RPG Print News – Troll Lord Games, Goodman Games, and More

Dungeons & Dragons and the OSR get many new adventures and some monsters and magic items for a variety of settings and a calendar with rules on baby monsters. Troika! Numinous Edition gets a satire about Warhammer 40K and Scion Second Edition gets two supplements for players.

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.

Fungus God From Outer Space (OSR) | Fungus God from Outer Space (CC) | Fungus God from Outer Space (5e) | Heresy of Rot (OSR) | Heresy of Rot (CC) | Heresy of Rot (5e) by Frog God Games

• SYSTEM: OSR/Castles & Crusades/Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover adventures
• RETAIL PRICE: $25 each
• DESCRIPTION: Fungus God From Outer Space is an adventure for four to six PCs of at least 6th to 9th level. An arc of light flashed across the sky, illuming the heavenly bodies before alighting in the Northern plains of the Duchy of Reme. A great Fungus God from Outer Space now crouches in silence within its crater as an army of star-spawn rises from the putrefied soil. Heresy of Rot is an adventure for four to five PCs of 6th to 8th level. A shadowy cult preys on the folk of the unsuspecting town of Fetterwald, as a supernatural terror stalks the cornfields. A ruined manse holds a dark secret while a horror beyond imagining wakes in a nightmarish dream world.

Monsters and Magic of Lankhmar | The Prism of Redemption by Goodman Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover adventures
• RETAIL PRICE: $9.99/$17.99
• DESCRIPTION: Monsters and Magic of Lankhmar is filled with more than 20 new monsters and over 15 new spells and magical items, each one from the fantastic stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, as written by world-renowned fantasy author, Fritz Leiber and produced in cooperation with the Fritz Leiber Estate. The Prism of Redemption is a dungeon crawl adventure suitable for a group of four to six 12th-level characters. Lady Leda Adelhorn is a fallen celestial, imprisoned in her ancestral estate on the peak of Mount Ontarr. The PCs are summoned to assist with her redemption by gathering numerous sacred gems to power an enchanted scepter. With the scepter fully restored, Lady Adelhorn can finally confront an evil dragon and regain favor with her deity, The Father of Dragons. Features planar hopping through a series of magical mirrors and facing a series of boss battle. Also includes an optional scoring system to recreate a team competition.

Nightfell - Adventure Books by Mana Project Studio

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Nightfell - A Horror Fantasy Setting
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover adventure book
• RETAIL PRICE: $34.99
• DESCRIPTION: Nightfell is a horror/fantasy setting. Includes six adventures with PCs facing ancient horrors, superstition, and occultism.

Baby Bestiary 2023 Calendar by Metal Weave Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: RPG calendar
• RETAIL PRICE: $19.99
• DESCRIPTION: Features 12 months of baby beasts, monthly GM ideas, and a number of RPG holidays. For once the PCs won’t kill the monsters but rather enjoy their cuteness.

Faktionz ov da Grymdark Imperivm | The Hybrid Bone Effigy Crucible of the Urgent Chimera by Exalted Funeral

• SYSTEM: Troika! Numinous Edition/Old-School Essentials
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover supplements
• RETAIL PRICE: $10/$15
• DESCRIPTION: Faktionz ov da Grymdark Imperivm is a bestiary and factions sourcebook of satire inspired by a certain wargame the reader may or may not know. Grab your standard and your sword-of-chains and blast off! Inside: six factions locked in a death spiral towards mutually-assured oblivion, 12 new creatures from Vampire Thaumaturge Kings to giant floating clown faces (terrifying!), 28 pages of the edgiest material ever committed to paper. So much edge... The Hybrid Bone Effigy Crucible of the Urgent Chimera is an adventure for bunch of 2nd-level PCs, some 3rd-level PCs, or a few 4th-level PCs - although they might not all come home. Inside the caldera of an old volcano in the Narthex Range, a Chimera has made their lair and they command the surrounding territory. Rumors abound of a certain magical apparatus hidden in the hills. Inside: adventure hooks, area encounters, caldera encounters, detailed monsters, treasure, and magical items.

Castle Keepers Guide (4th Printing) by Troll Lord Games

• SYSTEM: Castles & Crusades
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $49.99
• DESCRIPTION: Now in its fourth printing with a cover that is an homage to the AD&D 1E Dungeon Master’s Guide. Includes world creation guidelines, dungeon designing, managing NPCs, character attributes at high levels, spell use and cost, equipment use and wastage, the tumult of storms, warfare and combat, monster rules, treasure, death rules, and more. The rules are designed to be malleable from gaming table to gaming table.

Scion - Masks of Mythos | Scion - Dragon by Onyx Path Publishing

• SYSTEM: Scion Second Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplements
• RETAIL PRICE: $55 each
• DESCRIPTION: Masks of Mythos introduces a Mythos older than humanity with an unknowable otherness that can shatter all reality. The beings of this Mythos carry out alien machinations with no regard for humanity until pawns are required. Those that touch the Mythos are forever altered, leaving some shattered, others power-mad, and still others knowing only secrecy protects humanity. Mythos scions fair little better, given the ability to break fate and leave the walls of reality weaker in their wake. Some highlights: an entire new pantheon in the Mythos, new Callings and relics, expanded investigation rules, a tour of the Miskatonic Hollow including Arkham and Innsmouth, and an introductory scenario. Scion: Dragon details the stories of Heirs, those chosen by Dragons to act within the World as their agents. It is the story of discovering history, subverting enemies, and espionage. The PCs are chosen by Dragons and gifted with magic and the incredible ability to shapeshift into one of their terrible and awesome forms. PCs are agents in an ancient war, working behind the lines and preparing for a battle for the fate of The World. Inside: character creation system for Heirs, Knacks and Spells, Six Flights for patronage for Heirs, and information about The World from the Dragon’s perspective with plots and intrigue hooks.

 

[deganawida]

Love seeing more stuff for Castles & Crusades!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I will never stop being amazed at the seemingly endless appetite for grimdark or horror 5E settings. There have to be dozens of them published now.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I will never stop being amazed at the seemingly endless appetite for grimdark or horror 5E settings. There have to be dozens of them published now.

New Grimdark setting. Rest of RPG hobby, apparently:

Me (and perhaps Whizbang?)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't dislike dark stuff, necessarily. I bought Van Richten's for the express purpose of throwing around a little black paint in my campaigns and am running the pretty horrific Empire of Ghouls.

I just wonder how many of these campaign settings the hardcore fans are going to buy. There definitely seem to be a lot of people buying multiples, though, probably to mine for parts.

 

[Egg Embry]

SCION! I would love to play a campaign of that one!

 

[EthanSental]

I need to look and see if I’ve already purchased the Lankmhar 5e item mentioned above…if not, I’m getting it! Thanks for the reminder of it.

 

[Blue Orange]

Masks of Mythos introduces a Mythos older than humanity with an unknowable otherness that can shatter all reality.

They didn't go there.

The beings of this Mythos carry out alien machinations with no regard for humanity until pawns are required. Those that touch the Mythos are forever altered, leaving some shattered, others power-mad, and still others knowing only secrecy protects humanity.

They didn't go there, did they?

Mythos scions fair little better, given the ability to break fate and leave the walls of reality weaker in their wake.

They went there, didn't they.

Some highlights: an entire new pantheon in the Mythos, new Callings and relics, expanded investigation rules, a tour of the Miskatonic Hollow including Arkham and Innsmouth, and an introductory scenario.

OK, they went there. Am I going to buy--Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagn'nagl fhtagn! Yeah, probably.

Seriously, I think the appetite for grimdark and horror, as Whizbang Dustyboots says, has to do with the lightening up of 5e. They want to avoid controversial content because the fanbase is less tolerant of it, so that creates a market opportunity for companies who want to 'go dark'.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Funny thing is, I'll probably back Shadowdark at .pdf level because I do like me some OSR rules - and I haven't seen any other OSR style rules forked off of 5e beyond 5 torches deep (I don't really look for them either though)

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Funny thing is, I'll probably back Shadowdark at .pdf level because I do like me some OSR rules - and I haven't seen any other OSR style rules forked off of 5e beyond 5 torches deep (I don't really look for them either though)

I think if I was a teenager now Shadowdark would hook me in the same way D&D did back in the day and for many of the same reasons. To me, Shadowdark is original D&D with modern rules. It isn't a retroclone but almost an alternate reality. Here is what Basic D&D might have become in 2023 if the original dungeon crawling, most of the danger, and ease of use aesthetics had been retained, sharpened, and honed into a wicked sharp blade. A blade that only really protects you as long as your torch lasts of course.