Crit Hit The Giant | Adventures In D&D & TTRPGs

Now that the Season of Horror is in full swing, many people are playing the adventure series "Shadows Of Sithicus" at their local gaming store for D&D Encounters. The person behind the series, Shawn Merwin, was kind enough to chat with me about it. LINKS Blog Post Version | https://crithitthegiant.com/2026/06/19/shawn-merwin-on-designing-shadows-of-sithicus-interview/ Watch "Broken Chains", a...

I had a chance to try out the first adventure in the new D&D Encounters series, "Shadows Of Sithicus". It's a lot of fun - but there are some things you should be prepared for if you plan to run this at your game store or at home. LINKS Blog Post Version | https://crithitthegiant.com/2026/06/10/how-to-survive-running-the-shadows-of-sithicus/ Watch "Broken Chains", a D&D Actual Play | https...

What happens when you have a passion for geek culture and a talent in making stained glass windows? You get Geek Orthodox! I had a chance to talk to the Founder & Designer, Ian Leino, about their work, their journey, and their future. LINKS Blog Post Version | https://crithitthegiant.com/2026/06/05/spotlight-geek-orthodox-interview/ Watch "Broken Chains", a D&D Actual Play | https://www.tw...

"Total Party Killers" is one of the newest Dungeons & Dragons comic book mini-series from Dark Horse and Wizards of the Coast. The writer of the series, Christopher Hastings, came by to chat about the series and his love and experiences with Dungeons & Dragons. LINKS Order "Dungeons & Dragons: Total Party Killers #1" | https://www.darkhorse.com/comics/3014-460/dungeons-dragons-total-pa...

If you've played Baldur's Gate 3 and you are now thinking of jumping into playing Dungeons & Dragons, you might be surprised at some of the key differences between the games. Here's what you need to know. LINKS Blog Post Version | https://crithitthegiant.com/2026/05/08/from-baldurs-gate-to-dungeons-dragons-what-to-know-before-you-play/ Watch "Broken Chains", a D&D Actual Play | https://www...

After watching the premiere of "Dungeon Masters" and running the first Play Along Pack from the series, here are my thoughts about this experience. Did you enjoy the debut of "Dungeon Masters"? What do you think of having these Play Along Packs for each episode? LINKS Blog Post Version | https://crithitthegiant.com/2026/04/24/dungeon-masters-premiere-and-the-play-along-pack-experience/ VIDEO: I Tr...

In the last few weeks, we got a lot of updates regarding the Season of Horror products, a new Actual Play Series from the D&D Team, and a new playtest centered around Villainous Options for players. LINKS "Ravenloft: The Horrors Within" products | https://marketplace.dndbeyond.com/BB-Ravenloft-WK15 Dungeon Masters: The New D&D Actual Play | https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/2147-dungeon-mast...

At GaryCon, I had a chance to speak to Limiting Factor Games. They created Dynamaps, which is a new kind of map experience for tabletop roleplaying games. LINKS Dynamaps by Limiting Factor Games | https://www.limitingfactorgames.com Watch "Broken Chains", a D&D Actual Play | https://www.twitch.tv/dndwithdee Where You Can Find & Support Me Online | https://linktr.ee/crithitthegiant HASHTAGS...

I sat down with Chris Tulach, Global Play Manager for Dungeons & Dragons, and we talked about the Dungeon Dare experience and the future of D&D Organized Play. LINKS Watch "Broken Chains", a D&D Actual Play | https://www.twitch.tv/dndwithdee Where You Can Find & Support Me Online | https://linktr.ee/crithitthegiant HASHTAGS & MENTIONS #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #Barbarians #Barba...

I attended GaryCon for the first time this year and go to go as press. Here were the big D&D announcements that was dropped at the convention, what I enjoyed the most about it, and a highlights reel of my time there. GaryCon has easily tied with GenCon as my favorite convention to attend! LINKS GaryCon | https://garycon.com Blog Post Version | Watch "Broken Chains", a D&D Actual Play | htt...

After being a Dungeon Master for 3 years, here are a few tools I use or plan to use in my future D&D campaigns that you should check out. LINKS Free League Publishing's "The One Ring 2E" - https://freeleaguepublishing.com/games/the-one-ring/ Cubicle Seven's "Uncharted Journeys" - https://cubicle7games.com/our-games/uncharted-journeys MCDM Productions' "Arcadia" - https://shop.mcdmproductions.c...

One of the most interesting subclasses of Barbarians I've found is from a third party resource "Forgotten Realms Rashemen: Unapproachable East Campaign Guide", called "Path of the Runescarred". It has a really neat history tied to magic and you can cast spells while Raging! LINKS "Forgotten Realms Rashemen: Unapproachable East Campaign Guide" on DMs Guild | https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/3704...

What are some of the best Origin Feats for a 2024 Barbarian? Here are my recommendations with some honorable mentions! Also - I will be making more videos regarding the Barbarian class so if there's anything you'd like to see or know more about, let me know! LINKS BLOG POST VERSION: https://crithitthegiant.com/2026/02/20/best-origin-feats-for-barbarians/ WATCH: "Broken Chains", a D&D Actual Pl...

Here are 4 rules in D&D (2024) that I recently "rediscovered" that I wanted to share with you. LINKS ARTICLE: https://crithitthegiant.com/2026/02/06/4-dd-rules-you-may-have-skipped/ WATCH: "Broken Chains", a D&D Actual Play | https://www.twitch.tv/dndwithdee Where You Can Find & Support Me Online | https://linktr.ee/crithitthegiant CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 01:33 - The Help Action And Abi...

A popular home-brew rule at D&D tables is using Critical Fumbles when a Natural 1 is rolled. Some people love it; others hate it. But using this set of rules not only give players more agency with Critical Fumbles, but it even encourages them to use it! LINKS: ARTICLE | https://crithitthegiant.com/2026/01/30/use-these-critical-fumbles-rules/ WATCH | "Broken Chains", a D&D Actual Play | htt...

One of the best ways to play a game set in the world of "The Lord Of The Rings" is to play the popular TTRPG "The One Ring" from Free League Publishing. I was able to try out a one shot of the newest Starter Set for the game, and here are my favorite things about this game that I am now obsessed over. LINKS ARTICLE: https://crithitthegiant.com/2026/01/23/what-i-loved-about-playing-the-one-ring/ Th...

Recently, the new head of D&D Beyond, Bryan Perry, provided an update on the future of D&D Beyond and hosted an AMA Reddit post to answer people's questions about the digital tool. As someone who uses this tool regularly (almost every day!), I thought I would share what's currently on my wish list for the D&D digital tool set. LINKS ARTICLE: https://crithitthegiant.com/2025/12/19/my-dd...

There are times when playing a session of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) won't be possible for whatever reason. Maybe you are short on time or the motivation isn't there, or you're with your family and friends and they don't have an interest in playing. The good news is that there are tons of board games that can scratch the D&D itch for you. In this episode, here are some games I would reco...

On November 11th of this year, Wizards of the Coast released two books based on its most popular setting: The Forgotten Realms: Heroes Of Faerun (an expansion for players) and Adventures In Faerun (an expansion for Dungeon Masters). In addition, they also released an exclusive, D&D Beyond Digital expansions that are connected to the Forgotten Realms: Astarion's Book Of Hunger (based on the pop...

Free League Publishing, the company behind popular tabletop roleplaying games such as Dragonbane, The One Ring, Vaesen, and Alien RPG, revealed a new and upcoming Kickstarter to publish 4 books of a classic Dragonbane setting. They also released for pre-order a new Lord Of The Rings book: The Hands Of The White Wizard (for "The One Ring") and Trials of Saruman (for D&D 5E). I had a chance to s...

In the latest Unearthed Arcana update released on October 30th of this year, Wizards Of The Coast dropped 5 updated subclasses for community review and feedback. Two of these subclasses are for the Barbarian: Path Of The Ancestral Guardian (which will be renamed Path of the Spiritual Guardian) and Path Of The Storm Herald. Here's an overview of what I saw in the updates: They are making damage sca...

We just received the latest Forgotten Realms books for Dungeons & Dragons, and the Player Expansion book, "Heroes Of Faerun" have a lot of great, new character options. But which ones are the best for your Barbarian character? I'm here to tell you my thoughts on which ones are my favorite and what it can do to make your Barbarian even more epic! LINKS!!! ARTICLE: The Best Barbarian Options Fro...

Dragon Delves is the first adventure anthology that Wizards Of The Coast released since the 2024 core rulebooks were published. It features an option to run a few of these adventures with a solo player character. I ran one of these adventures and I found that it was a great start, but it still requires more. Find out what the feature "Blessing Of The Lone Champion" entails for solo adventures, and...

Welcome to the podcast for Crit Hit The Giant! This is what you can expect from listening to the show, which is me bringing my love and adventures in the world of Dungeons & Dragons and Tabletop Roleplaying Games! Find out where else you can connect with me here: https://linktr.ee/crithitthegiant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.