RPG Print News – Kobold Press, Exalted Funeral, Catalyst, and More

This week Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition gets an updated third party monster manual, a creepy theater district, and a Cthulhu Mythos DM screen. The OSR gets adventures and more monsters. Shadowrun - Sixth World gets a supplement and there are two unique new RPGs as well.

Note: RPG Print News covers new 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.

Tome of Beasts 1 (2023 Edition) | Tome of Beasts 1 (2023 Pocket Edition) | Tome of Beasts 1 (2023 Limited Edition) by Kobold Press

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover monster supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $59.99/$29.99/$79.99
• DESCRIPTION: Tome of Beasts 1 (2023 edition) presents more than 400 foes suitable for any campaign setting—from tiny drakes and peculiar spiders to demon lords and ancient dragons. Includes: updates to include errata and streamline mechanics, 11 new creatures like the ashwalker and the ancient cave dragon, and expanded tables by creature type and terrain. Available in 2023 edition, pocket edition, and limited edition.

Bloody Theater by Fey Light Studio

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover setting supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $10
• DESCRIPTION: A theater district complete with map and two encounter tables. Long ago Vamilda Thrace hunted down the vampire Thorne Astric. Vamilda retired and started the Animus Playhouse in honor of the companions she lost. Now, Astric’s is back for revenge and his machinations threaten to destroy everything Vamilda holds dear. Includes four unique factions: Vampires, the Watch, Kobold Street Sweepers, and the Shifting Hands gang. There are 17 NPCs, six monsters, a new weapon: the kukri, and a cursed version: kukri of bleeding. Lastly, casino games have been added to use at The Glittering Die or any other gambling establishment.

GM Screen – Cthulhu D&D 5E by Sandy Petersen Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: Cthulhu DM Screen
• RETAIL PRICE: $19.99
• DESCRIPTION: A 3 panel GM screen with creepy Cthulhu art but for D&D 5E. The inside contains tables and quick look ups for GMs that are specific to the Sandy Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos (as well as for D&D 5E generally).

Cathedral of the Undying by Studio 9 Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover adventure
• RETAIL PRICE: $9.99
• DESCRIPTION: A level 5 adventure into a cursed cathedral where death is only the beginning for the PCs. The PCs will not initially die if killed. A force is bringing them back to life, but also one step closer towards becoming a mindless undead. PCs imagining this is a form of invulnerability may soon discover they have permanently joined the creatures of the night. There are also visual puzzles for the PCs to solve.

Octhorrorfest! | Elder Oak | What's so Rotten about Zombies Defending an Ancient Temple? | Volume 2 Monsters & by Exalted Funeral

• SYSTEM: Old-School Essentials/OSR/What's So Cool About/OSR
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover supplements
• RETAIL PRICE: $15 each
• DESCRIPTION: Octhorrorfest! covers the magic and terror of Halloween and it's ancestor Samhain. Rules are presented for: new classes (witch, witchhunter and the Jack-O-Kin), spells for the witch, Ritual Magic rules for all spell casters, monsters inspired by monster movies, an Elder Sign, possession, obsession, exorcism, curing vampirism, Jack-O-Lantern magic, and more. Elder Oak is a compact adventure of mystery, dungeon delving and dark psychedelia for characters of 1st to 4th level. In a forest village neighbors are kidnapped, man-things haunt the woods, and giant snakes are on the loose. The PCs are needed. An old oak tree calls to the village. Dark secrets await below the blood-soaked earth and black roots, under the Elder Oak. What's so Rotten about Zombies Defending an Ancient Temple?, besides being one of the longest RPG names I’ve seen, is about PCs being rotting zombies doing an evil god’s bidding and guarding an ancient temple. The players explore what it means to be a monster and explore the motivations of evil creatures. It’s dark, grim, and probably goofy. Includes tables to help create an evil god, populate and design a temple, and create gross, rotting zombie characters. There’s also a few tables to help the GM keep said zombies busy. Even if not run as written, the GM will have help in designing evils gods, ancient temples, and rotting zombies. Volume 2 Monsters & contains rule light stats and weird poetry adjacent descriptions of how various D&D monsters came into existence in a fantasy world. This one freaks me out a bit, so likely a winner.

Body Shop by Catalyst Game Labs

• SYSTEM: Shadowrun - Sixth World
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $49.99
• DESCRIPTION: A core augmentation rulebook. Cyberware, bioware, geneware, and more can help PCs build the self that is needed to rise to the occasion and be the person who can withstand whatever the world throws at them. PCs can cut away all the wrong parts until all that is left is faster, stronger, and smarter.

Velvet Generation by XIG Games

• SYSTEM: unique
• PRODUCT TYPE: softover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $45
• DESCRIPTION: The year is 2073. The aliens have arrived, but Earth is not what they expected. Humanity has taken a dark turn, silencing music, the arts, literature…any kind of expression they believed could inspire “dangerous” thoughts. The Ministry of Music looms large over the entire world, stamping out rebellious culture with steel-sheathed jackboots. With nowhere to go but forward, the Starchildren descended, joining the few Earthlings like the PCs, the Velvet Generation, still carrying a spark of rock and roll. They catalyzed a new rock ‘n’ roll revolution that will break the Ministry’s chains on the soul of humanity. A new reboot of 2002's original tabletop roleplaying game of rock and revolution, Starchildren: Velvet Generation.

Code Warriors by Nerd Burger Games

• SYSTEM: unique
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $39.99
• DESCRIPTION: PCs are programs living inside a computer world. The computer is crashing, perhaps for the last time. It's the apocalypse. The PCs had a specific role in the previous world but now they have to find their way when all the old structures are gone. Play centers on survival, teamwork, the unknown, power and control, and rebuilding a new world in the ashes of the old.

 

[Egg Embry]

Code Warriors! Come out to play-yay!
Love me some NerdBurger Games!

 

[Weiley31]

I just recently received my copy of the Tome of Beasts 1 2023 Limited Edition cover. And I gotta say, the actual book looks WAAAAY more beautiful in person than what the stock image would lead you to think. The grinning dragon on the cover is more in a pleasant teal blue ala Tome of Beasts 3 limited edition cover's blue lines. The title, Tome of Beasts I, is in more of a gold lining with the red leather cover.

I would assume that when Kobold Press eventually does a Tome of Beasts 2 2023(24?), it will follow a similar pattern ala Tome of Beasts 3/1 2023 Limited Edition covers.