RPG Print News – DMDave, Renegade Games Studios, and More

Starter bundles along with PDFs for the G.I. JOE RPG, Power Rangers RPG, Hunter: The Reckoning, and My Little Pony RPG. DMDave has support for fantasy settlements and a new Horror RPG. D&D and Old-School Essentials get adventures including leather bound options. Finally, Vast Grimm gets plenty of support.

Note: RPG Print News covers recent RPG releases and some classics, reprints, and sales available from retailers. It does not cover products that are only available directly to customers only through Kickstarter or as print on demand.

​

G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Starter Bundle | Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Starter Bundle | Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition Roleplaying Game Starter Bundle | My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Starter Bundle by Renegade Game Studios

• SYSTEM: Essence20/Storytelling Adventure System
• PRODUCT TYPE: starter bundles
• RETAIL PRICE: $90 each
• DESCRIPTION: A Yo Joe! bundle: G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game The Emerald Oubliette Adventure & GM Screen, G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Cobra Dice Set, G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Cobra Dice Bag, and PDFs. It’s Morphin Time bundle: Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Power Rangers Roleplaying Game A Glutton for Punishment Adventure & GM Screen, Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Dice Set Red Ranger, Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Dice Bag, and PDFs. The Hunter: The Reckoning Bundle comes with: Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition Roleplaying Game Storyteller Screen Kit, Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition Roleplaying Game Dice Set, Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition Roleplaying Game Dice Bag, and PDFs. A fabulosity bundle includes the following: My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, My Little Pony Roleplaying Game In A Jam Adventure and GM's Screen, My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Dice Set, My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Dice Bag, and PDFs.

Just Passing Through 1 - 20 Small Villages for Any Fantasy RPG | Just Passing Through 2 - 12 Mid-Sized Towns for Any Fantasy RPG by DMDave

• SYSTEM: fantasy RPGs
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover supplements
• RETAIL PRICE: $21each
• DESCRIPTION: 20 Small Villages for Any Fantasy RPG offers 20 unique village descriptions, each complete with a detailed map, information on the population, leadership, commerce, and organizations of the town. Each description includes notable NPCs and locations in the village, as well as a handful of adventure hooks and random encounters to help jump-start a game. 12 Mid-Sized Towns for Any Fantasy RPG offers a diverse range of unique, ready-to-use towns, each meticulously crafted to fit seamlessly into any fantasy setting. 12 distinct town descriptions come complete with maps, detailed information on population, leadership, commerce, organizations, and a colorful cast of NPCs.

Horror | The Diner by DMDave

• SYSTEM: Year Zero Engine
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover core rulebook/softcover adventure
• RETAIL PRICE: $9.99/$22
• DESCRIPTION: In Horror, PCs go on a haunting journey to face their deepest fears and confront twisted nightmares that will shake them to their core. PCs confront supernatural terrors and sinister beings that lurk in the shadows, waiting to claim their next victim. In The Diner, the PCs step into the retro 1980s world of the eponymous diner to face five terrifying scenarios. A zombie attack engulfs the diner forcing the patrons to fight for their lives, swarms of bloodthirsty spiders threaten to consume everything in their path, a demonic showdown threatens both sanity and life, and more. Includes pre-generated characters.

Whisper & Venom (D&D 5E) | Whisper & Venom (Old-School Essentials) | Whisper & Venom (Old-School Essentials) (Limited Edition) by Necromancer Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition/Old-School Essentials
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcovers with poster map/leather bound with poster map
• RETAIL PRICE: $59.00 each/$200
• DESCRIPTION: An adventure designed for parties of four to eight characters of levels three to five. Located in the Whisper Vale, a far glacial valley at the fringes of society, consists of three insular villagers beset by an outside supernatural force and hardships of their own making. Whisper is a hard-working, low-nonsense village of farmers and tradespeople. It consists of humble farmsteads, a busy inn, an empty temple, and a smattering of small shops. Swindle, a once idyllic town across the bridge from Whisper, was abandoned in a catastrophe and settled, in a second catastrophe, by a band of lazy goblin bandits. Cleft is a dwarven settlement where the younger generation ceased working thanks to an ingenious machine that simulates the sounds of production. Includes a creepy area full of undead, a noisome goblins’ lair, and dangerous caverns.

Heart of St. Bathus | Heart of St. Bathus (Limited Edition) by Frog God Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover/leather bound
• RETAIL PRICE: $60/$200
• DESCRIPTION: A sandbox-style campaign designed to take a party of characters from level three to level 12. Long ago, a bold paladin sought the same glory as his celebrated ancestors, but in a moment of weakness, he gave up his own soul in exchange for success in battle. He now lies suspended between life and death, and his soul is lost. The PCs, answering an appeal for aid from the monks of Goodheart Abbey, seek to find it and redeem a fallen paladin while facing the wrath of a powerful demon lord in the process.

Blood Altared - Adventure & Expanded Content | Space Cruisers - Starship Creation, Combat, & Additional Locations | Space Raiders - Classes Factions & Hexcrawl Adventures by Infinite Black

• SYSTEM: Vast Grimm
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplements
• RETAIL PRICE: $24.99 each
• DESCRIPTION: In Blood Altared, the PCs strap in for a neon-drenched interstellar rescue mission to free the lead quantum scientist from the clutches of an elite sect of Devout freaks dead set on sacrificing her to THEY. On the Fatumite colony on K2-116B, blood-soaked maps guide PCs armed with rad weapons through the Mausoleum of THEY and the twisted caverns lurking beneath. Includes: maps of the Mausoleum of THEY, the Fatumite Colony map, caverns map, four Devout classes like the toxic-spewing Rotters, new weapons, new tributes, and new creatures. Space Cruisers includes fast and brutal starship combat rules and salvage rules. Includes starship creation, modding the ship, locations for starships to visit, and many tables. Space Raiders - Classes Factions & Hexcrawl Adventures covers the gross and weird galaxy-fairing pirates known as Space Raiders. Includes: eight formidable factions from Cyber Sharks to Princess Pain with details about specific NPCs, four Space Raider classes, a sea of abandoned starships known as The Graveyard, Space Raider’s starship modifications, and lots of tables.

Charlie Dunwoody participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program and the Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG and Noble Knight Games respectively.

 

[FoolishFrost]

Don't we already have a pony rpg… is a few years old now?

 

[Retreater]

Don't we already have a pony rpg… is a few years old now?

Yes. I think the news is that these are discounted starter bundles, repackaging old content.

 

[timbannock]

Are you thinking of Tales of Equestria? That one is OOP and used a different system.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Has anyone compared Tails of Equestria to the My Little Pony RPG? My youngest asked me to run one more game of Tails (it's what I used to bring her into roleplaying during the pandemic) and lordy, its adventures are terrible and made worse by giant blocks of text, no use of bolding to highlight important elements or common sense ways of breaking down info like bullet points.

She's probably not going to want to play again after this, but it just strikes me that if someone as enthusiastic as the Tails team had been paired with a project manager who knows what a good RPG product looks like, this line -- which seemed to have been quite popular in its day, given how many products were created for it -- would have been a lot better.

 

[overgeeked]

Has anyone compared Tails of Equestria to the My Little Pony RPG? My youngest asked me to run one more game of Tails (it's what I used to bring her into roleplaying during the pandemic) and lordy, its adventures are terrible and made worse by giant blocks of text, no use of bolding to highlight important elements or common sense ways of breaking down info like bullet points.

She's probably not going to want to play again after this, but it just strikes me that if someone as enthusiastic as the Tails team had been paired with a project manager who knows what a good RPG product looks like, this line -- which seemed to have been quite popular in its day, given how many products were created for it -- would have been a lot better.

Publishing RPG books as boutique art books rather than actually usable game manuals.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Publishing RPG books as boutique art books rather than actually usable game manuals.

If they had gone all-out on the art, that would have been nice as well.

None of the stuff I would have expected from the books -- a detailed atlas of Equestria and Ponyville, descriptions on how to make adventures in the style of My Little Pony, formatting designed to be accessible to kids (although it's written in language clearly intended for them) -- is in the Tails books. It's really baffling.

Luckily, my youngest is just about done with MLP (she's now at the age where she mostly pretends she never liked them), but as a consumer of RPG products, it's galling how half-assed the Tails line is, despite the obvious enthusiasm of some of the contributors. It wouldn't have taken a lot of work to move this line from a C or D level game to a solid B or even an A.

 

[aramis erak]

Yes. I think the news is that these are discounted starter bundles, repackaging old content.

Transformers and GI Joe, kind of - they're still under a year old.
The MLP is a migration product. ISTR it being a 2023-Q4 release. The system is different (despite both being step die systems) and I can uneuivocably state that I hated the new River Horse house engine.
I don't know how it's been adapted to MLP, but ToE was the right level for the show's tone.
This marks a sad passing.

 

[Ghost2020]

Luckily, my youngest is just about done with MLP (she's now at the age where she mostly pretends she never liked them), but as a consumer of RPG products, it's galling how half-assed the Tails line is, despite the obvious enthusiasm of some of the contributors. It wouldn't have taken a lot of work to move this line from a C or D level game to a solid B or even an A.

My 5 (almost 6) year old, really likes No Thank You Evil. It's a fast easy system that allows for great improv if needed. Lots of supplements to get the game rolling, and lots of options for younger kids. Likely up to 8 or 9.
We've had so many sessions, that I now have to keep a campaign log to reference all the characters she's met, places she's been, and adventures she's been on, as she references them and wants to revisit them.

 

[aramis erak]

If they had gone all-out on the art, that would have been nice as well.

None of the stuff I would have expected from the books -- a detailed atlas of Equestria and Ponyville, descriptions on how to make adventures in the style of My Little Pony, formatting designed to be accessible to kids (although it's written in language clearly intended for them) -- is in the Tails books. It's really baffling.

Luckily, my youngest is just about done with MLP (she's now at the age where she mostly pretends she never liked them), but as a consumer of RPG products, it's galling how half-assed the Tails line is, despite the obvious enthusiasm of some of the contributors. It wouldn't have taken a lot of work to move this line from a C or D level game to a solid B or even an A.

The writing level of Tails is about grade 4. The adventures are a touch railroady, but I found them quite fun to run for adults.

The lack of locality detail maps is intentional - because they're not consistent in the show. The Compendium provides some good details about the various places, tho'.

The look and layout is that of about grade 4 texts, and the language used is similar. The intended audience won't need much advice on the setting tropes - as they're fans of the show.