Welcome home.
It’s December 13th, and the episode title is “Dark deals and social media”
[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #312]
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GearGames won the RPG Publisher Spotlight, and I’ve dropped them an email to line up a Q&A. December is always a tough month to get this arranged, as everyone is so busy. We shall try, though, we shall try.
In Australia, some internet youngsters might now have more spare time, though, as they’ve been banned from social media.
Australia is getting a lot of praise from other countries for the bold move, though it’s also sparked plenty of heated debate.
What struck me was how gaming and messaging platforms are exempt. So it’s not illegal for a younger in Australia to play D&D on a virtual tabletop and chat about the game on Discord. It is unlawful for them to watch it on Twitch as part of the chatting community. I think that is going to make finding a game much harder but I’m not sure how many pre-teens are keen to play on VTTs in the first place. I suspect the biggest impact might be in getting youngsters interested in tabletop gaming from the internet.
What do you think? Do you support the Australian move to block kids from social media?
Wizards of the Coast and Invoke Studios have a dark D&D computer game coming out called Warlock. The lead character is played Tricia Helfer of Battlestar Galactica and while Invoke talk about tactical combat and exploration, I suspect the use of a TV star will mean lots of storytelling and narrative.
John Hight, Wizards of the Coast’s President, is the name attached to the press release and he notes the cost that come with the powers of the Warlock.
We’re expecting the game to be out for about the Summer next year.
That means Warlock will be out before Exodus. Exodus is a Wizards of the Coast and Achetype Entertainment game that’s had writing from sci-fi mastermind Peter F Hamilton and has Matthew McConaughey playing the lead character.
The ambitious sci-fi is now not expected until 2027, a whole year after Warlock.
While Warlock has D&D, Exodus has its own TTRPG, which you can try to order from the game’s website, but it went from pre-order to sold out in a blink, as far as I can see. I imagine if the game is successful, Wizards of the Coast will print more or make them available digitally.
And while Exodus and Warlock are new computer games, we also had an old D&D game make a comeback this week. SNEG released an updated The Temple of Elemental Evil.
It’s not a new game. It uses D&D 3.5 rules and has been kept alive by modders, but now, with some 1000 patches applied.
I know we’ve been all digital so far but that’s kinda the week we’ve had. For example, Wizards of the Coast published two articles about their D&D plans for projects like Maps VTT. Here’s the rundown: 3d dice rolling is delayed until next year as the rules assistant. It’s even worse news for the Campaign Console, which seems to have been shuttered before birth.
Zac Cohn, the new project manager there, is asking for feedback and input from players. I didn’t fill in the survey because a condition of doing so was not to talk about it. What pings my radar is how conceptual some of the concerns seem to be and that’s a worry given the start of 2026 is just around the corner. Surely the programming should be nearly over?
Now, a 2026 release that I’m looking forward to is Supergirl. Bronwen blogged the trailer. No prizes for spotting either Lobo or how similar it feels to Guardians of the Galaxy.
The risk, I think, is that superhero fatigue remains thick in the air even in 2026 and Supergirl must find that balance between being different enough to be interesting but not too different.
I guess the next story isn’t strictly exclusively tabletop RPG either as it might well be connected to the recent write-down by Paradox and their rethink on the World of Darkness.
Jason Carl, who has been at the helm of WoD marketing for years, has left. Jess Lanzillo remains. We’re not losing Carl from the scene as he’s joining Tabletop Vacations as the Dean of Dungeon Master University.
Lastly, in bundles, there’s a deal from Kevin Crawford with Worlds Without Number on the Bundle of Holding.
On that note, take care, travel thuogh space and time and see you next week.
