Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week’s gaming news. Preview of Acquisitions Inc. sourcebook, Call of Cthulhu books destroyed by the government, new Pathfinder and D&D minis from WizKids, and more!
The new Acquisitions Incorporated sourcebook, based on the long-running Dungeons & Dragons “show” from Penny Arcade and Wizards of the Coast, got a preview in the lead up to PAX East. The hardcover book will feature information for both new players of D&D like advice on character creation to make unique characters and information for dungeonmasters to be more creative in their adventures. And for more experienced players, there’s the usual mix of new character options, monsters, NPCs, and more including a brand new adventure taking characters from first to sixth level. Acquisitions Incorporated started as a gameplay demo podcast in 2008 that expanded into live stage shows at PAX, a nationwide theatrical live-streamed event, and a regular Twitch live stream. The book releases on June 18 with a retail price of $49.95, pre-orders currently exclusive to the Penny Arcade store until April 1, after which pre-orders will be available at D&D Beyond and other outlets.
The Chinese government seized and destroyed the entire print run of a Call of Cthulhu sourcebook Kickstarted by Sons of the Singularity, The Sassoon Files. The book, produced by an American publisher and meant for an English-speaking audience nevertheless found itself afoul of Chinese censors due to its setting, 1920s Shanghai. Chinese laws on entertainment and media are strict about what material can be used even in fiction and particularly how China and its history are presented, with supernatural elements placed under increased scrutiny. Normally you hear about this as it applies to censorship or seemingly odd creative choices in feature films (most recently, Doctor Strange made changes to the character’s origins from a Tibetan monastery with strong Buddhist and Taoist influences to a more nondescript “remote temple” and more Celtic designs), and this is the first reported incident of a roleplaying game featuring such censorship. Sons of the Singularity stated they are in the process of reprinting the book with an American printer, creating a delay of “about 5 weeks” in fulfilment on physical rewards.
WizKids launched previews of several new lines of miniatures, both for Dungeons & Dragons and for Pathfinder. First, the D&D Icons of the Realm Premium Figures line is expanding with six new miniatures: Aasimar female wizard, dragonborn male fighter, elf female druid, human male paladin, tiefling male sorcerer, and tiefling female sorcerer. Each pre-painted figure will be sold and packaged individually in clear plastic so you know exactly which mini you’re getting. The last part is important as the normal D&D Icons of the Realm line, which will be getting a new expansion of 45 figures, is a random set in closed cardboard boxes, each with one large and three medium or small pre-painted figures. Both of these will be released this August. Coming in September will be an expansion to the unpainted miniature line Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures with 23 new miniatures, with about half being PC/NPC minis and the other half focusing on elementals, demons, golems, dragon wyrmlings, and other monsters. Also in September is the unpainted line Pathfinder Deep Cuts which will have five new miniatures: Pit devil, bone gol2m, necromancers (2), male elf rogue (2), and male half-orc druid (2). Coming along is the WizKids Deep Cuts series that is mostly terrain, such as an archery range, hanging cage, guillotine, well, tents, and more. And finally, if you’re wanting something now, the Pathfinder Battles: Ruins of Lastwall set is now available which features 44 pre-painted miniatures in the same “one large, three small/medium” distribution of random booster boxes.
Pegasus Spiele announced a new edition of Talisman Adventures: The Fantasy Role Playing Game coming at Gen Con. The game is based on the Talisman board game series with a similar plot, players taking on the role of humans, elves, sprites, ghouls, or trolls traveling The Realm seeking Talismans. The game will use a 3d6-based game system that looks to draw some influence from the AGE system – one of the dice is the “Kismet Die” with additional influence on skill checks and actions depending on the result. The core rulebook will be a 244-page hardcover with all rules needed to play with a retail price of $29.99, with a special limited edition also announced but with no further details yet.
Fantasy Flight Games is giving away a free adventure for their Genesys system setting Shadow of the Beanstalk. “Night on the Town” is a two-part adventure meant to help introduce players to the cyberpunk setting based on the Android series of card games, sending players through the seedy port districts of New Angeles. An old friend shows up to give them a code that allows smugglers to move illegal goods up and down the Beanstalk space elevator, and then appropriately gets killed, leaving the players in the middle of two powerful organizations who want the code for themselves. The adventure also has a separate PDF with pre-generated characters specifically designed for the adventure, based on one ran at PAX Unplugged last year.
Atlas Games announced a new version of the award-winning card game Gloom called Gloom of Thrones. This game is based on the original Gloom created by Keith Baker, this time with art from D20 Monkey artist Brian Patterson and presented as a very obvious Game of Thrones parody. The theme of the game fits surprisingly well with the repeated misfortunes of every noble in Westeros as the purpose of the game is to inflict as much suffering on your “characters” as possible before killing them, crafting a story as you go with the terrible events you put them through, or the joyous ones you inflict on other players’ families to make them happier. The game will come to Kickstarter next month.
The ENnie Awards have updated their category list in the lead-up to the 2019 Awards. Several categories have had minor tweaks and clarifications to better represent the spirit of the category, particularly in the category Best Online Content, Best Aid/Accessory (Digital), and Best Aid/Accessory (Non-Digital). A new category has also been added for Best Layout and Design. Submissions from publishers for consideration are now open and run until May 4, 2019.
EN Publishing, the game publishing arm of EN World, has a new One Page Adventure, “The Mystery of Mordecai’s Monster”. Based on an EN5ider adventure by Dan Head, this adventure places the PCs on the trail of the abomination created by a mad wizard to stop it before it can run rampage on the countryside. The one-page adventure is available for free via Patreon and is based on D&D 5e rules, but easily adapted to other systems with everything you need to run the adventure is the one page and your favorite source of monster stats.
[video=youtube;N0SCGzDJbIo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0SCGzDJbIo[/video]
I released the newest episode in my Gamer’s Tavern History Check series, this time all about the behind-the-scenes history of the development of the Dragonlance setting. Covering everything from the origins of Raistlin’s hourglass eyes and golden skin all the way to the proposed reboot of the setting for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition with a new novel trilogy by Dresden Files author Jim Butcher, the video takes a look at the small and big moments in the development of the setting.
Did you watch Into the Spider-Verse and think the concept of Spider-Noir was cool and started having ideas of a noir-inspired superhero of your own? Well, Capers Noir is here to fill that need, placing superheroes in a 1920s-1950s noir setting filled with corruption, vice, murder, and darkness lurking in the shadows. The setting book Capers Noir is available in PDF (with an at-cost print-on-demand voucher included) for $10, both the setting and the core Capers rulebook for $23, and a special $35 level that gets all the Capers products released so far, either in PDF or at-cost print-on-demand or both. This project is fully funded and runs until Thursday, April 11.
Space opera and the western have been tied since the old pulp era with even Star Trek described as “a wagon train to the stars”, so Manifest the RPG has a strong pedigree behind it beyond just Firefly as an influence. The game is set in a frontier system not quite yet tamed where many passed through a wormhole to seek their fortune…before the wormhole collapsed and cut the system off entirely from Earth. Those left behind struggle to survive in the wilds of Manifest or else settle down in the factory-owned towns controlled by corporate barons. The PDF is available for a $20 pledge, the hardcover for $50, and special access to further material for the game in playtesting for $60. This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Monday, April 1.
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 Twitch to see more of Thela Iwidia, Chiss Jedi Knight in Star Wars: The Old Republic, 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.
The new Acquisitions Incorporated sourcebook, based on the long-running Dungeons & Dragons “show” from Penny Arcade and Wizards of the Coast, got a preview in the lead up to PAX East. The hardcover book will feature information for both new players of D&D like advice on character creation to make unique characters and information for dungeonmasters to be more creative in their adventures. And for more experienced players, there’s the usual mix of new character options, monsters, NPCs, and more including a brand new adventure taking characters from first to sixth level. Acquisitions Incorporated started as a gameplay demo podcast in 2008 that expanded into live stage shows at PAX, a nationwide theatrical live-streamed event, and a regular Twitch live stream. The book releases on June 18 with a retail price of $49.95, pre-orders currently exclusive to the Penny Arcade store until April 1, after which pre-orders will be available at D&D Beyond and other outlets.
The Chinese government seized and destroyed the entire print run of a Call of Cthulhu sourcebook Kickstarted by Sons of the Singularity, The Sassoon Files. The book, produced by an American publisher and meant for an English-speaking audience nevertheless found itself afoul of Chinese censors due to its setting, 1920s Shanghai. Chinese laws on entertainment and media are strict about what material can be used even in fiction and particularly how China and its history are presented, with supernatural elements placed under increased scrutiny. Normally you hear about this as it applies to censorship or seemingly odd creative choices in feature films (most recently, Doctor Strange made changes to the character’s origins from a Tibetan monastery with strong Buddhist and Taoist influences to a more nondescript “remote temple” and more Celtic designs), and this is the first reported incident of a roleplaying game featuring such censorship. Sons of the Singularity stated they are in the process of reprinting the book with an American printer, creating a delay of “about 5 weeks” in fulfilment on physical rewards.
WizKids launched previews of several new lines of miniatures, both for Dungeons & Dragons and for Pathfinder. First, the D&D Icons of the Realm Premium Figures line is expanding with six new miniatures: Aasimar female wizard, dragonborn male fighter, elf female druid, human male paladin, tiefling male sorcerer, and tiefling female sorcerer. Each pre-painted figure will be sold and packaged individually in clear plastic so you know exactly which mini you’re getting. The last part is important as the normal D&D Icons of the Realm line, which will be getting a new expansion of 45 figures, is a random set in closed cardboard boxes, each with one large and three medium or small pre-painted figures. Both of these will be released this August. Coming in September will be an expansion to the unpainted miniature line Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures with 23 new miniatures, with about half being PC/NPC minis and the other half focusing on elementals, demons, golems, dragon wyrmlings, and other monsters. Also in September is the unpainted line Pathfinder Deep Cuts which will have five new miniatures: Pit devil, bone gol2m, necromancers (2), male elf rogue (2), and male half-orc druid (2). Coming along is the WizKids Deep Cuts series that is mostly terrain, such as an archery range, hanging cage, guillotine, well, tents, and more. And finally, if you’re wanting something now, the Pathfinder Battles: Ruins of Lastwall set is now available which features 44 pre-painted miniatures in the same “one large, three small/medium” distribution of random booster boxes.
Pegasus Spiele announced a new edition of Talisman Adventures: The Fantasy Role Playing Game coming at Gen Con. The game is based on the Talisman board game series with a similar plot, players taking on the role of humans, elves, sprites, ghouls, or trolls traveling The Realm seeking Talismans. The game will use a 3d6-based game system that looks to draw some influence from the AGE system – one of the dice is the “Kismet Die” with additional influence on skill checks and actions depending on the result. The core rulebook will be a 244-page hardcover with all rules needed to play with a retail price of $29.99, with a special limited edition also announced but with no further details yet.
Fantasy Flight Games is giving away a free adventure for their Genesys system setting Shadow of the Beanstalk. “Night on the Town” is a two-part adventure meant to help introduce players to the cyberpunk setting based on the Android series of card games, sending players through the seedy port districts of New Angeles. An old friend shows up to give them a code that allows smugglers to move illegal goods up and down the Beanstalk space elevator, and then appropriately gets killed, leaving the players in the middle of two powerful organizations who want the code for themselves. The adventure also has a separate PDF with pre-generated characters specifically designed for the adventure, based on one ran at PAX Unplugged last year.
Atlas Games announced a new version of the award-winning card game Gloom called Gloom of Thrones. This game is based on the original Gloom created by Keith Baker, this time with art from D20 Monkey artist Brian Patterson and presented as a very obvious Game of Thrones parody. The theme of the game fits surprisingly well with the repeated misfortunes of every noble in Westeros as the purpose of the game is to inflict as much suffering on your “characters” as possible before killing them, crafting a story as you go with the terrible events you put them through, or the joyous ones you inflict on other players’ families to make them happier. The game will come to Kickstarter next month.
The ENnie Awards have updated their category list in the lead-up to the 2019 Awards. Several categories have had minor tweaks and clarifications to better represent the spirit of the category, particularly in the category Best Online Content, Best Aid/Accessory (Digital), and Best Aid/Accessory (Non-Digital). A new category has also been added for Best Layout and Design. Submissions from publishers for consideration are now open and run until May 4, 2019.
EN Publishing, the game publishing arm of EN World, has a new One Page Adventure, “The Mystery of Mordecai’s Monster”. Based on an EN5ider adventure by Dan Head, this adventure places the PCs on the trail of the abomination created by a mad wizard to stop it before it can run rampage on the countryside. The one-page adventure is available for free via Patreon and is based on D&D 5e rules, but easily adapted to other systems with everything you need to run the adventure is the one page and your favorite source of monster stats.
[video=youtube;N0SCGzDJbIo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0SCGzDJbIo[/video]
I released the newest episode in my Gamer’s Tavern History Check series, this time all about the behind-the-scenes history of the development of the Dragonlance setting. Covering everything from the origins of Raistlin’s hourglass eyes and golden skin all the way to the proposed reboot of the setting for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition with a new novel trilogy by Dresden Files author Jim Butcher, the video takes a look at the small and big moments in the development of the setting.
Did you watch Into the Spider-Verse and think the concept of Spider-Noir was cool and started having ideas of a noir-inspired superhero of your own? Well, Capers Noir is here to fill that need, placing superheroes in a 1920s-1950s noir setting filled with corruption, vice, murder, and darkness lurking in the shadows. The setting book Capers Noir is available in PDF (with an at-cost print-on-demand voucher included) for $10, both the setting and the core Capers rulebook for $23, and a special $35 level that gets all the Capers products released so far, either in PDF or at-cost print-on-demand or both. This project is fully funded and runs until Thursday, April 11.
Space opera and the western have been tied since the old pulp era with even Star Trek described as “a wagon train to the stars”, so Manifest the RPG has a strong pedigree behind it beyond just Firefly as an influence. The game is set in a frontier system not quite yet tamed where many passed through a wormhole to seek their fortune…before the wormhole collapsed and cut the system off entirely from Earth. Those left behind struggle to survive in the wilds of Manifest or else settle down in the factory-owned towns controlled by corporate barons. The PDF is available for a $20 pledge, the hardcover for $50, and special access to further material for the game in playtesting for $60. This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Monday, April 1.
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 Twitch to see more of Thela Iwidia, Chiss Jedi Knight in Star Wars: The Old Republic, 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.
