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You are here: Home / Archives for Dungeons and Dragons

In Depth: 4E Assassin and Q&A with Mike Mearls

September 16, 2009 by Bartoneus

Last week Wizards of the Coast released a new class for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition called the Assassin, an exclusive class only available to subscribers of their D&D Insider service. I was very intrigued by this new class, so I asked if designer Mike Mearls would be able to answer some questions for us.

Filed Under: Editorial, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e dnd, 4th Edition, answers, assassin class, D&D, D&D Insider, design, Dungeons and Dragons, Interviews, mike mearls, q&a, questions, Roleplaying Games, roleplaying games, tabletop

Silly DM, minor quests are for players

August 5, 2009 by guest

About a year ago, I read a post about sharing narrative control with players over on Gnome Stew that just blew my mind. After my initial reaction of “Are you kidding me? The DM is the narrator, end of story,” I realized that I already did some narrative sharing because I encouraged the players to […]

Filed Under: Musings of the Chatty DM, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, Dungeons and Dragons, major quests, minor quests, narrative control, player narrative

Review: “Eberron Campaign Guide”

July 22, 2009 by Bartoneus

The DM companion book to the Eberron Player’s Guide, the Eberron Campaign Guide presents all of the information a DM could need to run a 4th Edition D&D game in the unique and interesting fantasy world of Eberron. Unlike the Player’s Guide, this is a book that mostly only DMs who want to run a game in Eberron are going to want to buy.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th Edition, D&D, dnd 4e, Dungeons and Dragons, eberron campaign guide, game, Reviews, Roleplaying Games, roleplaying games, tabletop

Inq. of the Week: Sources of Power?

July 21, 2009 by Bartoneus

Just before the Player’s Handbook 2 was released back in March I wrote an inquisition asking which power source people most wanted to see in the PHB3, the source that won the poll was psionics so it seems the PHB3 is shaping up to meet a lot of expectations already but unfortunately shortly afterward we discovered that WotC has abandoned the Ki power source concept which came in second in the poll.

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, D&D, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, Inquisition of the Week, power source, roleplaying game, Roleplaying Games, tabletop

Review: “Divine Power”

July 19, 2009 by Bartoneus

Divine Power is the latest sourcebook for the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons that includes new options for the Avenger, Cleric, Invoker, and Paladin classes. Each class gets a new build along with a ton of new powers, paragon paths, feats, and epic destinies. If you or one of your players is enjoying playing a divine class then this book is definitely a must have, but there are actually a surprising number of features that other players and DMs will want to borrow your copy to read as well!

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, D&D, divine power, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, preview, Reviews, roleplaying game, Roleplaying Games, sourcebook

One Year Later for 4e Podcast

June 10, 2009 by Dave

A whole pile of bloggers and podcasters, including the likes of At-Will, Dungeonmastering, ChattyDM, Gamer’s Haven, Sly Flourish, and yours truly, got together to ask James Wyatt and Chris Perkins of Wizards of the Coast about various topics related to 4e. This all was hosted and put together by Jeff of The Tome Show (who had some questions to ask himself). The end result is quite informative, ranging from game design topics to community topics.

Filed Under: Critical Bits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, Interviews, one year later, tome show, wizards of the coast

Review: Monster Manual 2

May 13, 2009 by Bartoneus

If there’s one thing most DMs can agree on, it’s that having more monsters to pick and choose from is better than more options for players, so the Monster Manual 2 comes as a welcome addition to 4E. The MM2 expands on many of the monsters we’re already using as well as introduces a whole slew of new beasties to the mix. From front to back, this book really excites me as both a DM and a player, and it delivers a lot of excellent new content for the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4e, 4th Edition, D&D, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, mm2, monster manual 2, Reviews, Roleplaying Games, roleplaying games

Being a Good New Player

May 9, 2009 by The Main Event

So often the focus of my articles is DMing. However, in a few short weeks I will be doing something unusual: joining The Game’s regular D&D game. I’m going to run through the considerations of making a character for a game that has been run for a considerable time (the party is starting off paragon level).

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Featured, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: character background, D&D, DM, dnd, Dungeons and Dragons, player, Roleplaying Games, roleplaying games

New 4E House Rule: Channel Arcanity

April 30, 2009 by Bartoneus

Developing from my post over the weekend about the new Tome Implement presented in Arcane Power and how it adds more options for the 4th Edition Wizard, several comments were made that a larger selection of spells makes the Wizard better but that the class as whole is still underpowered.  Our experience is that even […]

Filed Under: Roleplaying Games Tagged With: 4th Edition, arcane, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, Game Hacks & Content, homebrew, wizard

Preview: Ranged Warlord

March 27, 2009 by Bartoneus

When preview material for the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons first started to come out, what excited me the most was probably the addition of the Warlord class. The Races & Monsters preview book described the class alongside pictures of armored warriors covered in weapons (both melee and ranged). When 4e was finally released the Warlord class was extremely interesting but it completely lacked that “Weapons Master” feel…

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Comics, Featured, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: 4th Edition, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, martial power, ranged warlord, roleplaying, Roleplaying Games

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  • Bartoneus

    Danny works professionally as an architectural designer and serves as managing editor here at CH, which means he shares many of the duties of being an editor but without the fame and recognition. He also writes about RPGs, videogames, movies, and TV. He is married to Sucilaria, and has a personal blog at Incorrect Blitz Input. (Email Danny or follow him on Twitter).

    Email: bartoneus@critical-hits.comWeb: https://critical-hits.com//author/Bartoneus/

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