On Friday, the nominations for the 2011 Ennie Awards were announced. For the third year in a row, Critical Hits has been nominated (in 2009 for best website and 2010 for best blog), and I’m honored to add both 2011 best blog to the list, as well as a nomination for best podcast for the Dungeon Master Guys.
Review: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab RPG Series Scents
OK, quick word association game: when you think of the words “D&D” and “scent”, what immediately comes to mind? Probably not something pleasant. Luckily, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is trying to change that, or at least make that scent something more interesting than “Odeur de corporelle.”
Review: “Masks: 1,000 NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game”
Masks: 1,000 NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game is what it says: 1,000 NPCs ready to be dropped into any game. While they don’t have any stats (like Eureka, the book is systemless), you’ll find each NPC has a full name, a brieft summary, a quote from the character, appearance, roleplaying advice, a description of personality, motivations, background, and a set of traits (that are shared across multiple entries.)
The Architect DM: Give Your Cities Some Architecture
Not every D&D campaign or world map includes nations or regions that break the larger mass into more digestible pieces, but this is one of the features that I’m glad I chose to be a primary element of my current D&D campaign. Inspired by a 3rd Edition D&D campaign run by our friend Dennis (aka The Main Event) where the nationality of the PCs became one of the most memorable parts of the game for me and ended up factoring into the ongoing plots in interesting ways, I decided to present my players with a world divided into various nations each with a unique flair and often divided by racial distinctions. However, one of the elements that I failed to strongly present to my players and that I’m going to discuss today is the idea of giving a unique design and feel to each of those nations when it comes to locations and buildings.
Review: Fiasco Companion
The Fiasco Companion includes variants, extensions, crunch (in the form of four new playsets designed to illustrate principles explored elsewhere in the text) and advice (including chapters on using Fiasco in the classroom and as a creative tool outside of roleplaying, plus tips for playing online and facilitating in the absence of the GM role).
Review: “Conquest of Nerath” D&D Boardgame
Today we see the release of Conquest of Nerath, the newest D&D board game from Wizards of the Coast. Unlike the last two D&D board games from WotC, Castle Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon, which focused on heroes and dungeon crawling this new game is a take on large scale strategy board gaming along the lines of games like Risk or Axis & Allies. At the same time the game includes heroes that can fight alongside your larger armies and delve into dungeons to uncover powerful treasure that will help your armies attain victory over the other factions.
Preview and Interview: “Guestbook” RPG
We talk about the upcoming “Guestbook” RPG that combines collectible characters with RPGs in order to produce 5 minute flash fiction while standing in line and hanging out. We interview the game’s designers, and preview Taco Girl, one of the game’s first characters.
4e CAN be Old-School!
I asked myself a question a few weeks ago, and now I can finally start to answer it. Along the way, I scare myself with the random numbers that have stayed in my head for 30 years.
Con-Versations: Highlights of The Grand Roludothon
In which Chatty recounts his gaming day at a local con, describing the highlights of his Dungeon Reality Show and Old School Job sessions.
The Architect DM: Planar Modification
Last week my first appearance ever on the Tome Show podcast was posted (on my Birthday, no less!) and the topic that I was very pleased to be invited in on was Planar Advice for 4th Edition. Thank you to Jeff for the invite, and if you haven’t listened to this episode or if the Tome Show in general then you should head over to his website and check it out!
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