I’ve played (and run) a few more sessions of 13th Age since I wrote my first preview, as the rules became more solid and filled out from those first playtests. I was initially more guarded, but since then, my opinion of 13th Age has only gone up. The actual books are making their way into […]
Interview: Rich Baker on “Primeval Thule”
If you know D&D, you probably know the name Rich Baker. From his role in development of settings like Birthright, games like Alternity and the new Gamma World, many Forgotten Realms supplements and novels, war games, and much more, Baker has many years of industry experience on all kinds of products. Now, Baker has teamed up […]
Review: “Night’s Black Agents”
Sometimes, there are games that just don’t click at first, for whatever reason. For example, I remember years ago at a convention demoing Give Me The Brain to a group of congoers, which isn’t exactly Advanced Squad Leader in terms of complexity. Yet there was one person I was demoing to that would not get it. […]
Cloud Is Just Loud With a C
A couple weeks ago, I wrote of the next iteration of the Great Console War. A few things have happened since then. Everyone hated Microsoft with the fury of a thousand suns for all the DRM and required Internet check-ins and Sony said “we’ll maintain the status quo!” to standing ovations. Then Microsoft said “okay […]
Criminals: An Experiment in Card Game Publishing
Around 2006-2007, I was involved with a small startup game company called Robot Martini. We focused at first on making small card games by friends. The whole thing didn’t work out. But we did make some cool games. Flash forward to 2012 when I heard a rumor that the company behind DriveThruRPG was starting their […]
Preview: “Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management”
Engine Publishing, the book publishing arm of our blog rivals/friends at Gnome Stew, has tackled all kinds of subjects before: from NPCs, to plots, to adventure preparation. Their newest book, Odyssey, takes the long view that encompasses aspects of all of these in macro, looking at the campaign as a whole and strategies to deal […]
Interview: Bill “Dungeon Bastard” Cavalier on “The World’s Worst Dungeon Crawl”
Here at Critical Hits, we’ve been following the advice of Bill Cavalier, Adventure Coach AKA “The Dungeon Bastard” for some time now. At first it was because we mistook him for someone else entirely, but we grew to value his advice on WINNING Dungeons & Dragons after years of treating it as a collaborative activity […]
Of Tables and Games: What I’m Playing Now
Before I start, a little Chatty update: Winter and Spring have been my crazy freelancer months for a few years now. I’m knee-deep in pushing the Cortex Plus Hacker’s Guide to layout. Dave and I released the preview version of the Fantasy Heroic Roleplaying game to backers and the response has been both positive and […]
A Campaign About Nothing
It’s come to my attention recently that I might not be the best at doing epic storylines. I am, however, a damned wizard at making strange things happen and crashing them against each other to make stranger things happen. And I have a plan.
“Get Bit!” and the Tabletop Effect
Reflections on the story of Get Bit! and how it made the journey onto Tabletop, and what effects it has had on one game designer’s life.
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