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You are here: Home / Archives for Roleplaying Games

Scarrport: Get Some Steampunk in your 4e

May 8, 2009 by Dave

There’s a lot to like about Scarrport: City of Secrets, the new setting book from Reality Deviant Productions. What really makes it stand out to me are the rules for Steampunk-style items in your 4e game. By incorporating these kind of items, it adds a different genre to 4e, instead of just being another setting using the same D&D elements.

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, scarrport, steampunk

Old School, New School and Gygaxian Naturalism (or not)

May 7, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Here’s the post that I promised wouldn’t write since it could be construed as a comment bait.  However, since I spent 2 hours reading arguments and trying to define some fairly controversial terms, I’m not going to waste that!  No siree! Now, just so we’re clear on this, I’m interested to read your thoughts and […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Debate, Gygaxian Naturalism, new school, old school, world building

One Page Contest Final Update: Less than one week left

May 7, 2009 by The Chatty DM

We’re into week 3 of the One Page Dungeon contest and things are shaping up for some fierce competition!   With about 45 entries so far, we’ve received a very wide variety of ‘dungeons’, from the old-school classic to the really really out there. But it’s not too late for those that thrive on tight […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: contest, one page dungeon

Adventure Prep: The City Adventure

May 6, 2009 by The Chatty DM

For my next D&D session (which is on Friday next week), I’ve decided to go for a city-based adventure. We’ve played 3 sessions into our new Primal/Within campaign and all those were focused on the Dungeon part of the setting and very little on the city (except to interact with Quest giving NPCs). I think […]

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: City Adventures, Primal/Within, Tropes, world building

Monster Manual 2 Spoilers!

May 6, 2009 by Bartoneus

Wizards of the Coast is releasing some spoilers today for the Monster Manual 2 through various sources, one of which is right here! I believe the deal is that various sources will be sneak previewing different monsters, and you should be able to find the stat blocks for each of these monsters over at the D&D Facebook page.

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th Edition, D&D, dnd, monster manual 2, preview, roleplaying games, Roleplaying Games, shadar kai, sneak peak, spoiler

Primal/Within Chronicles: The Font of Sorrows, Session 2 Part 2

May 4, 2009 by The Chatty DM

See part 1, here. City Interlude After having beaten the undead prisoner-guardians of the Font of Sorrows and subduing ‘Spurt’ the enchanted Bulette, our heroes returned to town to complete their rest and return Spurt to its owner. The mad Wizard was relieved to recover his prized pet, although bitterly disappointed to see all the […]

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

Primal/Within Chronicles: The Font of Sorrows, Session 2 Part 1

May 3, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Previously in Chatty’s game… Our new band of heroes are hired by the Burgomeister of one of the City Within’s agricultural burgs to investigate the tainting of its water supply.  The search lead them into an old Elemental Water temple guarded by spectral water wraiths. After defeating the guardians, our heroes explored further and discovered […]

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

New 4E House Rule: Channel Arcanity

April 30, 2009 by Bartoneus

Developing from my post over the weekend about the new Tome Implement presented in Arcane Power and how it adds more options for the 4th Edition Wizard, several comments were made that a larger selection of spells makes the Wizard better but that the class as whole is still underpowered.  Our experience is that even […]

Filed Under: Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th Edition, arcane, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, Game Hacks & Content, homebrew, wizard

One-Page Dungeon Contest Update 2: Four on the Template

April 30, 2009 by The Chatty DM

After 2 weeks, the one-page dungeon contest is revving up nicely.  Entries have been coming in at a steady pace from all over the world. Seriously, this week we got entries from Australia, Italy and Germany just to name a few.  The dungeons are also very very diverse showing off various genres and themes. I […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: contest, Megadungeon, one page dungeon, world building

Free 4th Edition

April 29, 2009 by Dave

GURPS Lite: “GURPS Lite is a 32-page distillation of the basic GURPS rules. It covers the essentials of character creation, combat, success rolls, adventuring, and game mastering for GURPS Fourth Edition.” Ars Magica: “The fourth edition of Ars Magica‘s core rulebook introduces improved systems in several key areas such as combat, character advancement, and covenant generation.” Shadowrun: “Shadowrun, […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, ars magica, D&D, gurps

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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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