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You are here: Home / Archives for games

On the Great Divination Wizards Guild and the Black Chamber

October 11, 2014 by multiplexer

Guilds are urban creatures.  They cannot survive without cities.  They are parasites on the fantasy body politic, reaching their spider-like legs into the deepest recesses of civic culture.  Although membership is nominally voluntary everyone in town belongs to a guild: the doctors, the barbers, the bakers, the carters, the shoemakers and even the wizards. Especially […]

Filed Under: Columns, Dungeonomics, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: economics, espionage, games

The Swag of Yore

March 13, 2012 by Vanir

When I was a kid, we could watch a D&D cartoon and buy AD&D toys at most toy stores. Now, our selection of D&D items appears to be mostly limited to games. t-shirts, and leather goods. Read for musings about how things have changed for D&D merch over the last 30 years, and childish hopes for the future. My heart and wallet ache.

Filed Under: Dire Flailings, Featured, Humor, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: books, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, endless quest, fire elemental, games, odious ogre, pvc figure, shambling mound, toys

30 For 30

December 19, 2011 by Dave

I played 30 games for the occasion of turning 30. Here they all are.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Critical Threats, Featured, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: birthday, blackjack, commander, crappy birthday, dominion, falling, fiasco, games, get bit!, hey waiter!, hit a dude, jenga, la strada!, legend of drizzt, looney labs, loopin' louie, magic the gathering, mamma mia!, no merci, pit, Poker, risk legacy, seven dragons, spot-it!, toc toc woodman, treehouse, win lose or bana

Junk Punch

March 31, 2011 by Chris Sims

You have been sucker punched. As a gamer, you’ve been categorized and used as a negative stereotype to illustrate points about terrible movies. Video games and gamers get a bum rap in film criticism. Film critics seem to like to use video games and the people who play them as a culturally understood idiom. This practice makes the critics look as bad as what they might be criticizing.

Filed Under: Analysis Paralysis, Editorial, Featured, Movies Tagged With: criticism, critics, gamers, games, movie critics, roger ebert, sucker punch, Zack Snyder

Chatty’s PaxEast Highlights: 3 days of Fun Among Friends

March 15, 2011 by The Chatty DM

In which Chatty miraculously fits his highlights of a spectacular convention in only one 1500 words post. A record some will say!

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Featured, Musings of the Chatty DM, Newest Critical Hits, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: Boston, fiasco, Gabe, games, gamma world, Jane MacGonigal, leverage, magic the gathering, Mouse Guard, Munckin, pax east 2011, Tycho

Inq. of the Week: Frequency of Play?

October 26, 2009 by Bartoneus

This week I’d like to take a look at how often all of you play tabletop RPGs. My own D&D campaign has been on a short hiatus for four weeks now and will be resuming in early November, but leading into the holiday season I’m scared the schedule is going to be disrupted for the next few adventures.

Filed Under: Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games Tagged With: games, gaming, gender, group, Inquisition of the Week, Roleplaying Games, women

Review: Lord of the Rings Risk – Trilogy Edition

September 3, 2009 by originalsultan

Overview Lord of the Rings Risk: Trilogy Edition, a board game by Hasbro and Parker Brothers released in 2003, takes the classic game of Risk and transports it into Tolkien’s Middle Earth.  In addition to the change of theme, the game builds on the classic Risk mold by adding several new elements – presenting new […]

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Reviews, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre Tagged With: game design, games, gaming, lord of the rings, Middle Earth, Reviews, risk, Tolkien, wargame

Critical Hits Gift Guide 2008

December 19, 2008 by Dave

This year’s gift guide goes out to all of you last minute shoppers who need to pick up some games and gifts for all the nerds in your life. Many of our suggestions are products we’ve reviewed, so I will link to the review where appropriate.

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Comics, Featured, Movies, Roleplaying Games, Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre, Television, Video Games Tagged With: board games, christmas, gamer, games, gift guide, gift ideas, Movies, presents, videogames

Inq. of the Week: Games You Play 2008

November 10, 2008 by Bartoneus

Our rather appropriate presidential poll has now closed, and it looks like we’re all doomed!  I myself was almost swayed by the logical tagline, “Why settle for the lesser of two evils?”  I held out, but most of you just couldn’t resist the Elder Sign ticket coming in with the small win at 31%.  Not […]

Filed Under: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, Featured, Inquisition of the Week, Video Games Tagged With: Board, Card, and Miniature Games, games, Inquisition of the Week, videogames

Review: Braid

August 26, 2008 by joshx0rfz

In short: Braid is an excellent game. It successfully integrates all aspects of game making into one cohesive unit with a mature theme. Even with the $15 price tag, it is worth downloading. I read a bit about a game called Braid on Penny Arcade the other day. I tend to agree with Tycho about […]

Filed Under: Featured, Reviews, Video Games Tagged With: braid, games, gaming, puzzle game, Video Games, videogames, xbox 360

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About the Author

  • multiplexer

    Emily used to write for pen-and-paper RPGs (Steve Jackson Games, Guardians of Order, White Wolf). She disappeared into the AAA Game Industry for a while to "build an MMO" because "it sounded like fun." Then she wandered out and now writes about applying modern economic principles to very un-modern murder hobo and magic slinging wizard banker infested worlds. During the day she does crazy computer things. She has a husband, a child, and a small orange dog named for Arthur Schopenhauer. She reads history, politics, economics, and philosophy for fun.

    Email: multiplexer@critical-hits.comWeb: https://critical-hits.com//blog/category/critical-hits/

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