• 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 / Editorial

The Most Important Games of the Decade

December 31, 2009 by Dave

As we roll over to ’09 to ’10, getting nostalgic for the advances and updates for the past 10 years is inevitable. 2000 to 2009 was an important decade for gaming, and the landscape for us gamers has changed dramatically. Here, on New Year’s Eve, we look back on our opinion of some of the most important games of the decade. While they are not all necessarily great games in and of themselves, they have made their impact on the gaming industry for many years to come.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Editorial, Roleplaying Games, Video Games Tagged With: carcassonne, Dungeons & Dragons, grand theft auto 3, halo, mage knight, world of warcraft, yu-gi-oh

Critical Hits Gift Guide 2009

December 21, 2009 by Dave

It’s the Monday before Xmas, and you’re still looking for a gift for the gamer in your life. Or you’ve got some Xmas money coming that you want to spend. Either way, here are some games (and a book) that we recommend you buy.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Editorial, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, Television, Video Games Tagged With: 4e, christmas, civilization: revolution, dominion, dragon age origins, drop7, dungeon master's guide 2, fits, gift guide, gift guide 2009, left 4 dead 2, memories of the future, PHB1, PHB2, wil wheaton, winter holiday

Let Me Tell You About My Campaign: Might Of The Inquisition

December 8, 2009 by Dave

In general, though, writing about my specific campaign tends to fall close enough to “let me tell you about my character” that I tend to let it go. However, I realize that there’s some value for me talking about my campaign, especially given my current setup. I won’t go adventure by adventure. I will, however, hit some of the important points of running the game in the hopes that it will help some of you run your own games.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, campaign, setting

3 Rolls, 1 Check

November 29, 2009 by Dave

This happens for many kind of skill rolls. An idea occurs to one player, who rolls a skill, which then prompts several other players to also roll. If a check is declared, then everybody rolls who can roll. You can’t blame the players: after all, rolling dice is fun.

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, DM advice, skill checks

Inq. of the Week: Video Game Playing, 2009

November 23, 2009 by Dave

Can I just say, there are a crazy amount of video games that have been released lately that I want to play?

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Video Games Tagged With: assassin's creed 2, borderlands, call of duty 2 modern warfare, dragon age origins, halo 3 odst, left 4 dead 2, lego rock band, new super mario bros. wii

D&D 4e One-Shots: Putting it into Action

November 18, 2009 by Dave

As a result of playing four very different one-shot games at DC Game Day, I condensed my thoughts about one-shots into one simple rule: Everything important on the character sheet should come up during play. It’s an easy thing to say, but not so easy to put into practice. However, I got a chance recently […]

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, DM advice, one-shot

Inq. of the Week: Story Games, Or Whatever You Want To Call Them

November 9, 2009 by Dave

The three games I’m in campaigns of are all 4e. I own a fair number of games and so I get cravings for other games. Recently, a few of us have decided to embark on a mission to mix in some other games into our busy schedules, focusing on one-shot adventures such to experience a wide range of other games.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: indie rpgs, story games

Pain of Campaigning: Literature and Adventure Planning

November 2, 2009 by The Main Event

Much of gamer culture is shared and it’s not very interesting to rip something off that everyone instantly recognizes and inevitably metagames for. That’s where literature comes in.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Pain of Publication, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: gm advice, pain of campaigning

Leveling Up As An Inexperienced DM

October 15, 2009 by Bartoneus

I still consider myself an inexperienced DM. the 4th Edition campaign that I’m currently running has just passed twenty adventures and is the longest campaign I’ve ever run. Hell, it was the longest game I’ve ever run when it hit ten adventures back in May.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: campaign, D&D, DMing, dnd, dungeon master, dungeon mastering, Dungeons and Dragons, newbie dm, roleplaying games, Roleplaying Games

In Depth: 4E Assassin and Q&A with Mike Mearls

September 16, 2009 by Bartoneus

Last week Wizards of the Coast released a new class for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition called the Assassin, an exclusive class only available to subscribers of their D&D Insider service. I was very intrigued by this new class, so I asked if designer Mike Mearls would be able to answer some questions for us.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e dnd, 4th Edition, answers, assassin class, D&D, D&D Insider, design, Dungeons and Dragons, Interviews, mike mearls, q&a, questions, roleplaying games, Roleplaying Games, tabletop

« Previous Page
Next Page »

About the Author

  • Dave

    Dave "The Game" Chalker is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Critical Hits. Since 2005, he has been bringing readers game news and advice, as well as editing nearly everything published here. He is the designer of the Origins Award-winning Get Bit!, a freelance designer and developer, son of a science fiction author, and a Master of Arts. He lives in MD with e and at least three dogs.

    Email: dave@critical-hits.com

    Follow me:

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