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You are here: Home / Archives for Roleplaying Games

2009 Ennie Award Nominations

July 13, 2009 by Dave

You can view the entire list of nominees at the Ennie homepage or at this thread on ENWorld. But let’s get this out of the way first: Best Website Critical Hits Dungeon-A-Day Kobold Quarterly Mad Brew Labs Obsidian Portal Forgive me losing my journalistic composure here, but WE WERE NOMINATED FOR AN ENNIE AWARD! Ahem. […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: ennies, ennies2009, gencon, gencon2009

4e Lessons: The Penny Arcade/PVP D&D Podcast, Part 2

July 9, 2009 by The Chatty DM

In part 1, I discussed common D&D 4e mistakes, taking examples from the excellent D&D podcast featuring the guys from Penny Arcade, Scott from PVP and that wonderboy who used to play in that Sci-Fi show. Today I want to look at how the two Dungeon Masters, Chris Perkins and James Wyatt, were DMing. The […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, advice, D&D Podcast

4E: Psion – by the Numbers

July 8, 2009 by Bartoneus

Yesterday saw the introduction of Wizards of the Coast’s new ‘preview’ content roll out for the PHB3, starting with a build for the new Psion class and an article with developer commentary on the new class and the inclusion of the Psionic power source into 4th Edition. Of particular interest to me is the fact that introducing a new, and relatively different, mechanic to the game has caused many to instantly decree imbalance and broken status upon the class.

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th Edition, balance, dnd, Dungeons & Dragons, insider, playtest, preview, psion, psionics, Roleplaying Games, roleplaying games

4e Lessons: The Penny Arcade/PVP D&D Podcast, Part 1

July 8, 2009 by The Chatty DM

I’m almost done listening to the Penny Arcade/PVP D&D podcast (which I enjoy immensely) and it makes me realize just how many good D&D 4e lessons  are in there.  The numerous play mistakes made by the inexperienced players, while annoying to anal retentive rules freaks like me, probably reveal a lot about the parts of […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Player Psychology, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, advice, D&D Podcast

Origins 2009: Monte Cook “Designing A Better Dungeon”

July 5, 2009 by Dave

Dungeons are often maligned as an old fashioned way to do a D&D adventure. Monte loves dungeons, and thinks they are a great way to tell an adventure. In 3e DMG, dungeons are cool because if you step back from them and look at them in the abstract, they’re just adventure flowcharts.

Filed Under: Roleplaying Games Tagged With: dungeon a day, dungeon design, monte cook, origins, origins 2009

Friday Chat: Dealing with Aggressive/Jerk Players

July 2, 2009 by The Chatty DM

A few weeks ago I got a very interesting letter. I joined my past 2 live tabletop campaigns as a new player joining a pre-established group of players for a new campaign. In both, I’ve encountered a particularly nasty type of player that has caused no end of strife and grief, as follows: 1. Their […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Player Psychology, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Friday Chat, Player Psychology

Origins 2009: Exhibit Hall in Words, Pictures, and Sounds

July 2, 2009 by Dave

One of the biggest draws of any big game convention is the exhibit hall, and Origins is no exception. This year saw a return to using the entirety of the exhibit hall for booths. There’s always plenty for gamers to spend their hard earned cash on, and this year saw a number of new releases, as well as some hidden gems recommended to me by other show-goers that may have been around previously.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Critical Hits Podcast, Featured, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: origins, origins 2009

One Page Dungeon Winners Announced

July 2, 2009 by Dave

The winners of the One Page Dungeon contest have been announced over at ChattyDM and Old Guy RPG Blog. I was honored to serve on the judging panel, and I’m glad to give a hearty congratulations to the winners.  You can read Alex’s recap of why he voted the way he did on individual entries. […]

Filed Under: Editorial, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: one page dungeon

Tales of the City Within: Session 1, Part 2

July 1, 2009 by The Chatty DM

See part 1 here. (After writing part 1, I realized that I got the order of how each of the four plots were introduced wrong.  Instead of correcting it, I’ll adjust the tale accordingly. Let’s just assume that the PCs convinced the Drow to give them a few hours’ respite). When the PCs, standing on […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, Chatty's 2008-2009 campaign, Primal/Within

Origins 2009: D&D 4e Villains Seminar

July 1, 2009 by Dave

At Origins 2009, Rodney Thompson and Robert Schwab hosted a seminar (courtesy of the RPGA) about designing villains for your 4e game. The seminar described the process of doing the villain design, from role in the campaign to touching on some of the mechanics you might use. Here’s my notes from the session.

Filed Under: Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, origins, origins 2009, villains

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  • 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.

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