And We Went East
The Goblin and the Peppercorn The Halfling Thief found the bag of peppercorns on the goblin’s body. An argument ensued. The Fighter wanted to keep walking toward the ruins and fulfill their...
View ArticleThe Incense War: a Story of Price Discovery, Mayhem, and Lust
The dragon stank. Dragons sit on their gold hoard and spend millennia soaking in their own sulfurous stench. They aren’t a big fan of bathing to begin with as it involves water and leaving the gold...
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Ars Gratia Pecuniae: Art, Magic, Murder Hobos, and Cash
A Beholder Killed Our Friends And… “It’s an early Puliarus’ Wand of Fear,” the Bard told the Artificer. The Rogue next to her nodded encouragement. Two wore their least dirty clothing. Somewhere...
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Bards, Lies, and Magic Items: The Mass-Producing Artificer Con
The Tilt The old Diviner was dead. The Palace Guard found him face down stone cold dead in his rapidly cooling morning mush. Strangled. Few old men, even old Diviners, naturally strangled themselves...
View ArticleZen and the Art of Dungeon Mastering #7: Asking Loaded Questions
This is part of a series I started way back in 2011. As I was getting ready for last week’s Hoard of the Dragon Queen D&D adventure, I noticed one encounters featured an adult blue dragon. As...
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Murder Hobos of the World, Arise!
The Dark Ages In the dark times where legends sprang, most people were subsistence farmers eking out life from the soil. While warlords raged with metal and might and Great Heroes (later culturally...
View ArticleThe Index Card Method Codex, Part 1
(It’s come to my attention that the methods described therein show similarities with a RPG called Microscope. While I have yet to read it, I’m happy to credit it and invite people interested in this...
View ArticleCastles in the Sky Part I: History, Mechanics and Trade
Friend of the blog @slyflourish asked me to give “the treatment” to a world of flying castles. It turns out trying to cover all facets of a world where fantasy, flight, and large cargo movement...
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Castles in the Sky Part II: Religion, War and Conquest
This essay continues last week’s past, Castles in the Sky Part I: History, Mechanics and Trade. We covered some history, how the castles mechanically work, and some trade policies. That piece is...
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Breaking: “Dragon+” Magazine App Comes to the iOS Store
After months of speculation following the launch of D&D 5e and the cessation of the digital versions of Dragon and Dungeon magazines as part of the D&D Insider program in 4th edition, the new...
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The Modronocracy: an Adventure in Price Ceilings
Primus The new Primus is identical to the old Primus. He is the One and the Prime. In fact, he is the old Primus in nearly every conceivable way except for this slightly different data set collected...
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The Great Sigil Trading House, or, “Elysium Wool Is Soooo Hot Right Now”
And the Bartender Says… Sigil. The City of Doors. The City of Factions. The City of Money, Commerce, Trade, and Excellent Sushi*. Sometimes life in Sigil is like that joke: a Tiefling, an Aasimar and a...
View ArticleThe King is Dead! Long Live the King!
The Inheritance Rules The King’s most fundamental concern during his reign is his Throne. Removal from office is common via revolt, exile, coup, imprisonment, mis-adventure, and death by Murder Hobos...
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Announcing: “Sentinels of the Multiverse” RPG
In partnership with Greater Than Games, we here at Critical-Hits Studios, Inc. are pleased to announce that we are designing the official Sentinels of the Multiverse/Sentinels Comics Roleplaying Game....
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Caravans of the Dead
On Trade How do great magic items, mystical cloaks, Elven and Dwarven armors, rare reagents, and unusual spell scrolls make their way across enormous distances to shops and ultimately the hands of...
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A D&D Lover’s Guide to Other RPGs: “Fate Core”
Full disclosure: I have had this article written for months, but I have been waiting to publish it until the Kickstarter was launched for Part-Time Gods of Fate, a “Powered By Fate” project I have...
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The Box
The Kingdom The Kingdom was small, rocky and mountainous on the furthest end of the continent and pressed up against the sea. It had neither great military nor great industry like its more muscular...
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Sunlight & Stairs
The Canyon During the world’s early age, when hideous, powerful beasts ruled the world and Gods roamed the Planes, the elven tribes huddled together in a narrow, high-walled canyon bisected by a river....
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Inside the Deep Elf Marketing Department
In the early days of the Long Sojourn Beneath, the Deep Elves struggled to survive in the Upper Underdark. Foods was scarce, magic worked sporadically, and familiar building materials were rare. They...
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The Druid, the Murder Hobos, and the Coffee Bean
The Bean This story is about a bean. Legend has it, one day long ago, an Elven shepherd forgot to patch a weak slat in the fencing around his farm. During a heavy storm, it broke. This, in itself, is...
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