Meet the Fallbacks​

The Fallbacks are a new group of adventurers based out of Waterdeep, though they’re so new, they don’t even have a name until roughly halfway through the book. Tessalynde dreams of putting together a crew that will reach legendary status, and the young rogue has a good sense of what’s needed and how to put together a plan.

For their first assignment, all they have to do is retrieve a spellbook from a lost temple, and Tess is fairly confident her team is up to the challenge – Anson, the steady warrior, Cazrin, the cheerful wizard, Baldric, a dwarf cleric who makes deals with the gods instead of tying himself to just one, and Lark, the flamboyant bard. They bicker a bit, as is the nature of most parties, but they’re also all competent, with reasonable teamwork for a new group.

And, because adventurers are prone to adopt the most unlikely creatures, the team also has a pet otyugh. Each team member gets their own brief flashback, and Uggie is no different, explaining how they found and healed the injured otyugh, only to discover that the creature was grateful enough to follow them. The fact that they have interesting trash for Uggie to eat makes it all the better for everyone.

The book starts well into their retrieval mission, which succeeds despite a run in with a mindflayer who warns them against “the ruinous child.” Happy and successful, they head back to Waterdeep to meet their employer, turn over the book, and get paid.

Of course, it can’t be that easy.

Not only do they find their employer is dead and no payment, but they’re framed for the murder and forced on the run. Worse, the spellbook seems to be sentient and bloodthirsty. After they make it out of Waterdeep, they wisely decide to take the book to Candlekeep to seek guidance from the Avowed at the famous library. Needless to say, that can’t go smoothly either.

Did I mention they’re also being pursued by a lich and the Zhentarim?

Assemble Your Party​

Overall, I really liked D&D:TF:BfR. The adventure moves at a good pace with enough twists and turns that I didn’t want to put the book down. The characters are engaging and very likable, especially Tess, who is the main viewpoint character. Baldric’s deal making with the gods is interesting. Anson is a solid ally, but soon a subplot involving his family adds to his burden.

Lark’s ego and flamboyance is more entertaining than annoying, which is good. He could have been tiresome otherwise. And Uggie is just adorable, though it helps that this is a novel so you don’t have to actually see the otyugh’s weird teeth and tentacles.

Cazrin was the one character that bothered me. The combination of the sunny, naive, overly optimistic disposition did not pair well with an obsession to keep and decode the spellbook, especially after certain things happened, which should have given her pause. Over time, she became less annoying, but was never my favorite character for personal reasons.

That said, it was nice to see the wizard act out instead of the rogue or the bard. Cliches get tiresome.

Should You Get It?​

This is supposed to be the first in a series of novels featuring The Fallbacks, and it’s off to a good start. The ending definitely leaves room for more adventures, and I would enjoy spending time with these characters again.

If you like audiobooks. D&D:TF:BfR has an excellent production. Narrator Lauren Fortgang does a terrific job with all of the voices, distinguishing the party members well enough that you know who is speaking before the name is mentioned and appropriately creepy in different ways for the villains. It’s a solid A and off to a good start for a new series.

Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin is available now.

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This TTRPG crowdfunding sampler covers projects that end between April 3 to 10. You’ll find the latest version of Zweihänder, a 5e version of Adventures in the Household, the second edition of Low Fantasy Gaming, a digital TTRPG, B/X, and OSE offerings.

ZWEIHANDER RPG Reforged Edition from World of Game Design

• END DATE: Sun, April 7 2024 10:00 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Zweihänder
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $48 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book, character sheets, and STL files
• ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Read “ZWEIHÄNDER Reforged: Talking With Daniel D. Fox (World of Game Design)”
• TRY BEFORE YOU BUY: ZWEIHANDER RPG Reforged Edition: Session Zero is free at DriveThruRPG
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? A new version of the award winning Zweihänder RPG is live on Kickstarter. This project is backwards compatible with Grim & Perilous RPG, Revised, and the Starter Kit rulesets for Zweihänder. Using a d100 variant, this project is a dark fantasy world of “gothic horror, low magic, survival, and a dose of the eldritch.” In the Reforged Edition, you’ll get the full ruleset including faster combat and easier damage tracking than the prior versions. As well, the book includes a world of violence, heresy, and lost ancestries. When talking about Zweihänder, a frequent topic of conversation is the game’s inspiration, Warhammer Fantasy. To that subject, the campaign page states: “That’s where our roots are, and even though we’ve moved a lot of the mechanics into new territory, the atmosphere will be very similar, with plenty of nods to one of the greatest games ever made.” The Reforged Edition rules take the project further from its inspiration. Designed to make the game clearer and more accessible to new fans, this version promises a cleaner ruleset than prior versions. On top of that, if you’re a designer interested in creating third party Zweihänder content, there’s a license linked on the campaign page.

Adventures in the Household 5E from Two Little Mice

• END DATE: Thu, April 4 2024 5:59 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €29 for all three PDFs and the soundtrack
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? The whole world is a large, abandoned regency-era house, and you play as the Littlings, the tiny folk that live there. Taking the ENNIE Award nominated Household RPG, this campaign converts the game to a 5e sourcebook. It’s a little like The Secret of NIMH, but without mice. How small are your characters? Imagine your city is in a bathroom, your whole city; that’s how tiny they are. That means spiders and snakes are mighty giants of destruction. You’re living in a mystery house that begs the question: Where did the “bigs” go? If this interests you, on the campaign page there’s a link to the free quickstart rules.

Tales of Argosa from Pickpocket Press

• END DATE: Sun, April 7 2024 5:40 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): “Familiar d20 based system”
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: AU$136 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book, cards, and dice
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This is Low Fantasy Gaming 2e with new rules and an original title, Tales of Argosa. Described as “Sword & Sorcery inspired Emergent Play Adventure Game, for groups or solo,” this is over 270 pages of rules monsters, and GM tools. Gameplay includes using a Deck of Signs, oracle dice, and activity dice to keep the story and results unique to your experience. This game takes the basics of a d20 system and focuses on keeping the power curve under control with limited levels, fewer HP, roll under stat checks, roll over combat, and more. If you’re looking for a d20 feel without the higher level distractions, this TTRPG might be a good fit for your gaming table.

The Contract RPG from Sapient Snake LLC

• END DATE: Wed, April 10 2024 10:46 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $34 for the PDF and POD discount coupon for the core game plus 4 scenarios
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This “digital Tabletop RPG” exists as a fully realized game with a website and tools right now. This campaign takes the digital rules and tools and makes them available as a core rulebook. You play as a contractor brought together with other freelancers to defeat a supernatural adversary. The game allows for easy player entry and exits, including rotating GM duties. If the idea of a digital toolset and a book for your table of supernatural investigators sounds fun, this campaign is worth checking out.

BX Advanced Bestiary, Vol. 2 from Third Kingdom Games

• END DATE: Wed, April 10 2024 11:23 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Old-School Essentials
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $15 for the PDF and POD discount coupon for the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This project expands on the monsters from the classic B/X roleplaying game. With the second volume in this series, you’ll get monsters starting with letters E to K, each given more details and lore for use with any B/X or OSE project. In terms of monsters, you can look up the exact list, but if you want to get an idea of what the content will be like, check out the preview of Volume 1, which is available for free at DriveThruRPG.

The Village of Bray from MDNTWVLF

• END DATE: Fri, April 5 2024 1:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and Old-School Essentials
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $15 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book plus additional PDFs
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This OSE (or 5e) adventure brings a cryptid to a strange fantasy setting, one with moon fruits, a dry mine cave-in, and unusual monsters. This is a 44-page adventure with 5 new monsters and 2 NPCs. It leans into the idea of a detailed, not quite run-of-the-mill fantasy setting where unusual deaths are occurring, and you have to solve the crime. If you’re interested in more clues, check out the campaign page.

The Long Road Home from Plane Sailing Games

• END DATE: Wed, April 3 2024 3:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £25 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
• ADDITIONAL REPORTING: tabletopjess talked this project on her podcast: “Not DnD | The Long Road Home”
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This project is about the epilogue to the epic adventure your character is returning from. You’ll journey home, tell the tale of your amazing deeds, and hope that when you get home, life is as you remember it. This book gives you the rules to create the setting and decide what grand adventure you undertook. But the point is going home; will you find happiness or miss the thrill of adventure? Will there be triumph or tragedy? If your campaigns never reach the final scene, this may be a good way to tell that last trek as the heroes head home to find what comes next.

Planestrider’s Journal for Level Up A5E and D&D 5E from EN Publishing

• END DATE: Thu, April 4 2024 6:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Level Up! Advanced 5th Edition and Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £40 for 3 PDFs and VTTs
• DISCLAIMER: EN World is a subsidiary of EN Publishing
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Level Up! Advanced Fifth Edition has a new sourcebook that opens up other planes of existence for your gaming table. 30 planes to adventure through with details covered in the 260-page Planestrider’s Journal and the 50-page Captain Cobalt’s Codicil. Does your gaming table want to travel to another plane? Then this project is for you.

​

Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, and Amazon.

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Egg Embry

OFF/FACE TRIBUTE RPG, a Lasers & Feelings sci-fi action duet roleplaying pamphlet, is free at DriveThruRPG and Itch.io.

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Egg Embry is part of EN World’s Columnist (ENWC) program as well as a columnist for Knights of the Dinner Table, d20 Radio, High Level Games, the Open Gaming Network, the Tessera Guild, and GAMA’s magazine, Around the Table. His area of focus is tabletop RPG crowdfunding campaigns. In addition, he blogs about Ghostfire Gaming’s Grim Hollow setting. His RPGs can be found through Egg Embry Publishing at DriveThruRPG (PDF) and Itch (PDF/Print).
If you enjoy the articles on EN World, please consider backing the EN World Patreon. Every dollar helps to make these articles possible.

This month’s special attraction is “Can Seapoint Be Saved?” by Bob Waldbauer, and it is the winner of the aquatic category in the 1982 Dungeon Design Competition. Seapoint is a booming trade port, but this prosperity is threatened when merchant ships begin to disappear. The town council hires the adventurers to follow the clues, which lead to a mage and his pet dragon turtle. I like the premise, and the maps are excellent, but some poor keying lets down the adventure.

“The Ecology of the Mimic” continues the series with a description of this famous monster. Ed Greenwood wrote this entry, which is the best of the lot so far. It drops the jokey tone and focuses on information that Dungeon Masters will find genuinely useful.

Greenwood has another article, “The Nine Hells Part I,” and it is a recognized classic. It describes the first five levels of hell (Avernus, Dis, Minauros, Phlegethos, and Stygia) and over twenty high-ranking devils. This article certainly laid the foundation for the modern D&D conception of hell and arguably served as a template for all the outer planes. To my mind, this is Dragon magazine at its best.

“Mutants, Men(?), and Machines” is a collection of Gamma World creatures by Roger Moore. These include Hydragen, a giant snake with multiple heads; Raydium, a flying manta ray with telekinesis; Cycloptron, a human descendant with a disintegrating touch; Cyber-Netter, a sophisticated robot equipped with a web weapon; and Nitrodjinn, an energy-based nocturnal being. I found these too obvious, but they were no doubt fun at the table.

Lew Pulsipher shares several pages of advice for new DMs in “Beyond the Rule Book.” He divides his tips between procedural advice and style advice. Procedural advice includes things like “Tell players how you’ve changed the rules” and “Don’t pursue a vendetta.” Style advice includes things like “Let the players gain abilities at the slowest rate which maintains their interest in the game” and “Don’t allow anachronisms.” It is generally solid guidance from someone who has invested many hours at the game table.

There are two articles related to language. In “All Games Need Names,” Katharine Kerr discusses the importance of creating meaningful and culturally consistent names by designing partial fantasy languages. In “Even Orcish is Logical,” Clyde Heaton demonstrates how decisions about phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary can reflect a fictional culture. These articles contain practical advice for serious world builders.

I don’t typically mention the comics in these columns, but it’s worth noting that this issue debuts Larry Elmore’s long-running “SnarfQuest” strip. It is beautifully drawn and proved to be very popular with fans.

Let’s move on to the regular offerings! In “From the Sorceror’s Scroll,” Gary Gygax provides statistics for a dozen new devils and lists many more that will appear in the upcoming Monster Manual II. This material complements Greenwood’s article nicely and means this issue contained stats for nearly 40 monsters!

This month has two game reviews. Runequest Companion by Chaosium offers a mix of articles, stories, and adventures for $8.00. It provides detailed background on Glorantha’s regions, races, and histories, including a detective story set in the fantasy world. Reviewer Ken Rolston states, “For Runequest players, this package is a must-buy, both for its utility and its entertainment value.”

The Solomani Rim by Game Designers’ Workshop is the tenth supplement for the Traveller game system. For $3.98, you get detailed subsector maps and a comprehensive history, including the rise of the Terrans and the Solomani Rim War. Reviewer Tony Watson notes, “If your Traveller campaign has somehow managed to exhaust the opportunities presented in the Spinward Marches, or a change of venue just sounds like a good idea, The Solomani Rim should prove valuable.”

There are a pair of book reviews by Mike Lowery. Rona Jaffe’s Mazes and Monsters delves into the psychological aspects of RPGs, portraying them as a problematic obsession for university students. John Coyne’s Hobgoblin also features RPGs and is about a student’s struggles to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Neither book is sympathetic to our hobby.

Jack Crane designed this month’s cover. Interior artists include Phil Foglio, Roger Raupp, Dave Trampier, and Larry Elmore.

And that’s a wrap! This issue has some fantastic content, with Greenwood’s article on hell being the highlight. In the next issue, we have more on the Nine Hells, the ecology of the beholder, and the Dragon magazine index!

We can make some educated guesses about Hasbro’s AI plans thanks to a recent interview with CEO Chris Cocks.
Not surprisingly, Large Language Model (LLM) Artifical Intelligence (AI) is on every business’ plans, and Hasbro is no different. The question is how the company plans to use it ethically in light of several missteps in which Wizards of the Coast, the Hasbro division overseeing Dungeons & Dragons,failed to disclose that AI was involved in certain pieces of art. The ongoing controversies were enough to make WOTC update its AI policy.

An AI Product Every Two to Three Months​

That hasn’t stopped former CEO of WOTC and current CEO of Hasbro Chris Cocks from expounding on his plans for AI:

…we’re trying to do a new AI product experiment once every two to three months. That’s tending to be more game-focused for us, a little more gamified. We’re trying to keep it toward older audiences, to make sure all the content is appropriate…You’ll see more of how we’re thinking about how we can integrate AI, how we can integrate digital with physical gaming over time…I think most major entertainment and IP holders are at least thinking about it.

What Cocks is talking about is how LLM AIs are sourced. The LLM controversies revolve around, among other things, that the AIs are trained on content without the owners’ permission. In other words, although LLMs are often trained on publicly available content, the users sharing that content never imagined a robot would be hoovering up their dialogue to create money for someone else. The throughline to art is a bit easier to detect (as the above controversies show, harder to prove); but when it comes to text, like Reddit, user-generated content is invaluable. These AI are only as valuable as the content they have at their disposal to train on. This is why Poe.com and other customizable AI, trained on your own content, can be so useful to Dungeon Masters who want a true assistant that can sort through decades of homebrew content in seconds. I’ll discuss using Poe.com in a future article.

Respecting Creators, Works of Art, and Ownership​

Cocks is keenly aware of AI’s controversies, with the Open Game License and issues with AI-generated art:

We certainly weren’t at our best during some points on the Open Game License. But I think we learned pretty fast. We got back to first principles pretty quickly … The key there is the responsible use of it. We have an even higher bar we need to hit because we serve audiences of all ages. We go from preschoolers on up to adulthood. I don’t think we can be very cavalier in how we think about AI…That said, it’s exciting. There’s a lot of potential for delighting audiences. We need to make sure that we do it in a way that respects the creators we work with, respects their works of art, respects their ownership of those works, and also creates a fun and safe environment for kids who might use it.

And now we come to it. So how would WOTC and Hasbro use AI that respects creators, their work, ownership and is fun to use?

How Might WOTC Use AI for D&D?​

Cocks give us some hints in his answers:

The 20-plus years that the Open Game License has been in existence for something like D&D, I think that gives us a lot of experience to navigate what will emerge with AI, and just generally the development of user-based content platforms, whether it’s Roblox or Minecraft or what Epic has up their sleeves.

The Open Game License (OGL), by its very nature, is meant to be used in much the same way LLMs try to use the entirety of the Internet. What was likely a thorn in the side of lawyers may well seem like an opportunity now. Unlike the Internet though, the OGL has a framework for sharing — even if it wasn’t envisioned by the creators as sharing with a machine. More to the point, everyone using the Open Game License is potentially adding to LLM content; databases of OGL content in wiki format are just more fodder for LLMs to learn. WOTC could certainly leverage that content to train an AI on Dungeons & Dragons just as much as anyone else if they so chose; however, a large company using OGL content to fuel their AI doesn’t seem like it’s respecting their creators and their ownership.

So it’s possible WOTC may not use OGL content at all to train its AI. They don’t need it — there’s plenty of content the company can leverage from its own vaults:

The advantage we have … This is cutting-edge technology, and Hasbro is a 100-year-old company, which you don’t usually think is … a threat … But when you talk about the richness of the lore and the depth of the brands–D&D has 50 years of content that we can mine. Literally thousands of adventures that we’ve created, probably tens of millions of words we own and can leverage. Magic: The Gathering has been around for 35 years, more than 15,000 cards we can use in something like that. Peppa Pig has been around for 20 years and has hundreds of thousands of hours of published content we can leverage. Transformers, I’ve been watching Transformers TV shows since I was a kid in Cincinnati in the early ‘80s. We can leverage all of that to be able to build very interesting and compelling use cases for AI that can bring our characters to life. We can build tools that aid in content creation for users or create really interesting gamified scenarios around them.

The specific reference to 35 years of Magic: the Gathering content “that we can leverage” has been done before by WOTC’s predecessor, when TSR created the Spellfire card game. TSR churned out Spellfire in response to Magic: The Gathering (before WOTC took over D&D). It relied heavily on (at the time) TSR’s 20 years of art archives. One can easily imagine AI generating this type of game with art WOTC owns in a very short period of time.

But Cocks is thinking bigger than that for Dungeons & Dragons. He explains how he uses AI with D&D specifically:

I use AI in building out my D&D campaigns. I play D&D three or four times a month with my friends. I’m horrible at art. I don’t commercialize anything I do. It doesn’t have anything to do with work. But what I’m able to accomplish with the Bing image creator, or talking to ChatGPT, it really delights my middle-aged friends when I do a Roll20 campaign or a D&D Beyond campaign and I put some PowerPoints together on a TV and call it an interactive map.

In the future, WOTC could easily change their contracts to explicitly state that any art they commission may be used to train a future AI (if they don’t already). For content they already own — and WOTC owns decades of art created for Magic: The Gathering — they may already be within their rights to do this.

Add all this up, and companies like Hasbro are all looking at the archives of information — be it text, graphics, or examples of play — as a competitive advantage to train their AIs in a way their rivals can’t.

The Inevitable​

In short, it’s not a question if WOTC and Hasbro are going to use AI, just when. And by all indications, that future will involve databases of content that are either clearly open source or owned by Hasbro, with LLMs that will then do the heavy lifting on the creative side of gaming that was once filled by other gamers. For Dungeons & Dragons in particular, the challenge in getting a game started has always been finding a Dungeon Master, a tough role for any gamer to fill, and the lynchpin of every successful D&D campaign. With D&D Beyond now firmly in WOTC’s grasp, they could easily provide an AI platform on that service, using the data it learns from thousands of players there to refine its algorithms and teach it to be a better DM. Give it enough time, and it may well be an a resource for players who want a DM but can’t find one.

We can’t know for sure what WOTC or Hasbro has planned. But Cocks makes it clear AI is part of Hasbro’s future:

While there are definitely areas of concern that we have to be watchful for, and there are definitely elements to the chess game that we have to think about before we move, it’s a really cool technology that has a lot of playfulness associated with it. If we can figure out how to harness it the right way, it’ll end up being a boon for users.

In three to five years, we might have officially sanctioned AI Dungeon Masters. Doesn’t seem realistic? Unofficial versions are already here.

Darryl Mott is a tabletop gaming and media journalist with bylines from outlets including Ain’t It Cool News, EN World, and Zombie Orpheus Entertainment. He also makes videos for YouTube and does live streams on Twitch as well as doing post-production and editing for the Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk podcast.

Freebies and Pay What You Want

Note: While “Pay What You Want” downloads are available for free, please support the creators if you are able!

Green Ronin Publishing released the Fantasy Age Quickstart for the second edition of the fast-paced Adventure Game Engine RPG. The quickstart features a streamlined intro version of the AGE rules, pre-generated characters, and the adventure “Terror o the Ghost Ship”.

• Price: Free

Downsized Press has the third issue of their Downsides Dungeons with The Ziggurat of the Lizard People. This fully-stated mini-dungeon is ready to run for Old-School Essentials with hand-drawn maps for the old-school feel.

• Price: Pay What You Want (Suggested: $1.99)

Geek Rampage released Crystal City Chronicles, an anthology of six Sci-fi/Western adventures for Stars Without Number. Explore the lawless frontier mining planet Zephyrus-2 and meet the inhabitants of Crystal City as you stop off here for a one-shot or start a new campaign.

• Price: Pay What You Want (Suggested: $2.00)

In an interesting OSR Retroclone, Dank Dungeons released Spectral Exterminators: A Hilariously Horrifying Roleplaying Game, a “legally distinct” version of the old 1980s West End Games Ghostbusters RPG. This has the full open license version of the game free of any licensed material for your paranormal investigation and elimination RPG news.

• Price: Pay What You Want (Suggested: $1.00)

RPGuPolaka has a system-neutral sci-fi adventure These Aren’t the Alpacas You’re Looking For as part of the One Page Derelict Jam 2024. Investigate what happened to the ship of merchant Amir Al-Fayed and why this herd of a dozen alpacas ended in disaster for his ship.

• Price: Pay What You Want (Suggested: $1.00)

If you want a more OSR take on the classic post-nuclear apocalypse setting, Bombland in Bad Decline from Operant Game Lab draws inspiration from Knave, The Red Hack, and the classic Fallout games.

• Price: Pay What You Want (Suggested: $5.00)

Alexander Nachaj released The Mask of the Black Sun: A Taggart Agency Mystery, a 1920s module for Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition. The investigators are in the Canadian city of Salem Falls, New Brunswick, seeking out a stolen ancient mask and unraveling the mystery behind it and those who seek it out.

• Price: Pay What You Want (Suggested: $4.99)

Over on Dungeonmasters Guild, Rashid Clark has a massive adventure for Level 1-3 characters, The Fade Lands. This over 180-page adventure includes new magic items, new playable species, new monsters, a new campaign setting, and a lot more.

• Price: Pay What You Want (Suggested: $0.00)

Death Pits of Brightshire from Nathan Ashley is an adventure for 5th to 7th level characters where the adventurers are sent to track a lost Merchant’s Guild caravan and find themselves entangled in the diabolic secrets of the town of Brightshire.

• Price: Pay What You Want (Suggested: $1.00)

So, you’re all in a tavern. The barbarian starts running their mouth about who is the strongest when a mysterious patron calls them out on their boasts. How do you determine who is the strongest without resorting to a barroom fight? Bas Klein has an answer with Armwrestling – A Game for In-Game Taverns with over the top rules for arm wrestling.

• Price: Pay What You Want (Suggested: $1.09)

Over on Storytellers Vault, Sky Bradley and Henry Langdon have an update to a classic sourcebook with Clanbook: Gangrel 5th Edition. This 59-page book includes 7 new archetypes, 13 new Discipline powers, 4 new Loresheets, 4 new Gangrel Bloodlines, 5 new predator, types, and more.

• Price: Pay What You Want (Suggested: $0.00)

Combat has always been downplayed in the various Storyteller games, but even then it’s an inevitability that physical conflict will happen between Kindred. Eric M. Souza wants to make running the combat easier with The Quick Combat Book, a new streamlined combat system for Vampire: The Masquerade and other World of Darkness titles including 1st, 2nd, Revised, and 20th Anniversary editions.

• Price: Pay What You Want (Suggested: $0.99)

The first Lightning Round this week features gamemaster/DM resources like monsters, maps, random generators, one-page adventures, drop-in encounters, and more. All products are Free or pay-what-you-want.
The second Lightning Round features player resources like classes, subclasses, backgrounds, feats, races/species, and more. All products are Free or pay what you want with the suggested price in parentheses.

Bundles and Sales

Note: I have included end dates when listed for the following sales, but please be warned that those without published end dates may end suddenly so be sure to plan purchases accordingly.

If you’re looking for maps for your VTT, this week’s sales are for you. Starting off, Tellest has the 50 Maps of Tellest Volume 1 bundle with over 50 battlemaps for a variety of environments including campsites, cliffsides, keeps, forests, bayous, savannas, taverns, sewers, and more

• Price: $29.91 (83% off)

Next up for the sci-fi fans is the Maps In Space! Map Pack from Alpha Strike Games Limited with eight maps from spaceships to asteroid bases to colonies to orbital facilities and more.

• Price: $4.99 (50% off)

Gabriel Pickard has the perfect bundle for an unsettling encounter with the Bio Builder Blistering Bundle with a collection of map elements to create a living landscape of flesh and body parts capable of creeping out even the most hardened space marine or stalwart fantasy adventurer. I’d throw in horror investigators, but they’re a nervous bunch already.

• Price: $11.98 (20% off)

Over on Storytellers Vault, Ugo Leão released the adventure and setting pack Living and Burning Gods Bundle. The bundle includes the Vampire: Age of the Living Gods setting covering the Sumerian Empire in 2350 BCE along with the three-part adventure Burning Gods. Also available in Portuguese.

• Price: $24.99 (29% off) in English
• $14.99 (25% off) in Portuguese

Charity Bundles and Sales

Goodman Games released Dungeon Crawl Classics #105: By Mitra’s Bones, Meet Thy Doom! This 2nd level adventure by Stephen Newton is a tribute to designer Jennell Jaquays and inspired by her Dark Tower adventure, playable either as a stand-alone adventure or as a prelude to more explorations of the Dark Tower.

• Price: $19.99
• Charity: Jennell Jaquays medical expenses (50%)

Veteran game designer Owen K.C. Stephens has posted a GoFundMe to cover the costs of his medical treatment as he fights cancer. Owen’s list of credits is more of a list of popular RPGs as he has worked on Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Starfinder, d20 Modern, Star Wars, d20 Modern, Dragon Age, and that’s just the start.

• Charity: Owen K.C. Stephens Medical Expenses (all proceeds)

For another way to help Owen, Echelon Game Design collected so, so many titles for the Owen KC Stephens is RAD! Bundle. This bundle includes titles for Pathfinder (both editions), Starfinder, Savage Worlds, Icons, Call of Cthulhu, Song of Ice and Fire, Thieves World, Wheel of Time, D20 Modern, Dragon Age, Gamma World, and a lot, lot, lot more.

• Price: $29.99 (97% off, total value of the bundle is over $1000)
• Charity: Owen K.C. Stephens Medical Expenses (90% of sale price)

Over on Bundle of Holding, Modphius has the John Carter of Mars bundle for the pulp sci-fi/adventure 2d20 System game. The Starter Collection includes the core rules, narrator screen and kit, and maps of both Barsoom and Korad, while the Bonus Collection adds on the Phantoms of Mars campaign, three sourcebooks, and two card decks.

• Price: $7.95 (78% off) with variable-cost Level Up option
• Charity: RollVsEvil (10%)
• End Date: April 1, 2024

Goodman Games is here in the charity section for the second time this week (and won’t be the last either) with the Goodman D20 Monster Guides bundle. This bundle of D20 system/3.x sourcebooks have rules for expanding several monstrous races and rules on how to play them as player characters as well. The Minor Threats collection includes the books for Doppelgangers, Dragonkin, T-Rex, Treants, Velociraptors, and Wererats while the Major Threats collection adds on Beholders, Drow, Fey, Liches, Rakshasas, Vampires, and Werewolves.

• Price: $9.95 (78% off) with variable-cost Level Up option
• Charity: San Francisco-Marin Food Bank (10%)
• End Date: April 7, 2024

Over on Humble Bundle, the Pathfinder 2nd Edition Guns of Alkenstar bundle looks to throw you into the Outlaws of Alkenstar Adventure Path and other gunslinging adventures in Golarion. The base level includes the digital version of the Pathfinder 2nd Edition Beginner Box, the Outlaws of Alkenstar Player’s Guide, the first adventure in the adventure path Punks in a Powder Keg, and the one-shot Head Shot the Rat. The second tier adds on the Pathfinder 2nd Edition Core Rulebook and Bestiary (the original OGL versions and not the new updated versions), the Lost Omens World Guide and Character Guide, plus the second adventure path adventure Cradles of Quarts. The third tier adds the third and final adventure The Smoking Gun, the sourcebook Guns & Gears, the setting book Impossible Lands, and the rulebooks Advanced Players Guide and GameMastery Guide plus all three adventure path adventures in VTT format for Foundry. The top tier adds on top of all that a physical copy of the Pathfinder Guns & Gears equipment book (shipping & handling additional).

• Price: $5/$15/$30/$40 (90% off at top tier)
• Charity: Worldbuilders Inc. (user-defined, default 5%)
• End Date: April 11, 2024

Magpie Games has an impressive bundle this week with the Best of Magpie Games Bundle. The base tier includes six games from Magpie Games plus the trio of Fate Codex Anthology titles, the second tier adds on four books for the superhero RPG Masks: A New Generation, the telenovela RPG Pasion de las Pasiones, and three other titles, while the top tier has the big ones: the dark fairy tale series Bluebeard’s Bride, the licensed RPG based on the board game of woodland critters at war Root, and the powerhouse licensed title Avatar Legends with the core rulebook, Wan Shi Tong’s Adventure Guide sourcebook, the adventure An Urgent Request set during the Roku Era, and the Avatar Legends Starter Set not just in digital format but also the physical boxed set (shipping not included)

• Price: $5/$15/$25 (94% off at top tier)
• Charity: Child’s Play (user-defined, default 5%)
• End Date: April 13, 2024

Cubicle 7 has the Warhammer Fantasy Role Play Bundle. The base level includes the Warhammer Fantasyt Role Play Starter Set plus two adventures and a 20% off coupon to the Cubicle 7 store. The second tier adds on the core rulebook and six more adventures, while the top tier gets you eight more adventures with the full bundle having the entire Enemy Within campaign.

• Price: $1/$15/$25 (91% off at top tier)
• Charity: Children’s Health Ireland
• End Date: April 4, 2024

Goodman Games has the Dungeon Crawl Classics & Mutant Crawl Classics Megabundle 2. This bundle has four tiers with the first tier featuring the core rules for Dungeon Crawl Classics, two adventures, and a 20% off coupon for the Goodman Games store. The second tier adds on the core rules for Mutant Crawl Classics along with the DCC Reference booklet, two zines, and four more adventures. The third tier adds on so much more with a total of 79 products including sourcebooks, adventures, zines, genre expansions, and a whole lot more. The highest tier ads on a physical softcover of the Mutant Crawl Classics Core Rulebook (shipping and handling extra).

• Price: $1/$15/$25/$40 (95% off at top tier)
• Charity: No Kid Hungry (user-defined, default 5%)
• End Date: March 28, 2024

Modiphius has a bundle for Dune: Adventures in the Imperium ready to send you on adventures on Arrakis and beyond. The base level includes the Quickstart and Agents of Dune Deluxe Starter Set along with character sheets and a 50% off coupon for select physical Dune products. The second tier adds on the standard edition core rulebook, the Gamemaster’s Toolkit, the campaign book Masters of Dune, and the introductory adventure Desertfall Adventure. The top tier adds on enough for a full library of books for 18 total including setting books, campaigns, adventures, NPC collections, rules expansions, and more.

• Price: $1/$10/$18 (91% off at top tier)
• Charity: charity:water (user-defined, default 5%)
• End Date: March 21, 2024

That’s all for this week! If you know of any bundles or sales starting soon, please contact me on the EN World Discord, tag me on Mastodon, or send me a message here on EN World. Discount percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number and are based on the standard retail price provided by the site. Note: Links to Amazon, Humble Store, Humble Bundle, Fantasy Grounds, and/or DriveThruRPG may contain affiliate links with the proceeds going to the author of this column.

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This week, Morrus, PJ, and Jessica catch up with all the TTRPG news for the week including D&D Lego and Converse, the end of Baldur’s Gate, Kobold Press on D&D Beyond, and more! Plus a brand new sketch about deciphering monster classifications. ——————– News Gamesmarkt.de English…

morrus.podbean.com

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News

Gamesmarkt.de English language site GamesMarkt

Jim Ward passed away https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-d-luminary-jim-drawmij-ward-passes.703205/

Jim Ward’s column on EN World https://www.enworld.org/ewr-porta/categories/drawmijs-tsr.92/

No DLC or sequel for Baldur’s Gate 3 https://www.enworld.org/threads/no-more-baldurs-gate-from-larion-team-is-elated.703271/

5e SRD 5.1 Braille Transcription DriveThruRPG

US and Canadian local game stores will have D&D new releases 2 weeks early https://www.enworld.org/threads/us-…ks-2-weeks-early-at-local-game-stores.703198/

Quest from the Infinite Staircase Adventures Revealed https://www.enworld.org/threads/quest-from-the-infinite-staircase-adventures-revealed.703239/

Kobold Press is now on D&D Beyond with Tome of Beasts https://www.enworld.org/threads/kobold-press-tome-of-beasts-joins-d-d-beyond.703252/

Official D&D Lego Set https://www.enworld.org/threads/official-lego-set-for-dungeons-dragons-coming-soon.703267/

Converse D&D Chuck Taylors https://www.enworld.org/threads/converse-releasing-limited-edition-dungeons-dragons-sneakers.703266/

The Multiversal Garden The Multiversal Garden by Sealight Studios

Dungeons & Dragons HeroClix https://www.enworld.org/threads/dungeons-dragons-coming-to-heroclix.703148/

GoFundMe for Owen K.C. Stephens Help Owen K.C. Stephens Fight Cancer, organized by Owen Stephens

The Owen K.C. Stephens is RAD Bundle with over $1000 worth of RPG products for just $29.99 DriveThruRPG

Rob Wieland’s review of Dragonbane Bestiary https://www.enworld.org/threads/dragonbane-bestiary-adds-antagonists-and-allies-to-your-game.702836/

Daggerheart Open Beta Playtest DriveThruRPG

Cats of Catthulhu 10th Anniversary Edition on Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mrjoel/cats-of-catthulhu-10th-anniversary-edition

The Untold Story of Kickstarter’s Crypto Hail Mary – And the Secret $100 Million a16z-led Investment to Save Its Fading Brand on Fortune The untold story of Kickstarter’s crypto Hail Mary—and the secret $100 million a16z-led investment to save its fading brand

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Hosts: Russ “Morrus” Morrissey, Peter Coffey, and Jessica Hancock

Editing and post-production: Darryl Mott

Theme Song: Steve Arnott

Malach the Maleficent played by Darren Morrissey

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