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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits

Pain of Publication Review: “Dinocalypse Now”

March 22, 2012 by The Main Event

“Dinocalypse Now” is the first entry into the fiction line based in the “Spirit of the Century” universe made by Evil Hat Productions. With Wendig’s mixing of pulpy goodness and a dash of panache, he effortlessly cooks up an exciting story set in the Spirit of the Century universe that stands on its own without knowing the original book..

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: dinocalypse now, fate, spirit of the century

Defeat Your Invincible Enemy Using This One Weird Old Trick

March 20, 2012 by Vanir

In both fantasy and science fiction, it’s a fairly common theme to pit unlikely heroes against impossible odds. In very few circumstances do we said unlikely hero train and practice for years to become strong enough to beat his enemy — in many cases, the fan has been thoroughly defecated upon and the problem needs to get solved as soon as possible. That means something really unusual needs to happen in order for the good guys to win. Are you brave enough to wield the double-edged sword to give your players this option? Will you cut your own kneecaps off? Will they beat you to death with their PHBs? Or will you achieve Total Victory?

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: character development, deux ex machina, fiction, macguffin, plot, plot development, roleplay, Tropes, Writing

Steve Townshend on Adventure Design Podcast

March 19, 2012 by Mike Shea

Mike Shea of Sly Flourish and Steve Townshend, freelance WotC designer and trained actor, discuss the ins and outs of great adventure design in this most recent Critical Hits podcast.

Filed Under: Critical Hits Podcast, Interviews, Podcasts, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, adventure design, heroes of the feywild, improvisation, madness at gardmore abbey, monster manual 3, monster vault, NPCs

Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-03-18

March 18, 2012 by Gato the News Robot

Great collection of #MarvelRPG resources from @atminn http://t.co/hyOodfgO # RT @Morrus: RPG Kickstarters – a new site to highlight all those RPG-related Kickstarter projects! http://t.co/ZpZgo9UA # RT @MattMorganMDP: In some unexpected GAMA news, @FFGames has revealed a 40k version of Talisman! http://t.co/siZYocJr # RT @StvWinter: How roleplayers and publishers are locked into a dysfunctional, self-destructive […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Chatty’s Mailbox: Playing Castle Death for First Timers

March 16, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which a reader’s question about making Castle Death easier to run for a parent who’s never been a Game Master and is hesitant to tackle the game with only a blank piece of graph paper and a d6. Read the suggestions!

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Castle Death, playing with children, playing with kids, roleplaying games

Chatty on Creativity: Muting the Judge and the What If Exercise.

March 14, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty shares his favourite creativity tricks and manages to create the core of both a campaign arc and setting…. which turns out to be eerily familiar.

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

The Swag of Yore

March 13, 2012 by Vanir

When I was a kid, we could watch a D&D cartoon and buy AD&D toys at most toy stores. Now, our selection of D&D items appears to be mostly limited to games. t-shirts, and leather goods. Read for musings about how things have changed for D&D merch over the last 30 years, and childish hopes for the future. My heart and wallet ache.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Featured, Humor, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: books, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, endless quest, fire elemental, games, odious ogre, pvc figure, shambling mound, toys

Critical Bits for the week ending 2012-03-11

March 11, 2012 by Gato the News Robot

RT @SlyFlourish: Built a prototype 4e #dnd damage dice calculator. Give it a try and let me know what you think: http://t.co/lWAVxRKS # RT @ProfBanks: Atlas Games is doing a special limited ed run of the core book for Over The Edge's 20th anniv. http://t.co/ZI2zmh0G #

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 3

March 7, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Nico and Chatty conclude their first session of Castle Death, meeting Pit Trap Mac and dealing with an Ogre noble who’s a stickler for etiquette.

Filed Under: Actual Play, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Castle Death, fantasy, gaming with children, Gaming with Kids

Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 2

March 6, 2012 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty and his son Nico start exploring Castle Death and make up new rules as they go along, creating a unique introductory roleplaying experience.

Filed Under: Actual Play, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Castle Death, fantasy, gaming with children, Gaming with Kids

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    The Main Event is an alumni of Dickinson College and The University of Miami Law School. Now a practicing attorney in Maryland specializing in Wills, Trusts, and Estates, he is currently publishing his serial novel The Great Game. Check out his author page, or download the first part of his serial novel entirely for free on Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, the Apple iBookstore, or for $0.99 on Amazon.

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