Hello, hello. Good to see you and welcome to this TTRPG news round-up.
Last week Geek Native launched this conventions calendar to track the new wave of online events (and the offline ones too). D&D Live in now in the schedule, along with the online versions of Gen Con and Essen.
Wizards of the Coast have welcomed Mike Mearls back to the design team and seem to be getting us ready for a new D&D setting.
In less exciting news, Geek Native is giving away pairs of cheap sunglasses (but meme worthy) to Patreon backers. Why? Every now and then Geek Native gifts appear. I figure you’d never buy these ‘deal with it shades’ for yourself, so why not have someone else buy them for you.
How’s that for a quick summary? If you fancy more detail, then scroll through the bullet points of RPG news, by section, below.
RPG news from Geek Native
- Tomorrow, the Con of Champions will attempt to keep Tabletop.Events alive.
- DriveThruRPG has a sale on with free and heavily reduced family-friendly RPGs.
- D&D Live teases a new setting, campaign and products.
- Essen, perhaps the world’s largest tabletop convention, has been cancelled for 2020. They have launched SPIEL.digital instead, at a different time.
- GenCon, perhaps the world’s largest tabletop convention, has been cancelled for 2020. Gen Con Online will run instead, at the same time.
- Despite Gen Con 2020 being cancelled, ENnies 2020 will continue.
- The 5e-powered Stargate RPG has been delayed.
- The tabletop prequel to Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk Red has been delayed.
- Carbon 2185 designer Robert Marriner-Dodds has co-founded a new anime-centric RPG studio called Studio Cerca.
- Frog God Games has launched an online event called Virtual Frog God Days.
- Zweihander has gone into space with the dangerous Dark Astral. In addition, Zwiehander has signed an exclusive deal with Roll20.
- Kobold Press is giving away 12 5e adventures with free downloads of Prepared! until the 31st.
- The Bundle of Holding has a Fate of the Norns RPG deal.
- Gail Simone, the author of Birds of Prey, has a free to download Humblewood RPG comic out.
- D&D Beyond’s Avrae Discord bot now links with purchases.
- Cubicle 7 gave us a long list of things to look forward to this and next year with Soulbound, starter kits and supplements.
- The second edition of the cult hit RPG a|state is looking for playtesters.
- Tab Creations have an early release of Age of Ambition: Fantasy Roleplaying in an Age of Promise or Peril available for purchase.
- The behind-the-scenes investigation and write-up of Critical Role The World of Critical Role is now on pre-order.
- Nightfall Games have announced they’re working on two new RPGs; one will use a popular system (but unnamed) and the other their newly launched S5S system.
- Palladium Books is offering a generous and free preview of In the Face of Death.
- World Anvil gets fanmade character sheets for Green Ronin Publishing’s The Expanse RPG.
- Free League Publishing are taking games like Tales from the Loop and Alien to Roll20.
- We also learn that Free League and Francesco Nepitello might get the next edition of the Lord of the Rings RPG out by early next year.
RPG news from around the web
- Tommy Williams of Geek Tyrant introduces Live to Tell the Tale Wants to Help Players Get the Most Out of D&D Characters This Summer.
- Pop Mythology writes up 5 Science-Backed Benefits of Playing Tabletop RPGs During (and After) COVID-19.
- Scott Baird of Screen Rant digs into history with Advanced D&D Existed To Screw One Of Its Creators Out of Royalties.
- Harlem Unbound creator Chris Spivey will be a guest on Atlas Obscura on the 28th of May.
- The early Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound review are in with Richard Jansen-Parkes of Dicebreaker saying the ultimate power fantasy at the cost of subtlety and Matt Cebulla saying one of the best RPG releases of the decade.
- Over at d20 Radio, Egg Embry reviews the fishing RPG Rod, Reel, & Fist.
- Renegade Game Studios hires Chris Whitpan.
- Tabletop Gaming News shares the good news that in the States Alliance Game Distributors Opens Back Up.
- Kobold Press publish Lou Anders’ review of Empire of the Ghouls.
- At RPG.net, Paul StJohn Mackintosh gives 5/5 to Harlem Unbound 2e.
- Mike Mearls is back on the D&D RPG Team.
- Roll20 announce a new actual play series set in Mythic Odysseys of Theros.
- Paizo has had a busy news Friday sharing Pathfinder Bestiary 2 (due May 27), PaizoCon Online Events and Player Instructions and an audio adventure called Tales from Darkmoon Vale.
RPG ideas, tips and discoveries
- Ben and the genre police discuss the pros and cons of long-lived tabletop campaigns.
- Bleeding Cool’s Joshua Nelson shares opinions on On Dungeons & Dragons Homebrew Campaigns and Alignment.
- Comic Book’s Christian Hoffer argues Dungeons and Dragons Needs to Fix How Players Spend Gold.
- Michael Tresca, at EN World, speculates whether this will be The Last Edition of D&D?
- Nerdarchy’s Doug Vehovec answers What Do Unearthed Arcana Subclasses Revisited Say About Your 5E D&D Character?
- At the Obsidian Portal, Jynx shares How to Write and Reveal Story Secrets.
- The creator of the Forgotten Realms, Ed Greenwood, answers questions about elves trying to build new cities.
- With a quirky headline, the Indie Game Reading Club’s Paul Beakley argues It’s Only Kinky the First Time.
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;
- Joel T. Clark is looking for funds to publish a post-apocalyptic kung-fu tabletop RPG called Tian Shang: Lone Wolf Fists.
- Douglas H. Cole has five new adventures for Steve Jackson Games’ The Fantasy Trip with More Perilous Journeys.
- ★HK創元Studio★ is crowdfunding Dragon Eye Tabletop Game box and Dice Bundle
- Jeffrey Talanian has some good looking shinies in the works with Hyperborea Dice.
- J. Evans Payne is crowdsourcing for a chilling one-session adventure in a haunted farmhouse. It’s Mystery of Brushgather Farm (for P 1e, 2e and D&D 5e).
- Realmwarp Media are working on a 5e-compatible setting to restore a mythological kingdom. Which one? Cities of Myth: Fallen Camelot.
- Fairy’s Pupil is crowdsourcing for this Starry universe dice set.
- Brush With Destiny Studios are breaking the tabletop scenery mould with Neo Platformers Terrain Kickstarter.
- MedFan Games have an STL (3d printing files) campaign for the World of Valkyr.
- Matthew J. Hanson is looking to expand your 5e options with Terrain Toolbox for 5e.
- Storybrewers Roleplaying has two no-prep story games in two Littlebox RPGs.
- Jacob Hurst’s campaign is designed to help you organise notes and campaigns with this lay-flat Worldbuilder’s Notebook.
- Mike DiBaggio is working on Dauntless: The Heroic Adventure Zine.
- Andrew Walter has an RPG based on the eldritch and violent world of 90s computer games in Slipgate Chokepoint.
- Evocatus Miniatures has a program for generating and drawing titles called Dungeon Title Sorcerer.
- Gametee have D&D 5e collector coins up for grabs with The Coins of Wonder.
- Diving Hippo Studio has d20 and token set engraved with fantasy and medieval symbols in Pure Wood Family Banner Dice: The Forgotten Family.
- Mystic Realm has some 3d printable table tops files in a campaign called Lolit the Mycelium Kingdom Fantasy RPG.
- Josh Gaunt has a quirky project with Gaming Candles for Dungeons & Dragons.
- Mad Mage Games has a steampunk-inspired 5e adventure called The Heist of the Mad King’s Jewel.
Gamerati News Update
It’s the same Gamerati News Update as we had from last week. We’ve fallen out of sync but will survive. This space will be used to show the latest Gamerati News Update if it is fresh.
If there’s a source or news you think is worth monitoring, please get in touch or leave a comment below.
