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You are here: Home / Archives for Newest Critical Hits / Reviews

Review: “Monster Manual” for “Dungeons & Dragons” 5th Edition

September 10, 2014 by Mike Shea

With a fantastic design, writing that inspires the imagination, and mechanics that make monsters fun to run and fun to fight, the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Monster Manual may very well be the best monster book ever written.

Filed Under: Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, D&D, D&D 5e, Monster Manual

10 Things I Dig About the New “Monster Manual” (And 5 I Don’t)

August 28, 2014 by Dave

I was one of the fortunate few to get my grubby mitts on an advance copy of the Monster Manual for Dungeons & Dragons. We’ll have a full review of the book in the next few weeks. In the meantime, I wanted to explore some of the aspects that jumped out at me as we flipped through.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Editorial, Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, D&D, dndnext, Monster Manual, monsters

First Impressions Review: “Player’s Handbook” for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

August 11, 2014 by Dave

The Player’s Handbook – and the D&D 5th edition ruleset as a whole- feels very polished. In fact, I’d go as far to say they focused on taking everything they had from previous editions and worlds, ran with it, refined it again, and so on.

Filed Under: Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, D&D, D&D next

Review: “Shadow of the Winter King”

June 6, 2014 by The Main Event

Shadow of the Winter King takes place in a world brimming with possibilities as it slowly sputters to its end. The story chronicles a retired assassin and a disgraced knight tied together by past duties and choices. The world’s end is inevitable, and it is that same sad conclusion that permeates the characters as they struggle to stay true to what sliver of them remains in the face of near-certain futility.

Filed Under: Pain of Publication, Reviews, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: novel, shadow of the winter king

Review: “Undercaffeinated and Overexposed: The Tale of a Coffee Shop Princess”

January 15, 2014 by The Main Event

A mashup of urban fantasy, fairy tale, and chick-lit, the debut novel of Andrew G. Schneider is ambitious, adept, and boldly written.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: coffee coffee coffee, fairy tale, folklore, Undercaffeinated and Overexposed: The Tale of a Coffee Shop Princess

Review: “Lords of Waterdeep” for iPad & iPhone

November 21, 2013 by Dave

Lords of Waterdeep for iOS brings together two things I already like, so you can probably predict the result. So to say I was excited about these two coming together, announced months ago, would be an understatement. And thankfully, the end result is as good as I’d hoped.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Featured, News, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: iOS, iPad, iphone, lords of waterdeep, Playdek

Review: “13th Age”

September 23, 2013 by Mike Shea

30 Second Summary 13th Age feels like the spiritual successor of 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons mixed with the storytelling mechanics of games like Fate and Fiasco. Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet give us a fully refined RPG mixed with a pile of house rules we can drop into any d20 game. While it’s great […]

Filed Under: Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 13th Age, 4e, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, Reviews

First Impressions: “Fate Core” Roleplaying Game

August 22, 2013 by Bartoneus

After roughly a year with extremely limited time for roleplaying games, I was invited by a close friend to play in his newly starting modern day, Cthulhu-esque campaign using the early release Fate Core rules from the Kickstarter from Evil Hat Productions. I had heard quite a bit from Dave and other friends about the Dresden […]

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: cthulhu, dresden files rpg, fate, fate core, first impressions, Reviews, roleplaying game, roleplaying games

First Play Impressions: “Firefly RPG”

August 20, 2013 by The Chatty DM

I’ve been rather discrete about it but I had significant doubts about how the Firefly RPG would turn out and be perceived by gamers. By that I don’t mean the usual jitters of the insecure designer, as I was just one cog of many in an all-star team working on the Gen Con Preview book. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Newest Critical Hits, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: cortex, Cortex Plus, Cortex Plus Action, firefly, Firefly RPG, gencon, gencon 2013

2013 Gen Con Preview: What to Watch For

August 13, 2013 by Dave

Once again, Gen Con is upon us. You can check out my schedule if you’re so inclined. More importantly, there are games to check out and buy. This is not a comprehensive list: if you want a bigger look at what board games are available there, I recommend checking out the Board Game News list. […]

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 13th Age, 13thAge, Augustus, D&D, D&D next, Dungeon Roll, firefly, Firefly RPG, get bit!, Hillfolk, Sentinels of the Multiverse, star trek, star trek: attack wing, star wars, star wars: age of rebellion

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About the Author

  • Mike Shea

    Mike Shea is a writer, dungeon master, video gamer, husband, and son of Robert J. Shea. Mike runs the D&D website Sly Flourish, and wrote the books Dungeon Master Tips, The Lazy Dungeon Master, and Running Epic Tier D&D Games. You can email Mike at mike@mikeshea.net.

    Email: mike@mikeshea.netWeb: http://slyflourish.com

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