When I was first DMing, I spent a lot of time fleshing out every last detail and herding everyone around to each subsequent plot point on the Illusion of Choice Express (woo woo!). I’ve since learned that laying out some probable places to go and things to do is a good plan, and not to […]
Readin’, Writin’, and Roleplayin’
This month is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo to all the cool kids). For reasons modern science cannot explain, I have decided to subject myself to this ritual. I walked into NaNoWriMo with a nonzero amount of hubris that was quickly shattered on the rocks of reality. It’s not that I thought I was going […]
Interview: Tracy Barnett, Designer of School Daze and One Shot
Tracy Barnett is a good friend of ours that has waged a one-man war on his own spare time. With his second KickStarter game, One Shot, ending in just over two days I offered to chat with him a bit about his projects and his thoughts on designing open to the public as he has made a habit of doing. You can also read more of Tracy’s thoughts on that subject in posts he wrote for us earlier this year, Game Design and Openness and Designing in Public.
Zen and the Art of Dungeon Mastering #6: Smash that Bottleneck
In which Chatty tackles a subject near and dear to his cold black DM heart: avoiding adventure bottlenecks. This multi-parter series starts with the basics: Skill-related bottlenecks.
Night Of The Gaming Dead
There’s been a lot of my mind lately, what with the Presidential election, the Frankenstorm pointed directly at most of Critical Hits’s staff, and the unholy rebirth of Furbys. However, the terror at the center of every sleepless night since I can remember has been this and this alone:
If the zombie apocalypse comes, how will I play D&D?
The Pepperoni Of The Damned
Game night for our group has always been the day out of the week we can let off some steam. When it’s board game night, there’s usually time to let our luxurious social hair and talk about stuff, including whatever’s bothering us. D&D nights tend to be more escapist, and we’re on-task right after everybody gets done eating. Up until now, this has worked pretty well. When I first started DMing, it was really stressful. It still is, but there’s a certain euphoria that comes with getting a session to take flight (or at least not to crash and burn), and it always feels good when it’s all over.
Except when it doesn’t.
Zen and the Art of Dungeon Mastering #5: Make it Mean Something!
In which Chatty DM reveals that he’s an impatient player and really really likes to find that each scene he runs or plays in actually meant something in the grand scheme of Adventuring. And no, XPs don’t quite cut it.
Review: “Michtim: Fluffy Adventures”
“Story games” are some of the more wonderful places to look for unorthodox ideas. Because of the narrative-focused framework, it becomes easy to get everyone playing anything – you don’t have to focus on the accurate logistics of being a magical German hamster-like creature (that isn’t a hamster, don’t call it that!). All you’re required […]
The Island Of Dr. Flail
It’s October, and I’m in the mood for some scary stuff. Problem: I’ve never really played in a good horror game and I’m about as scary as a box of Franken-Berry cereal. Time to get my vampire hat on. Come up to the lab, and see what’s on the slab.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-10-07
RT @rpggeek: 2012 RPG Golden Geeks – Congrats to the nominees. Voting for the Winners takes place now! http://t.co/A08qgBpN # RT @TheOnyxPath: New post: Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition Deluxe Kickstarter is live! http://t.co/mBk6QfgZ # RT @AllenVarney: RT @RPGnet Our interview column returns with a talk with Greg Costikyan about the #StarWars RPG: http://t.co/9YldODlQ […]
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