Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week’s gaming news. The world’s most complete tyrannosaurs rex skeleton is once again running a D&D game on Twitter, and do I really need to do more of a summary? A dinosaur is DMing a game of D&D!!
SUE (the name of the most complete tyrannosaurus fossil FMNH PR 2081) is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter. This isn’t the first time the official social media account of the Field Museum of Natural History exhibit has run a game of D&D, with the first time back in 2017 and earning the Twitter account cult status. The party includes several social media accounts for Chicago-area museums, zoos, and other exhibits. SUE was discovered in 1990 and is a 90% complete skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex and is a permanent feature in the Chicago Field Museum, now with their own private suite (the dinosaur uses they/them pronouns as the gender and sex of the specimen cannot be determined). SUE was 28 years old at the time of their death and examinations of the fossil have greatly expanded our understanding of what life was like for dinosaurs. If SUE sounds familiar, they also played a key role in the Dresden Files novel Dead Beat. Also, SUE apparently reads EN World, so hello! Please don’t eat me…
Speaking of Dungeons & Dragons, the first reviews are out of the new releases from Wizards of the Coast. EN World has first look impressions from columnist Beth Rimmels for Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage as well as a full review of the former (the review contains spoilers). Both books are available now at Wizard Play Network stores (at least in the United States, as there are reports of delayed shipments to stores in Europe and other countries possibly related to the printing issues previously reported). Mass market outlets including Barnes & Noble and Amazon will have Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage this Tuesday, November 20.
Additionally, the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Gift Set is also available in select hobby stores now with mass market release also on Tuesday, November 20. This new printing includes the Player’s Handbook, Dungeonmaster’s Guide, Monster Manual, and DM’s Screen in a slipcover for a retail price of $169.95 (though many mass market outlets are selling the set for far less) and will be the first printing with the new 2018 errata. The deluxe edition with an alternate cover design is available only to hobby stores with the same retail price, though copies are available through the marketplace on Amazon. The errata has not yet been released publicly, but should be available soon according to an October tweet from Jeremy Crawford.
Hasbro announced a new chain of “family entertainment centers” in association with entertainment company Kilburn Live. From the press release:
While Dungeons & Dragons wasn’t mentioned in the press release, Magic: The Gathering was listed in the “About Hasbro” section and it’s possible that a fantasy-based addition may be added in the future or announced as the centers are preparing to open as part of the “multiple location rollout across North America”. Kilburn Media is an entertainment company that produces films and television as well as live entertainment experiences such as themed stage magic, Cirque events, and live licensed America's Got Talent events. Kilburn Media has hired the former CEO of Main Event Entertainment, Charlie Keegan, to head the new project (which will give more of an idea what to expect from these centers). No specific locations or opening dates have been announced.
Wizards of the Coast also launched a new board game under their Avalon Hill label, Betrayal Legacy. This new campaign-play version of Betrayal at House on the Hill. Designed by Rob Daviau (who also created the legacy versions of Risk and Pandemic), the game will feature a campaign which will create a permanent House with its own history and board. However, the game doesn’t end when the campaign does as the game comes with a book of 50 additional haunts to play even after the original legacy campaign is completed. This game is available now with a retail price of $75.00.
In the weeks following Essen Spiel, more reports of theft from vendors have come to light. Japanime Games reported a theft of between six and seven thousand Euros, Greenbriar Games had a money bag containing about $1000 from behind their counter, and Artipia Games had an entire cash register stolen. One person arrested from the team that robbed Artipia was found with a taser gun. This follows previous seemingly-organized robberies of vendors at Essen Spiel, most notably LudiCreations who created a Kickstarter for Steal This Game in order to raise funds to replace those that were stolen. Artipia has decided to follow in their footsteps with the A Fair, A Robbery, and A Promo Pack Kickstarter which contains promo pack expansions for several of their games with the games themselves available for purchase as add-ons. However, if you want in on this Kickstarter, it only runs until 3:30 PM Central time today, Thursday, November 15.
Humble has a dream collection for aspiring video game designers and video/podcast producers with the RPG Game Dev bundle. The asset collection worth over $700 includes 2D sprites and tiles are perfect for roleplaying games, but the biggest gem in this are the sound effect and music assets with seven different bundles of hundreds and thousands of sound effects and musical cues all licensed for use in video games, podcasts, videos, streams, and anything else you can think of. This bundle benefits Child’s Play and runs until Wednesday, November 28.
The two Warhammer bundles are also still going as well. Black Library: Voices from the Worlds of Warhammer features twenty-five audio books and audio dramas from Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer: Age of Sigmar including Dan Abbnett’s Horus Rising and Guy Haley’s Dark Imperium. The Warhammer Bundle features several video games licensed from Games Workshop including Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Talisman, Blood Bowl, Battlefleet Gothic Armada, and more. These bundles run until Tuesday, November 20, and Wednesday, November 21, respectively.
The first game this week is too cool of a concept not to mention, as Nighty Knights is a tinyD6 roleplaying game where you play stuffed animals, dolls, action figures, and other beloved toys defending your sleeping children from monsters and nightmares. Character creation and rules adjudication are fast, making this a great game for a short filler campaign or convention game. The PDF is available for a $10 pledge, the print version for $25, and other pledge levels for custom dice, GM screen, and more bundles. This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Monday, November 19.
Finding the right art assets for online games can feel impossible, no matter what virtual tabletop you use. This RPG Asset Packs Kickstarter includes three different packs of PNG art files with hundreds of NPCs, figures, terrain, objects, and more ready to import and use immediately. Each set is very loosely themed but contains a mix of animals, monsters, decorations, floors, furniture, ships, structures, textures, effects, and vegetation. One pack is available for a $15 pledge, two for $25, and three for $35 with options available to purchase a commercial license as well to use the assets in your own products. This project still has a bit more to go to reach its funding goal, but still has until Friday, November 16 at 10:00PM Central to get the final $250 to fund.
Looking for something a little more interesting than the standard Medieval/Renaissance Europe fantasy setting? The Mythic D6 setting Bastion is an afrocentric sword and fantasy world set in a post-apocalyptic world. Set in the last city on the edge of oblivion, the heroes are Fihankra, warriors with adinkra symbols carved into their foreheads that blaze with blue flame granting the divine power of the god Nyame, seeking to reclaim what they can from the dying land of Ife Oodaye. The setting PDF is available for a $15 pledge with a print version available for $30, and a bundle available with the Mythic D6 core rules for $30 in PDF and $80 in print. This Kickstarter is also at the time of writing about $250 short of its funding goal, but has until Wednesday, November 21 to cross the finish line.
And closing out, this is another Kickstarter that will either sell you on the title alone or it won’t: Munchkin Steampunk: Girl Genius. This 112 card expansion for Munchkin Steampunk features art by Phil and Kaja Foglio and focuses on characters, events, and items from their comic, Girl Genius. And with all Munchkin expansions, it’s cross-compatible across genres if you don’t have the Munchkin Steampunk core set but own a different version. The set is available for a $15 pledge with no stretch goals or $20 with stretch goals. This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Wednesday, November 21.
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@enworldnews.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 Twitter @Abstruse where I’ve been pondering the nature of genre fiction and gaming and our relation to both, follow me on Twitch as I finish up Dragon Age: Origins, subscribe to Gamer’s Tavern on YouTube featuring videos on gaming history 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.
SUE (the name of the most complete tyrannosaurus fossil FMNH PR 2081) is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter. This isn’t the first time the official social media account of the Field Museum of Natural History exhibit has run a game of D&D, with the first time back in 2017 and earning the Twitter account cult status. The party includes several social media accounts for Chicago-area museums, zoos, and other exhibits. SUE was discovered in 1990 and is a 90% complete skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex and is a permanent feature in the Chicago Field Museum, now with their own private suite (the dinosaur uses they/them pronouns as the gender and sex of the specimen cannot be determined). SUE was 28 years old at the time of their death and examinations of the fossil have greatly expanded our understanding of what life was like for dinosaurs. If SUE sounds familiar, they also played a key role in the Dresden Files novel Dead Beat. Also, SUE apparently reads EN World, so hello! Please don’t eat me…
Speaking of Dungeons & Dragons, the first reviews are out of the new releases from Wizards of the Coast. EN World has first look impressions from columnist Beth Rimmels for Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage as well as a full review of the former (the review contains spoilers). Both books are available now at Wizard Play Network stores (at least in the United States, as there are reports of delayed shipments to stores in Europe and other countries possibly related to the printing issues previously reported). Mass market outlets including Barnes & Noble and Amazon will have Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage this Tuesday, November 20.
Additionally, the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Gift Set is also available in select hobby stores now with mass market release also on Tuesday, November 20. This new printing includes the Player’s Handbook, Dungeonmaster’s Guide, Monster Manual, and DM’s Screen in a slipcover for a retail price of $169.95 (though many mass market outlets are selling the set for far less) and will be the first printing with the new 2018 errata. The deluxe edition with an alternate cover design is available only to hobby stores with the same retail price, though copies are available through the marketplace on Amazon. The errata has not yet been released publicly, but should be available soon according to an October tweet from Jeremy Crawford.
Hasbro announced a new chain of “family entertainment centers” in association with entertainment company Kilburn Live. From the press release:
Los Angeles-based Kilburn Live has entered into a licensing agreement with Hasbro, a global play and entertainment company, to create, build and operate Hasbro-themed family entertainment centers across the US and Canada. The indoor family entertainment facilities will take iconic Hasbro brands and create interactive, immersive and innovative entertainment experiences in a high-energy, gamified environment with multiple activity zones. […] Current licensed brands include well-known franchises including My Little Pony, Monopoly, Mr. Potato Head, GI Joe, Clue, Battleship, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Trivial Pursuit, Chutes and Ladders, and others.
While Dungeons & Dragons wasn’t mentioned in the press release, Magic: The Gathering was listed in the “About Hasbro” section and it’s possible that a fantasy-based addition may be added in the future or announced as the centers are preparing to open as part of the “multiple location rollout across North America”. Kilburn Media is an entertainment company that produces films and television as well as live entertainment experiences such as themed stage magic, Cirque events, and live licensed America's Got Talent events. Kilburn Media has hired the former CEO of Main Event Entertainment, Charlie Keegan, to head the new project (which will give more of an idea what to expect from these centers). No specific locations or opening dates have been announced.
Wizards of the Coast also launched a new board game under their Avalon Hill label, Betrayal Legacy. This new campaign-play version of Betrayal at House on the Hill. Designed by Rob Daviau (who also created the legacy versions of Risk and Pandemic), the game will feature a campaign which will create a permanent House with its own history and board. However, the game doesn’t end when the campaign does as the game comes with a book of 50 additional haunts to play even after the original legacy campaign is completed. This game is available now with a retail price of $75.00.
In the weeks following Essen Spiel, more reports of theft from vendors have come to light. Japanime Games reported a theft of between six and seven thousand Euros, Greenbriar Games had a money bag containing about $1000 from behind their counter, and Artipia Games had an entire cash register stolen. One person arrested from the team that robbed Artipia was found with a taser gun. This follows previous seemingly-organized robberies of vendors at Essen Spiel, most notably LudiCreations who created a Kickstarter for Steal This Game in order to raise funds to replace those that were stolen. Artipia has decided to follow in their footsteps with the A Fair, A Robbery, and A Promo Pack Kickstarter which contains promo pack expansions for several of their games with the games themselves available for purchase as add-ons. However, if you want in on this Kickstarter, it only runs until 3:30 PM Central time today, Thursday, November 15.
Humble has a dream collection for aspiring video game designers and video/podcast producers with the RPG Game Dev bundle. The asset collection worth over $700 includes 2D sprites and tiles are perfect for roleplaying games, but the biggest gem in this are the sound effect and music assets with seven different bundles of hundreds and thousands of sound effects and musical cues all licensed for use in video games, podcasts, videos, streams, and anything else you can think of. This bundle benefits Child’s Play and runs until Wednesday, November 28.
The two Warhammer bundles are also still going as well. Black Library: Voices from the Worlds of Warhammer features twenty-five audio books and audio dramas from Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer: Age of Sigmar including Dan Abbnett’s Horus Rising and Guy Haley’s Dark Imperium. The Warhammer Bundle features several video games licensed from Games Workshop including Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Talisman, Blood Bowl, Battlefleet Gothic Armada, and more. These bundles run until Tuesday, November 20, and Wednesday, November 21, respectively.
The first game this week is too cool of a concept not to mention, as Nighty Knights is a tinyD6 roleplaying game where you play stuffed animals, dolls, action figures, and other beloved toys defending your sleeping children from monsters and nightmares. Character creation and rules adjudication are fast, making this a great game for a short filler campaign or convention game. The PDF is available for a $10 pledge, the print version for $25, and other pledge levels for custom dice, GM screen, and more bundles. This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Monday, November 19.
Finding the right art assets for online games can feel impossible, no matter what virtual tabletop you use. This RPG Asset Packs Kickstarter includes three different packs of PNG art files with hundreds of NPCs, figures, terrain, objects, and more ready to import and use immediately. Each set is very loosely themed but contains a mix of animals, monsters, decorations, floors, furniture, ships, structures, textures, effects, and vegetation. One pack is available for a $15 pledge, two for $25, and three for $35 with options available to purchase a commercial license as well to use the assets in your own products. This project still has a bit more to go to reach its funding goal, but still has until Friday, November 16 at 10:00PM Central to get the final $250 to fund.
Looking for something a little more interesting than the standard Medieval/Renaissance Europe fantasy setting? The Mythic D6 setting Bastion is an afrocentric sword and fantasy world set in a post-apocalyptic world. Set in the last city on the edge of oblivion, the heroes are Fihankra, warriors with adinkra symbols carved into their foreheads that blaze with blue flame granting the divine power of the god Nyame, seeking to reclaim what they can from the dying land of Ife Oodaye. The setting PDF is available for a $15 pledge with a print version available for $30, and a bundle available with the Mythic D6 core rules for $30 in PDF and $80 in print. This Kickstarter is also at the time of writing about $250 short of its funding goal, but has until Wednesday, November 21 to cross the finish line.
And closing out, this is another Kickstarter that will either sell you on the title alone or it won’t: Munchkin Steampunk: Girl Genius. This 112 card expansion for Munchkin Steampunk features art by Phil and Kaja Foglio and focuses on characters, events, and items from their comic, Girl Genius. And with all Munchkin expansions, it’s cross-compatible across genres if you don’t have the Munchkin Steampunk core set but own a different version. The set is available for a $15 pledge with no stretch goals or $20 with stretch goals. This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Wednesday, November 21.
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@enworldnews.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 Twitter @Abstruse where I’ve been pondering the nature of genre fiction and gaming and our relation to both, follow me on Twitch as I finish up Dragon Age: Origins, subscribe to Gamer’s Tavern on YouTube featuring videos on gaming history 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.
