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You are here: Home / Archives for Game Hacks & Content

Mage: The Ascension Job

March 17, 2011 by Dave

It’s no secret that I’ve been a bit Leverage RPG crazy for the past few months- in many ways, it’s a system that just flat out “clicked” with me as soon as I played it. One of the outcroppings of that is my desire to hack it into other settings. I’m a huge fan of modern settings, and while Leverage RPG scratches that itch, there’s lots of room for modern games beyond heists and capers. Enter my early ideas about combining it with Mage: The Ascension, to which I (and as I discovered recently, many other gamers) have very fond memories of.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Game Hacks & Content, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: leverage, Leverage RPG, mage: the ascension

Pax East 2011: House Rules and Stealing from Other Games in RPGs

March 15, 2011 by Dave

Most Game Masters do it. Hacking your favourite RPG is as old as the hobby itself. However, one can often get bogged down with rules that defeat their intent and make the game less fun. Others have so many house rules that players and master alike get confused and lose sense of what game they’re playing.

Filed Under: Critical Hits Podcast, Game Hacks & Content, News, Podcasts, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Game Hacks & Content, gm advice, pax, pax east, pax east 2011

The 5×5 Dungeon: The Temple of Elemental Evil

January 31, 2011 by Dave

To finish off the paragon tier, the PCs in my game headed into one of the most classic dungeons out there: The Temple of Elemental Evil. I started with the original module (while not being slavish to it), then hacked away to adapt pieces to my game and involve major NPCs from earlier. However, I had a very specific style in mind that would feel like a big dungeon crawl.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Featured, Game Hacks & Content, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 5x5, temple of elemental evil

What if, Twitter Edition: Dailies as Encounter Powers

June 25, 2010 by The Chatty DM

One of the things I absolutely love about Twitter, once you reach a certain critical mass of followers, is its instant ability to create multiple parallel discussions about a subject.

Yesterday I was working at prepping my Font of Sorrows D&D 4e adventure when the following thought struck me:

What if dailies were encounter powers but could only be used while bloodied? That’s what I see in action movies like Iron Man 2

Filed Under: Game Hacks & Content, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Chatty's what if, Friday Chat

Primal/Within Chronicles: City of the Overmind, Part 2

September 8, 2009 by The Chatty DM

See part 1 here. Burning Dungeon & Wheel Dragons As Wednesday night was ticking by, a dangerous new idea about the way to run a D&D adventure came up… You see, like many gamers unused to indie RPG designs, I read Mouse Guard with voracity but finished it with the  feeling that while I had […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Game Hacks & Content, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: 4e, Burning Wheel, Chatty's 2009-2010 Campaign, Mouse Guard, Primal/Within, Tropes

Primal/Within Chronicles: City of the Overmind, Part 1

September 8, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Previously in our game… After a few months of rest our heroes are called to save citizens of the City Within from the monstrous tentacles of a clutch of aberrant creatures. Following clues left behind by the monsters and the ever elusive ‘Master’, the party prepares to use thier recently acquired teleportation lore to follow […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Game Hacks & Content, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, Burning Wheel, Chatty's 2009-2010 Campaign, Mouse Guard, Primal/Within

I Didn’t Know You Could Do That in 4e – Social Combat -or- Making Charisma the Overpowered Attribute for Once

August 14, 2009 by guest

So. You’ve seen movies or comic books where people can use their words as a tangible means to fight. You’ve been impressed by witty insults in swordfights, fierce battle cries, and people who use words to defend themselves with more than a snippy comeback.And you’ve thought to yourself, “Self, wouldn’t it be badass to be able to do that in a role-playing game?”.
Well, I believe it not only to be possible – but easily done in a variety of handily house-rulable forms. And not just the charismatic few who use as verbal buffs in combat to help allies or intimidate enemies – but that any characters can use a well-placed jibe to throw an opponent. Elan would be proud.

Filed Under: Game Hacks & Content, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, advice, Social powers

But my father was a blacksmith! – Crafting in 4E

August 4, 2009 by guest

Hi there.  My name is Rob, a.k.a. “A Hero”, from A Hero Twice A Month.  While I can be a chatty DM at times, I am not the ChattyDM.  Still, he was nice enough to let me post my thoughts about crafting items while he is off on his GenCon hiatus. When the game designers […]

Filed Under: Game Hacks & Content, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, advice

Mini-Crunch: The Bebilith Revisited

February 10, 2008 by The Chatty DM

I’m currently writing about Friday’s last game and chances are the post will be massive. So I’m taking this one “Aside” I had plan to write and making it into a separate crunchy mini-post. While I was preping last week’s adventure, I had a strong arachnid theme going (I looooooove spider monsters!). At a certain […]

Filed Under: Game Hacks & Content, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: Breaking PC gear, Crunch, D&D Demons, Rule of Fun

Mini-Links: Whole Wheat Bastard Boardgame Ninjas!

February 1, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Ahhh it’s Friday afternoon, a snowstorm rages on Montreal and my boss just gave us the day rest of the day off… Of course, on Fridays, our lab is drenched in fresh blood samples that we can’t leave on the bench for 3 days, so while I can relax and kickback a bit, I have […]

Filed Under: Game Hacks & Content, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: Link Love, mini-post

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About the Author

  • Dave

    Dave "The Game" Chalker is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Critical Hits. Since 2005, he has been bringing readers game news and advice, as well as editing nearly everything published here. He is the designer of the Origins Award-winning Get Bit!, a freelance designer and developer, son of a science fiction author, and a Master of Arts. He lives in MD with e and at least three dogs.

    Email: dave@critical-hits.com

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