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4e Lessons: The Penny Arcade/PVP D&D Podcast, Part 2

July 9, 2009 by The Chatty DM

In part 1, I discussed common D&D 4e mistakes, taking examples from the excellent D&D podcast featuring the guys from Penny Arcade, Scott from PVP and that wonderboy who used to play in that Sci-Fi show. Today I want to look at how the two Dungeon Masters, Chris Perkins and James Wyatt, were DMing. The […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, advice, D&D Podcast

4E: Psion – by the Numbers

July 8, 2009 by Bartoneus

Yesterday saw the introduction of Wizards of the Coast’s new ‘preview’ content roll out for the PHB3, starting with a build for the new Psion class and an article with developer commentary on the new class and the inclusion of the Psionic power source into 4th Edition. Of particular interest to me is the fact that introducing a new, and relatively different, mechanic to the game has caused many to instantly decree imbalance and broken status upon the class.

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th Edition, balance, dnd, Dungeons & Dragons, insider, playtest, preview, psion, psionics, Roleplaying Games, roleplaying games

4e Lessons: The Penny Arcade/PVP D&D Podcast, Part 1

July 8, 2009 by The Chatty DM

I’m almost done listening to the Penny Arcade/PVP D&D podcast (which I enjoy immensely) and it makes me realize just how many good D&D 4e lessons  are in there.  The numerous play mistakes made by the inexperienced players, while annoying to anal retentive rules freaks like me, probably reveal a lot about the parts of […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Player Psychology, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, advice, D&D Podcast

YouTube of the Week: Hey! Edition

July 7, 2009 by Dave

Pretty self-explanatory. (via @betterwithmayo)

Filed Under: Humor, Movies, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, YouTube Tuesday Tagged With: jurassic park

Inq. of the Week: How Caffeinated?

July 6, 2009 by Bartoneus

We’ve had a lot of Origins 2009 coverage over the last week, and on Saturday celebrating the 4th of July Dave and I realized that GenCon is only a few weeks away. This realization makes me ponder what keeps me going through such hectic times, and more often than not the answer always comes back to caffeine. I’ve been a huge soda fiend since middle school, and even though my day job has stopped buying soda but still provides coffee, I just can’t bear switching over!

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week Tagged With: caffeine, coffee, drinks, Inquisition of the Week, soda

Critical Bits for the week ending 2009-07-04

July 4, 2009 by Gato the News Robot

Big Weekend for Dominion: It won both an Origins Award and the Spiel des Jahres Top 20 sites on the RPG Bloggers Network Cole of PvPonline serves up some wonderful DM advice (via Asmor) “My favorite 9 non-RPG geek shirts”: http://geek6.com/u/8 #4 is my favorite (via @joshgeeksix) Monthly DDI update hitting July 7th: http://tinyurl.com/ltcgbt – […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Friday Chat: Dealing with Aggressive/Jerk Players

July 2, 2009 by The Chatty DM

A few weeks ago I got a very interesting letter. I joined my past 2 live tabletop campaigns as a new player joining a pre-established group of players for a new campaign. In both, I’ve encountered a particularly nasty type of player that has caused no end of strife and grief, as follows: 1. Their […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Player Psychology, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Friday Chat, Player Psychology

Origins 2009: Exhibit Hall in Words, Pictures, and Sounds

July 2, 2009 by Dave

One of the biggest draws of any big game convention is the exhibit hall, and Origins is no exception. This year saw a return to using the entirety of the exhibit hall for booths. There’s always plenty for gamers to spend their hard earned cash on, and this year saw a number of new releases, as well as some hidden gems recommended to me by other show-goers that may have been around previously.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Critical Hits Podcast, Featured, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: origins, origins 2009

One Page Dungeon Winners Announced

July 2, 2009 by Dave

The winners of the One Page Dungeon contest have been announced over at ChattyDM and Old Guy RPG Blog. I was honored to serve on the judging panel, and I’m glad to give a hearty congratulations to the winners.  You can read Alex’s recap of why he voted the way he did on individual entries. […]

Filed Under: Editorial, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: one page dungeon

Tales of the City Within: Session 1, Part 2

July 1, 2009 by The Chatty DM

See part 1 here. (After writing part 1, I realized that I got the order of how each of the four plots were introduced wrong.  Instead of correcting it, I’ll adjust the tale accordingly. Let’s just assume that the PCs convinced the Drow to give them a few hours’ respite). When the PCs, standing on […]

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

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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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