Well, now, Kickstarter’s Zine Quest was huge, and it ended with piles of stinky brown stuff hitting the whirling blades of a muck throwing fan.
A senior exec in Kickstarter and well-known RPG designer, Luke Crane, cancelled their own campaign in response to the anger it provoked.
That season of “mini RPGs” is now over, and Geek Native’s tracking already shows the difference. The average asking price of an RPG (or related) campaign during the opening week of Zine Quest was £2,071. The average campaign target this week is £5,068.
It’s March! That means we’ve had International GM’s Day, and it means that the RPG Publisher Spotlight is onto a new cycle. If you’re a patron then you’re awesome and can vote for one of the following candidates;
Now, on with the RPG news!
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RPG news from Geek Native
- Plenty of controversy as Kickstarter’s own Head of Community cancels their own Perfect RPG Kickstarter.
- Precis Intermedia confirm to Geek Native that they own the Palace of the Vampire Queen, and Wizards of the Coast release of the historic adventure was a mistake.
- Zak Smith is suing Gen Con and Peter Adkison for defamation and other charges.
- Geek Native interviewed Magpie Games’ CEO Mark Truman about the unnamed Legend of Korra/Airbender RPG.
- Geek Native spoke to several RPG publishers and discovered that Brexit is making life harder for tabletop companies.
- D&D Beyond founder Adam Bradford has joined the looking for group site Demiplane.
- AboveVTT is a Chrome Extension that turns D&D Beyond into a virtual tabletop.
- Monte Cook Games say they have invented a new type of RPG product with The Darkest House.
- How about a new type of virtual tabletop? A virtual reality virtual tabletop called Demeo has been shown off.
- There’s a new D&D computer game on the way from Hidden Path Entertainment.
- Stellagama Publishing’ Barbaric! mutates the sci-fi of the Cepheus Engine into brutal sword & sorcery.
- R. Talsorian Games offered up a free Cyberpunk RED single shot pack.
- Pinnacle Entertainment has provided a free download to explain RIFTs with Welcome to the Post-Apocalypse.
- Sine Nomine Publishing released a free version of Worlds Without Number.
- Bully Pulpit Games’ The Blue Way is a bleak game about cultural destruction.
- March 4th is GM’s Day, and there weren’t any fantasy RPGs in the top sellers when Geek Native looked at the DriveThruRPG sale.
- Exalted Funeral landed the exclusive Head Lopper dice and GM screen.
- The Bundle of Holding as a deal on Runehammer Games’ flexible Index Card RPG.
RPG Publisher Spotlight: Dyskami Publishing
RPG news from around the web
- In celebration of International Wheelchair Day Custom miniatures studio Hero Forge adds option to create wheelchair users.
- EN World and Geek Native agree, The One Ring RPG 2e is the second most funded RPG ever, behind Strongholds & Streaming. Dicebreaker doesn’t count Strongholds and awards the title to The One Ring.
- Catalyst Game Labs announced a new core magic rulebook for ‘Shadowrun’ RPG.
- Bell of Lost Soul’s J.R. Zambrano reports that D&D Ramping Up “Cadence of Releases” in 2021.
- Christian Hoffer reports that the Adventurer’s League PHB+1 rule will be scrapped.
RPG reviews and interviews from around the web
- Following his departure from D&D Beyond, Geek Tyrant interviewed Adam Bradford about his move to Demiplane.
- Vice talked to Francesco Nepitello in a piece called ‘War of the Ring’ and ‘One Ring’ Designer on the Problems of Adapting Tolkien to Tabletop.
- Polygon’s Charlie Hall interviewed Girls Guts Glory’s Kelly Lynne D’Angelo on Candlekeep Mysteries preview: ‘Lore of Lurue’ brings D&D back in time to a magical forest.
- At EN World, Egg Embry wrote up Crafty Quest Box: An Interview With Michael Best (Kids Arcanum).
- Then on d20Radio, Embry talked about the Handimonsters Patreon in An Interview with Jacob Rodgers (Handiwork Games).
- At RPG.net, Antonios S has reviewed Black Void and The Klingon Empire core rulebook.
- Endzeitgeist reviewed Maze Rats, Ultimate Strongholds, Star Classes: Envoys for Starfinder
- Campaign Mastery’s Mike Bourke reviewed Skycrawl.
- At Angel’s Citadel, Josh Walles reviewed Fate Core.
- The Bazaar of Holding reviewed 3 of the best Roll20 alternatives.
- Dungeon Solvers reviewed the 5e supplement Bard-Core Brawlers.
- At EN World, Rob Wieland reviewed Free League Publishing’s Symbaroum and Chaosium’s Malleus Monstrorum.
RPG new releases
- Failed Superheroes Club released a supplement for the dark fantasy of Asunder with The Seeker’s Guide.
- Alb’ published the Savage Worlds setting based on 80s and 90s action cartoons called Big Apple Sewer Samurai.
- Kumada1 has released an RPG about humanoid foxes breaking into ancient dungeonlike henhouses to steal chicken. It’s Mendicant Spell Vixens.
- Newbon NewGames published a beta-release, light on illustrations, of a new system called Cybertopia.
- Queer Wizard published the hack of Basic D&D updated for modern sensibilities and with a retro image style called Dungeons Deep.
- Arc Dream Publishing released the Delta Green supplement Static Protocol.
- Based on Sebastien de Catell’s The Greatcoats, The Kernel in Yellow released the Name Your Own Price Magisters.
- John Battle published the d20 powered early access RPG where your stats are different voices in your head. The game is called Blackbirds.
- Cubicle 7 enabled pre-orders on Wrath & Glory: Litanies of The Lost.
- Chaosium published the Roll20 module Gateways to Terror.
- Simon Hunter released the 5e one-shot Athenaeum Anarchy.
- Onyx Path Publishing published the Vigil Watch Collected Volume (5e OGL).
- Modiphius released the first expansion to the Dishonored RPG with the adventure The Assassins Four.
- Osprey Publishing published Jackals: Bronze Age Fantasy Roleplaying.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- In a helpful Reddit post, WJ MacGuffin shared a Post-Mortem for Zine Quest Kickstarter Failure.
- Pelgrane Press and Wade Rockett got into 13th Sage: How to Create an Adventure Using a PC’s Background.
- Janet Forbes at World Anvil shared 5 tips for worldbuilding cities and towns.
- Roc Humet also wrote up Our Best Resources for DMs – 2021 Edition.
- Dicebreaker’s Matt Thrower looked at Good Old Plays: The throwback RPGs giving modern roleplaying “a breath of fresh air” .
- Writing on Gnome Stew, Chuck Lauer noted The Power of Cliche: Why Being Original Isn’t As Important As Being Interesting.
- Keith Barker shared Dragonmarks: Airships, Expanded.
- At D&D Beyond, Emily Rose Jacobson helped with Adapting D&D Horror for Kids of All Ages.
- Kevin Victor Rae at Tribality offered up the Best Way to Design a Quick Campaign Setting.
- At ScreenRant, Coleman Gailloreto finds Tabletop RPGs About Befriending Monsters Instead Of Killing Them.
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;
- Peter Regan’s Square Hex asked for a humble £100 to fund this pocket-size booklet of random tables. The total is nearly at £10,000, and there are two weeks still to join Dungeon Master’s Little Black Book.
- The prolific Philip Reed is doing it again, smashing targets for a one-time print of a book of new powers with The Unclean Leporello of the Foul Wizard Baum, for Mörk Borg.
- Christopher W. Reynolds is funding a physical release of the award-winning Virtuemancy: A Zine-Powered TTRPG of Saving The World.
- Roz Leahy has funded a system-neutral setting and adventure with The Goblin Manor of Anstruther-Mogg #Zinequest.
- Lester Smith is a five-times Origins award-winning designer and is next project is D6xD6 Dungeons! Zine Edition.
- Johnnie Pittman has funded a GM-less world-building game of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. They’re bystanders (ZineQuest).
- Drifter’s Atlas invites you on a 5e-romp through the Feywild with Evershift: An Ascension Adventure.
- Nick Baran is the lead designer of Breaker Press Games and has funded evil priests and spells with The Tome of Debasement- DCC RPG compatible zine.
- Chase Call is writing a weird and wacky RPG zine set in the post-apocalyptic nuclear fallout of After World.
- Greg Stolze and Crankshaft Constellation have weirder aliens and extra androids in this supplement for Termination Shock. It’s Different Trouble.
- The Printing Goes Ever On have funded their 3d-printable miniatures and terrain complete with a 5e adventure in the Mines of Maznar: 3D Printable D&D Adventure.
- P. Miller has funded a guide to incorporating interplanetary exploration and space combat into your OSR campaigns. It’s Aetherjammer: OSR Space Adventure.
- Sword and Toad are on Kickstarter to fund a bestiary of OSR compatible monsters, including hooks for using them, and treasure they carry. The project is A Tome of Modest Threats.
- Verse Studios are expanding Arclands with the Spellforgers Companion set in the Celestial Realm. It’s The Book of the Graces for 5th Edition.
- Lunch Break Heroes want to put over 200,000 system-agnostic quests in the palm of your hand with The Deck of Many Quests.
- Gallant Knight Games are Kickstarting an expansion to their award-winning Tiny Supers RPG with The GallantVerse Campaign Guide.
- Adventurers Essentials have 7 different choices of fragrant soap, each with mystery dice. It’s the Gelatinous Soaps By Adventurers Essentials.
- A group of indie game designers have 40 different 5e compatible adventures in a single book. The project is Adventures Await!
- Alchemy RPG has funded an immersive DnD 5e adventure set within the original science-fantasy story world of Aetherra. It’s the Lore of Aetherra: The Lost Druid – A DnD 5e Adventure
- Shing Yin Khor has attracted over a thousand backers and more than $80,000 for a solo keepsake game that uses sewing as a mechanic. Time for A Mending.
- Aardvark Flavor Bomb will release their RPG for free, and the campaign is to fun art and translation. It’s the Vessel TTRPG – Art & Translation Fund.
- Noble Dwarf Printing has designed a liquid-filled random potion generator called The Magical Draught of Malice
- Handmade and sharp-edge dice from Raven & Riddle’s Fairytale Collection
- Phil Stone has funded a 5e-compatible grimoire of demons. The Demonology of Lire Goest Vol. 1
- Andrew Pawley has Kickstarted a collection of 3D printable models and terrain complemented by a set of RPG modules set in an anthropomorphic setting with Dice Heads: Zoontalis- Animal adventurers and terrain STLs.
- Legendary Games asked only for $500 to fund this campaign, and with more than two weeks on the clock, they have nearly $20,00 for Sea Monsters: 60+ savage creatures of the deep for DnD 5E.
- Rebelworks and King Racoon Games are working on 3d printed miniatures that are Out Of This World.
- Red Sash Publishing are offering new ancestries, equipment, monsters, and religions in an entirely new world setting in Gatewalkers: The World of Watorial for Pathfinder 2E TTRPG.
- Christina Moseley Pinckard returns with resin dice with a unique logo for each class. They are Choose your Class Dice.
- SUndial Games LLC will take you on a quest-a-day in with the 2022 Quest Calendar 📅 An Adventure-a-Day RPG.
- Jason Lutes, aka penny lantern, has designed an adventure in which the main character is the village of Stonetop.
- Jacob Haines has built an RPG with an emphasis on mechanical diversity and fast combat. It’s the Greyplains Roleplaying Game.
- Joel Salad is funding an indie tabletop RPG about wild west critters in zine format called Yee-Paw! High Raccoon.
