Routinely Itemised: RPGs #106

Well, well, what an end to the week! Whatever drama Wizards of the Coast can create, TSR Games can do it better. I think that’s the pitch.

I don’t mean the original TSR Games or even the one followed afterwards to publish the Gygax Magazine. I mean the third new one Justin LaNasa and Gary Gygax’s son Ernie Gygax. Having plucked the trademark up, those two are letting the second TSR Games carry on.

No wonder we were confused.

Let’s hope no one throws fuel on the fire by airing a YouTube interview full of incendiary comments. No, too late.

In all this drama, it’s easy to miss a new D&D game being announced and by WizKids. It’s being sold by DnDMinis, a site I speculated on previously as having a potential role in Wizards of the Coasts new physical medium games.

These RI: RPG news summaries are getting longer and longer, aren’t they? However, I think the new bundle section has some value. This week there’s savings of $34.55 (70%) with the Fantastic Adventures Volume 1 and $17.95 (31%) on Onyx Path’s V5 Cults of the Blood Gods. Not to be sniffed at!

However, do let me know if you think we’re getting too wordy here. With that in mind, let’s speed to the rest of the RPG news!

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RPG news from Geek Native

• TSR Games announced a relaunch, although it was also not a relaunch, and also a dinosaur theme park which was confusing. TSR Games (3) also announced Star Frontiers, but not the game shown by them, a different one, which was confusing. Finally, TSR Games seemed to distance itself from its founder, E. Gary Gygax after controversial comments. This was also confusing!
• Interestingly, most D&D gamers couldn’t answer this question Who owns D&D Beyond?. The gap is closing as the still-open poll attracts more visitors.
• Geek Native reviewed Warhammer’s Death on the Reik Companion.
• Geek Native also had a gallery artwork for a few of the unique wands in the Wondrous Tome of Wands. Did you notice there are hardly any officially created wands in the core rules?
• Here’s a crazy idea, imagine a disease outbreak, lockdowns and the economic horror caused by that. And zombies, it’s the Red Markets RPG.
• SIXMOREVODKA released more free to download dangerous Degenesis goodness with Last Watch.
• Modiphius have made another set of Star Trek Adventures briefings free to download with Anomalies.
• The SLA Industries RPG will continue, but the Cannibal Sector board game will not.
• Black Armada announces the second edition of Lovecraftesque.
• Atlas Games announced the prehistoric 5e fantasy Planegea.
• Andrews McMeel announced an artbook for RPG fans called The Things Heroes Say.
• Secure, Contain, and Protect as the SCP RPG launches.
• Face the corrupting Void as Good Strong Hands comes to retail.
• Grim & Perilous Studios hire Jeff Heising, onboard his two Zweihander RPGs and offer both in a bundle.
• The world’s oldest tabletop RPG company, Flying Buffalo, is being sold, and some games are being removed. First, though, one (potentially) last chance to scoop them with two different Tunnels & Trolls bundles.
• Itch launched an impressive Summer Tabletop Selects bundle.

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RPG news from around the web

• WizKids has announced a new D&D game. It’s for kids and is called Dungeon Scrawlers: Heroes of Undermountain.
• CBR had the exclusive news of a World of Darkness “comic event” and the Vampire 5e cross-content with the comic book series Crimson Thaw.
• WizKids unveiled a new set of Pathfinder Battles miniatures.
• Paizo gave us a look at the Starfinder Galaxy Exploration Manual.
• WotC revealed that the Adventurers League had raised $4,265.73 for the Asian Mental Health Collective.
• Bully Pulpit Games added Pay What You Want terms to their Fiasco Playtest License.
• Trollish Delver announced Gods of the Perilous Land.
• Briefly stepping into cRPGs, the first WotC-helmed D&D game Dark Alliance is getting mixed reviews.
• Also, Utah Business looked at how Latitude Games’ AI Dungeon was changing the face of AI-generated content.
• Chaosium joins Storytelling Collective’s RPG Writer Workshop.
• Very sadly, Munchkin line editor Andrew Hackard passed away.

RPG reviews and interviews from around the web

• Dicebreaker interviewed Will Jobst and Adam Vass ahead of the Kickstarter for the horror RPG Campfire.
• Ben Erickson interviewed Chamomile about the 12 Kickstarters in 12 Months project.
• It’s an interview with art as the Official Fighting Fantasy site talks to Guilherme Gontijo about Classic Fighting Fantasy Covers Redesigned.
• Halfway Station 3.0 reviewed Sprawlrunners.
• Thilo Graf reviewed Land of the Silver Lotus.
• Strange Assembly reviewed the Vampire supplement Trails of Ash and Bone.
• The Other Side reviewed the romantic fantasy RPG and Green Ronin’s Blue Rose Adventurer’s Guide.
• Rolling Boxcars reviewed Modiphius’s Dune: Adventures in the Imperium.
• Aaron at the Roleplayers Chronicle reviewed HARP Bestiary.
• Bones of COntention looked into the OSR megadungeon from 2009 Stonehell Dungeons 1: Down Night Haunted Halls.
• Bell of Lost Souls published a look at An Adventurer’s Guide to Eberron.
• Antonios S reviewed the Call of Cthulhu compilation Does Love Forgive? and the campaign Horror on the Orient Express.
• Tabletop Gaming magazine reviewed the Zweihander: Revised Core Rulebook.
• Reviews from R’lyeh sat down at the Metamorphosis Alpha scenario The Captain’s Table and a 5e-compatible Voyage to Ambershine Isle.
• Geek Dad reviewed Goblin the graphic novel and D&D game.
• Jared Rascher reviewed Arcadia issue 5 and Warlock Guide to the Planes.
• Alex Meehan wrote up Deimos Academy is a Stephen King inspired horror RPG played in a colouring-in book.
• Charles Dunwoody risked nightmares with a Malleus Monstorum unboxing.
• Angel’s Citadel reviewed Book M.
• Plastic Polyhedra looked into Blades in the Dark.
• Then the Indie Game Reading Club reviewed Sig: City of Blades.
• Zatu Games and Camille Hindsgaul reviewed Thirsty Sword Lesbians.

RPG new releases

• C Michael Hall released the 1950’s style sci-fi RPG This Defiant Earth: GMs’ Guide.
• Chaosium hit publish on the Red Book of Magic.
• Storm Bunny Studios released the 5e-compatible Bloodlines & Black Magic Core Rulebook.
• A Couple of Drakes warn us that The Fey are coming and only you can save what is left of us. It’s Hedge.
• The Thought Police have started to sell the Mofit Toolkit SRD.
• Emojk released the Two Summers, which will be fully released later, supplement called Other Summers.
• Ahead of Witchlight, Sean Cooke published Surviving the Feywild: A Dungeon Master’s Guide to Worldbuilding.
• Basilisk Online released the first RPG to use the Told by Travellers system with the post-apocalyptic story of The Wasteland Covenant.
• Third Eye Games compiled the first five products created in the Pips World Community Content Program into one book at the Pips World Collection (2020 Edition).
• Cubicle 7 published the Wrath & Glory adventure On the Wings of Valkyries.

RPG bundle deals

• Save $34.55 (70%) with the Fantastic Adventures Volume 1 bundle from Elven Tower.
• Save $17.95 (31%) on Onyx Path’s V5 Cults of the Blood Gods collection.
• Save $16.90 (50%) on the Necropolis bundle by Skirmisher Publishing.
• Save $4.97 (38%) on the Olde Swords Reign bundle by Workhorse RPG Studio.
• Save $3.95 (57%) on the Spy Bundle on the DMs Guild.
• Save $1.99 (175) on Edge’s SUPERS Titles bundle.

RPG ideas, tips and discoveries

• Do you know what West Marches style is when it comes to RPGs? Not only do the Genre Police tell us, but we get into the importance of a shared language.
• In support of the Wanderer’s Guide to Merchants & Magic (5E) Kickstarter Eventyr Games wrote The ultimate guide to buying and selling magic items in 5E D&D.
• Presented without further comment; What does this other spell do?
• Paizo staff shared personal insights for their 2021 Pride blog post. Thank you.
• Nerdarchy got into Creating a Ravenloft character.
• At Slyflourish, Mike advised on Run Simple Adventures.
• Kobold Press’ Basheer Ghouse shared Into the Wilderness: Characterizing Locations.

RPG Crowdfunding

You can see those Kickstarters and other crowdfunding campaigns that caught Geek Native’s attention over at Kickstarter watch. Here are some industry projects worth a mention;

• 1985 Games have great success on their hand as $80,000 is pledged within hours for Dungeon Craft Series Three: Two New Terrain Books For D&D
• Scott Swift has funded a DCC adventure that’s A Discordance with Dzyvatz
• Handcrafted, custom-designed and PRIMUS Sharp Edge Dice.
• James Eisert is offering an old school Fantasy Counter Kit 2
• Jeremy Hart Illos has a monster zine with 16 beasts in the Creature Feature Quarterly Vol. 1 -for use with- Mork Borg.
• Venger Satanis wants your money for Cha’alt After Dark.
• HecateGames is running an ambitious Kickstarter for monsters, mechs and mayhem with Tenzin Gate: A Sci-Fi TTRPG.
• Bill Backstrom has launched a 5e campaign with family-friendly options called Whispering Valley: Walter the Wizard’s Tower Quest.
• Koval Liudmila is offering STL files for Cavern Terrain, Miniatures and Beasts for Tabletop Gaming.
• Dead Channels Studios has a 5e supplement all about business. It’s The Royal Unicorn 5E: Tavern Rules and Intro Adventure.
• Bu Da has a manufacturing technique that allows for < Goblin’s Chips>-Hollowed-out Metal Dice.
• The Mythical Merchant has some very cute Menagerie of Monsters: Reroll Enamel Pins.
• Ember + Ash wants to lure you to a dried ocean with strange and terrifying creatures. It’s the Tides of a Dead Sea – 3rd party adventure for Trophy Gold
• The RPG magazine with 5e-compatible system-neutral content returns with The Oracle Issue 12 – Celtic Theme.
• Dred Productions Games has a 5e campaign and dungeon crawl in the shape of Architects of the Deep: Kingdom of Death.
• R.G. de Barros follows up the success of the RPG with the BYTE Roleplaying Game—Setting Books 1 & 2.
• Morrus and EN Publishing have new rules and nearly 40 Spells of the Ages: Archmagic For D&D 5th Edition.
• Sascha Munchow is working on software to help manage your RPG documents with Norn.
• Ars Moriendi has files to print Prismatic Potions – 3D printable Potions and Props!
• Kristopher Neal McClanahan has funded another round of games, art, fiction, comics and RPGs with Tabletops and Tentacles Magazine #3: The Cryptid Issue 🎲🐙.
• William Murakami-Brundage has funded a Savage Worlds cyberpunk with Neo-Tokyo 2100: A Future Shock Adventure.
• Paul Field is crowdfunding 28-32mm white mental minis for post-apocalyptic and sci-fi settings with Cybernetica.
• Nathaly Aupin is offering 75 of Map Alchemists greatest maps with some new ones to make RPG FANTASY MAP COMPENDIUM 80+ DIGITAL MAPS.
• Kevin Ringemur is offering terrain for 28/32mm scale set in The Graveyard.

If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.