March 1: Behold, DARKTIDE

An icon in the old school D&D community passed away. Warhammer 40k is also getting a serious amount of cool new content in its TTRPG future.

Author

Christopher Hutton
March 01, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Welcome to the Saturday edition of Critical Hit News, our twice-weekly sampling of the TTRPG stories of the week. This issue features Project Sigil, the passing of one of Gary Gygax’s children, two big updates to the Warhammer 40k TTRPG offerings and lot more!

Wizards of the Coast

  • The D&D Artificer got an updated playtest. This included the Cartographer subclass and several Eberron-themed feats. Mostly dragonmarks, the unique birthmarks that players earn through their connection to noble houses and such.

Gary Con | It is with a heavy heart that I share with you that Ernest Gary Jr | Facebook

It is with a heavy heart that I share with you that Ernest Gary Jr. Gygax has passed away this morning. As we all grief, let's keep his mom, Mary Gygax , his wife Donna, and all his brothers, sisters...

www.facebook.com/groups/garycon/permalink/10162400010787370

  • Ernie Gygax, the son of Gary Gygax and an early playtest of D&D in its original form, has passed away. Gary has suffered from medical issues for years, according to those who know them. He was reportedly getting better but things took a turn for the worse, according to past Facebook posts. Our prayers go out to him and his family.

Major Publishers

  • Warhammer fans rejoice! Cubicle 7, the people behind 40k: Wrath and Glory have a lot of cool new content coming soon. First up is a new sourcebook dedicated to Hive Tertium, a world that many players of the team-based swarm shooter Darktide will find familiar. It also intends to release to release a new TTRPG focused on the Horus Heresy, a period from 40k’s history that changed history forever and nearly burned down the Imperium. It’s a story worth like 60 books, so the fact it has its own TTRPG is an exciting notion. That book will be coming out in 2026.

  • Madness at Geneva Lake is a newly published Cult of Cthulhu story that will be released at the upcoming Gary Con. The book will be initially available at the con, and then available to the general public on the website soon after.

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Crowdfunding Launches

Resistance is Required is a simple TTRPG about “uncivil disobedience.” Written by Daniel Baker-Zakala of One Shot’s Tavern, the game is about “Proles” resisting the growth of fascists and is clearly a play on the political inclinations of the left-leaning TTRPG community.

Secrets of the Grave is a collection of undead-themed adventures, monsters and other story elements for your 5e games. It’s published by Morrus, the team behind ENWorld.

Caligaes’ Xeno turns the tables around where players are the aliens in a horror TTRPG and have to survive on earth against the numerous humans.

The Exorcist’s Codex is an RPG about playing as a spiritual warrior pushing against the dark forces possessing mortals, whether they be an exorcist, a demonologist or something else. The game is published by the game devs Two Starving Gnolls and is built upon Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying System.  

TTRPG Technology

 Project Sigil, D&D’s attempt at a 3D VTT, is out for all D&D Beyond subscribers. The system offers an introductory adventure, a mixture of monsters and other things. The system deserves its own analysis, but the fact that it is finally out is just nice.