It’s not too late! Here’s this week’s TTRPG news nice and early on our Friday.
Let’s get going with the summary of the summaries!
- Osprey Games is getting out of the card and board game business.
- Daniel D. Fox is gearing up for legal action over Zweihander.
- Kickstarter are cracking down on adult content.
- Four Pillar Games has angered many with a bizarre icons project.
Did I say I’d share my big publisher spreadsheet this month? In news that few will shed tears over, I don’t think I will. I’ve stopped at just shy of 30,000, and needless to say, it’s taking a while to check. The plan is also to open a system that lets people correct my errors.
I suspect attempts to finish the checking and share the initial inspection will clash with the UK Games Expo, which is nearly here. Well, it’s weeks away, but the coordination and logistics of a three-day-long press trip are a challenge!
Right, enough with the moans and on with the TTRPG news!
Spotlight: ndvamps.
RPG news from Geek Native
- Osprey are selling up and getting out of board games.
- Daniel D. Fox is threatening legal action over Zweihander delays.
- Geek Native has an interview with Mantic Games, River Horse’s Alessio Cavatore and Zak Barouh about the (original) Ghost in the Shell TTRPG.
- Under legal pressure, Kickstarter are squeezing adult games off their platform.
- There’s a second Stormbringer on the way, via Free League and Richard Watts.
- Free League will also publish Frontier Scum.
- It’s all AI and drama as Four Pillar Games upsets many with an “icons project”.
- Chris Cocks says it will never happen but I wonder if we’ll see, but never own D&D 6.
- In crowdfunding we wrote up Roguelike, Break!!’s Start
- Bronwen noticed these Sirius Ravenloft dice.
- Fanatical has a Delta Green bundle.
Competition: Win a Plushie Dreadful.
RPG news from around the web
- Polygon gives us Dungeons & Dragons reveals a major Ravenloft rules update for 5.5e.
- Rascal takes a look at Gamefound Wants To Throw Another Successful RPG Party After Learning Hard Lessons.
- Rascal takes a look at Battle Systems Announces Core Space: Evolution.
- Dungeons and Dragons Fanatics covers D&D Beyond & Dark Horse Release Free Comic Book Online.
RPG reviews and interviews from around the web
- The Kind DM shares a review of Jungles of Farnassia.
- Dice Monkey reviews Warhammer 40k 3rd Edition.
- The folks at Ill Met by Morrslieb take a closer look at Imperium Maledictum Gamemaster’s Screen.
- Prismatic Wasteland re-surfaces the review of Canal of Horrors.
- Patchwork Paladin reviews Dolmenwood.
- Reviews from R’lyeh reviews Off to the Races, The One Ring Starter Set II, the OSR Pitcrawler and DCC’s Intrigue at the Court of Chaos.
- Geek Tyrant reviews new D&D workbooks.
- The folks at The RPG Gazette take a closer look at BASIC FANTASY ROLEPLAYING GAME.
- Shadomain interviews noted TTRPG designer Keith Ammann.
- Writing for EN World, Morrus pens a piece on Meeting Mongoose: We visited Mongoose Publishing at their Swindon HQ!.
- Games Radar interviews Reynaldo Madriñan about Break!!.
RPG new releases
- Gabriel Galway has hit publish on GOBLINZ: The Classless TTRPG (DEMO).
- Rusty Sellsword Design has published the Cortex Prime Game Handbook 2nd Edition.
- Rowan, Rook & Decard has released Voidheart Symphony Revised Edition.
- Sponge Of Wonder has published the Howling Hangover Of Hollow Height Halls | Roll20 VTT.
- Available now is ScarsRPG’s Scars RPG Alpha Core Rulebook.
- Startrial RPG published Startrial RPG Core Rulebook.
- Legendary Games brings us Legendary Planet: The Assimilation Strain (Tales of the Valiant).
- Dark Eagle Games published Blood Moon Lullaby.
- Stormwalker Press has published the Con-Crawl Rpg.
- Kauanmusic has published Ice Fleet RPG.
RPG bundle deals
- Save $15 (44%) in Wagon Wheel Publishing’s LODESYIA: The Grayland Saga bundle.
- Save $8.20 ($1%) with Infinium Game Studios’ Gauntlets Gaslight complete bundle.
- Save $7.50 (63%) with The Northern Realm Inc’s Broken Kingdom parts 1-6 bundle.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- After sharing first with Patreons, Jay Dragon penned The Three Secrets of Making Games.
- Kickstarter themselves wrote How to Playtest Your Board Game Before You Launch on Kickstarter.
- The team at The RPG Gazette takes a closer look at Simulationism Was Real: Gns Theory Twenty Years on.
- Blog of Forlorn Encystment pens Developing the Sandbox: Dungeons.
- Skeleton Code Machine explores Manoeuvre-based combat in 2D6 Dungeon.
- Over at Sly Flourish, the team covers Defining RPGs with Tags.
RPG Crowdfunding
There’s more! You can catch up with the Kickstarter campaign we’ve written up in more detail at Kickstarter watch. Here are some noteworthy industry projects to mention:
- Nebula – Giant Color-Changing Dice from Photochromic proposes “A Massive Photochromic D20 with a Radiant Nebula Core”
- 100 Cursed Places for 5E from Fern Flower Press offers “Adventure Hooks from the World’s Cursed Corners”
- Digital Map Bundle Nine from Declan Gray kickstarts “20+ Digital Battle Maps for Fantasy TTRPG (D&D, 5E, Pathfinder, OSR Roll20, and Savage Worlds)”
- Danger Issue #1 from The Danger Forge is working on “An Adventure Anthology for OSR Roleplaying Games”
- 100 Aker Wood – An ACE Gamebook by Jonathan Green by Jonathan Green is offering “Winnie-the-Pooh meets Pet Sematary in this unsettling, branching narrative, solo-RPG, folk horror adventure.”
- Mining the Mountain: A Limited-Run Artisan Dice Expedition is a project by Studio Blink that is described as “Our dwarves hollowed out 8 levels of dice. Only 30 sets were mined in each level. Which handcrafted exclusive will be your treasure?”
- A Mechanical Dice That Spins, Rolls, and Locks into Fate from Rollsmith presents “OrbitDice – Eclipse Arsenal Series: Magnetic rotating dice designed for tabletop games, EDC, and satisfying interaction.”
- Familiars & Companions for D&D 5e – Aberrations & Oozes is a project by Adventurica that looks at “A DnD 5E Selection of Aberrations and Oozes Companions—Each with Unique Ways to Summon, Bond, and Befriend.”
- Lunaria: Self-Standing Journal for Fantasy Writing & Stories is a project by Lunar Chronicle that is “A 24° self-standing journal designed for fantasy journaling, cherished memories, and tabletop-inspired adventures.”
- City of Sirens: 5E+ Urban Adventures in the Eldritch Fallout from Quill’s Tiny Quests kickstarts “A Fallout & Bioshock-inspired, siren-cursed 500+ page expansion for 5E+! Your new eldritch city awaits…”
- Upon the Corpse Road is a project by Richard Markert that is described as “a funeral-crawl through mud, blood, and memory”
- Fae Realms: Otherworld Encounters + BNM z010 Summer 5e/5.5e from Dan Sprietzer is developing “Modular Encounters in the Fae Realms (Levels 1–15, One-Shots & Instant Adventures) + Harvesting & Crafting Magic for D&D 5e”
- A Road that Knows Your Name by Forrest Storrs is an upcoming supplement for “A card-based, one-shot TTRPG”
- Subversion: Adventures by Fragging Unicorns Games is a new roleplaying games project for “Five new books. One City. All new adventures, options, and resources for the Subversion cyberpunk fantasy TTRPG.”
- World War II Frontlines – 500+ Battle Maps for TTRPG & VTT from Agnieszka Polanowska proposes “Smoke, steel, and strategy—fight across WWII battlefields.WW2 Scenario Maps for TTRPG & VTT”
- Maps for TTRPGs – Dragonborn & Tiefling Civilizations by RealmCrafters is offering “300+ Dragonborn & Tiefling Battlemaps for Every Tabletop and VTT System (e.g., DnD, Pathfinder), Plus Commercial Use Included!”
- Dead & Debts 5e D&D by Anthony David is now live, described as “The sea collects it debts…”
- 100 Magic Items for DnD 5e is a project by Dungeon Scroll Games that is “A supplement featuring 100+ unique magic items, each with rich lore and adventure hooks, plus printable item cards for D&D 5e”
- Dungeon Legacy: A Roll & Crawl PnP Adventure is a project by Keepers of Fun that looks at “PRINT · ROLL · MOVE · SURVIVE · ESCAPE!”
- Dungeon Mastery: Traps, Rooms & Encounters by NarrativeBlueprinting is offering “Build Better Traps, Unforgettable Encounters, and Intelligent Dungeons.”
- Vorago: A Subterranean City of Intrigue and Danger by Sam Flintlock is offering “A full city setting and sourcebook for old school roleplaying.”
- Modular GM Box 2 – 3D printable DM Screen – STL Files from Fantasy3Dream is working on “Build your customisable, fully modular GM box system, 8 NEW Inserts: Cthulhu, Fantasy & Medieval themes for tabletop games, DnD, RPG’s.”
- Mystic Grounds: 50+ Magical Locations for D&D 5E & TTRPG from Bradley Horton kickstarts “50+ Drop‑In Enchanted Locations with Lore, NPCs, Monsters, and Loot for DnD 2024”
- Dungeon and Wilderness Stamps by Castle Grief is a project by Castle Grief that invites players to explore “Handmade ink stamps for overland and underworld cartographers!”
- Realms Uncharted: A Collection of 200 Fantasy Maps for D&D from Archane Architect introduces “Explore the Uncharted Realms with our 200 Tabletop Fantasy Maps, Fully Compatible with D&D 5E and Other Major RPGs.”
- 3003 Fantasy Bits Mega STL Collection for 3D Printing from Forma3D proposes “Build darker dungeons, richer battlefields, and unforgettable fantasy worlds. 3003 Fantasy Bits is a massive library of STL”
- The Doom of the Dark from Patrick Stuart is developing “A Zine containing an original adventure for Tunnels and Trolls, written by Patrick Stuart, with art by Amanda Lee Franck”
- 50+ Printable Texture Rollers for Miniature Bases is a project by Benjamin Bollmann that looks at “Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Trenches & More”
[What’s this chart? We use Kickstarter Heat to measure how busy the crowdfunding season is.]
Do you know of any RPG news sources we might not know? If so, please let us know or leave a comment below.
