RPG news in bullet point form as it’s Friday!
This week we find several people are offering indie RPG designers money or the chance to get it via grants and competitions anyway.
There’s also $4.5m being paid by one games company into a Kickstarter rival, Gamefound, that doesn’t want anything to do with NFTs. Itch and DTRPG aren’t getting millions, but they don’t want anything to do with NFTs either.
Wise? Or are we just seeing generation 1.0 of NFTs, and future generations might be kinder on the environment and less prone to manipulation by hype? Or are collections by their very nature “manipulation by hype”?
I’m gonna back away from this hot topic, though and get on with the RPG news summary. Routinely Itemised started the bundle section months ago, as a test, helping to find deals like this cross-publisher A Deck of Games. It seems to work. The test in this column is grouping reviews together when they have a game in common. Let me know if you’ve thoughts on whether it works.
So, with that said, let’s get exploring this week’s RPG news.
RPG news from Geek Native
- Wizards of the Coast will rent a private island.
- Itch.io and DTRPG both took anti-NFT stances, as the tabletop community debates the ethics of the technology.
- Izegrim Creations offer up $1,000 as a prize for one small time indie TTRPG publisher.
- There’s gonna be a range of miniatures and a limited in number Collector’s Edition for the 5e-powered Dark Souls TTRPG.
- Son of Oak Game Studio announces a new RPG line called :Otherworld and Tokyo: Otherworld for it.
- The World Anvil Publishing announce a Monad Echo SRD, that’s the system for Broken Tales, and a new RPG to use it with Dead Air: Seasons.
- Evil Genius announces its first game will mark the 20th anniversary of d20 as Everyday Heroes mashes the 5e system with it.
- Velvet Fang had a Pay What You want version of their hot-off-the-press Additonal Monster Mechanics 5e.
- Osprey Games and professor Mark Galeotti will publish Gran Meccanismo: Clockwork Roleplaying in De Vinici’s Florence.
- GG Games releases Wild Frontiers and a free version of the 1D10 RPG too.
- Ahead of Valentine’s Day, I took a look at the (maybe) solo RPG So You’re Dating a Kaiju.
- The Bundle of Holding as the Valentine’s Day appropriate For Two RPG bundle back for a third year. Also returning is Greg Porter’s EABA universal system.
Spotlight Shawn Merwin
RPG news from around the web
- Charlie Hall at Polygon notes The Dark Souls RPG brings fans of video games and D&D together on familiar ground.
- Wargamer also had Dark Souls RPG creator talks bleakness, baddies, and brutal bosses.
- Used to crowdfunding platforms moving money to gaming companies? Flip it. Publisher Ravensburger has invested $4.5m in Kickstarter rival Gamefound.
- Black Game Devs can apply for the $10,000 fund with a I Need Diverse Games Micro Grant.
- Steve Jackson Games said they had a nightmare year, but at GURPS: Girl Genius helped, now the focus is on staying afloat and getting Car Wars 6e out.
- At Pelgrane Press, Kevin Kup wrote about finishing the RPG Swords of the Serpentine.
RPG reviews and interviews from around the web
- We’ve The One Ring reviews from Jared Rascher at Gnome Stew, Linda Codega at Polygon, Kevin Smith at The Gaming Gang and Rob Wieland at EN World.
- Jared Rascher has been busy with reviews, previews and first impressions on Everyday Heroes, Fables: Citadel of the Unseen Sun
- At EN World, Charles Dunwoody takes a look at Viking Death Squad.
- The Other Side takes a look at the OSRIC Adventure The Witch-Queen’s Lament, the Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy and WotC’s Monsters of the Multiverse.
- Halfway Station 3.0 wrote up a review of Ironsworn Starforged.
- James Maliszewski put together a retrospective on The Best of Dragon.
- Strange Assembly looked at Mage Hand Press’ Dark Matter.
- Reviews from R’lyeh dug into Actung! Cthulhu’s Player’s Guide, Loke’s The Dungeon: Books of Battle Mats and Mike Evan’s The Slave Mines of Vindictus the Terrible.
- Dom at Signals from Delta Pavonis shared first impressions of Orbital Blues.
RPG new releases
- Kurt and Katie Potts with Gallant KNight Games published the 80s dreamworld of Lighthearted.
- Cubicle 7 published WFRP: The Imperial Zoo.
- Publisher Up to Four Players gave us an RPG in which people’s hearts are made from stone. It’s Crystal Heart.
- Ben Norris released the feathered RPG Fight or Flight: Kingdom of Aerikar.
- Arcknight released 254 tokens and more for Lost Mines of Phandelver with Hardbound Support : 5E Starter Set (LMOP) Full Digital Kit.
- Silver Games published the 2nd edition of Ponyfinder’s Princess Luminace’s Guide to the Pony Pantheon.
- Rowan, Rook and Decard’s web store now has Sin: A Spire Sourcebook.
- The MSNGR Project has published a TTRPG optimised for streaming called Fueled by Hope.
RPG bundle deals
- Save $22.48 (32%) on Samuel Rondon’s Decks of Many Fortunes bundle.
- Save $18.99 (42%) on Parts Per Million’s A Deck of Games bundle.
- Save $14.80 (65%) with Elven Tower’s Fantastic Adventures Volume III bundle.
- Save $13.05 (40%) on Monkey Paw Games’ DoomCrawl 2021 Annual bundle.
- Save $7.92 (53%) on Bix Six Adventures Hero Kids Complete bundle.
- Save $5.49 (21%) on R. Rook Games’ Enoch’s Wake bundle.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- Cartography Christian Zeuch guest posted Handling online battlemaps.
- Charles Dunwoody continues his new Year Zero world building series with The One Ring Landmarks.
- Forget being the Dungeon Master, be the Dungeon Meowster.
- Parody site McSweeney’s cheekily published the The Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual Entry for Your Child.
- Mainstream coverage from The Varsity as James Lautens shares Dungeons & Dragons & doing my best to get through the pandemic.
- Roll 3d dice for free with friends online and in a private room with dddice.
- If it’s specifically online Troubleshooters RPG dice you need, then Zadrith’s Troubleshooter Dice, as the site name suggests, is your solution.
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;
- Dapper Rabbit Games are looking for support for a fantasy RPG with resource management and base building in Tales From Dungeons Deep.
- RadiatinBurn might not be able help us this year but have funded some minis for next year’s Valentine’s Dragon.
- Chamomile Has A Project is pitching a deck of cards that work “the way people think dice work”. It’s The d20 Deck.
- Gaming Honors has smashed target on a 2nd level 5e and DCC seafaring adventure called Chaos Before the Mast.
- Dennis Montera is approaching target for Doc’s 3D Printable Buildings for Gaming Villagers & Peasants.
- Pidj Sorensen has enough backers for a GMless worldbuilding game. Welcome to The Station: A ZiMo TTRPG.
- Micah has developed a system-agnostic generator for fantasy characters. It’s Your Life: Random Fantasy Character Backgrounds.
- Matt Parkinson says it was a passion project as the PNP Vineyard Roll and Write campaign hits goals with Wine Management.
- XploringMap returns to Kickstarter with virtual and print-out Haunted Witch Hill. Hand drawn Tabletop Maps for any RPG.
- Battleground Games are looking for backers for Even more Sci-Fi content Add-Ons for MapForge
- 3D-Fortress has STL files for printing with Dark middle ages – restart.
- Foe Figures also has STL files for sci-fi encounters ready in Galactic Beasts: Episode I.
- Shane Walshe has left the funding goal miles behind with a corrosive hexcrawl adventure called The Toxic Wood.
- Squid Ink Games returns to Kickstarter for a solo RPG about being an “entrepreneur” in a world of meddlers. It’s Those Wretched Kids! #ZIMO.
- Ben Laurence has shattered goals with a zine full of downtime activities in traditional RPGs. Enjoy your Downtime in Zyan.
- Leighton Connor has funded an RPG based on the comic book series from Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. It’s science and sorcery in Akashic Titan: Blue Bolt.
- Nick Baran’s 13th Kickstarter hasn’t been unlucky at all. Two DCC zines are funded with Cleft in the Mangled Hills and Hillwood Camp Zines.
- John Popson has funded a range of 32mm male and female Kobold Press Bestiary Miniatures: Iconic Races II Catfolk.
- Terry Crew has players assume the roles of crusaders and explore life in The Way of a Hero: A Rules-Light TTRPG World.
- Andy Hand has funded a minimalist sword and sorcery called Faereld – A Unique, Rules-Lite RPG Zine.
- Jeremy Hart Illos offers up 16 monsters for OSR and other systems in Creature Feature Quarterly Vol. 10 -for use with- OSE.
- Adam and Mike want to bring more Warlock options to your 5e table with Norse Diety Patrons.
- SkeletonKey Games have hit target for Dossier Decks: 5e Fantasy Environments.
- Old Guard Games have funded the adaptation of a classic module to a new set of systems. It’s the Curse of the Weaver Queen | Expanded Box Set
- Jesse Burneko brings to Zine Month an RPG toolkit for designing Unchained Mysteries.
- Dylan Mangini has a MORK BORG disco adventure. Really, and it’s funded. It’s Dread Revels.
- phlvx has rules for solo and group dungeon crawls in Fabled Paths.
- Nord Games are closing in on $150,000 in funding for 420 Tarot-sized cards that are Elements of Inspiration – Bring Your World To Life!.
- Dyskami Publishing has funded a return to the world of Silver Age Sentinels with Absolute Power – Superhero Role-Playing Game (2-Volume Set).
- Desks and Dorks have hit goals for a minimal prep one-shot system with After The Rain: The Roleplaying Game.
- Chronicle Cards knows what gamers like and are offering up Dragon Dice #3 – Zinnia
- Dave Taylor has a book all about painting with The Tremendous Tome of Decorating Dungeons.
If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.
