Routinely Itemised: RPGs #132

I hope you had a cool Yule and are gearing up for a happy Hogmanay.

As we approach the year-end, things are getting a bit calmer on Kickstarter, but not on the retail front. It’s been a challenge in this RPG newsletter to pick which bundles or new releases to focus on.

Geek Native has got to the end of the annual look at DriveThruRPG successes, this year extending to DMsGuild ones as well. The complete list is below, and what’s new this week, in the Geek Native news section after that.

• The other best selling fantasy RPGs,
• The best selling family RPGs,
• The best selling historical RPGs,
• The best selling horror RPGs,
• The best selling sci-fi RPGs,
• The best selling “miscellaneous” RPGs,
• The best selling DMsGuild products of 2021, and
• The most successful DMsGuild newcomers.

It’s also a healthy collection of RPGs news, discoveries and opinion pieces in the curated section of the round-up this week. Well worth a rummage, especially if you’re looking for a new game.

One note of caution this week is that communications between myself and publishers are delayed due to the season. I’ve noted when particular issues are outstanding in the summary below.

So, with that said, let’s get exploring this week’s RPG news.

Win: Star Trek Discovery – The Book of Grudge

RPG news from Geek Native

• New this week from the department of stats; best selling moderns RPGs, sci-fi RPGs, miscellaneous RPGs, DMsGuild products and the most successful newcomers to the DMsGuild.
• Paizo will make changes to how they address slavery in Pathfinder. Please note that Geek Native is seeking clarification on Erik Mona’s initial comment of “Going forward, we plan to remove slavery from our game and setting completely.“.
• Details are scarce, but Steamforged will publish an official Dark Souls tabletop RPG.
• Wizards of the Coast have made the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit adventure Dragon of Icespire Peak free.
• Beadle & Grimm’s will publish luxury versions of Critical Role’s Tal’Dorei campaign setting.
• Geek Native reviewed the one-page, one-shot and one-player Krampus says Punching Nazis is a free action.
• I also look a look at the free to download Ra(n)dom Insult Generator.
• Wyrmworks Publishing has shared various previews of Limitless Heroics: Characters with Disabilities, Mental Illness, and Neurodivergence for 5e.
• Chaosium has made a free to play online solo game to teach you RuneQuest. It’s The Battle of Dangerford.
• Petersen Games have made a Call of Cthulhu adventure free for the holidays as well; Hung by the Chimney with Care.
• You can play the complete series of Lone Wolf gamebooks as free Android apps.
• 9th Level Games has published an anthology of indie RPGs in the showcase Level 1 2021.
• The Bundle of Holding has a lot of Hero 5e on offer with one megabundle, Champions megabundle and
• Itch.io is also in with festival deals with Holiday Tabletop Selects bundle and assists with charity in Malysia Flood Relief bundle.
• DriveThruRPG and publishers there also coordinated for an impressive Western Kentucky Tornado Relief series of bundles.
• Busy Humble has RPG deals for Star Trek Adventures and this large deal from Frog God and Alyssa Faden on digital dungeons maps.

Spotlight Forgotten Adventures

RPG news from around the web

• Jason Reynolds of WYSO asks Can Dungeons & Dragons Help Save Endangered Species?
• Steve Jackson Games will increase prices of RPGs in January.
• Role, the virtual tabletop and digital TTRPG community, now has quick-start adventures for D&D, Call of Cthulhu, Mork Borg, and Masks.
• Edge shares some maps from the forthcoming 5e Adventures in Rokugan.
• Cubicle 7 shares their lengthy recap of 2021 and the cover of Soulbound: Champions of Destruction.

RPG reviews and interviews from around the web

• Geek Dad opines 4 Things That Make ‘Strixhaven: A Curriculum’ of Chaos a Great ‘D&D’ Book.
• On EN World, Charles Dunwoody writes RuneQuest Starter Set: Played It Review of a Mythic World of Magic and Conflict.
• Egg Embry offers Vaesen – Mythic Britain and Ireland: A Deeper Look At The Game And Latest Kickstarter.
• Rob Wieland joins in with I Wonder Wonder Wonder Who, Who Wrote The Book of Nod review and Weird Frontiers Takes DCC West.
• In his Forbes’ column, Wieland argues Now Is The Perfect Time To Get Into The Star Trek Adventures RPG.
• Ynas Midgard’s RPG Blog reviews Ballard of the Longbow.
• Tribality shared their Arcadia Issue 11 breakdown.
• Jared Rascher wrote up First impressions on Arcadia 11 as well and Beth the Bard’s She Is The Ancient.
• Rolling Boxcar reviewed the RuneQuest Starter Set.
• Signals from Delta Pavonis argues that Mongoose Traveller 2022 has fixed the worst issue it had.
• Reviews from R’lyeh looked back at Godlike, Twilight Imperium’s Ashes of Power and Enchiridion of the Computarchs.
• On d20Radio (which has been prone to redirect jacking ads but seems okay now – but it’s tough to tell), Egg Embry talks Salvage Union in An Interview With Panayiotis Lines and Aled Lawlor (Leyline Press).
• On Forbes, Goldie Chan’s interview is about Developing The Next Generation Of TTRPG Players At G4.
• On Wargamer, Graeme Davis talks about Vaesen: Mythic Britain and Ireland.

RPG new releases

• Farwood Publishing released the their primordial and 5e setting of gods and raw magic. It’s Wayfarers of the Farwood – The World of Lor’Zun and the Player’s Guide.
• Snowbright released their nonviolent RPG of baked goods and heartwarming magic with Teatime Adventures.
• North Wind Adventures published their OSR and OGL HYPERBOREA Referee’s Manual and Player’s Manual.
• Everything you know is a lie, Last Redoubt Games has released Simulacrum.
• The heroic fantasy from Red Turban Press Cloak & Coin 5e is out.
• Entanglement Interactive published their post-apocalyptic sci-fi DarkEnergy.
• Cubicle 7 released the Warhammer FRP Blood and Bramble and Hirelings of the Old World.
• Green Ronin published the Modern AGE Missions PDF Assault on the Aerie.
• DMsGuild’s Marco Bertini published the sequel to The Second Black Dawn with The War for the Throne.
• Also, on the DMsGuild, Lex Mandrake, Chris Boudreau and Brian Yaksha share the setting guide for Narfell.
• Nicos Ostas, George Sfendourakis, Nikolas Totief published Journey of the Spiritwalker.
• Magic Dog Games released the medium magic and high adventure Machina and Magic core rulebook.
• Zozer Games has a silver bestseller already with the retro-future Hostile Rules and with an accompanying bundle deal.
• Andrews McMeel Publishing released the illustrated solo/choose-your-own-path Into the Dungeon.

RPG bundle deals

• Save $49.37 (71%) on the Map Alchemists’ 28 Modern & post apocalyptic Christmas map and $44.98 (66%) on the 70 Fantasy Maps Christmas bundles.
• Save $25.77 (50%) with Ennead Games’ 2021 Bundle.
• Save $21.24 (50%) with the Chaosium Community Content Nook Xmas bundle 2021.
• Save $18.51 (71%) on the Kabouter Games’ LegendaryLocation bundle.
• Save $15.89 (58%) with Coco Publishing’s 2021 Special Christmas bundle.
• Save $8.93 (47%) with Lester Smith Games’ GameMaster’s Apprentice | Bookmark No HP RPG bundle.
• Save £3.20 (10%) on Dynamite Entertainment’s Army of Darkness bundle. Yeah, RPG based on the movie series.
• Save $2.18 (20%) on the DMsGuild’s Holidanger Christmas Bundle.

RPG ideas, tips and discoveries

• Ben and the Genre Police look at the original and role of Session Zero.
• A wider range Ultra Pro’s D&D merch is now appearing at retailers in the UK.
• Blow your players’ minds with this handpainted Tarrasque model.
• Alphastream offers How DMs can make the Most of Patron-Driven Dungeons & Dragons Campaigns.
• Derek Garcia argues D&D’s Problematic Lore That Still Needs Fixing.
• Also, on Screen Rant, Coleman Gailloreto does D&D 6th Edition: Tabletop RPGs That Predict What It Will Be Like.
• Emma Partlow, writing for Dicebreaker, offers Dungeons & Dragons in 2021: Essential evolution makes the RPG bigger and better than ever, but work remains.
• Kobold Press shares Dungeon Tables: Random Encounters in the Plains.
• The Alexandrian shares a Random D&D Tip: Adjusting Encounters by Party Size.
• At PCGamer, Rich Stanton notes Dungeons & Dead-Ends: How mixed messaging starts fantasy wars.
• Polygon’s Linda Codega writes up an excellent Independent TTRPG presses work toward equity in game design.
• Rob Wieland also had a great article, this time on Dicebreaker, with The best tabletop RPGs you might have missed in 2021.

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;

• Jackalope is smashing targets with 45 tabletop print and paint Holiday Miniatures 3D STL Files_War in Christmas Village
• Moonmares Games are a collective of designers crowdfunding KLEC – A Polyhedral Metal Dice Set Inspired by Caged Jail
• Raven has made target for Fantasy Forest Set: 3D Printable STL Files.
• Richard Gill is working on a fantasy supplement about a realm between the wilds and civilisation called The Kingdom of Kaprann.
• Diego Pisa Artworks launch their 26th Kickstarter for a D&D 5e compatible subclass called Mimic Tamers.
• Derrick Charbonnet has a campaign to build Three Dimensional Modular Tree for Miniature RPG Gaming.
• ESKey DnD has a module specially designed for new DMs with Goblins and Pies: A Level 1-2 One Shot for 5E
• RadiationBurn has some Christmas themed STL files in a project called Light Up Winter Minis
• Black Cube Games is funding a short adventure for 4 to 6 level one characters in The Goblins Beyond the Hill.

If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.