Audio EXP: #146 – Introducing new RPGs

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 30th of April 2022, and the title of this episode is “Introducing new RPGs”.

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #146]

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Outland Arts is in the spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

I’ve published the piece with William McAusland at the blog. William identified as Mutant Lord, so I’ll run with that.

For context, Outland Arts are the publisher behind The Mutant Epoch RPG, and when I asked William what they were best known for, it was that game.

However, the Mutant Lord is also keeping busy helping Goodman Games and so you may know their name from that.

I asked what a good RPG needs, and William got straight to the point;

A core book that contains everything the GM needs to get playing…

You can read the rest at your leisure.

However, there is a gentle amount of time pressure on KiwiRPG Week as that starts in May. I won’t attempt to pronounce its native name.

There will be live streams, the game reveals, and other ways to network and discover the ideas coming out of New Zealand at the event. I’m looking forward, if my schedule allows, to learn about the new RPGs Kratophagia and Paranormal Wellington.

And, well, let’s be honest. My schedule is not kind right now. If you’re a regular reader or listener and noticed things are erratic, that’s why. However, the good news is I’ve splashed the cash, booked the hotel and trains and will be going to Tabletop Scotland.

Will you? Let me know.

We’ve mentioned the Outland Arts feature, which looked at some established RPGs and mentioned the two new ones coming from KiwiRPG Week.

It turns out that’s a bit of foreshadowing. My thoughts for this highlights podcast are around what’s coming next, new RPGs and more.

One project to watch is Skybound from Island of Bees.

The game is a Space-Western Fantasy and uses the d52 system. That’s the same system as Island of Bees’ other and best-selling game Westbound: Dust & Dragons uses.

The “d” in the System name is misleading. It’s not dice, but cards. Perhaps the “d” stands for “Draws”.

Here’s the pitch;

Skybound is a Fantasy Space-Western involving Robot Cowboys, Elf Clones, and Aethernet Trolls.

There’s a free to download the preview from DriveThruRPG. Bees have also made the pre-published Kickstarter page link available to the public. So, before the project is launched, you can check it out and leave a comment before even the notification page is live.

I think it’s a relatively brave thing to do. I’d be cautious about giving strangers such access.

In contrast, a new game where the messaging is being controlled and skillfully directed by talented professionals is Cohors Cthulhu!.

That’s Roman legions and mythos mashup from Modiphius. It’s also a 2d20 expansion of the Achtung! Cthulhu. It’s being called transmedia, meaning more than one medium is being used; skirmish games, RPGs, a wargame and even a fiction line in this case.

You’ll find an art gallery on the blog, and, gosh, that’s my jam. The illustrations look great!

Another publisher with plans is Outland Entertainment. That’s right, we’ve both Outland Arts and Outland Entertainment in this geek news podcast.

Outland Entertainment has acquired the rights to publish Action-Heroes. That’s a Patreon-funded cinematic RPG by Christopher Helton, who happens to be Outland’s games director.

I don’t think this is nepotism. I think this was the plan behind Helton joining Outland in the first place. In the tech world, we might call it an acquihire. It’s a similar story to Daniel Fox joining Andrews McMeel.

The game system will be applied to Outland’s other IP range. That gives them both Tombpunk and Action-Heroes as engines for their worlds.

There’s more, though. Outland also bought Pocket Odyssey and Dice Odyssey. These are old Kickstarters and will come back to the crowdfunding platform.

While they’re called micro-RPGs, they’re more like a fantasy board game in the spirit of HeroQuest, except you can fit them in your pocket.

So, some success and growth stories there. That takes me to Studio Agate who nearly closed during the height of the pandemic.

They were kept going by fans who raised many thousands in crowdfunding them. The French publisher is known for Fateforge, an alternative 5e setting, and the dark fantasy of Shadows of Esteren. I like both, but prefer Esteren. Not because it’s not 5e, but because of how it makes the darkness work.

Studio Agate has just 11 products to retail. How’s that for making good on a promise? These releases have come after making sure crowdfunding backers got their books first.

I’ve also learned they’re working on a new and not yet revealed project. More, I hope, on that later.

Plans, of course, can change. It happened to Wizards of the Coast. Hasbro’s money-maker has announced that Dragonlance 5e is on the way. There’s no whiff of a delay but there is a new Unearthed Arcana out this week for the setting.

That’s WotC’s playtesting, and they’ve gone back to revisit Heroes of Krynn, making changes to their initial ideas. It’s good that they listen to fans. Kenders, I’m told, are now more faithful to their Dragonlance origins.

Do you know, I’ve never read a Dragonlance book. It’s unlikely that I ever will, and I refer you to my ongoing schedule nightmare, but I might listen to an audiobook if they exist. Should I? Lemme know via the Discord.

In some ways, I’ve saved the most exciting “new RPG” discussion for last. Have you heard of Role?

It’s a virtual tabletop that made about $100,000 on Kickstarter and is still going, although it’s not had Foundry’s fire.

It’s different, and it does away with PDFs and books, instead offering a more integrated approach and a virtual tabletop that’s more like a traditional computer game. It’s a big ask but a potential new form of RPG.

Calling Role a virtual tabletop doesn’t even feel quite right, and it doesn’t try to emulate a tabletop at all and tries to be a more visually immersed and different thing instead.

So, what’s the Role news? They’ve just released Chrome for free.

That’s a cyberpunk horror based on Mothership’s Panic Engine and its Role’s first RPG.

It’s not all games, though. I notice that Netflix has announced a Shaman King sequel.

That was a weird anime. A villain who tortured a young boy becomes a friendly ally without really changing his ways. The whole torture thing almost had a comedy tone to it.

The whole series is about shamanism and tried to connect with real-life shamanistic cultures but insisted on doing so through a British imperial lens. Weird, right?

I feel guilty now, not for being British, but for worrying about schedule challenges and knowing the anime review series hasn’t been featured for a while. Well, that happened before, and it came back, and it remains an aspiration.

On a lighter note, I spotted some merch partnership deals that made me grin.

Firstly, a no-brainer team up from Razor the PC and PC accessory maker and Games Workshop. You can now get Warhammer 40K and other Warhammer lines as custom designs on mats, mice and cases.

Secondly, did you know official Dungeons & Dragons socks are a thing? They’re 78% cotton. Feels like a good pub quiz question.

Our usual outro is on bundle deals, so let’s do that here and now.

If you’re looking for a bundle of tables, random encounters and that sort of thing, then there’s the bestselling Great Book of Random Tables and other dicegeek publications in the Bundle of Holding.

There’s also the 5e setting Arkadia. That’s an ancient Greek myth-inspired world from Arcana Games.

There are two comic book deals of note on Humble.

One celebrates Image Comics’ 30th birthday and has titles like Spawn and Savage Dragon in it.

The other is European Sci-Fi and Fantasy from Cinebook with titles like Valerian and Laureline.

You can find links to all these via the show notes.

And on that note, let’s wrap up there, enjoy your next game and see you next week.