Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week’s gaming news! New Critical Role novel announced, Dungeons & Dragons television series update, ex-Blizzard executives reveal 5e campaign setting book, and more!
Don’t forget, you can get all the news every week with Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk! This week, Morrus and Peter are joined by Claudio Pozas to talk about art and RPGs.
In case you missed it elsewhere on EN World this week:
We’ve got an update on the Dungeons & Dragons television series from John Wick creator Derek Kolstad. The intention is to create a smaller series focused on a “tinier sliver” of the world, with comparisons to the original Star Wars: A New Hope where things like the Clone Wars or major players like Jabba the Hutt are mentioned but not seen, or the first Rambo film titled First Blood which is less “massive battle in the jungle” and more “PTSD-scarred veteran eludes small town police in the woods”. Kolstad also said it would be set in “deeper and deeper into the Underdark”. He did also say that he wanted it at the “end” of any canonical metaplot so that his events would take place after everything was “canonical…it happened” and build a new future, which may be challenging with an ongoing property like most Dungeons & Dragons settings. So far, the television show does not have a network and this is very early production planning, so everything involved is subject to change.
A new prequel novel for Critical Role is set for release this October featuring the twins Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan. Written by Marieke Nijkamp, author of the New York Times #1 Bestsellers This Is Where It Ends, Before I Let Go, and Even If We Break, the story focuses on the backstory of the twin characters played by Laura Bailey and Liam O’Brien on the original Vox Machina campaign of Critical Role. From the Amazon sales copy:
And yes, for those worried, the bear animal companion Trinket will make an appearance. The book is available for pre-order now in hardcover and Kindle and is scheduled for an October 26, 2021, release.
Warchief Gaming, the publisher created by two former Blizzard executives, announced their first project, the 5e setting Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent coming to Kickstarter next month. The game comes from former Blizzard vice president Chris Metzen who previously worked on titles including Warcraft and Diablo based on his homebrew D&D setting. Another former Blizzard alum, Ryan Collins, handled lead development on the setting book which is described as a “very rock-and-roll” take on traditional fantasy settings. The land of Lawbrand is a collection of trade cities that are more urbanized and industrial where Auroboros (the mythical serpent eating its own tail) is a dangerous source of chaotic magical power characters can tap into via tattoos. The setting book will include five new playable races and four new subclasses along with a full detailing of the game world. Warchief Publishing was formerly a private gaming club that was converted into a publishing company by Metzen along with Mike Gilmartin, another former vice president at Blizzard, this past October. The Kickstarter for Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent will launch on April 20.
Steve Jackson Games posted their 2020 Stakeholders Report documenting the company’s achievements in 2020 and their plans for the future. Unfortunately, 2020 was not any kinder to company than it was to most of us, and though they managed to not lay off any staff, the company’s gross income was down from the previous year. Several issues with manufacturing and shipping have caused issues and the general change of the market landscape meant that new games underperformed compared to expectations. The long-overdue Car Wars Sixth Edition, which raised more than $1 million via crowdfunding between Kickstarter and BackerKit, has faced multiple delays due to the pandemic and other causes but is scheduled to come out this year in time for the game’s 40th anniversary. Under the “Priorities for 2021” section, survival is listed as first and foremost for the company with new games given the lowest priority, with the warning that, depending on market factors, Steve Jackson Games may not release any new games in 2021 in favor of supporting “evergreen” titles such as Munchkin and GURPS in hopes of starting 2022 on stronger footing.
Modiphius announced Five Parsecs from Home, a narrative-driven miniature wargame geared toward solo play. The game is part reprint, part new edition, and part expansion of the original game from Nordic Weasel Games designed by Ivan Sorenson. Players will take on the role of “a ragtag crew of galactic trailblazers and head out to explore the stars, pick up jobs, and every now and then – engage in some action-packed sci-fi combat”. Five Parsecs from Home is designed for solo play but also has rules for cooperative games in order to tell an ongoing story of space exploration, aliens, robots, and more. Combat encounters are procedurally generated with each one providing experience and equipment to advance your characters. And for those of you balking at having to prime and paint another set of miniatures, the game is designed to be “miniature agnostic” so you can bring any miniatures you already have. The 184-page hardcover is currently scheduled for a May release with a retail price of £25 (US$34.22 on Modiphius’s website).
The tabletop roleplaying game Frame inspired by the looter-shooter video game genre made famous by games such as Borderlands, Destiny, and Warframe was abruptly cancelled the same day. Dicebreaker, in interviewing designer Spencer Campbell, says it was not copyright issues but toxic fan communities that caused the project to be pulled. Campbell, who previously published the game Light which was also inspired by the video game Destiny, says that the online Warframe community found out about the crowdfunding effort and began harassment ranging from personal messages to public accusations of plagiarism on social media while tagging Warframe developer Digital Extremes with calls such as “What are you gonna do about it?” The attacks on Twitter, Reddit, and other outlets were severe enough Campbell could not continue, saying “I couldn’t do three weeks of this because I was only two hours into it and felt like dying”. Of course, the tabletop roleplaying game community is built on inspiration from works in other media going all the way back to the Tolkien, Vance, Lieber, and Burroughs references throughout the original Dungeons & Dragons. Campbell said he has decided to take Frame back to the drawing board to remove all Warframe-inspired content, stating “I have no intention of ever going near the Warframe community, in the near future or ever again.”
Boardgame publisher White Wizard Games has changed its name to Wise Wizard Games following feedback from their community. The publisher of Star Realms did not cite any specific complaints about the name in the press release but noted that the original name “was a throwback to Gandalf, the iconic fantasy character” but needed to change as the company looks to broaden their product lines. The press release also announced Riders of Chaos, an arena battle game from Richard Garfield (creator of Magic: The Gathering), and Robot Quest Arena, a deckbuilding game from Perfect Day Games, along with new expansions for Star Realms and Hero Realms. The name change also comes with an updated website available at wisewizardgames.com.
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@enpublishingrpg.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 get notifications when I go live, subscribe to Gamer’s Tavern on YouTube for videos on gaming history, RPG reviews, 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.
Don’t forget, you can get all the news every week with Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk! This week, Morrus and Peter are joined by Claudio Pozas to talk about art and RPGs.
In case you missed it elsewhere on EN World this week:
- EN5ider #383 is a new Masterclass Archetype with three new archetypes for previous EN5ider 5e classes: the sneaky savant field agent, subtle noble spymaster, and observant watcher tinkerers.
- The upcoming Awfully Cheerful Engine from EN Publishing has a forward by legendary game designer Sandy Petersen (Ghostbusters, Call of Cthulhu) that you can (and should) read now.
- EN Publishing also has another early look at Level Up 5e with a blog about the design goals behind combat maneuvers to spice up your encounters.
- Mike Myler (who you may know from his columns here on EN World) has a Kickstarter for a new expansion for 5e that adds epic levels 21-30 to your games.
- If the EN World review last week by Beth Rimmels wasn’t enough for you to make up your mind on Candlekeep Mysteries for Dungeons & Dragons, Beth has collected other reviews from across the web.
- Speaking of Candlekeep Mysteries, one of the designers, Graeme Barber (who goes by PanzerLion and PoCGamer online) noticed significant cuts to his adventure after publication, documenting the changes made. He later followed up with two blog posts explaining what happened during the editorial process.
- Egg Embry interviewed Charles M. Ryan from Monte Cook Games about their current system-neutral mini-setting The Darkest House currently on Kickstarter.
- Ben Reece covers all the newest Pathfinder and Starfinder releases from the month of March in the Paizo Product Roundup.
- As of 2021, Wizards of the Coast has owned Dungeons & Dragons for longer than TSR did, comparing the 23 years of 1974-1997 to the 24 years of 1997-2021.
- Want a little fun here on the EN World forums? Join the challenge to ruin a D&D creature by adding, subtracting, or changing a single letter.
- Mike Myler’s continues his journey to create 5e stats for Biblical angels with the wheels of galgallin, the Ophanim.
- Don’t miss out on any of the crowdfunding projects ending soon with Egg Embry’s RPG Crowdfunding News, and keep up with all the new releases in print with Charles Dunwoody’s RPG Print News.
We’ve got an update on the Dungeons & Dragons television series from John Wick creator Derek Kolstad. The intention is to create a smaller series focused on a “tinier sliver” of the world, with comparisons to the original Star Wars: A New Hope where things like the Clone Wars or major players like Jabba the Hutt are mentioned but not seen, or the first Rambo film titled First Blood which is less “massive battle in the jungle” and more “PTSD-scarred veteran eludes small town police in the woods”. Kolstad also said it would be set in “deeper and deeper into the Underdark”. He did also say that he wanted it at the “end” of any canonical metaplot so that his events would take place after everything was “canonical…it happened” and build a new future, which may be challenging with an ongoing property like most Dungeons & Dragons settings. So far, the television show does not have a network and this is very early production planning, so everything involved is subject to change.
A new prequel novel for Critical Role is set for release this October featuring the twins Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan. Written by Marieke Nijkamp, author of the New York Times #1 Bestsellers This Is Where It Ends, Before I Let Go, and Even If We Break, the story focuses on the backstory of the twin characters played by Laura Bailey and Liam O’Brien on the original Vox Machina campaign of Critical Role. From the Amazon sales copy:
And yes, for those worried, the bear animal companion Trinket will make an appearance. The book is available for pre-order now in hardcover and Kindle and is scheduled for an October 26, 2021, release.
Warchief Gaming, the publisher created by two former Blizzard executives, announced their first project, the 5e setting Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent coming to Kickstarter next month. The game comes from former Blizzard vice president Chris Metzen who previously worked on titles including Warcraft and Diablo based on his homebrew D&D setting. Another former Blizzard alum, Ryan Collins, handled lead development on the setting book which is described as a “very rock-and-roll” take on traditional fantasy settings. The land of Lawbrand is a collection of trade cities that are more urbanized and industrial where Auroboros (the mythical serpent eating its own tail) is a dangerous source of chaotic magical power characters can tap into via tattoos. The setting book will include five new playable races and four new subclasses along with a full detailing of the game world. Warchief Publishing was formerly a private gaming club that was converted into a publishing company by Metzen along with Mike Gilmartin, another former vice president at Blizzard, this past October. The Kickstarter for Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent will launch on April 20.
Steve Jackson Games posted their 2020 Stakeholders Report documenting the company’s achievements in 2020 and their plans for the future. Unfortunately, 2020 was not any kinder to company than it was to most of us, and though they managed to not lay off any staff, the company’s gross income was down from the previous year. Several issues with manufacturing and shipping have caused issues and the general change of the market landscape meant that new games underperformed compared to expectations. The long-overdue Car Wars Sixth Edition, which raised more than $1 million via crowdfunding between Kickstarter and BackerKit, has faced multiple delays due to the pandemic and other causes but is scheduled to come out this year in time for the game’s 40th anniversary. Under the “Priorities for 2021” section, survival is listed as first and foremost for the company with new games given the lowest priority, with the warning that, depending on market factors, Steve Jackson Games may not release any new games in 2021 in favor of supporting “evergreen” titles such as Munchkin and GURPS in hopes of starting 2022 on stronger footing.
Modiphius announced Five Parsecs from Home, a narrative-driven miniature wargame geared toward solo play. The game is part reprint, part new edition, and part expansion of the original game from Nordic Weasel Games designed by Ivan Sorenson. Players will take on the role of “a ragtag crew of galactic trailblazers and head out to explore the stars, pick up jobs, and every now and then – engage in some action-packed sci-fi combat”. Five Parsecs from Home is designed for solo play but also has rules for cooperative games in order to tell an ongoing story of space exploration, aliens, robots, and more. Combat encounters are procedurally generated with each one providing experience and equipment to advance your characters. And for those of you balking at having to prime and paint another set of miniatures, the game is designed to be “miniature agnostic” so you can bring any miniatures you already have. The 184-page hardcover is currently scheduled for a May release with a retail price of £25 (US$34.22 on Modiphius’s website).
The tabletop roleplaying game Frame inspired by the looter-shooter video game genre made famous by games such as Borderlands, Destiny, and Warframe was abruptly cancelled the same day. Dicebreaker, in interviewing designer Spencer Campbell, says it was not copyright issues but toxic fan communities that caused the project to be pulled. Campbell, who previously published the game Light which was also inspired by the video game Destiny, says that the online Warframe community found out about the crowdfunding effort and began harassment ranging from personal messages to public accusations of plagiarism on social media while tagging Warframe developer Digital Extremes with calls such as “What are you gonna do about it?” The attacks on Twitter, Reddit, and other outlets were severe enough Campbell could not continue, saying “I couldn’t do three weeks of this because I was only two hours into it and felt like dying”. Of course, the tabletop roleplaying game community is built on inspiration from works in other media going all the way back to the Tolkien, Vance, Lieber, and Burroughs references throughout the original Dungeons & Dragons. Campbell said he has decided to take Frame back to the drawing board to remove all Warframe-inspired content, stating “I have no intention of ever going near the Warframe community, in the near future or ever again.”
Boardgame publisher White Wizard Games has changed its name to Wise Wizard Games following feedback from their community. The publisher of Star Realms did not cite any specific complaints about the name in the press release but noted that the original name “was a throwback to Gandalf, the iconic fantasy character” but needed to change as the company looks to broaden their product lines. The press release also announced Riders of Chaos, an arena battle game from Richard Garfield (creator of Magic: The Gathering), and Robot Quest Arena, a deckbuilding game from Perfect Day Games, along with new expansions for Star Realms and Hero Realms. The name change also comes with an updated website available at wisewizardgames.com.
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@enpublishingrpg.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 get notifications when I go live, subscribe to Gamer’s Tavern on YouTube for videos on gaming history, RPG reviews, 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.
