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The Top 10 Things That Can Make a Convention Game Awesome
They kicked out the Troll so let’s start having fun! I recently wrote a post about things that could make convention games less than ideal. I don’t want to imply that such games were all bad though,...
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Worst. Session. Ever. (Part 1)
I was pretty pumped for last week’s D&D session. It was the first session of the new year, the first since we ended the first story arc of the first campaign I’d ever run and enjoyed, and the first...
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Worst. Session. Ever. (Part 2)
Last week, I talked about falling flat while ending a character. I also managed to start a few off on a sour note. Let me step back for a moment. I got a lot of good comments on last week’s post (both...
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Giveaway: 1st Edition AD&D “Unearthed Arcana” Reprint
Wizards of the Coast is awesome enough to provide us with five copies of the new 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Unearthed Arcana reprint book to giveaway to our readers! We haven’t really...
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“Get Bit!” and the Tabletop Effect
SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: The following article has some name-dropping and a fair amount of humblebrag. It also has some information and stuff. Consult your doctor before swimming with a shark. The...
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A Campaign About Nothing
It’s been a dry couple of months on the D&D front for our group. March has always been brutal in this respect for me, with approximately 174 birthdays (including my wife’s and son’s), and just to...
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Of Tables and Games: What I’m Playing Now
Before I start, a little Chatty update: Winter and Spring have been my crazy freelancer months for a few years now. I’m knee-deep in pushing the Cortex Plus Hacker’s Guide to layout. Dave and I...
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Interview: Bill “Dungeon Bastard” Cavalier on “The World’s Worst Dungeon Crawl”
Here at Critical Hits, we’ve been following the advice of Bill Cavalier, Adventure Coach AKA “The Dungeon Bastard” for some time now. At first it was because we mistook him for someone else entirely,...
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Preview: “Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management”
Engine Publishing, the book publishing arm of our blog rivals/friends at Gnome Stew, has tackled all kinds of subjects before: from NPCs, to plots, to adventure preparation. Their newest book, Odyssey,...
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Criminals: An Experiment in Card Game Publishing
Around 2006-2007, I was involved with a small startup game company called Robot Martini. We focused at first on making small card games by friends. The whole thing didn’t work out. But we did make...
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Cloud Is Just Loud With a C
A couple weeks ago, I wrote of the next iteration of the Great Console War. A few things have happened since then. Everyone hated Microsoft with the fury of a thousand suns for all the DRM and...
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Review: “Night’s Black Agents”
Sometimes, there are games that just don’t click at first, for whatever reason. For example, I remember years ago at a convention demoing Give Me The Brain to a group of congoers, which isn’t exactly...
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Interview: Rich Baker on “Primeval Thule”
If you know D&D, you probably know the name Rich Baker. From his role in development of settings like Birthright, games like Alternity and the new Gamma World, many Forgotten Realms supplements...
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“Neverwinter Campaign Setting” Icons for “13th Age”
I’ve played (and run) a few more sessions of 13th Age since I wrote my first preview, as the rules became more solid and filled out from those first playtests. I was initially more guarded, but since...
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Interview: Amanda Valentine, Developer of “Little Wizards” RPG
I’ve worked with Amanda Valentine on multiple projects before (including Marvel Heroic Roleplaying), where she served as a lead editor, helping to make the books as best they could be on every level....
View Article2013 Gen Con Preview: What to Watch For
Once again, Gen Con is upon us. You can check out my schedule if you’re so inclined. More importantly, there are games to check out and buy. This is not a comprehensive list: if you want a bigger look...
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First Play Impressions: “Firefly RPG”
I’ve been rather discrete about it but I had significant doubts about how the Firefly RPG would turn out and be perceived by gamers. By that I don’t mean the usual jitters of the insecure designer, as...
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First Impressions: “Fate Core” Roleplaying Game
After roughly a year with extremely limited time for roleplaying games, I was invited by a close friend to play in his newly starting modern day, Cthulhu-esque campaign using the early release Fate...
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RPGs for Kids: “Castle Death” Revisited
Last year, I wrote a short series of posts about a dead simple roleplaying game I played with my son Nico. I thought I should revisit it and add more meat to the concept. The Game Based on the first...
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MODOK’s 11: A Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Event
This is an event for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, based on the comic mini-series Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK’s 11 by Fred van Lente and Frances Portela. MODOK recruits a gang of D-list villains to...
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