Welcome home. This is Audio EXP, the weekly podcast from Geek Native. I am your host, Girdy, and today is Saturday, the 3rd of October, 2026. This week, we examine a commercial push marking half a century of Mega-City justice, track an abrupt publishing breakup impacting the World of Darkness, discuss high-calibre worldbuilding lessons from Degenesis veteran Marko Djurdjevic, and celebrate a milestone achievement in competitive British chess.
[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #350]
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Before we jump into the top stories, our community spotlight ecosystem is bustling. First, our deep-dive Q&A from last month is officially online. You can now read our spotlight interview with Simon of Red Ruin Publishing on fan-craft and classic Legend rules, exploring how the studio operates as a labour of love dedicated to keeping vintage British systems alive without commercial profit.
Following that, patron voting for September has concluded. Slithy Tove Games has officially taken the win for our October RPG Publisher Spotlight! We are beginning our outreach to arrange an interview later this month. In tandem with the result, Geek Native has opened a dedicated RPG Publisher Spotlight nominations hub, streamlining how readers and indie designers register candidates. The ballot lines are now active over on our November spotlight voting poll, where five independent creators are competing for your backing:
Our lead story today aligns with a major calendar date. Today is officially the Day of Dredd, and Rebellion is pulling out all the stops as 2000 AD marks Day of Dredd 2026 with a commercial expansion across fashion, toys, and tech. Heading into Judge Dredd’s upcoming 50th anniversary, the British publisher is extending Mega-City One beyond the printed page into high-end collectable action figures, premium apparel, and digital hardware collaborations. This aggressive licensing strategy aims to plant 2000 AD’s flagship character firmly in contemporary lifestyle culture.
Over in tabletop business, another publishing alliance has fractured. Renegade Game Studios has parted ways with White Wolf over the World of Darkness publishing partnership. After years of managing physical distribution, sourcebook development, and core book lines for systems like Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse, the relationship has come to an end. The split follows White Wolf’s recent moves to handle design and open playtesting directly in-house, leaving the distribution pipeline for physical 5th Edition books in transition while 6th Edition looms on the horizon.
In high-profile studio collaborations, Critical Role’s publishing imprint is backing new interactive projects. Critical Role has teamed up with Polish developer Lichthund to co-publish the action-adventure title Rockbeasts. Known for Lichtspeer, Lichthund’s partnership with Darrington Press and Critical Role signals the tabletop media giant’s steady expansion into video game publishing, leveraging their community footprint to back distinct, stylised indie game productions.
We also published an exceptional creator conversation this week. We sat down with Sixmorevodka founder Marko Djurdjevic to discuss deconstructing the orc, extracting worldbuilding lessons from Degenesis, and launching his upcoming dark fantasy project, Orken. Djurdjevic reflected candidly on the brutal production costs and logistical burnout of the sprawling Degenesis line, explaining why Orken shifts towards focused, visceral storytelling that strips away generic fantasy tropes to treat orcs as nuanced, culturally complex beings.
On the international sports stage, an extraordinary young player has made British history. We examine how 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan secured the Woman Grandmaster title. The London chess prodigy achieved the historic victory through ferocious positional discipline, becoming one of the youngest players to earn the title and highlighting a generational shift in international competitive chess. It comes at a time when Russia’s dominance of chess politics is under great scrutiny.
For solo tabletop enthusiasts seeking October chills, independent horror is expanding. Spooky Shadows has arrived to bring classic fairy tale horror into the Solodark rules framework. Built for solitary play within Kelsey Dionne‘s Shadowdark system, Philip Reed’s supplement adapts grim folklore into light-management survival procedures, offering procedural gothic crawls without requiring a game master.
We wrap up our reporting with two delightfully quirky crossovers from pop culture and tabletop absurdity:
- Dungeon ‘N Dookie has launched a waitlist for fantasy toilet paper shipped inside a functional cardboard mimic chest, bringing novelty bathroom storage to tabletop gamers who appreciate mimic hazards in every room of the house.
- Combat sports brand Venum has launched an official Jujutsu Kaisen equipment line, bringing anime-styled boxing gloves, rashguards, and fight shorts into genuine martial arts gyms.
That is it for this week. Thanks for listening to Audio EXP. For all the links, interview transcripts, and community voting forms, head over to Geek Native. Until next week, stay geeky.
