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You are here: Home / Archives for conventions

My 2014 as a Freelance Game Designer

January 23, 2015 by Dave

Dave recaps his 2014 as a freelance game designer in both tabletop and RPG, and learn how too much clicking can seriously derail a plan.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Critical Threats, Editorial, Featured, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Apocalypse World, conventions, fate, game design, heat, magic the gathering, strange new worlds, timewatch, unpub

Metatopia 2013 Schedule

October 28, 2013 by Dave

Metatopia is a unique convention, added to the roster of Double Exposure conventions. Metatopia covers games of all kinds, from board/card/party games to roleplaying games to live action games. As someone who has interests in all those areas, I’ve been happy to be at Metatopia every time they’ve put the convention on, including this year.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Critical Threats, Newest Critical Hits, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: conventions, game design, metatopia, metatopia 2013

Gen Con 2012 FLAIL STYLE

August 28, 2012 by Vanir

In which I relate the things I learned at Gen Con this year, tell some strange stories, and tell you how to get the stinkeye in a hotel lobby OR YOUR MONEY BACK.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Featured, Humor Tagged With: conventions, dice, gen con, Gen Con 2012, obsidian portal, recap, the resistance, Tips

O The Tangled Webs We Weep, When Breathe We Don’t When Go To Sleep

March 6, 2012 by Vanir

Ever since I was a wee lad, I’ve always had really vivid dreams. On occasion, this translates into really vivid nightmares, which sucks mightily. Usually, though, it just means I’m going to have a good story to tell come the dawn. Well, that is, until I found out I had sleep apnea. Turns out, one of the side effects of stopping to take a break during sleep to not breathe every few minutes is that you never really leave REM sleep — causing incredibly vivid dreams. Getting a machine to help with that provides me with a lot more energy during the day, but I only get a tiny fraction of the WTF I used to reap each night. This week, however, my sinuses have decided to clog up everything, making it really hard for my machine to blow air down my throat to keep me breathing normally. And that meant it was SHOWTIME.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Humor, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: aliens, apnea, conventions, cortex, cpap, dreams, illinois central college, kmart, leverage, marvel, orange chairs, pregnant, sweaters, tractors, warm mood lighting

Con-Versations: Highlights of The Grand Roludothon

June 14, 2011 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty recounts his gaming day at a local con, describing the highlights of his Dungeon Reality Show and Old School Job sessions.

Filed Under: Actual Play, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, convention report, conventions, Cortex Plus, D&D, d&d 4e, Dungeon Reality Show, Dungeons and Dragons, Leverage RPG, Old School Job, Roludo, Roludothon

Chatty’s Toronto Adventure: Fan Expo 2010

August 19, 2010 by The Chatty DM

With Nico’s ear surgery out of the way, it so happens that I shall be at the Toronto Fan Expo from August 27 to 29. I’ve been invited as a gaming guest, alongside Toronto gaming luminaries like Robin Laws and Ed Greenwood… Oh yeah, and that gorgeous red-headed gamer Felicia Day…

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: conventions, Fan Expo 2010, gaming, Guest, Toronto

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Preview Night

July 23, 2010 by Logan Bonner

Here’s a quick post to cover the tiny bit of Comic-Con that’s happened so far. After a mistake that put me on the wrong shuttle and a nearly hour-long drive around downtown, I arrived at the house Chris Tulach and I have rented a room in. Then after a 30-minute walk back down to the convention center, I snagged my professional badge and headed toward the exhibit hall that was just opening up.

Filed Under: Comics, Minor Quests, Movies, News, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: comic con, conventions, SDCC

Greetings from the New Initiate

July 21, 2010 by Logan Bonner

When Chris Sims extended an offer to joining Critical-Hits a while back, I was intrigued. I liked the site, and its reputation as a good group of people who usually stay positive about games (but while remaining honest about their opinions). My existing blog, while mostly about gaming, didn’t cleave strictly to D&D discussions. Or at least I didn’t plan for it to always do so. Also, I’ve made a long tradition of following in Chris Sims’s footsteps ever since I became an editor on D&D shortly after he did, so here was another chance.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Comics, Minor Quests, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, conventions, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons

Roludothon 1 Report, Morning: Robo-Rally, Agricola and Cheetoism

June 30, 2010 by The Chatty DM

Chatty DM shares his gaming and social experiences at a local convention in Montreal. He tried Agricola for the first time and, surprisingly, liked it!

Filed Under: Actual Play, Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Musings of the Chatty DM Tagged With: Agricola, Cheetoism, conventions, Montreal, Poutine, RoboRally, Roludothon

Inq. of the Week: Really Big Show

June 20, 2010 by Dave

This week sees me once again off to the Origins Game Fair, one of the big shows of the summer for us nerdily inclined. Origins still remains the smaller, slower show for me- while there are some board game releases occasionally and some interesting small press stuff, all the major releases and announcements tend to wait for one of the later shows, especially GenCon. However, there’s still fun times to be had.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: comiccon, conventions, dragoncon, gencon, origins

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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

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