Hello, there fellow geeks. Sometimes posts begin with platitudes like “I hope you’re well”, but that simple question feels portentous this week.
I hope you’re well.
You will have had, no doubt, dozens of emails about what companies are doing during the Covid-19 crisis. It’s hard to ignore, and yet you might be turning to tabletop gaming to try and get some respite from it.
Hopefully Geek Native has managed to only select the big headlines from the insect of viral chaos and geek news. The two main overlaps being; cancellations of events and Kickstarters and generous freebies.
A few months, Geek Native described how you could use IFTTT to subscribe to updates to certain tags on a WordPress blog like this one. The article was called how to subscribe to Routinely Itemised by email, but the techniques in it apply equally to the Free to Download tag. If you don’t like missing out on freebies, then that might be a combination for you. Alternatively, there’s the daily digest (of the five most recent items), Telegram and social networks.
So, plenty of RPG news. Here goes!
RPG news from Geek Native
- The virtual tabletop Astral is going free until the end of April.
- The huge UK Games Expo has been Covid-delayed.
- Gary Con XII has been Covid-cancelled.
- Chaosium’s ill-fated and ironically titled Red Thread of Fate was delayed almost immediately after launch.
- Angry Hamster’s Familiars of Terra is temporarily a Pay What You Want game.
- Despite the Red Thread of Fate setback, Chaosium is kindly letting people download the Call of Cthulhu colouring book for free.
- Onyx Path Publishing has been giving different core books from the World of Darkness away each day this week.
- 2 Head Turtle released the GM-less RPG Two Geese in Love.
- The Witcher and Cyberpunk Red studio, R Talsorian Games is giving away free downloads of Teenagers from Outerspace.
- Handiwork Games has made a teaser adventure for their forthcoming Beowulf 5e setting. It’s tailored for duet play, and you can test that with The Hermit’s Sanctuary.
- Green Ronin Publishing has made Fantasy AGE free to download.
- Roll20 revealed their version of The Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount and there’s a free to play adventure.
- There’s a British invasion over at the Bundle of Holding with deals on Maelstrom and Dragon Warriors.
- Pinnacle Entertainment has made the core two Deadland settings books free.
- Cubicle 7 has a new Wrath & Glory art teaser.
- Q-Workshop are selling cool looking Cyberpunk Red dice.
- The ‘can you survive the house’ RPG Purgatory House is a Pay What You Want game.
- A social commentary on panic buying from the world of indie RPG designers as D&D gets Toilet Paper golems and sewage golems.
- The Pathfinder adventure designing competition RPG Superstar has new owners.
- Asmodee is hiring a social media and ‘influencer’ manager.
- Fantasy Grounds Unity is now in public beta.
- Geek Native is giving anime badges away as thank you gifts.
RPG news from around the web
- Lots of updates from Paizo including the Covid-19 update, organised play and the factions of the second edition Pathfinder Society.
- DriveThruRPG is keeping track of the freebies they know about over at the Medium account in a post called Home Is Where the Games Are.
- Green Ronin Publishing has released Rise of the Tyrant: An Astonishing Adventures PDF for Mutants & Masterminds.
- Charles Dunwoody has taken a look at Paleomythic, RPG of Stone and Sorcery.
- Ben Reece reviewed Pathfinder Lost Omens: Gods and Magic.
- d20 Radio interviewed Travis Legge and talked about Scarred Lands.
- Steve Jackson Games had to announce that FnordCon has been Covid-cancelled.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- Goblin Punch wrote up the vile Goblin Filthomancer.
- Johnn Four of Roleplaying Tips shared NPC Name tips and resources.
- Dungeon Goblin wrote up How to Prepare for your First D&D Session.
- Arcane Eye also offered tips on The Best Way to Run an Online DnD Session.
- The Technical Grimoire helped with insights on Playing RPGs on Discord.
- High Level Games opined 5 Things I Learned Reconnecting with the D&D Fandom.
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;
- Andrew Pawley has made the target for their Dice Heads: D20 Dice Holders.
- OmegaDragon Entertainment has a new 5e campaign setting called Osziana.
- Karolee Bulak is Kickstarting a D&D adventure called The Lost Temples of Mingalarbar.
- Gaudreau Steve is offering RPG community moral support, maps and art packs for $5+.
- Peter Regan is funding Keyboard Friendly Mapping & Note Pads.
- Shawn Michael Hescock is working on a GM-less solo/cooperative dungeon crawling adventure game called EverWyrd.
- Phil Reed, the CEO of Steve Jackson Games, is funding the Dungeon Crafter’s Sketch Book.
- Robert Ian Charles Fellows is collecting funds for pewter Treekin Fantasy Tabletop Miniatures.
- David Barrentine has a 5e campaign spanning levels 1 to 20 called Knights of the Shadow Realm.
- Troll Lord Games and Stephen Chenault has raised thousands for Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide.
- Victor Dorso has a 1e module called The Keep at Blood Red Falls.
- Tiny Furniture is raising money for resin casualty miniatures in a project called Harvest of War.
- Mike Yow is Kickstarting the third-version of Savage Kingdoms.
- Tim Krause has the final adventure of the Mescalero Prophecy series with Devil’s Bridge.
Gamerati News Update
Marcelo Ferrari of Gamerati returns with news from Deep Cuts from WizKids, Plaid Hat Games and the significant changes at Asmodee.
If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.
