Busy, busy, busy! I don’t want to count pandemic-free chickens before they’ve escaped their fragile incubators. Not with variants of the disease popping their unwelcome microscopic heads-up. Not with tragedy in India.
The world, though, seems to be waking up.
You can see it in the RPG news. There’s news, and this week has been a struggle to keep up with it all. The usual comment section is below, and if I’ve missed anything, and if you didn’t write the piece yourself, please link to it below.
What’s unusual about the comment section below is the enhancements it got this week. You’ll see a little profile if you hover over people and whether they’re around.
Despite the struggle, we kept up with RPG Publisher Spotlight for May, and there’s now an insightful interview with Tactius Publishing to enjoy. Do you get the feeling James’ company could grow and grow?
There’s also another gift, a digital freebie, for all Geek Native patreons. Copies of Buzzard (Deadpool meets Kingsman, said one reviewer) to all supporters.
Right now, here’s the rest of the RPG news!
Win History Heroes – Children | Buzzard | Doctor Who – Alternating Current
RPG news from Geek Native
- Geek Native had an exclusive look at the alternative cover for the forthcoming RPG ARC.
- A synopsis, which is now being disputed, was found in paperwork for the D&D movie.
- Wizards teased a Drizzt TV series and has Benedict Cumberbatch narrating an animated short.
- Amazon’s already being aggressive with price drops for Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.
- Free League Publishing say they’ll probably do a Lord of the Rings RPG for 5e.
- Geek Native interviewed the Knight of the Sun team about a D&D 5e adventure designed for PCs who are good or evil-aligned.
- I also talked to VoxStory about their RPG designed for the TV screen.
- Geek Native posted an early review of Petersen Games’ Nightmares 1.
- Game Machinery released, for free, Defiant Awakening.
- To support TryItCon, Onyx Path Publishing made many World of Darkness and Chronicle bundles available. Sorry to say, you’ve missed them now.
- Every Friday, Justin Andrew Mason, an award-winning cartographer shares free battle maps.
- Comic-Con and Magpie Games both post game design events.
- GAMA launched a search engine with 100,000 tabletop games inside.
- Portrait generator site NeverEnding launched v2.0.
- Grab a host of BattleTech downloads on the cheap with the Bundle of Holding’s A Time of War.
- In a generous deal, Paizo is offering a host of Pathfinder 2e downloads and even a physical book at Humble Bundle.
Spotlight Tacitus Publishing
RPG news from around the web
- D&D had a record year of sales and viewership, and Dicebreaker’s Chase Carter wrote up the coverage and EN World compiled the visuals.
- Stealing fewer headlines, D&D’s owner, Hasbro Named to 100 Best Corporate Citizens List for the 10th Consecutive Year.
- Paizo will not be at Gen Con Indy 2021.
- A|State has the 2nd edition in the pipeline, and Handiwork Games has published a brief history of the game so far.
- Luke Shaw notes From Kingdom Death to Mörk Borg, modern tabletop gaming owes a huge debt to Kentaro Miura and Berserk.
- Pelgrane Press published The Yellow King RPG FAQ.
- Cubicle 7’s WFRP Middenheim and Archives are now on Foundry VTT.
- Dicebreaker gave us a look at Rose Gauntlet Entertainment’s first RPG, in which you get to play as dead characters from other games. It’s Life After Dungeons.
- Goodman Games donated $3,700 to the SF-Marin Food Bank.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft updates
We won’t have a Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft section again. The book is out, the reviews are flooding in, and they are very positive.
- Theo Kogod at CBR wrote up What You Should Know About Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft’s Subclasses.
- Charlie Hall noted that D&D’s new book has a setting other than ‘Kill’.
- Ajit George guest posted for Roll 20 with Queen of Kings: Ravenloft’s Newest Darklord.
- D&D Beyond had Taliesin Jaffe’s Domain of Dread: Vendamir, a Land of Tomes and Ashes.
- B Michael Galvis also offered up Gremiska: Terrify Spellcasters With These Tiny, Chaotic Monsters!
- Gizmodo’s James Whitbrook highlighted Magical Disaster Horrors Await Players.
- At EN World, a member called Jasper shared their Van Ritchten’s review and warned players off reading it.
- Dice Monkey also offered up a Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft review.
- Geeks of Doom did not want to miss out and had a review, too.
- Bell of Lost Souls had J.R. Zambrano step in with their review.
- Stange Assembly also had a detailed review.
- GeekTyrant’s Tommy Williams called it Insanely Helpful.
- Meanwhile, Wieland could offer up An Exclusive Look Inside Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.
RPG reviews and interviews from around the web
- GeekWire had an interview with Nathan Stewart, head of franchise for D&D, about how Wizards of the Coast plan to keep up growth.
- Rosie Knight of Nerdist interviewed D. Hale Rambo about the novel and RPG setting Tools of a Thief.
- Egg Embry interviewed Russ Morrissey of EN Publishing about The Awfully Cheerful Engine.
- Egg also interviewed Ghostfire Gaming’s Jordon Gibson about The Monster Grimoire.
- Charles Dunwoody, over at EN World, shared Soulbound Starter Set Unboxing and Overview.
- The Other Side reviewed a review of the old Spelljammer, AD&D Adventures in Space and of Space Opera, 2nd Edition.
- Burn After Running reviewed Brindlewood Bay.
- Ben Reece reviewed Starfinder Adventure Path #33: Dominion’s End.
- Bagpuss on EN World, meanwhile shared their review of Zomicide Chronicles.
- Just Another Steven, on BoardGameGeek, reviewed Jackals: The Fall of the Children of Bronze.
- Writing for Dicebreaker, Rob Wieland noted that Marvel Heroic Roleplaying is the greatest comic book RPG you haven’t played.
- Tabletop Gaming reviewed Adventure Presents Tartarus Gate.
- Jared Rascher reviewed Green Ronin’s Fantasy AGE Trojan War.
- CGM reviewed Candlekeep Mysteries.
- Reviews from R’lyeh looked into The Howling Tower, reviewed An Onslaught of Options, and braved the dark with Blue Collar Sci-Horror Zero with the Alien RPG.
- On the Tavern, you can check out lots of photographs and First Impressions of Warlock! Black Edition.
- Lev Lafayette reviewed the 1991 GURPS: China.
- Aaron T. Huss reviewed Miskatonic Repository – La Recette (Call of Cthulhu).
- CrossPlanes has a prerelease review of Warpland by Gavriel Quiroga.
- Arts Technical said Demeo is the best multiplayer, virtual-reality D&D clone ever made.
- Lastly, Laptop Magazine did a review of the best virtual tabletop apps.
RPG new releases
- Red Scar Publishing let loose with Devil’s Run the Roleplaying Game Player’s Prime (2d20).
- Zipperon Game’s released their major 5e supplement for advanced players with Galder’s Gazetteer.
- Already a bestseller, Onyx Path published the Vampire: The Masquerade 5e supplement Children of the Blood.
- The Other Tracy released a game based on Honey Heist about problem-solving called Muscle Wizard Gets the Job Done!.
- J. Walton released the Name Your Own Price RPG Wanderhome supplement called Walk Away from the Future.
- Jonathan Hicks and Osprey Games’ Those Dark Places hard sci-fi has a free download called The GM Simulation Expansion.
- Pelgrane Press released the 13th Age expansion Elven Towers.
- Monte Cook Games published the 5e and Cypher System Where the Machines Wait.
- Will Power Games released their Heroic Dark RPG Death Divers.
- River Horse Games published My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – The Compendium of Equestria.
- On the DM’s Guild, a collective of authors released rules on playing as an undead character. The name? Playing Dead.
RPG bundle deals
- Save $181.52 (95%) with Frontier Gaming’s AFG029 All FrontierGaming Products.
- Save $4.97 (24%) with Lion Banner Games’ Farewell to Chinatown Static Bundle.
- Save $17.01 (46%) with Troll Lord Games’ Castles & Crusades Package 1.
- Save $8.94 (64%) with Skirmisher Publishing’ Sci-Fi Sampler.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- In one of Geek Native’s weird stat discoveries, most GMs haven’t invented a drink for the world-building before, so here’s a drink generator.
- Want to remember a favourite PC? Why not laser engrave their character sheet?
- Do you fancy dragon poop all over your gaming table?
- Charles Dunwoody continued is Warhammer World Building series with River Life.
- The Angry GM noted How to Add Motivational Experiences to Your D&D Game.
- Awesomesticks shared Unprepared Casters breathes new life in D&D podcasts: Editorial
- Pelgrane expanded on their scenario design workshop with Core Vs. Alternate Scenes.
- Screen Rant’s Coleman Gailloreto reminded us of Three Tabletop RPG Safety Tools (& Why They’re Important)
- Green Ronin’s Malcolm Sheppard gave us a steer on Putting Your Fantasy AGE Adventures in the Trojan War.
- Power Score RPG wrote up a handy Guide to Candlekeep Mysteries.
- Against The Wicked City shared Meet the new boss: some thoughts on domain-level play.
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;
- John Larson, also known as The Tactical DM, has a 5e adventure with an old school vibe. Brought to you by Old Gator Games it’s Blood of the Brood Mother – A Fantasy TTRPG Adventure for 5E.
- Postworldgames and Jim Pinto re-release the superhero RPG in which the characters are heroes in and authors of a comic. It’s Good Guys Finish Last.
- Max Moon has a zine setting inspired by Aleister Crowley’s Book of Lies with Abyss of Hallucinations Vol. 1 – A MÖRK BORG setting.
- Tim Flowers has nearly $250,000 pledged for a genre-hopping, quest-spanning, Paperback Adventures – A Novel Solo Word Game
- Solar Studios is offering a conversion with new sentients, mechanics, monsters and more set in a sci-fantasy worldship with Redsky 5e – A Science-Fantasy Conversion Book and Lore Codex.
- Peter Chikowski has broken through CA$250,000 for prompts that can help bring settings to life with The Story Engine: Deck of Worlds
- Ideal Hands has funded a micro-RPG set in a dying realm where you gamble your soul. It’s Collector.
- Roleplay Elixir has a Roman Empire-themed sourcebook for 5e that’s funded called Carovea Victor.
- Kris McDermott is offering digital Meanders 5 Battlemaps: SEWERS.
- Hamid has funded a deck of illustrated Malfunctioning & Malicious Magic Items.
- Chamomile Has a Project’s latest is a 5e sourcebook for playing pirates. It’s Brac’s Guide to Piracy.
- Eco-friendly, high-quality but basement priced Uncle Lucky’s Discount Dice.
- William Murakami-Brundage has a D&D adventure for 2nd to 4th level characters in Thane Gorr’s Vault: A D&D 5e Treasure Hunt.
- Cierra Swanson’s and Incubus Miniatures’ first Kickstarter has D&D models in mind with Apefolk Races.
- Evil Pigeon Games has an event suitable to add fun and intrigue to any fantasy RPG. It’s The Halfling Food Festival.
- Red Isle Productions is tempting people with scary campfire stories in RPG form. It’s the Campfire Kit launch (A Shape in the Dark TTRPG)
- Kraken 3D Studios are offering up printable modular Kraken Fantasy Dungeons.
- XploringMap has a collection of fantasy maps for printing or digital use with 50+ Tabletop Maps for Dungeons and Dragons or any RPG.
- Pinnacle Entertainment Group, on Game On Tabletop, is crowdfunding Flash Gordon RPG: Legends of Mongo.
Next week the plan is to move to a rolling 10 week average for the trends on this chart. It will be different.
If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.
