Welcome back, it’s time for another Routinely Itemised RPG news round-up.
Let’s start by talking about Independence Games. Independence Games are in the RPG Publisher Spotlight for this month even though no one voted for them! What happened; Gypsy Knights Games won the poll… and then changed their name to Independence Games. Find out why in the spotlight.
If you’re a patron of the site, then you can vote in the February Spotlight poll. There are five publishers in the running again;
- Mark Hunt
- Bully Pulpit Games
- Expeditious Retreat Press
- Seth Tomlinson
- Palladium Books
While Routinely Itemised: RPGs is usually strictly about RPG news I think the death of Christopher Tolkien, at 95, is a special case. Rarely as a hobby owed so much to a legacy.
RPG news from Geek Native
- Let’s summarise that D&D leak in a single bullet point; it was Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Barnes & Noble had the cover and the author, Matthew Mercer, took immediately to Reddit to defend it. Previously, he was working with Green Ronin.
- In good news, Fantasy Flight Games has confirmed that (some) RPG lines will carry on.
- Wizards of the Coast boosted the D&D playtest with fresh Unearthed Arcana for Barbarians, Monks, Paladins and Warlocks.
- The first commercial D&D adventures are being made again.
- Paizo Publishing created a spoiler-free and free to download Extinction Curse Player’s Guide.
- Kickstarter pledges for tabletop games are at an all-time high.
- Green Ronin is helping to raise money to support Australian Bushfires relief, and it means discounted Fantasy AGE.
- Onyx Path Publishing announced plans to do horror, sex and suspense b-movie style in an RPG called They Came From Beyond the Grave!
- Monte Cook announced plans for D&D 5e and Cypher System re-releases for Ptolus: City by the Spire.
- Games Workshop are impressing investors and record amounts of money.
- Pelgrane Press has launched the Gumshoe Community as a way for third-party designers to create, sell and keep the money for Ashen Stars content.
- The EN World community told us what they thought 2019’s best RPG podcasts are.
- Geek Native reviewed and liked the new Lancer RPG.
- Geek Native took a look at the b-movie one-shot Dead of Night: The Final Cut.
- In the Bundle of Holding this week, you’ll find a Cthulhu collection from Stygian Fox and some Rifts downloads from Palladium Books.
RPG news from around the web
- Evil Hat’s For the Queen is now on the Roll20 marketplace.
- Pelgrane Press had a busy week! They announced Eyes of the Stone Thief that’s 5e compatible, Aser Tolentino wrote about Gaming Without Sight: Accessibility for the Visually Impaired and published The Yellow King RPG errata.
- Pinnacle Entertainment Group revealed the best Savage Worlds Adventurer’s Guild best sellers of 2019.
- Malcolm Sheppard of Green Ronin explains why there’s a demon on the front cover of the forthcoming Modern AGE sourcebook Enemies & Allies. There are stats for it, too.
- EN World’s Darryl Mott reviews Shadowrun Cutting Black.
- Paizo and Q-Workshop showed off some Pathfinder Second Edition Dice.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- Looking for a powerful superbad to end / threaten to end your D&D 5e campaign? This fan-project to convert Elder Evils an old 3.5 supplement to 5e might be for you.
- Lazy Warlock designed this gorgeous guide to getting female armour right.
- Alphastream writes up why Dark Sun Was 4E’s Most Successful Setting.
- Eldadres of Dungeon Solvers shares the good tactic of Using Rumors and Folklore to Describe the Party’s Next Foe.
- David Hartlage of DM David discusses XP Started as One of D&D’s Breakthrough Ideas. Now the Designers Don’t See the Point.
- D&D Beyond’s B James Haeck’s pens this helpful New Player’s Guide: How to Find a D&D Group.
- Dump Stat Adventures put together this useful Player Resources – Beginner’s Cheatsheet.
- Iron Crown shares 50 celebrities for your fantasy tabletop RPG.
RPG Crowdfunding
You can see those Kickstarters and other crowdfunding campaigns that caught Geek Native’s attention over at Kickstarter watch. Here are some industry projects worth a mention;
- Tim Chu’s inexpensive RoverBook: The 5e Notebook is doing well on Kickstarter.
- Dog Might Games are back on Kickstarter and puling in tens of thousands for this wooden exclusive fire dragon Valhalla GM screen.
- Columbia Games have easily met their goal for the hard science fiction RPG High Colonies.
- Wet Ink Games is making solid progress on funding Never Going Home Campaign Dossiers for the Never Going Home RPG.
- Daniel Sell’s Troika RPG project moves on to its next step with Very Pretty Paleozoic Pals: Permian Nations.
- Cameron Wright has funded 5e Monster Liars – A Book of Monster Themed Mini Dungeons.
- Lunar Games has hit their goal for Fungi Fight for Freedom, an Endless Realms adventure.
- DarkSolstice Games has a Make 100 project in the form of a limited edition of wyld cards for Wylds of Enoch RPG.
Gamerati News Update
I think reserving the slot as a premiere worked well for Gamerati’s news update last wee, but if you missed it, here it is again. There’s chat about Starfinder’s Attack of the Swarm, Clue and Journeys in Middle-earth from Fantasy Flight Games.
If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.
