Audio EXP: #188 – Better late than never?

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for 11th March, 2023, and the episode title is “Better late than never?”.

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #188]

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Of Gods and Gamemasters is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons. I’ve emailed Jack this week.

The better late than never podcast title is a self-reflection as the Friday newsletter missed the midnight deadline by seconds. Is it a big deal?

Not really, but it messes up which email digest links to the newsletter. It was my fault; I probably had enough time but was sloppy with managing it.

Another thing I struggle with is Paizo news. I absolutely track the company and what a rocky road they’ve had, but their news comes out as flavourful blog posts, which, when scanning, I overlook as a news piece. Even when I do, what Paizo tries to say isn’t always immediately obvious.

I’m a stupid creature and need to be spoon-fed.

Fortunately, on the Tabletop Gaming News site, I noticed Starfinder Enhanced.

We’ve Pathfinder 2e, but this isn’t the same for the sci-fi sibling. There will be a 192-page book with new themes, classes, species and other options, and there’s more gameplay. This levelling up is slated for October.

What I was able to notice easily enough is that Necrotic Gnome has cancelled plans for a new Old-School Essentials.

The current system was going to decouple from 5e’s OGL but the publisher no longer feels that’s needed. Dolmenwood, which has been coming to Kickstarter for ten thousand years and counting, will still be a standalone book.

Judging from the comments, people are happy. There was a mixed response to the news of a new OSE, not the resounding support for dumping the OGL you might have expected. Looking at the comments, many in the OSR community just wanted to avoid change.

Signalled nice and clearly is The Magnus Archives, a new RPG from Monte Cook Games.

We know that the PCs will be employees of the Magnus Institute in London, a group dedicated to dealing with the supernatural. We know this because it’s a horror podcast from Rusty Quill, making The Magnus Archives the second podcast adaptation from Monte Cook Games.

There’s another bit of good news and this time from Europe. Cubicle 7 ranks in the Financial Times’ FT 1000. That’s a look at the fast-growing companies here.

Cubicle 7 is 192nd, and that’s impressive. In 2018 C7 had 7 employees, and in 2021 there were 14. Revenue has gone from 2018’s tally of €665k to 2021’s €2.4, and the FT gives it a growth rate of 791%.

What, no D&D news? Well, the movie is reviewed well by people who have seen it according to early reports, and I’m happy.

As readers of the blog will know, I’ve struggled this week, so I didn’t get to that story, but I did write up how well the Forgotten Realms dragon NERF blasters are selling in Europe.

People want bright yellow and dragon-headed Nerf blasters.

We’re already at the outro and bundles, but there’s some news here too.

Sorry to report that Humble’s Turkey and Syria offer which had Starfinder the tabletop game and Kingmaker the computer game in it has ended.

Happy to report that it made more than £3m for charity.

There’s a flash sale from Mystical Throne for historical guides suitable for various RPG engines. We’re talking about Celts, Vikings, Romans or even the gangs of New York.

Steve Jackson Games has two sets of GURPS available; one is superhero themed, and the other is all about action like martial arts.

The last bundle to highlight is at DriveThruRPG, organised by Pinnacle and for the family of Jonathan M Thompson of Battlefield Press, who sadly passed away.

I think there are around 150 downloads from various different publishers in the Memorial bundle. You can get it for $25; the collection is worth about $630.

It’s a nightmare uncoupling Geek Native’s code from DTRPG’s affiliate program, and I didn’t want to earn any cash on a memorial bundle. I said in the post I’d donate anything I made, but I didn’t wait and have made a donation already. In the unlikely event of earning more than anything the affiliate program gives me, I’ll make it up.

So, let’s finish there; do good and keep safe.