• 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 Tropes

The Michael Bay School of GMing: Say it with Rockets

January 9, 2009 by guest

This is a second guest post by reader Kitsune.  With the recent debate surrounding the Rule of Cool and Critical Hits’ take on the Rule of C4, I thought this would be a good time to post Kitsune’s experimental essay on GMing.  No doubt this will set some people’s teeth on edge while others may […]

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

The Rule of Cool takes flak

January 1, 2009 by The Chatty DM

Its interesting to note that several bloggers, especially of the old School variety (here and here) are taking a stance against the Rule of Cool as applied to Role Playing Games. Being one of the proponents of it, having written about it and made part of my success as a blogger around it, I feel […]

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

DM Chronicles: Session 6: When Fun Trumps Story, Part 2

December 30, 2008 by The Chatty DM

See part one here. After some discussions, the party set out for Thunderspire Mountain.  I described what Fizban (eleven Wizard) knew about it since we established that he had visited it before in his researches. That’s when I gave the players a rundown on the setting’s background:  Old Minotaur city now called the Labyrinth, denizens […]

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

Chatty’s Question: Rekindling the flame

November 27, 2008 by The Chatty DM

I think all GMs inevitably go through this, but I’m currently undergoing GM burnout. I just don’t feel like being at the head of the table anymore. Don’t worry, I’m still very much a Chatty DM… This is not the first time it happened to me. Its just that I need to recharge my batteries. […]

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

Afterschool Trope Special: Fill Up the Nighmare Mobile

October 31, 2008 by The Chatty DM

What, two Trope posts in the same week? Why not? It’s been ages since I wrote any of them, and this is Halloween after all. With a satisfying ‘thunk’ Tragak the barbarian sheared the Orc Shaman’s head, sending it flying in the room’s dank, dark corner. As he was looting the body, he failed to […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: halloween, horror, Tropes, Tropes Season 2

Afterschool Trope Post: Holy Super Heroic Fantasy Batman!

October 27, 2008 by The Chatty DM

This month, I am the custodian of the RPGbloggers Monthly Carnival which is about Super Heroes. I thought it would be a perfect occasion to do a new Trope post about mixing some Super Heroes in my D&D Kool Aid! Trope: A narrative shortcut taken in a story that the audience will recognize and have […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games, Tropes Tagged With: 4e, Super Heroes, Tropes, Tropes Season 2

Of Fluff Kobolds and Geek Interviews

October 13, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Those who have followed my antics for a long time know of my ‘fued’ with the master of settings and fluff known as Wolfgang Baur. The rules-crazy overlord in me as long since surrendered to his way of thinking where atmosphere, strong characterization and all around story goodness enhances a system’s rules. Wolfgang now pilots […]

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

Blog Carnival: Super Heroes in RPGs

October 1, 2008 by The Chatty DM

The RPG Blog Carnival‘s idea started with Johnathan of The Core Mechanic (Although Geek’s Dream Girl used to do it too): Initial Idea (Subject: Resurrection) Roundup Then Donny the DM took up the torch This is Homebrew Roundup This month I offered to take up the torch and reinforce a nascent RPG blogging meme that […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: blog carnival, Tropes

The Life of a Suburban Overlord

September 13, 2008 by The Chatty DM

Update: I went ahead and created a website for the webcomic.  You can find it here.  I will update it M-W-F until I grow tired of it or something… My friend Pierre bought himself a iPhone 3G, installed a Comic Book app on it and started posting possibly the first Twitter Webcomic.  (He’s going to […]

Filed Under: Geek Stuff, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: Evil Overlord, TLSO, Tropes

Chatty’s Monthly Tips : Intro to Tropes

September 8, 2008 by The Chatty DM

I have a monthly column on Johnn Four’s Roleplaying tips newsletter. This month, I adapted the material I wrote in our Gen Con 2008 GM-FU seminar to introduce his readers to the concept of tropes.  Long time readers will notice that its a re-edition of some of my earlier posts. I’m re-posting it here because […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: roleplayingtips.com, Tropes

« Previous Page
Next Page »

About the Author

  • guest

    Email: guest@critical-hits.com

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