A lot of weird and interesting things this week. Dungeons & Dragons 5E gets a DM screen, but wait, it is art of books in the Miskatonic University Library. Yeah, I can’t explain why it isn’t for Call of Cthulhu either but the idea is disturbingly cool. D&D also needs more psionics so a new version is available. Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG gets adventures and classes, and Mörk Borg has a weird setting (weird even for Mörk Borg) saddle-stitched with white stables. There is also support for Liminal Horror in a haunted mall and a new RPG inspired by Japanese console RPGs.
Note: RPG Print News covers new 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.
Miskatonic Lower Library - DM Screen by Infinite Black
Codex of the Mind by Paradigm Concepts
Around the Common Fire | The Coinswallower | The Outlier | The Canine | The Bruiser by Breaker Press
Abyss of Hallucinations Volume 2 by Max Moon Games
Trapped in an Endless I-krala by Exalted Funeral
Fabula Ultima Core Rulebook | Press Start by Need Games
Note: RPG Print News covers new 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.
Miskatonic Lower Library - DM Screen by Infinite Black
- SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
- PRODUCT TYPE: DM screen measuring 40 inches long by 8.5 inches high
- RETAIL PRICE: $19.99
- DESCRIPTION: As you might imagine, I find plenty of weird RPG items for sale while writing this column. But a Miskatonic University Library themed screen but for D&D DMs is weirder than even finding Cocaine & Alligators was. The side facing the players depicts a row of esoteric tomes from Miskatonic University's Lower Library. On the inside are rules: weapons, armor, cover, resting, conditions, combat actions, hiding, climbing, attacks of opportunity, falling, resistance and vulnerability, flanking, shooting into melee, grappling/unarmed combat, and more. The screen also includes an insert that can double as a screen extender with additional quick reference on travel, exhaustion, food and water, and more. Haunted books depicted on the front; lots of combat rules in the back. Groovy.
Codex of the Mind by Paradigm Concepts
- SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons 5E
- PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover supplement
- RETAIL PRICE: $49.99
- DESCRIPTION: What D&D needs is another psionic system, so here it is. It isn’t like D&D 3.5 psionics destroyed my entire campaign or anything. Among the humans, only the val can tap into the power of the mind as a blessing of their divine heritage. Each of the val families explore their psychic abilities, pushing their limits in new and strange ways and creating diverse applications from the cerebral mastery of the psions to the fighting psi-warriors. Includes: a psionic system, the history of psionics on Arcanis, classes: (psion, psi-warrior, and the wilder), psionic races, lots more rules (feats, magic items, and more), psionic dueling, psionic monsters and the Servants of Oblivion, and madness rules. Wait, now the DM screen makes more sense….
Around the Common Fire | The Coinswallower | The Outlier | The Canine | The Bruiser by Breaker Press
- SYSTEM: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
- PRODUCT TYPE: tri-fold pamphlet for adventures/softcover zines for classes
- RETAIL PRICE: $3 for adventures/$5 for classes
- ADVENTURES: These two adventures take place in the settlement of Stennard. Around the Common Fire contains a table of 12 NPCs that the PCs may talk to or hire. The chart is broken out into lawful, neutral, and chaotic NPCs, with 4 of each. Nine of the NPCs are 0-level peasants, and 3 of them are 1st level characters. Each has brief details surrounding their personalities, motivations, and a 1-2 line backstory to tie them to the region around the settlement of Stennard. The Coinswallower covers a location, possible henchman, and side quest murder mystery suitable for levels 0-2. The famine around Stennard has resulted in folks being displaced and wandering into town looking for work. One, dubbed the Coinswallower, has been vomiting up valuable coins on more than one occasion. What’s his deal? It references a cursed item detailed in The Tome of Debasement, but having the full details of this item are not necessary.
- CLASSES: The following classes originally appeared in Rabid Dogs. The Outlier are wilderness specialists, using survival skills and cunning to live another day. A ranger class that fits the aesthetics of DCC with abilities like Detect/Follow Tracks, Light Footed, Set Snares, and Herbal Knowledge. Also includes a sample Mighty Deed called Cleaving Blow. The Canine feature a mixture of several thief-like skills, with their own unique Pounce, and Tenacious Grab abilities. This class sounds like a great addition to DCC. Includes tables for determining a Canine's Occupation, Size, and Equipment and 100 possible dog names. The Bruiser specializes in unarmed combat, can use Mightburn to tap into their internal reserves, may perform Mighty Deeds, and have a Choke Out ability. Also includes a Bruiser Crit Table, a Bruiser Equipment Table, and a sample new Mighty Deed called Stunning Blow.
- SYSTEM: Mörk Borg
- PRODUCT TYPE: softcover: a two-color cover with white and gold iridescent ink on pink cardstock and saddle-stitched with white staples
- RETAIL PRICE: $24.95
- DESCRIPTION: A setting inspired by Aleister Crowley's Book of Lies. Volume 1 included the essentials of the setting and an introductory adventure. Volume 2 includes: six abhorrent enemies, seven new location descriptions, new Thelemic Miseries with a final Liber 7:7, occult treasures, ritual components, a D77 corpse plundering table, the Skidoo Inn where everyone is welcome but no one is allowed, guidelines for running hexcrawls in the Abyss, and a zine index for quickly finding content between the volumes.
Trapped in an Endless I-krala by Exalted Funeral
- SYSTEM: Liminal Horror
- PRODUCT TYPE: softcover supplement
- RETAIL PRICE: $10
- DESCRIPTION: PCs are shoppers trapped in the biggest big box store of all times, somewhere outside of reality. They fight mimics that resemble cheap furniture but pack quite a bite and they encounter mysterious mannequins who seek to pass for human. Other shoppers can be friendly or extremely hostile depending on what they have experienced. It can be run as an action packed one shot or as a slow and methodical survival simulator taking into account food, stress, and long term injuries. Includes 11 encounter tables with 110 scenes uncovered while exploring the store. New Fallouts for PCs giving them modular furniture limbs or mannequin like features.
Fabula Ultima Core Rulebook | Press Start by Need Games
- SYSTEM: unique
- PRODUCT TYPE: softcover core rulebook/softcover adventure
- RETAIL PRICE: $29.99/$6.95
- DESCRIPTION: Fabula Ultima is inspired by Japanese-style console RPGs. Would be heroes face fearsome villains in epic battles set in fantasy worlds brimming with magic, wondrous locations, and uniquely bizarre monsters. The setting is created by the group with three different styles as reference creating powerful kingdoms, small villages, major historical events, and the people who inhabit these lands. A simple and intuitive ruleset in which no choice is without consequence. The bestiary overflows with monsters, demons, beasts, and more: from simple encounters to deadly bosses. PCs are drawn from fifteen classes with a modular growth system. The GM gets advice, guidelines, and all the tools required to bring the villains to life. Press Start is a ready-to-play introductory scenario that includes a tutorial.
