Review: “The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea”

The Plane Above is the next 4th Edition D&D supplement that focuses specifically on the Astral Sea, denizens of the plane, a wide variety of locations found there, campaign ideas involving the plane and a handful of new monsters that can be found in the Astral Sea.

Star Crossed Dragons

Dragons are one of the most feared creatures within any fantasy setting. Their thick scales, razor sharp talons, brilliant minds and feared breath abilities make them one of the greatest threats to groups of adventurers and kingdoms alike. With this fearsome persona it is easy to forget that these cunning and sometimes sinister creatures are also capable of love.

Mailbag 2 – Freelancing 101

I’ve gotten a number of questions about freelancing and writing for D&D Insider. In this issue of the Mailbag, I’ll deal with queries and submissions. I’ll also touch on huge sums of money you can make and the glamorous lifestyle you can lead through successful freelancing. Or maybe I’ll just talk a little about money.

Inq. of the Week: Summer Movies ’10

As it is the first week of April, and luck has it that Dave is out of town and I am writing the Inquisition, I can happily continue my yearly trend of posting an inquisition around this time asking about everyone’s favorite summer movies!

Become Emotional

The psychology of desire and attachment defines our lives in countless ways. This fact is true even in the roleplaying games. Every character you play is an extension of you and the desires you want to fulfill by playing. More elusive, though, is real attachment–emotional connection–to a game’s goings on.

Mailbag 1 – Character Contortion

Here’s the first question from the mailbag. Jon Hixson asks: “How do you deal with players new to 4e who want to run characters that the system doesn’t support?”

Exclusive Preview: Alliance 2011 Catalog

Through our sources, we’ve managed to obtain a copy of the Alliance Games distributor catalog for the coming year. This catalog is what game retailers use to decide what to order for their store to carry, and we are fortunate enough to get a peek at what the next year in games holds. Here are a few that caught our eye, along with their descriptions from the publishers.

We Are the Champions: DM Challenge at Pax East 2010

As you may have heard by now, I won the DM’s Challenge, put together by WotC on the Saturday of Pax. For weeks, since it was announced, ChattyDM and I have been trash talking and hyping each other up about the event. For a while, I was worried that the event wouldn’t run due to lack of participants. Boy, was I wrong.

Emergence & Reentry

Hello everyone! I’m Chris Sims, former Wizards of the Coast designer and editor. You might know me from my editing work on the 3e D&D game (Rules Compendium), my design work for the 4e game (Martial Power, MM, MM2, and so on), or from D&D Insider. I’m joining my friends here at Critical-Hits, because I enjoy talking, thinking, and writing about games and generally geeky stuff.

Inq. of the Week: Modifying Your Game

During the week in which that question was asked, we ran a week of homebrew rules, some advice, and even a mini-game. I hope you enjoyed it- if you’d like to see more like that, or have any other ideas for theme weeks, let us know. And to close out the homebrew week, I ask the following question in relation…