RPG Print News – Mongoose, Modiphius, River Horse, and More

Monsters on cards and stand ups in fairly expensive faux leather binders for D&D. There is also support for both Iron Kingdoms and Ptolus, some of which works with both 5E and 3E as well as other rule sets. Traveller - Core Rulebook Update 2022 gets an update that brings ship building back to the core rules and you can finally play Gelflings in The Dark Crystal. Root gets dice and GM support. The Troubleshooters sounds like Saturday morning cartoon fun (this one in particular really tempts me). And last but not least is Tiny Cthulhu for when big Cthulhu just freaks you out a bit too much. I do like the noir option for this one.

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 to customers through kickstarter or as print on demand.

Core Pack I | Core Pack II | Core Pack III | NPCs & Familiars | Core Pack I - Cards Only | Core Pack II - Cards Only | Core Pack III - Cards Only | NPCs & Familiars - Cards Only | Tome – Ebony color | Tome - Royal color by | Tome of Summoning

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: cards and paper monster tokens
• RETAIL PRICE: $45 each/$25 each for just the cards/$65 for a binder
• DESCRIPTION: Core Pack I includes 50 illustrated reference cards and 238 paper minis of commonly used lower-level creatures. Core Pack II of 50 reference cards and 160 paper covers the most commonly used mid-level creatures. High-level creatures are included in Core Pack III which has 50 reference cards and over 101 big paper miniatures. NPCs & Familiars has 50 reference cards and 225 paper miniatures of NPCs and familiars. The handmade studded leather Tome is a 1 inch three-ring binder of artificial polyurethane leather that includes 25 horizontal pocket pages (8 pockets per page) with cards not included.

Traveller - Core Rulebook Update 2022 by Mongoose Publishing

• SYSTEM: 2d6 system
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $59.99
• DESCRIPTION: PCs are Travellers, exploring space via jump drive. Each hex on the map represents one parsec and jump drives move a ship a number of parsecs equal to the drive. While not instant, courier ships deliver system-to-system communications. Contact has been made with several alien species and some are willing to work alongside humans although conflicts flare up as well. Campaigns can be based on trade, military, exploration, or a little bit of everything. An entire chapter covers small scale trading, planet-to-planet. Ship design is also back in this updated version.

Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal Adventure Game by River Horse

• SYSTEM: unique
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $45
• DESCRIPTION: PCs play Gelfling characters and venture into the unique world of Thra. Includes three ribbons to mark important section, a 200-page adventure, and transparent overlay pages with hidden information.

Faction Dice Set (14) - Root - The Roleplaying Game | GM Screen & Campaign Notebooks | GM Screen only by Magpie Games

• SYSTEM: Root - The Roleplaying Game (Powered by the Apocalypse)
• PRODUCT TYPE: 14 dice/screen and notebooks/screen only
• RETAIL PRICE: $24.99/$24.99/$14
• DESCRIPTION: Root: The Roleplaying Game is based on Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right board game by Leder Games. PCs are vagabonds, individual outlaws fighting for money, justice, and freedom. The Faction Dice Set contains one pair of engraved six-sided dice for each of the seven different factions of the Woodland (cannot be used with Root: A Game of Woodland Might & Right). The GM Screen is trifold with each fold roughly 8x8 inches for a total length of 24 inches. The Woodland & Clearing Notepads are two distinct 8x8 inches notepads with pull-off sheets for campaign tracking. The clearing pad comes with 50 individual double-sided sheets while the Woodland pad comes with 30 double-sided sheets.

The Troubleshooters RPG: Core Rulebook | The Troubleshooters RPG: The U-Boat Mystery by Modiphius

• SYSTEM: Basic Roleplaying
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rules and adventure
• RETAIL PRICE: $48/$29
• DESCRIPTION: The PDF version can be retrieved by a unique code included inside each book. The Troubleshooters is an action-adventure roleplaying game of international mystery. This RPG is based on European fiction but it reminds me of the Johnny Quest cartoon. I’m really tempted to get this one; it sounds amazing and is backed by BRP. Set in the mid-1960s in a world with mysterious temples hidden in the jungles, valleys that time forgot, mad scientists, space stations, spies with super gadgets and villainous organizations scheming for world control, the PCs live adventurous lives all over the world. No matter if it is a hunt for lost treasure, helping someone to get their inheritance, stopping spies from stealing military secrets, or foiling The Octopus' evil plans for world domination, PCs go on adventures. Requires six-sided dice and percentile dice to play. The U-Boat Mystery is an adventure for 3-5 players. The kidnapping of journalist Pierre Martin in Paris seems to be connected to a marine expedition to the island kingdom Sitomeyang on the other side of the globe. Clues point to the mysterious organization The Octopus, whose tentacles reaches everywhere. Only a band of intrepid troubleshooters can find out how all of the trouble is connected and solve the U-Boat mystery.

Tiny Cthulhu RPG: Rulebook by Gallant Knight Games

• SYSTEM: TinyD6
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover core rules
• RETAIL PRICE: $24.99
• DESCRIPTION: PCs are investigators, doomed heroes, and classic cosmic horror characters of all types, from scientists and librarians, to WWI veterans, to mysterious guardians defending the world from the dark powers of chthonic entities. The game delves into the unknowable and horrible mysteries of classic Mythos stories inspired by the works of Chambers, Lovecraft and more. Features a myriad of settings throughout the world and history, ranging from prehistory to the Bronze Age, Age of Sail, World War 1, modern day, as well as fantasy and the science fiction future. Rules include: minimalist Corruption rules focused on aiding storytelling, enemies, Environment Traits to aid the otherworldly storytelling, rules for magic and tomes, support for Pulp-style storytelling, support for Noir-style storytelling, and gadgets, steampunk themes and more. Noir-style sounds really interesting to me.

Legend of the Witchfire Gridded Battle Tiles | Legend of the Witchfire NPC & Monster Cards by Privateer Press

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Iron Kingdoms - Requiem
• PRODUCT TYPE: tile set for use with miniatures
• RETAIL PRICE: $19.95/$9.95
• DESCRIPTION: Over 20 years ago the Iron Kingdoms debuted for D&D 3E introducing full metal fantasy via steam jacks and pistols. It has now been updated for D&D 5E although the tile set works with any RPG. The cards include 5E stats. Both support the adventure Legend of the Witchfire.

Ptolus GM Screen by Monte Cook Games

• SYSTEM: system-neutral Ptolus
• PRODUCT TYPE: GM screen
• RETAIL PRICE: $17.99
• DESCRIPTION: Includes notable groups and characters, encounters, details of Delver’s Square, travel and provisioning options, and other info. The reverse side features Ptolus artwork. The four-panel Ptolus GM Screen is printed in landscape format on heavy game board. The information is system-neutral, making it equally useful to GMs of 5E, the Cypher System, and GMs using D&D 3E).

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Too many games, not enough time. But boy Troubleshooters seems like it would be fun.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I have the Troubleshooters game. If you like Belgian comics, you will love this. You can create characters and adventures in the style of Tintin, Spirou and Fantasio, or Blake and Mortimer.

Your character sheet takes the form of a passport and the artwork really captures the style of the comics. It is an excellent product.

I was going to post that it almost certainly seemed to be styled off of Tintin.

 

[Laurefindel]

Oh yeah! Definitly read Tintin: the Roleplaying game in my mind before my brain could read Troubleshooters.

 

[timbannock]

I picked this up the other day, and it is a beautiful book. If I get time, I might post an informal read-through review shortly.

It's good. Like really, really good. I'm shocked at how much they do with such a lite rule system.

I'd argue both Labyrinth and Dark Crystal aren't exceptionally good for a completely new GM to run, but they are great for new players and GMs who either have only limited experience (but at least a little), or who want to test the waters of OSR-style play without going down the road of more complex mechanics. Both games do a lot with their lite systems, and highlight different modes of play (dungeoncrawl and pointcrawl, respectively) in very different but entirely thematic and well done ways.

 

[Kannik]

I was going to post that it almost certainly seemed to be styled off of Tintin.

Oh yeah! Definitly read Tintin: the Roleplaying game in my mind before my brain could read Troubleshooters.

Likewise! I grew up reading the Tintin books over and over (and over) again; there was no way I wasn't going to back the kickstarter.

 

[Laurefindel]

Likewise! I grew up reading the Tintin books over and over (and over) again; there was no way I wasn't going to back the kickstarter.

And surprisingly, one of the best hard sci-fi episode until The Expanse, something like 60 years (and a moon landing) later, so I'm curious about the space station part. Looking at it again, it does have a Spirou and Fantasio feel as well. updates purchase list

And Dark Crystal RPG? Hard to say no to that. Damn, Tintin AND Dark Crystal, Star Wars being already covered, I'm just missing TRON and all my early childhood influences would be pretty much all covered in RPGs...