Greetings, Gamers!
Last week was a bit of a crazy one for me… my 3D printer began behaving badly and, after doing some maintenance, I managed to break the hotend (not hard to do, btw) and had to order a replacement. With the 3DP down, I haven’t been able to print any new terrain for a few of the games I play and record for my YouTube Channel and Patreon. I keep that thing running constantly, so it was a bit weird not to have it running in the background. At the same time, my laser business orders had a spike for some strange reason… normally things ramp up in October, not September, but not this year. While all this was going on, I’m still needing to record at least two games per day. And edit videos already recorded.
A large portion of my week is playing games, but I try my best to treat it like a real job since it generates income for me. The zines I write require a specific number of hours per day to keep writing, and the videos won’t play and record themselves.
I tell you all this because during the week, I’m also putting together the newsletter, and this little project is actually one of my favorite activities each day as I assemble the next week’s newsletter. I get to communicate with gaming companies, I go on searches for new games, and I try to find things that will make my hobby better. And then I get to write it up and share with you. Not a bad gig. And thank YOU for being a subscriber and giving me an audience to share my weekly findings.
Now… to the fun stuff!
RPGs
Has anyone ordered this collection? I mean, for the ability to print off any terrain you need from a collection of 15,000+ RPG maps, I gotta say that $55 is not a bad deal. But I have questions:
Are these maps taken from other map collections? Are they legal? Are they stolen?
What is the quality? It says “high resolution” but what does that mean, exactly?
Were the maps created with the included GridCrafter?
Can they be combined and printed on oversized printers?
More info here. Buyer beware, maybe? I’m interested, but I’m worried this is some sort of scam.
And speaking of maps. Here’s a new Kickstarter about to launch that offers 200 double-sided terrain mats (spread over 4 different themes/styles) for RPGs and probably good for wargaming, too. I love the look of them, but having to wait until February 2026? Too long. More info here.
WARGAMING
If you’re looking to try out a new 2-player sci-fi skirmish wargame, you might be interested in Hypersleep Saga. From the site: Hypersleep Saga is a skirmish wargame centered around conflicts between rival starfarers. Build a special task force awoken from hypersleep and fight your way through a narrative campaign where the future of your colony ship hangs in the balance. The game is 100% miniatures-agnostic, allowing you to use whatever sci-fi models you have in your collection.
More info here. I’ve downloaded and will probably give my thoughts on it soon over at The Tabletop Engineer Plays channel.
PLAYTHROUGHS
I’ve recommended the Soloist newsletter in the past (great coverage of solo RPGs and other games), and in the last newsletter I mentioned a new game going through crowdfunding called Deadline. In the game, you create headlines for a fictional newsletter of a fictional sci-fi/steampunk-ish city. I enjoyed playing it, but Patrick over at The Soloist? He went all out! Visit here to see his playthrough blog complete with city map and IMAGES (!) for his headlines.
BOOKS
I’m about halfway through Dungeon Crawler Carl and loving it. I don’t usually read satire/comedy fiction, but the title and description of the story grabbed me on a recent bookstore visit. In a nutshell, the Earth is being mined for resources and anyone caught indoors when the “bulldozers” come through was flattened dead. Those out side survived, but the alien corporation in charge of this planetary overhaul has worded the galactic contract in such a way that only the winner-survivor (and THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE) of the 18-level Dungeon (the alien audience seems to like traps and monsters and live contests) created beneath the Earth’s surface can regain control of the entire planet. Carl (and his ex-girlfriend’s prize-winning cat, Donut) just happened to be outside, and now he’s found one of the 150,000 entrances to the dungeon and entered it. Things begin to go badly. As I understand it, this is a series, so I’m not expecting a resolution by the end of the book. That said, at the halfway point, I’m really enjoying it. More info here.
TERRAIN
I’m a big fan of Crippled God Foundry (and I’ve backed some of their previous Kickstarters), so I’m happy to point you to an upcoming KS of theirs called Monster Slayers: Shadowcurse. From the launcher page: Monster Slayers: Shadowcurse is a new collection of Dark Fantasy themed 3D printable Heroes, Villains, Monsters and terrain pieces along with a Adventure PDF with a campaign to play in the Cursed Realm of Czessic, with lore, enemy statblocks, premade characters, new mechanics and more, 5e compatible! The Shadowcurse miniatures are compatible with the 28-32mm scale and suitable your favourite TTRPGs, wargames and boardgames!
I’m not a 5e player, so the supplement isn’t for me… but the miniatures are of interest to me… and the terrain is of GREAT interest. Look at the image below to see what I believe is some amazing scatter terrain. The project launches in October and you can sign up to get notified here.
CROWDSOURCING
I’m really looking forward to learning more about this game called Voidpilot’s Legacy. A solo game that seems to mix cards, dice, and resource management. The KS launches on October 1. A summary video of gameplay is below.
And I’m going to have a hard time deciding between Voidpilot’s Legacy and this one called Revenant. Both sound incredibly cool and offer solo play. From the writeup: Evacuate a besieged starfleet, navigating external threats and internal allegiances in a new, standalone game in the Voidfall universe.
LOVECRAFT MYTHOS - FREEBIE
A new Arkham Horror novel has just been released in digital form… for FREE! - it’s called Grave Rumors and it’s based on the new Arkham Horror The RPG.
From the Aconyte site: For Arkham Advertiser reporter, Minnie Klein, the truth is all that matters. Her investigation into a vandalized graveyard with a history of strange disturbances, reveals secrets that reach into darker places. As she digs deeper, she unearths a series of unsettling connections, missing corpses, and a vengeful widow with a past that might hold horrifying answers. But in Arkham, the truth can be dangerous. Minnie must fend off a slew of lies and attacks, contending with fact and fiction from both witnesses and her own newspaper. Even worse, a skin-crawling someone is watching both her and her sources every step of the way. Will Minnie let the truth rest, or will she devote herself to ending the evil that plagues Arkham’s living and its dead?
I’m not sure why this isn’t being released in print form, but I’ll take it. I’m quite impressed with the new RPG, but I’m still waiting to see if larger, more detailed rulebooks will be released to add to the Starter Set that was released.
You can get the digital novel for free right here.
GASLANDS VEHICLE OF THE WEEK
This week’s amazing toy car conversion for Gaslands is from Ethan Bailey. I love everything about this - the flames, the skulls, the missile launcher on top, and the two machine guns.
YOUTUBE
I just finished Uncle Atom’s newest video where he covers seven Starter Sets for various wargames. If you’ve got a friend who is looking at getting into the hobby, Starter Sets are definitely a great way to go. I’m quite fond of the Relicblade one mentioned in the video, but I’ve also been looking at Steel Rift for some time… so many games, so little time.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
I hope everyone has a great week. It got hot again in Atlanta, but I’m hopeful for some cooler weather arriving soon. Here in ATL, when the cool weather arrives, the game stores start getting busier. I’ve got quite a few gaming friends I haven’t seen at all this summer, so it’ll be good to get back to some regular 2-players games.
See you next week.
Jim
TO MY SUBSCRIBERS
If you know of a local and/or independent gaming convention, email me at jimsworkshop@fastmail.com to get it listed.
You can find my zines and laser-cut terrain at thetabletopengineer.bigcartel.com - 10% off to newsletter readers with code RPGWGNEWS.
Digital copies of all my zines can be found on DrivethruRPG.
My game play-through videos can be found here.
The YouTube Channel name is The Tabletop Engineer Plays
Re: Maps
Yeah a friend of mine got those, it's basically a pile of poorly-sorted AI maps. They're good when you're in a hurry, but TBH you may get a much better map for your specific game out of AI.
Thanks for the shout-out (and for originally recommending Deadline)! And you're right, Voidpilot’s Legacy and Revenant both look great.