• Critical-Hits Studios
    • Criminals Card Game
    • Sentinel Comics: the Roleplaying Game
  • Downloads & Tools
    • Critical Hits Fantasy Name Generator
    • Drinking D&D 2010
    • Drinking D&D 2011
    • Fiasco Playset: “Alma Monster”
    • MODOK’s 11 for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying
    • Refuge In Audacity RPG
    • Strange New Worlds RPG
  • Guides
    • Gamma World
    • Guide to 4e Accessories
    • Guide to Gaming DVDs
    • Skill Challenges
  • RSS Feed
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Critical Hits

Everything tabletop gaming since 2005

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Columns
    • Dire Flailings
    • Dungeonomics
    • Musings of the Chatty DM
    • Pain of Publication
    • The Architect DM
  • Podcasts
    • Critical Hits Podcast
    • Dungeon Master Guys Podcast
  • Roleplaying Games
  • Tabletop Games
  • Game Hacks & Content
  • Video Games
You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits / Columns

Recompiling Digital D&D

January 17, 2012 by Vanir

A common complaint with 4th Edition has been the online tools that go with it. Now that we have a Next Edition coming, WotC gets another shot at getting their cyberducks in a row. The best part is, this time out they’re asking all of us what we want from D&D. Guess what? I want better online tools! Furthermore, I have a few suggestions. WARNING: Some programmer jargon ahead. Proceed with digital caution.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: .net, asp, character builder, D&D, D&D Insider, D&DI, dndnext, Dungeons and Dragons, json, online tools, perl, php, python, virtual tabletop, wotc, xml

The Road Not Taken: Alternative Directions For A Post 4e D&D

January 16, 2012 by Dave

In the context of a new edition, there are any number of ways that an edition after 4th edition could go, while still building on the foundation of the game.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Game Hacks & Content, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, game design, hacks

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

The Pain of Publication III: Making the Most of your Work Sessions

January 13, 2012 by The Main Event

The reality for most aspiring authors is that their writing has to give way to the realities of a full life outside of it. Most of the time, that means squeezing in time in between your job that pays you and other life activities. However, sometimes you can get lucky and have the opportunity to spend a large dedicated chunk of time writing without work getting in the way.

Filed Under: Pain of Publication, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: getting down to work, working, Writing, writing tips

Dungeons & Dragons of Future Past

January 12, 2012 by Bartoneus

The 4th Edition of D&D brought about the only long campaign I’ve ever managed to run, and I attribute a large part of that to the ways the new edition changed the role of being a Dungeon Master and the tools it provided. After D&D Next was announced the online RPG community went crazy, and I saw a number of people sharing lamentations that 4th Edition was now “old” and “going away”. I’ve finally managed to wrangle my thoughts about D&D Next, and they are overwhelming in their hope that whatever D&D Next is it allows me to continue running 4e D&D.

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games, The Architect DM Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, D&D, dnd, dndnext, Dungeons and Dragons, edition wars, new edition, random encounters, roleplaying games

Chatty’s 2nd Anniversary at Critical-Hits: The Enthusiastic Storyteller

January 11, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty realizes he’s been blogging at this here website for two whole years… and then indulges in good old fashion navel gazing for a few more hundred words.

Filed Under: blogging, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: Enthusiasm, Freelance Writing, stories, story, Writing

It Slices, It Dices, It Possibly Does The THAC0

January 10, 2012 by Vanir

I’m sure by now you’ve heard the news. Beyoncé Knowles has given birth to a new edition of Dungeons and Dragons, and the Internets are ablaze. The epic ears of the Wizards of the Coast are now listening to user feedback more than ever before, and in their direction everyone’s hopes and dreams for their favorite game have been launched. The system is rumored to be many things, two of the most common of these being “just another money grab” and “modular”. As my experiences with the R&D team over the past couple years have not included any signs of them being were-packrats who hunt shinies when the moon is full, I can only speculate about the game’s modularity. As it happens, that is the thing that gives me the most hope and the most worry about the upcoming changes to D&D.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, 5th edition, antisocial people, chaos, D&D, dnd, dnd3.5e, dnd3e, dnd4e, dnd5e, dndnext, Dungeons and Dragons, edition wars, editions, manifesto, minmaxers and roleplayers living together, monte cook

The Architect DM: Winging It

January 5, 2012 by Bartoneus

Let me know if this situation sounds familiar to you: You’re the DM/GM for your gaming group and you’ve just wrapped up an adventure, and you have at least a whole week until the next one. You sit down the next day, or even that very night, and start the adventure planning process. Over the next few days you stay on track but before you know it the next adventure is looming and you feel like despite your best efforts the game is still not as ready as you feel it should be.

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games, The Architect DM Tagged With: Adventure Prep, advice, architect dm, D&D, DM advice, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, planning, preparation, roleplaying games

Everybody Kill Each Other

January 3, 2012 by Vanir

In which an evil Jedi with doilies over her eyes blows an engineer out an airlock, driving Vanir to consider the most fun way to kill his teammates. (Current contender: playing Dominion, but all the treasure cards are poisoned.)

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: alignment, alignment sucks, chloroform, Death, evil, good, grey area, interpersonal conflict, intraparty conflict, lawful stupid, morality, morals, murder, neutral, pvp, stabbing, swords, violence

Vanir’s New Year’s Gaming Resolutions (2012 Edition)

December 28, 2011 by Vanir

It’s that special time of year again. You know, the one where you run out of times of the year. This year was a significant improvement for me in a lot of ways. I got laid off from a horrible job, and almost immediately got a really good job. I got a gaming group together. I’ve had a lot of new, awesome experiences this year, and my gaming life is much improved. That being said, here’s my plan for the coming year.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: DM, dresden files, fiasco, gaming, microscope, new year, pathfinder, resolution

« Previous Page
Next Page »

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/

    Follow me:

Subscribe

RSS Feed

Archives

CC License

All articles and comments posted posted on the site (but not the products for sale) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. References to trademarks and copywritten material are included for review and commentary use only and are not intended as any kind of challenge.

Recent Comments

  • fogus: The best things and stuff of 2024 on Remembering the Master: An Inelegant Eulogy for Kory Heath
  • Routinely Itemised: RPGs #145 on Review: The Magus
  • The Chatty DM on Review: The Magus
  • Linnaeus on Review: The Magus
  • 13th Age: Indexing Truths — Critical Hits on The Horizon Conspiracy

Contact The Staff

Critical Hits staff can be reached via the contact information on their individual staff pages and in their articles. If you want to reach our senior staff, email staff @ critical-hits.com. We get sent a lot of email, so we can't promise we'll be able to respond to everything.

Recent Posts

  • Remembering the Master: An Inelegant Eulogy for Kory Heath
  • Review: The Magus
  • Hope in the Dark Heart of Evil is Not a Plan
  • Chatty on Games #1: Dorf Romantik
  • The Infinity Current: Adventure 0

Top Posts & Pages

  • Home
  • The 5x5 Method Compendium
  • Dungeons & Dragons "Monster Manual" Preview: The Bulette!
  • Critical Hits Fantasy Name Generator
  • On Mid-Medieval Economics, Murder Hoboing and 100gp
  • "The Eversink Post Office" - An Unofficial Supplement for Swords of the Serpentine
  • Finally a manual for the rest of them!
  • Dave Chalker AKA Dave The Game
  • How to Compare Birds to Fish
  • The Incense War: a Story of Price Discovery, Mayhem, and Lust

Copyright © 2026 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in