part 1

April 15, 2009 by The Chatty DM

This is Post # 600 on Musing of the Chatty DM!  To celebrate this and my Dungeon theme week, I decided to write an article in the style that has made me known as a RPG blogger: a Trope post!  You are new to the blog and don’t yet know about Tropes?  Here’s a handy […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: Tropes, Tropes Season 2

Under New Management

April 1, 2009 by Vanir

Good day! I am Vanir the Chatty DM. You probably came here expecting Phil the Chatty DM. I’m sorry to say that Phil has taken an extended leave of absence due to a severe poutine-related injury and will not be back for some time. In the meantime, he has handed his cape and sceptre to […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Tropes Tagged With: 2phils1cup, phil_almighty, rpgbloggers, Tropes

Raiding the Library : Neal Stephenson’s worlds, Part 1

January 5, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Man, I haven’t felt like that in months!  I feel like spending the whole damn day at the keyboard and churn out thousands upon thousands of words just for the sake of it.  That’s always a good sign. I’m one avid reader.  I read novels by the buckets when I have the time to do […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: Stealing from books

Afterschool Trope Special: Fill Up the Nighmare Mobile

October 31, 2008 by The Chatty DM

What, two Trope posts in the same week? Why not? It’s been ages since I wrote any of them, and this is Halloween after all. With a satisfying ‘thunk’ Tragak the barbarian sheared the Orc Shaman’s head, sending it flying in the room’s dank, dark corner. As he was looting the body, he failed to […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: halloween, horror, Tropes, Tropes Season 2

Afterschool Trope Post: Holy Super Heroic Fantasy Batman!

October 27, 2008 by The Chatty DM

This month, I am the custodian of the RPGbloggers Monthly Carnival which is about Super Heroes. I thought it would be a perfect occasion to do a new Trope post about mixing some Super Heroes in my D&D Kool Aid! Trope: A narrative shortcut taken in a story that the audience will recognize and have […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: 4e, Super Heroes, Tropes, Tropes Season 2

Afterschool Tropes Special: What’s That Fridge Doing at the Table?

June 19, 2008 by The Chatty DM

I’ve decided to rename my trope series because the posts feel like I’m writing a new season. I’m also experimenting with slightly different formats of trope posts. It remains to be seen if I’ll be jumping the shark or making the series grow a beard. Have you ever had the experience, at school, in your […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Player Psychology, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: Tropes Season 2

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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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