This has been our biggest year yet: not just in post count, traffic, or any number of other metrics. It’s been the year with the biggest changes and the most happening here on Critical Hits, and I couldn’t be prouder of where we are today.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-10-03
From the Archives:: LAN Party: Specificity is a Necessity http://bit.ly/c1fVPa #charchive # Please welcome Critical Hits columnist @dixontrimline to Twitter! Check out all his past articles too: http://bit.ly/cFw8Bb # RT @newbiedm: New post: "Dungeons & Newbie DM's" http://wp.me/pkce6-Ec #dnd # From the Archives:: Report Card: Space Marine Units (Part 2) http://bit.ly/bH4HRC #charchive # The Parallels […]
Playing Essentials Again (and Again and Again)
In an attempt to quell my obsession with the new Essentials rules, I played several games and made up several characters. And boy are my arms tired.
Don’t Do As I Do
As it turns out, I’m a pretty terrible DM, and you can become dramatically better by simply avoiding everything I do, including telling stories and pursuing reality.
The Architect DM: Fantasy Buildings 101
When it comes to designing locations and buildings, the DM/GM has a much more daunting task ahead of them than most players or even the DMs themselves realize. Thankfully in most of the RPGs we play and run it is far from crucial that the design of the world is 100% accurate and entirely believable. Most players are willing to suspend their disbelief to an incredible level and almost all DMs don’t really have the time to make sure every location they put into their game is believable. However, creating an environment that is believable can actually make your players lives easier because they will buy into the game on a more unconscious level. This added level of believability just might turn out to be the whole new layer of depth that your game needs.
Goodbye, From a Grandson
I lost my grandmother yesterday. She was 83 years old and one of the most awesome people I’ve ever known. Everything I write seems terribly inadequate, but I do want to try and share how important she was to me and who I’d eventually become.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-09-26
RT @Neuroglyph: Tried a 4E build comparison: Check out "Dueling Shadows: Essentials vs. Traditional 4E Assassin!" http://tinyurl.com/2e9e3pr # Tests happening about D&D PDF books? (rumor) http://bit.ly/9fvPGy # RT @KoboldQuarterly: 25 Essential Expressions of a Gelatinous Cube. http://cot.ag/dfxMFH ^wb # RT @Comixace: DC Ends Wildstorm and Zuda lines. http://bit.ly/9iBK5E # RT @Nikchick: We are doing an […]
Re-examining the Dungeon: Section, Factions and Fronts
I think one of 4e’s problem is that the DM tools are now so structured, it becomes a hindrance for people with creativity issues to push through the proposed models and discover “new tech”. I know I’ve been having a hard time selling some of my weirder ideas like “Trap-Monster hybrids” and “The whole party stuck in the same body” because it seems people can’t see it done (or can’t afford the effort to squeeze the concept) in their 4e games.
Loss Builds Character
Loss shapes us. How one responds and moves on from loss can have a profound effect on the shape of one’s life in the near and far future. In this world, loss is inevitable but often without deep impact. We don’t live in a place where kobolds can eat our babies or a maniac can call up the avatar of the Mad God. Our characters do, though.
The Architect DM: Environment and Interaction
It’s been a few weeks since my last Architect DM post, but don’t worry the series will continue and there seems to be a lot of information to cover! In my last post I talked about function and playability of a location in a more general and meta sense, but what I originally started that post to discuss was the specifics of how the environment is experienced. One of the most crucial considerations when it comes to design in Architecture is the human experience of the environment, after all the buildings are designed by humans for our own use and appreciation.
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