What a dreadful week. I don’t want to brush over events in Europe but I know RPG news is escapism or some – for many – so let’s focus on that.
It’s been a busy week here too. Before the month timer hit zero, the RPG Publisher Spotlight caught up with Shawn Merwin. You might know that DMsGuild designer from Ghostfire Gaming.
We’re also following the news that at least one shareholder with voting power wants Wizards of the Coast split from Hasbro, but as we’ll see in this RPG summary, some analysts think that’s unlikely.
There was more heat, tension and toxicity around 5e when Cubicle 7 announced D&D, which energised debate more than corporate news did.
D&D, in this case, stands for Doctors & Daleks, a 5e-powered Doctor Who RPG.
Perhaps this has been a week of keeping things in context. The existence of a game you don’t want to play hardly registers, right?
So, with that said, let’s get exploring this week’s RPG news.
Win: #SelfPromoteSaturday coasters
RPG news from Geek Native
- Cubicle 7 sparked much heat with the news of a 5e-powered Doctor Who RPG. What does this “D&D” stand for? Doctors and Daleks.
- Nolan T Jones is stepping down as Roll20 CEO to be replaced by ex-Googler and product guy Ankit Lal.
- As a free download, Wizards of the Coast re-release the D&D starter Crypt of the Smoke Dragon.
- Ed Greenwood et al published Thay: Land of the Red Wizards for 5e.
- Deborah Ann Woll and Demiplane team-up for the ongoing 5e actual play Children of Earte.
- Out this week, busting myths and with fantastic art, there’s Uncaged: Goddesses.
- There might be more and different Vampire: The Masquerade games.
- R. Talsorian Games enhanced Cyberpunk RED with free dating and romance rules.
- RTG also announced they’d do the logistics on Haunted West.
- Nightpath Publishing has a free one-pager 5e-cyberpunk combo with Entromancy – Chaos Rifts.
- Also free, released this week, is Zargoth’s Tome of Families: Baby Monsters.
- Brian Colin has lined up free skull patches for people who follow now and back later the Gamefound Crawling Death Below The Dying Forest.
- The Bundle of Holding has a single-tier deal on 16th-century monster hunting/hiding with Elephant and Macaw and crime capers with Fiasco 2020.
Spotlight Shawn Merwin
RPG news from around the web
- ICO partners report a 13% growth of tabletop game projects in 2021 on Kickstarter.
- Following the news that one key shareholder is urging Hasbro to split off WotC, Christian Hoffer notes that at least one analyst thinks that’s unlikely.
- Fandom Press confirm the date of Tales of Xadia: The Dragon Prince Roleplaying Game.
- Paizo invite you to PaizoCon 2022 and PaizoCon Online 2022.
- Cubicle 7 take us through all the latest Wrath & Glory news.
- Goodman Games gives us a preview of the Beasts of the Bluestone Hills.
- R. Talsorian Games shares the contents page for A Tome of Chaos.
- FASA and Morgan/Panda share some thoughts as Earthdawn gets a new line developer.
RPG reviews and interviews from around the web
- Tribality takes a look inside Arcadia Issue 13.
- Meanwhile, Jared Rascher says first impressions of Arcadia Issue 13.
- Beyond Fomalhaut reviews The Temple of Hypnos.
- Charles Dunwoody reviews Warhammer’s Uberseik Adventures II.
- At RPG.net, Bira reviews Planet Mercenary by Hypernode Press.
- James Maliszewski shares a retrospective on The Klingons.
- OnTableTop write up their review of Roleplaying in the Grimdark | Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory.
- Reviews from R’lyeh digs into Blackwell Games’ Apothercaria, EN Publishing’s Rogue Trooper and Parable Games’ horror RPG Shiver.
- Seed of Worlds reviews Kevin Crawford’s Godbound.
- At EN World, Rob Wieland looks at They Came from Beyond the Grave!
- Gnome Stew and Jared Rascher share a Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide review.
- Egg Embry interviews Jason Nelson in Legendary Games, Eight Kickstarters in 2021.
RPG new releases
- Tricky Troll Games has published their $1 8-page RPG The 2D6 Engine.
- Ad Infinitum Adventures hits publish on ICONS Annual 1.
- Role Press gives us the combo of Fate Plus Cyberpunk.
- Modiphius released Corvus Belli Infiniti’s Acheron Cascade Campaign.
- World Serpent Games release For Honor and For Glory’s Player’s Guide and Chronicler’s Guide.
RPG bundle deals
- Save $24.00 (62%) with Caesar Ink’s Assorted Dungeons bundle.
- Save $17.99 (11%) with Infinium Game Studio’s Everything IGS (5E) bundle.
- Save $17 (36%) with Steve Jackson Games’ The Fantasy Trip Foes bundle.
- Save $5.46 (20%) with the DMsGuild The Better Boss Battles bundle.
- Save $1.98 (50%) with Taylor Seely-Wright’s Shadowdark Initiation bundle.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- I raved a bit about Easy Roller Dice’s oversized and padded dice cups.
- Let’s not ignore the incredibly cute axolotl dice jail, though!
- In a guest post, game designer Brandon Gutowski wrote up Using the real world to inspire our scifi games.
- Want to get more viewers through guest stars or big names for your RPG stream? DM Macleods wrote up Here’s what it takes to recruit celebrities into your actual play.
- We took a look inside the official D&D Ampersand gift box.
- WizKids will let us enhance our tabletop model collection with Juiblex the Faceless Lord.
- The Alexandrian shares a Random GM Tip: While You’re Dead.
- Critical Role’s Darrington Press looks behind the scenes with Mapping the City of Whitestone in Tal’Dorei Reborn.
- Nevyn Holmes, for Dicebreaker, writes up How an RPG is written makes a big difference to how it plays.
- Tor’s Cole Rush shares What I Learned from Breaking up with D&D.
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;
- Exalted Funeral is way beyond half a million dollars pledged for two boxes of monsters, magic, danger and %100 Old-School Essentials Fantasy RPG Box Sets.
- Above campaign goal there’s Dice Boxes and Dice Trays By Ravenwood.
- Headless Hygra Press has funded their magnetic NPC Tracker.
- Colin Sproule has 200 retainers and hirelings on offer for OSE and OSR in the Gig Economy.
- Ian McG has a multi-system zine RPG that’s smashed targets. It’s the FANTASTIC GEOGRAPHIC ISSUE 1.
- Hosein is funding 3 sets of 50 designs in a Triple Tilemap Package + NPCs, Enemies, Items and D&D Story.
- Andrew Frinkle’s 5e adventure is of apocalyptic dark fantasy with the Song of the Nehmet – 5E Fantasy Horror Module.
- Skubus Studio’s first Kickstarter is for miniatures for gamers and collectors with the SYLVANS TEAM & CHEERLEADERS.
- Tabletops and Tentacles return to Kickstarter with the epic Lumen-powered showdown. It’s the Attack From Space: The RPG.
- Max Fefer has a Purim-themed tabletop RPG featuring Esther and the Queens.
- Skeeter Green has a series of zine-sized adventures from The Valley Out of Time series for S&W DCC MCC.
- Theo Rusmore is funding a project to add real-time strategy combat to the Lancer RPG with Mechs In Motion.
- Darcy Perry’s ZIMO project is to uncover the macabre mystery of The Banshee of Billfort – DuckQuest RPG Adventure Zine.
- Darklight Interactive set a humble goal and smashed it with The Sands of Despair: a D&D 5E and PF side trek.
- The Cantrip Cast have a 5e island setting with new monsters, races and items with Benji’s Guide To Rentooki Island.
- Philip Reed has backed 1344 Kickstarter and created 44. The latest of which is Gregor’s Guide to Gates, for Use With Fantasy RPGs.
- Tom Woods has D&D inspired up on offer as RPG Classic Monsters: Gelatinous Cube. D&D Coaster #3.
- Singing Flame has soared past targets with a risograph printed DNGN: Weird-Fantasy Megadungeon Zine.
- Steven August Finley has funded a whimsical, weird and dangerous OSE adventure in the CAVERNS OF MOURNING.
- Joanne Villafane returns with 11 examples of cartography in TTRPG Map pack #2.
- Laidback DM brings another 10 one-shot 5e and OSR adventures together in SHOTGLASS ROUNDS VOLUME 1 HARDCOVER.
- Neil Billings has found support for the stuff of STL nightmare creation and the Brood of the Spider Queen.
- Crimson Terrain and Anthony Qualkinbush have rules for divinity, new races and divine beasts because It’s Tough to Be a God (5e).
- Mysterious Balance hope to blend art, astrology, natural crystal and gaming with Silhouette Astrology Dice
- The Hunger God of Darakhul seeks followers for Roosticorn Adventures 5e Adventure.
- Caleb Enelke has a whimsical trash-verse on offer with the Yigderra TTRPG | a Mörk Borg Hack.
- GreysonWHY’s RPG is based on both MORK BORG and DARK FORT. It’s d6 ARKFORT etc: GM-less pocket RPGs.
- Paul “Ettin” Matijevic has scenarios and campaigns for Hard Wired Island: Stories From L5.
- Moonbound Games has a grid-based solo adventure Skull Searchers Vol. 1.
- Six Sides of Gaming is funding zircon mathrocks in The Elder Dragon Dice Collection.
- Archon’s Court Games has hit the target for an industrial sci-fi dungeoncrawler built for the open table. It’s Orbiters Local 519
- Sandy Belmont has funded a roleplaying game in which the characters are heroes of old returned to save the realm from the Darkest Days.
- Craig Duncan wants to help you write in style and with Hero Pencils.
If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.
