Critical Wits

Critical Wits returns with the debut of a new show type: One Shots! Join Chrispy in a solo venture in which he talks about the importance of being on board, rants about problems he sees with the landscape of modern roleplaying, and gives some suggestions for inter-party conflict and getting people on board.

This Episode: A Quick Guide to MLA Formatting and the Annotated Bibliography This episode Tim and Chrispy sit down and tell you how to steal stuff THE RIGHT WAY. Intellectual Property Rights Owners Hate Us: Check out these weird tips to help you pull a fast one on your players with no work at all! This Episode Also Known As: “Deep down, Chrispy really wants to play Sephiroth in a D&D game“ Like the Show? Consider supporting us on Patreon! http://patreon.com/CriticalWits Check out Tim’s successfully funded video game! http://rena.battlestudio.com

This Episode: Feedback, D&D 5, Episode Suggestions, Sentimentality, Time Tunnels, Comments For and Against Our Potty Mouths Tim and Chrispy sit down and go through their backlog of  bills and cancelation notices! Just kidding: it’s your feedback! We travel back through the TIME TUNNEL to answer emails, expand on some topics we’ve touched on in the past, and get a nice dose of positive reinforcement! This Episode Also Known As: “I paid ten friggin’ dollars to pull off that Full House joke” Like the show? Consider Supporting us on Patreon! http://patreon.com/CriticalWits Check out Tim’s video game on Kickstarter! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/battlejenkins/grapple-force-rena

This Episode: Roleplaying Games, Die Hard, Mega Man II, D&D as Therapy The tabletop RPG genre is a big marketplace full of many diverse games; each with a unique approach to what is ostensibly Pretend for Adults. For 40 years Dungeons and Dragons has been one of the biggest and most popular choices available. In this episode Tim and Chrispy sit down and analyze what draws them to roleplaying games as opposed to other, more passive forms of entertainment and what things D&D in particular does right to keep them coming back again and again. This Episode Also Known As: “Probably the Most Serious We’ll Ever Be” or “Heavy on the Critical, Light on the Wits”

This Episode: D&D Next Playtest, Cease and Desist Orders, Off Topic Rambling The D&D Next Playtest has come to an end. Tim and Chrispy take a look at how the game has changed and what they can expect from the final version, but mostly just mess around. This Episode Also Known As: “What were we talking about again…?”

This Episode: Character Classes, Game Mechanics, History Lessons, Anti-Gnome Tirades, Government Watch Lists What is a class? Is it a description of your character’s occupation, or just a bundle of abilities that define your role in an adventuring party? Chrispy and Tim delve into the eccentricities of D&D’s class system, picking apart the things that define a character class and ultimately failing to put them back together again. This Episode Also Known As: The One Where the NSA Starts Serious Inquiries into Tim and Chrispy’s Lives

This Episode: World Building, CQC Instructions, Video Games, Classic Japanese Animation, The Essence of “Rad” This time around the guys sit down and expand on an idea they had mentioned in Episode 4 by building a world right before your ears! Taking inspiration from favored movies and video games and cultivating their aesthetic, Chrispy and Tim lay the foundations for a campaign setting, and set the stage for a variety of adventures that could take place there. This Episode Also Known As: The Secret of the Legend of Princess Miyazaki’s Moving Castle in the Skies of Chrono Legends

This Episode: D&D Next, Mechanical Short Comings, Etymology Lessons, Norman Rockwell Tim and Chrispy sit down to take a more critical look at the second to last D&D playtest pack from last December. They also talk a bit about some of their personal projects and talk a bit about a new favorite game: Cards Against Humanity. This Episode Also Known As: The Trochee-Filled Misadventures of Tim Jenkins   A Quick Note: This episode gets slightly more vulgar than previous episodes. If you tend to listen with children around and don’t want to expose them to vulgar language/themes, you might want to not listen to this one while they’re around.

This Episode: Tone of the Game, Immersion, Neckbeard Grooming Tips. The Critical Wits Guys sit down to talk about setting the tone of the game and share some anecdotes about how they have successfully (but mostly not) achieved the tone they wanted. The Guys also give some tips on immersing your players and how you can use props, and lighting to great effect. This Episode Also Known As: Poorly Represented Product Placement

In this long overdue episode Tim and Chrispy sit down in person to chat about what they’re most excited about for D&D Next and what they like most about what’s been shown off so far!   This Episode Also Known As: The Ronnie James Dio Moment of Zen

Many great worlds may come to mind when one thinks of Dungeons & Dragons and its various incarnations and offshoots; Faerun, Golarion, Eberron, the Known World, Aebrynis… the list goes on and on. However, for many, the draw of the game comes from the ability to shape your own world in which to tell your own stories, and many elect to construct their own epic fantasy realms from scratch and invite the players to explore the realms of their imaginations. In this episode, the Critical Wits guys takes a look at these various worlds and their technology levels, geography, history, assumed setting power levels, modifications of races, firearms, rogues’ galleries, and share stories of the worlds they have built and played in. They even talk a little bit about world building.

    The guys sit down this week in the first part of a Double Feature Weekend to read your comments, emails and forum posts on the air, as well as follow up on some content from previous episodes. Stay tuned to Episode 4!

Every D&D player loves rolling a natural 20, especially during a major combat encounter, but shows an equal amount of dread at seeing a natural 1. Succeeding fabulously or failing spectacularly can both be fun, if handled correctly. The question is: what is the “correct” way to handle these auspicious rolls? Which systems handle them best? And what do the rolls represent in-game? For this episode, the guys sit down and discuss the benefits and pitfalls of different critical hit and fumble mechanics, and share their own opinion on their use. Things get a little heated, but everyone escapes with most of their limbs intact.