Routinely Itemised: RPGs #157

Hi geeks. We made it! Again! Am I behind on my ToDo list? You betcha. I think I’m still on Monday and so I hope you’re doing better.

Let’s make progress and dive into the RPG news summary of summaries! This week;

• There were nasty reveals about Jamison Stone and Satine Phoenix, resulting in Stone stepping down as CEO.
• Hasbro has a new master plan.
• Backerkit takes on Kickstarter.
• Steve Jackson Games’ CEO and lord of Mork Borg Kickstarters, Philip Reed, is on Kickstarter’s Advisory Council.

Did you know you can get Geek Native to come to you? If you’re not a fan of social media, there’s the newsletter summary every day.

My favourite, as I’m old school, are the site’s RSS feeds.

Okay, that’s the intro done. Now it’s time to get on with the meat of the round-up and the bullet points of RPG news! Go, go, go!

Patreons: Town Hall

RPG news from Geek Native

• The week’s drama boils over with Jamison Stone quitting as CEO of Apotheosis Studios.
• Related, and with unrelated news, there’s a whole piece on Vampire creator Mark Rein-Hagen’s next RPG Badlander.
• Hasbro will reveal to investors more about its new strategy later this year.
• The UKGE elected their best RPGs and supplements of the year with the UK Games Expo Awards 2022.
• BackerKit has started a Kickstarter rival and there are loads of tabletop RPG publishers on it.
• Steve Jackson Games’ CEO Philip Reed is a Kickstarter Community Advisory Council member.
• Mud Puddle released The Hedgehogian Files.
• The Gestalt Game Master published a pay-what-you-want d2-based RPG inspired by 5e called Pecuina.
• Did I say Star Wars? Eerk! It’s Psionics in Star Trek Adventures.
• Another Modiphius freebie and this time the quickstart guide for the Fallout TTRPG.
• Fat Goblin and the Bundle of Holding have a set of Planners to help DM/GMs. It’s you’re quick there’s also a Sea of Thieves TTRPG flash sale.

Spotlight: BRW Games

RPG news from around the web

• Charlie Hall at Polygon concludes Starfinder’s Drift Crisis will change the science-fantasy RPG setting forever.
• Cubicle 7 gives us an Age of Sigmar: Soulbound, Era of the Beast Reveal!
• Pinnacle Entertainment Group announce the opening of their retail portal.
• Capital Current takes a look at Roll With It: The digital future of Dungeons and Dragons in a post-COVID universe.
• ComicBook’s busy Christian Hoffer notes Dungeons & Dragons: Psionics Class by Matt Colville’s MCDM Productions Enters Public Playtest.
• Having announced the Patreon-powered queer RPG, Steve Kenson at Green Ronin offers Straight Talk About Twilight Accord.
• The New Stack notes ML Engineer Teaches Graph Algorithms with Dungeons & Dragons.
• Steve Jackson Games have a call out for someone to write a solo Ogre game using the Wretched & Alone SRD.

RPG reviews and interviews from around the web

• Reviews from R’lyeh investigate Capes & Cloaks & Cowls and a Park and Dune – Adventures in the Imperium: Agents of Dune.
• On EN World, Rob Wieland looks at Cults of Cthulhu.
• Angel’s Citadel takes a look at Monte Cook Games’ The Origin.
• Seed of Worlds writes up a review of the zine Burgs & Bailiffs Warefare too.
• The Other Side writes up a retrospective review of the first edition of DragonQuest.
• RPG.Net’s ShyberKryst reviews Death in Space.
• Throat Punch Games has a ring side report of Pathfinder Society Intro: Year of Shattered Sanctuaries.
• Just Push Start shares their D&D Rules Expansion Gift Set review.
• Alex Meehan opines Stormlight Archive’s heartfelt worldbuilding makes the Brandon Sanderson books perfect for a tabletop RPG.
• On EN World, member Snarf Zagyg writes up a look at Jon Peterson’s The Elusive Shift.
• Jared Racher shares a review of Achtung! Cthulhu Assault on the Fuhrer Train.
• On Gnome Stew, Jared writes up Ironsworn: Starforged.
• Alone in the Labyrinth reviews the Gangs of Titan City quickstart.
• Ben Reece looks at Pathfinder: Book of the Dead.
• Nerds on Earth review Lost Omens: Knights of Lastwall for Pathfinder 2e.
• At the Gaming Gang, Sami reviews Delta Green – Iconoclasts.
• Charles Dunwoody interviews Mike Larrimore about the new Mythras-powered superhero RPG Destined.
• In a tabletop RPG hardware interview, Vince Pavey of MCV interviews Sarah Hoelke about unidice.

RPG new releases

• Modiphius has expanded the official Star Trek RPG with the Discovery (2256-2258) Campaign Guide.
• Daylight Publications have released Supers & Sorcery Presents… Expatriates: Ghaistala 4021.
• The Halls of Gaming have published their Intriguing Roleplaying: How to Add Espionage to Your Fantasy RPG.
• RPGWorld suggests you pay $0.00 for the newly released Fast Heroes D6.
• Modiphius and Wyvern Gaming are taking pre-orders for the hardback retail version of Stargate SG-1 Roleplaying game Core Rulebook.
• Nicholas Potter has published a rules-light harrowing-but-hopeful magical girl RPG and Let’s be Magical!
• The Red Room has released their Belle Epoque-based Wretched Epoque.
• Michal Watt and Pyromaniac Press have published their 5e Skyriders.
• Parts Per Million’s Itch store updates to include Wu-Fu – Solo Roleplaying Wushu.

RPG bundle deals

• Save $298.40 (40%) with Tiger Paw Press’ TPP Subscription Service bundle.
• Save CA$89.38 (50%) with Axian Spice’s Lands of Legends PDF + POD bundle.
• Save $54.97 (44%) with Hack & Slash Publishing’s Classic Gaming Negative Space bundle.
• Save $16.20 (25%) on the DMsGuild’s Fantasy Grounds: Loot Bloodied Monsters with Weakness bundle.
• Save $9.95 (33%) with Salati Verba Deorum’s Andror Campaign Setting bundle.
• Save $4.50 (28%) with The Red Room’s Wretched Fantasy and $2.50 (10%) with Wretched to the Core bundles.
• Save $2.00 (29%) with Mark Hess’ Colony of Death bundle.

RPG ideas, tips and discoveries

• Ben and the Genre Police had a go at Defending the DMPC.
• Lone Colossus Games’ Josh Rosing wrote up How to Put a Time Limit on Your D&D Quests – and why you should.
• Instagram liked this share of the odd dice tower Skull Spider Desert’s Kiss.
• Also oddly popular was this D20 / Hellfire stress ball.
• Polling powerhouse discovered the typical D&D alignment of most Americans.
• D&D Beyond’s Alyssa Visscher shares How to Create Engaging Scenes for Your Players.

RPG Crowdfunding

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

• Nick, Joe and Ekaterina have a game for people who are trapped in a role they don’t want to play. It’s Tyrant’s Conquest – A Radical New RPG Rulebook
• esao offers up Drogoroth, the Winged Death -Magnificent 3D Dragon Miniature.
• Sync Ratio Systems has STL terrain tiles called Where Legends Fight Volume 2.
• Landmark Dice’s second Kickstarter is Kaleidoscope Collection – Quality Affordable Handmade Dice.
• Halcyon Miniatures have funded 20mm white-metal Sci-Fi Aristocrats and Retinue miniatures.
• Philip Johansson is funding a Meso-American-themed island adventure called The Trials of Hualnemi.
• Megalithic Prints has a pamphlet of Haemo’s Writing on Trolls: A Foul D&D Supplement.
• Black Scorpion has funded 32mm resin miniature Fantasy Adventurers.
• Ray is funding Wooden GM screens in a project called Versus.
• Gaming Honors has funded a 1st to 3rd level adventure for 5e with The Exodus of Wolfbane.
• XploringMap is working on a system-neutral supplement of maps and art with Loot Hunters – First Coin (€1).
• Kiersten Bell has funded a book of 1,000 drinks for your fantasy setting with Libations.
• Jacob Hurst has smashed targets for a reprint of the award-winning Marlo’s Mire & Hot Springs Island: RPG Hexcrawl Adventures.
• Chuck Stover is offering 25 digital dice sets for home printing with Epic Collection of Printable Dice Designs.
• Stefan Surrat has funded an adventure and judge’s toolkit called Mysteries of the Multiverse for MCC RPG.
• Spidermind Games have a significant success on their hands with book three of the sandbox fantasy Legendary Kingdoms – Pirates of the Splintered Isles.
• JVC Parry has another success with the Midnight Sun of Lord of Chains – A MÖRK BORG NIGHTMARE.
• Vermillion Craft has hit the target for collectable The Myth of Cthulhu: Collectible Coins & Foil Bookmarks.
• It’s issue 24 of The Oracle RPG Magazine – Dangerous Journeys.
• Diego Pisa Artworks has new content for your 5e in the shape of Potions and Herbalists.
• Steve Conley and his webcomic have hit the target for Minis from The Middle Age.
• Luna Publishing has 5 cultist-themed mini-adventures in Sinister Sacrament: Cultist Quick-adventures for D&D 5e – $1.
• Rollinkunz! has improved on inky and organic maps with The DUNGENERATOR: Series 2 and Reprinting Series 1!
• Ryan Alamon has hit funding targets for a lightning-fast Eazy RPG

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