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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits

Gears of Ruin: When it Bombs, it Bombs.

June 11, 2010 by The Chatty DM

And I’m sick and tired of trying to “fix this”, I’m currently unhappy with our 4e games but was at a loss about turning things around until mid-week.

…and when it’s all said and done, an unhappy Dungeon Master is the surefire sign of a dying campaign/gaming group.

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: 4e, Chatty's 2009-2010 Campaign, Gears of Ruin

D&D Trivia Archive May 2010

June 10, 2010 by Chris Sims

On Twitter, I give out little tidbits about D&D history as I know it or experienced it. This means I might not always be right, but at least it’s interesting. You can challenge me on twitter or by email.

Here’s the May 2010 D&D trivia archive.

Filed Under: Analysis Paralysis, Columns, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 3e, 4e, assassin, CR, critical hit, dark sun, dhampyr, DM, Eric Holmes, invoker, ki, level, Lorwyn, minions, monsters, monte cook, Oriental Adventures, revenant, trolls

My RPG DNA: Part 3: The Oughts, D&D 3.X

June 8, 2010 by The Chatty DM

Shortly after my 28th birthday party, I sat in my living room with the D&D 3rd Edition Player’s Handbook in my hands. After a decade away from Trolls, Drow, Mindflayers and other Gygaxian-branded fantasy tropes, I felt the strong pull to return to the world of D&D. However, remembering my attempt at re-reading the 2e Player’s Handbook back in 1998, I expected the book to be really bad…

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 3.5, d20

The Green Menace

June 8, 2010 by Vanir

Fellow gamers, we need to take a stand. We face nothing less than green, leafy Sauron. Instead of fear and eternal darkness, he now uses the power of Moore’s Law and the uncanny ability for the modern gamer to look at a beautiful game from two years ago to say “meh”. He sets us against each other when we play Nerd Poker or when we rules-lawyer, fighting endlessly over minutiae. We are distracted from the real threat. IMPORTANT READING FOR ALL CHILDREN OF MAN.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor Tagged With: ents, evil, green ronin, miller chill lite beer, omg trees, treants, trees

Monster Manual 3 Interview with Greg Bilsland

June 7, 2010 by Mike Shea

The Monster Manual 3 is due for release in just a few short days. We had the opportunity to ask Greg Bilsland, Wizards of the Coast’s designer and lead editor for the Monster Manual 3, five questions related to the release of the MM3.

Filed Under: Featured, Interviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, mm3, monster manual 3

Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-06-06

June 6, 2010 by Gato the News Robot

RT @HighmoonMedia: Sweet! RT @gameplaywright: #TheBones Blog Carnival. http://ht.ly/1SsYb # RT @HighmoonMedia: [New Post] The Start-of-Summer Sale: 50% Off, June 1-30 http://bit.ly/a3xJEF # RT @DriveThruRPG: Exclusive to DriveThruRPG! RT @AdamantEnt: Launch Day! #ICONSrpg is now available in PDF! http://is.gd/cyk5z # RT @LorienGreen: Spiel des Jahres nominees announced for 2010! http://bit.ly/bxYAPw # RT @io9: A new […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

DDI Customers: Check Your Credit Card

June 5, 2010 by Dave

If you’re a subscriber to Dungeons & Dragons Insider, you may want to check your credit card statement from the past few months for fraudulent charges. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the e-commerce servicer Digital River (which handles the payment processing for DDI) was recently hacked, leading to possible leak of the personal information of almost 200,00 customers.

Filed Under: News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: D&DI, digital river, wotc

Review: “The Perilous Secrets of Wilford Manor”

June 3, 2010 by Linnaeus

The Perilous Secrets of Wilford Manor is a PDF-only adventure from Neuroglyph Games for 1st—3rd level Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition characters. It begins when a well-liked noble asks the PCs to find his son, which the adventure suggests should be an old friend of the PCs, whether they also know each other or not. The trail leads to a small town, then on to an old manor, where they come in contact with an obscure sect, and beyond.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 3pp, 4e, adventure, neuroglyph games, third party

Review: “Dragon Age: Awakening”

June 1, 2010 by Vanir

Though the Archdemon lies defeated, the darkspawn are still loitering all over Amaranthine. Like TEENAGERS. Do you have the courage to remove them from your lawn?

Filed Under: Humor, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: altered beast, awakening, boobs, borg, borg queen, dlc, dragon age, dragon age origins, dragon age: awakening, grey warden, jonathan frakes ftw, puritans

Mailbag 7–All By Myself, Part 4

May 31, 2010 by Chris Sims

DMing a solo is at least as rewarding as running encounters with more monsters. It can be even more satisfying, since a solo can and should evoke strong reactions from players as it deals out destruction. But running a solo requires extra care, especially if you’re using the creature as the lone menace in the fight. Make sure your aware of what your solo can and can’t do, then prepare for it.

Filed Under: Analysis Paralysis, Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, D&D, DM advice, encounter design, solo monsters

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About the Author

  • The Chatty DM

    The Chatty DM is the "nom de plume" of gamer geek Philippe-Antoine Menard. He has been a GM for over 40 years. An award-winning RPG blogger, game designer, and scriptwriter at Ubisoft. He squats a corner of Critical Hits he affectionately calls "Musings of the Chatty DM." (Email Phil or follow him on Twitter.)

    Email: chattydm@critical-hits.comWeb: https://critical-hits.com//category/chattydm/

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