Marvel and DC Comics have lost their joint trademark for the term “super hero” after decades of holding it. Initially, the trademark was obtained in collaboration with Ben Cooper, Inc., a costume maker who had licensed Marvel and DC characters in the 1960s. After a series of legal disputes involving companies like Mego Corporation, Marvel and DC became joint owners of the “super hero” trademark in 1977, solidifying their control over its use across various media. Over the years, both companies aggressively defended this trademark, opposing various businesses that tried to use the term. However, this year, after Marvel and DC failed to respond to legal challenges, a U.S. court invalidated their trademark, allowing other entities like Superbabies to use the term without restriction.

“Darktide: The Card Game,” a new Warhammer 40,000-themed card game coming in 2025. Meanwhile, Mythic Games, a company plagued by crowdfunding controversies involving delays, miscommunication, and unmet promises, has dissolved, marking the end of its turbulent existence in the tabletop gaming industry.

Mythic Games, a tabletop role-playing and board game company, has filed for liquidation due to a series of controversies and financial difficulties. The company, known for its crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter, faced backlash for significant delays in delivering games, poor communication with backers, and unmet promises regarding stretch goals and content quality. Notably, games like Reichbusters: Projekt Vril and Solomon Kane suffered extended delays, while backers of Super Fantasy Brawl and Joan of Arc were disappointed by missing or lower-quality content. Financial mismanagement became a concern as backers speculated that funds from newer campaigns were being used to fulfill older projects, a practice dubbed “Kickstarter juggling.” Rising production costs, shipping challenges, and the global economic climate exacerbated these problems. A lawsuit over the Time of Legends: Joan of Arc campaign and unexpected increases in shipping costs further damaged the company’s reputation.

The indie RPG “Mothership” is back with a new collaborative funding effort on Backerkit, featuring a variety of new projects from different creators. This “collab-funding” initiative seeks to expand the sci-fi horror universe of “Mothership” with new content, including modules that explore bounty hunting and mystery-driven adventures.

#superhero #darktide #mythicgames #mothershiprpg

Unboxing D&D Expert Set:

https://youtu.be/l1Pef7vq-EQ

High School Cthulhu:

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/gear-games/high-school-cthulhu-roleplaying-game

Submit to Wharf Rat Games:

https://wharfratgames.com/submissions

Alien 2E Kickstarter Campaign URL: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/alien-rpg-second-edition-and-rapture-protocol

4-Hour Dune RPG Review:

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

Humble Bundle (affiliate link):

https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=upturnedtable

Check out our new shirts on Red Bubble:

https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/161648028?ref=studio-promote

Try Fantasy Grounds VTT (affiliate link):

http://affiliates.fantasygrounds.com/360148/15958

Outgunned RPG – Action Hero Pledge UNBOXING:

https://youtu.be/IYDyzNvQQKo

Shop at Noble Knight Games (affiliate link)

https://www.nobleknight.com/affiliate/aw.asp?B=3&A=1312&Task=Click

Dragonbane Actual Play Episode One:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC9u841QuXM

Dragonbane Core Set:

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

Dragonbane Free Quickstart:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/409397/Dragonbane-Quickstart

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https://substack.com/@matthewrobinson3

Chris on social media:

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Intro song is “Chips” by KokoroNoMe

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Your chance to buy the original Shadowrun Logo artwork acquired by Noble Knight Games directly from former FASA art director, Dana Knutson. Measuring 39” x 28” in its frame, this piece would be a striking display, with a custom plaque with the artists’ names and a brief description to give your display a true gallery feel. Still available as of this writing. If you have an extra $35k laying around why not pick it up?

ENWorld has posted their top ten list of the Most Anticipated Games for 2023. This was an open vote by registered users on the ENWorld website. Did the game you are anxiously awaiting make the list?

A daily writing exercise was born in December of last year that spawned from a tweet  by Sean McCoy of Tuesday Knight Games, about his newest project and an image of his notebook. Design a room every day and at the end of the week you have a level and at the end of the year you have a 52 level dungeon. Using a daily planner schedule book, hopefully one with graph paper, you can take it wherever you go. Are you up for the challenge?

Humble Bundle has a great collection of Dungeon Crawl Classics digital books supporting The Starlight Children’s Foundation. 30 books for US$18. The bundle also includes issues of the Magician’s Skull, a collection of Sword and Sorcery fiction, for inspiration. Quite a good deal for books that usually sell for a premium. Check it out at the link below!

#shadowrun #dungeon23 #goodmangames #nobleknightgames

Shadowrun 1E & 2E Logo Original Artwork:
https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2147750837/Shadowrun-Original-Logo-Artwork

Get the Goodman Games Humble Bundle:
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/new-perils-for-classic-dungeon-crawls-goodman-games-books?partner=idleredhands

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Mantic Games has announced that they will launch a new Boardgames Division. This will focus on family-friendly and licensed-IP games. They want to be able to create projects that will be crowd-funded on Gamefound and will be one and done including expansions that are funded. The idea is to free them from one the wargaming space and also to make games that will lead players to the existing Mantic IPs.

BackerKit posts a surprise announcement that they are in beta as a full-fledged crowdfunding platform. They will officially launch in 2023 and already have over 30 companies committed to the platform. This includes Cephalofair Games, creator of the popular Gloomhaven and Frosthaven games. Isaac Childres, owner of Cephalofair, stated concerns over the announcement by Kickstarter to embrace blockchain technology that precipitated the move. BackerKit tools will still be available to Kickstarter campaigns.

We were contacted by Louis Simspon, managing director of Troll Trader, telling us that our discussion of the circumstances of the closure of Secret Weapon Miniatures was completely incorrect. He referred us to a statement posted by his company and the details when compared to the Secret Weapon Kickstarter update posted by Justin McCoy, nothing matches up. The truth lies somewhere in between. We under no circumstances want to damage the reputation of Troll Trader by our discussion. They are a company I have personally bought from in the past. The details are quite interesting so we will discuss them.

Following up on last week’s announcement, we get a statement from the CEO of Embracer Group explaining why Saudi Arabia is a good business partner and how they discussed difficult topics prior to this investment. So we have nothing to worry about and money is money so keep feeding that machine. Just remember to wipe off the blood and human rights abuses!
#manticgames #trolltrader #embracergroup

Interview with Ronnie Renton of Mantic:
https://youtu.be/SrPPn_TAFNs

TTCombat Statement about Secret Weapon Miniatures:
https://community.ttcombat.com/2022/06/10/secret-weapon-statement/

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Intro song is “Chips” by KokoroNoMe
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R.Talsorian Games releases an image for Cyberpunk Red and Twitter responds. Free League is making an Alien RPG using the Year Zero Engine with pre-orders starting now. Grimmerspace on Kickstarter and our livestream of the first actual play session. Also on Kickstarter Hard Wired Island, a retrofuture TTRPG putting the “punk” back in “CyberPUNK”

Alien RPG by Free League
https://alien-rpg.com/

Grimmerspace Abbatoir-8 Actual Play Unedited Livestream
https://youtu.be/pdEj0HjVvrg

Hard Wired Island by Paul “Ettin” Matijevic
– A retrofuture cyberpunk tabletop RPG inspired by 90s anime.
 
MOTHERSHIP
Survive. Solve. Save. Pick one.
– A sci-fi survival horror roleplaying game by Tuesday Knight Games.
(Currently a 40-page PWYW alpha draft, with plans for a first edition in early 2020.)