Tag: Francesco Nepitello

The Weekly LIVE 267 – No More HasbroToy Movies, Lord of the Rings on D&D Beyond, Exodus TTRPG and Black Friday TTRPG Sales

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Hasbro has decided to step back from financing films based on its toys, following financial disappointments from movies like Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Transformers One. While these films were critically appreciated, their box office returns fell short, prompting Hasbro to leave the movie-making business. The company is now open to licensing its brands for others to adapt into films but will no longer co-finance such projects. This decision is ironic given the massive success of 2023’s toy-based Barbie film, which became a global phenomenon. Under CEO Chris Cocks, a gaming-focused leader, Hasbro plans to shift its resources toward interactive entertainment, including a potential push into video game development. However, this pivot likely means fans won’t see sequels to movies like Honor Among Thieves, despite its creative take on classic D&D themes.

Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth can now access The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying sourcebook on D&D Beyond. Created by Swedish publisher Free League, this adaptation tailors the award-winning One Ring RPG for Dungeons & Dragons’ fifth edition ruleset. The 240-page guide features six classes, 12 subclasses, 14 species, and 42 unique feats designed to capture the essence of Tolkien’s world. It also includes adventure paths for levels 1–10, complemented by compatible maps for D&D Beyond’s virtual tabletop. While the physical book costs over $50 on Free League’s website, the D&D Beyond edition is available for $29.99, offering players a seamless way to explore Middle-earth using modern tools.

Wizards of the Coast’s Archetype Entertainment has announced Exodus: The Traveler’s Handbook, a tabletop RPG tied to its upcoming sci-fi video game Exodus. Created by James Ohlen, a veteran designer of classics like Baldur’s Gate and Knights of the Old Republic, this TTRPG invites players to lead “Travelers” on perilous missions involving alien artifacts and time-dilation consequences. The tabletop game is offered as a limited pre-order for “founders” who subscribe to the game’s email list before December 10. While details about gameplay mechanics remain scarce, speculation suggests a possible adaptation of D&D’s 5E rules. Both the game and TTRPG aim to expand the Exodus universe, blending space exploration with rich storytelling.

Tabletop role-playing game enthusiasts can find numerous Black Friday deals this season. Key highlights include discounts from Goodman Games (15–40% off), Paizo, and Exalted Funeral (25–50% off). Magpie Games is running month-long promotions, while Dungeon Alchemist offers 20% off its map-making software on Steam. Fans of smaller publishers can explore sales from Elf Lair Games and Arken Forge, among others, for a wide range of deals on adventures, supplements, and tools to enhance their gaming experience.

#lotr #dndbeyond #exodusrpg #blackfriday

BLACK FRIDAY SALES

Goodman Games:

https://goodman-games.com/store/ (15-40% off)
https://goodman-games.com/blog/2024/11/26/black-friday-is-early-save-up-to-40-on-5e-adventures/ (15-40% off)

Coupon codes goodhaul2024 and indiehaul2024 will be automatically applied to qualifying orders at checkout.

Paizo https://paizo.com/store/sale/blackFriday2024

Exalted Funeral https://www.exaltedfuneral.com (25-50% off)

Magpie Games https://magpiegames.com/ (month long sale)

City of Mists https://cityofmist.co/pages/shop

Elf Lair Games https://www.elflair.com https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/3869/Elf-Lair-Games

Arken Forge https://arkenforge.com

US$17.50 $35.00

Dungeon Alchemist -20% on Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1588530/Dungeon_Alchemist/

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The Weekly LIVE 162 – Paizo PDFs Price Increase, Assassin’s Creed TTRPG by CMON, New Heroquest Hero Collection Expansion, Magic’s Universes Beyond and Mutant Year Zero Skirmish Game

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Paizo will be raising its PDF prices following an increase in labor to produce them. Previously they just priced PDFs at flat percentage of the print books MSRP. The price increase seems modest and for some things, like flip mats, the price is actually going down in some cases.  With the new found popularity of VTTs and nicer displays on tablets to read PDFs it seems inevitable to try to make more profit from the easier to produce digital products. We will see who else follows suit.

 

CMON is producing an Assassin’s Creed TTRPG based on the 15 year old video game. The game will involve playing both Descendants, the modern day characters and Ancestors, the assassins of the Brotherhood from various historical periods. This is done by using a virtual reality technology called the ANIMUS that taps into the genetic information in your DNA to access your Ancestors lives. It was a cool concept for a game and if done right may be really fun on the tabletop. The development is being overseen by the talented Francesco Nepitello for Guillotine Press, the CMON RPG studio.

 

Heroquest is getting a Hero Collection Expansion. The Rogue Heir of Elethorn, a nimble elf skirmisher. This set includes two miniatures (possibly a single character gender swapped) and cards. It retails for a hefty US$17 and I would call that overpriced just based on the quality of the Heroquest base game. At least they are supporting the game with new expansions.

 

Magic: the Gathering Universes Beyond is a “success” but annoying series for many serious MtG players. It involves reskinning cards using various popular IPs. The first of these being the Walking Dead television series. The series relies on FOMO, but has offered reprints. The main attraction to players seems to be the desirable cards and not the IPs themselves. Look forward to Warhammer 40k, Age of Sigmar, Lord of the Rings and other odd fits into the collectible card game system. 

 

Free League is releasing a miniatures skirmish game based on the Mutant Year Zero TTRPG called Zone Wars. Games Workshop designer Andy Chambers, known for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Necromunda and Battlefleet Gothic and Tomas Härenstam, designer for Mutant: Year Zero and the studio’s Alien: The RPG. You can use your characters from the TTRPG in the skirmish game and also play out the aftermath of the skirmish game in the TTRPG. Brilliant! Really looking forward to this. 

#paizo #cmon #heroquest #freeleague #zonewars #mutant

 

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The Weekly LIVE 150 – Darkest Dungeon Dispute, RiotOnline Closes, Return to Dark Tower Second Printing and Expansion and Cthulhu App in Japan

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The Darkest Dungeon boardgame Wave 1, the English language core game, is printed and ready ship. Unfortunately for Mythic, the company that designed the boardgame, which is based on the PC game by Red Hook Studios, the costs of shipping have dramatically increased. They are now asking backers to contribute a small additional amount to help make up for the $875K difference after they have already added over a million themselves in cooperation with Red Hook. Of course the comments and criticism are flying. This is putting Mythic in a tight spot. These addition costs are unforeseen and as Kickstarter is NOT a preorder, it seems they are justified in asking for this additional funding. It is either that or just dump the whole thing in the China Sea so they can stop paying storage costs.

A surprise message from DriveThruRPG informed us that due to the closure of RiotOnline we are being sent complimentary codes for PDFs of all the materials we had on this digital platform. This situation comes hot on the heels of Astral announcing they are done. RiotMinds is selling their IP catalog to CMON games. This includes Trudvang Chronicles, LexOccultum, and the Ruin Masters brands. Who knows what CMON will do with them. They do have a studio dedicated to TTRPGs so let’s hope for the best.

Restoration Games is returning to their successful reboot of Dark Tower with a seconding printing of Return to Dark Tower. It will also include a new expansion called Covenant that will include new heroes and mechanics. They are already near $1 million on the second printing this time on Backerkit. If you missed it the first time around this gives you a chance to get the game and for those that pledge it offers the chance to get some of the premium upgrades offered in the first Kickstarter campaign.

Finally, Kadokawa the publisher of Call of Cthulhu in Japan has announced a new smartphone app tentatively named Cthulhu Myth TRPG Rulebook PLUS. It will offer for the first time a single place to access all the books produced over the past 40 years for Call of Cthulhu in Japan. It will immediately only be available to iOS on iPhones but that could change depending on popularity. The app allows users to mark pages and add notes. It is free and offers the books as in-app purchases.
#darkestdungeon #riotminds #returntodarktower #cthulhu

Return to Dark Tower on Backerkit:
https://www.backerkit.com/c/restoration-games/return-to-dark-tower

Article on Return to Dark Tower:
https://www.vulture.com/2022/07/return-to-dark-tower-board-game-making-of.html

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The Weekly LIVE 149 – KillSampleProcess, Pathfinder Revolution! by Steve Jackson Games, Dune: War for Arrakis by and Mazes and Monsters HD

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Kill Sample Process is a stand-alone tabletop miniatures game and rpg setting from the creator of The Last War and Forbidden Psalm and published by Exalted Funeral, inspired by and fully compatible with the CY_BÖRG ttrpg and other Forbidden Psalm miniatures games. Forbidden Psalm is a 28mm miniatures agnostic game. You can use ANY suitable miniatures you already own, or build custom minis for this game. Solo Play and Coop rules are included. All content is compatible with the CY_BÖRG ttrpg. Kill Sample Process is a small-scale skirmish game, where you play with a crew of 5 miniatures per player, against AI controlled Hostiles in scenarios that tak e you across the neon hell scape of CY_. Play as enemies, cooperatively or solo.

Steve Jackson Games and Paizo, Inc. launched Pathfinder Revolution!, a new edition of the Revolution! board game, which is currently on Kickstarter for preorder. This is a new Pathfinder branded version of the Revolution! board game, which was released back in 2009 and spawned expansions (see “‘Revolution! Anarchy'”). The new edition improves the classic political deduction game as well adds game elements from the expansion material. It is set in the world of the Pathfinder RPG, and the goal of the game is to bluff or outguess opponents while building a coalition to gain control of the city of Korvosa.

CMON will be publishing War for Arrakis, an asymmetrical war game based on Frank Herbert’s Dune novel. The designers of the War of the Ring, Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi, are hoping to repeat their previous success with a new setting. The game is controlled through a combination of action dice and event cards, representing the different attributes of the two sides House Atreides and House Harkonnen. CMON is producing all new miniatures and artwork for the game. It is being sub-licensed from the existing Gale Force Nine license for Dune. Do we really need another Dune boardgame? Well, it is coming soon to Kickstarter.

And finally, Mazes & Monsters, the 1982 movie with Tom Hanks, will be available in Blu-ray HD for the first time ever. This is to celebrate 40th anniversary edition of the film based on Rona Jaffe’s 1981 novel that was inspired by the non-fiction book by investigator William Dear’s called The Dungeon Master. The story is about missing university student James Dallas Egbert III, who disappeared in 1979. His interest in Dungeons & Dragons was blamed by the media for his disappearance. This was after all the height of the Satanic Panic.
#cy_borg #paizo #stevejacksongames #dune #cmon #mazesandmonsters

KillSampleProcess on Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/impioussaint/forbidden-psalm-killsampleprocess

Pathfinder Revolution! On Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sjgames/pathfinder-revolution-by-steve-jackson-games

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