Neon Odyssey, Upturned Table -- Tabletop Everything From Everywhere

The Fate roleplaying game line, once the flagship system for Evil Hat Productions, may be nearing its end, highlighted by the release of the next game, Umdaar, as a PDF-only product. Since the record-breaking Fate Core crowdfunding campaign in 2013, the line has steadily declined to less than 5% of the company’s sales, replaced by Blades in the Dark and Monster of the Week as Evil Hat’s main sellers. Fate originated around 2000 as a hack of the Fudge RPG, developed by Evil Hat co-founders Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue, who aimed for a system that modeled fiction rather than physics. Hicks sees the release of Umdaar as an experiment to determine Fate’s future in the 2020s, acknowledging its significant impact as a game from the previous decade.

John Blanche, the legendary illustrator whose art defined the “grimdark” aesthetic of the Warhammer 40,000 setting, has died. Blanche was best known for iconic works, including his depiction of the Emperor on the Golden Throne, which he intended to show as a ceremonial facade for pilgrims rather than the “real” Emperor. He retired from Games Workshop in 2023 after an association beginning in the seventies, leaving behind an enormous legacy. Tributes from fans and writers confirmed his profound influence, stating that his art was the reason many became involved in Warhammer 40,000 and that he defined an entire sub-genre of SFF.

TTRPG crowdfunding surged in Q1 2026, with the number of successful campaigns that raised $100,000 or more growing by 35% year-over-year. The 21 campaigns reaching this milestone collectively generated an estimated $8,058,431, about 25% more than Q1 2025. The period featured a major success with Pumpkin Spice -A Magical Cozy RPG, which reached over $1.5 million, and also saw the launch of highly anticipated projects like Numenera: The Amber Archive and Blades ’68. Notably, only six of the featured games used Fifth Edition mechanics, and Gates of Krystalia became the highest-funded TTRPG project to date whose creator admitted to using AI-generated images in the book.

The Book of Unnumbered Worlds is a new Kickstarter campaign from Kevin Crawford of Sine Nomine Publishing known for the “Without Number” series. This project is a system-neutral sourcebook designed to aid Game Masters (GMs) in building fantasy worlds or fleshing out existing settings. It features organized frameworks and step-by-step procedures with tags and tables for creating elements like maps, nations, societies, and monsters, and does not reprint material from previous “Without Number” books. In a notable statement, the campaign explicitly guarantees that “All art, writing, and design in this book is entirely human-created and does not involve the use of AI”.

#faterpg #johnblanche #crowdfunding #withoutnumber

Rascal News:

https://www.rascal.news/with-the-release-of-umdaar-we-might-be-at-the-end-of-fate/

Book of Unnumbered Worlds Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sinenomineinc/the-book-of-unnumbered-worlds

Cyberpunk RED: Ready-to-Run Essentials Bundle: $33

https://humblebundleinc.sjv.io/rEOrdG

Free League BundleRPG Collection: $27.50

https://humblebundleinc.sjv.io/zzrGdm

The Book of Unnumbered Worlds: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sinenomineinc/the-book-of-unnumbered-worlds

Demonic Grimoire on Backkit:

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/exalted-funeral/old-school-essentials-demonic-grimoire

Hellblaster: Against the Cyberfiend:

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/bloodstar-productions/hellblaster-against-the-cyberfiends

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Requiem for the Wretched Dead, a new survival RPG by John Harper set in the Deathlands of the Blades in the Dark universe, which utilizes the Breathless SRD rules. This announcement notably coincided with an outpouring of TTRPG community support that helped fund the creator of Breathless: Frightmare Edition after they had initially worried about an unsatisfying outcome, illustrating the special nature of the TTRPG community.

The reprint of The One Ring card for Magic: The Gathering’s crossover with The Hobbit. Veteran artist Donato Giancola accused Wizards of the Coast of reusing and modifying the earlier borderless art by Marta Nael, rather than commissioning a new, original piece from credited artist Dan Frazier. Both Frazier and Wizards of the Coast later confirmed that Nael’s work was unintentionally used as a reference that Frazier painted over. Wizards apologized, acknowledging failures in their internal review process, and promised to update digital versions to credit both artists and ensure Marta Nael is compensated.

The Neon Odyssey is a highly successful Kickstarter campaign by Legends of Avantris, which has massively exceeded its funding goal to become a 1,400+ page Space Opera trilogy for Dungeons & Dragons 5.5e. Inspired by retro sci-fi films and video games, the project introduces the Stardust Rhapsody campaign setting across three books: the Outrunner’s Handbook, Cosmic Codex, and the Overdrive Expansion. Key features include a new Machinist class, sci-fi class skins for all core 5.5e classes, a dedicated Starfighting System for space combat, over 30 space-faring species, and a 52-Card Cosmic Oracle Deck.

Demonic Grimoire serves as the central book for “OSE Month 2026,” a group-collaboration project spearheaded by Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome. The month-long event centers on the theme of “DEMONS” and features a new 176-page book for Old-School Essentials (OSE), a TTRPG inspired by classic games of the 1970s and 1980s. This core book will introduce hordes of new monsters, adventures set in the realms of hell, and fiendish character options, alongside sister projects from 16 other renowned creators in the OSE community.

HELLBLASTER: Against the Cyberfiends is a highly funded component of OSE Month by Bloodstar Productions. This Old-School Essentials module for high-level characters blends classic science-fantasy with ’90s occult-industrial aesthetics. The module’s premise is a crashed starship that vomits corruption into a sword-and-sorcery world, forcing adventurers to confront cyborg demons and alien tech. Players must contend with three rival factions—The Doombringers, The Cult of Pleasure, and The Machine Collective—and can seize supercharged weapons, powered armor, and mechanized melee weapons to fight back against the hellish forces.

#bladesinthedark #neonodyssey #ose #hellblaster

Demonic Grimoire on Backkit:

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/exalted-funeral/old-school-essentials-demonic-grimoire

Hellblaster: Against the Cyberfiend:

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/bloodstar-productions/hellblaster-against-the-cyberfiends

Neon Odyssey\

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/legendsofavantris/neon-odyssey

Dune Bundles:

Physical – https://humblebundleinc.sjv.io/1G1KE9

Digital – https://humblebundleinc.sjv.io/WO4PBA

Warmachine on MyMiniFactory:

https://mmf.io/upturned