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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits / Columns / Know Your Roll

A Busy Year, Part 1: NPC Importance

December 30, 2015 by Shawn Merwin

Working as a part-time RPG freelancer is a proverbial rollercoaster ride. Sometimes it is thrilling, and other times the reward at the end of the ride is that you get to stop.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Columns, Editorial, Featured, Know Your Roll, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: D&D, freelancing, NPCs

Storytelling and Pacing: Why a D&D Movie is Doomed and Could Still Be Awesome

August 11, 2015 by Shawn Merwin

While other companies made their big announcements and rolled out their newest projects at Gen Con last week, the biggest news in RPGs broke on the Monday following Gen Con: a settlement was reached in the proceedings to sort out who had the rights to a D&D-based movie.

Filed Under: Columns, Know Your Roll, Movies, Newest Critical Hits, News, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: D&D, D&D movie

A D&D Lover’s Guide to Other RPGs: “Fate Core”

June 3, 2015 by Shawn Merwin

I wanted to take a look at another popular RPG through the lens of a long-time D&D fan. This time I want to take a look at a wonderful game system known as Fate Core.

Filed Under: Columns, Featured, Know Your Roll, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: fate, fate core, part-time gods

What I Did on My Summer Con Season Vacation

September 5, 2014 by Shawn Merwin

This summer was extra-special. Although I have been exercising my RPG muscles, both personally and professionally, in different directions, there is no ignoring the launch of the new edition. And for someone so steeped in Organized Play, the launch of a new D&D campaign at the start of a new edition of the game is a critical hit.

Filed Under: Columns, Editorial, Know Your Roll, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, Adventurer's League, D&D, D&D 5e, D&D next, Expeditions, forgotten realms, Tyranny of Dragons

Breaking D&D 2: Electric Bugaloo

July 22, 2014 by Shawn Merwin

The risk inherent in mentioning optimization, rules complexity, and story vs. rules in a discussion is great. People may fall back into entrenched positions on all sides. So I want to quickly clarify some points that will also frame my discussion going forward.

Filed Under: Columns, Editorial, Featured, Know Your Roll, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, D&D, D&D 5, D&D next

D&D: Breaking (is) Bad

July 10, 2014 by Shawn Merwin

The game has to be about the story if the hobby as a whole is going to flourish. This means that the ultra-optimizing, breaking the game with its own rules because they are there, intentionally ignoring the spirit of the rules to mangle the game into something it isn’t, has to stop.

Filed Under: Columns, Editorial, Featured, Know Your Roll, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, D&D, D&D 5e, RPGs

A D&D Lover’s Guide to Other RPGs: “Dungeon World”

July 2, 2014 by Shawn Merwin

It is no secret that Dungeon World was created as an homage to the earliest versions of D&D. From the six standard ability scores that range from 3-18, to the races and classes of the grand old game, Dungeon World makes no pretense at being anything but a hack of D&D.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Know Your Roll, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: D&D, dungeon world

Flank You Very Much: Tactical Play in D&D

June 5, 2013 by Shawn Merwin

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 […]

Filed Under: Editorial, Know Your Roll, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 3e, 4e, D&D, D&D next

Exploring D&D at DDXP

February 8, 2012 by Shawn Merwin

More important than the first playtest of the D&D rules at DDXP was the opportunity that participants had to explore what they loved most about the game throughout its history. The first step in this exploration is to figure out what the game is to each of its fans and players.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Know Your Roll, Roleplaying Games

Where D&D is Heading; or, How the Internet Changed a Game

January 13, 2012 by Shawn Merwin

Where I talk about my opinions on the past and future of D&D, and then end up sounds like a cross between a Romantic poet and the lonely drunk at the end of the bar after a long night. Which in some cases is exactly the same thing.

Filed Under: Editorial, Know Your Roll, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, D&D, D&D next, dndnext

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About the Author

  • Shawn Merwin

    Shawn Merwin is a freelance writer/editor and game designer with delusions of adequacy and a penchant for games and stories. He's worked on several organized play campaigns: Living Greyhawk, Xen'drik Expeditions, Living Kalamar, Living Forgotten Realms, and D&D Adventurer's League to name a few. His design work for Wizards of the Coast includes Dungeon Delve, Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress, and Halls of Undermountain, as well as two seasons of the D&D Encounters Program. His most recent project is co-designing and editing the Fate-powered game Part-Time Gods of Fate for Encoded Designs. You can follow Shawn on Twitter.

    Email: shawn.merwin@critical-hits.com

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