Welcome home. This is Audio EXP, the weekly podcast from Geek Native. I am your host, Girdy, and today is the 4th of July, 2026. This week, we celebrate our annual Superhero Week with major comic book and tabletop rule announcements, examine a sudden cancellation affecting the UK convention calendar, and explore a fresh design approach that trades thick rulebooks for audio preparation.
[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #340]
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We kick off the month with a community update. Our patrons have officially concluded their voting, and Menagerie Press has emerged as the winner of the July RPG Publisher Spotlight! We are starting our outreach now to bring you an in-depth interview with the studio later this month. With one cycle closing, the ballot box is already open for next month’s selection. You can cast your vote right now by heading to the August RPG Publisher Spotlight nomination page.
The five independent candidates waiting for your support are:
To cast your vote, visit this patrons-only page.
Our lead story this week looks at disappointing and surprising news for D&D fans in the UK. Organisers have officially postponed the giant Dungeons & Dragons London Fan Expo, pulling the event completely from the 2026 calendar. The highly anticipated event, which was scheduled to take over London’s iconic O2 Arena, has been pushed back to 2027.
Convention planners gave no reason, but other cancelled London events have cited shifting international event schedules and intense local talent availability pressures within the capital as their reasons. The postponement leaves a significant gap in the autumn fantasy calendar, forcing local community groups to adjust their regional travel plans.
In innovative game design news, a clever mechanical shift aims to address game master fatigue. Designer Chris Lackey is swapping dense manuals for audio prep in his upcoming horror game, Strange Stories. Scheduled to land on BackerKit on the 21st of July, this rules-light, one-shot engine replaces traditional pre-game reading loops with dedicated atmospheric audio guides. Instead of memorising pages of text, the storyteller listens to a short audio briefing to set up self-contained two-to-three-hour sessions. The mechanics utilise a pool of six-sided dice where players search for matching sets rather than total numerical values, letting groups jump into investigative horror games with little effort.
As the schedule demands, this is Superhero Week on the blog, and the announcements are flying fast. Leading the pack, Free League Publishing has officially opened pre-orders for the Invincible superhero roleplaying game. Utilising the studio’s signature Year Zero Engine, the core book allows players to build characters across a wide array of power tiers, packing nearly 70 distinct superpowers into the rules. The physical launch includes a custom ten-dice set, reference cards, and an introductory adventure called Metro Mayhem, complete with pregenerated sheets for Invincible, Atom Eve, and Rex Splode.
On the comic book side of the event, Marvel’s July release calendar is leaning heavily into nostalgia by bringing back the classic Swimsuit Special alongside the expanding Ultimate Universe line. For graphic fiction fans looking across the Atlantic, 2000 AD has officially banned generative AI from its 2026 talent search for writers and artists, drawing a firm creative line to protect human illustrators and storytellers. We also published a detailed critical review of the new Supergirl comic release, analysing how the current narrative team handles her complicated legacy.
Moving outside the superhero genre, independent licensing is taking a huge leap forward. The popular Magical Kitties Save the Day roleplaying game is officially pivoting to a Creative Commons Open License. This update allows third-party publishers and fans to legally create, print, and sell their own supplements, adventures, and settings for the family-friendly game using the core mechanics, establishing a permanent open playground for the community.
Alternative fantasy rules are also expanding. Tacitus Publishing has opened a public playtest for its upcoming crunchy high fantasy system, the Red Wyvern RPG, offering tactical groups a look at dense, mathematical combat mechanics. Conversely, author Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan is trading cosmic dread for cosy village crime in the upcoming Merryshire Detective Club, moving away from dark Cthulhu mythos systems toward lighthearted, local community sleuthing.
If you are looking to escape current releases entirely, we have a fascinating historical retrospective online this week. We take a deep look at dragons, lasers, and the round table, reassessing Britain’s forgotten 1980s fantasy boom. The essay uncovers the weird, wild, and distinctly British tabletop and literary properties that exploded across the landscape in the wake of early fantasy trends, blending Arthurian myth with retro-futuristic science fiction before slipping away into obscurity.
If you enjoy cinema previews, Bronwen has highlighted a wild new horror project on the blog. You can watch the trailer for Big Baby, a meta-slasher film produced by Cher, which turns classic horror tropes completely on their head.
Finally, we wrap up the week with a great deal for fans of gritty historical settings. You can grab your six-shooter and hit the trail with The Rider bundle on the Bundle of Holding. This collection adapts the popular Cepheus Engine rules to the classic American Old West, giving your group everything needed for authentic, dangerous frontier adventures.
That is it for this week. Thanks for listening to Audio EXP. For all the links, the superhero collection, and full stories, head over to Geek Native. Until next week, stay geeky.
