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Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 2

March 6, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty and his son Nico start exploring Castle Death and make up new rules as they go along, creating a unique introductory roleplaying experience.

Filed Under: Actual Play, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Castle Death, fantasy, gaming with children, Gaming with Kids

O The Tangled Webs We Weep, When Breathe We Don’t When Go To Sleep

March 6, 2012 by Vanir

Ever since I was a wee lad, I’ve always had really vivid dreams. On occasion, this translates into really vivid nightmares, which sucks mightily. Usually, though, it just means I’m going to have a good story to tell come the dawn. Well, that is, until I found out I had sleep apnea. Turns out, one of the side effects of stopping to take a break during sleep to not breathe every few minutes is that you never really leave REM sleep — causing incredibly vivid dreams. Getting a machine to help with that provides me with a lot more energy during the day, but I only get a tiny fraction of the WTF I used to reap each night. This week, however, my sinuses have decided to clog up everything, making it really hard for my machine to blow air down my throat to keep me breathing normally. And that meant it was SHOWTIME.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: aliens, apnea, conventions, cortex, cpap, dreams, illinois central college, kmart, leverage, marvel, orange chairs, pregnant, sweaters, tractors, warm mood lighting

Pain of Publication: Writing to Revise

March 2, 2012 by The Main Event

Even though revisions are a pain in the ass, there’s a feeling of wizardry when you combine two throwaway characters into one quirky minor character or change a few proper nouns around to create foreshadowing. It almost feels like cheating. Knowing that revisions will be made should inform how you write a draft. I have learned to prioritize certain aspects of writing in my first draft and give other considerations lower priority.

Filed Under: Pain of Publication, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: authors, red pen, revising, Writing

Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 1

February 29, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty and Nico get ready to play a a Kid friendly RPG they co-develop as they play it. Beware of Castle Death!

Filed Under: Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Castle Death, fantasy, gaming with children, Gaming with Kids

It’s OK To Talk To Yourself, As Long As Someone Answers

February 28, 2012 by Vanir

I’ve been playing a lot of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning lately. I’m convinced the entire game is nothing but a plot by R.A. Salvatore to convince the world that faeries aren’t actually lame after all. The jury is still out. At the very least, the Summer Fae in the game give me a headache with their stubbornness, their cryptic words and their being “stuck in time in a condescending way”. To be honest, they remind me of a lot of certain people that used to call in when I was still doing Internet tech support. That being said, I find myself trying to put myself in their shoes. Maybe it’s because I find people less annoying when I empathize with them. Everyone has their own unique point of view. Even if it’s annoying.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: brainstorming, druid, dwarf, elf, how, imagination, lassie, questions, riddler, what, when, where, who, why

Collateral Damage Issue #1: Electric Ninja Boogaloo, Part 2

February 23, 2012 by The Chatty DM

Join us dear readers in a thrill ride where dangers and catastrophe are a dime a dozen. Witness the birth of a new Superhero team in the heart of the City of Angels. Collateral Damage is here to stay! Take a special behind-the-scenes tour here and don’t miss Part 1 of this exciting new series! Excelsior!

Filed Under: Actual Play, Campaign Logs, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Collateral Damage, marvel, marvel heroic roleplaying, Marvel RPG, MRH, Super Heroes

10 Epic-Level Problems Nobody Thinks About

February 22, 2012 by Vanir

Everybody thinks being powerful enough to slap-fight the gods themselves would be completely awesome. There’s a reason epic-level D&D breaks down. Actually, there are ten. And NONE OF YOU have thought of ANY of them. Unless you’re future epic-level me. In which case, you probably have.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: bunny, epic, epic tier, family reunion, fluffy, gods, hippogriff, kingdom come, kitty, mythology, puppy, republicans

Collateral Damage Issue #1: Electric Ninja Boogaloo, Part 1

February 21, 2012 by The Chatty DM

Welcome true believers to a series describing the antics of the newest super hero team: Collateral Damage! I hope you’ve caught our special pre-launch issue where we showed you the nitty-gritty aspects of our creation process. Now get ready form pure raw action and laughs as only the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying game can offer you!

Filed Under: Actual Play, Campaign Logs, Comics, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Collateral Damage, marvel, marvel heroic roleplaying, Marvel RPG, MRH, Super Heroes

Collateral Damage #0: The Making of a New (Marvel RPG) Series

February 17, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty invites you to the writer’s room of his new Marvel Heroic Roleplaying campaign with four of his buddies. It’s been too long!

Filed Under: Actual Play, Adventure Prep, Campaign Logs, Comics, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Collateral Damage, marvel, marvel heroic roleplaying, Marvel RPG, MRH, Super Heroes

Fighters & Flapjacks

February 16, 2012 by Dave

I’ve been playing RPGs a long time now. I’m quite experienced at playing RPGs and games of all types. This is why I react poorly to statements implying that the D&D fighter should be the class that you give the new player, because they’re so simple. I don’t necessarily want a class that’s overly complicated (and we all know a few of those out there in D&D history) but I do want one that gives me plenty of decisions to make inherent in the class itself. I want to think like a Fighter.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Editorial, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: D&D, D&D next

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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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