Welcome home.
It’s December 20th, and the episode title is “Crazy hippy Santa time”
[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #313]
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Gear Games won the RPG Publisher Spotlight. I’m in touch, and they are concerned there’s little chance the whole team can contribute to the interview before the end of the month.
It’s a fair concern. It’s the 20th today, but really, we’ll be caught up in the holiday season in the blink of an eye. I would rather speak to Gear Games than not, so we’ll just push on and let the interview run into January if that happens. That’s better than a rushed interview or no interview.
We did manage an interview this week, though, and it was a big one. We got to speak to Max Salzberg at BackerKit. Max is the CEO.
Max discusses the idea of a community rather than competition, a central tenet of the collab-funding model.
I was reminded of the various YouTube videos with George Monbiot, the English journalist, on the failure to find an alternative to neoliberalism as the reason we’re stuck with neoliberalism. Call me a crazy hippy, but I do think once we start to see the cash value in community, then community-based economics could be a valid alternative. For example, if people cared about their community and picked up trash, the community would spend less on council street-cleaning services. If we cared more about shopping local, then there would be a vibrant high street.
Let’s see if crowd and collab funding get closer to my hippy views or drift from them in 2026.
This week, we also had the release of the second and definitive edition of 13th Age. This is a fantasy TTRPG from former D&D designers, and last year I got to talk to Rob Heinsoo about it. He had been against the idea of a 2nd edition because he didn’t like the idea of making people buy the games again, but Osprey’s Frostgrave 2nd edition came out, compatible with the first edition and yet sorted some stuff. That then became the guideline for 13th Age second edition.
We also got the starter set from Cubicle 7 for Warhammer: The Old World. This an earlier timeline than WFRP 4e. I’ve always been a WFRP player at heart, never quite got into Age of Sigmar and always worried about some of the Warhammer 40K lot.
Cubicle 7 have had to make a call on whether to delay this Old World book or sell it with incomplete maps. They’ve gone with the latter and the promise to update the digital maps just as soon as they can.
Branch Riders was also released this week, and it’s the latest in the increasing number of therapeutic TTRPGs. Branch Riders is a collab between the respected Onyx Path and the non-profit The Bodhana Group. So, if you’re interested in stopping the Blight from invading the realms, then it’s a TTRPG that might be worth checking out.
Outside of the tabletop space, I think the big news is that Andrew Patridge is not leaving Anime Limited after all. Anime LTD has become the pioneer in bringing anime and a few other big hits like Godzilla Minus One from Japan to Europe, and sometimes from Europe to the US. Anime LTD was bought by Plaion Pictures, a company owned by Embracer Group, the same people who own Asmodee and Fantasy Flight. For whatever reason, the Anime Limited founder had enough, perhaps just needed a break so Andrew Patridge had already announced he was going.
What’s changed his mind? Toho, the company behind Godzilla, has bought Anime Limited from Plaion. Furthermore, Toho is using this and a new headquarters in London to expand into Europe. Exciting times.
While we wait to see what the new deal cooks up, there are some computer games and movies to look forward to. Contributor Sergio Salvador wrote a great defence of Dying Light: The Beast, and it’s made me want to try the game.
Battlemarked, the D&D VR game, has had a Holiday update but also had its solo-mode overhauled. I think this is excellent timing because if are getting lonely over Christmas and you have the game, you can get more from it or if you get VR as a gift this year, then there’s Battlemarked to try.
Bronwen found the trailer for Bob Odenkirk’s Normal. Normal is a friendly American town, until it isn’t. The trailer picks up with lots of friendly faces, then suddenly pivots into explosions, blood, and brawls.
In offers, at the Bundle of Holding, there’s a great deal on Forged in the Dark games, including CHEW, and there’s another on Atlas Games’ Magical Kitties Save the Day.
On that note, happy holidays, challenge Santa to combat and see you next week. That’s the plan. Let’s see if Yuletide logistics let it work.
