Critical Role Productions has made a significant power play by hiring Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford, two of the most influential designers behind Dungeons & Dragons’ 5th edition success. Both served as creative director and game director respectively at Wizards of the Coast for decades before departing in April 2025. Their recruitment to Critical Role’s Darrington Press division represents a major shift in the tabletop RPG landscape, coming just weeks after Darrington Press launched Daggerheart, their own alternative to D&D. This move is part of Critical Role’s broader expansion from web series into a full entertainment company spanning cartoons, comics, video games, and now tabletop game publishing. The departure of Perkins and Crawford appears to be part of a larger exodus from Wizards of the Coast’s D&D team. Following their April exit, several other high-profile figures have left the company, including VP of D&D Franchise Jess Lanzillo and content marketing strategist Todd Kenreck, who was laid off. This turnover comes at a critical time as WotC faces criticism over D&D 2024’s revised rulebooks, which many players and critics argue fail to address fundamental issues with the 5th edition system while actually making some problems worse. The timing raises questions about potential internal turmoil at the company that publishes “the world’s greatest role-playing game.”

Galactic & Going Rogue combines two beloved space rebellion RPGs into a single hardcover third edition, drawing inspiration from Star Wars, Rogue One, and Andor. The games focus on rebels fighting against a fascist galactic empire called The Mandate as part of The Liberation. Galactic tells stories of charming but flawed heroes and their relationships, while Going Rogue explores darker themes where characters are fated to make ultimate sacrifices for freedom. Both games use the GM-less Belonging Outside Belonging system with innovative mechanics including “pillars” that represent setting aspects and token-based gameplay.

Defy the Gods is a sword and sorcery RPG set in fantasy ancient Mesopotamia that queers the genre by centering romance and resistance. Players take on roles like Revenants, Sailors, Sorcerers, and other archetypes while building their own world of gods, cities, and wilderness. The game features a unique three-tier success system where rolling too high can be dangerous, and characters risk losing their humanity as they gain power through “Epithets” that can transform into “Dooms.” Romance serves as both protection and vulnerability, with emotional connections being key to survival against hostile world forces including pantheons of gods and oppressive cities. The campaign was successfully funded and includes stretch goals for additional content.

Paradox Interactive announced the revival of the White Wolf brand as the official licensing and publishing entity for World of Darkness properties including Vampire: The Masquerade. This marks a return for the influential brand that was shuttered in 2018 following controversy over insensitive content. Led by veterans including Jason Carl, the revived White Wolf aims to unify its transmedia properties and develop both classic and new IPs with a clearer long-term vision, representing another significant shift in how major gaming properties are managed and developed.

#darringtonpress #wotc #galactic #goingrogue #whitewolf

Galactic and Going Rogue Kickstarter:

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Defying the Gods Relaunched Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hecticelectron/defy-the-gods-rpg

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https://hecticelectron.itch.io/defy-the-gods

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Star Wars Skirmish is a new Star Wars miniatures skirmish game coming next year. Atomic Mass Games, the Asmodee Studio that currently produces the Star Wars: Legion and Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures tabletop games, have announced this new skirmish game featuring iconic characters from the Star Wars universe. The game will be released in June 2023 and will be released alongside existing Star Wars products. Players will build a strike team of characters, such as Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze or Lord Maul, and have them compete in battles with evolving mission objectives.

Regency Cthulhu by Chaosium is a new sourcebook for the popular Call of Cthulhu RPG. And it does exactly what it says on the tin. The world of Regency England—and specifically here, Jane Austen’s England, which was society through a bitingly satirical lens—is about to be full of monsters from the mythos.Call it Shoggoths and Sensibility. Or Persuasion (by elder powers to hasten the destruction of all you know and hold dear). But maybe buckle a brace of pistols over your waistcoat, because Regency England is beset by horrors.

Heroscape’s return is in doubt. Its Hasbro Pulse campaign captured a burst of backers thanks to the dedicated community that has sustained itself over Heroscape’s nearly twelve-year hiatus, but the momentum died almost immediately. Only 3,400 backers have pledged Age of Annihilation’s $250 box.The project needs to surpass 8,000 purchases, or $2 million in promised funding, by November 15th to convince Hasbro it deserves to exist. Their current focus on their big cash cows of Magic: the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons means Heroscape will not be coming back any time soon. 

A new starter set allows you to play Edgerunners from the popular Netflix series in Cyberpunk RED. The Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit runs on the Cyberpunk RED rpg ruleset. Cyberpunk RED is the latest iteration of the original Cyberpunk RPG, going all the way back to the days of 1988. Now, the new starter box has an updated look for even the days of the RED. This feels like the “bridge” between the Night City of 2045 (the time of the Red) and the “now” of Night City in 2077. The set will include lore and rules to bring the setting and game up to the timeline from the anime by Trigger Studios and the console/PC game by CD Project Red.
#starwars #hasbro #heroscape #cyberpunkred #edgerunners

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Fantasy Flight miniatures games are handing over management to Atomic Mass Games also owned by Asmodee. They had success last year with Marvel Crisis Protocol. This will include their Star Wars games, X-Wing, Armada and Legion. Fans seem to be happy with the move. Many modern boardgames are having new branded editions using Disney IPs, including Star Wars, Marvel and Disney Parks. Is this a good move to get more people into the hobby? Does this mean these modern games are considered classics? Or will this ruin the experience and players will feel they have outgrown them? Also, Disney has stopped paying royalties to Alan Dean Foster for his novelization and sequel novels for Star Wars and also the Alien franchise. What does this mean for copyright and the future of creatives writing for established IPs? #DisneyMustPay #atomicmassgames #starwars #alien