RPG Print News – Free League, Ares Games, and More

Monster tactics advice and a fumble deck for DMs. Four spooky adventures for Vaesan, shops for your fantasy RPG, an icy battle map, town battle maps, and a scenario for Shadowrun. New setting information and adventures for Lex Arcana’s magical Rome, an RPG graphic novel for The Dark Eye, and another battle map round out the week.

The Monsters Know What They're Doing by Saga Press

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: Hardcover DM monster advice
• RETAIL PRICE: $28.99
• DESCRIPTION: Gives the DM tactics to use with her monsters’ abilities and help develop battle plans before a game session begins. A DM can prep ahead of time to figure out how the monsters will advance, fight, and retreat.

Critical Fail Deck by Nord Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragon 5th Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: card deck supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $15
• DESCRIPTION: Card effects for melee, ranged, natural, and magic attacks when a one is rolled. Each card has a different income based on the attack made.

A Wicked Secret and Other Mysteries by Free League Games

• SYSTEM: Vaesen - Nordic Horror Roleplaying
• PRODUCT TYPE: adventure supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $39.99
• DESCRIPTION: Details four cases to challenge PCs. Each one can be played alone or as part of a campaign. In The Silver of the Sea a preacher’s death leads the PCs to the rocky western archipelago, where something strange is afoot on Wrecker Isle. The PCs journey to the deep forests of northern Sweden to investigate rumors of a savage beast in an isolated village in A Wicked Secret. PCa in The Night Sow investigate a cold-blooded murder in beautiful Mölle, a city by the sea, known to many as "the heart of sin. The Song of the Falling Star involves travel to Arensburg on the island of Oesel to discover the horrible truth about what has happened to a cursed child, a strange instrument, and a desperate aristocrat.

Cavern of Ice Battle Map by Gale Force Nine

• SYSTEM: systemless
• PRODUCT TYPE: battle map
• RETAIL PRICE: $25
• DESCRIPTION: A one inch grid vinyl battle map measuring 20 inches by 30 inches. Works with wet-erase markers. Depicts an icy cavern.

Little Book of Battle Mats Towns and Taverns by Loke Battlemaps

• SYSTEM: systemless fantasy
• PRODUCT TYPE: book of battle maps
• RETAIL PRICE: $12.99
• DESCRIPTION: 6" x 6" maps with one inch grid of shadowy city alleys and town streets and buildings. A lay flat book of 40 wipe-clean battle maps. 360° spine with a map on each side means pages on each side work together

Remarkable Shops and Their Wares by Loresmyth

• SYSTEM: mostly systemless fantasy
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $30
• DESCRIPTION: A fully illustrated book featuring eight ready-made shops with full color maps to use in any campaign world. A sequel to Remarkable Inns. Includes staff NPCs, exotic mounts, crafting custom items, magic items, and dozens of random generation tables. Includes rules so PCs can build and operate a store. With dozens of random generation tables, roleplaying game masters can now construct the most detailed shops ever to grace a fantasy world…

Collapsing Now by Catalyst Game Lab

• SYSTEM: Shadowrun 6th Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $49.99
• DESCRIPTION: Details ten groups that runners may encounter on the job. Covers what the group is up to, the problems they may cause, and the critical information runners need to know about. Includes information on how to adopt these groups into any campaign.

Encyclopaedia Arcana by Ares Games

• SYSTEM: Lex Arcana RPG
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover setting compendium
• RETAIL PRICE: $45
• DESCRIPTION: A setting compendium detailing magical Roman culure. Provides descriptions of the 20 provinces of the Empire along with communication routes; the structure of Imperial organization, bureaucracy and legions, including the Cohors Auxiliaria Arcana; Roman culture, economy and society, from banquets to smuggling; entries on medicamenta, poisons, and potions; new secrets linked to divination, dagic, and prophecies; and more than ten maps showing military camps, harbours, and other locations.

Mysteries of the Empire Volume I by Ares Games

• SYSTEM: Lex Arcana RPG
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover adventure compilation
• RETAIL PRICE: $35
• DESCRIPTION: A collection of short adventures for Lex Arcana ranging from dangerous challenges to epic deeds and world-shaking missions. Each can be played individually or combined into a larger campaign. The Custodes (PCs) will travel the length and breadth of the Empire from the western beaches of Hispania to the eastern borders of Thracia. Many of the adventures are written by well known RPG writers. Some of the adventures include The Sons of Caligula by Mark Rein•Hagen (Vampire: The Masquerade), The House of Wine by Gareth Hanrahan (Traveller), and To Live and Let Die in Byzantium by Michele Garbuggio and Francesco Nepitello (The One Ring).

The Andergastan Graphic Novel by Ulisses Spiele

• SYSTEM: The Dark Eye
• PRODUCT TYPE: RPG graphic novel
• RETAIL PRICE: $24.99
• DESCRIPTION: The story takes place in Aventuria, the setting for The Dark Eye RPG. Mutilated bodies in Nostria fanes the flames of anger between the warring kingdoms of Nostria and Andergast. The murders remind the locals of legends of the Black Andergastan, an almost mythical warrior who murdered freely in Nostria many years ago. The story spreads and panic rises. A young Albernian knight named Leandro of Arvun learns of the Black Andergatsan's supposed reappearance, he makes a fateful decision to join the investigation. The bloody trail reveals contradictory evidence, either the work of a twisted human or the act of an incarnate demon.

Battlemap - Dungeon and Grassland by Loke Battlemaps

• SYSTEM: systemless
• PRODUCT TYPE: battle map
• RETAIL PRICE: $22.99
• DESCRIPTION: A double-sided laminated board which folds out to create a 24" x 24" map with one inch grid which has flagstone on one side and grasslands on the other. Can be drawn on with any non-permanent marker (including dry wipe).

 

[dave2008]

Yep, didn't know. Thanks for the heads up. The reviews I read about it didn't cover the author.

Just want to point out the article @eyeheartawk linked gets into the rules, and the race section is very, well, racist. It is not just an author issue. It is a game issue.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Just want to point out the article @eyeheartawk linked gets into the rules, and the race section is very, well, racist. It is not just an author issue. It is a game issue.

Not sure what you're looking for here. I pulled the info out of the article.

As I said, Amazon has 35 reviews most 4 or 5 stars and those and the author bio say nothing about the author or the racism. Google has an 87% approval of the book. So other than the linked article, there is very little out there about the issues with a quick Google search and skimming the Amazon reviews. Thankfully I didn't read it but with about 10 new items listing each week I'm obviously not reading these all myself. I do want to cover a wide range of RPGs, not just the companies I know. This one turned out to be a loser.

In fact, this is a good public service announcement to stay away from the book.

 

[dave2008]

Not sure what you're looking for here. I pulled the info out of the article.

As I said, Amazon has 35 reviews most 4 or 5 stars and those and the author bio say nothing about the author or the racism. Google has an 87% approval of the book. So other than the linked article, there is very little out there about the issues with a quick Google search and skimming the Amazon reviews. Thankfully I didn't read it but with about 10 new items listing each week I'm obviously not reading these all myself. I do want to cover a wide range of RPGs, not just the companies I know. This one turned out to be a loser.

In fact, this is a good public service announcement to stay away from the book.

I was typing this post as others were posting and before you removed it.

I did not intend to suggest any fault of yours. I did want to point out that it is not just the case of the author being racist, but the game is explicitly racist as well.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

I was typing this post as others were posting and before you removed it.

I did not intend to suggest any fault of your. I did want to point out that it not just the case of the author being racist, but the game is explicitly racist as well.

Got it. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Stacie GmrGrl]

Lex Arcana is a great fantasy rpg. More books for it always good.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Lex Arcana is a great fantasy rpg. More books for it always good.

I read the quickstart. It looks amazing.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The Monsters Know What They're Doing is always a handy read, easy to pick up and hard to put down. If you're going to buy it, use the Amazon Affiliate link above. It says $28.99, but that's MSRP. The Amazon price is half that.

Hasn't it been out for a while? Is this a new edition or something?

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Hasn't it been out for a while? Is this a new edition or something?

It has been out for a while. Every once in a while I find something interesting and older and include it in the list.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

Hey, so, maybe it's not a good look to feature a game made to promote a European only ethno-state made by self admitted white supremacist and literal convicted murderer?

For a reasonable rundown of what I'm talking about but a quick google search will reveal far more details.

Good point. I've actually had a similar situation happen with that same author.

Last year, while browsing Amazon for RPG stuff I randomly found some stuff by Varg Vikernes: his RPG Myfarog which was very cheap, and a book about European Mythology. I bought both without looking up the author or checking up reviews because they were so cheap and only needed a few more dollars to get a free order.

I received the books and started with the book about European mythology and polytheism. As I crept through the pages, I winced at some dubious sentences. I don't know where my copy is, or I would have given you an example of two. But sentences and paragraphs that clearly had racist subtexts. Then, I looked up who he was and I realized I had basically bought and was reading the work of a white suprematist and former neo-nazi.

Gave my dad a good laugh.