The Critshow

Join our eclectic crew as they try to navigate the harrowing Post-Gap universe of a brand-new original Starfinder 2e adventure campaign: “The Gap Between Us”. A space station full of strangers and lost memories; where even the most familiar settings seem out of place. We drop full Actual Play episodes every Thursday, so grab a seat at the table and follow the journey week by week. Whether you’re a Starfinder veteran or just love a good sci-fi story, you’ll find thrilling adventures, memorable characters, and original TTRPG storytelling right here. The Story Four years post gap, Absalom Station is failing. After The Awakening, societal upheaval began to fracture the station, culminating with the shattering of the Eye. Now three years later, resources are becoming scarce and those who remain are starting to get desperate. Not only have gangs been growing rapidly, but strange creatures and monsters have begun appearing all over the station. Residents form small communities to try to weather the increasingly post-apocalyptic landscape they find themselves in. In an abandoned neighborhood in the Arms, a small community of survivors huddle awake in a commandeered community center in the dead of the night. Tipped off that a local gang’s arrival is imminent, the center’s newest (level 0) members are tasked to defend their new home. Our crew of survivors must level-up and find a way to survive and thrive in their new post gap reality. Links youtube.com - Youtube playlist rss.com - Podcast feed spotify.com - Spotify feed podcasts.apple.com - Apple Podcasts feed standardactionsnetwork.com - Standard Actions Network website

We're a news source for TTRPG content published 2-3 times a week, complete with news articles, interviews, and more. It's "An inside look at the scene shakers, content makers and upstarts in the tabletop gaming industry Links ttrpginsider.news - Website

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition is a tactical, combat-focused tabletop roleplaying system released by Wizards of the Coast in 2008. Designed to fix the high-level math imbalances and "martial vs. caster" disparities of the 3.5E era, 4E redesigned the game's engine with a more video game adjacent approach. It is famous for its structured, grid-based combat and for standardizing class abilities into a unified system. While its dramatic departure from legacy mechanics polarized the fanbase directly paving the way for the creation of Pathfinder. 4E is widely praised today for its brilliant monster design, DM tools, and unparalleled encounter balance. The system it directly replaced is Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition (2003) Description In D&D 4E, players take on the roles of heroes who are combat-capable right from the start. The system relies of combat being carried out with the use of a battle grid. Positioning plays a big part of the combat experience. The exact location of the characters matters greatly. Unlike other editions where spellcasters are played in a separate mechanical way than martial classes, 4E unifies the progression system. Every class is boiled down to a specific combat "Role" and draws from their specialized toolkit of "Powers," making the game balanced and ensuring that every character has unique and impactful actions that they can perform on their turns. System Overview & Key Features The Power System Instead of traditional spell slots or basic attacks, every class has a list of At-Will, Encounter, Daily, and Utility powers, each with different power levels and frequency at which they can be performed. Fighters can execute epic daily maneuvers just as wizards cast daily spells, creating a better balance between martial classes and spellcasters. Combat Roles All classes are sorted by their class specialization role: Defenders (tanks who draw aggro and protect their allies), Strikers (high single-target damage), Leaders (healers and support), and Controllers (area-of-effect damage and debuffers). Static Defenses Saving throws were removed and replaced with four different defense values: Armor Class, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. When a wizard casts a fireball, they roll an attack against the targets' Reflex. Instead of both sides rolling for success and for defense - the attacker is the only one to roll dice. Healing Surges A standardized resource pool representing a character's stamina. Almost all healing in the game, whether from a cleric's spell or catching your breath, requires the target to spend a Healing Surge, which reliably heals them for exactly one-quarter of their maximum hit points. Monster Roles & Minions The Dungeon Master's toolkit was revolutionized. Monsters have explicit roles (like Brute, Artillery, or Skirmisher) that cleanly dictate their behavior. 4E also introduced "Minions". Monsters that have normal stats and deal average damage, but only have exactly 1 Hit Point, allowing heroes to cleave through cinematic hordes. Skill Challenges An unique system with 4E is Skill Challenges - a "cinematic" series of actions that turn social, environmental or escape situations into more movie-like scenes. The players must achieve a certain amount (determined by the situation) of successful skill checks, before they collect enough failed skill checks. Additional links dungeonsanddragons.com - Official Dungeons & Dragons website