Pathfinder and Starfinder RPG maker Paizo released the first draft of its Open RPG Creative (ORC) license over the weekend and invited the public to submit their comments. The legal document is months in the work following Wizards of the Coast’s OGL fiasco and subsequent release of their rules into the Creative Commons, but Paizo has decided to blaze a different trail through the thicket of tabletop copyright protection.

Project Black Flag got both an official title and a Kickstarter date this past weekend. Black Flag, if you were unfamiliar, is Kobold Press’ take on “Core Fantasy Gaming” aka their version of the 5th Edition D&D rules, but done independently of WotC and any licensing shenanigans. It was originally announced during the OGL debacle of January 2023.

If you have ever wanted to try out Pathfinder Second Edition, the mod team at r/Pathfinder2e has a perfect opportunity for you! During the last week of April, dozens of GMs and hundreds of players will be gaming with the Pathfinder Beginner Box during Beginner Box Days! From April 22-30th, new players curious to try Pathfinder can join experienced Game Masters as they play through the Pathfinder Beginner Box adventure: “Menace Under Otari”! This two-session adventure is designed to guide players through combat, exploration, skills, and even puzzles! The upper level teaches the basics of Pathfinder gameplay, while the lower dungeon puts them in advanced practice.

Dungeons & Dragons is not getting rid of half-elves, despite messaging coming out of a Content Creator’s Summit held at Wizards of the Coast headquarters this week. Today, Wizards of the Coast released a brief statement addressing a “controversy” involving the intention to move away from mechanics that singled out characters with mixed parentages of different species, such as half-elves and half-orcs. “Options for creating characters descended from more than one species are not being removed from Dungeons & Dragons,” said a brief statement posted on Twitter. “Proposed adjustments to character origins have been open to the community since August 2022 and will be revised further.”

ORC First Draft:
https://downloads.paizo.com/ORC_License_DRAFT.pdf
https://downloads.paizo.com/ORC_AxE_DRAFT.pdf

Signup for a Pathfinder Beginner Box Days:
http://www.BEGINPF2.com

Support Us by Shopping on DTRPG (afilliate link):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com?affiliate_id=2081746

Chris on social media:
https://hyvemynd.itch.io/​​
https://twitter.com/hyvemynd​​
https://twitter.com/ConanSalaryman​​

Abusecartoons Weekly Cartoons:
http://www.abusecartoons.com/​​
https://www.twitch.tv/abusecartoons
https://twitter.com/abusecartoons

​​Support Us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/upturnedtable

Give us a tip on our livestream:
https://streamlabs.com/upturnedtabletop/tip

Intro song is “Chips” by KokoroNoMe
https://kokoronome.bandcamp.com/

In July, Roll20 and DriveThruRPG announced they come together under Ankit Lal. Don’t call it a merger; call it a joint venture. The two have been pretty much operating in unison for the last few months, and now marketplaces for digital content are getting closer together.At the time it was announced that the community content program that OneBookShelf, the DriveThruRPG parent company, has with Wizards of the Coast would expand to include Roll20.Right now, third-party publishers who follow the rules can create and sell D&D adventures and other content from the DMsGuild. As of this week, those modules can also be created for Roll20.

 Role’s co-founder isn’t worried about D&D’s plans for the online RPG space. CEO and co-founder Elle Dwight offered two polite reminders that Role, the streaming roleplay platform she co-founded and runs, is not a virtual tabletop but a toolset for “conversation gaming”. After crowdfunding $106,982 on Kickstarter in 2020, Role has been successfully simmering among the actual play and online RPG space. That scene is quickly expanding, though. Wizards of the Coast announced its own plans for a dedicated, in-house virtual tabletop for Dungeons & Dragons earlier this year, and smaller companies such as One More Multiverse, Foundry and even Roll20 are renegotiating what exactly they can offer players who suddenly find themselves with a wealth of options when it comes to playing games digitally with friends.

When you think of Dungeons and Dragons, the world’s most popular RPG, you might think of heroic orcs, magical elves, or Tieflings running an inn somewhere. But you might not have thought that the tabletop game of fantasy adventures is a game in need of a recurrent spending environment. And you’d be forgiven too. Because unless you’re a WotC or Hasbro executive, odds are really good you’ve never thought the words “D&D under-monetized” before.According to an investor-focused “fireside chat” with Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, and WotC’s new CEO Cynthia Williams, D&D is under-monetized.

Paizo is offering a webstore-wide holiday discount.From now through January 18, take 15% off a single order* on Pathfinder, Starfinder and Kobold Press print products at the Paizo Store using the code holiday23 at checkout.
#hasbro #playrole #paizo #roll20

Holiday Discount at Paizo Store using the code holiday23 at checkout:

https://paizo.com/store

SCAB HEAP CHALLENGE:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/74348043?utm_campaign=postshare_fan

Support Us by Shopping on DTRPG (afilliate link):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com?affiliate_id=2081746

Chris social media:
https://hyvemynd.itch.io/​​
https://twitter.com/hyvemynd​​
https://twitter.com/ConanSalaryman​​

Abusecartoons Weekly Cartoons:
http://www.abusecartoons.com/​​
https://www.twitch.tv/abusecartoons
https://twitter.com/abusecartoons

​​Support Us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/upturnedtable

Give us a tip on our livestream:
https://streamlabs.com/upturnedtabletop/tip

Intro song is “Chips” by KokoroNoMe
https://kokoronome.bandcamp.com/

Hasbro said its board has authorized a sale process for the part of its eOne TV and film business not directly supporting its branded entertainment strategy following a review of the business initiated by new CEO Chris Cocks.The company has retained J.P. Morgan and Centerview Partners to move ahead with the sale process for a 6,500+ content library; the non-Hasbro branded film and scripted TV business which produces and finances content like The Woman King, Yellowjackets and The Rookie franchise; Hasbro’s interest in Entertainment One Canada Limited’s Canadian film and TV business; and Hasbro’s unscripted division, which includes the Naked & Afraid franchise.

Card Conjurer was a tool for entering any text and art into a Magic: the Gathering card frame and generate a card image. The site did not have any monetization of any kind, and was not a storefront, just a creative tool. Nothing Card Conjurer did was impossible in something like GIMP or Adobe Photoshop, it was just easier. It was first created several years ago by a then-high-schooler, Kyle Burton, who taught himself to code using the project. Wizards of the Coast recently sent a cease and desist to the creator and the tool is now offline.

Despite reportedly making more money than ever before, MTG fans haven’t been too pleased with the state of the game recently. In recent years, Wizards of the Coast has been releasing more and more products than ever before. Typically this kind of exceptional growth would have fans tremendously excited. MTG players, however, have heavily criticized Hasbro for this approach as they’re being overwhelmed by new content. Even MTG’s original creator recently jumped aboard this bandwagon, decreeing that Hasbro pushed their game down the wrong path. Things have now gone from bad to worse for Hasbro. In a new report, the Bank of America has accused Hasbro of “killing its golden goose,” Magic: the Gathering. Identifying the pressing concerns of MTG players, this report has already caused Hasbro’s stock to dip 5.2%. Unfortunately for Hasbro, according to Analysts, things are only going to get worse in the future. 

Wizards of the Coast has responded to rumors of changes to the Open Game License and System Reference Document as it works on a new edition of Dungeons & Dragons. For weeks, rumors have swirled about the future of two documents critical to the publication of third-party material for Dungeons & Dragons. The Open Game License and the accompanying System Reference Document allows third-party publishers (ranging from companies like Paizo or Kobold Press to self-publishing creators) to publish and sell material that uses 5th Edition rules. The Open Game License acts as a public copyright license, while the System Reference Document specifies which rules and game mechanics can be used when making third-party material.

Free League Publishing revealed this week they would be publishing a brand-new tabletop RPG based on The Walking Dead. The official name of the game will be called The Walking Dead Universe, where, as you might have guessed, your characters will be thrown into an unforgiving post-apocalyptic sandbox setting where they will have to bond quickly and learn how to survive and thrive in a world filled with the undead. This is not a game where you just happen to run into famous characters from the series and roll with them, or have them at your disposal. You’ll have to survive as a group of original characters created by the players in a setting created by the GM. The game will launch sometime in the Fall of 2023.

Battletech Humble Bundle! Aspiring MechWarriors, are you looking to jump into the BattleTech tabletop armored combat game? Equip yourself with this bundle of over 20 resources and get started on your journey! This colossal collection features digital rulebooks, field manuals, campaign books, and more—and when you pay $30 or more, you’ll get a physical BattleTech: Beginner Box containing two high-quality miniatures, quick-start rules, a mapsheet, cards, dice, and more from Catalyst Game Labs (US customers only; shipping & handling not included). Plus, your purchase helps support Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society!

#hasbro #mtg #onednd #walkingdead #battletech

SCAB HEAP CHALLENGE:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/74348043?utm_campaign=postshare_fan

Battletech Humble Bundle:
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/introduction-to-battletech-catalyst-game-labs-books?partner=idleredhands

Support Us by Shopping on DTRPG (afilliate link):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com?affiliate_id=2081746

Chris social media:
https://hyvemynd.itch.io/​​
https://twitter.com/hyvemynd​​
https://twitter.com/ConanSalaryman​​

Abusecartoons Weekly Cartoons:
http://www.abusecartoons.com/​​
https://www.twitch.tv/abusecartoons
https://twitter.com/abusecartoons

​​Support Us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/upturnedtable

Give us a tip on our livestream:
https://streamlabs.com/upturnedtabletop/tip

Intro song is “Chips” by KokoroNoMe
https://kokoronome.bandcamp.com/

Paizo will be raising its PDF prices following an increase in labor to produce them. Previously they just priced PDFs at flat percentage of the print books MSRP. The price increase seems modest and for some things, like flip mats, the price is actually going down in some cases.  With the new found popularity of VTTs and nicer displays on tablets to read PDFs it seems inevitable to try to make more profit from the easier to produce digital products. We will see who else follows suit.

 

CMON is producing an Assassin’s Creed TTRPG based on the 15 year old video game. The game will involve playing both Descendants, the modern day characters and Ancestors, the assassins of the Brotherhood from various historical periods. This is done by using a virtual reality technology called the ANIMUS that taps into the genetic information in your DNA to access your Ancestors lives. It was a cool concept for a game and if done right may be really fun on the tabletop. The development is being overseen by the talented Francesco Nepitello for Guillotine Press, the CMON RPG studio.

 

Heroquest is getting a Hero Collection Expansion. The Rogue Heir of Elethorn, a nimble elf skirmisher. This set includes two miniatures (possibly a single character gender swapped) and cards. It retails for a hefty US$17 and I would call that overpriced just based on the quality of the Heroquest base game. At least they are supporting the game with new expansions.

 

Magic: the Gathering Universes Beyond is a “success” but annoying series for many serious MtG players. It involves reskinning cards using various popular IPs. The first of these being the Walking Dead television series. The series relies on FOMO, but has offered reprints. The main attraction to players seems to be the desirable cards and not the IPs themselves. Look forward to Warhammer 40k, Age of Sigmar, Lord of the Rings and other odd fits into the collectible card game system. 

 

Free League is releasing a miniatures skirmish game based on the Mutant Year Zero TTRPG called Zone Wars. Games Workshop designer Andy Chambers, known for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Necromunda and Battlefleet Gothic and Tomas Härenstam, designer for Mutant: Year Zero and the studio’s Alien: The RPG. You can use your characters from the TTRPG in the skirmish game and also play out the aftermath of the skirmish game in the TTRPG. Brilliant! Really looking forward to this. 

#paizo #cmon #heroquest #freeleague #zonewars #mutant

 

Support Us by Shopping on DTRPG (afilliate link):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com?affiliate_id=2081746

Chris social media:
https://hyvemynd.itch.io/​​
https://twitter.com/hyvemynd​​
https://twitter.com/ConanSalaryman​​

Abusecartoons Weekly Cartoons:
http://www.abusecartoons.com/​​
https://www.twitch.tv/abusecartoons
https://twitter.com/abusecartoons

​​Support Us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/upturnedtable

Give us a tip on our livestream:
https://streamlabs.com/upturnedtabletop/tip

Intro song is “Chips” by KokoroNoMe
https://kokoronome.bandcamp.com/

Kill Sample Process is a stand-alone tabletop miniatures game and rpg setting from the creator of The Last War and Forbidden Psalm and published by Exalted Funeral, inspired by and fully compatible with the CY_BÖRG ttrpg and other Forbidden Psalm miniatures games. Forbidden Psalm is a 28mm miniatures agnostic game. You can use ANY suitable miniatures you already own, or build custom minis for this game. Solo Play and Coop rules are included. All content is compatible with the CY_BÖRG ttrpg. Kill Sample Process is a small-scale skirmish game, where you play with a crew of 5 miniatures per player, against AI controlled Hostiles in scenarios that tak e you across the neon hell scape of CY_. Play as enemies, cooperatively or solo.

Steve Jackson Games and Paizo, Inc. launched Pathfinder Revolution!, a new edition of the Revolution! board game, which is currently on Kickstarter for preorder. This is a new Pathfinder branded version of the Revolution! board game, which was released back in 2009 and spawned expansions (see “‘Revolution! Anarchy'”). The new edition improves the classic political deduction game as well adds game elements from the expansion material. It is set in the world of the Pathfinder RPG, and the goal of the game is to bluff or outguess opponents while building a coalition to gain control of the city of Korvosa.

CMON will be publishing War for Arrakis, an asymmetrical war game based on Frank Herbert’s Dune novel. The designers of the War of the Ring, Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi, are hoping to repeat their previous success with a new setting. The game is controlled through a combination of action dice and event cards, representing the different attributes of the two sides House Atreides and House Harkonnen. CMON is producing all new miniatures and artwork for the game. It is being sub-licensed from the existing Gale Force Nine license for Dune. Do we really need another Dune boardgame? Well, it is coming soon to Kickstarter.

And finally, Mazes & Monsters, the 1982 movie with Tom Hanks, will be available in Blu-ray HD for the first time ever. This is to celebrate 40th anniversary edition of the film based on Rona Jaffe’s 1981 novel that was inspired by the non-fiction book by investigator William Dear’s called The Dungeon Master. The story is about missing university student James Dallas Egbert III, who disappeared in 1979. His interest in Dungeons & Dragons was blamed by the media for his disappearance. This was after all the height of the Satanic Panic.
#cy_borg #paizo #stevejacksongames #dune #cmon #mazesandmonsters

KillSampleProcess on Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/impioussaint/forbidden-psalm-killsampleprocess

Pathfinder Revolution! On Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sjgames/pathfinder-revolution-by-steve-jackson-games

Shopping on DTRPG (afilliate link):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com?affiliate_id=2081746

Beyond the Gates of Antares created by Tim and Rick Priestley and published by Warlord Games is being discontinued. The miniatures will continue to be produced by Skytrex. The game will get a free second edition from the original creators and a new website to support the game separate from Warlord. So players of the game are not being abandoned and thankfully the games remains in the hands of its creators.

Hasbro buys D&D Beyond from Fandom for almost $150 million. This will create more of an ecosystem for Wizards of the Coast to offer digital materials for the game and also collect valuable data from its players. Both the president of Hasbro and Wizards are former Microsoft executives, so this first major purchase of a digital platform is not surprising. D&D Beyond will retain its original management and continue as usual with the only change being the oversight of Hasbro. The only missing piece of the puzzle is a virtual tabletop. Will Roll20 be next?

A quick side note. We missed the news a few weeks back that Paizo will be converting one of their Pathfinder Adventure Paths, Abomination Vaults, for Dungeons and Dragons 5E. Is this just an attempt by Paizo to reach a wider audience and boost the sales of their adventures or does this mean the beginning of the end for Pathfinder? According to Roll20 session data Pathfinder has slipped considerably in recent years with D&D accounting more than 50% of online game sessions.

Fearsome Wilderness is an RPG using the Year Zero Engine about a prison ship that crashes on a densely wooded planet inhabited by unnatural fearsome critters of American lumberjack folklore. The horror is compounded by the fact that waking up from such an extended period of hibernation can do strange things to the mind. A free trial version of the game is available on DriveThruRPG.

Tainted Grail, the boardgame by Awaken Realms, is getting a sequel called Kings of Ruin. The sequel will be crowdfunded on Gamefound, their tabletop funding platform that launched earlier this year. The original game that was released in 2018 the biggest Kickstarter of that year, raising over $6.4 million and is now getting a second edition as part of this release. The new edition of the game promises more refined mechanics and gameplay with additional storylines. Hopefully this will help them establish Gamefound as a legitimate alternative to Kickstarter.

And finally, Games Workshop is partnering with Moon Pig to bring us licensed Warhammer 40k custom birthday cards. Emperor Preserve Us!

Gates of Antares 2nd Edition website:
http://antaresnexus.com/

Fearsome Wilderness RPG Free Trial:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/391627

Support Us with DCC (affiliate link):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/101050/Dungeon-Crawl-Classics-RPG-DCC-RPG?affiliate_id=2081746

An English edition of the Household TTRPG design by Italian studio 2LM Press is being released by CMON who recently purchased the studio. The setting involves playing Littlings, small creatures like Faeries and Boggarts that originated in European folklore.

Some disturbing information has come out concerning the creator of the Empire of the Petal Throne and the Tekumel setting, one of the earliest roleplaying settings that wasn’t Dungeons and Dragons. It was discovered that Professor M.A.R. Barker wrote Serpent’s Walk , an anti-Semitic novel that was published under a pseudonym in 1991. What does the mean for the future of the setting and the Tekumel Foundation?

Late to the game as they were with the popularity of X-wing, WhizKids is producing a skirmish boardgame based on Dungeons and Dragons. The game designer, Nicholas Yu, revealed on Twitter that he is working on D&D: Onslaught. The game was shown off at GAMA and will feature a Combat Dial system to track stats.

RollVsEvil is a new tabletop non-profit organization focusing its first campaign on Ukraine Relief. Many of the biggest companies in tabletop are involved including R. Talsorian, Magpie, Paizo, Green Ronin, Roll20, GAMA, and more.

Support Us on DriveThruRPG (afilliate link):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com?affiliate_id=2081746

The Dark Souls TTRPG will use 5E of the world’s greatest roleplaying game. It will attempt to simulate the stamina mechanic in the videogame with what they are calling Position. Orc Borg will soon be crowdfunded by Rowan, Rook and Decard. In this Mork Borg based expansion players are orcs trapped on a spaceship flying towards a crash landing on some unfortunate planet. New mechanics should make it convincingly Orcish…Orcesque? Orcy? Paizo will work with Gale Force Nine to produce three boardgames based on their Pathfinder and Starfinder settings. The makers of Forbidden Psalm, the miniature skirmish game for the Mork Borg RPG setting, will be releasing a new expansion called Forbidden Psalm: The Final War. It will be a small-scale Skirmish game, you play with a crew of 5 miniatures per player, against AI controlled monsters in scenarios that take you across the wastes of the Last War. You will be able to play as enemies, cooperatively or play solo mode.
#darksouls #orcborg #paizo #forbiddenpsalm #morkborg

Forbidden Psalm on DriveThruRPG (afilliate link):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/351472/Forbidden-Psalm–miniatures-game-inspired-by-and-compatible-with-MORK-BORG?affiliate_id=2081746

The Expansion In the Footsteps of the Mad Wizard: Forbidden Psalm (affiliate link):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/373552/In-the-Footsteps-of-the-Mad-Wizard-Forbidden-Psalm–miniatures-game-inspired-by-and-compatible-with-MORK-BORG?affiliate_id=2081746

Forbidden Psalm: The Last War Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/impioussaint/last-war-a-forbidden-psalm-stand-alone-game/description

Dungeons and Dragons is coming to television with an official actual play show. It will be streaming on Twitch and the G4 website as well as the G4 cable channel on November 22. Purging of the Crucible is a new adventure available for the 2d20 Mutant Chronicles RPG. It will be available from Modiphius as a PDF and also shortly available as a print on demand 74-page colour softcover book. Southeast Asian tabletop designers and artists, Centaur Games, behind the A Thousand Thousand Islands have launched a Kickstarter for their first full-length tabletop RPG campaign book, Reach of the Roach God. Paizo President apologies for user data breach. Bundle of Holding revives the August 2016 Tribe 8 Bundle, featuring much of the Tribe 8 product line in beautiful new versions from Dream Pod 9.
#g4tv #centaurgames #mutantchronicles #paizo #tribe8

Purging of the Crucible for the 2d20 Mutant Chronicles RPG (affiliate link):
https://www.modiphius.net/products/mutant-chronicles-purging-the-crucible-pdf-only?ref=sloyalty&token=vhbUPnHm6tIp

Also at DriveThruRPG (afilliate link):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/374324/Mutant-Chronicles-The-Purging-of-the-Citadel?affiliate_id=2081746

Reach of the Roach God on Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/centaurgames/reach-of-the-roach-god-part-of-a-thousand-thousand-islands

Tribe 8 Bundle of Holding:
https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2021Tribe

Down In Yongardy is a solo adventure for Troika! by Chris Bissette now on Kickstarter. You can play the preview first chapter now! YouTube makes dislikes private to stop hate attacks. Anti-Semitism in fantasy TTRPGs. A redux of the phylactery discussion I had with myself last week. This time with Chris! Finally, Mothership Official First Edition Boxed Set also on Kickstarter. It will come in two editions and there is also a t-shirt!
#mothership #troika #phylactery #dislikebutton

Down In Yongardy: A Troika! Solo Gamebook:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/loottheroom/down-in-yongardy-a-troika-solo-gamebook

Mothership First Edition Boxed Set:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gerdling/mothership-sci-fi-horror-rpg-1st-edition-boxed-set