RPG Print News – Mongoose, Phillip Reed, Ulisses Spiele, and More

This week includes adventures for Traveller Sword Worlds and a setting of rune-powered PCs as well as cards for MasterBook. Mörk Borg has monster and NPC books, an adventure, and a vinyl record with booklets and mini-GM screen. And Fading Suns gets setting support as well as play aids including a GM screen, maps, mats, tokens, and more.

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

Skandervik by Mongoose Publishing

• SYSTEM: Traveller (Update 2022 preorder) Sword Worlds
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $49.99
• DESCRIPTION: Contains a complete campaign for Sword Worlds Travellers. As crewmembers aboard the merchant cruiser Skander, PCs tread a tricky path through the complex cross-border politics of the region. Provides a background to the mission along with the ship and her crew. In addition to trading profits there are reputations to be made and hidden agendas to be uncovered. Includes the following. Freikorps Skander: A civil war, traps some of the Travellers' contacts in a combat zone. The crew of Skander includes experienced fighters willing to join the fight as a mercenary Freikorps. The Bowman Deception: Following rumors of a downed Sword Worlds ship on Nirton, the Travellers slip through an Imperial blockade to investigate the wreck. The Lunion Shield: The Travellers are lured into a trap by devious pirates. Skander is a rich prize, but she may be too tough for the pirates to deal with.

Rune Stryders (Revised Edition) | MasterDeck (For MasterBook & Shatterzone) by Politically Incorrect Games/Precis Intermedia

• SYSTEM: unique/MasterBook (Classic Reprint) and Shatterzone
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover core rulebook/108 poker-size deck of cards
• RETAIL PRICE: $26.95/$19.95
• DESCRIPTION: In Rune Stryders, PCs versed in the magical power of Runes stand against the tide of chaos. They can use magic to bring Stryders to life. These towering war machines come forged from steel, others carved from stone, and still others grown from living plants and giant insects. Civil war threatens to engulf the world of Rhun. Features: a system that uses 10-sided dice, 45 main runes plus 5 control runes that can also be combined, 42 character templates (seven from each of the six nations), simple customization rules to create original heroes from scratch, and 10 stryder templates along with construction rules. Plus history, geography, maps, and detailed information on the world's nations. A MasterDeck of cards for the MasterBook (Classic Reprint) or Shatterzone RPGs that lack the cards.

Calo's Book of Monsters | Tower of Scoundrels by Phillip Reed Games

• SYSTEM: Mörk Borg
• PRODUCT TYPE: 64-page hardcover supplement/7 inch album
• RETAIL PRICE: $40/$30
• DESCRIPTION: Calo's Book of Monsters includes 20 new monsters that may or may not be suitable to your campaign. In addition to the necessary game statistics and monster descriptions, each of the creatures includes an “involving the heroes” section that suggests ways in which the player characters may encounter/become involved with the monster. The book also includes a d66 table of rumors and a small region that can be dropped into almost any campaign. Tower of Scoundrels includes an outer album cover – which can be used as a micro-GM screen – two booklets that detail the tower as well as what is hidden beneath the tower, and a 7 inch vinyl record of atmospheric tunes.

Strange Inhabitants of the Forest | Strange Visitors to the City | Tome of Skulls By Phillip Reed Games

• SYSTEM: Mörk Borg
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover supplements
• RETAIL PRICE: $15 each
• DESCRIPTION: Strange Inhabitants of the Forest has 11 different characters each with a two-page spread and background info on the character. Also has a 1d12 table that provides encounter ideas that can be dropped into almost any forest adventure. Each encounter is a short seed to spark the GM's imagination. Finally, has 12 more characters to interact with in the forest. Strange Visitors to the City includes a 2d6 table of characters. Each of these 11 different characters fills a two-page spread and offers background info on the character that the GM may run with or ignore. Also has a1d6 table of city sites to use as encounter hooks and backdrops for conflict. There are 4d6 rumors that can be expanded into encounters. Finishes with hired goons. Tome of Skulls includes beasts that are skeletal, undead monsters that exist solely to – if all goes well – slaughter the player characters and put an end to their misadventures. The six skeletal foes are the big bad, the boss monster, the capstone on an evening of adventuring. Half of the monsters are over-powered in terms of both their hit points and their offensive capabilities, but GMs can tone that down as needed.

Faction Book | Intrigues & Escapades | Play Kit | Gamemaster Screen by Ulisses Spiele

• GAME SYSTEM: Fading Suns
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover/hardcover/play aids/screen and tokens
• RETAIL PRICE: $29.99/$34.99/$24.99/$24.99
• DESCRIPTION: The Faction Book presents the minor houses, minor sects, and minor guilds (Apothecaries to Wranglers) of the Fading Suns universe. Also covers the pagans and the Changed (genetically altered mutants scorned by the superstitious populace). Some among these minor factions are aliens: the simian gannok, the ungulate shantor, the avian etyri, amphibian oro’ym, insectoid ascorbites, and the reptilian hironem. The Royal Houses, the Church, and the Merchant League conspire to control all avenues of power, but despite centuries of rule they just can’t manage it all. Minor noble houses still exist, clinging to dwindling fiefs and fading titles, resisting other houses’ attempts to subsume them. Intrigues & Escapades unveils the conspiracy customs among nobles, priests, and merchants. Includes two detailed dramas involving troupes in such dirty dealings, along with a host of drama hooks that gamemasters can develop with their own twists. The Play Kit includes the following: jumpweb map and central play mat, five player mats to track their victory points and other resources, a token punch sheet, an action booklet listing all the skill maneuvers, 16 illustrated characters presented with backgrounds and traits on double-sided sheets usable as PCs or NPCs, and a pad of character sheets. The Gamemaster Screen (sequence of play, VP costs, Resistance ratings, environmental conditions, ranks, and more) also includes punch-sheet tokens for victory points and wyrd points.

 

[marroon69]

Did you cover Free League's Twilight 2000 release? I did not see it the last update

 

[aramis erak]

Did you cover Free League's Twilight 2000 release? I did not see it the last update

The message I saw this week said fulfillment isn't done. Problems at Funagain.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Did you cover Free League's Twilight 2000 release? I did not see it the last update

Once it starts to hit online stores it should make its way onto the list.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I’ve never played Mork Borg, but damn there seem to be a lot of products being produced for it at the moment. I keep seeing it pop up all over the place.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

I’ve never played Mork Borg, but damn there seem to be a lot of products being produced for it at the moment. I keep seeing it pop up all over the place.

It seems to hit a spot of art, fictional violence, and rules light that is rare in RPGs. I've seen play throughs so the rules do work. And if you have an artistic streak mingled with an interest in nihilism and bleakness that leads to a lot of fictional maiming and killing this one seems to press all the buttons. Kind of like 80s death metal or some of the hard rock coming out of Sweden and northern Europe these days but in RPG form. Heck, actual records have been made for this RPG (see above). I kind of want the record and I don't even own a record player.

 

[pogre]

The new Traveller adventure campaign looks cool. However, I only play Traveller once a week for around two hours. I have so much adventuring material it would be around five years or so before I could run it!

Every time I am tempted by a new supplement or new rpg game I have the same problem - when am I going to play it? I run a weekly homebrew D&D session - where I use parts of the WOTC releases from time-to-time and Adventure League once a week. That's a very full gaming schedule for me - I had to stop buying new stuff for the most part. The last few WFRP 4e books I bought have not even been cracked open!

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

The new Traveller adventure campaign looks cool. However, I only play Traveller once a week for around two hours. I have so much adventuring material it would be around five years or so before I could run it!

Every time I am tempted by a new supplement or new rpg game I have the same problem - when am I going to play it? I run a weekly homebrew D&D session - where I use parts of the WOTC releases from time-to-time and Adventure League once a week. That's a very full gaming schedule for me - I had to stop buying new stuff for the most part. The last few WFRP 4e books I bought have not even been cracked open!

Yeah, I get it. I probably read about 10 RPGs for every 1 I run as a campaign. If I really like one but already have a game going I might run it as a one shot.

 

[Egg Embry]

It seems to hit a spot of art, fictional violence, and rules light that is rare in RPGs. I've seen play throughs so the rules do work. And if you have an artistic streak mingled with an interest in nihilism and bleakness that leads to a lot of fictional maiming and killing this one seems to press all the buttons. Kind of like 80s death metal or some of the hard rock coming out of Sweden and northern Europe these days but in RPG form. Heck, actual records have been made for this RPG (see above). I kind of want the record and I don't even own a record player.

I backed the campaign, have the record, don't have a record player. So, I feel your thoughts more than you know. ;-)

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I backed the campaign, have the record, don't have a record player. So, I feel your thoughts more than you know. ;-)

That’s like me when I was backing STL Kickstarters without owning a 3D printer (although I now do). They were just too cool to pass up!