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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits / Editorial

Game Design by Example: Introduction

April 29, 2016 by theothertracy

Valkiyries Logo

When I started designing games 4-5 years ago, I used to post all of my designs in public as I was working on them. As my life got busier, I started doing that less and less. I’ve recently realized that I need to do it more.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: game design, game design by example, valkyries

Surviving

April 27, 2016 by Chris Sims

Survival mode pumps Fallout 4’s feel up to the right notch, adding a little something I missed without quite knowing it.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Reviews, Roleplaying Games, Video Games Tagged With: Fallout, Fallout 4, Post-Apocalypse, survival, video game

Shotgunning

April 12, 2016 by Chris Sims

Since that day my first nameless elf died in the gray-ooze cave in The Keep on the Borderlands, I was hooked. I got into roleplaying games over three decades ago because I was interested in the drama.

Filed Under: Analysis Paralysis, Editorial, Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games, Video Games Tagged With: D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, freelancing, game design, intellectual property, nerd culture, roleplaying games, Storytelling, transmedia storytelling, world building

A Plot, So Meta

March 24, 2016 by Chris Sims

Canon serves as a framework for a setting, but after that, strict adherence to and advancement of canon along an official timeline is harmful to the setting and its audience.

Filed Under: Analysis Paralysis, Editorial, Movies, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, Television Tagged With: canon, Curse of Strahd, D&D, Drizzt, Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons and Dragons, forgotten realms, metaplot, roleplaying games, Spellplague, star wars, transmedia storytelling, Tropes, vampires, world building, world of darkness

A Busy Year, Part 1: NPC Importance

December 30, 2015 by Shawn Merwin

Working as a part-time RPG freelancer is a proverbial rollercoaster ride. Sometimes it is thrilling, and other times the reward at the end of the ride is that you get to stop.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Columns, Editorial, Featured, Know Your Roll, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: D&D, freelancing, NPCs

What Makes a Game Publishable?

July 24, 2015 by Dave

How can you decide if the board game you’re working on could have make it to store shelves? Here’s a few quick ideas.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Critical Threats, Editorial, Newest Critical Hits Tagged With: game design, game publishing

My 2014 as a Freelance Game Designer

January 23, 2015 by Dave

Dave recaps his 2014 as a freelance game designer in both tabletop and RPG, and learn how too much clicking can seriously derail a plan.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Critical Threats, Editorial, Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Apocalypse World, conventions, fate, game design, heat, magic the gathering, strange new worlds, timewatch, unpub

Starting from Scratch: The Great Dungeon

October 15, 2014 by The Main Event

I tried to ask questions about what the group collectively wanted. After listening a bit, and trying to steer the conversation towards what game experience people desired, I scrawled out a grid of game traits and players. Then, I began marking off what people wanted (and didn’t want).

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Pain of Publication, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, D&D, The Great Dungeon

What I Did on My Summer Con Season Vacation

September 5, 2014 by Shawn Merwin

This summer was extra-special. Although I have been exercising my RPG muscles, both personally and professionally, in different directions, there is no ignoring the launch of the new edition. And for someone so steeped in Organized Play, the launch of a new D&D campaign at the start of a new edition of the game is a critical hit.

Filed Under: Columns, Editorial, Know Your Roll, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, Adventurer's League, D&D, D&D 5e, D&D next, Expeditions, forgotten realms, Tyranny of Dragons

Target Mapping your Monsters: Worldbuilding via the “Monster Manual”

September 3, 2014 by guest

While I read the newest Monster Manual, I could feel the monsters coming together in and around dungeons and world events. There is easily digested lore for every monster in the main part of the book, and each of the 2-3 pieces of lore has something a GM can sink their teeth into and turn into a piece of an adventure.

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Editorial, Featured, Game Hacks & Content, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, D&D, D&D 5e, D&D next, Monster Manual

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About the Author

  • theothertracy

    Game developer, writer, and all-around fountain of ideas both good and bad. Co-owner of Exploding Rogue Studios. Probably thinking about writing right now.

    Email: tbarnett72@gmail.comWeb: http://www.explodingrogue.com

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