John Hight, the president of Wizards of the Coast, is stepping down from his position on September 1, 2026, after serving for two years. This departure follows a challenging fiscal period for Hasbro, which recently reported a $56 million loss due to canceled video game projects, although the company maintains that its core tabletop businesses remain strong. Simultaneously, leaks suggest a major upcoming collaboration between Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft, potentially signaling a strategic shift toward a heavier crossover model similar to Magic: The Gathering’s successful approach.

Following initial community concern over the potential end of their commercial license, Paizo and the Archives of Nethys have established a new, less formal agreement that preserves the site as an official rules archive for Pathfinder and Starfinder. Under this new arrangement, the Archives of Nethys will no longer report royalties, though it must remove art that falls outside the Community Use Policy. While the site will receive content files later than it previously did, both organizations emphasize that this adjustment ensures the continued accessibility of rules for the community.

Paizo is partnering with the Seattle Mariners for a themed event titled “Pathfinder: Operation Salmon Run Day,” scheduled for August 9, 2026, at T-Mobile Park. Fans purchasing special tickets to this game will receive an exclusive set of Mariners-themed polyhedral dice and a custom Pathfinder adventure module. This promotion is not only an opportunity for fans to engage with TTRPGs in a stadium setting, but it also supports Gamers Engaged, a Seattle-based non-profit, with a donation of $5 for every ticket sold.

Steve Jackson Games has opened pre-orders for the *GURPS Basic Set, 4th Edition Revised*, an update to their long-standing universal roleplaying system. This revision focuses on improving layout, readability, and accessibility while incorporating errata fixes and 16 pages of new game content without altering the core rules or compatibility with existing 4th Edition books. This release highlights the publisher’s enduring history, which includes a significant 1993 legal victory against the U.S. government that helped establish critical First Amendment protections for digital publications through the founding of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

1490 Doom is a brutal, grimdark tabletop skirmish game created by Buer Games that is set in an alternate, dying Europe consumed by “the Creeping Death,” a toxic, rising fog that forces survivors to climb man-made structures to survive. In this fast-paced game, which typically lasts about 30 minutes over seven rounds, players command a “Doom Company” of three warriors and compete to score victory points by reaching the highest points of terrain, scavenging resource caches, and keeping their miniatures alive. The game emphasizes vertical movement, such as climbing and jumping, and features a “Breach” mechanic where miniatures whose armor is compromised must pass skill checks each round to avoid suffocating from the toxic fog. Players can utilize official models or their own 28–32mm miniatures, and the game is currently available through an express crowdfunding campaign for The Outpost at Meerbridge starter set.

#wotc #archiveofnethys #paizo #GURPS #1490Doom

 

The Outpost at Meerbridge: 1490 DOOM Starter Set:

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Pathfinder Second Edition: Bundle of Frogs!

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The Finnish Foundation for Economic Education awarded a student, Aase Timonen, roughly $30,000 to fund her doctoral research into “transmedia worldbuilding in massive game franchises,” using the Warhammer franchise as her focus. Her research, conducted at the Game Research Lab at Tampere University, will examine how the broad spread of media (miniatures, novels, rules, etc.) has shaped Warhammer’s development, its shift toward competitive play, and its increasing canonicity.

The classic 1984 Toon TTRPG is returning with a new 2nd Edition from Steve Jackson Games, slated for a Backerkit crowdfunding launch on December 17, 2025. Game designer Steve Jackson explains that the update, conceived at least four years prior, is being done because he likes the game and felt it was due. Key changes in the new edition include the simplification of character creation, the introduction of mnemonics, and a dramatic streamlining of the “Fall Down” mechanic to be based on missing three actions instead of three calendar minutes, eliminating clock-watching. The new edition will feature new art by Kyle Miller, all in color, and will be available in both hard and softcover.

Draw Steel: Crack the Sun is a crowdfunder by MCDM Productions, which has successfully raised over $1.8 million. The campaign aims to determine the future of the Draw Steel product line and includes seven new products for 2026. These include Encounters, a 350-page third core rulebook filled with pre-made scenarios, NPCs, and skill tests; Between Sun and Shadow, a dedicated ancestry book adding eight new playable species like Goblins and Shadow Elves; and The Beastheart, a new class with four subclasses and fourteen animal companions. The main product is Crack the Sun, the first official epic campaign for Draw Steel, which is a mega-adventure in five acts for 3rd through 8th level heroes, along with three other new shorter adventures including the high-octane anti-hero adventure, The Condemned.

The Temeraire RPG from Magpie Games is set to launch its crowdfunding campaign in “early 2026.” The role-playing game is based on Naomi Novik’s Temeraire alternate history fantasy series, which reimagines the Napoleonic Wars with an air force of sentient dragons and their human aviators. The game will focus on the dynamic between the dragon and its rider, incorporating elements of epic military battles, logistics, and supply lines, as well as “Regency era romance,” allowing players to take to the skies as both dragon and aviator while navigating the balance of duty and desire. The book series consists of nine novels, starting with His Majesty’s Dragon.

#warhammer #toonrpg #drawsteel #Temeraire 

Toon RPG Second Edition:

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/steve-jackson-games/toon-the-cartoon-roleplaying-game

Crack the Sun on Backerit:

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/mcdm-productions/draw-steel-crack-the-sun

Fallout RPG Sale:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/ja/product/366742/fallout-the-roleplaying-game-core-rulebook-pdf?affiliate_id=2081746

Free Guild Ball Starter Set:

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Also check out our shorter video discussion of robots in TTRPGs on our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/idleredhands

Robots, androids, replicants. They are called by many names and have a variety of origins and motivations. How can they best be used in your TTRPGs? Find out in our discussion about using robots in your tabletop campaigns, both as antagonists and protagonists. For additional inspiration, we also give you a list of possible campaign ideas (thank you, GURPS!).

In the tradition of our Creature Features, we watched the 1980 scifi film Saturn 3, starring Kirk Douglas, Harvey Keitel, and Farrah Fawcett. It includes some interesting examples of how to use a robot as an RPG character, even if it failed in its use of the robot as a movie character.