Jan. 18: Starting Off With a Bang

In This Edition

• Wizards of the Coast

• Major Publishers (Paizo and Co)

• Crowdfunding

• TTRPG Tech

• Wizards released a ton of information about the Monster Manual, including information on the Tarrasque and other new additions. I wrote up coverage for The Fandomentals, but you can find new info at most D&D outlets as well.

• Wizkids is releasing a lot of D&D miniatures in preparation for the Monster Manual. For example, there are some new Underdark minis that glow in the dark. There’s also new minis coming for the 2025 Monster Manual.

• Kobold Press, in their ongoing desire to make Tales of the Valiant actually work as a viable D&D alternative, is teaming up with Steamforged Games to make a Starter Set. The set will launch in Q2 of 2025 and will offer basic rules, adventuring options, 3D-printed figurines and maps so players can pick up and play with ease.

• Rivers of London, a series of fantasy TTRPGs exploring a group of London police dealing with the supernatural, is getting a USA sourcebook for any players wanting to cross the Atlantic. The book, called In Liberty’s Shadow, will release in 2025.

• Dragonbane, Free League’s fantasy alternative, published a free Quickstart PDF this week that will allow players to jump into the game fairly quickly.

• Daggerheart, Darrington Press’ 5e alternative, is now available for preorder on Demiplane. No date on when the system will officially release, but this implies that the playtest content available won’t be free forever.

Darryl Jones, a game designer best known for writing the dark horror-themed Seeds of Decay, is launching A Time Traveler's Guide to Dinosaur Hunting on Kickstarter. The game features dino and alien states for a 5e-themed campaign. An interesting option for your Jurassic Park fans.

Cats! The Conspurracy RPG is a cat-themed TTRPG where cats are secret agents keeping their secret society safe from dark forces and humans knowledge. Think John Wick, but cats. Published by the French creator Black Book Editions, the book offers a very different take on cat-themed RPGs.

Kobold Press also released the Monster Vault 2, an expansion of its Tales of the Valiant system. If you like ToV, this may be worth your time.

The Crucible of Aether is a “Mystic Industrial” TTRPG exploring the world of Odayos and offers a rather robust character creation set of tools for the world. If you’re seeking something with the energy of Eberron but not 5e, perhaps this game could be of interest.

EN World Publishing is funding its annual Gate Pass Gazette, a smaller tome with character creation options for its modified 5e variant Level Up. Tons of archetypes, backgrounds, class features and other things for those who enjoy this higher-leveled variant of D&D play.

Mythcraft Enhanced is a 5e variant that tries to blend Pathfinder and D&D into its own setting. It’s getting a reprint of its original book, with zines, extra content and more. More importantly, it’s getting VTT support on Foundry and Roll20 with this campaign.

Terror from the Underdeep: A Giant Box of 5e Adventure is a 5e collection of dungeons and adventures in a box set that draw on the aesthetic of old-school fantasy and have players entering deep caverns to fight off giants, cultists and a kraken lord. The writers claim it will be enough content to provide you a campaign all year. The campaign’s seeking funding on Backerkit.

TTRPG Technology

Could fan labor around their favorite Actual Plays be used to train AI? A new paper covers the subject and found that transcript data is being used to train some of these new “AI DMs.” Rowan Zeoli at Polygon has the scoop.

Roll20 is implementing its acquisition of the map-making tool Dungeon Scrawl into the Roll20 tabletop interface. The tool will expedite the process of making dungeon maps and even editing them in real time.

Demiplane, the DnDBeyond-esque character editor will also be accessible in Roll20 some time in 2025. This will be a big step toward allowing players to access to content more directly in the future.