Hello and welcome home. This is Audio EXP, the weekly podcast from Geek Native. I’m your host, Girdy, and we have a very full agenda today.
We are looking at a massive licensing collapse that has left thousands of backers out of pocket, alongside some incredibly successful new Kickstarters featuring Kaiju and Napoleonic dragons. We also have some fascinating shifts in augmented reality gaming and new research into the psychological benefits of our hobby.
[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #325]
[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | YouTube]
Before we get to the main headlines, I want to take a moment to congratulate Open Sesame Games, who are the winners of the RPG Publisher Spotlight this month. I have been trying to get in touch with them to arrange an interview, so hopefully, I will hear back from them this coming week, and we can dive deeper into their design philosophy.
Also, a quick reminder that our patron supporters can currently vote for April’s candidates on the Patreon page.
Speaking of scheduling, if you were wondering why Routinely Itemised was late out this week, we were struck by a bit of Friday the 13th unluck. Some unexpected logistical problems meant the roundup had to be pushed to a Saturday release, but normal service should resume next week.
Our lead story this week is a stark reminder of the fragility of licensed tabletop projects. nA industry-wide debate regarding corporate oversight has erupted as Geekify claims Neopets stonewalled their development before terminating the tabletop roleplaying game. This project was highly anticipated, raising over $427,000 on Kickstarter with the support of 7,610 backers. However, those backers have now been informed that the project is completely dead following the sudden termination of the licence agreement by The Neopets Team.
The licensor released a statement citing concerns over quality, reliability, and customer experience, which followed some community backlash regarding a leaked playtest document that relied heavily on legacy 5e re-skinned mechanics. However, Geekify Inc, operating out of Boulder, Colorado, has painted a very different picture. In a lengthy rebuttal, founder John Taylor alleged that they were entirely stonewalled by the brand. Despite drafting over 1,000 pages of material over three years of development, Taylor claims they suffered from a total lack of feedback and shifting points of contact, with The Neopets Team allegedly failing to review chapters submitted as far back as September.
The most devastating part of this collapse is the human cost. Geekify has stated that because a substantial portion of the funds has already been spent on development, asset procurement, and royalty payments, they are unable to offer full refunds to the backers. The Neopets Team has promised an exclusive in-game avatar as a gesture of goodwill, but there is no path forward for the physical rulebook. It is a messy, tragic situation that highlights the severe financial risks developers take when relying on a corporate partner whose priorities might shift overnight.
On a much more positive note in the crowdfunding space, IDW Games has launched a campaign that brings Godzilla: The Roleplaying Game to the tabletop, featuring card-based kaiju battles. This official survival game is set in the publisher’s comic-inspired Kai-Sei Era, decades after Godzilla’s first appearance in 1954, where humanity has to constantly adapt to colossal beasts threatening the globe.
What makes this system particularly interesting is that it completely ditches traditional mathrocks. Instead, the game engine uses a standard deck of 52 playing cards. Players take on the roles of G-Force operatives, ranging from soldiers to mutated scientists, and draw cards to hit specific suits or values to succeed in their high-stakes missions. The cinematic tension is driven by a persistent “Crisis Clock.” Drawing Joker cards advances this clock, escalating the danger and drawing the attention of iconic Toho monsters like Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Godzilla himself. The core rulebook even includes a dedicated alternate ruleset that allows you to take control of the kaiju and slug it out on a colossal scale.
The campaign has already smashed its funding target, proving there is a massive appetite for this kind of cinematic, card-driven survival experience.
Sticking with massive, winged creatures but shifting the historical timeline, Magpie Games has launched a phenomenally successful Kickstarter. Temeraire: The Roleplaying Game brings Napoleonic dragon riders to the tabletop, adapting the award-winning alternate history novels by Naomi Novik. The game allows players to join the British Aerial Corps in a world where sentient dragons are fully integrated into the military forces.
Magpie Games has developed a brand new mechanical engine for this, called the Ædana System, which uses a straightforward d6 dice pool. However, the brilliance of the design lies in the “Duties and Desires” mechanic. British military society acts as a silken cage; players must balance their strict orders and obligations against their personal passions. Mechanically, invoking a Duty guarantees a hit, while invoking a Desire allows for massive dice rerolls. Even better, players are not restricted to playing human officers. A table will collectively build a flight formation, and you can absolutely choose to play as a dragon, selecting your breed, age, and education. With over £287,000 already raised, it is clear that fans are eager to take to the skies.
Moving from high-flying military campaigns to the quiet heroism of the hearth, tabletop studio Son of Oak has launched Hearts of Ravensdale, showing why cooking is the new combat in their latest release. This is the first major setting book for their breakout roleplaying game, Legend In The Mist. Leaving behind the gritty urban neon of their previous game, City of Mist, Hearts of Ravensdale explores a secluded mountain region known as the Dales.
Lead designer Amit Moshe is doubling down on “rustic fantasy,” a genre that prioritises community, folklore, and a deep connection to the land. In a departure from traditional power fantasies, the mechanics treat cooking, mending, and crafting as genuinely heroic acts. Players master the “Oldways,” a system of folk magic where brewing a careful herbal tea provides the mechanical leverage needed to face supernatural threats lurking beyond the village fence. Instead of paladins, you play as Bone Tenders or peddlers. It is a fascinating pivot towards what many are calling “cosy-dark” fantasy, providing a deeply atmospheric experience for both group play and solo adventurers.
For the independent designers out there, DriveThruRPG has officially launched its fifth annual game jam. The Storytelling Collective joins forces with DriveThruRPG for PocketQuest 2026. This year, the challenge tasks creators with designing and publishing a complete roleplaying game in 25 pages or fewer, centred entirely on the theme of “Time Travel.” The deadline is the 27th of April. By partnering with Ashley Warren’s Storytelling Collective, an educational powerhouse that has mentored over 15,000 creators, DriveThruRPG is positioning this jam as a professional incubator rather than just a casual community event.
However, this iteration introduces some strict new rules. There is a hard-line policy against any generative artificial intelligence, and any submission containing AI-generated writing or art will be summarily removed. Additionally, to qualify for the dedicated marketing spotlight and a boosted 70% royalty rate during the May launch phase, the digital version of the game must be exclusive to DriveThruRPG. It is a fantastic opportunity for aspiring designers to get their feet wet and secure professional visibility, provided they are willing to navigate those exclusivity clauses.
We often talk about the narrative and mechanical aspects of our games, but there is growing academic interest in how these games actually affect us as players. A new piece of academic coverage asks, can Dungeons & Dragons trigger a critical awakening? New research says yes.
The latest research highlights that engaging in collaborative storytelling and complex problem-solving within tabletop roleplaying games does much more than just entertain us. By navigating moral dilemmas, embodying different perspectives, and working cooperatively to overcome obstacles, players frequently experience a measurable boost in critical thinking and personal growth. It is incredibly validating to see formal research backing up what many of us in the community have known for years: that sitting around a table pretending to be elves and wizards is actually a profound exercise in empathy and cognitive flexibility.
Shifting gears from the tabletop to the streets, there is a rather ironic, structural change happening in the world of augmented reality gaming. The ADA irony has struck as Niantic Spatial pivots Ingress toward high-stakes real-world intelligence. For those who do not know, Ingress is the long-running location-based game that served as the foundational mapping technology for Pokémon GO. Niantic recently announced they are pausing access to Operation Portal Recon and permanently retiring the Overclock 3D scanning feature. Lead Producer Brian Rose confirmed this is a strategic realignment to focus on the latest generation of spatial technology.
A year after selling off the majority of its gaming business but keeping Ingress in-house, it is becoming clear that the game is primarily serving as a geospatial data-harvesting engine for the booming real-world artificial intelligence race. The deep irony here, which long-term agents will appreciate, is that the original narrative of Ingress revolved around ADA, a fictional artificial intelligence trying to manipulate human minds. Now, reality is mirroring fiction, as the game’s developer evolves into a pure-play artificial intelligence organisation.
Finally, we wrap up this week with two spectacular bundle deals to stock your digital shelves. If you are preparing to kick off a new campaign, the Campaign Starters bundle from 0one Games maps your next adventure perfectly. Available on the Bundle of Holding, this collection offers a library of highly customisable, interactive PDF maps. With a single click, you can toggle grids, furniture, room numbers, and doors, giving you incredible flexibility whether you are starting in a desert oasis built on dragon bones or a gloomy fishing village.
If you want an entire setting to go with those maps, you must check out Age of Ambition: Forward-Facing Fantasy in a Changing World. Also on the Bundle of Holding, this offer presents the complete game line from Tab Creations. It is a setting where traditional medieval fantasy is rapidly evolving into the Early Modern era. We are talking about printing presses, matchlock firearms, and political upheaval. Using a card-based system instead of dice, players become heroes of social change, acting as inventors, agitators, and civic leaders. You are just as likely to conquer your enemies with a trade embargo as you are with a sword, making it a brilliant system for groups looking for deep, societal-level roleplaying.
That is it for this week. Thanks for listening to Audio EXP. For all the links and full stories, head over to Geek Native. Until next week, stay geeky.
