• 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

Chatty’s First Freelance project

November 20, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Its official. I just signed a freelance writing contract with Goodman Games. After a few flip-flops on my part, I (helped by a few people hitting me on the head with a frying pan) decided to plunge forward come what may.  I shall be spending the next few weeks writing (with the help of a […]

Filed Under: Freelance Writing, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e

Work less, Partner with People and Make it! (RPG Blog Edition)

November 20, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Jonhathan, a fellow RPG Blogger network member sent us an impassioned message on the network’s mailing list earlier this week. He was exhorting the virtues of making partnerships to increase our success as bloggers and RPG enthusiasts. He was sharing with us what he got from this Copyblogger article about how all the work we […]

Filed Under: blogging, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games

DM Chronicle: Session 5, Alien Feys & Whiskered Pirates, Part 2

November 19, 2008 by The Chatty DM

See part 1 here. Scene 3: White Rage! After a night where the PCs slept warily on the bridge of the ship the PCs spotted a winged creature flying toward them.  It was a large White Dragon with a human pirate riding it. Screaming in draconic about ‘finally getting a prize worth taking’ the dragon […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: 4e, Chatty's 2008-2009 campaign

DM Chronicle: Session 5, Alien Feys & Whiskered Pirates, Part 1

November 18, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Previously in Chatty’s Game: Our Heroes battled a pirate Scholar and her Dragon Pet only to see her escape at the last second before defeat.  Alone against a city of angry Ape Men, they almost managed to turn them to their cause only to be defeated by a crazed zealot and his retinue of elite […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, Chatty's 2008-2009 campaign

RPG Bloggers Digest and Creative Overdrive Output

November 17, 2008 by The Chatty DM

For those who missed it, Dave and I started posting weekly highlights of the RPG posts that appeared on the RPG Blogger network. You can see my first post here, and Dave’s picks here. It basically highlights whatever got our attention during our alternating weeks as Editors of the network.  Have a look its well […]

Filed Under: blogging, Musings of the Chatty DM

Chatty’s Online D&D 4e Game: Genesis of the Project

November 16, 2008 by The Chatty DM

As many of you know, I made a lot of friends and contacts around the time of Gen Con 2008. Among those friends was Don, one of the members of the Wizards of the Coast Development team working on D&D insider. Don was one of the Seattle Wizards who read my Open Letter to WotC […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, Chatty's Online game

Paying the Buy-In

November 14, 2008 by Dave

When starting a new campaign (or even just planning a one-shot), it’s tough to get people into a new game. Thus, the game usually ends up being D&D. Now, there’s nothing wrong with it being D&D, but with so many RPGs out there, I enjoy a bit of variety when I can get it.

Why is it so tough? Because the “buy-in” total for the game is too high.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: campaign, D&D, dark heresy, dread, roleplaying, Roleplaying Games, star wars

The long Journey, 500th post!

November 14, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Musings of the Chatty DM started a little over 1 year ago, with a bad colour scheme and a 34 year old nerd with limited editorial and web design skills. The first 200 posts were about finding my voice, the next 200 were those that established me as a credible blogger and building an incredible […]

Filed Under: blogging, Musings of the Chatty DM

Robin Laws’ Revisited: Part 6, Being Spontaneous!

November 13, 2008 by The Chatty DM

This post is part of a series where I discuss Robin D Laws’ seminal work on GMing: Robin Laws’ of Good Game Mastering, written at the end of the 90’s . I compare it to my personal experience and opinions and I check how well the guide has ‘aged’. The other posts of this series […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Robin Laws

Adventure Prep: Keeping it Simple and Stupid

November 12, 2008 by The Chatty DM

All right so last night I sat down to prep for my game as I planned it here and here.  My goal of the night was to be done with the first half of the adventure: Getting on the Fey Airship and reaching the player’s destination. I got out all the battle maps (I have […]

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games

« Previous Page
Next Page »

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/

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