We’re into May, we’re through Star Wars Day, and although it’s summer here in Scotland, we’ve had snow.
At least it’s Friday, it’s Routinely Itemised day, and we get to look back at a week of RPG news.
Tacitus Publishing won the Patreon vote for the RPG Publisher Spotlight.
If you’re a Patreon, you can vote for one of the following in June;
This week the Kickstarter Heat analysis section was also expanded. You can now search to see which RPG or supplements are included in the figures.
In a few weeks, the graphic of Heat at the end of this article will change, too, switching out the trend line with a rolling average instead.
Right now, here’s the rest of the RPG news!
Win History Heroes – Children | Buzzard
RPG news from Geek Native
- Roll20 have increased a price rise and a lock-in to beat it.
- In the States, it looks like a court has thrown out Zak S’s case against Gen Con and Peter Adkison.
- Fitch Ratings, an influential analysis, gave Hasbro’s fortunes a negative outlook.
- Wizards of the Coast have signed a deal with a Comcast owned esports network for D&D Live 2021.
- There’s more loot on the way as Fanattik signs a D&D merch deal.
- Meanwhile, Kidrobot released their plushy set of D&D monsters.
- Self Defense Family and Z2 Comics will publish the comic-RPG Run the Dungeon.
- Geek Native reviewed Cubicle 7’s Soulbound Starter Set.
- The Geek Native RPG and geeky convention calendar got an update, so now you can see what’s near you.
- OneBookShelf will change printer technology.
- Geek Native also looked at the Name Your Own Price Heresy & Faith RPG.
- Casuabahn-me released the next edit of their free to download Persona-inspired RPG The Velvet Book.
- Yum / DM launched a free D&D A Player’s Guide to Ptolus.
- Legendary Games’ Legendary Planet RPG set is in the Bundle of Holding.
Spotlight Tacitus Publishing
RPG news from around the web
- Jonathan Goldstein tweeted from the set of the D&D movie as filming begins.
- Tickets for UK Games Expo go on sale today as confidence in the event actually happening increase, reports OnTableTop.
- EN Publishing shared via EN World the last of the Awfully CHeerful Engine! modules from the crowdfunding campaign with Beam Me Up.
- Dicebreaker took a look at the Kickstarter RPG coming from Black Box Games and the campaign management site World Anvil Broken Tales.
- Helping to support indie publishers, Alex Meehan looked at Craig Campbell’s horror Nowhereville.
- Chase Carter joined in with Treasures of the Troll King is an excellent example of the Mörk Borg indie design space.
- Cubicle 7 shared some great pictures with WFRP: Altdorf Map – Work in Progress Photos.
- DriveThruRPG is running a large sci-fi RPG sale until the 17th.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft updates
- IGN’s Jon Ryan reported on How D&D is Going Full ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ Mode in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.
- D&D Beyond’s Jeremy Blum offered Explore the New Bard and Warlock Subclasses in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft!.
- Lysa Penrose was one of the first with the Van Richten’s Guide previews, tweeting the full table of contents.
- GameRant’s Zackery Carnley gave us Dungeons and Dragons: Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft Should Inject a Fresh Dose of Classic Horror.
- Comic Book’s Christian Hoffer notes that Dungeons & Dragons Reveals Major Twist to One of Ravenloft’s Domains of Dread.
RPG reviews and interviews from around the web
- On d20radio, Kim Frandsen reviewed XII: Inner Demons.
- Rob Wieland looked at the return of World Wide Wrestling the RPG.
- Age of Dusk reviewed Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls and On the Crimson Trail.
- Halfway Station 3.0 reviewed Pathfinder for SWADE Archetypes 1 and Runelords 1.
- Gundobad Games reviewed The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford.
- Dicebreaker’s Richard Jansen-Parkes reviews the Dune RPG describing it as dense and complex as the sci-fi classic.
- Dice Adventurer also looked at Dune and offered up this Introduction.
- Matt Jarvis took the time to explore the Celtic-inspired world of Inspirisles with Tabletop RPG Inspirisles will teach you sign language as you play.
- Alex Meehan covered Teeth: Blood Cotillion is an RPG one shot about hunting occult horrors at a high-society ball.
- In a good week for Dicebreaker, Chase Carter noted Galactic 2E is a Star Wars inspired tabletop game that puts the focus on relationships.
- Jared Rascher reviewed Handiwork Games’ Handimonster Patreon and World Wide Wrestling 2e.
- Thilo Graf reviewed Shadows of Vathak: Survivor Background and Files for Everybody: Acrobatic Feats.
- At d20Radio, Egg Embry interviewed Leland Andercheck and Patrice Gehman about the ChangedStars RPG.
- Egg also interviewed Mattias Lilja about Ruins of Symbaroum for 5e.
- One more time, this time at EN World as Egg talks Sirens in An Interview With Satine Phoenix and Jamison Stone (Apotheosis Studios).
RPG new releases
- Skies Publishing released an RPG about dwarves banding together in the darkness with The Dig.
- Fire Ruby Designs released a new Warpstar adventure and setting called Caldera.
- The ENnie-winning tabletop RPG Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse released on Itch.
- Incoming! is an RPG which “removes the hero” from the story to focus on the support team. It’s available from Games of Absence on Itch.
- The Bard’s Gambit released the family-focused coming of age RPG Convergence (basic rules).
- Mousewife Games released the Forged in the Dark RPG about grown-up witches teaching their students with To Teach Their Own.
- Four-Color Studios takes you to the spaceways and backwater worlds of the Far Millenium with Void Pirates.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- In the last of the inhospitable settings round table write-ups, Geek Native and Valiant Fox share Restricting Magic in D&D 5e.
- Geek Native liked this free to download Tales & Fates NPC portrait cards.
- An unearthed clip shows Games Workshop’s founders introducing a British TV audience to a slightly cringe D&D game and fans.
- Actual play host Lars van Breems tackled common questions around What is it like to DM?
- Ben Erickson opined in The Workshop that Character Death is F*@#ing Boring.
- Awesome Sticks had advice on Vampire: The Masquerade: Planning a Chronicle #1: The Basics.
- GameRant’s Zackery Carnley suggests Dungeons and Dragons: Unearthed Arcana Could Point to a Return to Dragonlance.
- Back at Dicebreaker again, we’ve Dr. Lotte Reinbold noting Lines and veils, and other RPG safety tools, open up tabletop roleplaying for everyone.
- At D&D Beyond, B Amy Dallen discusses Session Scheduled, But No Adventure Ideas? Where to Start.
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;
Kickstarter Heat this week: 154, up from 138 last week and below the rolling 10 week average of 158.
- Creature Curation has 7-piece dice sets inspired by classic RPG spells. Polyhedral Potions – Potion themed dice for Tabletop Gamers.
- Creatively Queer Press has a new setting for Monsterhearts 2. Come see what worlds exist in the darkness with Monsterhearts: Brave New Worlds.
- Ronald V. Smorynski of StoryTellingRon has a D&D 5e setting with digital maps, tokens and musical soundscapes. Welcome to the Conquest of the Evermire: 5E Swamp Sandbox Setting.
- Trinity Knot Studio has a collection of 10 GMs Toolkit – Unconventional Allies – Vol 1.
- Archon Studio has crossed half-a-miliion in funding for modular dungeons, miniatures and a 5e campaign with Dungeons & Lasers Third Edition.
- Logan Smith and Brian Bottini have a classless game set in an endless archipelago. It’s the Crescent: Nautical Fantasy TTRPG.
- Clynche has funding dinosaur miniatures for your tabletop. Join the Jurassic Tribe.
- Limitless Adventures have a set of three 5e adventures, none of which need a DM, up on Kickstarter with Valbrik’s Silver Ring.
- Chris Bissette is an ENnie-nominated designer with a sewer-crawl in the shape of Treasures Of The Troll King: A MÖRK BORG Adventure.
- Wet Ink Games return to Kickstarter and have successfully funded Into the Wyrd and Wild – Revised and Reprinted.
- Nerdburger and Craig Campbell have funded a horror RPG set in a small town that will not let you leave. Enjoy your stay in Nowhereville.
- Sam Polti has an ambitious project to fund a flexible effect system and fresh content for 5e with Molldini’s Silver Pack: the deck of even more things!
- Arctanis Games have funded initiative trackers, creature tokens and spell templates in the Dungeon Master’s Combat Toolkit – 3D Printable RPG STL.
- Chris Martens of WargameForge.com is funding a small A Digital Map Pack for Fantasy Tabletop Roleplaying Games
- The Laidback Dungeon Master’s next book of 7 one-shot adventures is live, funded and Shotglass Adventures: Kal-Zar’s Bane 3 – Titanothae Rising.
- Richard Malena-Webber is an educator who wants to run five days of fun with kids aged 11 to 15 with the Academy of Adventures 2021: D&D Online Summer Camp!
- Luxury handmade dice on offer with LibrisArcana May 2021 Exclusive Dice.
- Jessica Crimes has an anthology of 9 unique RPGs in the shape of Pretentious Games for Villains and Bastards.
- Arcane Dice offer up an old forest, steampunk, nuclear and zombie mode with RPG D6 Dice Sets by Arcane Dice.
- Fallen Highway Studios’s first campaign is designed to make sure you never have an empty chest. It’s Treasure Cards for RPG Campaigns.
- Dan Hass is offering 160 creature statblocks in DnD 5E Creature Compendium: Sidekicks.
- Cinder Dove Publishing has a 5e campaign setting where fables and fairy tales collide. It’s
Tellatale. - Vadym’s Space Vortices is the first part of the ROTATOR: Science fantasy gamebook.
- Talon & Claw have smashed their crowdfunding target for 11 pc Gemstone Dice with Council of 11 Dice Vaults.
- Midlam Miniatures have funded a set of 28mm scale monsters and Sisters of the Kraken Cult.
- Miniatures Ezipion are offering 28mm scale resin and STL files of Halflings “The Witch Hunters”.
- DMDave has blown funding targets away for Pexia’s Guide to Omeria Fifth Edition Campaign Sourcebook.
If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.
