Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week’s gaming news! Wizards of the Coast announces a new Senior Vice President of Dungeons & Dragons, enter your design for a D&D Lego set, Paizo opens pre-orders for Abomination Vault 5e, MMORPG Secret World getting a 5e adaptation, and more!
For a quick summary of the week’s news, Jessica Hancock will bring you up to speed with EN Live's This Week in TTRPG every Friday.
Don’t forget, you can keep up with all the week’s gaming news in detail with Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk. This week, Morrus, Peter, and Jessica talk about the One D&D playtest packet for Expert Classes.
In case you missed it elsewhere on EN World this week:
Hasbro held its Investor Day event sharing business information with shareholders, which included a couple of big announcements for Dungeons & Dragons. First is the announcement of a new position within Wizards of the Coast, Senior Vice President of Dungeons & Dragons, and the first person to fill that role, Dan Rawson. Rawson was previously the COO of Microsoft Dynamics 365, which handles the business software for Microsoft such as Office and Azure. From the press release:
At the Investor Day event, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks announced the plan to grow profits by 50% over the next three years and includes Dungeons & Dragons heavily in the strategy. The first part of the strategy is the digital arm of the company, stating expectations for D&D Beyond (along with the Hasbro Pulse direct-to-consumer sales outlet) to grow from 20 million subscribers to 50 million by 2027. The corporation also expects payoffs in “unlocking brand value” with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Baldur’s Gate III both launching in 2023 along with “a host of new collectibles, toys and games paired with the movie”. This also marks the first official confirmation of tie-in products coming from the film outside the preview of the Gelatinous Cube action figure. Hasbro also announced that Dungeons & Dragons is among the refreshed list of Franchise Brands “to meet updated priorities for profitable growth”, which also includes Magic: The Gathering, Hasbro Gaming, NERF, Play-Doh, Peppa Pig, and Transformers. This refreshed list means that sales for the different brands will be tracked and reported individually with a particular note “The Company also intends to begin reporting revenue associated with any brand that is $1 billion or greater, beginning with Magic: The Gathering, which is on track to become its first $1 billion brand.” Other sales will be tracked as Partner Brands (licensed properties from other IP owners such as Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones) and Portfolio Brands which includes all other brands.
Also announced this week is the Lego Ideas challenge “50 Years of Dungeons & Dragons” with the winner becoming a brand-new Lego set. Lego Idea allows fans to submit their own ideas for Lego build sets and gives the community a chance to show interest. Previously produced winners include a Minecraft video game set, the DeLorean from Back to the Future, Ghostbuster’s Ecto-1, and a recreation of Vincent van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night. Lego Idea Challenges seek fan builds for a specific theme with the winner becoming a produced Lego set. Entries for the Dungeons & Dragons challenge will run from October 5 until November 14 (follow the link to enter) with expert review taking place through November 28. The finalists will be placed up for a crowd vote from November 28 to December 12 with the winner announced on December 19. So far a dozen builds have been entered including three mimics, three beholders, a tavern, a red dragon attack, a wizard’s tower, a dungeon complex that can be used as a 3D dungeon while playing Dungeons & Dragons, and…for some reason, Trogdor the Burninator. The winner of the challenge will receive 1% of net sales of the Dungeons & Dragons product, 10 copies of the build set, credit and bio as creator of the set, and a prize package of D&D goodies. Submissions chosen for the Fan Vote phase but not selected as the final winner will receive two Medieval Lego sets and a D&D prize package.
Paizo has begun accepting pre-orders for the 5e version of the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path along with a special bonus. The adventure path starts with the mysterious lighthouse Gauntlight and sends the players through the dungeon levels beneath it, taking characters from 1st to 11th level as they explore the megadungeon full of monsters, traps, ghosts, and worse. From the product description:
The adventure path will release in March 2023 with a standard edition available for $59.99 and a faux leather-bound special edition for $79.99, and pre-orders on Paizo’s website will also receive a $5 voucher toward the Abomination Vaults Pawn Collection.
Paizo also released details about the playtest for the Kineticists class for Pathfinder 2nd Edition. Kineticists were first introduced in Occult Adventures in 2015 as a class that channels pure elemental energy. Lead Designer Logan Bonner discussed the results of the playtest survey (which interestingly received exactly 1000 responses), which had “good ratings, but not top tier”. The goals moving forward with the 2e version of the class will be the simplify the playstyle to create a character class that feels line a non-spellcaster with a small set of tools they’re very strong with but who can also create magical effects. The team also plans to focus the different elements so that they have a clear identity and to streamline effects such as the Elemental Blast and Elemental Weapon to reduce confusion. The final version of the Kineticist class will be in Rage of Elements due for release in August 2023.
Star Anvil Studios announced The Secret World RPG powered by 5e while launching its Kickstarter campaign this week. Based on the MMORPG, The Secret World takes place in an urban fantasy setting where secret global conspiracies vie for control of a world full of magic and cryptids, cooperating just enough to continually protect the world from Lovecraftian entities and occultists attempting to destroy it. The RPG will feature all three of the video game’s factions (Dragon, Illuminati, and Templar), nine new classes, and new backgrounds, feats, and equipment. The system will also feature rules for subclass switching via Power Cards, emulating the MMO’s mechanics that allow players to change their character’s abilities to suit particular missions and roles within the party. This project is fully funded and runs until Thursday, November 3. (Disclosure: Project manager and COO of Star Anvil, Ross Watson, is my former podcast partner on Gamer’s Tavern.)
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.
For a quick summary of the week’s news, Jessica Hancock will bring you up to speed with EN Live's This Week in TTRPG every Friday.
Don’t forget, you can keep up with all the week’s gaming news in detail with Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk. This week, Morrus, Peter, and Jessica talk about the One D&D playtest packet for Expert Classes.
In case you missed it elsewhere on EN World this week:
- EN5ider #477 adds some cosmic horror to your 5e fantasy game with “Alien Gods and Eldritch Secrets” with new alien terrors beyond comprehension along with their cults and the magical items associated with them.
- Egg Embry interviewed PJ Coffey and Adam Donovan about their new vehicle supplement for 5e and Level Up: Advanced 5e, One if by Land, Two if by Sea, Three if by Air. (Disclosure: PJ Coffey is one of the co-hosts for Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk, and they contracted me to create the video for the campaign).
- Rob Wieland reviewed new Kobold Press 5e player option sourcebook Tome of Heroes.
- A new UK-based weekly magazine from Wizards of the Coast and Hachette Partworks Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer is coming soon to help new players learn D&D.
- D&D historian Ben Riggs posted a blog covering Ed Greenwood’s sale of the Forgotten Realms to TSR for $5000.
- Michael Tresca looks through fantasy history to discover who first created the concept of ice dragons.
- M.T. Black continues his journey through RPG periodicals past with Dragon Reflections #60 covering the April 1982 issue of Dragon.
- Rob Wieland talks about digging out your old collectible card games and how to use them in your tabletop roleplaying games.
- Lewis Pulsipher’s newest Worlds of Design discusses the evolution of maps throughout history and how different most historical maps looked to modern equivalents.
- Mike Myler’s new ENterprising DimENsions is Teeming Terrapolis, a massive urban planet with skyscrapers covering the entire surface where you can find anything in the multiverse if you look hard enough.
- Don’t miss out on the newest RPG crowdfunding projects ending soon with Egg Embry’s RPG Crowdfunding News.
- Keep up with all the new print RPG releases with Charles Dunwoody’s RPG Print News.
- Find the big TTRPG sales, bundles, and charity fundraisers with the RPG Bundles, Freebies, and Sales News.
Hasbro held its Investor Day event sharing business information with shareholders, which included a couple of big announcements for Dungeons & Dragons. First is the announcement of a new position within Wizards of the Coast, Senior Vice President of Dungeons & Dragons, and the first person to fill that role, Dan Rawson. Rawson was previously the COO of Microsoft Dynamics 365, which handles the business software for Microsoft such as Office and Azure. From the press release:
At the Investor Day event, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks announced the plan to grow profits by 50% over the next three years and includes Dungeons & Dragons heavily in the strategy. The first part of the strategy is the digital arm of the company, stating expectations for D&D Beyond (along with the Hasbro Pulse direct-to-consumer sales outlet) to grow from 20 million subscribers to 50 million by 2027. The corporation also expects payoffs in “unlocking brand value” with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Baldur’s Gate III both launching in 2023 along with “a host of new collectibles, toys and games paired with the movie”. This also marks the first official confirmation of tie-in products coming from the film outside the preview of the Gelatinous Cube action figure. Hasbro also announced that Dungeons & Dragons is among the refreshed list of Franchise Brands “to meet updated priorities for profitable growth”, which also includes Magic: The Gathering, Hasbro Gaming, NERF, Play-Doh, Peppa Pig, and Transformers. This refreshed list means that sales for the different brands will be tracked and reported individually with a particular note “The Company also intends to begin reporting revenue associated with any brand that is $1 billion or greater, beginning with Magic: The Gathering, which is on track to become its first $1 billion brand.” Other sales will be tracked as Partner Brands (licensed properties from other IP owners such as Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones) and Portfolio Brands which includes all other brands.
Also announced this week is the Lego Ideas challenge “50 Years of Dungeons & Dragons” with the winner becoming a brand-new Lego set. Lego Idea allows fans to submit their own ideas for Lego build sets and gives the community a chance to show interest. Previously produced winners include a Minecraft video game set, the DeLorean from Back to the Future, Ghostbuster’s Ecto-1, and a recreation of Vincent van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night. Lego Idea Challenges seek fan builds for a specific theme with the winner becoming a produced Lego set. Entries for the Dungeons & Dragons challenge will run from October 5 until November 14 (follow the link to enter) with expert review taking place through November 28. The finalists will be placed up for a crowd vote from November 28 to December 12 with the winner announced on December 19. So far a dozen builds have been entered including three mimics, three beholders, a tavern, a red dragon attack, a wizard’s tower, a dungeon complex that can be used as a 3D dungeon while playing Dungeons & Dragons, and…for some reason, Trogdor the Burninator. The winner of the challenge will receive 1% of net sales of the Dungeons & Dragons product, 10 copies of the build set, credit and bio as creator of the set, and a prize package of D&D goodies. Submissions chosen for the Fan Vote phase but not selected as the final winner will receive two Medieval Lego sets and a D&D prize package.
Paizo has begun accepting pre-orders for the 5e version of the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path along with a special bonus. The adventure path starts with the mysterious lighthouse Gauntlight and sends the players through the dungeon levels beneath it, taking characters from 1st to 11th level as they explore the megadungeon full of monsters, traps, ghosts, and worse. From the product description:
The adventure path will release in March 2023 with a standard edition available for $59.99 and a faux leather-bound special edition for $79.99, and pre-orders on Paizo’s website will also receive a $5 voucher toward the Abomination Vaults Pawn Collection.
Paizo also released details about the playtest for the Kineticists class for Pathfinder 2nd Edition. Kineticists were first introduced in Occult Adventures in 2015 as a class that channels pure elemental energy. Lead Designer Logan Bonner discussed the results of the playtest survey (which interestingly received exactly 1000 responses), which had “good ratings, but not top tier”. The goals moving forward with the 2e version of the class will be the simplify the playstyle to create a character class that feels line a non-spellcaster with a small set of tools they’re very strong with but who can also create magical effects. The team also plans to focus the different elements so that they have a clear identity and to streamline effects such as the Elemental Blast and Elemental Weapon to reduce confusion. The final version of the Kineticist class will be in Rage of Elements due for release in August 2023.
Star Anvil Studios announced The Secret World RPG powered by 5e while launching its Kickstarter campaign this week. Based on the MMORPG, The Secret World takes place in an urban fantasy setting where secret global conspiracies vie for control of a world full of magic and cryptids, cooperating just enough to continually protect the world from Lovecraftian entities and occultists attempting to destroy it. The RPG will feature all three of the video game’s factions (Dragon, Illuminati, and Templar), nine new classes, and new backgrounds, feats, and equipment. The system will also feature rules for subclass switching via Power Cards, emulating the MMO’s mechanics that allow players to change their character’s abilities to suit particular missions and roles within the party. This project is fully funded and runs until Thursday, November 3. (Disclosure: Project manager and COO of Star Anvil, Ross Watson, is my former podcast partner on Gamer’s Tavern.)
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.
