This week: the Dragonlance lawsuit is dismissed; Modiphius expands its license to bring new Star Trek properties to the tabletop; and GAMA changes the Origin RPG awards again.
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Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman have dismissed their lawsuit against Wizards of the Coast over a new Dragonlance series. It seems likely that a settlement has been reached, and with Weis hinting at exciting news coming, and Joe Manganiello teasing Dragonlance material, there’s reason to believe the series will go ahead in some form.
Modiphius adds Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard to its licensing partnership with CBS, meaning that we should see these properties coming to Modiphius’ miniatures and RPG lines.
The Game Manufacturer’s Association announces that they are again changing the Roleplaying Game categories for the Origins Awards, dividing the award by product type: “Core Rule Set”, “Supplement”, and “Adventures”. This change is in response to feedback on the previously announced genre-based categories (“Fantasy”, “Science Fiction” and “Family/General Audience”).
I complained about the genre-based categories in a previous issue. This is much more sensible! — Amy
Looking Forward to 2021
Dicebreaker highlights 10 notable RPGs coming next year. Meanwhile, EN World opens voting for the most anticipated game of 2021.
Tabletop gaming convention, Gen Con, hopes to return to an in-person event on 5–8 August 2021, provided that “variety of factors… come together”.
Assuming that they do come together (dear god, please), it’ll be interesting to see what the hangover of the pandemic does to Gen Con’s relentless growth.
RPG History
Dicebreaker looks back at the influential James Bond RPG.
Bundles & Deals
Bundle of Holding is offering a bundle of Expanse and Modern AGE books, a bundle of Blades in the Dark books, and two bundles of Traveller “Little Black Books”.
Humble Bundle offers a bundle of map-making software, a bundle of Cyberpunk RPG books, a collection of Pathfinder monster books, and a set of 3d-printable miniatures.
DriveThruRPG is running a sale on kid-friendly RPGs.
Upcoming & New Releases
The cast of Stranger Things plays a D&D actual play with Chris Perkins.
Paradox Interactive releases the Vampire: The Masquerade Companion.
We spoke a lot about V:tM in our last podcast — about the controversy and our disappointment with V5. I’ve only glanced through this, and it’s, well, sure, whatever. A 3-page errata doesn’t feel like enough to address what felt like an extremely “buggy” game (to borrow a term), but I don’t really remember what the bugs were, and the whole edgelord kerfuffle around this game has poisoned it so much for me that I can’t even bring myself to care that they brought back my horror-faves, the Tzimisce. — Amy
Modiphius launches pre-orders for the upcoming Dune RPG.
Nightfall Games releases a quickstart preview of the forthcoming Terminator RPG.
Shannon Appelcline previews some of the companies to be featured in the ’10s instalment of his Designers & Dragons RPG history series.
Critical Role releases the first issue of Tales of Exandria, a new comic book series based on the actual play. It is also partnering with Sideshow to produce Critical Role collectables.
Paizo announces Malevolence, a stand-alone adventure for Pathfinder.
Renegade Games announces a card game based on the Kids on Brooms RPG.
I’m curious. Kids on Brooms is less of an IP and more of a just-within-the-law toolkit for creating your own Hogwarts. What is this gonna be? — Amy
Crowdfunding News
Noteworthy New Projects
Field Guide to Memory: A solo journaling game in which you play the protégé of a cryptid researcher who has gone missing, by Jeeyon Shim (Wait for Me). So far this project has raised $45,000 from 1,100 backers. Ends January 8th 2021.
Shim had a minor hit last year with Wait for Me, a time travel journaling game, and this one looks set to be just as popular. This project is for an experience rather than a physical product — although the higher tiers include having a package of “artifacts and ephemera” sent to you (no longer available at the time of writing). The game is available either as a straightforward PDF or as a series of daily emails. We’ve come a long way from minis on 1” grid maps. — James
Closing Soon
Southlands 5th Edition is an updated sourcebook for a fantasy setting based on the mythology and culture of the Middle East and North Africa, updated for D&D 5e. So far this project has raised $192,000 from 1,900 backers. Ends January 2nd 2021.
A fairly modest success compared to Kobold Press’s other recent campaigns (although it has approximately as many backers as their other setting books). Still a fairly big hit for this time of year. We expressed our concerns about the name “Southlands” when we last covered this; nonetheless, they pledge to bring on board creators who trace their ancestry from the real world regions being represented here, which is a great step.
5e
Gear Cards: A set of writable, reusable item cards compatible with 5e, by Max Trifan — January 2nd
Allies & Antagonists: A collection of NPCs for 5e, by Grim Press — January 5th
Tome of Mystical Tattoos for 5e: A compendium of magical tattoos for 5e, by Karl Nicolas — January 17th
Other & Generic Fantasy
Cuticorium: An RPG in which you play insects in the insect city of Cuticorium, by usducktape — January 10th
Cute indeed! — Amy
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