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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits / Columns / Dire Flailings

Gen Con 2012 FLAIL STYLE

August 28, 2012 by Vanir

In which I relate the things I learned at Gen Con this year, tell some strange stories, and tell you how to get the stinkeye in a hotel lobby OR YOUR MONEY BACK.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Featured, Humor Tagged With: conventions, dice, gen con, Gen Con 2012, obsidian portal, recap, the resistance, Tips

Official Guide To Stalking Vanir At Gen Con, 2012 Edition

August 14, 2012 by Vanir

It’s finally here! The week we let our geek freak meek greek creak bleak boutique. I’M SO EXCITED I’M APHASICALLY RHYMING. Here’s what I’m planning to do this year at Gen Con (more or less). DID I MENTION I WAS EXCITED?

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor Tagged With: games on demand, gen con, Gen Con 2012, indiegamesexplosion, omg, omg gencon, omg omg omg, stalking

Make-A-Geas

August 7, 2012 by Vanir

Next week, thousands of us will be converging on Indianapolis for our favorite consecutive four day period of the year. Sadly, there are countless more of our tribe that won’t be making the trip. Many can’t go because of finances, family obligations, or (like me last year) an unfortunate work schedule. It sucked. This week, I try to bring you hope.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor Tagged With: evil, gen con, Gen Con 2012, gen con indy, internets, make a geas, requests

Rules For Optimum Gen Connery, 2012 Edition

July 31, 2012 by Vanir

Last night, I dreamt of Gen Con. This happens to me 4-5 times a year, and though the details are usually different, there are some common threads. First, it’s always the second or third day of the con, and I haven’t done even close to everything I wanted to do. Second, something insane happens, and I’m no longer gaming, and usually my life is in danger. Sometimes, I’m a secret agent. Once, I was at a surfing academy, and my classes were conflicting with all the best seminars. In the most recent iteration of this dream, I found a holy lamppost that told me how to get a date in Victorian England and threatened to unmake reality, and I was really bummed that I was going to miss True Dungeon.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Featured Tagged With: convention, convention tips, gen con, Gen Con 2012, gen con llc

Schrödinger’s Virtual Tabletop

July 10, 2012 by Vanir

WotC announced yesterday that they’ll be shutting down their lukewarmly-popular Virtual Tabletop application that let people play (*gasp*) over the Internets. Of course, now those same Internets are on fire with all sorts of FUD and vitriol about how WotC is out of touch and predictions on how long before WotC sells the company to Paizo (obviously the clear winner of the online/tabletop RPG arms race). I’m not really upset about this. Why? You have to read the rest of the article for that, silly.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: beta, CALM DOWN OMG, closing, D&D, d&d 4e, D&D next, virtual tabletop, vtt

Making Better Lives Through Genuine Threats Of Death

July 3, 2012 by Vanir

Though I’ve started to find my voice in recent months as a Dungeon Master, there is still a lot of undiscovered ground for me to cover. How to come up with named on the fly that don’t end in “eeberbeeb”. How to keep one lonely alligator tear from rolling down my cheek as my best laid plans are turned to slag. And, of course, how to kill the entire party. That’s right. I’m a TPK virgin.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: dead alive, dead rising, Death, death of a salesman, night of the living dead, party death, Pelor, player death, TPK, val kilmer, weekend at bernie's, zombies

Gen Con Indie

June 26, 2012 by Vanir

As many of you are no doubt rabidly aware, Gen Con Indy 2012 approaches. I am slightly foamier than I usually am since I had to miss all but a few hours of the ‘con last year. That being said, I am a little dumbfounded as to how to spend my time in Indy this year. Sure, there’ll be lots of time spent with old friends and new and many (mis)adventures to be had. But some of that time is going to be spent gaming, and I’ve been struggling with how to fill in the nerdliest 4 days of my year. I looked deep within myself for answers, and after breaking through several layers of E.L. Fudge strata I found my answer in the form of a simple question. “What don’t I get to do at home that I can do at Gen Con?”

Filed Under: Dire Flailings Tagged With: ascension, do the flying pilgrims, fiasco, gen con, gen con indy, indiana, indianapolis, indie games, magic 2013, magic the gathering, microscope, warhammer, wowtcg, yaaay

The Circle Of Laugh

June 19, 2012 by Vanir

A perfect night of D&D for me is one where either a lot of plot and adventure happened, or none happened and lots of roleplaying happened instead. Either way, there is usually some component of us laughing our entire butts off at least once during the session. Like, they have to be reattached. I’m usually the class clown at the table when I play. How odd, then, that I’m not behind the screen…..

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: adlib, dm tips, funny, Humor, roleplaying, you did what

Talking To Yourselves

June 12, 2012 by Vanir

I’m not going to lie. I really like it when my players have a problem. When they’re unhappy, I always have plenty to write about. Not only am I going to write about one of my players’ problems this week, I’m going to tell you about his character and several of mine. I think I’m a bad person.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: bat loaf, character growth, gucci, in their shoes, lumbar, peer pressure, pressure, roleplay

Flying By The Fill In Your Gaps

June 5, 2012 by Vanir

The D&D Next public playtest opened a couple weeks ago, and already we have angry sabers rattling and joyful hearts overflowing with weird smelling creepy pink froth. Thing is, nobody really knows what they’re talking about. Not yet. Thing is, this playtest is an entirely different beast than anything most gamers have ever encountered. Read on to find out how.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: alpha, beta, D&D next, gamma, greek letters, it's not finished yet, playtest, software development, testing

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About the Author

  • 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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