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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits

Chatty’s Mailbox: Writing an Adventure

January 13, 2009 by The Chatty DM

As some of you may know, I just finished writing a draft for a D&D 4e adventure to be possibly published by Goodman Games (if the editor likes it).  I’ve been posting vague updates on Twitter and Facebook  and such for the last few weeks and some have been following it, being very supportive. So […]

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Tropes

YouTube Tuesday: Guinness Armor Edition

January 13, 2009 by Dave

What happens when a beer-chugging rock band goes up against a group of LARPers? The results might surprise you. Warning: this video is metal.  (via ENWorld)

Filed Under: Music, Roleplaying Games, YouTube Tuesday Tagged With: larp, metal

Chatty levels up to 36!

January 12, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Today marks my 36th birthday! I’m not one to make a fuss about my age.  I’m a kid at heart and the number attached to my physical shell has been mostly immaterial. However, I feel I’m at a crossroad in my life.  I’ve discovered the world of writing in the last 18 months that sustains […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM

Inq. of the Week: Oh Oh It’s Magic

January 12, 2009 by Dave

While an interesting magic system is not enough to drive a fantasy setting, it does appear to be part of the main hook when getting readers. Likewise, in a fantasy RPG system, this provides an immediate appeal to playing the game if the magic is interesting enough.

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: ars magica, D&D, eragon, gurps, mage: the ascension, malazan, mistborn, song of fire and ice, sword of truth, wheel of time, WoW

Bedtime Campaign: Pilot Nico’s Battlebot!

January 11, 2009 by The Chatty DM

This post is part of a growing series relating the role playing bedtime stories I make with my kids.  I hope you still enjoy them. Over the holidays, I concluded Nico’s Sword of Dream story.  I’m not going to write about it, mostly because I forgot to record them and I don’t remember much from […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Bedtime roleplaying, gaming with children, Gaming with Kids

Critical Bits for the week ending 2009-01-10

January 10, 2009 by Gato the News Robot

New DDI Updates: “Prepare for the Resolution” http://is.gd/eMtl “Fist of Mourning” http://is.gd/eMtt “Don’t let the XP grind you down” http://is.gd/eMtD # Retweeting @thewanderingmen: Planescape: Torment fans might find this interesting: http://tinyurl.com/77cawc # WotC updates: Sylvan Cathedral http://is.gd/eRBL Whose Mug is That? http://is.gd/eRCj Digital Insider http://is.gd/eRCl #

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Comics, Critical Bits, Roleplaying Games, Video Games Tagged With: D&DI, twitter

CONTEST: Roll Into the New Year

January 9, 2009 by Dave

We have two sets of dice to give away, courtesy of GM Dice. Our last contest had us choosing our contest winners, but as any GM can tell you, sometimes it’s just more fun to let the dice decide. To that end, we are making this contest entirely decided by the dice themselves.

Filed Under: Critical Bits, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: contest, dice, GM dice

The Michael Bay School of GMing: Say it with Rockets

January 9, 2009 by guest

This is a second guest post by reader Kitsune.  With the recent debate surrounding the Rule of Cool and Critical Hits’ take on the Rule of C4, I thought this would be a good time to post Kitsune’s experimental essay on GMing.  No doubt this will set some people’s teeth on edge while others may […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Tropes

The Rule of C4

January 8, 2009 by Bartoneus

The trigger happy attitude displayed by many characters and parties in D&D is notorious, prone to looting everyone/thing within groping range; a typical group of adventurers in a fantasy tabletop setting isn’t exactly known for leaving places intact when they blow into town. This player/party attitude is brought to the forefront when explosives enter play, but the other thing it does for many players is opens up their tactical and strategic ability. This is why I believe the Rule of C4 should not be quickly or idly dismissed as more of the “Michael Bay” syndrome that many fear happening to their precious D&D campaigns.

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: D&D, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, roleplaying, Roleplaying Games, rule of cool

Board/Card Games report #2, Part 2: Booty Geek Club Blast

January 8, 2009 by The Chatty DM

See part 1 here Okay so after having played Lunch Money a couple of times, we were ready for something meatier.  So we got out my copy of Settlers of Catan, the classic German game of, well, settling an Island. What I really like about that game is how fast paced it is.  A turn […]

Filed Under: Geek Stuff, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: Card Games

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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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