We’re approaching Halloween weekend, and here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s getting darker, colder, and the Walkers are stirring.
It’s also Bonfire Night on the 5th of November, which is when (and it depends which part of the UK you lean towards) we note Guy Fawkes’ attempt to blow up parliament or the failure to do so.
Sneaking through underground passages, in a group of rogues, on a next to impossible adventure? We know it well.
On the note of dangerous darkness, the RPG Publisher Spotlight with Grim & Perilous Studio is live. It’s a chance to hear from the new owner and find out what future plans are.
There’s also surprise news, in a way, as Demiplane is revealed to be Paizo’s partner in the Pathfinder digital toolkit. That’s the D&D Beyond, by an ex-D&D Beyond founder, for Pathfinder.
Halloween turns out to be a good time of year for sales and bundles. There’s plenty to note in summary below.
So, with that said, let’s get exploring this week’s RPG news.
RPG news from Geek Native
- Paizo’s answer to D&D Beyond has been announced, and it was made in partnership with Demiplane. Pathfinder Nexus is taking sign-ups.
- In a blow for the physical product side of the hobby, there’s also a paper shortage.
- Square Enix announced a Tomb Raider tabletop RPG. It’ll be out this year and is called Lara Croft’s Tomb Raiders.
- Talisman Adventures, the RPG based on the board game, now has a free to download quickstart and Curse of the Rat Queen adventure.
- Supporting the Kickstarter, there’s also now a free quickstart for the Chew roleplaying game.
- On DriveThruRPG for the first time, the digital edition of Discworld Roleplaying Game.
- Tomb of the Colossus Gods will head to Kickstarter in a few months, but we got an early look at the dark fantasy art.
- Geek Native had a look at some of Relic’s (now on Kickstarter) animated VTT token Titans.
- The NeverEnding portrait generator has new armour and money winning competition.
- Need some spooky music for Halloween game night? At Geek Native’s invitation, Roll20 curated a playlist.
- At the Bundle of Holding, there’s a whole bunch of mythos inspired RPG content on offer in a deal called Tentacles 6.
- Timed for the 5e Kickstarter conversion, Matt Forbeck has the whole of the Cypher System line of Shotguns and Sorcery on offer.
Spotlight Grim & Perilous Studios
RPG news from around the web
- Space.com had an exclusive look at some parts of Free League’s Blade Runner RPG.
- Chaosium’s owners joined forces with Black Monk Games to create a new Chaosium. The Chaosium Group will manage the joint assets of Moon Design Publications and Black Monk, probably isn’t a precursor to a merge and likely all about logistics.
- Chaosium also shared the release date for the RuneQuest Starter Set.
- Community manager for the World of Darkness, Outstar opened up a Vampire Jam at Itch.io.
- Wizards of the Coast defeat ACD Distribution at court, again, and score $254,000 in legal fees as damages.
- WotC’s owner also said that most of their $100 million merchanise traffic jam has now been delivered.
- Confirmed and with a growing schedule, November 12-14th for Roll20 Con 2021.
- The Nerdist wrote up that 40-year-old D&D magazine has stats for cartoon characters.
- Renegade Game Studio’s Scott Gaeta shared a Look Back, Forward Too! for the publisher and its plans. RGS are also now taking orders for The Book of Nod – Vampire: The Masquerade 5e.
- Modiphius and Helmgast are taking pre-orders for the 1960s European-comic themed RPG The Troubleshooters.
- Free League are having 50% off Halloween sale at their store.
- R. Talsorian Games republished Night City Tarot have some legal hiccups and confirmed it would remain digital only.
- Mudpuppy Games are shipping minis of the minis on the front of Game Wizards – a pair called Gary and Dave.
RPG reviews and interviews from around the web
- Polygon’s Sean Mekinda notes Like the film, Dune’s new tabletop role-playing game understands what makes the book great.
- The Other Side reviewed She is the Ancient: A Genderbent Curse of Strahd.
- Geeks of Doom reviewed Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons.
- IGN did also and shared their own Fizban’s Treasury review.
- Bell of Lost Souls didn’t miss out either and had their own Fizzy review.
- Roleplayers Chronicle offered up a review of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.
- Beth Rimmels gave us a good look at the Witchlight Carnival Dice and Miscellany.
- Sami Yuhas at the Gaming Gang reviewed Pathfinder’s Secrets of the Temple-City.
- Jared Rascher shared first impressions on Arcadia Issue 9.
- Also at TGG, Ronald Gardener explored the villainous RPG Wicked Ones.
- Age of Dusk took a look at Under the Waterless Sea.
- Thilo Graf wrote up a review of Memento Mori – Memento Vivere.
- Reviews from R’lyeh dug into Dwellers of the Forbidden City and the platinum bestselling A Night of Fright!.
- Angel’s Citadel reviewed The Ninth World Guidebook.
- Bleeding Cool’s Gavin Sheehan got to Chatting With James Wyatt About D&D’s Fizban’s Treasury Of Dragons.
- D&D’s Yawning Portal had a Ravenloft feature with Mist Hunters Designer Interview: Travis Woodall.
RPG new releases
- Alan Bahr and Osprey publish the RPG about hunted knights with Heirs to Heresy: The Fall of the Knights Templar: A Roleplaying Game
- Bill King invites you to name your own price for this one-page OSR Lovecraftian Old Ones, Shoggoths & R’lyeh .
- Sasha De’ath invites you to use MORK BORG and Hail the Rat God.
- Posthuman Studios released Eclipse Phase Second Edition Condensed Player’s Guide.
- Gila, after a successful Kickstarter, published Spencer Campbell’s LUMEN powered, Destiny-inspired NOVA RPG.
- Valiant Fox Gaming released a 130-page Fading Embers Setting Manual.
- Ready to Zweihander all alone? Elijah Roman released LONE: A Gamemaster and Solo Roleplay Toolkit for Zweihander RPG.
RPG bundle deals
- Save €40.42 (20%) with Edge Studio’s Legend of the Five Rings bundle.
- Save $34.95 (30%) with Mechanical Muse’s World of Aetaltis bundle.
- Save $13.55 (21%) with Blessed Machine’s Secrets Agents of Cross bundle.
- Save $12.74 (15%) with Lazy Wolf Studio’s Norrøngard Digital bundle.
- Save $9.12 (65%) on the DMs Guild’s Subclasses Vol 1 bundle.
- Save $7.32 (36%) in the Chaosium community content Halloween Double Feature bundle.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- You can wear the cover art of Call of Cthulhu 1e as a fashionable face mask.
- In time for Halloween, designer Rob Leigh shares some RPG tips with 5 ways to hook players into a dark murder mystery.
- It turns out that few people know what a “Pointcrawl” is in RPGs, and so Ben and the Genre Police explore the technique.
- Musician Jenny Owen Youngs didn’t just release a D&D inspired EP; there was also some of these wooden gaming dice.
- Andrew Peregrine, over at EN World, wrote about Halloween Horror: Building Fear.
- Sly Flourish helpfully put together My Top Advice for D&D DMs.
- Bat in the Attic opined The original release of Dungeons & Dragons was a supplement.
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;
- Dieku Games want to tell the unlikely story of the world’s largest game store and its community in the Friendly Local Game Store Documentary.
- Arion Games is crowd-funding a Savage Words-based skirmish game for the Crown & Dragon RPG. Unsurprisingly, it’s called Crown & Dragon Skirmish/
- Medusa Miniatures is offering 31 snake cult models for 3d-printing with CULT of the COBRA Pre-Supported stl’s by Medusa Minis
- Black Blossom Games has funded coaster, cases and Possibly Cool Dice Towers II.
- Generic Miniatures have a whole bunch of STL files for miniatures for Cthulhu Age – “Raiders of R’lyeh”.
- Sandy Pug Games has funded a system-agnostic social TTRPG set on the eve of a catastrophe. It’s A Night At The Tavern.
- Ray Jamison is campaigning for themed resin Dwarf Dice, by Attunement INC.
- Can you even see these dice after they’ve finished rolling? They’re Camo Dice by Random Encounter Dice.
- M Chatbot has a 5e adventure and pre-supported printable minis, complete with terrain in the Tempest Hold: RPG Book and STL Collection.
- Andrew Stockton’s character maker lets you custom design minis for D&D and other RPGs. It’s TitanCraft Heroes | Custom Miniatures.
- David Derus has hundreds of backers for boldly coloured dice in Where The Wild Shapes Are.
- Guillermo Buenfil is offering a unique subclass with a 5e adventure. It’s Wanderers’ Misfits: Divine Gunner Domain for 5th Edition.
- Everything Epic has raised thousands of a dystopian world and ten kingdom house war of the Dragon Thrones RPG 5e.
- Dread Unicorn Games has a grand adventure that spans the sea, seafloor and the planes in Pirates of Atlantis (5E DnD & 13th Age).
- Tree Bee Games wants to enhance your 5e and other games with custom dice and card effects in CRIT Effect – Spells & Magic.
- Tabletop modular terrain from Glim & Gorn – Very Evil Temple.
- Hunters Books are funding a surrealist detective storytelling game where art is an Exquisite Crime.
- Impact! Miniatures have funded starry and glowing math rocks with Unleashed Arcana RPG Dice and DCC Sets.
- Oliver McNeil has a horror storytelling game that’s part role-playing, part gamebook and Tome of Terror: Transylvania & Storymaster Book & Card-packs
- Moonmares Games ponder human potential with SPATII20 – A Space Inspired 20-Sided RPG Metal Dice.
- Euphoriminiatures is offering unpainted but charismatic minis of Dice Heroes.
- Trinity Knot Studio has cool stuff to add to your games in the GMs Toolkit Vol II.
- Ella Watts has funded a tarot-inspired RPG about sailing to the source of the Great River. It’s Upriver, Downriver.
- Macrocosm is working with metal to produce Sci-Fi Dwarves High Command.
- Krakon Games have a selection of resin minis for All Hallows’ Eve.
- Dan Sumption has a whimsical zine with Mostly Harmless Meetings: a zine of countryside encounters.
If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.
