Tag: Chris Birch

The Weekly LIVE 248 – Modiphius Acquires Strato Minis, CRIT Awards at GenCon, Caverns of Thracia and Rascal News

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Modiphius Entertainment has acquired Strato Minis Studio, a Polish company known for its resin miniatures and games such as Hardwar, Retrobots, and Stratoyager. Modiphius will take over the development of these lines, starting with a re-launch of Hardwar, a 6mm scale miniatures game centered on sci-fi mech, armor, and aerial combat. Modiphius co-founder Chris Birch praised the Strato Minis team for their intricate world-building and expressed plans to expand the game’s audience. The new Hardwar line will be released in stages, including a reprint of the core rules and a free quickstart PDF to help new players.

The CRIT Awards, organized by Ivy, announced on June 24 that their in-person ceremony would not return to Gen Con due to safety concerns. This decision followed social media backlash after the nomination of a performer associated with WafflesMapleSyrup, a studio criticized for its Zionist stance. Omega Jones, the intended host, suggested that Gen Con forced the awards to withdraw due to their anti-Zionist stance. The CRIT Awards emphasized the difficulty of the decision and urged the community to avoid harassment or violence. No official comments were received from Gen Con or CRIT Awards at the time of publication.

The Caverns of Thracia, a legendary mega-dungeon adventure, has successfully raised $352,007, far exceeding its $10,000 goal. The campaign offers both 5E and Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) editions, featuring a rich narrative set in an ancient dungeon filled with formidable foes and numerous secrets. The project supports a full-year campaign with extensive content, including new monsters, magic items, and spells. Stretch goals have expanded the adventure’s scope, and new scenarios and add-ons have been introduced. Backers can choose between classic hardcover or special limited editions with unique cover art and custom dice sets inspired by the adventure’s theme.

Rascal News, an independent TTRPG and culture outlet, is running its first pledge drive to ensure sustainability and support freelance writers. Launched in February, Rascal has grown to 4,150 members, including 1,050 paying subscribers. The drive aims to enable the co-founders to write full-time and commission more freelance content. Subscriber goals range from increasing contributors to attending conventions and launching a podcast. The drive runs from July 1 to August 3, with various events planned to engage the community and attract new subscribers. Rascal remains committed to reader-funded, ad-free journalism and seeks support to continue its unique, voice-driven coverage of the TTRPG world.

#modiphius #critawards #cavernsofthracia #rascalnews

Caverns of Thracia on Backerkit:
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/goodman-games/caverns-of-thracia-legendary-adventure-5e-dcc

Rascal News:
https://www.rascal.news/rascal-pledge-drive-2024-goals-schedule-calendar/

4-Hour Dune RPG Review:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/review-dune-in-106781242

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Outgunned RPG – Action Hero Pledge UNBOXING:
https://youtu.be/IYDyzNvQQKo

Outgunned Adventure on Backerkit

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/two-little-mice/outgunned-2

Shop at Noble Knight Games (affiliate link)
https://www.nobleknight.com/affiliate/aw.asp?B=3&A=1312&Task=Click

10% off First Purchase from Modiphius:
http://r.sloyalty.com/r/vhbUPnHm6tIp

Dragonbane Actual Play Episode One:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC9u841QuXM

Dragonbane Core Set:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/418106/Dragonbane-Core-Set

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Matt’s DriveThruRPG Publications:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?author=Matthew%20Robinson

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

Abusecartoons Weekly Cartoons:
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Intro song is “Chips” by KokoroNoMe
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The Weekly LIVE 157 – WotC Sues NuTSR for Reprehensible Content, Indie RPG Future in 5th Edition, New Vallejo Xpress Color Paints and New Kings of War Book

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Wizards of the Coast, the Dungeons & Dragons publisher, aims to prevent racist, bigoted, and transphobic work from being published. Citing concerns over racist and transphobic material, Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast is trying to take back an old game to prevent its publication. Star Frontiers New Genesis, is a reboot of a classic 1982 game with some very problematic content. NuTSR just won’t learn. Or is this some 4D chess move to get free publicity? Keep an eye out for their legal funds crowdfunder.

With the announcement of the new walled garden of One D&D, independent designers are looking toward a future divested from the weight of D&D. Many believe the tabletop RPG, lifestyle brand, and massive culture juggernaut will keep rolling under its own inertia creating Hasbro shareholder happiness. The sooner they can stop trying to compare themselves to that continued success or worry about capturing part of that fan base, the easier their jobs will become. SRDs, or whatever their next form might look like, may provide fledgling artists waystones through an open field instead of fence posts around private property. Several indie designers gave their input on the state of tabletop roleplaying and the future of platforms like the DM’s Guild.

Vallejo’s entry into the speed painting trend was recently demonstrated with their new Xpress Color paints. Vallejo is known for great paints already, so it’s interesting to see them going this route with a more contrast-style paint. Now we can see how it works and what it can offer in terms of a one-coat solution that sets it apart from the rest. More alternatives are always better. The paints were developed in part by Angel Giraldez and Juan Hidalgo. They will definitely cost less than Citadel Contrast Paints but how will they compare to Army Painter’s Speed Paint and the upcoming release by Green Stuff World?

Instead of complaining about Games Workshop let’s bring some attention to a worthy competitor and look at what is coming out from Mantic Games. Two new army updates, a giant tome collecting all of the updated rules and new styles of play for Kings of War and a new app to make all their games more accessible. If they can just resist the temptation of a monthly subscription they may be onto something. Check these guys out if you like good rule systems and minis that don’t break the bank.
#wotc #nutsr #vallejo #mantic #kingsofwar

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Intro song is “Chips” by KokoroNoMe
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The Weekly LIVE 137 – WotC Ignores Original Creators, Modiphius Announces Cohors Cthulhu, Warzone Eternal Kickstarter Launch Date and Kutulu Hits Japan

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Wizards of the Coast has announced the return of two popular settings now for 5E. Unfortunately, according to Twitter, Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis, creators of Dragonlance and Jeff Grubb, creator of Spelljammer, were not involved in the announcement and found out at the same time everyone did during the announcement. We talked previously about the lawsuit involving the new Dragonlance novels. It doesn’t make WotC look great to ignore the original creators of these settings. Is this to emphasize a break from the past or a chance to save some money?

During the D&D Direct announcement last week, Modiphius Entertainment had a strange announcement of their own. In an attempt to possible distract from WotC, Modiphius had an hour long livestream announcement that was just a torchlit wall that eventually crumbles after a very long wait with only some slight change in lighting. They revealed their new TTRPG Cohors Cthulhu set in ancient Rome, a spinoff of Against the God Themselves, set in the same universe as Achtung! Cthulhu. I guess they were following the old adage “if you can’t beat ‘em, just be boring and confusing” or something like that.

We finally have a date for the Kickstarter campaign for Warzone Eternal. It will be launching May 17th, but be sure to listen to the entire livestream to make sure that date is correct. We talked with Alex Kanous from Res Nova Games previously about the new game and crowdfunding campaign. This should be a fun game to follow and hopefully a big success on Kickstarter. Hopefully with either the Cardinal’s blessing or the influence of the Dark Symmetry we will see the return of wargaming in the Mutant Chronicles universe.

Finally, there is a new release in Japan a a Swedish TTRPG, Kutulu by Mikael Bergström. Call of Cthulhu is the most popular tabletop roleplaying game in Japan. This is a much more rules light and streamlined d6 system. The insanity mechanic especially stands out as a great innovation to the Lovecraft setting. The Swedish language PDF is available as pay-what-you-want PDF on DriveThruRPG. With a little language software translation magic you can get an idea of how this system works. Hopefully we will see an English language release. Free League are you listening?

Modiphius website for Cohors Cthulhu:
https://www.modiphius.net/pages/cohors-cthulhu

Kutulu in Swedish on DTRPG (afilliate link):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/382400?affiliate_id=2081746

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