RPG News for Saturday, 15 Dec, 2012

[h=3]D&D News[/h]

• Check out our review of Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium, the latest review I've salvaged from the Great Breach of 2012 and placed lovingly in the new reviews section.
• Will Dungeons & Dragons Be the Next Hobbit? is an interesting article which discusses D&D and mainstream appeal.
• Dragon magazine #418 is now available for download for DDI subscribers. The issue has amazing cover art by Craig J Spearing of the tarrasque:

Let the tarrasque run roughshod over your campaign. Save the town of Hochoch in the Grand Duchy of Geoff. Deck the halls with wondrous tapestries. Build fantastic inns and taverns from scratch. PLUS: The return of the decapus, the magen, the rhagodessa, and the thoul.

We proudly present for your gaming pleasure, Dragon 418. Inside you'll find:

History Check: The Tarrasque, by Jeff LaSala
The End Is Nigh!, by Dennis Johnson
Ye Olde Creature Catalogue, by Tim Eagon
Backdrop: Hochoch, by Claudio Pozas
Wondrous Weavings: Tapestries of Power, by Jennifer Clarke Wilkes
Inns in an Instant, by John Hasznosi
Eye on Eberron: Winter of the World, by Keith Baker
Eye on Dark Sun: The Widow’s Spirit, by Rodney Thompson
Eye on the Realms: The Sword of Spells, by Ed Greenwood

Plus, an editorial by Stan!, and art by the likes of Zoltan Boros, Christopher Burdett, Matt Dixon, Tony Foti, Aaron Miller, Hector Ortiz, Chris Seaman, Phill Simmer, Craig J Spearing and Ben Wootten, and cartography by Mike Schley.
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[h=3]Pathfinder News[/h]

• Our review of Streets of Zobeck by Open Design has been restored and is now available in our reviews section.
• A close-up view of the Wrath Demon from the Shattered Star Pathfinder Battles set, coming your way next month. Plus the Pathfinder Battles Shattered Star set's Guiltspur Naga, Mite on Spider, and Wrath Demon here. Also, check out this size-comparison of the new Troll Champion figure (the big one).
• Goblinworks announced a new Reward Tier yesterday for the Pathfinder Online Kickstarter. "The $5,000 Crowdforger Tavern Lover allows you to acquire an in-game building that is going to be a nexus of player activity. Eventually there will be a lot of these things dotting the landscape but early on, you'll have something really special. We're offering 10 of them via the Kickstarter."

[h=3]Roleplaying Games News[/h]

• I missed this when it was posted on Dec 5 (possibly on account of not having a website at the time), but Mongoose Publishing posted its annual "State of the Mongoose". It includes some thoughts on the RPG industry itself.

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The current RPG market is miserable. There really is no other word for it. I was talking to the owner of a certain well known RPG company just a little while ago, and he mentioned that he had sold a few hundred of his latest release. We agreed it was a good total in this day and age for the average RPG product (not saying his book was average but… oh, you get the point!). Then he dropped the bombshell; he had reliable information that his book had outsold the latest supplement of a very well known, not to mention market-leading, game.

If the top tier games are selling at these levels, then something is seriously wonky in the market.
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[h=3]Community News[/h]

• EN World columnist Radiating Gnome has written a very perceptive article about the role of sites like EN World (and others) in today's social media landscape; along with a bit of history. Definitely worth checking out if such things interest you.
• Have you, like many of us right now, got a cold or a touch of flu? I have, which is why this conversation on Facebook (used with permission) cheered me up a bit! This is what happens when gamers talk about ... this is what happens when gamers talk.
• Forum thread highlight: Do we live in the d20 Dark Ages?