We did it! We made it to 2024. The lunar new year, in February, is the year of the dragon. I hope you’re ready to hear ‘dragon’ a lot this year.
Let’s start the year with a summary of RPG news summaries.
- The founding father of many tabletop games, Bryan Ansell, has died.
- Ben Riggs, a respected RPG academic, predicts the end of the golden TTRPG era.
- The VTT specialist Metamorphic Digital is born from Sigil Services.
- New publisher Typhon gives us a look at When We Die.
It’s a new month and year, so we have got a new RPG Publisher poll. The candidates are;
Patrons can vote at this private link, and Bloat Games won this month.
Rightyo, let’s roll with the start of the year RPG news!
Support: Patrons.
RPG news from Geek Native
- Newly launched British RPG publisher Typhon Games has a free alpha playtest/quickstart for When We Die.
- Ahead of ZineQuest, Murkdice has released a free to download quickstart for Void Above.
- There’s been plenty of news about public domain works due to Steamboat Willie, but Lightspress was ahead of the curve with the RPG Lightspress Classics RPG bundle.
- PEG announce Savage Saturday Cinema.
- The RPG Publisher Spotlight is open for voting.
- The Tabletop Mentorship Program has joined The Unpublished Games Network.
- A growing amount of rumours suggest April might be the release date for the D&D LEGO set.
- The VTT conversion specialist Sigil Services rebrands to Metamorphic Digital.
- We published a round-up of Geek Native 2023, just a quick one.
- The Bundle of Holding has a MonkeyBlood deal on the OSR dark The Midderlands and the original Dying Earth RPG.
Spotlight: Bloat Games
RPG news from around the web
- Sadly, the grandfather of Warhammer, Bryan Ansell, has died.
- There’s been loads of coverage on this, and as an example of one, at TechRadar Cat Bussell notes Indie tabletop RPG raises over $4.6 million on BackerKit in effort to create fantasy title ‘unburdened’ by Dungeons & Dragons
- Paizo reveals the third Starfinder Second Edition Field Test.
- Paizo also gave us an organsied play update.
- ICv2 writes up Modiphius will release new “Dune RPG” adventure compendium..
- Dicebreaker covers Two new Ruins of Symbaroum 5E books beckons players into Davokar’s menacing depths.
- Votes are open on EN World for the anticipated RPG(s) of 2024.
- Gamer historian Ben Riggs has sparked debate by writing The Golden Age of TTRPGs is Dead.
RPG reviews and interviews from around the web
- Always busy, Reviews from R’lyeh looks at the Calendar of Many Adventures and Temple of the Wurm, The Chaos Crier #0, and #1 of The Kalungua Plateau.
- TheRatHole takes a look at the core rules of The Walking Dead RPG.
- Egg Embry talks to Alan Bahr and Will Munn about solo RPGs and cyan starlight.
- D&D Beyond’s Mike Bernier writes up Deborah Ann Woll Talks Heroes Feast: Saving the Children’s Menu.
RPG new releases
- Fat Goblin Games releases the ghostly Teen Spirit: A Roleplaying Game.
- Storeywood casts players as professional Hunters of the Occult.
- Francois Vanhille has an RPG set in the French Revolution (ish) with The Mask and The Sword.
- Pay what you want for The Geek Lyfe’s Emerald Templars Quick Start
- You can also pay what you want for Dane Olsen’s Solo Sagas RPG core rules.
- Chaosium has a new edition of the Jonstown Compendium Catalogue.
- Grim Press et al have released Curse of Strahd Companion: The Complete Edition (Fantasy Grounds.
- There are some familiar brands in physical releases;
RPG bundle deals
- Save $40.46 (67%) on Keith Hiscox’s Untold Character Options: 2023 bundle.
- Save $33.68 (28%) with EN Publishing’s War of the Burning Sky 5e Complete Collection bundle.
- Save $3.99 (40%) with Triden Games’ Sweet Dreams are Made of Bees bundle.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- Ben and the Genre Police tackled the sometimes thorny question of Who’s in Charge?
- A knitted Beholder for your chest? It’s a D&D sweater.
- A Knight at the Opera offers up Capsule 💊 Games – Part 1: Introduction.
- TheRatHole writes up Doctor Who the Roleplaying Game (Sixty Years of Adventure).
- At Dicebreaker, Henry St Leger opines that The biggest D&D 5E problems that One D&D still hasn’t fixed.
- Whose Measure God Could Not Take publishes IDW2: a Simple Theory of RPGs.
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;
- Era: Deadwest – A Wild West TTRPG of Gunslingers and Demons from Shades of Vengeance submits “Enter a world where demons roam the wild west, and only skilled gunslingers like you can fight them off…”
- One shot dungeons: Enchanted Forest from PetDM introduces “Embark on three ready-to-play adventures for Dungeons & Dragons 5e, all centered around the same magical forest!”
- The Lost and The Forsaken from Paul Smith suggests “19 Oldhammer Mutant Peasants & Cultists performing Dark Rites!”
- 1001 Nights: D&D Quests from Bradley Horton kickstarts “A compendium of 100+ quests. 1 quest for each backer! Compatible for DnD 5e and other TTRPG settings!”
- The Deck of Sexy Things! from Scott Taylor raises funds for “A deck of playing cards allowing the DM to create ‘sexy’ encounters with fun card draws!”
- Unearthed Spoils Anthology One (D&D5e) from Grim Press pitches “Class Archetypes, Character Backgrounds, Magical Spells, Magic Items, Monsters & NPCs; all tied together with epic adventures”
- D&D one-shot: A Parliament of Owls (The Shi-Shi adventure) from Frosty Forest Games crowdfunds “Ridiculous adventures, puzzles, battles, and just pure Dungeons and Dragons fun”
- D12 Petty Criminals for Any Fantasy TTRPG from Samuel Steele proposes “12 5E compatible colourful and criminal characters for any fantasy ttrpg”
- A Guide To The Fragment Realms • a D&D 5e Multisetting Book from Jayke kickstarts “Player/GM Sourcebook that introduces Races, Subclasses, Backgrounds, and a whole new set of adaptable Planar Settings for your games.”
- Make 100 / Sidekicks for 5e from Chris Paton crowdfunds “100 sidekicks with a comprehensive backstory for your campaigns”
- Scales and Shadows from FireLit Knight Games nominates “A one shot for DND 5e involving several new draconic creatures”
- Coven & Crucible: Unbound from Thirteenth Moon Games suggests “A tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) set in a world where magic, witches, supernatural creatures, magical animals and more exist.”
- What the Tide Brings – A D&D (5E) Campaign from Cibola Designs crowdfunds “Rescue the lost crew in a mysterious archipelago in this new campaign for DnD 5th Edition, for level 1 adventurers ending at level 4”
- The Rust and the Raider – A 5e D&D Adventure from Anthony David submits “Chronicles of the Rusted Tide”
- The Madness of Doctor Ingot from Dren Productions Games is working on “An awesomely technical steam-punk inspired new one-shot adventure for 5e!”
- Pay What, One Shot – The Decoy, A Tale Of Levathria from A.P Beswick crowdfunds “You pay what you want from £1 – A 5e adventure, set in the world of A.P Beswick’s best selling dark fantasy series. Maps and monsters.”
- Mausoleum of the Ashes from Meditating Munky offers “A 5e Dungeon Crawl Adventure”
- Sharp Edge Dice Monthly Subscription 2024 from Robin’s Nerd Supplies submits “Receive a monthly shipment of a brand new 7 piece sharp edge dice set”
- DARKHEIM: The Vulture Broodant from Rocket Pig Games offers “A legendary (5e) monster miniature for tabletop games (3d printable resin STL) and 5e compatible PDF.”
- Legendary Locations from Kabouter Games crowdfunds “Make worldbuilding easy with ready-made locations and NPCs for fantasy RPGs like D&D 5E, Shadowdark, and OSR games!”
- D&D 5e Tome of Terrors Vol 2: Aberrations! from The Eldorium Archives submits “A DnD 5e monster supplement that introduces brand new Aberrations, each accompanied by an One-Shot adventure that features them!”
- The Missing Children Of Faraheim – 5E Adaptable Adventure from Mizo Games raises funds for “Where Whispers Lead, Heroes Follow”
- One Shot Adventure Set in London at InterWar Period from Matias Fernando Cabral proposes “Hi, my name is Matt and i am a long time DM and along with my brother we are designing adventures for RPGs, this being our first.”
- Corpse Walkers: Revival from Stormforge Minis offers “A selection of 28-32mm Physical & 3D printable Miniatures for Tabletop and Roleplaying.”
- Dice Bags- Spirit Animal – Kickstarter Make 100 from BoardGameSolutions crowdfunds “Storage bag for dice, coins, tokens, tiles, gems, crystals etc with an animal design”
- Make 100 / Hidden Rooms and Secrets for 5e from Dragon Scale Games proposes “100 5e compatible battlemaps for hidden rooms to drop into your current campaigns along with loot, hooks & creature stat cards!”
- Deck Of Many Pulses from Vesenia Lindsey proposes “A cute and whimsical take on Dungeons and Dragons’ iconic Deck of Many Things!”
Do you know of an RPG news source that we don’t? Let us know, or leave a comment below.
