RPG Print News – RV Games, Swordfish Isles, and More

This week brings many adventures. Three adventures for Mothership and a system neutral fantasy setting. There are several other adventures for a variety of other RPG systems. There is also a new RPG using Powered by the Apocalypse.

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

The House Always Wins | Curse of the Hat Man by Tim Orbermueller Games

• SYSTEM: Mothership
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover adventures
• RETAIL PRICE: $16/$14
• DESCRIPTION: The House Always Wins covers the Dream, a sector-wide broadcast event featuring death, gore, and everything in between. PCs run through room after room of corporate branded murder to win a prize of any wish desired that the major four corporations have the power to grant. Includes: over 20 traps, 20 sponsored rebrands adding modular effects to each area, four corporate sponsors and what they want, and a backdrop of the city of Salnati on the planet Dalmorus VIII where the games are hosted. Curse of the Hat Man is a spooky shore leave adventure where the PCs have traveled by caravan across the Endo Placia desert to Lionel's Caravanserai. When night falls, however, a strange figure in a hat and trench-coat begins haunting the halls, producing terrifying living nightmares, and killing staff and guests. Haunting encounters that escalate as time passes, three frightening floors to explore, and six detailed NPCs with their own motivations and reactions.

Rampant by RV Games

• SYSTEM: Mothership
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover adventure
• RETAIL PRICE: $12
• DESCRIPTION: A minimalist adventure that takes place on Geppetto Station, a secret corporate research facility orbiting a desolate planet. PCs spend their time as a new maintenance, and they become acquainted with the ship’s AI, Annie.

The Dark of Hot Springs Island by Swordfish Isles

• SYSTEM: system neutral
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover setting supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $60
• DESCRIPTION: A high fantasy sandbox adventure comprised of two books: one for players and one for the GM. A Field Guide to Hot Springs Island is written "in-character" and can be used by characters in the game world to help identify plants and monsters, translate ancient languages, and as a resource of advice and rumors. The Dark of Hot Springs Island is a hexcrawl with 75 locations and 26 maps (ogre villages, ruined elven city, volcanic lair of a vain efreet, etc.), seven factions, 87 interconnected NPCS, and 300 problematic treasures. Finally, 448 random events and encounter motivations. No stats for monsters or prepackaged treasure parcels. No levels are assumed, and there is no path of advancement through this tropical wilderness.

Quick and Dirties #1 - Return to the Decaying Manse | Quick and Dirties #2 - Pendulus Pillaged | Quick and Dirties #3 - Protecting Sir Grumpferd by Crumbling Keep

• SYSTEM: Marching Order RPG
• PRODUCT TYPE: fold out six panel adventure posters
• RETAIL PRICE: $5 each
• DESCRIPTION: Return to the Decaying Manse: Headmeister Dunberger Geiterheim was attacked by wererats in the old Decaying Manse and he blames the PCs. The Headmeister wants the PCs to clear out every last wererat so he can return to his favorite brewery. He’s offering to pay but of course he isn’t telling the whole truth either. Pendulus Pillaged: The wizard Pendulus Startalker is really on a tear again. He is standing in the town square without his pants on, screaming at anyone that will listen: “The 9th house of Gyridon has intersected the Plane of Burning Retribution! Repent, oh humble servants of Rotbottom.” If he’s out here, though, no one is back at his house watching the rest of his stash. Looks like it’s time to pillage a wizard’s house. Protecting Sir Grumpferd: The PCs need the work this week, so they begrudgingly agreed to protect Sir Grumpferd on his journey. According to the knight, it’s just a short walk through the woods and he’s paying in coin. Except that are a lot of angry goblins trying to kill him. What should have been a simple walk in the woods is quickly turning into a hike from hell.

Claw Atlas by Possible Worlds Games

• SYSTEM: Beak, Feather, & Bone
• PRODUCT TYPE: 24 high quality prints on 100# uncoated paper—doubles of 10 maps (20x), 2 new BFB community role inserts, and 2 rules variants inspired by them
• RETAIL PRICE: $12.95
• DESCRIPTION: Along with 10 new city maps there are also two additional community roles, allowing faction randomization with a d12 rather than a d10. Also has two new Hunter- & Mapmaker-inspired optional rules that add monsters to cities and let the GM create maps during play.

Children of UMA | Minisub Mania by 3.2.1 Action

• SYSTEM: 3,2,1…Action!
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover adventure/softcover adventure
• RETAIL PRICE: $34.95/$19.95
• DESCRIPTION: Children of Uma: The PCs each play a Hellsing, a member of a band of wayward orphans doing what they must to survive in post-apocalyptic Kansas. The fate of the wasteland they call home is in their hands. The adventure features over 36 supercharged vehicles including ATVs, cars, dune buggies, helicopters, motorcycles, and even monster trucks. The PCs will drive, fight, and sneak their way through a futuristic Dust Bowl, where roving bands of misfits are all looking for the same thing; a way to live and see another day. Minisub Mania: The PCs are Hellsings and their leader, Shark, has gone missing. Rumors suggest he is being held prisoner at Oceanus, a secret undersea base where horrific experiments occur. The PCs hob in minisubs to ride to the rescue.

Fight Item Run by Possible Worlds Games

• SYSTEM: Powered by the Apocalypse
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $30
• DESCRIPTION: The PCs begin in a chamber and there are monsters; once they’ve defeated the monsters, they proceed to the next chamber where there are more monsters. Chambers also have items, treasures, puzzles, and mysteries. When the PCs have collected the adequate gear to advance to the next level of the dungeon, they come to the chamber with the passage, staircase, portal, or alien warp pad to continue forward. In addition, the players tell a collaborative story of mystery and adventure, plant and build upon evocative details at every chance, and explore the lives and relationships of characters traveling together.

 

[overgeeked]

For those looking for a direct link to the publisher.

The Dark of Hot Springs Island

shop.swordfishislands.com

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

The links almost always go to Noble Knights, not sure why. I would definitely prefer it go to the publisher or DTRPG

This column is meant to point to physical RPGs available from hobby stores. I try to link to Noble Knight, Miniature Market, or other online hobby stores since I can't send anyone to a physical store. Noble Knight is my go to because they ship fast and carefully (I try to avoid Amazon because they don't package well books they ship and many arrive dinged up) and they offer affiliate links which in turn provide me more RPGs to cover. MM sometimes lists months old RPGs as new releases and it takes a bit of time to figure out what is actually new for some publishers, so I have to be careful linking to those listings.

When an online store is out of stock it is no different if I told you the local hobby store has a new RPG and I recommend you check it out and you go to it, and they are sold out. You just look elsewhere. That's why I try to list the retail price. Also, I do write these articles a week ahead of time since writing and publishing the article takes time so of course some things sell out at the hobby store I link to.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Oh absolutely, it's great at what it does, no question about that.
And if this article can help more people find their way to an experience like that, great! That's what it's intended for, I have to assume.
I just don't think the linking practice is optimal for that purpose. It's more optimized to shill for a certain webshop, I'm afraid...

While I appreciate your noted appreciation, and I will consider your reasoned critique, I am not a shill and that insult is making it tougher for me to parse your other points and considered criticism, which I will think about.

I am not trying to con anyone and I'm annoyed that you're calling me dishonest. I put in my bio that I use affiliate links and I certainly don't try to discredit other hobby stores. I do link to other hobby stores when I'm reasonably sure what is offered is relatively new. Dropping the insults would improve the feedback you're providing.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Ok I gotcha. I guess it’s because I’ve owned this particular reprint for a month that threw me off. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to OP

Thank you. I really appreciate your kindness, This Effin' GM. It really does mean a lot to me personally that you choose to be respectful. Thanks!

I can't always easily tell how new each product is, even if I check the publisher website. Noble Knight publishes the year printed so I normally go with that date. I don't always get it right and as you might imagine, because I cover about 10 new print RPGs every week, I don't actually own or buy most of these RPGs. As a consequence, I might get some listings wrong. I correct those when it gets pointed out to me, so any expertise other posters can share helps me improve the column.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

No.
That's why he's started adding this disclaimer to the beginning of each of these columns:
"new RPG releases and some classics, reprints, and sales available from retailers"

What baffles me is that there is in fact a reprint of this book, but the link doesn't go to where you can buy it from the publisher but instead to a Noble Knight product page that lists it as out of stock...

A publisher isn't a retailer. This column has always pointed to hobby stores (and rarely Amazon) that offer physical RPGs.

If I only went to publisher websites, I'd never find new RPGs because I wouldn't know that publisher. That's why we need hobby stores. They help us find new RPGs.

 

[Bolongo]

A publisher isn't a retailer.

No, but most publishers have their own webstores. I like to support my FLGS when I can, but it doesn't always have a lot in stock.
Most importantly, if you want to get something in both print and pdf without having to pay twice, and the publisher in question isn't connected to Bits & Mortar, you gotta buy direct.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

No, but most publishers have their own webstores. I like to support my FLGS when I can, but it doesn't always have a lot in stock.
Most importantly, if you want to get something in both print and pdf without having to pay twice, and the publisher in question isn't connected to Bits & Mortar, you gotta buy direct.

You don't have to explain how it works to me. And nothing in this column prevents you from shopping wherever you like. You said you were baffled so I provided context. Are you still baffled?