RPG news, nerdy reviews and geek culture discoveries all married into a set of bullet-point lists. It can only be Routinely Itemised: RPGs.
Thank you to all of Geek Native’s patrons who voted in the February RPG Publisher Spotlight poll. You selected Palladium Books. I’ve got in contact and am waiting to see if they have the time to speak to us. Cross fingers.
The Spotlight poll for March is open! Every single publisher in contention is an Itch.io publisher. That’s pretty cool. As an added incentive for taking part in the poll, Patrons (and anyone who signs up before the weekend is over), will get a copy of Alone Among The Derelicts.
Money! This week How We Earn Money was added to the site. It’s about being transparent at a time when trust is a rare commodity. There’s also another affiliate/ad link disclaimer added to every post.
Right, that’s the homework over with. Now on with the RPG news!
RPG news from Geek Native
- Wizards of the Coast published, removed, edited and republished Unearthed Arcana subclasses part 2. It was a drama.
- The Orr Report / Roll20 reported a Q3 to Q4 grow in Dungeons & Dragon’s market share.
- Geek Native had exclusive art from the Kickstarting Elephant & Macaw Banner RPG.
- Daniel D. Fox talked to us about Zweihander’s Amazon discount, the new organised play program and actual play influencers.
- Art from the stunning looking Afropunk RPG Wagadu Chronicles.
- Free League Publishing announced that they’d help publish the dark MORK BORG RPG.
- On a similar note, metal band The Black Dahlia Murder released a limited edition adventure to go with their latest album.
- Evil Hat Productions published a pay-what-you-want Fate Condensed.
- A final encore! The D&D version of Lord of the Rings gets one last Humble Bundle.
- The Bundle of Holding has a re-run of the 2018 hit Beasts & Barbarians.
- EN Publishing has Bundles of Holding for Judge Dredd and WOIN.
RPG news from around the web
- Paizo Publishing posted about Achievement Points for Pathfinder Society.
- SJ Games’ CEO Phil Reed shared the company’s Report to the Stakeholders for 2019 As ever, it’s an interesting read.
- Monte Cook Games is offering a free preview and pre-orders on The Nightshade.
- Evil Hat made a set of free Fate of Cthulhu downloads available.
- Chaosium announced the actual play The Dead of Winter for Twitch and A Cold Fire Within.
- Malcolm Sheppard provided a look at Green Ronin’s Modern AGE in 2020.
- Arc Dream shared a video of their look ahead to 2020.
- Pelgrane Press launched a social media competition for The Yellow King RPG. They also shared tips for adapting any scenario to the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
- Troll Lord Games updated their WorldAnvil for the World of Aihrde.
Troll Lord Games updated their WorldAnvil for the World of Aihrde.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- We wrapped up the RPG Blog Carnival on Random Encounter Tables.
- Charles Dunwoody shared Basic D&D Compared to Forbidden Lands: Layout and Format Matter
- We talked to Oliver Clegg of Killer Kobolds from Outer Space.
- A humorous look at the gifts Warlocks get.
- Mike Burnett of the Billowing Hilltop Podcast wrote up a guide on How to get started in actual play podcasting.
- Russ Morrissey compiled ICv2 sales data for EN World and made this rankings table.
- Michael Wolf of Stargazer’s World wrote a thoughtful post about Mental Health in Roleplaying Games.
- DM David shared 4 Pop-Culture Assumptions That Dungeons & Dragons Destroyed.
- Nerdarchy covered D&D Party Composition – Playing an All Wizard Party.
- Ceci Mancuso wrote about how they learned to stop worrying and love downtime.
- Over on the Worldbuilder Blog, Jack Hill shared My Dad’s Monster Manual – Bulette.
- Level Up Corner opined on How to roleplay a fighter in DnD.
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;
- First up, it’s not quite a tabletop RPG, but it has strong connections and has pocked half-a-million: Pathfinder: Wrath & Righteous is live on Kickstarter.
- Eiríkr Åsheim is Kickstarting Vanquisher, an RPG about bold heroes.
- Marco Mazzei has hit their tiny target for this pre-generated character with miniatures and solo adventure.
- Janghar Khan has launched Bestiary of Asia, Rune-stones of Rage and Logic to help promote multiculturalism through gaming.
- A. Fell has hit the target for the GMless RPG Memoria.
- N3 Art is Kickstarting these Corrupted Creature Playmats.
- Archon’s Court Games is raising money for the cyberpunk RPG King of Dust.
- Owen Stephens is Kickstarting the Starfinder RPG Advanced Occult Guide.
- Mike Rieman has made the target for the survival Zine RPG The Good Ol’ Days.
- Ink and Bourbon have smashed goals for The Dark Lord’s Spellbook.
- Density Media has enough backers to fund Let’s Make A Mary Sue!
- Aled Lawlor is raising money for the Zine RPG Mew-tants!
- Sofinho has hit the target for the Zine RPG Pariah.
- Michael Wenman is also funding a Zine RPG, and it is Beneath the Glass and Steel.
- Patrick Geaslin has a Zine RPG collecting cash as well, and this time it’s Shortlived Shenanigans.
- Dane Asmund’s Zine RPG is Atrocity Archives, a game of dissolving identity.
- Sam Sorensen’s Zine RPG is Fax Tenebris, a game about knights, horror and faith.
- Fraser Ronald’s post-apocalyptic Sagas of the Sea Peoples is collecting cash on Kickstarter.
- Tim Deschene’s Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG is One of Us: Sideshow Salvation in a Dystopian Dustbowl.
- Thomas Deeny’s Zine RPG is Space Seeds full of sci-fi encounters.
- Murder Publishing is just about to fund Mage Against the Machine, a game about wizards trying to stop the robot apocalypse.
Gamerati News Update
Marcelo Ferrari of Gamerati, once again, has put together a helpful punchy tabletop games news video summary. This week’s episode covers Monte Cook’s Arcana of the Ancients, Forge World’s Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game Matched Play Guide and Thames & Kosmos’ The Quest for Planet Nine.
If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.
