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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits

Review: “Leverage” RPG

November 26, 2010 by Dave

The Leverage RPG has just been released from Margaret Weis Productions to bring the same sort of stories to your RPG table. You assemble your crew of a grifter, hacker, hitter, mastermind, and thief and pull off one job in an evening to help the helpless and provide… leverage.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games

Savage West, Session 1: The Riverboat Poker Heist, The Plan

November 24, 2010 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty starts discussing his first experience with Savage Worlds… as a player! Shortly after the American Civil War, the Wild West offers opportunities and riches to those bold enough to venture there… what will 4 lowly hustlers do there?

Filed Under: Actual Play, Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Chatty Plays, Con Men, Far West, Savage Worlds, Visionscaping

Review: “Legend of the 5 Rings” 4th Edition RPG

November 24, 2010 by Bartoneus

I discovered Legend of the Five Rings several years ago, but in the past I have never had a chance to play the RPG system itself and instead have ended up playing Oriental Adventure version of D&D or other systems with strong Asian influences. That’s why I’m very thankful that Alderac Entertainment Group has provided us with the 4th Edition of the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game core book, which is right off the bat one of the most beautiful RPG books I’ve ever seen. Plus a contest to win a copy of the L5R core book!

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, contest, core book, giveaway, L5R, Legend of the 5 Rings, Legend of the Five Rings, Reviews, roleplaying game, Roleplaying Games

How To Stop A Bully

November 23, 2010 by Vanir

That news story about the little girl who got picked on for having a Star Wars bottle last week broke my heart. I was picked on mercilessly from pretty much the first day of school until I got my high school diploma. I don’t want that for my boy. This is, sadly, not an uncommon story for us geeks. What do we do?

Filed Under: Dire Flailings Tagged With: bullying, compassion, decapitation, education, karate, self-defense

Preview: Dungeons & Dragons Virtual Table

November 23, 2010 by Dave

What they’ve come up with is a pretty solid product with some extra specific to D&D touches that I haven’t seen so smoothly integrated elsewhere, which gives me hope for this product. There’s still a few key features I would love to see (which I’ll get into) but it’s a great start, and totally useable right out of the gate.

Filed Under: Featured, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, D&D Insider, D&DI, virtual table

How Do You Turn a GM Off the Tracks Onto a Dirt Road?

November 22, 2010 by guest

As part of running Roleplaying Tips, I often receive questions about common gaming problems. One reader sent me this question recently, which might have come up in your gaming group: “How do you wean a GM off of a cinematic/railroad style?”

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: gming advice, railroading

Chatty Plays, Part 3: Burning Wheel, Monstrous Power Play

November 22, 2010 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty finally reveals what happens to Yan’s Snake-woman PC when our unified group of adventurers decide to attack her. Will the alliance stand? Will the snake woman survive? Come and read about it!

Filed Under: Actual Play, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Adventure Prep, Burning Wheel, Monster Burner, The Sword

Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-11-21

November 21, 2010 by Gato the News Robot

New web-based Character Builder is up, but loading very slowly: http://wizards.com/dnd/Tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/characterbuilder # New Character Builder known issues list and user bug reporting: http://bit.ly/aSFhzX # RT @davebernazzani: Congratulations to Lady Blackbird for the 2010 RPG GoldenGeek for Best Free Game! http://is.gd/hiKOH # You could win a signed Dark Sun Campaign Guide and Creature Catalog from @ChrisSSims […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Review: Essentials D&D “Heroes” Books

November 19, 2010 by Bartoneus

If you’re a 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons player then the two Essentials books that you most want to look at are Heroes of the Fallen Lands and Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms. Each book is presented in a similar style to a stand alone Player’s Handbook with Heroes of the Fallen Lands introducing new builds for the classic D&D classes (Clerics, Fighters, Rogues, and Wizards) while Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms introduces new builds for Druids, Paladins, Rangers, and Warlocks. Each of these books stands on its own perfectly well and you don’t need to buy both if you’re only interested in the classes presented in one of them.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, books, D&D, dnd, Dungeons & Dragons, essentials, heroes of the fallen lands, heroes of the forgotten kingdoms, phb, player, player's handbook, Reviews

One-Hour Game Design

November 18, 2010 by Chris Sims

A year ago, I went to Nanocon and made friends with the illustrious Richard Dansky. On Friday evening, we were a between commitments, and we were amused at the Dakota State University game design program’s promotional literature. We also stumbled on some loose dice and game pieces. We decided to make a game . . .

Filed Under: Analysis Paralysis, Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Editorial, Featured Tagged With: board game, college, Danksy, fraternity, game design, Humor, jocks, minion, nanocon, princess, zombies

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  • Dave

    Dave "The Game" Chalker is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Critical Hits. Since 2005, he has been bringing readers game news and advice, as well as editing nearly everything published here. He is the designer of the Origins Award-winning Get Bit!, a freelance designer and developer, son of a science fiction author, and a Master of Arts. He lives in MD with e and at least three dogs.

    Email: dave@critical-hits.com

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