• 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 4e

Fantasy Heroic Roleplaying: A D&D 4e Hack for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

March 26, 2012 by Dave

This is a hack of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying designed to use a lot of the trappings of Dungeons & Dragons (4th edition), particularly in the classes and races. You will need to be familiar with both games in order to get much out of this.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Game Hacks & Content, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, marvel heroic roleplaying, mhrpg, rules hack

Steve Townshend on Adventure Design Podcast

March 19, 2012 by Mike Shea

Mike Shea of Sly Flourish and Steve Townshend, freelance WotC designer and trained actor, discuss the ins and outs of great adventure design in this most recent Critical Hits podcast.

Filed Under: Critical Hits Podcast, Interviews, Podcasts, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, adventure design, heroes of the feywild, improvisation, madness at gardmore abbey, monster manual 3, monster vault, NPCs

Initial Impressions of the New D&D

February 3, 2012 by Mike Shea

30 Second Summary Though we know little about the final game, the foundations of the new D&D are solid. The focus on ability scores, flatter power progression, and faster gameplay give freedom to both players and dungeon masters. The refined nature of the game puts a focus on the imagination of the players and the […]

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 5e, D&D, D&D next

DDXP 2012 Recap: Running the New D&D and Playing Games

February 2, 2012 by Dave

This year’s DDXP was a very interesting one, as I suspected. We were actually able to get there, unlike last year, though Fort Wayne’s weather seems persistant in its attempts to keep us out. In order to help finance the trip, and because I was one of the few who had an early look at the new D&D, I volunteered to DM seven four-hour slots of the new game to eager players. While I only ended up running four games of it (mostly because I was too tired to do any more than that), I had a blast and felt good about the games that I ran.

Filed Under: Editorial, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, D&D, D&DNext, D&DXP, DDXP2012, magic the gathering, marvel heroic roleplaying

Cure Selfish Wounds

February 1, 2012 by Bartoneus

Today’s D&D Next post at the Wizards site by Bruce Cordell is titled Time to Heal and discusses the role of the Cleric class and how it relates to healing through the life span of Dungeons & Dragons. There’s a nice little recap of how healing and the Cleric class have both worked in previous editions, and then there is a poll asking how people prefer the mechanics to be handled. Reading about how healing worked in previous editions brought forward some experiences that I am dying to share with you.

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, 5e, 5th edition, cleric, D&D, damage, dnd, dnd next, Dungeons and Dragons, Healing, leader, next, surges

DDXP 2012: “Charting the Course: An Edition for All Editions” and “New Products” Seminars

January 30, 2012 by Dave

This past weekend was DDXP, and since this the new edition of D&D was announced recently, this was both the first chance the public would both find out directly from the mouths of the people making the game what it would be like, as well as try a limited demo of the new game. Like in 2008, questions about the new game were answered, and new ones were created. And just like back then, we were on the scene to report on the goings on to try to bring you a taste of the information available if you couldn’t be there.

Filed Under: Featured, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 5e, D&D, D&D next, D&DXP, DDXP2012, new edition of D&D

Critical Hits Podcast #34: The Id DM and the Psychology of D&D

January 23, 2012 by Mike Shea

Mike Shea of Sly Flourish and Michael Mallen, practicing psychologist and author of the Id DM D&D blog, discuss the psychology of the gaming table. This podcast discusses some of Mallen’s excellent studies into the mind of the players and the dungeon master and statistical studies of the Penny Arcade D&D podcasts.

Filed Under: Critical Hits Podcast, Podcasts, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, D&D, DM advice, psychology

The Road Not Taken: Alternative Directions For A Post 4e D&D

January 16, 2012 by Dave

In the context of a new edition, there are any number of ways that an edition after 4th edition could go, while still building on the foundation of the game.

Filed Under: Critical Threats, Game Hacks & Content, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, game design, hacks

Where D&D is Heading; or, How the Internet Changed a Game

January 13, 2012 by Shawn Merwin

Where I talk about my opinions on the past and future of D&D, and then end up sounds like a cross between a Romantic poet and the lonely drunk at the end of the bar after a long night. Which in some cases is exactly the same thing.

Filed Under: Editorial, Know Your Roll, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, D&D, D&D next, dndnext

Dungeons & Dragons of Future Past

January 12, 2012 by Bartoneus

The 4th Edition of D&D brought about the only long campaign I’ve ever managed to run, and I attribute a large part of that to the ways the new edition changed the role of being a Dungeon Master and the tools it provided. After D&D Next was announced the online RPG community went crazy, and I saw a number of people sharing lamentations that 4th Edition was now “old” and “going away”. I’ve finally managed to wrangle my thoughts about D&D Next, and they are overwhelming in their hope that whatever D&D Next is it allows me to continue running 4e D&D.

Filed Under: Editorial, Roleplaying Games, The Architect DM Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, D&D, dnd, dndnext, Dungeons and Dragons, edition wars, new edition, random encounters, roleplaying games

« 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 © 2025 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in