Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week’s gaming news! New Starfinder Adventure Path, Magic: The Gathering printing error in the new expansion, the fate of a board game will be determined on The People's Court, and more!
Don’t forget you can get all of this week’s news in podcast form at Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk. This week, Morrus and Peter are joined by Keith Baker to talk about Eberron.
In case you missed it this week on EN World…
What games are you looking forward to in 2020? EN World’s annual Most Anticipated RPG poll is accepting nominations! As usual, this must be a standalone tabletop roleplaying game (not an adventure, soucebook, expansion, etc.). It must be currently expected for release to the general public at some point in 2020 (though if it gets delayed after the fact…well, that’s happened before). You can’t nominate your own game nor one you are personally affiliated with. The deadline for nominations is January 4, after which EN World will have a poll to vote on your favorites of all the nominees. With that said, click on the link above and nominate the game you’re looking forward to in 2020! If your favorite doesn’t end up in the poll, it’ll only be because you didn’t nominate it so head over!
And speaking of polls, there are still a few more days to vote for your favorite RPG podcasts! You’ve got until January 1st to get your votes in for your favorite RPG talk podcasts and for your favorite actual play podcasts.
Pelgrane Press released a 5e conversion of their epic 360-page campaign Eyes of the Stone Thief, originally created for 13th Age. The 40-page conversion sample is currently PWYW (suggested price $2.95) on DriveThruRPG and covers two sections of the large dungeon, the Maw and the Gauntlet, to 5e compatible rules. Originally released in 2013, Eyes of the Stone Thief is a massive thirteen-level dungeon with the tagline “Can you kill the dungeon before it kills you?” It’s not currently known when the rest of the adventure will be converted to 5e, but it was the original plan when the product was announced in May on Twitter to release the entire adventure.
Paizo announced the next Adventure Path for Starfinder, a six-part adventure titled The Threefold Conspiracy. The full adventure will take players from first to thirteenth level as they are pulled into a web of intrigue following the disappearance of a crew member. The first adventure in the path, The Chimera Mystery by Jesse Kesley, is available for pre-order now with a release in late February of 2020. Each subsequent 64-page adventure will be released monthly through July 2020 culminating in the Puppets Without Strings. PDFs are available on Paizo's website for $15.99 each while the print copy is available from Paizo and mass-market outlets (including the Amazon link above) with a retail price of $22.99.
A game designer appeared on the television show People’s Court in a lawsuit over a deal with a publisher. Designer Kelsey Devois created a recipe-themed card matching game called The Recipe Game and signed a distribution deal with Golden Bell Studios (also known under the names Golden Studios, Golden Bell Entertainment, and Golden Bell Productions). The deal sold the rights to the game to Golden Bell Studios (all trademarks and half of the copyright) with a clause stating that, if the game was not released within two years, she would receive $500. After the deadline passed, Devois requested her payment per the contract, at which time CEO Marc Goldner said “We aren’t afraid of attorneys” and terminated the contract.
Devois filed a lawsuit and, three days later, courtroom television reality show The People’s Court contacted her to offer an appearance on the show. For those who don’t know, The People’s Court was originally created in 1981 with Judge Joe Wapner and currently with Judge Marilyn Milian presiding over a binding arbitration over small claims matters in court. The popularity of the original show sparked many similar shows such as Judge Judy. While not a real court of law, the resulting decisions are considered legally-binding as any with other form of arbitration.
The episode was filmed this past November with Devois not only winning the damages she sought but, because Goldner breached the contract first, that the contract was null and void and all rights to The Recipe Game reverted back to Devois. The story doesn’t end there as Goldner has made legal threats to both Devois and to The People’s Court to prevent the episode from being aired. In an email to the show’s producers, Goldner reportedly stated: “Just to let you know you don’t have the rights to the game. The Judge erred and [made] a wrong ruling. You can’t have the money AND the rights back. I’m in law school Kelsey.” A lawyer representing The People’s Court responded that they would send representatives in the case of any legal action and called such a move “ill-advised”.
The episode is currently scheduled to air in April of 2020.
Wizards of the Coast sent a warning to retailers about a production error involving the new Magic: The Gathering expansion Theros Beyond Death. Each booster box sold should contain a “Buy-a-Box” promotional pack that includes one Atheros, Shroud-Veiled card and one full-art foil Nyx land. However, the lands included in the promotional pack are not foil. Wizards of the Coast are currently printing replacement foil lands to send to retailers. Replacements should be expected in time for the pre-release weekend of January 17. The full release for Theros Beyond Death is set for January 24.
Humble and Cubicle 7 partnered for the Lord of the Rings 5e Bundle, a collection of books from the Adventures in Middle-earth 5e-compatible roleplaying game. Split into three tiers, the bundle has a total of a dozen DRM-free digital books including the Adventures in Middle-earth Player’s Guide, Adventures in Middle-earth Loremasters Guide, Bree-land Region Guide, Rivendell Region Guide, The Eaves of Mirkwood & Loremaster’s Screen, Rhovanion Region Guide, and more. This may be your last time to pick up this game as Cubicle 7’s license for Middle Earth and Tolkien’s work is set to expire in 2020. This bundle runs until Wednesday, January 15. There’s also a few days left in the Pathfinder Lost Omens Lore Archive Bundle featuring fifty setting books for different areas in Golarion useful for both Pathfinder 1st Edition and Pathfinder 2nd Edition. This bundle runs until Monday, December 30 so there’s not much time to pick this one up!
Deeper into the Woods, the new expansion for the RPG-board game hybrid The StoryMaster’s Tales, brings a load of new options to the fairy-tale inspired game. This expansion can be played on its own or joined with the original The StoryMaster’s Tales with 15 new story cards, 10 new rewards cards, an extra quest pad, and more. The game plays with one to five players with the story cards (each with four different choices) generating a unique adventure for your characters to explore and overcome. The print-and-play version is available for £10 (about US$13), the print expansion for £15 (about US$20), and you can add on the original Weirding Woods game for £45 (about US$59). This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Friday, January 3.
Do I really need to introduce Car Wars Sixth Edition to anyone reading this? Just in case, Car Wars is the original game of automotive combat as you take your custom armed and armored car and try to take out your opponents with your mounted weapons before they can get you first. This new edition moves from the old thin paper maps and cardboard chits to plastic miniatures and neoprene playmats. The game is available for $75 (though a two-player pack is also available for $51 that isn’t the complete game) and there are a lot of add-ons and pledge levels to add more cars, tracks, weapons, and more to your games. This Kickstarter still surprisingly has stretch goals left even though it’s well over half a million dollars so far and will fund on Monday, January 6.
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 where I’ll finish up The Outer Worlds this weekend, 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 of this week’s news in podcast form at Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk. This week, Morrus and Peter are joined by Keith Baker to talk about Eberron.
In case you missed it this week on EN World…
- EN5ider #307 is a new installment of Monstrous Menagerie bringing half a dozen new illusory-based monsters.
- Mike Myler’s Epic Monsters this week has Fafnir, the dwarf-turned-dragon from Norse mythology.
- Sean Hillman reviews Tenarlian: The Longest Night, a one-shot holiday-themed adventure compatible with 5e for 9th level characters.
- James Ward gives us more history from TSR, this time talking about April 4, 1984, and TSR’s 3rd Purge when fifty-five employees were let go from TSR.
- Ben Riggs talks about the time TSR sued Wizards of the Coast…no, not that time…no, not that time either. Honestly, even I had never heard about this lawsuit over the Magic: The Gathering video game, The Planeswalker War.
- Michael Tresca wrote about Pay What You Want pricing for roleplaying game products and how it’s worked (or not) both in gaming and in other industries.
- Egg Embry spoke with Matt McElroy (Director of Operations at Onyx Path Press) about the Year of the Road event at the World of Darkness Storyteller’s Vault.
- And of course, Egg Embry also brings us all the crowdfunding projects ending soon in this week’s RPG Crowdfunding News.
What games are you looking forward to in 2020? EN World’s annual Most Anticipated RPG poll is accepting nominations! As usual, this must be a standalone tabletop roleplaying game (not an adventure, soucebook, expansion, etc.). It must be currently expected for release to the general public at some point in 2020 (though if it gets delayed after the fact…well, that’s happened before). You can’t nominate your own game nor one you are personally affiliated with. The deadline for nominations is January 4, after which EN World will have a poll to vote on your favorites of all the nominees. With that said, click on the link above and nominate the game you’re looking forward to in 2020! If your favorite doesn’t end up in the poll, it’ll only be because you didn’t nominate it so head over!
And speaking of polls, there are still a few more days to vote for your favorite RPG podcasts! You’ve got until January 1st to get your votes in for your favorite RPG talk podcasts and for your favorite actual play podcasts.
Pelgrane Press released a 5e conversion of their epic 360-page campaign Eyes of the Stone Thief, originally created for 13th Age. The 40-page conversion sample is currently PWYW (suggested price $2.95) on DriveThruRPG and covers two sections of the large dungeon, the Maw and the Gauntlet, to 5e compatible rules. Originally released in 2013, Eyes of the Stone Thief is a massive thirteen-level dungeon with the tagline “Can you kill the dungeon before it kills you?” It’s not currently known when the rest of the adventure will be converted to 5e, but it was the original plan when the product was announced in May on Twitter to release the entire adventure.
Paizo announced the next Adventure Path for Starfinder, a six-part adventure titled The Threefold Conspiracy. The full adventure will take players from first to thirteenth level as they are pulled into a web of intrigue following the disappearance of a crew member. The first adventure in the path, The Chimera Mystery by Jesse Kesley, is available for pre-order now with a release in late February of 2020. Each subsequent 64-page adventure will be released monthly through July 2020 culminating in the Puppets Without Strings. PDFs are available on Paizo's website for $15.99 each while the print copy is available from Paizo and mass-market outlets (including the Amazon link above) with a retail price of $22.99.
A game designer appeared on the television show People’s Court in a lawsuit over a deal with a publisher. Designer Kelsey Devois created a recipe-themed card matching game called The Recipe Game and signed a distribution deal with Golden Bell Studios (also known under the names Golden Studios, Golden Bell Entertainment, and Golden Bell Productions). The deal sold the rights to the game to Golden Bell Studios (all trademarks and half of the copyright) with a clause stating that, if the game was not released within two years, she would receive $500. After the deadline passed, Devois requested her payment per the contract, at which time CEO Marc Goldner said “We aren’t afraid of attorneys” and terminated the contract.
Devois filed a lawsuit and, three days later, courtroom television reality show The People’s Court contacted her to offer an appearance on the show. For those who don’t know, The People’s Court was originally created in 1981 with Judge Joe Wapner and currently with Judge Marilyn Milian presiding over a binding arbitration over small claims matters in court. The popularity of the original show sparked many similar shows such as Judge Judy. While not a real court of law, the resulting decisions are considered legally-binding as any with other form of arbitration.
The episode was filmed this past November with Devois not only winning the damages she sought but, because Goldner breached the contract first, that the contract was null and void and all rights to The Recipe Game reverted back to Devois. The story doesn’t end there as Goldner has made legal threats to both Devois and to The People’s Court to prevent the episode from being aired. In an email to the show’s producers, Goldner reportedly stated: “Just to let you know you don’t have the rights to the game. The Judge erred and [made] a wrong ruling. You can’t have the money AND the rights back. I’m in law school Kelsey.” A lawyer representing The People’s Court responded that they would send representatives in the case of any legal action and called such a move “ill-advised”.
The episode is currently scheduled to air in April of 2020.
Wizards of the Coast sent a warning to retailers about a production error involving the new Magic: The Gathering expansion Theros Beyond Death. Each booster box sold should contain a “Buy-a-Box” promotional pack that includes one Atheros, Shroud-Veiled card and one full-art foil Nyx land. However, the lands included in the promotional pack are not foil. Wizards of the Coast are currently printing replacement foil lands to send to retailers. Replacements should be expected in time for the pre-release weekend of January 17. The full release for Theros Beyond Death is set for January 24.
Humble and Cubicle 7 partnered for the Lord of the Rings 5e Bundle, a collection of books from the Adventures in Middle-earth 5e-compatible roleplaying game. Split into three tiers, the bundle has a total of a dozen DRM-free digital books including the Adventures in Middle-earth Player’s Guide, Adventures in Middle-earth Loremasters Guide, Bree-land Region Guide, Rivendell Region Guide, The Eaves of Mirkwood & Loremaster’s Screen, Rhovanion Region Guide, and more. This may be your last time to pick up this game as Cubicle 7’s license for Middle Earth and Tolkien’s work is set to expire in 2020. This bundle runs until Wednesday, January 15. There’s also a few days left in the Pathfinder Lost Omens Lore Archive Bundle featuring fifty setting books for different areas in Golarion useful for both Pathfinder 1st Edition and Pathfinder 2nd Edition. This bundle runs until Monday, December 30 so there’s not much time to pick this one up!
Deeper into the Woods, the new expansion for the RPG-board game hybrid The StoryMaster’s Tales, brings a load of new options to the fairy-tale inspired game. This expansion can be played on its own or joined with the original The StoryMaster’s Tales with 15 new story cards, 10 new rewards cards, an extra quest pad, and more. The game plays with one to five players with the story cards (each with four different choices) generating a unique adventure for your characters to explore and overcome. The print-and-play version is available for £10 (about US$13), the print expansion for £15 (about US$20), and you can add on the original Weirding Woods game for £45 (about US$59). This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Friday, January 3.
Do I really need to introduce Car Wars Sixth Edition to anyone reading this? Just in case, Car Wars is the original game of automotive combat as you take your custom armed and armored car and try to take out your opponents with your mounted weapons before they can get you first. This new edition moves from the old thin paper maps and cardboard chits to plastic miniatures and neoprene playmats. The game is available for $75 (though a two-player pack is also available for $51 that isn’t the complete game) and there are a lot of add-ons and pledge levels to add more cars, tracks, weapons, and more to your games. This Kickstarter still surprisingly has stretch goals left even though it’s well over half a million dollars so far and will fund on Monday, January 6.
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 where I’ll finish up The Outer Worlds this weekend, 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.
