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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits

Chatty Fiction: “At a Loss”

May 16, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty breaks his month-long blogging silence to share… are you kidding me? A piece of flash fiction? It’s not even 200 words long? Okay, what did you do with Chatty, come on, fess up!

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: flash fiction

Do Gamer Dads Dream Of 2:1 Sheep?

May 15, 2012 by Vanir

Being a father to a little baby was cool. He was all cute and snuggly and I loved the first words and the first steps and all that stuff. I remember getting Sam a “Level 0 Gamer” bib and a couple nerdy onesies before he was born. Now he’s 4 and loves lots of geeky stuff. But how long can I keep this up? The hopes, dreams, and fears of a nerdly papa, after the jump.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: bonding, celestial porpoise, dad, father, football, Gamer Dad, Gaming with Kids, geekdad, manly, sam

Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-05-13

May 13, 2012 by Gato the News Robot

Combat Swipes from Roleplayingtips – a collection of combat descriptive text to pull during a game [PDF] http://t.co/HA1qUngR # Fantasy Flight announces update of classic CCG Netrunner, now set in FFG's Android universe and as LCG: http://t.co/ioP5pwUt #

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

The Architect DM: The Ise Grand Shrine

May 9, 2012 by Bartoneus

I’ve sat through more hours of architectural history classes than seems reasonable for a human being, everything from the crude Dolmen tombs of early Europe to weeks of studying the various gothic cathedrals that all look pretty much the same. I never got the chance to take an asian architecture course, but one of the most memorable asian structures that I learned about was the Ise Grand Shrine.

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games, The Architect DM Tagged With: advice, architect dm, architecture, D&D, DM, dnd, dungeon mastering, Dungeons and Dragons, inspiration, L5R, Legend of the 5 Rings, roleplaying games

Pelor’s Florist

May 8, 2012 by Vanir

The natural world is full of wonders. That’s why we eat everything in it, and sometimes it eats us. Occasionally, the gods decide to mess with it a little. Sometimes, this goes really wrong and then you get things like banana fungus, leprosy, Nickelback, and the Twilight series of books. Other times, it’s simple and beautiful, and you never even know it’s there. This is how the donut was born, and also the sweet-smelling Pelorbell flower.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: haw haw, plant, plants vs. zombies, sunflower, Zombie

Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-05-06

May 6, 2012 by Gato the News Robot

"Tales of an Orc with Grok Bloodface" webseries project from the Pulp Gamer crew: http://t.co/8yAeuNV9 # The 2012 RPG Site of the Year from @stuffershack goes to @TheIdDM http://t.co/NOpzqZ6h # RT @obsidianportal: Announcing the Obsidian Portal Excellence In Innovation Award http://t.co/eE9YTExc #dnd #gencon #rpg #gaming #tech # HouseRules4DND reviews us: http://t.co/L68Pu56i #

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Torg: A Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Hack (Hacking the Datasheets)

May 4, 2012 by TorgHacker

I need to explain how the mechanics of causing contradictions in other realities worked in the original Torg game. If a character uses a tool: a spell, miracle, piece of tech or some sort of social concept, it causes a single contradiction if the axiom level of that tool is greater than either the character’s home reality or the reality that character finds herself in.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Game Hacks & Content, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Hack, marvel, marvel heroic roleplaying, MarvelRPG, MHR, Torg

Pain of Publication: Ninja Testing

May 3, 2012 by The Main Event

Having successfully been a Guest GM before and having been inspired by excellent posts on using Marvel to power a fantasy-based system, I decided to try something odd. I sensed my normally tireless DM was getting burned out in Pathfinder, so I offered to take over for a few adventures. The group was pretty positive about a change of pace, but there was a lot of surprise when I said I was going to run the same characters, the same world, in campaign continuity with a different system.

Filed Under: Game Hacks & Content, Pain of Publication, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: fantasy heroic roleplaying, fhrp, marvel heroic roleplaying, mhrp, pathfinder

30 Ranks In Use Trope

May 1, 2012 by Vanir

We’ve all been there. The campaign has slowed to a crawl, morale is low, and players are getting more and more physically violent with every session. Soon, the blood-harvest comes. As a DM, you already know none of this is your fault. However, as the sovereign of your gaming group it is your right, nay, holy duty to return the light of goodness, truth, and the Gygaxian Way to your table. Allow me to assist.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor, Roleplaying Games, Television Tagged With: animaniacs, cousin oliver, fonzie, happy days, jump the shark, mindy, mork, no seriously pam dawber is unfathomably delicious, pam dawber is so hot, pottsie, potty emergency, scrappy doo, Tropes, tv tropes, tvtropes, wakko warner

Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-04-29

April 29, 2012 by Gato the News Robot

RT @GatorGames: Dice Tower Gaming Award Nominees For 2011 http://t.co/aEh06uls # .@MonteJCook announces departure from Wizards of the Coast/D&D: http://t.co/jrkYYB1t # Confirmation of Monte Cook leaving #dndnext and public playtest to come May 24th http://t.co/e8TImyPp # RT @8Geats22Nordmen: Dungeon! listing on amazon may not have been fake? It is on the Wizards catalog page: http://t.co/ScRfs5Rh […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

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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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