Dungeons & Dragons have a new boss, all of Wizards of the Coast does, and Cynthia Williams appears to be intimidatingly clever.
Fresh from Xbox and Microsoft, Williams has loads of experience with logistics and business eco-systems. Interesting times.
On business eco-systems, there’s no doubt Kickstarter is having an incredibly busy week, but it’s not Zine Quest. Geek Native tracked twice as many launches in the first week of February last year than this year, and that rate lasted for three weeks. Will 2022 get close?
As it’s the start of the month, Geek Native Patreons can vote in the RPG Publisher Spotlight for March.
The candidates are;
The winner for January, As If Productions is now fully written up.
Shawn Merwin is this months winner.
Shawn publishes under their own name at the DMsGuild and is the Executive Lead Designer at Ghostfire Gaming. Ghostfire is a publisher Kickstarter watches will recognise.
Thanks to all Patreons who vote. One of the ways Geek Native likes to say thanks is with gifts. So how about some Panda Markers?
So, with that said, let’s get exploring this week’s RPG news.
- D&D, Magic: The Gathering and all of Wizards of the Coast have a new boss. Cynthia Williams is a finance director, a logistics expert and ex-Microsoft engineering Xbox team lead. There’s even a patent in her name.
- Amazon’s taking pre-orders for a new and apparently WotC authoured D&D Search and Find book.
- Cthulhu meets British punk culture as Nofuture fires up a 50% sale to Itchfund a print run.
- Another Itchfunding campaign is a gory game that features characters cutting bits of themselves off! It’s Moriah.
- RP Haven, the gaming club, are selling charity t-shirts that come with RPG discount deals.
- Anto Cerrato of Icarus Games has a Kickstarter to promote and so has shared with Geek Native 5 tips on remembering D&D rules.
- Wizards of the Coast’s re-release schedule has caught up with the AD&D 2e Battlesystem Miniature Rules.
- RTG has announced two more Cyberpunk RED supplements with Danger Gal Dossier and Rogue’s Secret Weapons.
- Geek Native reviewed the wolf-RPG Wine, Meat, Milk, Cake.
- Weird Works released the free to download Zero Level Rulebook for 5E.
- Varghand Publishing’s Sound Realms brings solo RPGing to life through audio and the sourcebook for Mace & Magic is free to download.
- In the Bundle of Holding you can grab the complete Baker Street RPG collection from Fearlight Games.
- Also in the Bundle, Mindjammer Press are back in action and have a generous Mindjammer RPG deal.
Spotlight Shawn Merwin
RPG news from around the web
- Polygon’s Charlie Hall notes Upset by Kickstarter’s decisions, some indie game creators are going their own way.
- Bell of Lost Souls covers First Look At Dark Souls RPG Mechanics.
- Chaosium tackles the question Isn’t the Cthulhu Mythos in the public domain?.
- Bleeding Cool joins the coverage on the news The One Ring RPG will be released on March 22nd.
- Screen Rant picks up the news that Red Notice Director Will Helm Dungeons & Dragons Show.
RPG reviews and interviews from around the web
- Nerds on Earth review Beadle And Grimm’s Complete Character Chronicles For Pathfinder 2nd Edition.
- Wargamer covers Rookie Jet Studio’s latest with Red Giant is a tabletop RPG inspired by Castlevania and Berserk.
- The Other Side reviews the fantasy games supplement Comes Chaos.
- Strange Assembly investigates Second Inquisition for Vampire: The Masquerade.
- Jared Rascher shares first impressions on Arcadia #12.
- Refereeing and Reflection digs into Warhammer’s Ubersriek Adventures II.
- The Pitch talks to Daniel D. Fox in Zweihänder and Blackbirds are the dark engines driving future legends.
- Yawning Portal has another Mist Hunters interview, and this one is with Ayanna Jones-Lightsy.
RPG new releases
- Leybourne Publishing has published their space opera Sapience.
- Felix Isaac’s bio-RPG is out and it is time to sail The Wildsea.
- Defy Ananke has released the explorable zone Nova: Umbral.
- GimmickMan has published a definitive edition of Battle Century G Remastered.
- The Mad Looter has created the Adventure setting Fallsea – Edge of the World.
- Corefun Studios has released the 10th Anniversary Solar Echoes 2e.
- Vindicated Entertainment has released their 67-page Legendaria Core Rulebook.
- Handiwork Games have issued the digital version of the Beowulf 5e Annual 2022.
RPG bundle deals
- Save $114.68 (66%) on Black Scroll Games’ Game Master All-In bundle.
- Save $27 (40%) on tolleSpiele Games’ Thrilling Adventures Hardcover bundle.
- Save $11.88 (49%) on Earl of Fife Games’ Against the Darkmaster 3rd-Party Publishers bundle.
- Save $10.69 (35%) on Gimmick Labs’ Monsterpunk Complete and $3.80 (49%) on the Monsterpunk Playbooks bundle.
- Save $6.89 (35%) with the DMsGuild’s Adventure Collection: Vol 1 bundle.
- Save $1.99 (12%) on Dueling Dragon Adventures The Chronicles of Aeres Adventurer’s Pack bundle.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- Fun.com includes D&D in their free to download, print, email or DM geek culture Valentine’s Day cards.
- World Anvil now has a Cortex Classic character manager.
- Dicebreaker’s Alex Meehan topically suggests 5 tabletop RPGs to play if you like Dark Souls (but not D&D 5E).
- The Indie Game Reading Club gets into Vibing and the Fine Art of Telling.
- Mike at Sly Flourish provoked some discussion on my social media circles with Require Consent for Adverse Character Interactions.
- Roleplaying Tips and Johnn Four offered up 10 Ways to Master a New Game System.
- Alphastream argues Why It’s Time for WotC to Come Clean on Monster Design.
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;
- Owen Stephens and Ron Lundeen, Paizo’s Pathfinder managing developer are campaigning for The Skaldwood Blight – 1st-20th Pathfinder 2E adventure.
- Ben R has A Collection of Digitial Forest Maps for Table Top RPGs.
- Kieran Billings has backed over 100 Kickstarters, and the 18th they’ve run is the One Dollar Dungeon – Pay What You Want.
- James Floyd Kelly has an OSR fantasy magazine with Delver #4: Resources for the Random-Rolling Referee.
- Stephen D’s campaign looks like a board game, but it’s Space Aces: Voyages In Infinite Space Galactic Sandbox TTRPG.
- Davy Penasse has smashed targets for a 3d-printable scenary kit of Stormcrow Mansion.
- Sophie Atkinson has a one-shot RPG in which you’re a sentient veggie. Welcome to Life On The Veg (A ZineMonth Project).
- Scott has a tri-fold and Mork Borg compatible that funded in less than a day. It’s The Holy Artifacts of the Sacred Tragedies Zine Month.
- Max Power Dice are funding Magic Voodoo Dice Sets.
- Jessica Crimes is working on a no-holds-barred and one-on-one magic battle. It’s BIG KING WIZARD – A Competitive, Roleplaying Card Game.
- Slade Stolar has launched an eclectic sci-fi post-apocalytpic RPG with ANNA-X66: REDUX.
- Wind Lothamer has a campaign for OSE characters in Old School & Cool Vol. 3.
- Jeff Williams is working on 36 new Toika enemies in S.M.O.L.
- PJ Coffey and EN Publishing have smashed targets for Homebrew and Hacking: Crafting New Heritages and Cultures.
- Lone Archivist’s Mothership module is a “Project We Love” and is In Other Waters: Tidebreak.
- watt has a Mothership module of hookups with Hot Stuff on Shore Leave.
- Giuseppe Rotondo has made target for four OSE zines in hardcover called in Axian Library.
- Jen Bourke has a zine for Troika, described as “Operatic equestrian”. Welcome to A Neight at the Opera.
- Guillermo Buenfil has easily funded two short dungeon crawlers with Micro Dungeons II & Undead Edition for 5e DnD.
- Venture into OSE’s law and time with Planar Compass Issue 3.
- Tim W has a whole compendium of adventures in Bite Sized Stories: Swords and Sorcery VS. Special Forces.
- Lion Banner Games returns to 5e RPG – Tomb of the Colossus Gods – Dark Fantasy Campaign.
- David Esarey has a game of faking your way through school. You’re (Not) A Wizard – A Zine Quest Project
- Christian Sorrell has funded a Mothership hexcrawl and battle royale at THE BLOODFIELDS AT BLACKSTAR STATION.
- A set of sharp edged Nuclear Fragment RPG Dice.
- directsun has being succesful campaign for a Zelda inspired mirror-themed dungeon adventure with Aberrant Reflections.
- Raphael Falk’s rules-lite and Jewish folklore game of Lucid:Sea of Dreams.
- Tab Creations has 90 new monsters in the Expert Bestiary for the Age of Ambition RPG.
- Nate Whittington is funding 40+ pages of dungeons and magic with DUNGEONEERING: Wanderers.
- Iain Lovecraft has a 5e campaign complete with 3d printables for the setting Treasure Island.
- Terry Herc has funded an exploration of space junk in Orbital Debris: a sci-fi horror hexcrawl for Mothership RPG.
- Gem Room Games has death metal viking cats with 9 Lives to Valhalla.
- Valley of Alfred is part of the Mothership flock but with a solo adventure and a Thousand Empty Light.
- Max Moon has a osychedelic microsetting called Fairyland.
- Craig Campbell and NerdBurger have a game of puppet-folk and Felt, Friendship, and Feelings (Zine RPG).
- Jason Tagmire has a two-player game about saying goodbye. I Guess This Is It
- Applewhite Games is exploring a city of criminals with Journey to the Center of Eraegarth: D&D5e Campaign & Setting.
- Adrian L. Sanjuan has funded a solo RPG about immortality. It’s about Lichdom.
- Keith Dozois is working on a visually impaired apocalypse in V.I.Pocalypse: An Empathy-Building RPG.
- Kage Guenther is working on a journaling game of Spellcraft: A Primer on the Creation of Sorceries.
- Born in the Barn is proposing a wooden spinner and more with RPGenius – The All-in-One Tabletop Companion
- Vivid Worlds has advice on How To Start Cults And Sacrifice People.
- Built By Bittle has funded an elegant and swish Make 100: Dagger Shaped Hardwood Dice Vaults.
- Grim Press’ has multple floors and challenges all packed into Karthax – The Living Tower (5e).
- Dungeon Studios is funding six diffrent Enoron One-shot Adventures for 5E.
- James P wonders whether it is friendly or evil but is working on a Cubic ooze soft enamel pin.
- Crumbling Keep has a gritty Sword and Sorcery Master of the Onyx Tower – A Delve for Marching Order.
- Marc Star has an adventure with a conspiracy of warlocks, evil and The Mirror of Malatesto.
- Adventures Await has an RPG for two or more players with a game In Soviet Russia, Spy Are You! – A Tabletop Roleplaying Game.
- Modern Awesome Dice have pushed through $50,000 with 5 Element Dice: Dice from the Periodic Table.
- Kevin Rahman has funded a wargaming and RPG setting The Last War: a Forbidden Psalm stand-alone expansion.
- Chris G. Williams has one system-neutral, one Mork Borg and Tales From the Tower adventure in Zinepalooza! Three new zines from Explore Dungeons!.
- Sam Sorensen returns to Kickstarter with a Mothership adventure and it is Time After Time.
- KarrahE is offering 20 portraits in a Cast of Characters.
- Laura Hammonds has funded The Mimic Coin.
- Adam Hackett has a soaring campaign with Elixir Dice V2: Handcrafted Liquid Core RPG Dice.
- Pixel Jester has an ambitious Kickstarter for personal and commercial 3d custom Miniature Maker.
- Daratum has a colour changing and mysterious household electronic wonder with Pondering My D20 – Floating Lamp.
- Louis-Joseph Benoit has funded a Mork Borg zine with 2 short adventures. It’s Chässe-Galerie.
- Scott Cocking has some clever dice with Autocrit D20.
- Martin Nerukar has funded a zany and no-prep RPG called Goblin Errands.
- Philip Reed has another success with Curic’s Cursed Chapbook, a third-party work for Mörk Borg.
- Generic Miniatures has STL files to 3d-print Women and SCIFI Vol.3.
- Seventh Sense Studio has an ambitious project to fund Exordium: Ionna – The Chaos and Pirate-themed Setting for 5E.
- Chris Shepperson returns to cyberpunk and The Gaia Complex – Hardware 2119.
- Pharaoh’s Workshop has dungeon entrances for the tabletop with Enter- 3D printable scatter terrain STL files for Fantasy.
- Yog’du Games wants to take you into a putrid pit of filth with SKIN JOB – A Third Party MÖRK BORG Adventure.
- Jacob Wood returns for the zine Accessible Gaming Quarterly, Year 3.
- BiteSizedGaming is offering a Mork Borg prison-crawl. It’s 7 Aboard the Schackel.
- Tim Sattley is funding an early release of an MMC compatible module and Tribal Games – Tournament of Champions.
- Xander Coulson has funded a 5e collection with Dr. Dulby’s Subsets, Specimen, and Spells.
- Xanatos Clark is funding a guide to games in RPGs and with some STLs in Xanatos’ Guide To Competing.
- Krakon Games has some good looking resin on display in The Fey Gardener – 28mm resin fantasy Irish miniatures.
- Dead Channel Studios returns with a brand new playable class with adenture series in Zealots of Anguish: A 5E TTRPG Trilogy & Class.
- Kettlesberg Games has funded a building full of monsters, traps and treasure with Brewkessel #2: School of Spellcraft and Sorcery.
If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.
