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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits

Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-01-16

January 16, 2011 by Gato the News Robot

RT @KoboldQuarterly: NEWS: Open Design Launches Midgard Worldbuilding Project http://pitch.pe/114227 # From the Archives:: New York, New York, It's a Hell of a Town http://bit.ly/g8DKHw #charchive # New Year, New Game Sale @DriveThruRPG: 20 Games for $11 Each http://bit.ly/efFSnb # RT @baldmangames: It took a while, but the #DDXP Seminar schedule is available! Go take […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Why I Love DDXP

January 14, 2011 by Shawn Merwin

DDXP kicks off in less than 2 weeks. And I have some good news, as well as one piece of bad news.

Filed Under: Know Your Roll, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, D&DXP, ddxp 2011

Into the Unknown

January 13, 2011 by Chris Sims

Mysteries must have answers in all roleplaying games. At least, the secrets the players wish for their characters to uncover should have some means of being laid bare. That means the DM, at least, has to know, or have an idea, where a path of exploration leads. In the case of published work, the designers should know such answers and, more important, reveal them.

Filed Under: Analysis Paralysis, Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: D&D, DM advice, game design

The Architect DM: Questions & Answers

January 12, 2011 by Bartoneus

While I’m gearing up and preparing to continue the Architect DM series into 2011, I decided to first put out a call for more questions on my twitter account and see what kinds of questions you guys have when it comes to DMing and world building in your RPGs. This has worked incredibly well for me in the past, at least half of the posts in this series so far have come directly from reader questions or suggestions and I’m always looking for more topics to cover.

Filed Under: Roleplaying Games, The Architect DM Tagged With: advice, architect dm, architecture, babies, design, magic, q&a, Roleplaying Games, roleplaying games, structure

Carrot Design, Part 2: D&D 4e’s Classic Rewards

January 11, 2011 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty dives in D&D 4e’s engine and explores the various types of rewards available for its players. He then examines areas where new, interesting types of rewards could be created to enhance the gaming experience of a wider spectrum of players.

Filed Under: Featured, Freelance Writing, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Action Points, Artifacts, d&d 4e, Experience Points, game design, Levels, magic items, needs, Player Motivations, powers, Quests, Rewards, Treasure, XPs

Thirty Days in Cataclysm

January 10, 2011 by Mike Shea

I hadn’t played WoW for about six months before Cataclysm came out but now that it has, about a month ago, I’ve put in a good deal of time into the new expansion and I liked what I got. Today I’m going to talk about I’ve seen over the past month, what I liked, what I didn’t, and where I plan to go. You might call this a review, but reviewing a game expansion with such a large amount of content isn’t really possible. So really it’s just my experiences so far.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: cataclysm, world of warcraft

Critical Bits for the week ending 2011-01-09

January 9, 2011 by Gato the News Robot

From the Archives:: A Solid "1" http://bit.ly/gxvhaD #charchive # RT @AdamantEnt: An experiment or a leap of faith: Adamant's new "app-pricing" business model: http://bit.ly/gBRLS7 # RT @rjschwalb: Grab your force dragon right here: http://www.robertjschwalb.com/2011/01/lost-monsters-force-dragons/ # Review: From Here To There, 9 Adventures For The Road by @gnomestew http://bit.ly/eoWneu # RT @geeksdreamgirl: New Article: One Box […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Chatty’s New Lair, V2.0

January 6, 2011 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty invites you to his basement lair to witness the unveiling of his new secret laboratory of writing doom… or is it writhing doom? I always forget.

Filed Under: Freelance Writing, Geek Stuff, Musings of the Chatty DM, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Creature Comfort, Freelance Writing, Home Office

Personal Encounter Design Workshop

January 5, 2011 by Bartoneus

In mid-December I received a great e-mail from a reader named Brian that I talk to regularly on my twitter account, he was planning for an upcoming D&D adventure and wanted some specific help with designing an encounter. I’m not sure what exactly prompted him to send it my way, but I was more than happy to read through and share some of my ideas to help spice up his encounter. Just today I received a follow up e-mail that he is planning to run the encounter tomorrow and that he wanted to run his updated encounter by me again. I was all to happy to oblige, and I also realized that the exchange of e-mails might be something some of you would be interested in seeing. So here it is, with his permission of course.

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games, The Architect DM Tagged With: 3.5, 3.x, 4e, advice, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, e-mail, encounter design, q&a, Random Encounter, Roleplaying Games, roleplaying games

Shamanic Puberty

January 4, 2011 by Vanir

A coming-of-age tale of one man and two berserkers. Of fighting and healing. Of puppies and of elven bones knitting. Of divine power and delicate constitutions. Of character acne. I don’t know what that is, but it definitely underscores the need for good PC hygiene.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Dire Flailings, Humor, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, Video Games Tagged With: elemental, enhancement, feral spirit, lumbar, restoration, shaman, spirit wolves, totems, WoW

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