• Critical-Hits Studios
    • Criminals Card Game
    • Sentinel Comics: the Roleplaying Game
  • Downloads & Tools
    • Critical Hits Fantasy Name Generator
    • Drinking D&D 2010
    • Drinking D&D 2011
    • Fiasco Playset: “Alma Monster”
    • MODOK’s 11 for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying
    • Refuge In Audacity RPG
    • Strange New Worlds RPG
  • Guides
    • Gamma World
    • Guide to 4e Accessories
    • Guide to Gaming DVDs
    • Skill Challenges
  • RSS Feed
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Critical Hits

Everything tabletop gaming since 2005

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Columns
    • Dire Flailings
    • Dungeonomics
    • Musings of the Chatty DM
    • Pain of Publication
    • The Architect DM
  • Podcasts
    • Critical Hits Podcast
    • Dungeon Master Guys Podcast
  • Roleplaying Games
  • Tabletop Games
  • Game Hacks & Content
  • Video Games
You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits

Mailbag 3 – The Pitch

April 19, 2010 by Chris Sims

I did my share of pitching to Dragon and Dungeon magazines. I remember how nervous I was. You wonder if you did it right or if some blunder will get you blacklisted. The pitch can be nerve racking, but it shouldn’t be. If you follow the guidelines and contributors’ etiquette, you might not receive a contract on the first pitch, but you are headed in a good direction.

Filed Under: Analysis Paralysis, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, advice, D&D Insider, dragon, dungeon, freelancing

Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-04-18

April 18, 2010 by Gato the News Robot

New Dungeon Master Guys podcast by @DaveTheGame, @chattydm, and @newbiedm, w/ art by @d20plusmodifier. Spread the word! http://is.gd/bqkd5 # RT @geeksdreamgirl: Pass it on to single geeks! Geek Speed Dating at GenCon 2010 & More Reasons To Go To Indy http://su.pr/1PI6gW # RT @BoingBoing: Steve Thomas's Arcade Game Propaganda Posters http://bit.ly/bpF9Sn # A pain to […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

Review: “God of War III”

April 16, 2010 by Vanir

God of War III is big, beautiful, and ultra-violent. But does it live up to the hype? To find out, you must visit the Oracle at Delphi! (Or, you can just click the link if you don’t have that kind of time.)

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, Video Games Tagged With: aphrodite, blades of exile, cerberus, ghost of sparta, god of war, god of war 2, god of war 3, god of war II, god of war III, hades, hera, hermes, kratos, puritans, zeus

From Different Walks

April 16, 2010 by guest

Players are very good at throwing curve balls at your plans and wandering away from everything you spent precious time preparing the beforehand. When this happens it can be tempting to steer and force your players back on course, tempting but not advisable. Today I’m going to give you 10 adventure hook wielding NPC’s that can be picked up and thrown into your campaign when needed. Whether it be from a player curveball, lack of preparation time or even an impromptu game session.

Filed Under: Flavour Feast, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Adventure Hooks, NPCs

Friday Chat: Spousal Interuption

April 16, 2010 by The Chatty DM

So this morning I had a very inspiring email in my box: “You have mentioned you have a very loving and supportive wife. My question to you is how often does she interrupt your games and do you have a problem with the interruptions?”

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: boyfriend, Friday Chat, girlfriend, husbands, relationships, spouses, wife, wives

The 2009 One Page Dungeon Codex, Deluxe Edition

April 15, 2010 by The Chatty DM

Almost one year after the launch of the contest that started it all, the 2009 One Page Dungeon Codex (Deluxe Edition) is finally here. It’s a 54 page book containing the 27 best entries of the contest and great essays on the history of the one page dungeon template and its uses.

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: one page dungeon, One Page Dungeon Codex

Play Boldly

April 15, 2010 by Chris Sims

Following up on my last post, I intend to disparage no one, including my players past and present, but a malaise sets in on me occasionally when I’m playing a D&D game. Players seem lethargic. They don’t respond to the information given to them. Their characters act far different than the intrepid adventurers those characters should and must be.

Players should be as bold in game action as their characters are in the game world. Why? Because it pays off in fun and energy at the table.

Filed Under: Analysis Paralysis, Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, boldness, character concept, emotional investment, player advice, rogue, roleplaying

Review: “The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea”

April 14, 2010 by Bartoneus

The Plane Above is the next 4th Edition D&D supplement that focuses specifically on the Astral Sea, denizens of the plane, a wide variety of locations found there, campaign ideas involving the plane and a handful of new monsters that can be found in the Astral Sea.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th Edition, astral sea, book, D&D, dnd 4e, Dungeons and Dragons, Reviews, the plane above

Mighty Anthropomorphin’ Power Rangers

April 13, 2010 by Vanir

As the father of a 2 year old, it’s interesting for me having my son approach the age where I started remembering stuff. I remember bits and pieces of the tail end of being 2. I had my first stuffed animal friend, a bear named Fluffy. My son hasn’t latched on to any toy in particular as a buddy yet, nor really given any of his toys any anthropomorphic qualities. I’m curious to see when he starts, and what personalities he starts assigning. I used to name almost every toy I owned, and I can remember sleeping with my bed filled to capacity with little plastic toys so that they didn’t feel left out. I can definitely appreciate caring for the feelings of others, but in retrospect I think perhaps feeling empathy toward a Grimace comb obtained from a Happy Meal might have been a bit much.

Filed Under: Columns, Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, Television Tagged With: anthropomorphism, bob the builder, c3p0, childhood, imagination, r2d2, scoop, thomas the tank engine, voltron

Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-04-11

April 11, 2010 by Gato the News Robot

RT @Morrus: RPG iPhone/iPod apps updated list: http://www.enworld.org/forum/news/274552-monday-5-april-2010-a.html #

Filed Under: Critical Bits Tagged With: twitter

« Previous Page
Next Page »

About the Author

  • Chris Sims

    Chris Sims has played roleplaying games for 35 years, and he has helped produce games for more than a decade. Before he set up his freelance shop in the wilds of Austria, he was an editor, developer, and designer at Wizards of the Coast. There, he worked on Duel Masters, Dungeons & Dragons, and Magic: The Gathering. Ask him something via email that might receive a response in a post, and follow his tweets.

    Email: chris@critical-hits.com

    Follow me:

Subscribe

RSS Feed

Archives

CC License

All articles and comments posted posted on the site (but not the products for sale) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. References to trademarks and copywritten material are included for review and commentary use only and are not intended as any kind of challenge.

Recent Comments

  • fogus: The best things and stuff of 2024 on Remembering the Master: An Inelegant Eulogy for Kory Heath
  • Routinely Itemised: RPGs #145 on Review: The Magus
  • The Chatty DM on Review: The Magus
  • Linnaeus on Review: The Magus
  • 13th Age: Indexing Truths — Critical Hits on The Horizon Conspiracy

Contact The Staff

Critical Hits staff can be reached via the contact information on their individual staff pages and in their articles. If you want to reach our senior staff, email staff @ critical-hits.com. We get sent a lot of email, so we can't promise we'll be able to respond to everything.

Recent Posts

  • Remembering the Master: An Inelegant Eulogy for Kory Heath
  • Review: The Magus
  • Hope in the Dark Heart of Evil is Not a Plan
  • Chatty on Games #1: Dorf Romantik
  • The Infinity Current: Adventure 0

Top Posts & Pages

  • Home
  • The 5x5 Method Compendium
  • Dungeons & Dragons "Monster Manual" Preview: The Bulette!
  • Critical Hits Fantasy Name Generator
  • On Mid-Medieval Economics, Murder Hoboing and 100gp
  • "The Eversink Post Office" - An Unofficial Supplement for Swords of the Serpentine
  • Finally a manual for the rest of them!
  • Dave Chalker AKA Dave The Game
  • How to Compare Birds to Fish
  • The Incense War: a Story of Price Discovery, Mayhem, and Lust

Copyright © 2026 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in