RPG Print News – Chaosium, Hero Games, and More

Frogpersons along with a variety of articles for a variety of RPGs available from Exalted Funeral. A green dragon encounter and mini for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition. More cults for RuneQuest. Hero Games has a supplement! Supplements for Genesys RPG, Spire, and Marvel Multiverse RPG are all available. The week rounds out with a couple of large collections of dice.

Note: RPG Print News covers recent RPG releases and some classics, reprints, and sales available from retailers. It does not cover products that are available directly to customers only through Kickstarter or as print on demand.

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Local Legends - Green Dragon Encounter by Steamforged Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: boxed set with unpainted plastic minis
• RETAIL PRICE: $24.99
• DESCRIPTION: The PCs face a green dragon that is tricky, highly intelligent, and more interested in testing the skills of opponents rather than eating anyone. Contains an encounter booklet, illustrated battle map, and three miniatures.

Cults of RuneQuest - The Lunar Way by Chaosium

• SYSTEM: RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $39.99
• DESCRIPTION: Covers the mythology of the Lunar gods and provides mechanics for each of their cults to create a PC. Contains 15 new cults including Jakaleel the Witch, the Goddess of Youth Teelo Norri, the Chaos demon known as the Crimson Bat, and the Red Goddess herself. Also includes an expanded treatment of the cult of the Seven Mothers from the core rulebook. Details a new and unique Lunar magic system, expanded rules for Lunar sorcery, the unique way Lunar Rune spells are affected by the phases of the Red Moon, and rules for adventuring on the surface of the Red Moon itself.

Victorian Hero by Hero Games

• SYSTEM: Hero System Sixth Edition - Volume 1 and Hero System Sixth Edition - Volume 2
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $30
• DESCRIPTION: Provides mechanics, talents, equipment, characters, monsters, and villains, as well as a large amount of information on the Victoria Era’s technology, politics, social norms, and economics. In short, everything you need to be a hero in an age when Queen Victoria sat on the throne and Britannia ruled the waves! The Victorian Era was drenched in the flickering supernatural shadows cast by street lamps, haunted by a wide belief in ghosts, and illuminated by faith in the limitless possibilities of a newborn science that was not yet clearly understood, in a world not fully explored. Cast against a backdrop of colonialism and plagued by all-to-familiar modern social ills, it nonetheless possessed a spirit of innocence, exploration, and adventure. PCs play larger-than-life personalities making world-changing discoveries with the understanding that they could change life for the better. They investigate horrific crimes, stop daring robberies, meet literary and historical figures, and uncover the truth behind the supernatural and occult.

War for the Throne by Edge Studio

• SYSTEM: Genesys RPG
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $41.99
• DESCRIPTION: Note: Miniature Market only ships this title to the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A three-part adventure for new or intermediate PCs that takes them from the depths of space to the heart of galactic power. When one of the Galactic Council's early warning surveillance stations goes silent, the PCs must discover if this is the prelude to an invasion. This investigation will plunge them into a maelstrom of treachery, mystery, and warfare that sees the fate of the galaxy resting in their hands. Includes opportunities for intrigue, investigation, and thrilling combat on the ground and in space. The PCs will face a host of diabolical enemies from murderous robots to deranged cults, culminating in a showdown with one of the most powerful villains to plague the galaxy. The PCs also have the chance to earn glory and honor and even take command of a powerful warship during the final epic battle in the skies above Mecatol Rex.

Red Solstice Magazine – Issue 4: Fight Weird by Exalted Funeral

• SYSTEM: various
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover zine
• RETAIL PRICE: $26
• DESCRIPTION: Includes: a team of super powered fiends for use with the Long Shot City RPG, magical weapons like a magical trebuchet, discount potions and lotions, and The Peoples' Distributed Remote Outstation: a sci-fi microsetting set in the distant reaches of space in a few different stations. Plus Personfrogs!: sometimes frogs is person, and sometimes person is adventurer, contained within are three B/X adventuring personfrog classes , undead revenant rogues, the flaccid elf, a microsetting set in a fictional alpine nation filled with a seedy criminal underworld powered by Weird War One Mech suits, magical microbes, goblin insults, and Brooze: chugging some fine brewskis from a demon- faced pot.

Sin | Spire RPG: GM Screen by Rowan, Rook & Decard

• SYSTEM: Spire - The City Must Fall
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplement/GM screen
• RETAIL PRICE: $40/$20
• DESCRIPTION: Sin delves deeper into the world of Spire and includes: two classes: the divine confidence trickster Gutter Cleric and the necromantic bureaucrat Mortician Executioner and three adventures (PCs face squabbling holy orders, mysterious librarians, demonic artefacts, overclocked noir magic, interdimensional breaches, and hotwired god avatars). Also has extensive sections on the Crime, Order, and Religion domains with dozens of new abilities, hundreds of plot hooks and fiction tidbits, four maps, and dozens of illustrations. The Spire RPG: GM Screen includes: core rules summary, quick guide to the city districts, every fallout summarized, random Aelfir and Drow name and personality tables, d20 NPC leverages to be exploited, and more.

The Cataclysm of Kang by Marvel Entertainment

• SYSTEM: Marvel Multiverse RPG
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $49.99
• DESCRIPTION: Includes six adventures that can support a campaign that takes the PCs from street-level heroes to cosmic champions. The PC heroes must face and attempt to defeat the malicious machinations of Kang the Conqueror. PCs travel from Hell's Kitchen, to a reality where Hydra runs the world, to a chase across time.

Poly Dice of Unusual Sizes Set - Flame Arrows with White (14) | Poly Dice of Unusual Sizes Set - Haste with Gold (14) by Impact Miniatures

• SYSTEM: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
• PRODUCT TYPE: boxed set with unpainted plastic minis
• RETAIL PRICE: $24.99
• DESCRIPTION: Each set contains Roman D3, top read D4, D5, D6, D7, D8, D10, D%10, D12, D14, D16, D20, D24, and D30. Flame Arrows is a swirl of orange and yellow with marbling effect to mimic the flickering of the flame. Haste is a swirl of brown and tan with marbling effect.

Charlie Dunwoody participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program and the Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG and Noble Knight Games respectively. If you like the articles at EN World please consider supporting the EN World Patreon.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Huh, I missed Red Solstice #4 coming out. That's been a pretty good zine so far, hits my nostalgia bump for the old days of multi-system gaming mags that weren't pure house organs.

And while I know that objectively the Crimson Bat is a Chaos kaiju, a terrifying eldritch horror AND the clearest sign of everything that's wrong about the Lunar Empire, images of Rufelza Herself surfing into action while precariously perched atop the fool thing will never be intimidating. And that's somehow made even worse when you know that canonically it doesn't fly like a bat at all, it does the slow-motion "I'm clearly on wires" flap you'd see in a Mothra film. Make it a cool, fast-moving flyer with its cultist "crew" clinging to a rigging harness for dear life like the dragons in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series and you have a scary monster. As-is, it's an unconvincing special effect on par with the Giant Claw.

Madness aura? The reason armies can't fight it effectively is because they're laughing too hard to stand up.

 

[Bolongo]

The cover for Victorian Hero, tho...
Why is that lady standing out on the street in her nightgown?
And that's just the first question. Honestly, the whole thing looks like a cut-and paste job from other images.

 

[BigJackBrass]

The cover for Victorian Hero, tho...
Why is that lady standing out on the street in her nightgown?
And that's just the first question. Honestly, the whole thing looks like a cut-and paste job from other images.

If you look more closely, all of the figures appear to be ghosts.

 

[sevenbastard]

images of Rufelza Herself surfing into action while precariously perched atop the fool thing will never be intimidating

Runequest has Daffy and Donald style duck people. Lady who surfs on a giant bat into combat is probably less of a deal breaker.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That Kang sourcebook just screams "we started this book before all of that happened!"

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Runequest has Daffy and Donald style duck people. Lady who surfs on a giant bat into combat is probably less of a deal breaker.

More modern depictions of them look a lot more like the lead character from the Howard the Duck movie. Which is not only not an improvement in any way, it makes them noticeably more horrifying than the Crimson Bat is. All the more so if you've had that flash of duck boobs scene seared into your memory since 1986. Shudder.

Supposedly the Lunar faithful see the Bat as a hummingbird instead of its real form, at least some of the time. They certainly draw it that way outside of the Bat cult fanatics themselves. Aztec myths notwithstanding, that doesn't make it one bit more intimidating as it unconvincingly dangles its way across the sky looking for the next feeder station. By which I mean "frontier settlement" of course.

 

[Wolfpack48]

Runequest has Daffy and Donald style duck people. Lady who surfs on a giant bat into combat is probably less of a deal breaker.

And the number of scenarios in Glorantha I've played with ducks is effectively zero. Kneejerk reaction to Glorantha is always the ducks, but they are a minor inhabitant of the world, and only an occasional (humorous) diversion. D&D has sprites and brownies, RQ has a cursed race. What's the big deal about some occasional slapstick?

 

[Wolfpack48]

Huh, I missed Red Solstice #4 coming out. That's been a pretty good zine so far, hits my nostalgia bump for the old days of multi-system gaming mags that weren't pure house organs.

And while I know that objectively the Crimson Bat is a Chaos kaiju, a terrifying eldritch horror AND the clearest sign of everything that's wrong about the Lunar Empire, images of Rufelza Herself surfing into action while precariously perched atop the fool thing will never be intimidating. And that's somehow made even worse when you know that canonically it doesn't fly like a bat at all, it does the slow-motion "I'm clearly on wires" flap you'd see in a Mothra film. Make it a cool, fast-moving flyer with its cultist "crew" clinging to a rigging harness for dear life like the dragons in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series and you have a scary monster. As-is, it's an unconvincing special effect on par with the Giant Claw.

Madness aura? The reason armies can't fight it effectively is because they're laughing too hard to stand up.

I believe there's a scenario out there where you are actually fighting on the back of TCB and it takes quite a while to get from place to place. The mothra description is probably apt though, it's a B-52 bomber not an F-16.

 

[sevenbastard]

And the number of scenarios in Glorantha I've played with ducks is effectively zero. Kneejerk reaction to Glorantha is always the ducks

As a kid seeing this in the game store. I didn't know anything about rune quest, but this made sure I didn't bother to find out. Rune Quest might not beToon, but if this is how your exposed to it you wouldn't know.