RPG Print News – DMDave, Renegade Games Studios, and More

Starter bundles along with PDFs for the G.I. JOE RPG, Power Rangers RPG, Hunter: The Reckoning, and My Little Pony RPG. DMDave has support for fantasy settlements and a new Horror RPG. D&D and Old-School Essentials get adventures including leather bound options. Finally, Vast Grimm gets plenty of support.

Note: RPG Print News covers recent RPG releases and some classics, reprints, and sales available from retailers. It does not cover products that are only available directly to customers only through Kickstarter or as print on demand.

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G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Starter Bundle | Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Starter Bundle | Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition Roleplaying Game Starter Bundle | My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Starter Bundle by Renegade Game Studios

• SYSTEM: Essence20/Storytelling Adventure System
• PRODUCT TYPE: starter bundles
• RETAIL PRICE: $90 each
• DESCRIPTION: A Yo Joe! bundle: G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game The Emerald Oubliette Adventure & GM Screen, G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Cobra Dice Set, G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game Cobra Dice Bag, and PDFs. It’s Morphin Time bundle: Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Power Rangers Roleplaying Game A Glutton for Punishment Adventure & GM Screen, Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Dice Set Red Ranger, Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Dice Bag, and PDFs. The Hunter: The Reckoning Bundle comes with: Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition Roleplaying Game Storyteller Screen Kit, Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition Roleplaying Game Dice Set, Hunter: The Reckoning 5th Edition Roleplaying Game Dice Bag, and PDFs. A fabulosity bundle includes the following: My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, My Little Pony Roleplaying Game In A Jam Adventure and GM's Screen, My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Dice Set, My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Dice Bag, and PDFs.

Just Passing Through 1 - 20 Small Villages for Any Fantasy RPG | Just Passing Through 2 - 12 Mid-Sized Towns for Any Fantasy RPG by DMDave

• SYSTEM: fantasy RPGs
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover supplements
• RETAIL PRICE: $21each
• DESCRIPTION: 20 Small Villages for Any Fantasy RPG offers 20 unique village descriptions, each complete with a detailed map, information on the population, leadership, commerce, and organizations of the town. Each description includes notable NPCs and locations in the village, as well as a handful of adventure hooks and random encounters to help jump-start a game. 12 Mid-Sized Towns for Any Fantasy RPG offers a diverse range of unique, ready-to-use towns, each meticulously crafted to fit seamlessly into any fantasy setting. 12 distinct town descriptions come complete with maps, detailed information on population, leadership, commerce, organizations, and a colorful cast of NPCs.

Horror | The Diner by DMDave

• SYSTEM: Year Zero Engine
• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover core rulebook/softcover adventure
• RETAIL PRICE: $9.99/$22
• DESCRIPTION: In Horror, PCs go on a haunting journey to face their deepest fears and confront twisted nightmares that will shake them to their core. PCs confront supernatural terrors and sinister beings that lurk in the shadows, waiting to claim their next victim. In The Diner, the PCs step into the retro 1980s world of the eponymous diner to face five terrifying scenarios. A zombie attack engulfs the diner forcing the patrons to fight for their lives, swarms of bloodthirsty spiders threaten to consume everything in their path, a demonic showdown threatens both sanity and life, and more. Includes pre-generated characters.

Whisper & Venom (D&D 5E) | Whisper & Venom (Old-School Essentials) | Whisper & Venom (Old-School Essentials) (Limited Edition) by Necromancer Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition/Old-School Essentials
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcovers with poster map/leather bound with poster map
• RETAIL PRICE: $59.00 each/$200
• DESCRIPTION: An adventure designed for parties of four to eight characters of levels three to five. Located in the Whisper Vale, a far glacial valley at the fringes of society, consists of three insular villagers beset by an outside supernatural force and hardships of their own making. Whisper is a hard-working, low-nonsense village of farmers and tradespeople. It consists of humble farmsteads, a busy inn, an empty temple, and a smattering of small shops. Swindle, a once idyllic town across the bridge from Whisper, was abandoned in a catastrophe and settled, in a second catastrophe, by a band of lazy goblin bandits. Cleft is a dwarven settlement where the younger generation ceased working thanks to an ingenious machine that simulates the sounds of production. Includes a creepy area full of undead, a noisome goblins’ lair, and dangerous caverns.

Heart of St. Bathus | Heart of St. Bathus (Limited Edition) by Frog God Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover/leather bound
• RETAIL PRICE: $60/$200
• DESCRIPTION: A sandbox-style campaign designed to take a party of characters from level three to level 12. Long ago, a bold paladin sought the same glory as his celebrated ancestors, but in a moment of weakness, he gave up his own soul in exchange for success in battle. He now lies suspended between life and death, and his soul is lost. The PCs, answering an appeal for aid from the monks of Goodheart Abbey, seek to find it and redeem a fallen paladin while facing the wrath of a powerful demon lord in the process.

Blood Altared - Adventure & Expanded Content | Space Cruisers - Starship Creation, Combat, & Additional Locations | Space Raiders - Classes Factions & Hexcrawl Adventures by Infinite Black

• SYSTEM: Vast Grimm
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplements
• RETAIL PRICE: $24.99 each
• DESCRIPTION: In Blood Altared, the PCs strap in for a neon-drenched interstellar rescue mission to free the lead quantum scientist from the clutches of an elite sect of Devout freaks dead set on sacrificing her to THEY. On the Fatumite colony on K2-116B, blood-soaked maps guide PCs armed with rad weapons through the Mausoleum of THEY and the twisted caverns lurking beneath. Includes: maps of the Mausoleum of THEY, the Fatumite Colony map, caverns map, four Devout classes like the toxic-spewing Rotters, new weapons, new tributes, and new creatures. Space Cruisers includes fast and brutal starship combat rules and salvage rules. Includes starship creation, modding the ship, locations for starships to visit, and many tables. Space Raiders - Classes Factions & Hexcrawl Adventures covers the gross and weird galaxy-fairing pirates known as Space Raiders. Includes: eight formidable factions from Cyber Sharks to Princess Pain with details about specific NPCs, four Space Raider classes, a sea of abandoned starships known as The Graveyard, Space Raider’s starship modifications, and lots of tables.

Charlie Dunwoody participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program and the Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG and Noble Knight Games respectively.

 

[MNblockhead]

My 5 (almost 6) year old, really likes No Thank You Evil. It's a fast easy system that allows for great improv if needed. Lots of supplements to get the game rolling, and lots of options for younger kids. Likely up to 8 or 9.
We've had so many sessions, that I now have to keep a campaign log to reference all the characters she's met, places she's been, and adventures she's been on, as she references them and wants to revisit them.

No Thank You, Evil! is a very well designed boxed set RPG for kids and written very well to help non-gaming parents play it with their kids. I highly recommend it, also with expansion story and monster cards.

Hero kids is another good TTRPG for kids that is very affordable. The PDFs come with standee minis you can print, cutout, and color in. It also comes with geomorph style map pieces you can print, cut, and turn into battle/exploration maps. It is both a craft set and a game (https://www.heroforgegames.com/hero-kids/).

Playground Adventures publishes 5e adventures for kids that you don't even really need the 5e rules for. It guides you through what rolls to make and adds to kid-friendly rules. If you are totally new to TTRPGs, I would go with No Thank You, Evil or Hero Kids. But if you are a parent that is already familiar with 5e, you might want to check out the Playground Adventures modules: https://www.playgroundadventures.net/product-category/store/5e-adventures/. Note, Playground Adventures also has a couple adventures for the Hero Kids system.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The writing level of Tails is about grade 4. The adventures are a touch railroady, but I found them quite fun to run for adults.

Even for adults, I shouldn't be having to stop and read a long block of text in the Cutie Mark Mystery (the middle adventure in Filly-Sized Follies) to scan for the Dark Secret a bunch of characters have. The paragraphs should be split into shorter blocks, the Dark Secret should be bold-faced and most of the info should be in bullet points.

This is early 1980s-level adventure formatting. Even if none of the content was changed, just presenting it better would make it a lot better.

I don't mind the Curse of the Statuettes or the Festival of Lights (the two adventures we've run previously) being railroady, but I do mind the complete disinterest in presenting the information in an easy to use fashion, especially since River Horse is making an effort at making these games kid-friendly.

The lack of locality detail maps is intentional - because they're not consistent in the show. The Compendium provides some good details about the various places, tho'.

Even a general map with a dozen or so locations in Equestria, Ponyville and Canterlot in the core book would have helped a lot.

The look and layout is that of about grade 4 texts, and the language used is similar. The intended audience won't need much advice on the setting tropes - as they're fans of the show.

And if parents are pressed into service to run the games, as I am, it wouldn't have been hard to have thrown them a few bones. I'm asking for a handful of pages at most, not a massive overhaul of the line.

The whole Tails of Equestria line really needed an experienced project manager with experience with modern RPG design.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Don't we already have a pony rpg… is a few years old now?

From the OP: Note: RPG Print News covers recent RPG releases and some classics, reprints, and sales available from retailers.