Christmas parties survived (heck, we even had our own mini-one), and the end of the year rolls on. Let’s take a look at the RPG news this week!
As usual, let’s start with the RPG news summary of summaries!
- Sadly, Hasbro’s traditional pre-Christmas layoffs have struck again this year.
- MCDM will do their own VTT due to the success of their Backerkit crowdfunder.
- Critical Role’s first published RPG, Candela Obscura, is out and on sale.
- There’s a GoFundMe for Jennel Jaquays.
In time for the 2D6 Realm Kickstarter, the RPG Publisher Spotlight interview with DR Games is up. In it, Toby talks about some mislabelling/mistakes game reviewers sometimes make.
It’s not really RPG news, but there’s a dice theme, and I want to mention it, as Fenn and Bronwen have launched the Perception Check podcast. What are they looking out for? Trailers!
If it’s not already 100% obvious that we’re heading into a holiday time disturbance the Kickstarter Heat is way down low.
Lastly, since I’ve not mentioned it for a while, don’t forget there’s a daily digest email, and that’s handy if you’re away from social media prompts or RSS feeds for a while.
Rightyo, let’s roll with the RPG news!
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RPG news from Geek Native
- The interview with Toby Lancaster and DR Games for the RPG Publisher Spotlight is 2D6 Live.
- UK Games Expo will take a board game event to the National Space Centre.
- MCDM’s crowdfunding for their RPG has gone so well that they’ll now build their own MCDM VTT.
- Live on DriveThruRPG this week, there’s 9th Level Games’ officially licensed Return to Dark Tower roleplaying game.
- In the Bundle of Holding, Steve Jackson Games has an offer on Dungeon Fantasy, Mongoose for Traveller and an impressive Free League Dragonbane and Year Zero bundle.
- There’s a huge stonking Humble Pathfinder 2e deal.
Spotlight: DR Games
RPG news from around the web
- The news that Hasbro is cutting more than 1,000 jobs, some at Wizards of the Coast, and some big D&D names, made big media headlines at sites like Techcrunch and The Guardian.
- The same news, of course, made gaming sites, especially because D&D is still doing well. Hasbro, though, isn’t. EN World has a list which includes former senior D&D management Mike Mearls. There’s also a comment from ex-WotC owner Peter Adkison. TheGamer has Baldur’s Gate 3 Lead Says “There’s Almost Nobody Left” On D&D Team From First Meetings.
- Goodman Games will include randomly selected and original Brad McDevitt art in every print order over $150. While stocks last.
- The Escapist notes that T-Pain Will Play His First Dungeons & Dragons Game at DreamHack.
- PCGamer’s Jody Macgregor covers “D&D’s Revised Player’s Handbook ‘will be the biggest Player’s Handbook that D&D has ever had, and like all the Revised core books will be compatible with the current edition“.
- Bleeding Cool and Gavin Sheehan covers Alien: The Roleplaying Game Reveals Building Better Worlds Book.
- R. Talsorian Games release the 12 Days of Gearmas for Cyberpunk Red.
- Kindly, Chaosium notes that John Kovalic’s Legendary Duck Tower limited edition poster is a fundraiser to help TTRPG legend Jennell Jaquays.
- The most anticipated tabletop RPG of 2023 in EN World’s poll was Pendragon, and now the 2024 nominations are open.
RPG reviews and interviews from around the web
- Reviews from R’lyeh digs into the 1993 Earthdawn.
- In a Dragonlance-themed interview, Egg Embry talks to Richard A. Knaack on Kaz The Minotaur Comes to 5e For His 35th Anniversary.
- Dicebreaker’s Chase Carter’s interview covers The Walking Dead Universe RPG creators talk swarms, post-apocalyptic Robin Hoods and watching Daryl fall off his horse.
RPG new releases
- Critical Role publisher Darrington Press give us their first RPG with Candela Obscura, complete with a Roll20 version.
- Death Cap Stories share their RPG Whitechapel Occult Society.
- EDGE Studio release the official Adventures in Rokugan – Game Master’s Kit.
- Free League and Francesco Nepitello are charging only a couple of bucks for The Lord of the Rings RPG Peoples of Wilderland.
- Two Little Mice, the CMON RPG publisher, release Outgunned – World of Killers.
- It feels appropriate for the season; Fel-Dark Entertainment gives us Drunken Warriors and Sauced Sorcerers- Core Rulebook.
RPG bundle deals
- Save $107/71 (78%) with MCDM’s Arcadia Complete #1-30 bundle.
- Save $99.69 (80%) in the DMsGuild’s FANTASY GROUNDS Expanded and Enhanced Monsters I bundle.
- Save $26.67 (50%) with Rosethrone Publishing’s End of 2023 Everything bundle.
- Save $17.90 (45%) in the DMsGuild’s Dante’s Guide to Hell bundle.
- Save $12.77 (50%) with Theokyd’s Anime Classes complete bundle.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- Geek Native asks whether this is the largest d20 you’ll ever roll.
- Ben and the Genre Police have RPG tips on Reading The Intent.
- Forbidden Planet has a supply of Baldur’s Gate 3: Limited Edition Medallion: Mind Flayer.
- Retailers are also now taking pre-orders on D&D’s Xanathar statues.
- Jared Rascher got into Playing D&D on Roll20 without Hasbro’s oversight.
- Johnn Four shared d12 Great RPGs For Your GM Bucket List Shelf.
- In a similar vein, Samantha Nelson on Polygon wrote up The best new tabletop RPG books of 2023.
- On GamesRadar, Benjamin Abbott penned Best tabletop RPGs 2023: Must-have adventures you need to try.
- Autostraddle’s Rowan Zeoli shared Queer Dungeons & Transgender Dragons: Exploring Gender Through Imagined Worlds.
- Nerds on Earth offered some Tabletop Takeaways: Prepping For Your Roleplaying Games.
- Sly Flourish offered tips on Roleplaying Between Sessions.
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 mentioning;
- Yuletide Adventures from SideQuest20 pitches “A festive holiday adventure module for D&D, DnD5e, Pathfinder, And More!”
- Periodic Table of Elementals, by Catilus from Catilus raises funds for “Unique Elementals for ALL 118 Chemical Elements for D&D 5E – Stat Blocks, Science-Based Lore, Illustrations for Each Creature, and More”
- Death Defiant: A 5e Drop-and-Play Adventure from One-Eyed Werebear Gaming pitches “Demons, the divine and death collide in a battle against destruction for 5th Edition.”
- Plenty of teeth from Ayu Marques kickstarts “STL 3D model, 32mm, for RPG games of medieval items, furniture and mimic”
- 3D printable Terrain | Modular terrain | STL | 28mm | 32mm from InfinitePrint 3D nominates “Collect the landscape for your tabletop RPG games. Vegetation, rocks and caves for your tabletop worlds! STL | 28mm | 32mm”
- Medieval Houses part 2.0 from Moliponchik kickstarts “3D Printable STL Files, Terrain for Tabletop, Role Playing Games, Wargames and RPG”
- Modulus: Shadow Edition from Denver Cheney pitches “Challenge human limitations in this TTRPG framework designed to make hard sci-fi, post apocalyptic, and modern games easy to run!”
- Cyberpunk Character Workbook (TTRPG) from Sergiusz Junczyc kickstarts “Design your cyberpunk characters, locations, events, and develop the game’s logic and balance.”
- Dungeon and Doggos from Peacetyrant introduces “A complete guide to the mythic doggos of the World of Shira.”
- Primordial Behemoths – Rebuilding Terra from Pearlyn Sim suggests “A solo hex crawl adventure zine”
- Land of Mist – a World Unknown for Old-School Essentials from Joseph Quinn raises funds for “Campaign setting and supplement, inspired by classic tabletop fantasy worlds. Compatible with OSE & OSR TTRPG (Tabletop RPG) games.”
- Salvage Union Roll20 from Leyline Press is working on “A post-apocalyptic Mech TTRPG on the Roll20 VTT platform.”
- Chillmaster’s Toolkit: A 5e Guide for Arctic Environments from Yellowbyte Studios proposes “Feel the touch of cold and journey through icy realms! Discover new player options, monsters, magic items and a card system for DnD 5e.”
- Taverns and Patrons – for all RPG systems from The Oracle offers “96 pages of system neutral taverns, tavern owners and patrons”
- £1 – A Catalogue of Curses from Andrew Highton suggests “A system neutral resource for game masters to spice up their campaign with a variety of curses, all from £1!”
- No more random NPCs from Maciontherrocks raises funds for “100+ Unique Npcs for your RPG games! full dnd 5e compatible!!”
Do you know of an RPG news source that we don’t? Let us know, or leave a comment below.
