Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week’s gaming news! Dungeons & Dragons movie news, more information on Modiphius's 2d20 community creator programs, Doctors & Daleks released, and more!
For a quick summary of the week’s news, Jessica Hancock will bring you up to speed with EN Live's This Week in TTRPG every Friday.
Don’t forget, you can keep up with all the week’s gaming news in detail with Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk. This week, Morrus and Jessica talk about creating a character beyond the stats on the page.
In case you missed it elsewhere on EN World this week:
The biggest news in tabletop roleplaying this week comes from the film industry with the big Dungeons & Dragons movie news. Yes, the classic 1982 film Mazes & Monsters is getting a 40th anniversary remastered bluray release! Very loosely based on a novelization of inaccurate news stories of the tragic life of James Dallas Egbert III, Mazes & Monsters features the lead acting debut of Tom Hanks as the disturbed teenager Robbie Wheeling whose delving into the titular roleplaying causes him to dissociate from his life, leading to tragedy. The new release will feature a high definition remaster, a booklet on the sensationalized real-life events, commentary tracks, subtitles, and a special slipcover limited to just 1000 copies. The bluray will release on September 19 with a retail price of £19.99.
Fine, yes, of course that’s not the movie news everyone’s talking about. The big San Diego Comic Con panel for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves happened last night with a slew of information about the film. First, we have the first full trailer for the film that is packed with references and easter eggs for Dungeons & Dragons and in particular Forgotten Realms fans. So many references that the official D&D YouTube channel released a 20-minute video featuring Chris Perkins and Todd Kenreck explaining the different monsters that appear. The promotional event included a “tavern experience” for attendees that gave the first official glimpse of the actors in costume as their characters.
On the official Twitter account for the film, a thread featured GIFs of the characters along with their names and classes:
But we’re not done with Dungeons & Dragons as there’s a new Unearthed Arcana for “Wonders of the Multiverse”. The new playtest material features the playable race Glitchling; the Cleric Domain of Fate; a collection of backgrounds including gate warden, giant foundling, planar philosopher, and rune carver; a collection of new feats focusing on giants, primordial magic, and the planes; and a selection of new spells exploring fate and chance. Oh, and if it wasn’t clear from the hints being dropped all over the place, the Glitchling race are “created by forces of planar law” and “made from a merger of magic and machine” from the plane Mechanus. I don’t know about you, but that sound suspiciously like Modrons which would make this likely a playtest for the Planescape setting. Hmm...
Cubicle 7 released their 5e-based licensed Doctor Who adaptation, Doctors and Daleks. For those wondering how a combat-focused rules set like 5e could be adapted to a serious like Doctor Who where violence is never the right choice, well there’s a preview that might help explain how it works. Hit points are replaced with Plot Points and rather than facing death when a character runs out, they’re only incapacitated and temporarily removed from the story. Many actions that would be class combat abilities or spells have been replaced with Quips, an ability a character has to influence the scene. For example, the Empath and Thinker’s Evasive Argument quip does 1d4 logical damage on a failed saving throw while the Charmer, Empath, and Thinker’s “Jelly Baby?” imbues ten sweets with emotional healing capable of restoring 1 Plot Point when eaten. Oh, and if you want to know the 5e stats for The Doctor or the Daleks, those are in the previews in the links above as well. The PDF is available now on DriveThruRPG for $29.99 or you can pre-order the hardcover directly from Cubicle 7 for $59.99 and get the PDF now while you wait for the expected Q2 2023 release. And for those who just can’t imagine matching 5e to Doctor Who, the second edition of Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game came out last year and is still supported by Cubicle 7.
Speaking of 5e versions of existing RPGs, Edge Studio announced details and a release date for Adventures in Rokugan, the 5e version of Legend of the Five Rings. This new version of L5R will represent an “alternate universe” of the Emerald Empire as the world’s in-universe myth to represent the tonal shift of the changing rules system. The core rules will premiere at Gen Con with the playable scenario The Festival of One Million Blossoms:
Attendees of the convention will also receive a $5 off coupon in the convention catalog which can be redeemed with Edge Studio’s partner Miniature Market either at the convention or on Miniature Market’s website. The core rules will also be available on August 5, meaning convention attendees will only have a one-day jump on the general public.
While Modiphius’s 2d20 Day festivities are behind us, we did get a few surprises announced over the two-day event. As announced last week, Modiphius has released the 2d20 System SRD which contains the core rules for the system without the bells and whistles of the full releases (in fact, it’s a zip file of Word documents broken into chapters). One thing missing, however, was the license to use the SRD. Normally when game companies release an SRD, it is under the Open Gaming License included in the SRD, but it’s missing from Modiphius’s documents. The closest I could find to a license was this paragraph in the Overview chapter:
So why would Modiphius release an SRD without a license to use it? Because they’re planning to release their own license. In late August, the 2d20 World Builders program will launch as part of DriveThruRPG’s Community Content initiative, enabling creators to make their own 2d20 System content similar to Dungeonmasters Guild, Storytellers Vault, and similar storefronts. While this will not include licensed properties like Star Trek and Fallout, you will be able to create content for Modiphius’s in-house intellectual properties including Achtung! Cthulhu and Cohors Cthulhu.
Additionally, Modiphius announced a separate commercial licensing program. From the press release:
This new commercial program is open for applications now.
Paizo and Steve Jackson Games partnered to Kickstart a new board game, Pathfinder Revolution. This Euro-style board game is based on the political deduction bidding game Revolution! by Steve Jackson Games rethemed around forces attempting to control the city of Korvosa. Three to four players gather Gold, Blackmail, and Force tokens to bid against one another for control different sections of the city in order to earn victory points representing their domination of the divided city. The game is available for a $60 pledge with various add-ons for other Pathfinder licensed Steve Jackson Games products such as Munchkin Pathfinder and Goblin Dice. This project has at time of writing raised just over $31,500 of its $50,000 and will run until Thursday, August 4.
That’s all from me for this week! Don’t forget to support our Patreon to bring you more gaming news content. If you have any news to submit, email us at news@enpublishingrpg.com, and you can get more discussion of the week’s news on Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk every week. You can follow me on Twitch to get notifications when I go live, subscribe to Gamer’s Tavern on YouTube for videos on gaming history, RPG reviews, and gaming Let’s Plays, or you can listen to the archives of the Gamer’s Tavern podcast. Until next time, may all your hits be crits! Note: Links to Amazon, Humble Store, Humble Bundle, and/or DriveThru may contain affiliate links with the proceeds going to the author of this column.
For a quick summary of the week’s news, Jessica Hancock will bring you up to speed with EN Live's This Week in TTRPG every Friday.
Don’t forget, you can keep up with all the week’s gaming news in detail with Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk. This week, Morrus and Jessica talk about creating a character beyond the stats on the page.
In case you missed it elsewhere on EN World this week:
- The EN Publishing Kickstarter for Til Death Do Us Part is still going, featuring five different adventures themed around romance (or the consequences thereof).
- You can also read the first two pages of Level Up: Advanced 5e Dungeon Delver’s Guide coming to Kickstarter on August 30.
- EN5ider #464 is “Book of Endless Life”, an adventure sending 10th level characters on a search for the magical tome and how to access its secrets.
- If you’re curious about the newest Dungeons & Dragons release Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, we’ve collected several interviews and reviews from around the web.
- You can also check out the table of contents from Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel as well.
- Switching gears to Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, we also got a preview of the “gunslinging hippo-like pirate” race, The Giff.
- Beth Rimmels reviewed the D&D Campaign Case: Creatures boxed set of tokens and other play aids.
- More previews from Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons featuring sales charts for the six most popular campaign settings and for all of the campaign settings published from 1979 to 1995.
- Speaking of more previews, an excerpt from Slaying the Dragon came out revealing the reasons Margaret Weis left TSR.
- Charles Dunwoody interviewed Christian Plogfors and Carl Niblaeus about their sci-fi horror RPG Death in Space.
- Andrew Peregrine writes about how to hide the tracks when “railroading” your players and how to use the plot railroad for good in your games.
- Michael Tresca continues his series by addressing the “gnome problem” and how to integrate gnomes into your campaign.
- Don’t miss out on the newest RPG crowdfunding projects ending soon with Egg Embry’s RPG Crowdfunding News.
- Keep up with all the new print RPG releases with Charles Dunwoody’s RPG Print News.
- Find the big TTRPG sales, bundles, and charity fundraisers with the RPG Bundles, Freebies, and Sales News.
The biggest news in tabletop roleplaying this week comes from the film industry with the big Dungeons & Dragons movie news. Yes, the classic 1982 film Mazes & Monsters is getting a 40th anniversary remastered bluray release! Very loosely based on a novelization of inaccurate news stories of the tragic life of James Dallas Egbert III, Mazes & Monsters features the lead acting debut of Tom Hanks as the disturbed teenager Robbie Wheeling whose delving into the titular roleplaying causes him to dissociate from his life, leading to tragedy. The new release will feature a high definition remaster, a booklet on the sensationalized real-life events, commentary tracks, subtitles, and a special slipcover limited to just 1000 copies. The bluray will release on September 19 with a retail price of £19.99.
Fine, yes, of course that’s not the movie news everyone’s talking about. The big San Diego Comic Con panel for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves happened last night with a slew of information about the film. First, we have the first full trailer for the film that is packed with references and easter eggs for Dungeons & Dragons and in particular Forgotten Realms fans. So many references that the official D&D YouTube channel released a 20-minute video featuring Chris Perkins and Todd Kenreck explaining the different monsters that appear. The promotional event included a “tavern experience” for attendees that gave the first official glimpse of the actors in costume as their characters.
On the official Twitter account for the film, a thread featured GIFs of the characters along with their names and classes:
- Chris Pine as Edgin the Bard
- Michelle Rodriguez as Holga the Barbarian
- Regé-Jean Page as Xenk the Paladin
- Justice Smith as Simon the Sorcerer
- Sophia Lewis as Doric the Druid
- And Hugh Grant as Forge the Rogue
But we’re not done with Dungeons & Dragons as there’s a new Unearthed Arcana for “Wonders of the Multiverse”. The new playtest material features the playable race Glitchling; the Cleric Domain of Fate; a collection of backgrounds including gate warden, giant foundling, planar philosopher, and rune carver; a collection of new feats focusing on giants, primordial magic, and the planes; and a selection of new spells exploring fate and chance. Oh, and if it wasn’t clear from the hints being dropped all over the place, the Glitchling race are “created by forces of planar law” and “made from a merger of magic and machine” from the plane Mechanus. I don’t know about you, but that sound suspiciously like Modrons which would make this likely a playtest for the Planescape setting. Hmm...
Cubicle 7 released their 5e-based licensed Doctor Who adaptation, Doctors and Daleks. For those wondering how a combat-focused rules set like 5e could be adapted to a serious like Doctor Who where violence is never the right choice, well there’s a preview that might help explain how it works. Hit points are replaced with Plot Points and rather than facing death when a character runs out, they’re only incapacitated and temporarily removed from the story. Many actions that would be class combat abilities or spells have been replaced with Quips, an ability a character has to influence the scene. For example, the Empath and Thinker’s Evasive Argument quip does 1d4 logical damage on a failed saving throw while the Charmer, Empath, and Thinker’s “Jelly Baby?” imbues ten sweets with emotional healing capable of restoring 1 Plot Point when eaten. Oh, and if you want to know the 5e stats for The Doctor or the Daleks, those are in the previews in the links above as well. The PDF is available now on DriveThruRPG for $29.99 or you can pre-order the hardcover directly from Cubicle 7 for $59.99 and get the PDF now while you wait for the expected Q2 2023 release. And for those who just can’t imagine matching 5e to Doctor Who, the second edition of Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game came out last year and is still supported by Cubicle 7.
Speaking of 5e versions of existing RPGs, Edge Studio announced details and a release date for Adventures in Rokugan, the 5e version of Legend of the Five Rings. This new version of L5R will represent an “alternate universe” of the Emerald Empire as the world’s in-universe myth to represent the tonal shift of the changing rules system. The core rules will premiere at Gen Con with the playable scenario The Festival of One Million Blossoms:
Attendees of the convention will also receive a $5 off coupon in the convention catalog which can be redeemed with Edge Studio’s partner Miniature Market either at the convention or on Miniature Market’s website. The core rules will also be available on August 5, meaning convention attendees will only have a one-day jump on the general public.
While Modiphius’s 2d20 Day festivities are behind us, we did get a few surprises announced over the two-day event. As announced last week, Modiphius has released the 2d20 System SRD which contains the core rules for the system without the bells and whistles of the full releases (in fact, it’s a zip file of Word documents broken into chapters). One thing missing, however, was the license to use the SRD. Normally when game companies release an SRD, it is under the Open Gaming License included in the SRD, but it’s missing from Modiphius’s documents. The closest I could find to a license was this paragraph in the Overview chapter:
So why would Modiphius release an SRD without a license to use it? Because they’re planning to release their own license. In late August, the 2d20 World Builders program will launch as part of DriveThruRPG’s Community Content initiative, enabling creators to make their own 2d20 System content similar to Dungeonmasters Guild, Storytellers Vault, and similar storefronts. While this will not include licensed properties like Star Trek and Fallout, you will be able to create content for Modiphius’s in-house intellectual properties including Achtung! Cthulhu and Cohors Cthulhu.
Additionally, Modiphius announced a separate commercial licensing program. From the press release:
This new commercial program is open for applications now.
Paizo and Steve Jackson Games partnered to Kickstart a new board game, Pathfinder Revolution. This Euro-style board game is based on the political deduction bidding game Revolution! by Steve Jackson Games rethemed around forces attempting to control the city of Korvosa. Three to four players gather Gold, Blackmail, and Force tokens to bid against one another for control different sections of the city in order to earn victory points representing their domination of the divided city. The game is available for a $60 pledge with various add-ons for other Pathfinder licensed Steve Jackson Games products such as Munchkin Pathfinder and Goblin Dice. This project has at time of writing raised just over $31,500 of its $50,000 and will run until Thursday, August 4.
That’s all from me for this week! Don’t forget to support our Patreon to bring you more gaming news content. If you have any news to submit, email us at news@enpublishingrpg.com, and you can get more discussion of the week’s news on Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk every week. You can follow me on Twitch to get notifications when I go live, subscribe to Gamer’s Tavern on YouTube for videos on gaming history, RPG reviews, and gaming Let’s Plays, or you can listen to the archives of the Gamer’s Tavern podcast. Until next time, may all your hits be crits! Note: Links to Amazon, Humble Store, Humble Bundle, and/or DriveThru may contain affiliate links with the proceeds going to the author of this column.
