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Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week’s gaming news! Previews of the new Dungeons & Dragons releases, Cubicle 7’s The Laundry Files getting a second edition, Fantasy AGE 2nd Edition released, and more!
For a quick summary of the week’s news, Jessica Hancock will bring you up to speed with EN Live’s This Week in TTRPG every Friday.
Don’t forget, you can keep up with all the week’s gaming news in detail with Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk. This week, Morrus, Peter, and Jessica talk about using social media in the RPG industry.
In case you missed it elsewhere on EN World this week:
The promotion machine for Wizards of the Coast has kicked into gear for their upcoming releases. First, the company released a 15-minute preview of Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants to YouTube. Todd Kenreck interviews designer Ben Petrisor about the over 70 new monsters in the book and the process behind creating them. Petrisor says his favorites were the giants who have aligned themselves with the evil elemental cults.
We also got more details about the boxed set Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse from the D&D Beyond pre-order page. We got a look at the covers for all the books along with the alternate game store exclusive variant (pictured above). The boxed set will include two new backgrounds, seven new feats, a dozen factions, fifty monsters, adventures from level 3 to level 17, and a poster map of the Outlands.
Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants is scheduled for release on August 15, while Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse is due to come out October 17.
Cubicle 7 announced the second edition of The Laundry Files RPG based on the novel series by Charles Stross. The urban fantasy series presents a world where magic and computer programming are the same and the government agency The Laundry stands in the way of all the extradimensional horrors, cultists, and computer threats to the world. The new edition of the game will use the new C7D6 System and will upgrade to a full-color interior art. Some details are a bit difficult to work out as the press release comes in the form of an in-universe report from the Laundry Files, but it appears as though we’ll have more information coming on this new edition in Q3 of this year.
Speaking of new editions, Green Ronin have officially released Fantasy AGE 2nd Edition. This new edition of the fast-paced 3d6 dice rebalances and redesigns much of the system with updates to the ancestries, classes, specializations, combat rules, magic system, stunts, and more. The new core rulebook is heading to game stores now, and the PDF is available from DriveThruRPG for $27.95 (though you can grab it at a discount as part of DriveThru’s X-mas in July sale). This is the first in a complete relaunch of the Fantasy AGE line with a new Game Master’s Kit and QuickStart coming soon along with new adventures and campaign settings along with re books for classic AGE settings like Freeport.
Monte Cook Games announced The Weird, a collection of ideas to make your roleplaying games more weird. The book contains over 100 lists of ideas with over 100 items per list for a total of around 12,000 prompts to spark inspiration. The lists are broken down by genre including fantasy, horror, sci-fi, and more with the prompts categorized between Interesting, Surprising, Gonzo, and Whimsical to match the tone you want in your game. The 256-page hardcover will be available in September for $60.99 while the PDF will be available for…okay, the announcement page at the time of writing says “$198.99” and I know Monte Cook Games has released luxury products in the past, but I assume this is a typo and the PDF will be either $18.99 or $19.99.
CMON signed a deal with Marvel to produce licensed accessories for Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game. The first release will be the Heroic Dice Pack, a custom designed set of six-sided dice for the game’s d616 System. Further releases will include character-based dice sets, gameplay aits, starter sets (plural), pre-painted miniatures, and more. The announcement came at the start of San Diego Comic Con, and the dice set will be available in limited quantities at Gen Con with a full release later this year. Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game: Core Rulebook is set for release on August 2.
The SAG-AFTRA strike will not affect big-name actual play streaming shows such as Critical Role and Dimension 20. As the productions are independently produced and not produced by AMPTP studios, some of the streams and edited videos are not considered part of the strike and can continue as normal despite multiple members of the shows being SAG-AFTRA members. In a statement to Polygon, Glass Cannon CEO Troy Lavallee said:
“We are extremely grateful that actual play podcasting and streaming does not fall under the purview of anyone as of yet and hopefully it will stay that way in perpetuum. There are enough rules in RPGs that the last thing we need is outside forces coming in to try and regulate how we gather together to play games.”
A representative for Critical Role sent an email to Polygon that was a bit less definitive, stating:
“Currently, our release schedule is not impacted by the strike, but we will continue to evaluate and take the necessary steps should it be impacted in the future.”
Most productions record content in advance and have a backlog of material scheduled for release, so while it appears Glass Cannon believes the actual play series are not covered by the SAG-AFTRA agreement, Critical Role may not hold the same opinion and is relying on already recorded material. Dropout TV, producers of Dimension 20, seems to fall into the latter camp according to a Twitter thread from CEO Sam Reich.
“Dropout production is right now on hold. Because we aren’t associated with the AMPTP, it’s possible we may be able to reach an interim agreement with SAG that allows us to continue to produce content during the strike. But we’ll only do that, obviously, if we get the blessing of the union and the buy-in of our performers. If not, we have enough content in the can to last us a little past the end of the year.”
SAG-AFTRA is the actor’s union covering much of the entertainment industry and is currently on strike alongside the WGA after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) walked away from negotiations with both groups shortly before their respective contracts expired. SAG-AFTRA has opened the way for interim agreements with non-AMPTP members to negotiate directly with the union to continue production during the strike.
That’s all from me for this week! Don’t forget to support our Patreon to bring you more gaming news content. Until next time, may all your hits be crits! Note: Links to Amazon, Humble Store, Humble Bundle, and/or DriveThru may contain affiliate links with the proceeds going to the author of this column.
