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You are here: Home / Archives for D&D

Our D&D Greatest Hits: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition

January 26, 2012 by Dave

The D&D Greatest Hits series continues with a roundtable look at our fond memories from 2nd edition AD&D.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 2e, 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

Our D&D Greatest Hits: Chatty’s Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

January 19, 2012 by The Chatty DM

I was very intrigued with Mike Mearls’ vision of creating a “D&D’s Greatest Hits”. It evokes a plethora of images about modular designs and piecemeal “build your own game” elements that inspires the writer and buding game designer in me. This gave me an idea for a series of post here at Critical Hits. I thought it would be interesting if we shared our five DMing Greatest Hits for some or all of the versions of D&D we played as dungeon masters.

Filed Under: Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: AD&D, adnd, D&D, dnd, dndnext, Greatest Hits

Recompiling Digital D&D

January 17, 2012 by Vanir

A common complaint with 4th Edition has been the online tools that go with it. Now that we have a Next Edition coming, WotC gets another shot at getting their cyberducks in a row. The best part is, this time out they’re asking all of us what we want from D&D. Guess what? I want better online tools! Furthermore, I have a few suggestions. WARNING: Some programmer jargon ahead. Proceed with digital caution.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: .net, asp, character builder, D&D, D&D Insider, D&DI, dndnext, Dungeons and Dragons, json, online tools, perl, php, python, virtual tabletop, wotc, xml

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

It Slices, It Dices, It Possibly Does The THAC0

January 10, 2012 by Vanir

I’m sure by now you’ve heard the news. Beyoncé Knowles has given birth to a new edition of Dungeons and Dragons, and the Internets are ablaze. The epic ears of the Wizards of the Coast are now listening to user feedback more than ever before, and in their direction everyone’s hopes and dreams for their favorite game have been launched. The system is rumored to be many things, two of the most common of these being “just another money grab” and “modular”. As my experiences with the R&D team over the past couple years have not included any signs of them being were-packrats who hunt shinies when the moon is full, I can only speculate about the game’s modularity. As it happens, that is the thing that gives me the most hope and the most worry about the upcoming changes to D&D.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 5e, 5th edition, antisocial people, chaos, D&D, dnd, dnd3.5e, dnd3e, dnd4e, dnd5e, dndnext, Dungeons and Dragons, edition wars, editions, manifesto, minmaxers and roleplayers living together, monte cook

New Edition of “Dungeons & Dragons” Announced

January 9, 2012 by Dave

This morning, in the New York Times, it was announced that Wizards of the Coast is working on the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons – and you can be involved.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, News, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: breaking news, D&D

The Architect DM: Winging It

January 5, 2012 by Bartoneus

Let me know if this situation sounds familiar to you: You’re the DM/GM for your gaming group and you’ve just wrapped up an adventure, and you have at least a whole week until the next one. You sit down the next day, or even that very night, and start the adventure planning process. Over the next few days you stay on track but before you know it the next adventure is looming and you feel like despite your best efforts the game is still not as ready as you feel it should be.

Filed Under: Featured, Roleplaying Games, The Architect DM Tagged With: Adventure Prep, advice, architect dm, D&D, DM advice, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, planning, preparation, roleplaying games

The Real State of Dungeons & Dragons

January 2, 2012 by TorgHacker

In a nutshell, D&D started off the year in a state of confusion and concern, but has ended the year fairly strong. WotC is looking towards the future and D&D’s torch holders have done much to improve relations with their customers.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons

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  • 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.

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