Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 10th of June, 2023, and the episode title is “It’s not a political statement to be a gay geek”

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #199]

[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | Google]

Lone Colossus Games is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

Contact has been made, and the ball is in my court, so we should get a feature interview live this month.

This is the first Geek Native Audio EXP podcast, a highlight show, in June since I was at UK Games Expo last week. That means I’ll highlight some news from there but first run through the candidates for July’s RPG Publisher Spotlight.

If you’re a site or podcast patron, thank you, and you can vote for;

• Lost Spheres Publishing
• RPGGamer
• Starry Knight Press
• Grey Desert Studio
• The Grinning Frog

Since I’ve been away, Apple has released their mixed reality Vision Pro. That’s a three-and-a-half grand headset with a two-hour battery life, but Apple in this market will surely mean innovation and progression.

It’s also the same week that gamers found dents in their heads and likely through wearing their headphones for so long. That’s a health hazard I didn’t have a decade ago.

Both those stories were picked up by Bronwen Winter Phoenix, who, I hope, we’ll be seeing a lot more on the blog. A second pair of eyes and a bigger brain are good things for Geek Native to develop.

It’s not the first week of June, but it is the week that KiwiRPG Week, kicks off. I won’t try and pronounce the actual name of the indie celebration of tabletop RPGs from New Zealand.

Instead, I suggest checking it out as there are deals, freebies and news.

It’s also the week that we have the nominations for the Origins Awards announced. You can find the full list on the blog, but here’s the RPG highlights.

RPG Core   

• Blackbirds by Andrews McMeel Publishing
• Bladerunner the Roleplaying Game by Free League Publishing
• Coyote & Crow by Coyote & Crow
• Teatime Adventures by Snowbright Studio
• The One Ring by Free League Publishing  

RPG Supplements

• Agents of Dune by Modiphius
• Blade Runner Starter Box by Free League Publishing
• Fallout Starter Box by Modiphius Entertainment
• Warhammer Fantasy: Enemy Within Volume 5 by Cubicle 7 Entertainment
• Zweihander Starter Box by Andrews McMeel Publishing 

Accessory

• Call to Adventure Art Decks by Brotherwise Games
• Deluxe Board Game Train Sets by Little Plastic Train Co.
• Power Rangers Zordon Dice Tower & GM’s Screen by Renegade Game Studios
• The Deck of Many Animated Conditions by Hit Point Press
• The Deck of Many Animated Illusions by Hit Point Press  

So, what was UK Games Expo like? It was jam-packed, with over 50,000 people in attendance. I know that’s not US comic con level, but my local tabletop convention, compulsion, might get a few hundred.

I saw just how diverse the geek community is, struggled to cover the event properly which I suspected was the case but surprised to get home to discover there had been a drama.

UK Games Expo have apologised for this but one of the volunteers helping with the RPG demos had been refusing to allow queer-themed RPGs.

It was a mistake, and UK Games Expo has had a disastrous situation in the past which resulted in, rightly, a GM being thrown out for running a sexual assault scene.

I suspect that incident was why the guidelines are for no sexual content in RPG sessions at the convention. The thing is, which UK Games Expo agree with, it’s not ‘sexual’ content in a game if the heroes are straight white men who go on an adventure. Equally, it’s not sexual content if the heroes are lesbian green goblins who go on an adventure.

Both groups of characters could engage in all sorts of sexual adventures, which would cross the UK Games Expo guidelines, but the orientation of the characters does not make the game sexual.

Nor, of course, does the sexual preference of players or their characters make the game a political statement. That gay people exist is not a point for politicians to debate. It’s a fact of life.

Sound obvious? It should be but the ‘no politics’ rule was the attempted defense of the moderators of the BatteTech sub-reddit when they were caught deleting every mention of the BattleTech Pride Anthology. That’s a BattleTech fanzine written by queer authors.

Pleasingly, those homophobic moderators have been removed.

Catalyst Games, who make the game, actual BattleTech authors and the original founder of the sub-Reddit have all stepped up and stepped in to make it clear; BattleTech is for everyone.

There was, I’m also pleased to say, plenty of good news from UK Games Expo 2023.

Some highlights for me include Don’t Play This Game which Parable will Kickstart later and for which you can get a free quickstart right now.

Don’t Play This Game is a solo RPG in a chain-letter style, which means you can pass it on. If you survive and want, you’ll finish the game with a weird journal that you can give to someone else who disregards the advice not to play the game.

I scribbled furiously during Cubicle 7’s session, well the one the striking train situation here in the UK allowed me to attend, and I can report that after the Inquisition supplement for the Warhammer 40K RPG Imperium Maledictum that the next one will be the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Well. That’s the plan.

Plans change.

A much less famous, in fact, a totally unknown because it was under wraps until being revealed at UK Games Expo is Breaking Infinity.

The tabletop RPG from BaffleBox Games accompanies the indie sci-fi movie of the same name. Breaking Infinity will stream on Amazon Prime, Netflix and other platforms later this year.

Drama and news haven’t been restricted to UK Games Expo, though.

There’s been an essential update from Battlefield Press.

The company boss, Jonathan Thompson, sadly passed away near the start of the year. He was the engine that kept Battlefield running.

His brother, Adam, has stepped up, but getting access to company details and computers has been a battle. This month, Adam finally got access to Kickstarter, where he discovered various unfilled campaigns.

Fans have been asked to wait while Adam tries to steady the finances and the company. This loyal brother is determined to do right and get gamers their product while saving Jonathan’s legacy.

There’s also a fight in the collectable trading card space over the likely-to-be-a-big-hit Disney Lorcana.

Lorcana is from Ravensburger, who makes other Disney games, but Upper Deck are suing.

Upper Deck say Lorcana has been stolen, and a designer who left them to join Ravensburger is involved.

If you do buy Lorcana here in the UK, or perhaps a Warhammer game from a British retailer, then your parcel might come with Warhammer stamps.

The 520-year old Royal Mail has issued an official set of Warhammer stamps to celebrate things British.

In the theme of old-things-are-geeky, Bronwen also penned an epic 18 vintage reproductions brands rated and reviewed. In this case, those vintage brands are dresses and just the sort of stylish attire you could wear to a gaming convention. Perhaps if you buy one of those online from a UK company, it might also arrive in a package decorated with Warhammer stamps.

As we hurry to the usual outro of bundles, let’s first tuck in one more free game and one which needs no postage at all.

WrightWerx has released a free starter edition to download of Mecha vs Kaiju 202x for 5e. It’s available from their DriveThruRPG store or by clicking handy links on Geek Native.

Right, those bundles are all on the Bundle of Holding and the first one is the 2nd edition of Lex Arcana. You have until the 26th to join the legions of a supernatural Roman empire.

Another, technically two separate ones, but let’s bundle the bundles, is from Goodman Games and for Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar. How badly did I pronounce that?

Lastly, there’s one from Aether Nexus for the evil world of Dragongrin. That’s a flash sale and you’ve only until the 14th to get it.

And on that note, let’s wrap up there; let people be themselves, and I’ll see you next week.

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 27th of May, 2023, and the episode title is “Tomb Raider, D&D prices and UK Games Expo”

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #198]

[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | Google]

Zotiquest Games is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

Last week I made the quirky decision to announce that I’d given up on Zotiquest Games ever responding to my outreach. I shared my gut feeling that we’d have to push on with an indie RPG feature without them.

Well. What do I know?

It’s never over while there’s still food on the table, and Roberto Bisceglie, founder and solo author at the Italian publisher, got back in touch.

We discussed solo RPGs, Italy’s tabletop gaming scene, and creepypasta. You can find the feature on Geek Native, and links to that are in the show notes of this podcast.

Last week I also invited people to howl, “No, don’t do it!” at me on the idea that I write up potentially controversial thoughts about Steamforged Games and Kickstarter’s new partnership.

No one did. So, I did.

That means I’ve written down that conflict between Kickstarter being neutral and a platform of equals for publishers and now having some skin in the game with Steamforged.

As it turns out, it hasn’t proven to be controversial at all. There’s my gut instinct turning out to be rubbish again.

However, I imagine Steamforged Games might be at UK Games Expo next weekend. I’ll be there too, so if I get bopped in the nose, then I guess they did mind.

Speaking of UK Games Expo, a huge tabletop games convention down in England, it means no Geek Native podcast next week. I’m unsure how I’ll do the Routinely Itemised RPG news summary or the start of the month vote for Geek Native Patreons.

I’d better figure that out.

But I know I will be a smartphone horror while I’m there. That means taking lots of photographs and videos while trying not to spam social media and Geek Native’s Discord with them.

I predict lots of montage videos and collage photographs.

There’s no shortage of news in the meantime, though. Kobold launched their Wizards of the Coast free 5e-based Tales of the Valiant. This is the tabletop game that’s come from Project Black Flag.

It’s on Kickstarter and soared through the half-a-million Dollars mark in funding with ease. There are tiers of limited editions and collector options, which is commercially wise by Kobold, a chance for true fans to show their fandom but also expensive.

That said, there is a free-to-download Tales of the Valiant preview now on DriveThruRPG. That’s not expensive at all and an excellent chance to sample before offering Kobold your cash.

Also free on DriveThruRPG right now is the Candela Obscura quickstart from Darrington Press.

Darrington Press is the tabletop games company set up by Critical Role. Like Tales of the Valiant, the origins of Candela Obscura start with Wizards of the Coast trying to mess with OGL and injecting commercial uncertainty into businesses based around 5e.

In Candela Obscura, players are occult investors who must confront horrors from beyond.

So, Critical Role’s first RPG battle isn’t with Wizards of the Coast for high fantasy and is with Chaosium in horror. Candela Obscura feels closer to Call of Cthulhu than D&D.

The rules engine is the Illuminated Worlds System, and the complete RPG is due out later this year.

There is the sense that the tabletop business model is changing, but, mind you so is the world. Embracer had a tough week when a secret $2bn deal fell through, despite them getting control of Tomb Raider back this month.

$2bn is a lot of money to be disappointed on, but at least they’ve dozens of computer game studios to keep the cash flow trickling in. How much do you expect to pay for a computer game these days? A triple A game could easily be $70, right?

What about D&D?

Currently, D&D hardbacks are around $50, but as GameRant reports, Wizards of the Coast have announced that the next wave will cost $60. That’s 20% more.

However, that’s only the pre-order price, and once that window closes, D&D hardbacks will cost $70. That’s a 40% jump.

Yep, the new D&D, once known as One D&D, not yet known as D&D 6e or D&D 5.5e except where it is, will be D&D $70e.

I wonder how much the virtual tabletop edition of the new rules will cost.

But, let’s come back to Embracer and not just because they’re a games giant to rival Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast’s owners. Embracer does have tabletop RPG games in their stable of publishers, including Star Wars, until recently, all through Edge Studios.

Now, Crystal Dynamics, the Embracer company that took back control of games like Tomb Raider from Square Enix, also have a tabletop game.

There’s a free-to-download, official but not canon, Lara Croft’s Tomb Raiders tabletop game.

It’s a ZIP file of core rules, a campaign, handouts and even streamer assets because that’s the sort of attention to detail game makers need to remember these days.

Now, let’s take a look at bundles and other outro news before the twin drama of train strikes and my train trip to UK Games Expo begin.

At the Bundle of Holding, Green Ronin are back with another deal, and this time it’s a flash sale for Freeport with Pathfinder rules.

There’s also a double feature of Girl Genius comics, and I grabbed those. It’s the first time I bashed my head against the 200MB limit on my birthday gift to myself of an Amazon Scribe. That’s the web upload max. Maybe there’s another way to transfer in the file.

There’s also a time-limited but duration unknown Warhammer Skulls festival of computer games on Fanatical in which you can get some Warhammer, 40K and fantasy computer games at some dramatic discounts.

Or, if you’re a Geek Native Patreon at the Questor level, which is $5 a month, then there’s a gift of The Lair of the Leopard Empresses coming your way. That’s a Monsters! Monsters! powered tabletop game of swords and sorcery, jungle heat and death.

Speaking of Patrons, remember you have got a few days left to vote in the June spotlight. The publishers in the shortlist are;

• Lone Colossus Games
• Deep Light Games
• The Scrying Dutchman
• Midnight Owl Games
• dicegeeks

And on that note, let’s wrap up there, rest in peace Tina Turner and good luck to travellers trying to get to UK Games Expo. We’ll catch up in two weeks’ time.

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 20th of May, 2023, and the episode title is “Deals for good or evil!”

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #197]

[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | Google]

Zotiquest Games is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

There are two tiny tweaks to the usual Audio EXP podcast format that I want to do this week. Well, three if you count the addition of the word ‘Podcast’ into the blog post title, which seems like a glaringly obvious error it’s taken nearly 200 episodes to address.

The first of the proper two is to talk about Zotiquest Games. It’s the 20th, two-thirds of the busy month, and I’ve not gotten in touch. Not beep, not a whisper or even a nod from them.

I’m contacting a designer based in Italy and don’t think I’m getting through.

I hope I’m not calling quits too early, but my gut feeling is that we won’t make contact, and I should push on with an RPG Spotlight piece without them.

It’s a shame, but it’s happened before, and there’s usually stuff to say.

It’s not just my gut feeling; next Saturday is the 27th, and then it’s the 3rd of June. There won’t be a podcast on the 3rd because I’ll be at UK Games Expo. Instead, I’ll be putting reels and other videos of the giant even on social, which should be fun, but does eat into the usual schedule.

I’ll get to the second at the end of the podcast but I want to talk about some deals and other geeky news.

The first deal is centres on Evil Genius Productions, who make the 5e modern mashup Everyday Heroes, and who has the license to RPGs like The Crow, Highlander and Escape from New York and others.

Evil Genius are rebooting the d20 supplement Urban Arcana and are hosting a competition as part of that. People have had the chance to submit 200-word pitches for a contemporary fantasy setting, ten winners have now been announced and will be paid to expand on that pitch.

At the end of the process, there’s a cash payout and a contract for the winner to write up their setting for the book.

In a deal, Geek Native’s been able to reveal the ten Urban Arcana semi-finalists. These people will now be paid to expand their idea and progress in the contest.

I won’t list all ten, but if you entered, or know someone who has, visit the blog to find out if you know the finalists.

Also, I won’t read them all out on the podcast, but we do have all ten pitches on the blog as well. They’re a great read, so pop over and let us know what you think.

We did two posts because we didn’t want to link the authors’ names with their pitches, and there’s no connection in the order they’re listed. We gave the pitches nicknames or headlines and put those in alphabetical order.

It’s a bit of an experiment, but it seems to be working well.

Another experiment on the blog this week was a new way to vote on stuff. As usual, I connected Google Polls with Google Sheets and published the results as live graphs.

The proof-of-concept question is which fantasy lineage would brew the most potent beer?

You have three choices; dwarf, halfling or orc. Currently, it’s not a hotly contested vote, but orcs have it.

If you want to see who currently has the lead, pop over, or, better still, cast your vote and let me know what you think of the hacked-together process. But; be kind.

I guess that’s kind of a deal; between Google technologies and the blog.

One absolute deal is that between Free League Publishing and UK Games Expo. That’s the very same Expo that Geek Native will be at so hit us up if you’re going and want to say.

The deal Free League has made is to run the first-ever Alien RPG Master tournament there.

That’s right, competitive Alien RPG play. We’re not talking about card games, board games or wargames but tabletop RPGs.

I guess it could work in cinematic Alien games where it can become a fight to survive. However, there’s a nice catch. The winner of each round at each table is the player their fellow players voted through, and it’s a sort of collaborative competition.

If the worst thing that happens in a successful model taking off here is that people try to be a popular player, isn’t that a good thing?

Or, if you’re looking for an anti-deal of sorts, what about Living Nightmares? Alternatively, this is a deal between an RPG publisher and you.

Living Nightmares is published by Gildor Games, behind the Elemental RPG. Gildor already offers many supplements for free, but the twist with the low-cost Living Nightmares, a collection of spooky monsters, is that for each DriveThruRPG ‘bestseller tier’ it achieves, they’ll add to it. That’s possible with digital products.

As a result, if you buy the game now, and presumably, it could be made more expensive later because it’s worth it now, it’ll only get better.

I think this model is called buyfunding, and it could work with an ashcan or beta RPG, which edges towards a final stage with purchases, but Living Nightmares is good to go now; it just promises to get better.

The buyfunding model is a variant I wish both Itch and DriveThruRPG-Roll20 offered better support for. Both those platforms already offer a Pay What You Want model, though.

We did also cover a Pay What You Want RPG on the blog this week, and that was Lost Roads of Lociam. I paid $5 but could have paid nothing and got more than 100 pages of RPG.

Lost Roads of Lociam is a successful Kickstarter set in a world where magic is real but unpredictable, dramatic and dangerous.

Like dinosaurs.

Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch of a connection but I did want to call out we’re at the 30th anniversary of Jurassic Park.

In a merch post, one which some purchases could make Geek Native a few pennies, I listed various Jurassic Park deals at geeky retailers.

Merchoid as a very limited collectors’ edition weekend ticket, LoungeFly is sure to sell out of their dinosaur goodies and RSVLTS has sold out on the “Clever Girl” shirt that costs an arm and a leg I might have bought.

While we’re still on deals, Crunchyroll’s new owners, Sony, seem to be showing their chops as we’ve already seen a slew of partnerships with the month of Ani-May and now one with the language learning app Duolingo.

If you’re a Crunchyroll subscriber, you get some Duolingo Super access for free, and there are anime-inspired phrases. It feels like a sensible partnership to me.

At the start of the podcast, I said there were going to be two small tweaks, and here is the second. I want to talk about breaking news that I’ve not yet covered but am tempted to.

The news is that Steamforge Games and Kickstarter have signed a deal. It’s been covered by ICv2.

Steamforged has promised to be exclusive, and Kickstarter has agreed to help with content.

My thoughts went to dark places, although I can see how Kickstarter helping with inclusive and training content is great. By dark places, I mean this; isn’t Kickstarter supposed to be neutral? Doesn’t Kickstarter help cross-promote campaigns and even approve, or not, campaigns from other publishers competing for the same customers as Steamforged Games?

Is this a balancing act Kickstarter can pull off and convince others they are balancing it successfully? Why can’t Steamforged just do more of this sort of content without signing their next four games to Kickstarter? Why can’t Kickstarter not just help promote this sort of content without asking for an exclusive?

So, my question is this; should I post on this, or do you see Geek Native as more of a place to discover stuff rather than read about thoughts and opinions as I’ve just outlined? If you think I should leave well alone, then please howl.

As usual, there’s the bundle news to cover before we sign off, and this week I’ve picked on. That’s at the Bundle of Holding, now, there’s a site with many partners and deals, and I’ve picked Arc Dream Mythos.

That’s Delta Green and Pagan Publishing content in the form of THe Unspeakable Oath and Dreamlands.

And on that note, let’s wrap up there, I hope to see you at UK Games Expo and, at the very least, next week.

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 13th of May, 2023, and the episode title is “Oops; bundle me good!”

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #196]

[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | Google]

Zotiquest Games is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

Oops. Moments ago, I discovered I hadn’t published last week’s RPG news podcast transcript to the blog. It was all written but sitting in drafts all this time.

I’ve published it now, which means that while the podcast platforms will be none the wiser, readers will be, and there will be two back-to-back transcripts.

I write up the transcript with accessibility in mind and to be as transmedia as possible. I won’t call it a theme, but other transmedia projects are coming up later in the show.

The first story is about an RPG business deal that came out of the blue. Tunnels & Trolls has been bought. In fact, I think all of Flying Buffalo’s RPG line and brand have been bought. I’ve asked for clarity but am still waiting.

Tunnels & Trolls is the RPG that followed behind D&D in response to D&D, making it the world’s second-oldest tabletop RPG.

Who’s the new owner? Rebellion Unplugged is the tabletop arm of Rebellion, the comic book and games publisher based in the UK.

They’ve been dabbling with RPGs and have a board game, but it’s the comic book properties of Rebellion that make them world famous; they publish Judge Dredd and the other 2000 AD titles.

So, will we have a new Judge Dredd RPG with a Tunnels & Trolls engine? Maybe!

We know that old Flying Buffalo RPGs will still be available, but future books, and I think there will be quite a few, will be published by Rebellion Unplugged.

Another deal we’re covering is between World of Darkness, the horror game franchise that Paradox governs at arm’s length, and an interactive book publisher called Choice of Games.

If you’re a bit of a programmer, you might be interested to know that Choice of Games makes ChoiceScript, their script language, available to the public. They’re a text-based publisher, just online, so that stories can be interactive.

Choice of Games has worked with the World of Darkness before and has now landed a two-year deal. Two interactive stories are coming;

• Werewolf: The Apocalypse – The Book of Hungry Names
• Hunter: The Reckoning – The Beast of Glendkildove

Aaand, I suppose we’re all used to Modiphius landing deals. The latest is for a BrikWars.

I know the game a little and thought it might lend itself to a board or skirmish game, but Modiphius is doing an RPG. Maybe it’s a case of watching this space.

Geek Native also managed to do a deal with Roleplay Elixir to warm readers up a bit for their forthcoming 5e Kickstarter for Kings & Dragons.

What did we get? A free-to-download demo. You see, this is why I write up the transcript because you can find the link to that in the transcript, which I’ll definitely publish this time.

Kings & Dragons may now be on your to-watch list, and perhaps RoleRoster is too.

RoleRoster is a free website, currently in beta, which promises to take some of the pain out of organising game night. It doesn’t just work out when people are free but handles the reminders and calendar.

RoleRoster’s likely plans would be to expand that one-stop-shop approach into other areas but have the challenging task of recruiting enough people first.

Sliding away from RPGs, just for one story, there’s the first look at the new Conan the Barbarian comic book series.

That’s been penned by Jim Zub, who gamers will definitely be familiar. I think it’s the first bit of Conan news since Cabinet shuffled the license holders.

Before the bundles, let’s talk about Leyline Press as the RPG publisher had an encounter with disgruntled culture war folks. What happened? Without naming anyone, Leyline Press had a problem with an editor. This person had been working on RPGs that have received widespread concern for cashing in on bigotry and other unpleasantness.

Understandably, I think, Leyline Press didn’t want to be associated with any of that and felt some guilt for having worked with the person in the first place.

They broke the news with an apology, said they wouldn’t work with that editor again and would not publish their name on the Salvage Union, their current project.

What happened next was entirely predictable. Those who don’t cope so well with difference raced in two criticise Leyline for trying to navigate a no-win situation. My main conclusion was what a pejorative Twitter’s blue tick has become.

In bundles and on the Bundle of Holding, there’s swashbuckling action from Basic Action Games with an Honor + Intrigue and one timed for the Into the Deep Wild Kickstarter from Privateer Press called Iron Kingdoms: Requiem.

Lastly and raising for the heroes of The Trevor Project, people who work to stop LGBTQ-folk committing suicide, is the Starfinder Solidarity bundle.

Paizo has physical products here, so a great deal, but watch for shipping fees.

And on that note, let’s wrap up there; remember to finish what you started, and I’ll see you next week.

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 6th of May, 2023, and the episode title is “It’s Coronation Day; let’s talk about voting”.

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #194]

[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | Google]

Zotiquest Games is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

True to tradition, it’s the very start, sort of, of the month, and I’ve not told Zotiquest Games about their victory in this unsolicited battle royale of votes yet.

I will, though. I’ve got a day off this week, so I’ve got a little more time. I’ve that extra day as here in the UK it’s a rare event; a Coronation.

King Charles III has taken the throne, and Queen Camilla has broken with tradition and is recycling a crown from history, not getting a new one made for her. Jewellers around London will be heartbroken, and Camilla will wear the crown made for Mary of Tek.

Mary of Tek, of course, Queen Mary was the wife of King George V, and the crown has not been worn in public for over 70 years, and it’s been on display in the Tower of London.

However, Mary of Tek’s crown won’t have the Kohinoor Diamond. That’s one of the world’s largest cut diamonds, a gift to Queen Victoria in 1850.

The problem with the Kohinoor Diamond? The British nicked it from India during the painful era of the East India Company. But enough of all this reality; let us get back to geeking and gaming! Although, let me say it’s good of Camilla not to demand a new crown and, at least, not to flaunt the Kohinoor Diamond.

Imagine this, your party of adventurers trudge into town, start to unpack their wagon, hoping to trade loot from the dungeon with local merchants, and they’re confronted by the local militia.

The militia point to some of the groups’ gear and protest at the coils of rope they have. The problem? The heroes could use those ropes to tie themselves to doors, stables and fences and block the area with their own bodies. An illegal disruption. All it takes is for the militia to suspect the adventurers might do this, and they have the legal authority to arrest them.

Imagine that. Your players will boggle at the dystopia of the weird little fantasy town.

Except… sorry to do this to you… I’ve not moved on at all. I’m still talking about the coronation. That happened in London today as anti-Monarchy protesters were arrested for having, what the police say, are devices that could be used to fasten people to things and that protesters were thinking of doing that.

Crazy.

Right, really, for real, let’s talk voting. Let me tell you who the candidates for June’s RPG Publisher Spotlight are;

• Lone Colossus Games
• Deep Light Games
• The Scrying Dutchman
• Midnight Owl Games
• dicegeeks

Furthermore, if you’re tempted to vote, then let me tell you about The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd.

If you’re a patron before the 23rd, you’ll get The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd, which is good.

The Curse of Er’Mah’Gerd is D&D with humour, and thanks to the success of the D&D movie, many people, like me, are now convinced that it can work.

Thanks to David Michael Williams and One Million Words, we’ve an art preview on the site and copies of the 200-page 5e light parody to give to patrons.

But, as we know, Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast don’t always get everything right. Last week we had Pinkerton raids, and this week when Egg Embry came to me with a story pitch, it was one we knew needed to be carefully spotted.

Egg was aware that iconic artist Jeff Easley had told Facebook followers about his disappointment that his signature had been airbrushed out of a D&D Honour Among Thieves promo poster he had done.

Egg’s write-up was great, but we were worried about making life for Jeff difficult by getting fans riled up. Sometimes angry people do the wrong thing.

If you’ve just listened to me sniping about politics and royals in the UK, you won’t be surprised to know that I ran the story. We added a note from yours truly to ask fans to be good.

The catch? While Hasbro’s eOne made the movie and all the creative control was with the company, the giant didn’t do everything. Paramount Pictures handled distribution, that important job of putting it into cinemas.

Of all the emails promos about D&D Honour Among Thieves that I’ve had, not one that, at least that I can find, came from Paramount. Still, we couldn’t be sure, so we updated the article.

Geek Native’s transparent in our updates and correction. If there’s a change after an article goes live, we explain so in a big box on the article itself, and there’s a corrections and updates page linked to in the footer which details every such change.

Despite all the drama, Dungeons & Dragons seems to weather the brand storm. The latest extension to the merch empire and is an official Build-a-Bear plushie dragon.

And, as ever, it’s not all about D&D and the major players. There are challengers. In the VTT space, One More Multiverse is a challenger, and they’ve progressed this week.

It’s a VTT that supports a few systems, has community standards and blends JRPG pixel art with storytelling and more traditional VTT features. It’s left public beta, so it’s an official on-the-shelf product now. The welcomed catch? It’s still free.

Nor is it all about RPGs here at Geek Native; there’s loads of anime too. Or, this month, perhaps that should be Ani-May. Crunchyroll, now part of Sony, has branded May Ani-May and signed some international deals.

Here in the UK, HMV is a partner and have  Attack on Titan, JUJUTSU KAISEN, My Hero Academia, and Toilet Bound Hanako-kun goodies in more than 100 stores. I was hoping for Jujutsu Kaisen fingerless gloves or Attack on Titan chewable Scout Corp jelly babies but I don’t think we’re going to get those.

Nevertheless, it’s great to see both anime and tabletop RPGs so well known these days.

Speaking of May, May the 4th is Star Wars Day. That’s when so many brands and blogs jump on the space-bandwagon and do something.

Geek Natie asked What one clever thing should you do for Star Wars Day?

The answer was to watch Curious Refuge’s Wes Anderson-inspired trailer. It’s awesome.

Then I packed it with Star Wars Day deals such as 15% off Sideshow Collectibles, deals and discounts at Just Geek and even new  Star Wars socks from Stance, and that’s where I get mine. I would recommend the site, but I didn’t get any more socks.

Sadly, sometimes it comes back to D&D and as we know, it’s not always good news.

Keith Baker, the guy who came up with the D&D campaign setting of Eberron and has been publishing Eberron material through the DMs Guild through the studio KB Presents, not Wizards of the Coast, has announced the studio will close.

The last book they’ll make is Frontiers of Eberron: Quickstone.

Visionary Production and Design will pick up four established titles and keep them on sale. They are;

• Exploring Eberron
• Chronicles of Eberron
• Dread Metrol
• Eberron Confidential

You can still follow the team on social media, with Keith Baker being part of Twogether Studios, producer Wayne Chang still on the Adventuring Zone Facebook page, editor Laura Hirsbrunner available via their Carrd site and the space plasma physicist, Manifest Zone co-host and adamantine bestseller Imogen Gingell on Twitter and at the website imogen.space.

There are also some bundles before we go. Atlas Games has an incredible DrivethruRPG hosted deal reduced by 70% with savings of nearly $200 for Ars Magica 4e. If you want to try not-D&D, then Ars Magica is very firmly in the camp of not-D&D.

Early FASA Traveller sci-fi RPG products are at the Bundle of Holding but you will need a copy of Traveller old enough to use them.

And on that note, let’s wrap up there, and we’ll catch up next week. Until then, don’t wear stolen bling, and fight on.

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 29th of April, 2023, and the episode title is “Record-breaking Satan”.

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #194]

[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | Google]

High Level Games is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

The interview with Josh Heath, the COO of High Level Games is live, and Josh is impressive. He has a Masters in Conflict Resolution and ran a heathen religious non-profit. You can read the whole piece on the blog now.

And, as it happens, there’s a bit of a religious theme in this week’s podcast and starting with, but not staying with, Dungeons & Dragons. That’s kinda a religion for some.

This month we have a new Guinness World Record, and it’s for the largest game of D&D played.

It happened in Provo. I had to hit up Bing to find out where that is, and so let me tell you, it’s the fourth-largest city in Utah in the United States of America. That means it probably dwarves Geek Native’s hometown HQ of Edinburgh, Scotland.

I asked Bing what Utah was famous for, and it told me beehives, skiing, Sunday, Salt Lake City and Mormons.

Yes, I do use Bing as my default desktop search engine. I’ve done so since Google retired Google Reader on the first of July 2013.

Perhaps we should add D&D to the list of Utah’s successes because team Provo smashed the old record. It would take 500 people playing D&D at once, and the game managed 1,227.

How do you run a game like that? Many DMs, each one looking after a table of no more than seven players. It was a single game, a battle and an adventure, all interlinked. The successes of each table made a difference.

The scenario was called The Dead Wars, and for $40, you can now buy it from DrivethruRPG.

It’s just out, no one’s reviewed it, and I’ve seen some typos, but perhaps it’s a bit of electronic history. I dunno. I suspect there was an enormous amount of logistics, but the modular approach in The Dead Wars might be something conventions look at.

Speaking of conventions, the tickets for Tabletop Scotland opened today, and I’ve bought mine.

There is, of course, already a city famous for D&D. That’s Lake Geneva, with fewer than 10,000 people living in that Wisconsin birthplace of the modern tabletop RPG.

Dave Arneson met Gary Gygax at Gen Con in the 60s there, and together they invented the game TSR, the company that first published D&D was based there, and Gygax died there in 2008.

This week the Chicago Tribune asked why is there no Gygax statue at Lake Geneva? I especially liked how they justified the story by describing it as a cultural legacy from someone who was not a soldier or politician.

The answers the Tribune get are, well, weird; the answers all seem to be Satan.

The ghost of the satanic panic that great cancel culture from the religious right that wanted to stop D&D abides.

Ben Riggs, of “Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons,” is quoted saying;

I think, for one, the Satanic panic still lingers, in a way. In general, ask people around Lake Geneva what they think of the game, and a lot of them act like you’re pointing to a bug under a rock. There’s a sense of shame about it.

That really is a shame.

As usual, while D&D is dominant in this week’s summary podcast, it’s not the only thing.

There’s a new edition of Pathfinder on the way, and that’ll be four books, some releasing during D&D’s 50th anniversary year.

Except it’s not really a new edition, it’s a revision. That said, it’s a revision that needs some backward compatibility, so it’s more than just a front cover change.

In particular, this revision of Pathfinder, one that I’m calling Pathfinder 2R, removes the RPG’s dependence on Wizards of the Coast’s OGL.

I bet Wizards of the Coast are less than thrilled to have a high-profile reminder of the OGL drama just as they’re trying to sell the new D&D edition that year, the one that used to be known as One D&D and is now just known as D&D.

Mind you; if Wizards of the Coast really wanted to avoid bad PR, then they probably shouldn’t be sending actual Pinkerton agents after Magic: The Gathering cards.

That’s what they did to retrieve some a Magic streamer had. Don’t worry; our streamer hadn’t stolen them. He had just been given the wrong box by mistake and, as a YouTuber, is undoubtedly pleased with all the PR he’s getting.

The Pinkertons will have been paid, and if you don’t know, this is an actual group of privately owned investigator agents based in the USA that people with enough money can hire.

Team Geek Native has had a busy week, we’ve not written that story up, but links to Kotaku, who did, are in the Friday wrap-up and in this podcast’s transcript, which you can find through the link in the show notes.

Moving further away from D&D takes us to Green Ronin’s Mutants & Mastermind’s superhero system.

Mutants & Masterminds will be the basis for the new and official Valiant RPG.

Green Ronin has signed a deal with DMG Entertainment and Valiant to launch the official Valiant Adventures Roleplaying Game. That’s due in 2024.

Alexander Thomas, who is developing the new RPG, told the press;

The Worlds of Valiant campaign setting features game stats for over 80 heroes and villains, and iconic locations like Britannia, The Deadside, Earth, The Faraway, New Japan, Space, The Stalinverse, and The Unknown.”

That’s about it this week, except for a reminder to vote for May’s RPG Publisher Spotlight while you can or prepare for the upcoming June poll.

The current candidates are;

• Zotiquest Games
• Atelier Clandestin
• Sixpence Games
• Sanctum Media
• Forever People

There are also three bundles to call out. On the Bundle of Holding, until the 17th of May, there’s one from Liberi Gothica’s PvP Fellowship, another ending before that for Gallant Knight’s Tiny Dungeon Mega bundle and a day or so left on the Solidarity.

The Bundle of Holding says there are no Pinkertons involved in the Solidarity offer, and that one includes the anti-Nazi Sigmata, Beat the Boss and Cryptomancer. Some of the money raised in that particular bundle will be donated to the charity Corporate Accountability, which fights to stop international businesses from making the world worse.

And on that note, let’s wrap up there, and we’ll catch up next week. Until then, don’t let the system grind you down and fight on.

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 22nd of April, 2023, and the episode title is “D&D fashion and sci-fi rescues”.

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #193]

[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | Google]

High Level Games is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

I’ve a Q&A with High Level Games in progress. Huzzah. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I’ve not written it up for this week’s Audio EXP.

Let’s make that a sandwich of good news by adding that if you are a patron, not only do you get to vote in the RPG Spotlight process, you’ll also be getting a PDF copy of Neurocity as a thank you.

Here’s the description;

Neurocity is a subterranean city complex crowned by a glitched digital sun ruled by an ever watchful supercomputer named I.S.A.C. A closed society on the brink of collapse suffering an involution from digital to analog technology due to the scarcity of materials and constant recycling of components.

If you’re not yet a backer but sign up before the 30th, you’ll also get a copy. These gifts occasionally happen throughout the year.

There’s a sci-fi and merch theme this week, which half-fits from my week off last Saturday, for which there was no Audio EXP podcast. I was at the oldest gaming convention in Scotland, Conpulsion, to play some games and watch Tanya Floaker accept a reward for all their great work in promoting indie games.

I played two sci-fi games, including one homebrew, one Stars Without Number, and one set in a supernatural 19th Century Sweden.

Next year, I could be playing in the official Star Trek: Lower Decks RPG, as Modiphius has secured the license.

You can already buy the mission Lurkers and the Season 1 Crew Pack. The Star Trek Lower Decks Campaign Guide opens for preorders in the summer. It’s nearly summer, right?

Another bit of RPG sci-fi news is Holostreets: The Shadowrun Collective.

This community content program from Roll20 DriveThruRPG and Catalyst Game Labs lets third-party publishers or creators sell Shadowrun Sixth World content and keep some profit, and gamers like me buy them. It resembles the Savage World Adventures Guild, Storypath Nexus or Jonstown Compendium.

DriveThruRPG isn’t currently accepting new community content programs, and I imagine that’s part of the unification process with Roll20. That’s looking like a merger now, even though we were nudged away from that terminology when the news of the two companies coming together broke.

However, Holostreets had been a work in progress before the acceptance program closed doors. I imagine it’ll come back because getting publishers into the ecosystem should be The Orr Group’s priority.

One more sci-fi surprise good news story is the rescue of Into The Mother Lands by Green Ronin.

Tanya DePass and B. Dave Walters’ Afrofuturist RPG was originally one Andrews McMeel was working with, but was dropped as the publisher edged away from the tabletop market.

Green Ronin of the AGE system, which powers The Expanse RPG, has picked it up but it’s only providing support.

CypherCo’s Tanya DePass said in a press statement;

Green Ronin is supporting us by bringing the game to new players, retailers and more. Our Kickstarter backers will get the game first, but then it will have a wider release. The IP, world, actual play, and all properties are our crew’s creations but everyone’s to enjoy.”

And Green Ronin’s Chris Pramas noted;

“To clarify our role, we are publishing the game and getting it into bookstores, game stores, and other channels. Into the Mother Lands is POC created and POC owned, and our job is to help the game reach the widest possible audience.”

I guess there’s even a story this week that links together Roll20-esq virtual tabletops and sci-fi technology with the news that Ulisses Spiele, the German publisher, has bought Sigil Services.

Sigil Entertainment remains part of Pinnacle Entertainment, but Sigil Services has moved over, and Sigil Services specialises in working with RPG publishers to get their content into virtual tabletops.

The new deal means it’ll be easier for Ulisses Spiele to do more stuff digitally, it might also open Sigil up to larger European markets, which would be a win for VTT gamers worldwide.

This week isn’t all virtual and sci-fi, though. I didn’t just play sci-fi or Nordic horror at Conpulsion. I also bought cool stuff I didn’t need, like a large d6 with monsters painted on it.

So, there’s news this week of what I think is the most tempting D&D turns 50 in 2024 t-shirt I’ve seen yet. It’s exclusive and designed by EMP.

I know, shop there once, and they’ll send you email offers for life, but this black and red t-shirt has a cool Mimic on it, it is official D&D merch marked with a 74 on it. It looks different, and I think it looks great.

There are also t-shirts from CultureFly which are character sheet designs showing colour illustrations of fantasy races for various D&D classes.

These aren’t so clearly part of the 50th birthday, but the art is stunning and could have been taken out of a high-end sourcebook.

You’ll find links to all these through the show notes and on the blog.

One more bit of merch to point out is The One Ring that glows. Imagine having a Ring of Power with a spooky green aura that gleams in the dark.

The first One Ring replica I saw cost hundreds of dollars; well, it was gold, I think. This Merchoid offer is $30.

Speaking of offers, this is a weird one, but if you do happen to run an RPG publishing company or perhaps just a gaming society with expenses, Geek Native has secured a discount code, which can be used up until the 30th of June, from the US PrintSafari.

If you simply must have a pull-up banner for a stand at a gaming convention or branded notebooks, then this will make that a bit cheaper for you.

Need something for free? Or just want it? Since we last caught up, and gosh hasn’t it been busy, Geek Native highlighted the VERSE quickstart as a free to download PDF.

The game is similar to Into the Odd, except set across a mutating multiverse. It plays a bit more like Trophy Gold.

Since it’s been two weeks since we last caught up there are also quite a few bundles offers to highlight. All worth it.

Independence Games, Mongoose and other publishers have a Memorial bundle for Keith Frye.

Keith was a big part of the Traveller scene and set up TravellerCon. The community raised money to help with his fight against cancer. Sadly, this one is for the final bills and funeral costs.

There’s also two bundles to support Owen K.C. Stephens who is fighting and has bills to pay. Each bundle gets you about $700 worth of RPG products and costs merely $35. #

It’s awkwardly good if you let it feel that way, such a discount, but I like to see it as RPG community being heroes again.

A more traditional bundle, but also raising money, is the quick run Humble and Pelegrane Press 13th Age mega deal.

On the Bundle of Holding, there’s a few days left on the Mongoose Classic Play offer. You’ll have to be quick for both.

You’ll have to be even swifter to snap up the retro-pulp RPG of Airship Daedalus from Deep7, as that launched as a flash sale at the Bundle of Holding.

And on that note, let’s wrap up there, and we’ll catch up next week. Until then, roll your dice, watch your anime and keep safe.

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 8th of April, 2023, and the episode title is “It’s only a draft”.

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #192]

[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | Google]

High Level Games is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

I have got in touch with High Level, but it’s the Easter break for many of us, and I used their contact form. In Geek Native’s experience, those forms can be slightly prone to being eaten by spam gremlins, so I might also reach out via social media.

I don’t do that immediately because it feels a bit aggressive, stalky and high-pressure. Indie publishers don’t need that in their lives?

I’ll talk about a popular CEO stepping down from an RPG and board game publishing studio in just a bit, and I’m linking the idea of avoiding pressure to have more fun in your life here, but first, let me say that there will be no Audio EXP podcast next week.

Why not, you might ask. So, let me tell you – I’ll be at an RPG and games convention, and I’m going to the first in-person Conpulsion here in Edinburgh since the dread virus swept out of… well, we may never know.

I do know that Conpulsion is on, and I will be playing my first Vaesen game, my first Stars Without Number game and a game of Avatar: Legends which I have before and deserves more of my time.

Phil Reed is stepping down as the CEO of Steve Jackson Games. He’s staying with the studio, still doing Creative stuff but isn’t behind the wheel any more. He’s grown the company and done this through troubled times.

He has also attempted to diversify, ensuring that those big title games that must drive so much revenue aren’t driving all the income. Munchkin, I’m looking at you.

Phil has also had a string of amazingly successful Kickstarters, so he’ll spend less time at Steve Jackson Games and more on that.

No one is being promoted from within Steve Jackson Games to replace Phil, and Steve isn’t stepping into the position. The new boss comes from an area I know little about – painting minis.

She is Meredith Placko, the boss of Turbo Dork, and Meredith is staying as the boss there too.

What does this mean for Steve Jackson Games’ future? I don’t know Meredith, but I’m sure she’s fantastic. She plays GURPS. If SJG had appointed an RPG name to the role, then we could predict more RPGs in the studio’s future, or if it had been a tabletop games name, then more of those.

Meredith, I think, is in the middle ground. There is a statement from Meredith, but apparently, she’s so excited rather than speaking, it’s streachy dinosaur sounds. Hey, I make those too.

Leaving draft and also becoming a new thing is Tales of the Valiant.

Tales of the Valiant is what Kobold Press’s Project Black Flag has become. The clue was in the name; Black Flag was a project name. The rule set is Tales of the Valiant, it will come to Kickstarter in just a bit, and you can sign up for alerts now.

There will be two books: The Player’s Guide and The Monster Vault.

Once released, there’s also a license that cannot be meddled with, and that will govern the Core Fantasy Roleplaying rules. Anyone else can use those for their games.

Why isn’t there a GM book? Perhaps that will come later. Perhaps that’s setting-specific and the clever new supplement model for Tales of the Valiant will be settings-cum-engines tweaks worth buying.

There’s a few releases this week. One is the release of Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine for ORC.

ORC has the same origins as Project Black Flag; it is a response to Wizards’ previous attempt to mess with the OGL. ORC is being coordinated but not owned by Paizo, so getting Chaosium on board is significant.

I’m excited as Basic Roleplaying is the guts of games like Call of Cthulhu and the recommended Rivers of London RPG.

However, I wasn’t expecting this so soon. As far as I know, ORC is still in draft. That’s the title of this RPG-heavy news podcast this week.

I guess Chaosium is so confident with how ORC is going that they felt it was okay to release Basic Roleplaying ahead of any final rubber stamps. I may ask contacts, it feels a bit cheeky, I may have misunderstood, but it might become very important later.

There’s another new release out this week, which has my attention, but since we’re talking D&D, let’s stick with that for this week’s drama.

When WotC backed away from the mess the attempt to tinker with the OGL had become, they decided to make the 5e rules Creative Commons.

They also set up a D&D Creator’s summit. I saw people moaning that they weren’t invited, but I thought it was a good idea. Get the community involved, and reestablish that sense of shared ownership.

However, it didn’t go well, and Wizards of the Coast have now issued an apology and lessons learned statement.

Wizards tried to do too much and tried to get people excited about the future. They probably wanted to move on, but people wanted to talk about the past; D&D fans needed to be reassured, not sold too.

Wizards tried to do too much by running an in-person and virtual event with people unfamiliar with the challenge. It was a challenge, and there were technical problems for the virtual attendees.

Reports say that it became a bit of a Wizards roasting.

I saw some important news that came out, and it did so badly.

Firstly, there was confusion around mixed heritage in the next version of D&D. Today, in 2023, you might describe a Labradoodle as being half-Poodle and half-Labrador, but you wouldn’t look at a newborn maybe use the word ‘half’ combined with anything else to express their heritage.

That’s tricky for a game with half-orcs and half-elves. Wizards will keep both, but in a way that feels less like we’re still in the 40s or, you know, the 70s. The 70s were 50 years ago.

The other bit of D&D news is that Wizards is dropping the One D&D brand. The next edition of D&D will simply be D&D 5e, perhaps the 2024 edition.

I think this is clever. It’s not D&D 5.5 or D&D 6, and it’s the same game with a wealth of content and creators already.

This is clever because it makes it hard for any grassroots movement to boycott the next edition. Books will still say “compatible with 5e” or something like and the community still supports Hasbro’s product.

The second reason is the sense of ownership and the maze around it. With the rules now in Creative Commons, that maze could grow and rather than trying to set up a competitor brand with One D&D, Wizards are staying put in the centre of the 5e maze. All roads will point to Wizards’ game.

It may even be much cheaper if it means managing fewer SKUs, leading to easier franchising with other popular titles. Deals like that must be on the radar now, given the movie’s success.

So, that other big release has me pumped? It’s a fantasy, even older than D&D. It’s a fantasy nearly as old as Lord of the Rings.

We’re talking about Jack Vance’s Dying Earth.

Goodman Games has released the official Dying Earth setting for Dungeon Crawl Classics.

As the name suggests, the Dying Earth is set in the far future, where the world is strange and life sometimes hard.

D&D’s magic system is sometimes described as Vancian. It’s the idea that magic users must read and memorize a spell, and then, as it’s used, the knowledge is erased from memory and must be learned again.

Vancian, as in Jack Vance. It was the Dying Earth books that introduced this idea, and they date back to the 50s.

But, as is often the case, Audio EXP’s highlight podcast is dominated by RPG chat, but not exclusively so.

As a movie exclusive this week, Geek Native has a clip from Colonials. That’s an indie sci-fi coming from Epic Pictures Group to the USA and other countries but not the UK. Plot? The Resistance’s attempt to save humankind.

We seem to mixing new and old fantasy and sci-fi this week. It’s Cowboy Bebop’s 25th Anniversary this year, and just to call out that Crunchyroll has a limited special edition with new, never-seen-before bonus material of Blu-rays in their store.

However, the merch story of the week goes to Bronwen, who explores why modern women are embracing retro fashion. It’s been a popular topic on social media. One thing that a group called the Retro Bunnies seem to have found aplenty is that a bright and retro dress often gets happy comments from people.

So, in our outro we have two bundles to highlight.

The first is a horror indie RPG called Shiver. You can get the core rules and supplements at the Bundle of Holding, but it’s a flash deal, and you’ll have to be brave swiftly.

The second is called Mork Borg 2, which is a dramatic title. It’s not a new edition of Mork Borg but even more third-party content for the popular game, which is also at the Bundle of Holding.

So, let’s finish there; buy magical games, and keep safe.

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 1st of April, 2023, and the episode title is “No joke”.

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #191]

[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | Google]

High Level Games is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

It’s April the 1st, so that tally of votes has only just been completed, and I’ve not told High Level Games about their victory yet.

I will, but not on April’s Fool’s Day, as I’ve already encountered minor problems convincing publishers that the Spotlight and a month of mentions on an RPG news and geeky podcast for free isn’t some phishing scam.

However, congratulations to High Level, and thank you to everyone who voted.

There are five candidates for the May Spotlight are;

• Zotiquest Games
• Atelier Clandestin
• Sixpence Games
• Sanctum Media
• Forever People

As usual, only Patrons can vote, but you can be a $1 supporter for as long as you want.

The title of this podcast is no joke, but Geek Native did take part in a prank today by writing up Sneak Energy’s gamer eye drops. Sneak usually sells low cal energy drinks, but I knew this joke was coming, so I played along. If anyone went ahead and put the fake eye drops into their shopping basket, they’d get an additional discount for Sneak’s genuine products.

That felt like a nice gesture from the gamer brand.

The no joke I’m feeling loud and clear this week is that people like the D&D movie. I’ve a whole section for Honour Among Thieves in Routinely Itemised round up and will see the movie tomorrow.

That’s right, I’ve not seen it yet because it’s only just out here in the UK. I thought we’d finished with those silly geographical staggered movie releases.

I admit I was worried. Could D&D work as a comedy? It seems so, and I will soon find out.

I’ve seen grumbles from people who didn’t like strong female characters and that the lead guy was the comedy sidekick. That makes me want to see it more, especially after reading how Chris Pine was thoroughly up for the opportunity to dodge typecasting and show his range.

The most common criticism I’ve seen is that the D&D movie is a good advert for the tabletop game but that people will be disappointed when their Dungeons & Dragons experience doesn’t match the film.

That makes me wonder what D&D games these people have been playing or imagine people playing. D&D can be pretty much anything you want, although it’s more straightforward as high fantasy. In terms of tone, I think actual D&D tends to be more slapstick than grimdark almost every time.

I notice, too, that mainstream press is now taking even more notice of the hobby, and some are calling D&D a billion-dollar franchise that’s only just now waking up.

My mind goes to D&D Direct, which happened this week. I didn’t watch, but I have a summary of the news on the site, enabled by a press release from WotC’s agency in the UK.

There’s a Minecraft deal coming, more models, a TV documentary, and more computer games, and Wizards of the Coast is showing off its official D&D VTT. They’re calling that software a virtual tabletop now, not a playspace. I can’t imagine market research would have suggested anything else. Still, it means not outflanking a crowded, competitive, sticky and established market with a new phrase and taking it head on instead.

Roll20, Fantasy Grouds, Foundry and others will take notice.

I don’t think there’s anything in the D&D Direct news that D&D fans will object too…. except, of course, the dollar signs. That sense that Wizards of the Coast is milking the brand feels hot. Chris, Cynthia, and the Wizards of the Coast leadership team’s comments to investors about how the brand was under-monetized hung around in the air like a bad smell.

My quirky view was that comment was probably a good thing to say to investors. The D&D SLT said, “D&D hasn’t peaked, and there’s more to come.” They protected the company.

I’m reminded of English Premiership Football fans who spend £250 supporting their club in a year, then feel and expect the same ownership as a voting member on the board of a multi-billion dollar international company. That’s what the big football brands are. Manchester United has more than a billion fans.

I hope we don’t end up like that.

I can do without most of the D&D Direct news; I play D&D but not religiously and spend more time with indie games. However, I did notice the craft beer company Mondo has an official D&D beer called Hither Thither. I’ll have a can of that if I spot it in Edinburgh.

Right, moving on from D&D, let’s go straight to Kobold Press and their D&D-but-not-D&D Project Black Flag.

That’s not going to be a thing in 6 days.

In 6 days, and the countdown clock is running on their site, the temporary name will be dropped, and the game’s official title will be revealed.

Any guesses?

You don’t need to guess what Black Lantern’s grim Darklands is like as Geek Native has an exclusive preview of the 5e supplement for the Soulmist setting.

Want to know about the Ten Dark Saints, and who wouldn’t? The preview post is worth a look when you find the time.

Time isn’t your friend for the RPG Saints Sketchbook though. That crowdfunding campaign from Handiwork Games and highly respected artist Wayne Reynolds is nearly finished. The exclusive variant edition has sold out, but there’s still time to get the good stuff, and Geek Native has another exclusive with a video introduction to the project from Wayne.

News of the BAMFSIES wasn’t an exclusive as such, I just think the blog was the first media site to break the news. The first post-lockdown era of the superhero RPG awards aka BAMFSIES 2022 have had their winners revealed.

There was no public vote this year; the judges just got to pick recommendations for great tabletop games we might have missed. There’s a mix of big titles and smaller ones, and quite a few, so let me tell you the judges instead!

• Alice “Lallatwittle” Peng, an She’s a Three Castle Award nominated TTRPG author.
• Dan Davenport, an RPG reviewer and editor of the blog Hardboiled GMshoe’s Office.
• Jason Walters is an author, game designer and Indie Press Revolution shop publisher.
• John Kennedy is a tabletop games designer for the Indiana Historical Society.

On a similar note, I think the Geek Native blog was swift with the sellsword news. That’s spelt SLLSWRD and is a new RPG publisher.

The talent behind the new studio are Adam Rose and Daniel D. Fox, both names from Zweihander lore but Daniel left Andrews McMeels as that publisher seems to be scaling back from their foray into the tabletop RPG market.

Interestingly, SLLSWRD’s first project is Gangs of Kahabro, which will use the Year Zero Engine.

Sticking with RPG news but skipping back towards the big screen, there’s an update from Nightfall Games, who have The Terminator license.

That deal was originally the first The Terminator movie, the Dark Horse comics, but nothing Arnie and no sequels. That’s changed.

Now the publisher is talking about the Uncle Bob Terminator, clever and has full rights to the T2 property.

The result is a Judgement Day Kickstarter which introduces playable Terminator characters. That’s a significant change.

Or, dodging all the money talk, why not return to Fearsome Wilderness?

The quickstart has been out for a while, free, but now the core game has had a retail release so Geektopia has refreshed the intro product and that’s still free.

Ahead of a main release, Monte Cook Games is doing something similar with a free-to-download preview of Planar Character Options for the Cypher System. I do like Cypher.

Second, from last, nodding to the fact that Geek Native and Audio EXP aren’t all about RPGs, let’s talk Mario Kart.

There’s a new movie coming, I’m getting PR-paid-for research in my inbox, and Decluttr has sent me some.

Which do you think the most popular Mario Kart game is today? It’s the Wii Mario Kart, and I think that’s pretty interesting because Nintendo hasn’t sold the Wii in over a decade.

Gosh. In over a decade? I feel old now, and I’m going to a party tonight where two friends have joined their birthdays to make a 100th celebration.

Now, in terms of our usual outro of bundle deals at the Bundle of Holding, there’s the;

• Clement Sector, a Cepheus Engine setting from Independence Games.
• Science Fiction Maps from the Heroic Maps team for printing and VTTs.

And at Humble, there are some comic book deals;

• Attack on Titan, from Kodansha and not for the squeamish.
• Return to the World of Dungeons & Dragons, from IDW and timed well for the movie.

Ah, well, we started as we finished with D&D.

So, let’s finish there; buy a range of games, and keep safe.

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for 25th March, 2023, and the episode title is “The market evolves”.

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #190]

[Also on Stitcher | Spotify | Apple | Google]

Of Gods and Gamemasters is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

The interview is live, a blog post to read, and in it, we touch on the great successes both Black Flag and ORC have had. Black Flag is Kobold Press’ rallying of the troops and ORC one from Paizo.

Why have both projects attracted so much interest? I asked Jack, who owns Of Gods and Gamemasters, and he puts it down to timing and Wizards of the Coast’s mistake. The big publisher dropped the ball, and the others are agile enough to pick it up.

ICv2’s round-up of sales conversations with US retailers has some insight into how dominant Wizards of the Coast and parent Hasbro are.

• The RPG figures for Fall 2023 put D&D in the bestseller position.
• Pathfinder, from Paizo, is second.
• However, OGL 5e, a whole family separate from D&D, is third, and ICv2 mentions Kobold and Darrington as example publishers in that space. Darrington is Critical Role’s studio.
• Then, Vampire: The Masquerade is fourth, and that’s good news for Paradox, who own the license and for Renegade Game Studios who have been working on the RPG in recent years.
• Lastly, and somewhat surprising to me, is the Transformers RPG. I guess the Michael Bay films haven’t put everyone off. That’s also from Renegade Game Studios, and here they’re also a Hasbro licensee.

Thinking about indies? As it happens, and as the month comes to a close, Geek Native’s patrons have the chance to vote for one of five to feature next month. They are;

• Raakill Press
• High Level Games
• DeepDark Designs
• M.T. Black Games
• Spectrum Games

A nice example of RPG publishers helping other RPG publishers comes from my coverage of Princes of the Universe RPG.

That’s a free-to-download and rules-light fan-made tabletop roleplaying game based on the Highlander movies and series.

I had wondered whether there might be opposition from, well, lawyers or Evil Genius the tabletop RPG publisher behind Everyday Heroes the d20 Modern and 5e mashup but the latter looks unlikely.

Sigfried Trent got in touch to say he supported the project. Sigfried is the lead developer for Evil Genius Games’ official and upcoming The Highlander game.

That was an excellent effort, as Sigfried could have stayed silent.

While we’re talking freebies, why not mention the Rapscallion Quickstart.

That’s another upcoming game, and this time it’s from the artist Whistler and Magpie Games. So, yeah, it’s a Powered by the Apocalypse one.

According to Whistler, the inspiration touches on finding a family to stop you from making stupid decisions and then making those silly choices anyway.

And then there’s Exit, Pursed by a Bear. That’s on Kickstarter right now, funding and while I don’t frequently mention Kickstarters on the Audio EXP podcast of RPG and geek news, I did want to mention this.

This zine game is inspired by the story of Pablo Escobear, that bear which went on a chemically enhanced rampage through the mountains in the 80s. There’s a movie based on that story out right now. I think you know the one.

Exit, Pursed by a Bear isn’t a free download but a low-cost investment.

The following two games are from the multi-creator end of the RPG publisher spectrum and, with so many people on the project, come with higher price tags.

The first is the latest Warhammer 40K-based tabletop RPG and that’s Imperium Maledictum from Cubicle 7.

You can get the PDF of that now from DriveThruRPG for $29.99 or pay $55.99 to pre-order the hardback from C7 and get the PDF for free.

The second game is coming soon, and that’s Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying which is getting a new release, an update of the BRP system and which will be part of the ORC license. That’s the new Creative License project that Paizo kicked off.

Lastly, let’s outro with the usual bundles.

I’ve one noted on the Bundle of Holding, and that’s Goodman Games’ D&D 4e library.

The other is software, and on Humble, that’s the encore of Maps Bonanaza from Campaign Cartographer.

So, let’s finish there; buy a range of games, and keep safe.