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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits

Robin Laws’ Revisited, Part 8: Improvising

July 19, 2009 by The Chatty DM

After 5 days of starting a post and then trashing it, I decided to look at my unfinished projects to see what I could focus on to kill my latest white page syndrome.  When I picked up my very creased stapled copy of Robin Laws’ book, I noticed that it was opened at the last […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: advice, Robin Laws

Critical Bits for the week ending 2009-07-18

July 18, 2009 by Gato the News Robot

RPGA updates for GenCon Help make Chris Pramas an epic 4e character for Green Ronin prizes Magic: The Gathering Jones Sodas (one for each color) Missed Free RPG Day? WotC posted the Eberron adventure, Khyber’s Harvest (via Geek’s Dream Girl) While always great, this OotS is especially brilliant (and metaphysical!) Dwarven Forge isn’t a dollhouse… […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Overt vs. Covert Skill Challenges

July 16, 2009 by Dave

As the maintainer of the (now massive) Skill Challenge feature, I read quite a lot about skill challenges, no matter if they’re positive, negative, or somewhere in between. I think SCs can be broken down into three main camps: overt skill challenges, covert skill challenges, and bad skill challenges.

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: d&d 4e, skill challenges

YouTube Tuesday: Side Effects May Vary By Cultist Edition

July 14, 2009 by Dave

If you have that impalpable sense of dread, this commercial is for you. (Thanks Dark Young).

Filed Under: Humor, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, YouTube Tuesday

Tales of the City Within, Session 2, Part 2

July 14, 2009 by The Chatty DM

See part 1 here. A History Lesson from Beyond the Grave The PCs got their info-dump dose from the Dwarf Lich.  The city’s founder explained that the recent discovery of the techniques to manipulate the energies of the Dungeon and the Nexus would enable the PCs to take the fight directly to the Dungeon and […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, Chatty's 2008-2009 campaign, Primal/Within

Tales of the City Within, Session 2, Part 1

July 13, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Last Friday we sat down for another session of our Summer mini-campaign set in our homegrown setting of the City Within the Dungeon.  See the reports of the last session here and here. The Myth Debunked. Franky: “Phil, based on some comments we’ve read, many of your readers seem to think that we’re this kind […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, Chatty's 2008-2009 campaign, Primal

Inq. of the Week: You Got Science in my Fantasy

July 13, 2009 by Dave

We heard a lot of complaints that psionics just don’t fit with the D&D milieu. Even for a die hard fan such as myself, it can be hard to justify mental powers (that in other media are often linked to “the next stage of evolution” and other scientific/pseudo-scientific concepts) as part of the D&D world. Dark Sun was a world custom built for psionics, as all the other alternatives for fantastic powers had some issues.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: psion, psionics

2009 Ennie Award Nominations

July 13, 2009 by Dave

You can view the entire list of nominees at the Ennie homepage or at this thread on ENWorld. But let’s get this out of the way first: Best Website Critical Hits Dungeon-A-Day Kobold Quarterly Mad Brew Labs Obsidian Portal Forgive me losing my journalistic composure here, but WE WERE NOMINATED FOR AN ENNIE AWARD! Ahem. […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: ennies, ennies2009, gencon, gencon2009

Critical Bits for the week ending 2009-07-11

July 11, 2009 by Gato the News Robot

Game designer Mike Selinker talks about the Battletech pods  The Munchkin Super Sekrit Project has, apparently, become available! The MUNCHKIN iPHONE APP!  (via @muskrat_john) 10 Business Lessons I Learned from D&D  The first two week publication cycle has begun on Nevermet Press UpComingCons.com has launched, providing a listing of anime, comic, gaming, and sci-fi cons, as […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Product Tie-in Video Games 101: A Lesson in Love and Paychecks

July 10, 2009 by guest

Today we’re going to be discussing one of the biggest money makers for video game studios; Product Tie-ins. They are something that we’ve been accustomed to in video games, and all can form a general consensus when we hear their name said. From E.T. to Chronicles of Riddick, video games based on movies have been around for most of your brief gaming lives. When did they start? Were they always bland and overpriced?

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Humor, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: ghostbusters, movie tie-in, terminator: salvation

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About the Author

  • The Chatty DM

    The Chatty DM is the "nom de plume" of gamer geek Philippe-Antoine Menard. He has been a GM for over 40 years. An award-winning RPG blogger, game designer, and scriptwriter at Ubisoft. He squats a corner of Critical Hits he affectionately calls "Musings of the Chatty DM." (Email Phil or follow him on Twitter.)

    Email: chattydm@critical-hits.comWeb: https://critical-hits.com//category/chattydm/

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