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Capsule Review Week: Swords & Wizardry

October 12, 2009 by The Chatty DM

As introduced here, I will post mini-reviews of RPGs and MMORPGs during the whole week while I prepare for Draconis, my local gaming convention. Swords & Wizardry What it is A clone of the original, 1974 version of Dungeons & Dragons (often referred to as 0th edition).  It includes all the non-proprietary elements of the […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Sword and Wizardry, Theme week

Capsule Review Week: Intro and DDO Eberron unlimited

October 12, 2009 by The Chatty DM

I’ll be spending most of the coming week preparing for Montreal’s Draconis gaming convention (where I’ll host a Dungeon Reality Show game, 2 Swords and Wizardry games and both a French and English Seminar on DMing 4e). While I initially thought I’d take the week off from Blogging, my evil backstabbing mastermind lieutenant PM mentioned […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games

Champions Online: Being 13 Forever

October 11, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Oh yeah, like some others, I succumbed to to the Champions Online bug.  I’ll post a short review later this week but in the meantime I had to share a few screenshots of my latest PC, the 4th I made so far.  And I confess that I really am nothing more than a 13 year […]

Filed Under: Geek Stuff, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: Champions Online

4th Power Project: Classes, Part 3 (Other Powers)

October 9, 2009 by Dave

The beginnings of some at-will powers were posted last week– not all of them by any means, but I figured it was a start. Now as I mentioned then, at-will powers should come up fairly often, and be the stand-bys. The other powers are Per Scene (formerly Per Encounter) and Per Session (formerly Per Day.) […]

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th power, 4th power project, classes, d20 modern, game design, powers

Friday Chat (Early edition): Are you a Backseat GM?

October 8, 2009 by The Chatty DM

I’m posting this early since I will have limited net access tomorrow. On Friday night, I get to lay aside my Dungeon Master’s Screen, maps, stack of books and other DM paraphernalia to grab a lone piece of paper, one rule book, a set of dice, a pencil and a mini.  I get to play […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Player Psychology, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Friday Chat

City of the Overmind: Rumble in the Vats 3D, Part 2

October 6, 2009 by The Chatty DM

See part 1 here. The interesting thing about a D&D session that consisted entirely of one fight is that I can relate it through the classic phases of a D&D combat encounter. What’s that you say? Over the last 10 years, ever since I started playing 3e, I noticed that all fun combat encounters shared […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 3D terrain, 4e, Chatty's 2009-2010 Campaign, Primal/Within

City of the Overmind: Rumble in the Vats 3D, Part 1

October 5, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Previously in Chatty’s Game. Our heroes arrive in the Overmind’s re-education camp, finding several brainwashed monsters and losing their Warden comrade, who he went chasing after another Shifter.  Once the commotion abated, the party sought out the camp’s Beholder foreman and defeated it, finding a 3rd key part and discovering how the city’s brainwash portals […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: 3D terrain, 4e, Chatty's 2009-2010 Campaign, Primal/Within

The 4th Power Project: Classes, Part 2 (At-Will Powers)

October 4, 2009 by Dave

So here’s what I think of as the next step, or at least a defining portion of the next step: at-wills. At-will powers accomplish a few important things in the game. They serve as the powers you will use the most, and throughout your entire career adventuring. They are the fall backs when you don’t want to use any of your encounter or dailies (expendable resources) and are more all purpose.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th power, 4th power project, at-will

Friday Chat: Oh Wait!

October 2, 2009 by The Chatty DM

I can’t write a long post today (rejoice) because I’m about to start work.  However, I wanted to bring a hot 4e subject and wanted to launch a discussion about it over the weekend. My players are sick and tired of me harping on and on about the length of combat in 4e.  Apparently I’m […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, advice, Friday Chat

Old School Geekeout: Of Hirelings, Doors and Long Corridors.

September 30, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Last Sunday I invited some of my friends over for an afternoon of Geeking out. This week’s Feature Game was going to be another Swords & Wizardry session, using Math Finch’s Tomb of the Iron God.  Last month we had a real blast with the Quick Start Rules so I was curious to see if […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: old school, Sword and Wizardry

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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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