RPG & WARGAME NEWSLETTER #80
RPG & WARGAME NEWSLETTER #80
October 14, 2024
Greetings, Gamers!
I am currently running my 3D printers (I just bought a second one) 24/7 as I try to create enough terrain pieces for the upcoming MythicCon in November. I’ve been printing a lot of different terrain, but I’m focusing on Dungeon Blocks terrain right now because of its portability and how easy it is to reconfigure different rooms and items. If you’re not familiar with Dungeon Blocks, I’ll be doing a video on it soon (and will share it in the YouTube section in an upcoming newsletter).
The weather has definitely changed course in Atlanta… and so has the seasonal light. It’s getting darker sooner, so I’m finding myself playing more games than usual. I hope you also are getting in some game time. For me, the colder temps make me want to stay inside and I’d rather play games than stream shows. I’ve had a number of new games drop in my lap recently, so stay tuned… I’ll be introducing some of them to you in upcoming newsletters.
Now… let’s get to the fun stuff.
RPGs
Free League has announced its new RPG called The Electric State RPG based on the artwork and universe of Simon Stalehag’s narrative artbook, (Tales from the Loop) the RPG places players in a unique world: Following the discovery of neuronics in the late 1960s, technology diverged from our world. It is now the year 1997, and the world is on the verge of apocalypse. The ever-present Sentre corporation pushes neuronic technology to the population via cheap headsets. Civilization crumbles as something strange spreads through the neuronic net. People fail to turn up for work, basic services cease to function, and the government is rapidly losing control.
If you’re a player of Shadowdark (and you SHOULD be playing it - great RPG), then you’ll want to grab these two free adventures for it, written by the game’s creator, Kelsey Dionne.
The first adventure, Raiders of the Hidden Temple, is a classic pulp romp into a snake-filled temple... with an undead twist!
The second adventure, Doom in the Red Wastes, takes place inside a fantasy sci-fi pyramid where the characters confront a demonic "collector" who has them in his sights.
WARGAMING
I don’t play 15mm wargames, but I’m starting to think I should give them a try — smaller storage space and portable… sounds pretty good, actually. What got me thinking about it was this offer that found its way into my Inbox for a new 15mm game called Eternøl.
From the email: Eternøl (pronounced ee-tur-null) is an easy-to-pick-up, fully customizable, miniature-agnostic tabletop war game at half scale, designed for 15mm miniatures. Players build and paint their armies to defeat opponents, using ten-sided dice, tokens, and various terrain types on a play area, with the game rules and vibrant graphic design presented in a magazine format.
More information here and a pre-order that delivers in November 2024.
TERRAIN
Imperial Terrain has released two new models that I’ll be grabbing for my sci-fi tabletop. The Rapid Armored Transport (RAT) and a set of Cranes. The RAT is especially interesting as it’s customizable and you can print out different variations and quantities. Pretty slick.
CROWDSOURCING
The Dungenerator: DIE in the Dungeon project looks AWESOME. Nice artwork, and the gameplay sounds really fun. From the Kickstarter: DIE in a Dungeon is a solo or 2-player-cooperative, narrative dungeon-crawler. In it, your polyhedral dice (the same ones you use for popular tabletop RPGs) become doomed adventurers attempting to save and rebuild a village that sits on the edge of a labyrinthine, ever-shifting dungeon!
YOUTUBE
Peachy reviews Maladum, a new game from Battle Systems that I’m currently playing and recording for an upcoming video campaign series… such a great game.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
EDIT: I just realized I scheduled this wrong… it was meant to go out at 7am, not 7pm. Sorry, subscribers! And thanks to Tom for alerting me. I hope you weren’t worried the newsletter was gone!
Short newsletter this week - I have a high school senior who is still college hunting and we are heading off this weekend to visit a few more. I’ll be back next Monday with a longer newsletter for you :) Have a great 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