RPG & Wargame Newsletter #70

August 5, 2024

Aug 05, 2024

Greetings, Gamers!

It’s been five years (I think) since my last Gen Con attendance. I do miss going, but a part of me does not. I miss seeing new games announced and getting a chance to meet game designers and ask questions about their games, but the crowds? I’ve reached a point in my life where I just don’t want to deal with the masses. I’ve definitely moved into the smaller, indie-convention period of my life. That’s not to say I wouldn’t go back to Gen Con some time in the future, BUT… I also don’t miss the room-lottery, hoping you can find a room that’s within a decent walking distance of the convention hall. And even getting a room, you realize quickly that if you’re not sharing a room with 2-3 friends, you’re paying through the NOSE for your stay. $10 pizza slices and $4 drinks? Yeah, I’d rather spend my money on more games and smaller conventions where I can de-stress easily in my room that’s just an elevator ride away.

For those who attended Gen Con 2024, I hope you had a great time. Seriously. I do miss it and think it’s an incredible experience, but I’ve had my fill. I’ll see some of you at Mythic Con in November!

Now, on to the fun stuff!

RPGs

My friend, Gareth Branwyn, put me on to this - a new cyberpunk RPG that works in one-shots. The product is called CBR + PNK:Augmented and comes in an amazing layout with a collection of brochures for various aspects of the game. You can check it out here.

(Not sure what cyberpunk is all about? Read the book that really started it all and plan on having your mind blown - Neuromancer by William Gibson. I read it once a year. EVERY. YEAR.)

(And FYI - Gareth has a free newsletter he puts out called Gar’s Tips & Tools for makers, and it often has advice/tools for gamers. I always read every newsletter top to bottom, and I can’t believe it’s up in the 180-issues range now. Comes out somewhat-weekly, but always filled with cool stuff. Find it here.

I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this announcement as I’m not quite sure a second edition of the ALIEN RPG was needed after just 5 years on the market, but hey… here we are. Just announced by Free League, you can get all the details here, but it will come with a new starter kit and adventure. They’re going to launch it as a Kickstarter (which I think is unnecessary, btw). They also released a trailer video (below).

Given that Gen Con is happening right now, it’s not surprising to me that this week’s newsletter is heavy on RPG news. And this one is awesome, especially if you’re like me and you collect PDF rulebooks for games you’re unlikely to ever play but just like to read and look at the art. Humble Bundle is offering 52 books in the Starfinder series for just $40. This includes the Startfinder 2.0 starter books (that I think are out for beta testing). More info here. At about $1 per PDF, it’s not a bad deal, and I think I could easily turn some of the adventures into wargaming scenarios.

WARGAMING

Just got an email from subscriber Bret S. pointing me to this trailer for the Infinity: Paradise Lost animated series. It looks awesome… very gritty, too. It makes me REALLY want to look at the Infinity wargame now… and the 192 page rulebook is free to download! They’re making this too easy for me. Thanks, Bret!

MINIATURES

I haven’t found any new metal miniature companies recently that have minis I want (of course, I haven’t been looking too hard), but stop everything and visit Crooked Dice right now. I don’t even know where to start. Probably with the Snake Plissken mini and I’ll continue from there. The theme of the sight is TVs and movies, and I’m blown away. More info here.

BOARD GAMES

I normally don’t cover board games in most issues, but every now and then I get to play a game and just have to share about it. Today, a friend of mine brought a game called Slay the Spire to the game store and taught two of us to play… it’s a four-player max game, but the three of us had a blast. This is a game based on a digital game for PCs and tablets (and maybe phone?). I’ve played the iPad version and thought it was fun, but the board game version? It was AWESOME! The level of cooperation between players is amazing, and the different characters you can play are so unique and well-balanced. I absolutely want to buy this game, but I didn’t back it as a KS so I’ll have to wait until it hits retail. Trust me… amazing game. If you liked the digital version, you’re sure to like this analog version. More info here.

READING

I’m really enjoying my new copy of Playing at the World Volume 1: The Invention of Dungeons & Dragons (2nd Edition) from Jon Peterson. If you love learning about the history of wargaming and RPGs (specifically D&D), this is probably one of the best books you’ll ever read. I read it almost every year like clockwork… and this new edition has more up-to-date content that wasn’t available when I got the book back in 2014. This first volume (second one releases in 2025) covers the history of wargaming and how it spun off the RPG known as D&D and has a cover by Erol Otus! (I’d love a shirt with this cover image!) Grab a copy of the book here. (Amazon affiliate link)

Tom Tullis of Fat Dragon Games continues to make gamers spend money as he put me on to Fight On! magazine that is picking up with #15 after a ten year (!!) hiatus. You can find the new issue here.

TERRAIN

Kromlech is releasing some new terrain for Frostgrave players, and I must admit they’re very well done if a bit large. They seem to be hitting some of the more famous locales such as the tower, library, and ossuary (that feature in many scenarios). You can read a summary of the new stuff here.

CUSTOM CONTENT

Download my new custom scenario titled Attack the Abbey and new class card (Acolyte) for the Deth Wizards wargame here. This new scenario is played in one of my recent gameplay videos (see below).

LOVECRAFT MYTHOS

FINALLY! I mean it… FINALLY! Fantasy Flight has announced a new campaign for Arkham Horror the Card Game called The Drowned City. CTHULHU! Finally! 2025 is the best guess as they want to finish the Dunwich Legacy in the new format this year. They also announced this is NOT the last campaign for the game, so let’s hold them to it. No additional information yet.

GASLANDS VEHICLE OF THE WEEK

This week’s amazing toy car conversion for Gaslands is from Gaslands Norcal. I like the color and wear-and-tear, but that gun on the back? Don’t get in front of this guy…

PATREON PLAYTHROUGH SCHEDULE

Below are the videos scheduled for release to my Patrons this week over at the Tabletop Engineer’s Gaming Workshop Patreon. Patrons also gain access to the public videos featured on The Tabletop Engineer Plays channel a week earlier.

It’s only $2 per month and gives you access to not just private playthrough videos but behind-the-scenes workshop stuff, freebies, LIVE discussions, and more. Sign up here. More games to be added soon!

Monday, August 5 - Deth Wizards Episode 9 Part 2, Bug Hunt - Episode 4 - Mission 001 Part 2

Tuesday, August 6 - 2D6 Dungeon - Episode 31, 2D6 Dungeon - Episode 30, D100 Space - Episode 3

Wednesday, August 7 - Four Against Darkness - Episode 14, Core Space Episode 2

Thursday, August 8 - D100 Space Episode 10, Frostgrave Episode 1

Friday, August 9 - HeroQuest Episode 2, Stargrave Episode 2

YOUTUBE

This may not have anything to do with gaming… or does it? I stumble upon weird stuff all the time that, for no apparent reason, just makes me smile and think “that is cool.” This video applies, I think. I love alternative homes (or, the idea of them)… and would love to have an outdoor workshop that looked like this. She turns it into a home, but I would love to see what she could do if the goal was a gaming space. (Her other videos are so awesome… I’m about 50% done watching them and cannot get enough.)

LIFE GAMIFICATION

I got my medal (3rd of 5) for my completing of Part III, Mines of Moria, in the Lord of the Rings Challenge. This is my favorite medal so far, with the doors opening to reveal the dwarf statue and the Balrog on the back. I love this 5-part challenge… it definitely keeps me walking every day. Currently, I’m only 5% into the Eye of Sauron (Part IV) challenge, with about 90 miles left to cover.

More info on the challenge here.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

One of my favorite boardgames to play solo is called Unsettled. It’s a very science-y, engineering type game… you play a group of scientists marooned on a planet and must explore and do research to survive. It’s a very fun game. Orange Nebula is releasing some new planets for it (they’re up to 9 right now, with 2 more coming out soon) and I can’t wait. That said, the company has also released some freebies that some of you might be interested in… they are called Menu Music for Video Games That Don't Exist and it’s basically just background music for playing while you play. You can check out one here (or below). Have a great week, all of you!

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

My Patreon is found here.
the Patreon name is The Tabletop Engineer’s Gaming Workshop