I got everything I wanted for Christmas, but I also have some hopes and wishes for the New Year. And here they are.
Editor-in-Chief’s 2011 Blogolutions
As I mentioned in our 5th anniversary post, it’s been a pretty big year for us. Now, however, that means I have a group of great editors, writers and readers who are looking to me for what’s next. These are just some of the ideas that have passed by me in the past year that I might try and implement in the next year.
Depression & Dungeons & Dragons
When it comes to depression, real, actual, honest, sky-is-falling-and-life-is-ending depression, it’s a matter of bits of your brain actually missing. It’s a physical, medical, miserable condition, where life around you stays exactly the same way, but you have lost your ability to perceive it correctly.
Hope and Fear
Players love this range of emotions, but having every combat follow the same trajectory gets a bit boring. The grind feeling results from recognizing the pattern and the corresponding desire to just fast forward to the end. Who wants to sit through round after round of monster at-will attacks especially when we “know” that the PCs are likely to win?
Actual Plague
The critic has analyzed the particular medium for an extended period of time, understanding elements of its architecture, such as pacing, characterization, construction, and depth. I say all of that to say this: actual play podcasts suck.
Beyond Labels: How Each RPG Serves and Rewards Specific Needs
In which Chatty muses about the relative uselessness of the overused art of labelling RPGs. He then explores the importance of matching one’s needs and motivations as a RPG gamer to the proper game that was designed to cater to them.
Movies I Want to See in 2011
Something you may not know about me if you come to Critical Hits mainly for the RPG content is that I’m a huge movie nerd. In April of this year I posted a look ahead at the big summer movies of 2010 that I was hoping to see, just as I have done for the last four years running. This year is a bit different from the last few because I am already excited to see a ton of movies in 2011 and we’re not even through December yet! Here’s a look at the movies of early 2011 that I’m most excited to see, and a quick description of why I’m excited about it:
“Leverage” RPG: The Misidentified Dolphin Job
The Miami Crew helps out a disgraced football player by reversing a lookalike brother con into a Kansas City Shuffle within a Xanatos Gambit.
The Roleplay’s the Thing (Wherein I’ll Catch the Conscience of the Gamer)
As the days fly by and we get closer to The Most Interesting Roleplayer in the World tournament at DDXP 2011, I have been doing a great deal of thinking about the concept of roleplaying, particularly within the concept of a tabletop RPG. Topics on this aspect of the hobby come up on the various forums and discussion lists more frequently than cable news arguments about which politician or pundit is or is not Hitler.
On Writing
More than a few folks have asked me for advice on writing. I don’t know why. I have edited and written, with mixed success at both, for publication and pleasure. Like I said, that doesn’t prove anything. What I can say is that writing isn’t easy. It takes courage and skill and patience, and a good editor always helps.
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