• Critical-Hits Studios
    • Criminals Card Game
    • Sentinel Comics: the Roleplaying Game
  • Downloads & Tools
    • Critical Hits Fantasy Name Generator
    • Drinking D&D 2010
    • Drinking D&D 2011
    • Fiasco Playset: “Alma Monster”
    • MODOK’s 11 for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying
    • Refuge In Audacity RPG
    • Strange New Worlds RPG
  • Guides
    • Gamma World
    • Guide to 4e Accessories
    • Guide to Gaming DVDs
    • Skill Challenges
  • RSS Feed
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Critical Hits

Everything tabletop gaming since 2005

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Columns
    • Dire Flailings
    • Dungeonomics
    • Musings of the Chatty DM
    • Pain of Publication
    • The Architect DM
  • Podcasts
    • Critical Hits Podcast
    • Dungeon Master Guys Podcast
  • Roleplaying Games
  • Tabletop Games
  • Game Hacks & Content
  • Video Games
You are here: Home / Archives for Roleplaying Games

Inq. of the Week: Blub Blub Blub?

January 28, 2008 by Dave

Though they may not be able to survive in-game, Bards received the most votes for being able to survive into the next edition. I voted for them, but I have to say I’m quite surprised. Druids and Monks were right there too, which probably means that all three of these classes have a unique flavor […]

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Movies, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: sea monster

DM Chronicles, Session 10: Oh My! Drows are squishy!

January 27, 2008 by The Chatty DM

This series chronicles our current D&D 3.5 campaign set in my home-grown world with Ptolus added to it. We’ve just started playing a heavily-adapted version of WotC’s Expedition to the Demonwebs pits. As you may recall from last time, I had mixed feelings about the game and I had been going a bit heavily on […]

Filed Under: Campaign Logs, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 3.5e, Chatty's 2007-2008 campaign

Review: "Races and Classes" / "Worlds and Monsters"

January 26, 2008 by Dave

To all the DMs out there: how many of you have ever made a house rule? How many of you have changed some piece of description because you felt it didn’t make sense or didn’t fit with what you needed? Probably all of you. Wizards of the Coast is undertaking a huge experiment in both […]

Filed Under: Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, classes, D&D, design, fourth edition, games, gaming, Roleplaying Games

Aight, I put on my robe and wizard hat…

January 24, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Sooooo, a few days ago Vanir puts up a post about what his Epic Level Heavy-Metal Bard called Bat Loaf did when he was riding the Tarrasque with his pals. My brain broke down somewhere down the line but now that my memory matrix has been reconstructed, it seems that Bat Loaf got his metal […]

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

Robin's Laws Revisited: Part 2, Player Types and Traits

January 23, 2008 by The Chatty DM

This post is part of a new series that explores Robin Laws’ seminal work on GMing. This time I tackle the book’s fundamental subject of player types and what they seek in RPGs. Part one can be found here. The second chapter of Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering brings up the subject that knowing […]

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

Character Genesis: New characters for Pathfinder #1.

January 22, 2008 by The Chatty DM

A few months ago, I prepared a demo D&D game for PM, his friend Vince, and Franky’s brother Mike, all newbies to RPGs or D&D 3.5 in general. Franky had joined to even out the group and act as the expert on the players side. Our game session, based on Paizo’s excellent Pathfinder #1 adventure, […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: fluff, pathfinder

Adventure Prep: Strapping it all together to get it going good!

January 21, 2008 by The Chatty DM

This post is part of a series that covers the preparations I do for my current D&D campaign. You can follow it here and the various DM logs I wrote here. Our next D&D game is Friday night. Weeee! This time we’ll be missing our Archer as Franky will be working during the evening (he’s […]

Filed Under: Adventure Prep, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: DMing, Tropes

Inq. of the Week: An Issue of Class

January 21, 2008 by Bartoneus

Apparently the thing most people want for Rock Band is to be able to have a Jam Mode where you can create, play, and share your own songs. “More Cowbell!” came in second, so I have no doubts there will be a cowbell mod for the microphone very soon (if there isn’t one already). We […]

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, classes, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons

Chatty’s Review: Silvervine, Character Generation

January 19, 2008 by The Chatty DM

This post is part of a series that tackles the reading review of a yet unpublished RPG called Silvervine. Please note that this game is still in development, my review is part of the pre-playtest feedback. Last time I tackled the games 1st chapter and the mixed feelings I got as a first impression. Now […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games

Getting back in the game!

January 17, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Along with other RPG GMing bloggers, I was contacted by Role-playing Tips guru, Johnn Four this week to contribute to his next Newsletter. Not wanting to miss the exposition of being read by so many people, I happily accepted. Heck he even offered to let us use our submission as a post for our blog! […]

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

« Previous Page
Next Page »

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

    Follow me:

Subscribe

RSS Feed

Archives

CC License

All articles and comments posted posted on the site (but not the products for sale) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. References to trademarks and copywritten material are included for review and commentary use only and are not intended as any kind of challenge.

Recent Comments

  • fogus: The best things and stuff of 2024 on Remembering the Master: An Inelegant Eulogy for Kory Heath
  • Routinely Itemised: RPGs #145 on Review: The Magus
  • The Chatty DM on Review: The Magus
  • Linnaeus on Review: The Magus
  • 13th Age: Indexing Truths — Critical Hits on The Horizon Conspiracy

Contact The Staff

Critical Hits staff can be reached via the contact information on their individual staff pages and in their articles. If you want to reach our senior staff, email staff @ critical-hits.com. We get sent a lot of email, so we can't promise we'll be able to respond to everything.

Recent Posts

  • Remembering the Master: An Inelegant Eulogy for Kory Heath
  • Review: The Magus
  • Hope in the Dark Heart of Evil is Not a Plan
  • Chatty on Games #1: Dorf Romantik
  • The Infinity Current: Adventure 0

Top Posts & Pages

  • Home
  • The 5x5 Method Compendium
  • Dungeons & Dragons "Monster Manual" Preview: The Bulette!
  • Critical Hits Fantasy Name Generator
  • On Mid-Medieval Economics, Murder Hoboing and 100gp
  • "The Eversink Post Office" - An Unofficial Supplement for Swords of the Serpentine
  • Finally a manual for the rest of them!
  • Dave Chalker AKA Dave The Game
  • How to Compare Birds to Fish
  • The Incense War: a Story of Price Discovery, Mayhem, and Lust

Copyright © 2026 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in