Dec. 14: Secret Level of Funko

In This Edition

• Wizards of the Coast

• Major Publishers (Paizo and Co)

• TTRPG Tech

• Indie Content and Publishers

• Secret Level, Amazon’s video-game anthology released its D&D episode on Amazon Prime! It’s fine? It features Tiamat but I’m a bigger fan of the 40k segment than the D&D one personally.

• DnDBeyond has been giving away free stuff on its website to celebrate Christmas. Get it before it all vanishes on Dec. 15! Kobold Press also has its wave of free content for you to use.

• Imagine playing a DnD campaign for 44 years and converting it into a series of novels. That is a serious amount of dedication and I am here for it.

• Free League is releasing two elf-themed expansions for its Lord of the Rings expansion. The two books (Realms of the Three Rings, for The One Ring RPG; and Keepers of the Elven-Rings, for The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying 5e) will offer new lore about a variety of locations involving the high elves of Rivendell as well as more insight into Sauron and his war against the elves of Middle Earth. The books will release on April 22 and are available for pre-order.

• The Marvel Multiverse RPG: Escape From Planet Hulk - Starter Set is coming soon! It will offer a simplified ruleset, premade characters, maps and so much more for anyone wanting to play as their favorite superheroes in the Marvel-verse. The game will be available on Jan. 22

• Chaosium intends to release a Gamemaster’s Handbook for its Arthurian-focused TTRPG Pendragon in early 2025. It’s a nice addition for adjusting gameplay to your style, running combat and ensuring gameplay works as you desire it to. No date yet, but it is coming.

• SLLSWRD, the publisher of the Zweihander TTRPG, said that it is playtesting a new Gothic Horror TTRPG called NOCTURNE that draws from OSR ideas. No comments on when it will release, but it seems to have a lot of interesting elements around stress, disease and other aspects capturing one’s humanity.

TTRPG Technology

Earlier this week, Itch.io (a popular platform for hosting independent board games, TTRPGs and video games) went down because some “trash ‘AI Powered’ Brand Protection Software called Brand Shield that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar.,” causing it to go down. From what the company said, the software detected a game using the Funko Fusion IP and went after it, even though Itch.io took down the entry beforehand.

Funko responded, claiming that it was a “takedown request” aimed at a specific page and not the whole website. The two companies do appear to be talking about the matter. It’s this very strange matter where software broke the website due to copyright issues.

Indie Games

After a months-long strike, workers at three NYC game stores won tentative agreements for better wages and working conditions. So it’s a win for the workers, according to Rascal.

Wyrmwood, a popular maker of tables and wooden products in the TTRPG space, cut 50% of its jobs and then filmed the conversation and its replies to the press. Honestly, read the Rascal story. It’s bonkers.