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Communication Skills And Gaming: The Fundamental Truth About Fundamentals

July 12, 2011 by Vanir

Communication skills are very important to every facet of our lives that involves anyone but us. This means gaming too! Read on – and when you’re done, tell somebody what you’ve learned. Without using “um” or “uh”. Or WE’LL KNOW.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: communication, communication skills, cross-class, dm tips, drum circle, everyone is happy, fundamentals, harmony, player tips, QBQ, thanksgiving

There’s No Crying in Design

July 8, 2011 by Shawn Merwin

Whether you’re talking RPG design or other creative works, anything presented to the public is going to garner reaction. Criticism can be devastating, but there are ways to deal with it.

Filed Under: Editorial, Know Your Roll, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: criticism, Feedback, game design, game writing

Improvisational Safety Limits

July 5, 2011 by Vanir

Last week, I decided to simulate the randomness of dreams for my players in our D&D game. I decided to come up with almost everything on the fly to give it that extra little bit of realism. You know, for all the imaginary stuff. Needless to say, what ensued was a nightmare. GET IT?

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: dream, mutation, nightmare, random, wtf

Let Sleeping Dukes Lie

June 28, 2011 by Vanir

Poor ol’ Duke got cancelled and sold to other companies and cancelled and put through the most spectacular development hell any of us have ever heard of. I was incredibly worried the day Duke Nukem Forever came out last month. I was about 12% sure the world was going to end. Conversely, after the Worst Development Cycle Ever, I was over 90% sure Duke Nukem Forever was going to be really terrible. It wasn’t terrible. It was worse than that. It was disappointing.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: come get some, disappointment, duke nukem, duke nukem forever, duke nukum, duke3d, shake it baby

4e CAN be Old-School!

June 17, 2011 by Shawn Merwin

I asked myself a question a few weeks ago, and now I can finally start to answer it. Along the way, I scare myself with the random numbers that have stayed in my head for 30 years.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Know Your Roll, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, old school d&d

Chatty’s “Get it Together You Bum” game, V 2.0

June 17, 2011 by The Chatty DM

This is a revised version of a post I published on our sister Tumblr site: Roll.  As I realize it’s usefulness, I decided to move it here. A few days ago I bought Chuck Wendig’s “Confession of a Penmonkey” eBook.  I’m loving it so far, funny and insightful stuff! Chuck’s a blogger, novelist and long time RPG […]

Filed Under: Freelance Writing, Geek Stuff, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: Chuck Wendig, Epic Win, freelance, Gamification, Geek Health, iOS

Let’s Talk About Superhero Movies

June 16, 2011 by Bartoneus

I know a few people who are getting sick of superhero and comic book movies, and with good reason considering this year’s offering of Thor, X-Men: First Class, Green Lantern, and Captain America to name a few. Back when I was extremely young you could still consider superhero movies to be a new thing, but here in 2011 we have more comic book movies than I could have ever dreamed possible as an adolescent. You’ll notice I use the terms “superhero” and “comic book” interchangeably here, but that is simply for ease of use – rest assured I am well aware of the inherent differences and that there are non-comic book superhero movies and non-superhero comic book movies.

Filed Under: Comics, Movies, The Architect DM Tagged With: avengers, batman, green lantern, superman, thor, x-men, x-men: first class

The Note

June 14, 2011 by Vanir

Last night, I found a note written in my own handwriting that I didn’t remember writing. It said only “HE WAS VERY BAD.” Do I simply have a bad memory, or is something more sinister afoot? Has something sinister happened that I simply forgot about? Is Bigfoot involved? Read on, and share the constant nightmare that has become my life.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor Tagged With: bad, baseball, claire's, death note, debbie gibson, el fudge, ghostbusters, he was very bad, memory, memory failure, necklace, note, pearls, pulp fiction, runes, spells, that's all you had to say, the wolf, tiffany, very bad, we're ready to believe you, winston wolfe

Con-Versations: Highlights of The Grand Roludothon

June 14, 2011 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty recounts his gaming day at a local con, describing the highlights of his Dungeon Reality Show and Old School Job sessions.

Filed Under: Actual Play, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, convention report, conventions, Cortex Plus, D&D, d&d 4e, Dungeon Reality Show, Dungeons and Dragons, Leverage RPG, Old School Job, Roludo, Roludothon

The Stay-At-Home Adventurer

June 7, 2011 by Vanir

Yesterday marked the beginning of my third week of unemployment. While the stress of my previous job is no longer an issue, I am faced with a whole new host of things to worry about. The first is, obviously, trying to find a new job. There’s lots of things to get done around the house, so it’s not as if I have a lack of things to do. Getting them done with a 3 year old who has no regard for his own personal safety (much less the well-being and structural integrity of his parents’ belongings, the furniture, or even the house) significantly raises the challenge rating on keeping my sanity. So I started thinking about what a campaign would be like if the PCs never went anywhere and the adventure came to them. I bet it’d be more exciting than Super Why.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: castle, prison, prison castle, pruno, sebastian shawshank, sedentary lifestyle, shawshank, shiv, unemployment

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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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