Routinely Itemised: RPGs #208

Howdy, it’s the first Friday after UK Games Expo, and it’s back to writing up the RPG news summary.

Let’s see what happened since the Expo and dig into those summaries;

• The Elden Ring RPG isn’t cancelled.
• The Witcher RPG isn’t cancelled.
• OneBookShelf published a Big Bad Con supporting mega bundle.
• Hasbro’s boss bets on middle-aged gamers.
• UK Games Expo apologises for an error which banned queer-themed RPGs.
• GAMA Expo moves to Louisville despite it being Kentucky.
• Battlefield Press is an admirable battle to survive.

Did you go to the UK Games Expo, readying for Big Ban Con or Gen Con? Let us know in the comments or pop over to the Discord to coordinate meet-ups with other gamers.

Conventions tend to make for busy news cycles, but what you might miss as a blogger is weird. I’m late and slow on the news that UK Games Expo is apologising for not allowing queer-themed RPGs. While I was there, which is a day longer than most, I saw plenty of (probably) queer gamers. Hand on heart, it felt like a safe space.

I can only imagine that an American con feels like, or a French one, or say, a South African one.

Right, let’s see what the news looks like right now.

Support: Patron.

RPG news from Geek Native

• KiwiRPG Week returns on June 10th.
• In Geek Native’s UK Games Expo coverage, there’s;
  • A first look inside Vynestra and free previews.
  • Free Breaking Infinity RPG.
  • RPG publisher Battlefield Press Internation asks for patience as it’s in n battle for survival.
  • UKGE apologises after refusing queer-themed RPGs.
• The Royal Mail does Warhammer stamps.
• Brabblemark Press will release I Am Furious (Pink).
• WrightWerx publishes the free-to-download Mecha Vs Kaiju 202x 5e quickstart.
• We list the RPGs and other categories in the 2023 Origins Awards.
• RPG and board game publisher Catalyst Games Labs insists BattleTech is for everyone.

Spotlight: Lone Colossus Games

RPG news from around the web

• Dicebreaker’s Matt Jarvis notes Elden Ring tabletop RPG gets a release date, but….
• R. Talsorian Games confirms they’re still doing more content for The Witcher RPG.
• Monte Cook Games readies for pre-orders and looks inside Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game.
• GAMA notes Kentucky’s human and civil rights record as it confirms GAMA EXPO will move to Louisville, KY.
• We’re getting old and Hasbro knows it, Fortune writes up The struggling toymaker behind Dungeons & Dragons and Play-Doh is banking on middle-aged shoppers as the ‘heart and soul’ of its business.
• Chase Carter at Dicebreaker reports Dungeons & Dragons lead designer says 2024 rulebooks will “prepare the game for its next decade” .
• ICv2 lands an exclusive with Paizo Partners with Fanroll Dice for ‘Pathfinder RPG’ dice and accessories.
• Alex Speidel, one of Paizo’s bi-staffers and organised play coordinator, writes up Paizo Pride 2023.
• ICv2 confirms Catalyst’s Shadowrun Body Shop.
• Chaosium confirms they’re participating in Gen Con Online and asks for GMs.

RPG reviews and interviews from around the web

• Origins Award-nominated review site The Rat Hole looks at Freespacer.
• The Alexandrian reviews the Waterdeep Rescuing Lulu From Elturel.
• Jared Rascher, quick off the mark again, shares first impressions of Arcadia Issue 28.
• At RPG.net, Paul Mackintosh writes up thoughts on Delta Green’s From the Dust / Presence.
• Over at the Grognardia blog, there’s a Retrospective on Cyborg Commando.
• MJR RPG reviews the Call of Cthulhu Mr. Corbitt.
• Reviews from R’lyeh looks into Roll & Play.
• Play On The Table talks board games to RPG author and designer Steve Jackson.
• Charles Dunwoody talks OSR’s Kobayashi.
• Geek Girl Authority talks to Adam R. Crymble.

RPG new releases

• Renegade has been busy with their Essence20 RPG projects and has released;
  • Power Rangers RPG.
  • Transformers RPG.
• Free League Publishing has released Coriolis: Wake of the Icons.
• Spilled Ale Studios hits publish on Wasteland Woes: Fifth Edition Foes and Threats For Post-Apocalyptic Worlds.
• Cosmic Sorcery Society asks that you Pay What You Want for Blood Reign: A Grimdark Sword Dream RPG.
• In print and from Streamforged Games, there’s the Dark Souls: The Roleplaying Game – The Tome of Strange Beings.

RPG bundle deals

• Save $141.34 (85%) on OneBookShelf’s bundle to raise money for Big Bad Con.
• Save $55 (65%) on Orbital Intelligence’s Dungeon Grand Prix print bundle.
• Save $36 (32%) for Troll Lord Games’ Castle Keeper’s Starter Bundle.
• Save $23.98 (40%) in the DMsGuild’s Indestructo bundle.
• Save $4.40 (26%) with Agenca Especial and the Mediterranean Theater bundle.

RPG ideas, tips and discoveries

• The Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games refreshed their Gamers in Need resources.
• At ScreenRant, Alex Keenan opines Is Critical Role’s Success Good For D&D? Why There’s No Clear Answer.
• D&D Beyond’s Alyssa Visscher notes 9 Queer Creators to Follow This Pride Month.
• Did you know the jury is out on whether the D&D movie did well enough in cinema for a sequel? If you hope it does well, good news, it’s been a streaming hit.
• Yet, We Got This Covered notes Ryan Reynolds inadvertently casts doubt on a ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ sequel.
• At CPR News, May Ortega writes up To make a living off Dungeons & Dragons, Ginny Di knows how to battle some trolls — in-game and online.

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;

• The Complete McCaigue Creature Compendium Volume 2 – 5E from Katelyn McCaigue submits “Original Monsters, Items, and Playable Races for your D&D 5e Games! Volume 2 in our Creature Compendium Series!”
• Mangled Morbid Miscreations: A Mörk Borg Supplement from Weird Roll crowdfunds “Grotesque beings, treacherous artifacts, enigmatic classes, incantations, oracles and companions — a dark compendium.”
• D100 Rumours for Lovecraftian TTRPG’s from Samuel Steele kickstarts “100 pieces of gossip and rumour to add interest and intrigue to any Lovecraftian tabletop RPG. Just roll a dice and see what you hear..”
• CircuitDice: Rolling for a Sustainable Realm from Casper Hon nominates “DnD dice made of 100% recycled scrap electronics.”
• Overlooked Creatures of the Backwoods 5E Bestiary from Nat 1 Gaming raises funds for “A book of 10+ creatures overlooked by adventurers as they trudge through the forests all with rolling a natural 1 special rule in PDF.”
• Gods of the Eastern Sky from Dark Eagle Games introduces “An original pantheon of gods for your 5e campaign. It’s a DM world-building resource.”
• Pact of the Mouse vs. the Public Domain from Chamomile Has A Project offers “Two 5e subclasses and associated lore for the battle over omnitellectual property. A 1-week micro-campaign.”
• NPC Nation, Undead part 1, (D&D 5e Supplement) from Black Cube Games introduces “A variety of one-of-a-kind NPC collections (Vampires, Zombies, Skeletons) compatible with DnD 5e. searchable with the provided tags.”
• The Fallen Lineage from Last Sword Miniatures pitches “A Dark Elves Campaign”
• $1 D&D 5e Adventure: Tournament of Wonders from Dumb Cane Games raises funds for “A 2-3 session adventure for 3 to 4 characters of level 3 to 5. Game master friendly format.”
• DND COINS OF MANY THINGS from strange arcade offers “A NEW TWIST ON THE DECK OF MANY THINGS. (dnd/fantasy RPG)”
• Tomb of Zines, a Storage Box for your Fantasy RPG Zines from Philip Reed offers “Pack this box with your zines, brochures, loose cards, flyers, and other assorted fantasy roleplaying game materials!”
• Nasty Brutish and Long from Michael Elliott is working on “A simple RPG about lives complicated by revolution.”
• Rescue Rainbow City for Pf2e & 5e – LGBT+ adventure from Awfully Queer Heroes pitches “The Queer capital city of all realms has been taken over by an evil entity. Show your Pride and adventure to restore the Gayness”
• Boro Dice: Original Dream Collection from Heather and Mario pitches “Seven piece sets of extremely sharp edged resin dice for tabletop RPGs.”
• One Dollar Adventures – Arctic Expedition: Part I from Cave Gaming nominates “An expedition into the nearly unexplored tundra. What could possibly go wrong?”
• Celebrations and Dragons from The Oracle pitches “Two periodicals full of rich, detailed fantasy RPG content suitable for all game systems, 100pgs content”
• Dungeon Domains: The Weeping Caves from Bart Wynants crowdfunds “A system-agnostic fantasy RPG dungeon with endless opportunities for expansion”
• ASSIGNMENT: DANGER! from Hounds & Jackals – Games & Magic proposes “Espionage Thriller RPG for EZD6”
• Godspeeders TRPG 5E – Episode 1: Farewell and Godspeed from Alvaro Whatsabi suggests “New roleplay game based on the 5e of DnD, with an anime-inspired aesthetic and set in a world of space fantasy. Queer friendly”
• 20 Bounties & Most Wanted from SideQuest20 submits “Twenty one-shot bounties and most wanted sidequests, complete with printable paper minis and tokens”
• Mad Alchemist: 3 Dungeons for 3 bucks for 5e from Fleet Save Games introduces “Chase the Mad Alchemist’s fabrications in three increasingly crazy dungeons for Dungeons and Dragons 5e!”
• ZOTH-LACED WORM TRAILS (A Cha’alt Zine) from Roger C. Jones introduces “System-agnostic OSR RPG content for use with Cha’alt, Alpha Blue, Encounter Critical and other old school, science fantasy RPGs.”
• Roleplay Relay from Nerdy Nightly is working on “Nerdy Nightly Presents A Week Long Table Top Marathon”
• Delver 9: Old School RPG Resources for GMs and Players from James Floyd Kelly submits “Delver is a magazine for Referees of OSR fantasy roleplaying games.”
• Meridian Games OTHERTIME #1 – The Cleanie Genie – For DCCRPG from Philip Padovani pitches “READY TO GET SUDSY? This is a wacky and silly Level 1 module for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game”
• The Mystery Business from Greg Leatherman offers “A game about meddling folks solving mysteries and unmasking villains just like your favorites did every Saturday morning.”
• Knightmare miniatures : Roghlod mercenary ogres from Diego Serrate Pinilla suggests “Oldhammer – 28 mm compatible greatly detailed ogre models!”
• ModuBases: Universal Basing System from Warscape introduces “3D printable Modular Miniature Bases. Use any mini in any game with these snap-fit bases to change base size and shape between games.”
• 5E OLD SCHOOL – House Rules for 5E D&D – $1 from John & Nicole Clark crowdfunds “A curated set of house-rules from a pro-DM to add to your 5E D&D campaigns to make them feel more gritty, immersive and old-school.”
• Omni Dice: World’s First 12-in-1 D6 Dice in Your Pocket from Unique Dice pitches “A Revolutionary 12-in-1 function dice just in a single D6 cube. For your games and your daily life.”
• Deadlock: A D&D 5e adventure from Terry Bonds crowdfunds “Become embroiled in city politics, uncover hidden conspiracies, and fight for survival in the face of an ancient and powerful enemy.”
• Memory. – An Adventure for Mothership from Crab Dominion is working on “Crashed on an alien planet with no memory of how you got there, your only option is to try to escape.”
• SIDEQUEST Annual Year 2 from Icarus Games submits “Another year of 5e content available in print for the first time.”
• Quest Chest: Immersive Tabletop Roleplaying Adventures from QuestChest suggests “A Year of Quest Chests: system-agnostic TTRPG modules, packed full of physical props, puzzles, narrated voice over, music and more!”
• Character Coins 2.0: RPG Token Sets by Dice Dungeons from Dice Dungeons crowdfunds “Coins and Miniatures All-in-One! Track DnD & RPG Characters and Monsters with Distinctive Engraved Tokens.”
• Castles & Crusades Adventurers Armory from Stephen Chenault proposes “An encyclopedia of weaponry and armor, shields and helms! Both the mundane and exotic to flesh out your wild fantastic adventures.”
• Veil of the Void Yggdrasil: A Sci-fi Norse TTRPG Expansion! from SDG Interactive Publishers introduces “Yggdrasil is the expansion to Veil of the Void that brings 350+ pages of new Sci-fi Norse inspired content to use in your storytelling.”
• Roll on the Range – PNP Roll & Draw Game from Chad Elkins is working on “A fun print at home roll and draw game for 1-4 ranchers. Designed and illustrated by Danny Devine.”
• Horror Epics: GrymWyrd Omnibus 5e from STONEworks Gaming suggests “A monstrous collection of ghastly adventures, vile creatures, & dastardly player options for 5th Edition gaming!”
• Dice Fanatics: Dice Collector App from Dice Fanatics crowdfunds “Complete your dice collection and explore new options with our database driven app for iOS and Android!”
• Legacy of the Dragon, a dragon themed supplement for 5E from Niels de Jong is working on “Legacy of the Dragon is a hardcover book that adds additional dragon themed races, subclasses, and other content to 5th edition.”
• FAST RPG: Compendium Volume 1 from Scott Taylor submits “Add more role-playing game content to your FAST experience with the new line of Compendium updates.”
• Petero’s Tome of Adventure from One Dollar One Shots raises funds for “200+ pages of NEW DnD adventure….Packed with new monsters, magic items, NPCs, battle maps, area maps, original art, lore & more!”

Do you know of an RPG news source that we don’t? Let us know, or leave a comment below.