RPG & Wargame Newsletter #15
July 17, 2023
Greetings, Gamers!
I’ve been getting SLAMMED with notices of Kickstarters for games built on the 5e mechanics. These are mostly non-fantasy games like spy games, superheroes, horror, and more. They all seem to be using the standard 5e rules for advantage, skills, combat, and classes and are just re-skinned to change the genre. Honestly, I have nothing against this kind of thing, but it just seems like there’s a never-ending supply of them. Not sure what’s going on, but maybe it has to do with WotC formalizing its rules with regards to the 5e license. Not sure. I’m happy for the creators who are making and selling them (or Kickstarting them), but they’re not for me. I walked away from 5e when COVID kicked up back in 2019 and I haven’t gone back. Instead, I’ve been playing OSR games like Old-School Essentials and Shadowdark. Not sure if D&D (official) will ever win be back, but I guess I’m glad to see more than just fantasy options for the 5e mechanics.
Now… on to the fun stuff.
RPGs
I haven’t had a chance to play the RPG yet, but I have enjoyed reading the rulebook for Bladerunner RPG from Free League. The Alien RPG game is another of theirs that I love, and what I’m most enjoying are the follow-up campaigns that are being released. The Bladerunner game is now getting its first two expansions — Fiery Angels and Replicant Rebellion. I’d normally pre-order them but I’m going to buy them from my local gaming store now that I know they are selling the Bladerunner RPG game. You can get more info on the two new expansions here that release in Q4 2023 and Q1 2024.
WARGAMING
This one really belongs in the KS, but it hasn’t launched yet, so mark your calendars for July 17 (TODAY!) as Star Schlock KS launches! I’ve been waiting to see this one for a while, and I hear good things about it. METAL MINIS!
MINIATURES
A reader put me onto another metal sci-fi miniatures provider (plus historical, fantasy, etc). called EM4 Miniatures. You can check them out here. I like the older, retro style of many of the sculpts and have some ideas for a few I plan on ordering.
KICKSTARTER
I haven’t played in a while (and need to get back to it), but there are two new expansions for Shadows of Brimstone called Shadows of Brimstone: Lost Tombs of Khamuntet and The Impossible Hell Train and I’m definitely loving what I’m seeing. While I can’t afford both, I was leaning (see last sentence below) towards Khamuntet because of its Egyptian setting but… I’ll wait for retail. Check it all out here. KS ends on July 27, 2023. My problem with this KS? It doesn’t fulfill until July 2025! You read that right… JULY 2025! TWO YEARS AWAY!
LOVECRAFT MYTHOS
GASLANDS VEHICLES OF THE WEEK
This week’s amazing toy car conversion for Gaslands is from Benjamin Popp. I don’t know the speed of this thing IRL, but on the table it has to look awesome. I love this game… so much creativity with the cars.
YOUTUBE
I love TrashBash videos, and this one for a Space Cruiser was really well done.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
I’ve got a new playthrough video series starting up shortly. If you’ve ever watched and liked my videos where I played Four Against Darkness, then you’re probably going to want to check out my new series for the 2d6 Dungeon game from Toby Lancaster. Videos should be starting up at The Tabletop Engineer Plays channel around the end of July 2023.
If you’re going to be at Southern Fried Gaming Expo in Atlanta on July 28-30, come and hunt me down in the tabletop wargaming area. I’ll be running a 3-4 hour game of Gaslands… players can jump in and drop out whenever they like. I’ll be running the game non-stop as a demolition derby style game… see how long you can stay in the game, basically. You can get more info on SFGE here.
TO MY SUBSCRIBERS
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 Patreon is currently focusing on a year-long project (started in Jan 2023) called Guild Collections. Patrons receive three weekly OSR PDFs (and a higher tier receive a monthly adventure PDF) that will be collected and printed as four OSR-compatible zines at the end of 2023. More info on the Patreon here.
My game play-through videos can be found here.
The YouTube Channel name is The Tabletop Engineer Plays