Communication skills are very important to every facet of our lives that involves anyone but us. This means gaming too! Read on – and when you’re done, tell somebody what you’ve learned. Without using “um” or “uh”. Or WE’LL KNOW.
2011 Ennies Nominations Announced
On Friday, the nominations for the 2011 Ennie Awards were announced. For the third year in a row, Critical Hits has been nominated (in 2009 for best website and 2010 for best blog), and I’m honored to add both 2011 best blog to the list, as well as a nomination for best podcast for the Dungeon Master Guys.
There’s No Crying in Design
Whether you’re talking RPG design or other creative works, anything presented to the public is going to garner reaction. Criticism can be devastating, but there are ways to deal with it.
Review: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab RPG Series Scents
OK, quick word association game: when you think of the words “D&D” and “scent”, what immediately comes to mind? Probably not something pleasant. Luckily, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is trying to change that, or at least make that scent something more interesting than “Odeur de corporelle.”
Critical Hits Podcast #30: Chris Sims and Mike Shea on Encounter Design
Mike Shea talks to Chris Sims about designing effective encounters in D&D 4e.
Improvisational Safety Limits
Last week, I decided to simulate the randomness of dreams for my players in our D&D game. I decided to come up with almost everything on the fly to give it that extra little bit of realism. You know, for all the imaginary stuff. Needless to say, what ensued was a nightmare. GET IT?
Review: “Masks: 1,000 NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game”
Masks: 1,000 NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game is what it says: 1,000 NPCs ready to be dropped into any game. While they don’t have any stats (like Eureka, the book is systemless), you’ll find each NPC has a full name, a brieft summary, a quote from the character, appearance, roleplaying advice, a description of personality, motivations, background, and a set of traits (that are shared across multiple entries.)
2011 Origins Report
Another Origins has come and gone, and as always, there were plenty of games. Here are a few that stood out, both old and new.
The Architect DM: Give Your Cities Some Architecture
Not every D&D campaign or world map includes nations or regions that break the larger mass into more digestible pieces, but this is one of the features that I’m glad I chose to be a primary element of my current D&D campaign. Inspired by a 3rd Edition D&D campaign run by our friend Dennis (aka The Main Event) where the nationality of the PCs became one of the most memorable parts of the game for me and ended up factoring into the ongoing plots in interesting ways, I decided to present my players with a world divided into various nations each with a unique flair and often divided by racial distinctions. However, one of the elements that I failed to strongly present to my players and that I’m going to discuss today is the idea of giving a unique design and feel to each of those nations when it comes to locations and buildings.
2011 Origins Awards Winners
Here are the results of the 2011 Origins Awards, announced at the 37th annual ceremony.
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