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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits

Renaissance of Roleplaying

August 16, 2010 by dixontrimline

I feel like it is possible to establish a renaissance of roleplaying, assuming you even want to, but it couldn’t possibly work through just one devoted person, even if that person is the DM. It would just be too excruciating, too mortifying, and gradually, the intensity of peer pressure would grind the Method actor back into a more acceptable shape. If this is to work, it would have to be through an explicit contract at the table.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: method acting, player advice, roleplaying, rp advice

Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-08-15

August 15, 2010 by Gato the News Robot

RT @SarahDarkmagic: New post: Running Red Box at Gen Con http://bit.ly/9wr7AL #dnd # More details on D&D Encounters Season 3: Keep on the Borderlands http://bit.ly/dArMrF # RT @AsmadiGames: If you're curious what our new game Innovation is all about, here's my demo from #GenCon — http://youtu.be/tMRmqj_9d8Y # RT @NeoGrognard: What’s it like to win D&D? […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Barf Forth Apocalyptica! Review: Apocalypse World

August 15, 2010 by The Chatty DM

Not for the faint of heart from both a thematic and playing philosophy point of view, Apocalypse World presents a very clever and potentially engrossing game. It’s main focus is not so much on player accomplishment (or setting exploration) but rather the relationships that form between PCs and the constantly mutating loyalties and rivalries between them.

If you’ve started enjoying story games that thrive on failures like Mouse Guard and Burning Wheel but want to explore a darker, very adult theme, Apocalypse World is worth giving a try.

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Newest Critical Hits, Reviews, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: Dogs in the Vineyard, games indie, Post-Apocalypse, Reviews, Rules-light, sci-fi, story games, Vincent Baker

Dave’s Gen Con 2010 Wrap-up

August 14, 2010 by Dave

So you may have seen all the Gen Con schedules posted last week that told you where various Critical Hits staff members were going to be, I am going to buck the trend and tell you where I WAS at Gen Con… or at least the highlights.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Critical Threats, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: con report, gen con, gen con 2010

What I Learned DMing for 10,000 Players

August 13, 2010 by Shawn Merwin

My first blog, in which I reveal how little I know, and probably would tick off E.M. Forster if he wasn’t dead.

Filed Under: Editorial, Know Your Roll, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 3e, 4e

Lessons Learned from Gen Con 2010

August 12, 2010 by The Chatty DM

Every year I leave Gen Con with a few, crystal clear thoughts that guide my gaming and writing for the upcoming year. This year was no different. So here’s my list of lessons learned.

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: gen con 2010

Gen Con 2010: Drinking Dungeons & Dragons

August 11, 2010 by Dave

Now years ago, it started as a joke: making a drinking game out of 4e Dungeons & Dragons. After that, it became an annual tradition at Gen Con for some of our closest blogger friends those first two years, run by ChattyDM. I offered to step in and spear-head the DD&D game, if he would collaborate with me and run a second table. An accord was struck and the planning began: a Drinking Dungeons & Dragons event for Gen Con to top all the previous.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, dd&d, gen con, gen con 2010

The Left Hand of God: Review and Contest

August 11, 2010 by The Main Event

A nominally young adult novel set in a dystopian world that mirrors our own past, The Left Hand of God is a book of impressive vision and puzzling inconsistencies that ultimately provides a gruesome, but highly enjoyable read. The book follows the trials and travails of a young boy named Cale raised in a brutal dogmatic monastery of a twisted parody of Christianity. His life is forever changed upon witnessing a deed horrifying even to his own warped perspective.

Filed Under: Librarian's Tome, Reviews, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre

Critical Hits Podcast #20: Interview with Rich Baker and Mike Mearls

August 10, 2010 by Dave

The Friday of Gen Con 2010, Bartoneus and myself sat down with Rich Baker and Mike Mearls of Wizards of the Coast (in the gaming penthouse above their booth) to talk about Dark Sun, Essentials, and beyond. Some of our questions were a bit invalidated by the seminar the next day, but it’s all included for the sake of posterity.

Filed Under: Critical Hits Podcast, Interviews, Podcasts, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: dark sun, essentials, gencon, gencon 2010

Just A Geek (And Forty Thousand Other Geeks)

August 10, 2010 by Vanir

Wil Wheaton and I were both at Gen Con this year. Mysteriously, his deeds were somewhat more celebrated. Read on for the epic account of my dealings with the Wheaton and his eventual defeat at my hands! (Note: I defeat him with a secret technique involving my low CHA score. Also, he may not be aware of his defeat, or that we battled. But we totally did. Epically.)

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, Television, Uncategorized Tagged With: gen con, wheaton, wil wheaton

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