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You are here: Home / Archives for Roleplaying Games

“Dungeons & Dragons” New Edition (Formerly “Next”) Gets Release Dates, Cover

May 19, 2014 by Dave

“Dungeons & Dragons”, the new edition, has a release date, just in time for Gen Con, as well as product covers and a few surprises.

Filed Under: Featured, Newest Critical Hits, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: D&D, D&D next, dndnext, gen con, gen con 2014

Project Paradigm: Making Magic

March 12, 2014 by Dave

In a game where everyone uses magic, magic becomes the cornerstone of design. This is one of the big areas that makes Mage: the Ascension different from Sorcerer from a Harry Potter RPG.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Featured, Game Hacks & Content, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: fate, fate core, mage: the ascension, project paradigm

A Life Playing D&D

February 25, 2014 by Mike Shea

It’s quite possible that, when we look at the small things that form together to build a happy life, D&D can be high on the list. This might surprise us. Yet if we think about it, the fact that we get so much joy playing D&D might not be all that surprising at all.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: D&D, Dungeons & Dragons

Samurai Swan Song: A “Seven Samurai”-Inspired “Fiasco”

February 21, 2014 by The Main Event

This playset is meant to create a Fiasco inspired by, or at least paying homage to, the classic story of the Seven Samurai. The players depict Samurai protecting a village from a bandit attack, though they may be little better than thieves themselves. A few more supernatural options have been included towards the ‘6’ roles, though they can easily be avoided if the playgroup decides they want to eschew such influences.

Filed Under: Game Hacks & Content, Movies, Newest Critical Hits, Pain of Publication, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: fiasco, seven samurai

Deathtrap Dungeon World: Moves from the Tomb

February 20, 2014 by Sersa Victory

Last month, I wrote about how you might design and run deathtrap dungeons using the Dungeon World roleplaying game. To aid GMs further, I’ve created several custom moves based on some of the most iconic and infamous traps lurking in the Tomb of Horrors. Use them as they appear in your own adventures, or modify them to create custom moves for traps of your own devising.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: deathtrap dungeon world, dungeon world, tomb of horrors

Project Paradigm: Some Thoughts on a Mage-Inspired Fate Game

February 5, 2014 by Dave

I’ve written before about my love of Mage: the Ascension. I even went and hacked another game system to play it in a way I really enjoyed, and have run it that way multiple times now. I’m not the only one who wanted to bring Mage back with a modern system. Ryan Macklin also wrote up the hack he was playing with. Now we’re joining forces on it.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Featured, Game Hacks & Content, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: fate, fate core, mage: the ascension, project paradigm

Chatty’s “13th Age”: The Story So Far, Part 2

January 10, 2014 by The Chatty DM

In Part 1, I started sharing a summary of my 13th Age campaign. In this post, I’ll catch up to current events and tell you a bit more about my players and table dynamics. If you’ve been reading my recent 13th Age posts, you should know that the next chapter is what inspired me to write the 13th Age hack about dealing with PC vs NPC contests.

Filed Under: Actual Play, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Newest Critical Hits, Player Psychology, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 13th Age, chatty's 13th age

Deathtrap Dungeon World, Part 3: Death and Rewards

January 8, 2014 by Sersa Victory

In this final part of the series, I’ll talk about how to handle death in your Dungeon World delve and how to manage “defy danger or die” effects. I’ll also discuss some strategies for rewarding players and characters that overcome the challenges your deathtrap dungeon presents.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: deathtrap dungeon world, dungeon world

Chatty’s “13th Age”: The Story So Far, Part 1

January 6, 2014 by The Chatty DM

Our 13th Age campaign is blossoming into one of the most amazing, highly improvised RPG campaigns I’ve ever played. So much so that I consider it one of the high points of my GMing career. I decided it was a good time to share some of its highlights and show you how we made the 13th Age Dragon Empire our own.

Filed Under: Actual Play, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 13th Age, chatty's 13th age

Deathtrap Dungeon World, Part 2: Dangers and Hard Moves

January 3, 2014 by Sersa Victory

In this part of the series, I’ll talk about how to create monsters, traps, and puzzles for your deathtrap dungeons in a way that embraces Dungeon World’s mechanics and philosophy. In addition, I’ll explain why hard moves are the most important part of your deathtrap dungeon toolkit, and present a list of 20 hard moves you can use in your game tonight.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: deathtrap dungeon world, dungeon world

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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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