Unexpected Middle-earth news, more secrets coming for D&D as Wizards move the levers of control around, and Vampire 5e announces a slate of new products.

An RPG news-centric podcast given the announcement of Marvel’s new RPG, but there’s movie news too, geeky virtual reality software for your webcam and a host of free downloads.

Geek Native’s highlights show discusses games and games companies in hot water this week, contrasting that to the original Satanic Panic. Then, because life is too severe, makes some game recommendations, freebies and competitions available.

New stats from Wizards of the Coast show that only a minority of roleplayers are over 40, as the player base booms. But is it all progress as eBay bans sexy comics and adult games?

News from the tabletop hobby community on the week armed squabbles got Pokemon banned from Target, Paradox announced a competing Werewolf: The Apocalypse game and Games Workshop a new Age of Sigmar.

There’s Stargrave, Soulbound and why women are less likely to want magic in their life than men in this week’s Audio EXP highlights show.

Hellboy, Netflix’s new virtual YouTuber, deer-boys in post-apocalyptic America and World of Darkness on your TV. It’s the Audio EXP geeky highlights show.

This week is a weekly round-up of highlights from the blog, RPG and anime news, solo games, announcements, freebies, competitions, robots, love and death.

Roleplaying turns 50th as the 11-hour long session of Blackmoor gave us D&D and then a whole hobby. Things change, though, and Epic Games has raised $1bn this week to build a Metaverse of games for us to plug into.