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You are here: Home / Archives for Roleplaying Games

Review: “Martial Power”

November 20, 2008 by Dave

Martial Power is the newest player-centric sourcebook for D&D 4e. It contains more options for the four martial classes (FIghter, Ranger, Rogue, and Warlord.) Each class gets new class feature options, paragon paths, feats, and epic destinies.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, martial power

Chatty’s First Freelance project

November 20, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Its official. I just signed a freelance writing contract with Goodman Games. After a few flip-flops on my part, I (helped by a few people hitting me on the head with a frying pan) decided to plunge forward come what may.  I shall be spending the next few weeks writing (with the help of a […]

Filed Under: Freelance Writing, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e

Work less, Partner with People and Make it! (RPG Blog Edition)

November 20, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Jonhathan, a fellow RPG Blogger network member sent us an impassioned message on the network’s mailing list earlier this week. He was exhorting the virtues of making partnerships to increase our success as bloggers and RPG enthusiasts. He was sharing with us what he got from this Copyblogger article about how all the work we […]

Filed Under: blogging, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games

D&D 4e: New Encounters

November 19, 2008 by Bartoneus

I began putting together some new Encounter group templates that can be used to expedite your game planning and hopefully present your players with some new experiences and challenges. I’ve also listed some suggestions and brainstorming for how these groups could be implemented, and I would love to hear any you’ve come up with as well!

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th Edition, D&D, dnd 4e, Dungeons & Dragons, encounter groups

DM Chronicle: Session 5, Alien Feys & Whiskered Pirates, Part 2

November 19, 2008 by The Chatty DM

See part 1 here. Scene 3: White Rage! After a night where the PCs slept warily on the bridge of the ship the PCs spotted a winged creature flying toward them.  It was a large White Dragon with a human pirate riding it. Screaming in draconic about ‘finally getting a prize worth taking’ the dragon […]

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

DM Chronicle: Session 5, Alien Feys & Whiskered Pirates, Part 1

November 18, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Previously in Chatty’s Game: Our Heroes battled a pirate Scholar and her Dragon Pet only to see her escape at the last second before defeat.  Alone against a city of angry Ape Men, they almost managed to turn them to their cause only to be defeated by a crazed zealot and his retinue of elite […]

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

Chatty’s Online D&D 4e Game: Genesis of the Project

November 16, 2008 by The Chatty DM

As many of you know, I made a lot of friends and contacts around the time of Gen Con 2008. Among those friends was Don, one of the members of the Wizards of the Coast Development team working on D&D insider. Don was one of the Seattle Wizards who read my Open Letter to WotC […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, Chatty's Online game

Paying the Buy-In

November 14, 2008 by Dave

When starting a new campaign (or even just planning a one-shot), it’s tough to get people into a new game. Thus, the game usually ends up being D&D. Now, there’s nothing wrong with it being D&D, but with so many RPGs out there, I enjoy a bit of variety when I can get it.

Why is it so tough? Because the “buy-in” total for the game is too high.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: campaign, D&D, dark heresy, dread, roleplaying, Roleplaying Games, star wars

4th Edition Encounter Planner

November 14, 2008 by Bartoneus

Earlier this week I was talking to Asmor and idly mentioned to him how I was trying to make an Encounter Planner for 4th Edition that used the DMG encounter templates. I was hoping to have something where I input a level, choose a difficulty, and it outputs a list of the monsters that will […]

Filed Under: Critical Bits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th Edition, asmor, D&D, dnd 4e, Dungeons and Dragons, Roleplaying Games

Robin Laws’ Revisited: Part 6, Being Spontaneous!

November 13, 2008 by The Chatty DM

This post is part of a series where I discuss Robin D Laws’ seminal work on GMing: Robin Laws’ of Good Game Mastering, written at the end of the 90’s . I compare it to my personal experience and opinions and I check how well the guide has ‘aged’. The other posts of this series […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Robin Laws

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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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