Up next in 10
On this episode of the Tavern Watch Podcast, the team gets a win -- a win in naming things, it turns out, as Wizards of the Coast (in addition to finally announcing some products for 2026) also has started referring to the 2024 revision of D&D as "D&D 5.5e." Considering it ended up being more a balance update than the massive revolution in tabletop gaming that we were originally sold, we're all of the opinion this is for the better (and is easier to say, to boot). On top of that, Joe's really, really excited about the Godzilla Roleplaying Game both due to a general all-abiding love for Toho's kaiju but also because of some of the titans of the tabletop industry that are featured in its staff list now, Phil has been completely enamored with Cairn (and its creator Yochai Gal's podcast, Between Two Cairns) as far as things in the OSR tabletop gaming space goes, and Liz has a thought or two about Wizards CEO Chris Cocks' statement that they're keeping generative AI out of some of their biggest product spaces -- namely D&D, Magic: the Gathering, and video games -- because the creatives and the audience don't want it. Hopefully they can stick to that, though we've got bad news if you're a fan of Peppa Pig as far as AI in your intellectual property space goes.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:29
Well Bet traveler, welcome to the
0:32
tavern.
0:33
Did you know that this magical place is
0:35
where more than half of history's
0:37
greatest adventures have begun?
0:40
Before those adventurers took their
0:42
first steps, they watched and calculated
0:44
who would join their party.
0:47
See that barbarian over there? He hails
0:50
from the frozen lands. Strong, mighty,
0:52
and full of wisdom. I've closed many a
0:55
nights with that one. They call
0:58
themselves Matt Rossy.
1:00
To the right over there, that woman
1:02
working on her tinkers and mechanical
1:04
devices, an artificer of great skill.
1:08
She is cunning and quick, and I've seen
1:10
her bounce a fair share of narrative
1:11
wells out of here before I could even
1:13
step out from behind the bar. She's
1:15
known as Liz Harper.
1:18
And that gentleman by the hearth with a
1:20
pile of tomes. Rumor has it that he is a
1:23
powerful wizard full of arcane secrets.
1:26
But around here, most just call him the
1:27
professor. Me? I know them to be Phil
1:30
Orch.
1:32
Oh, me. I'm Joe Perez. I'll be your
1:36
Tavern Keeper. Welcome to Tavern Watch.
1:40
Hello and welcome to Tavern Watch, where
1:42
we talk about all things tabletop and
1:44
tabletop adjacent. I am one of your
1:46
tavern keepers, Joe Perez, and joining
1:49
me as always are some stalwart
1:51
companions to hold back the ever rising
1:54
tide of autonomous darkness. Uh, first
1:56
up, Liz Harper. How you doing today,
1:58
Liz?
1:58
>> Howdy. I'm I'm doing great. I have uh,
2:02
man, I have a pile of things to read
2:03
that I'm I've been too busy to read and
2:06
it's it's real problem.
2:08
>> Yeah. No, I feel that. I feel that at a
2:10
very very visceral level.
2:12
>> Uh, and then joining us uh, as well is
2:14
Phil Olrich. How you doing, Phil?
2:16
>> Good. It sounds like we're fighting off
2:17
a robot army and I've got my master
2:19
plan, which is ask them how many Rs are
2:20
in Strawberry.
2:23
>> That'll show them.
2:26
Well, I mean, it's probably going to be
2:28
a topic that comes up because we're
2:29
going to be talking about uh other games
2:31
here in a minute, but let's start with
2:33
some Time Honor Tradition here on Tavern
2:35
Watch with I want to know what you guys
2:37
are reading. I know uh what we're going
2:39
to be playing soon and we'll talk about
2:41
that in a moment, but what what what's
2:44
on your docket right now, Phil?
2:46
>> Uh let's see. So, uh RPG-wise, the only
2:50
thing I've really got new other than the
2:53
giant pile of pirateborg stuff that
2:55
arrived uh actually a couple weeks ago,
2:57
which I didn't have time to read. It was
2:58
kind of funny. the so I backed their
3:00
Kickstarter for their kind of expansions
3:04
slash also the starter set was included
3:07
this uh included in it down among the
3:08
dead um all of that arrived two weeks
3:11
ago and then I got an email this past
3:13
week that it was shipping so cool u u
3:17
I've also been reading uh Kairen which
3:20
is a
3:23
yeah yeah an OSR RPG uh kind of in the
3:26
kind of descended from into the odd but
3:28
just more straight great fantasy than
3:30
whatever uh Chris McDow is going for
3:32
with that. Um it's been a really
3:35
interesting read. For one thing, it's
3:37
completely available for free if anybody
3:38
wants that. I think it's ka c a i r
3:40
npg.com.
3:43
Um completely free game. Uh but the
3:45
printed version has some stuff that's
3:48
really it it's like most OSR games where
3:50
even if you never play it, there's stuff
3:52
you can take away from it. Uh really
3:54
good procedures for running point
3:55
crawls, whether that's dungeon or
3:56
overland travel. and also a really good
3:58
one for a really good section in their
4:01
wardens manual on running games like
4:03
Karen or like uh to a lesser extent
4:06
Shadow Dark or things like Into the Odd
4:07
where like character advancement isn't
4:09
necessarily like most games where you
4:11
know you're gaining some skills or
4:13
picking powers out of a pallet or even
4:15
Shadow Darks where you're like rolling
4:16
and gaining an ability on level up. It's
4:18
just like I know a lot of players when
4:20
confronted with that kind of go well I
4:22
want a character who gets better over
4:23
time. How do I get better? And there is
4:25
a section in the Kieran Wardens manual
4:27
with written examples on diioetic
4:29
enhancement like giving players boons
4:31
and things based on what they do well in
4:33
the story which is really cool to read.
4:34
Um which also we I know we always have
4:36
at the top of our uh opening to shout
4:39
out any interesting content creators we
4:41
want to plug. I've actually just started
4:43
listening to the podcast from the uh
4:47
author of Karen Yokai Gal. I probably
4:50
butchered that name. Um, but they have a
4:54
podcast called Between Two Kairens,
4:56
which is a fantastic listen for anybody
4:58
wanting to run an OSR styled RPG.
5:02
>> Very, very cool.
5:05
Liz, what are what are you reading?
5:07
>> I mean, it's more like what I want to
5:09
read that I haven't read, which is I've
5:11
got uh Blade 68, which just finished
5:15
crowdfunding. We'll probably talk more
5:16
about it later. Um, but if you backed
5:19
it, there's already an early access uh
5:22
PDF copy, which is not finished. You
5:25
know, it's not fully formatted. It
5:26
doesn't have all of the art in yet, but
5:28
you know, you got all the text in there.
5:29
Uh, so that's that's on the pile to
5:32
read. Uh, I picked up the uh Fallout
5:36
RPG, the single player, the solo
5:38
adventure, which I thought was really
5:40
interesting. And if you pre-order it,
5:43
it's another thing where you get the PDF
5:44
early and it's like I haven't I haven't
5:46
had time to sit down and read these
5:47
things. So it's, you know, we you may be
5:52
aware that this group of people usually
5:54
talks more about video games and World
5:56
of Warcraft. And there have been a
5:57
couple of things happening in that space
5:59
recently that have kept me occupied and
6:02
and away from just sitting here and
6:04
reading books.
6:06
>> So something happened, huh? Yeah, that's
6:08
news to me.
6:08
>> Yeah, maybe.
6:12
Uh, and meanwhile, I've got on my
6:14
docket, uh, a couple things. One, uh,
6:17
I'm brushing up on, uh, CU Space Cowboy,
6:20
making sure that I've got everything in
6:21
order for that since we are going to be
6:23
playing that in the very near future.
6:25
>> Uh, and then, uh, I also picked up
6:28
Bunnyborg, and I know we had talked
6:29
about that before. Uh, the book was just
6:32
too gorgeous not to buy. Um, it really
6:36
looks like an old ancient leatherbound
6:38
tome like with this like bonicula
6:40
looking thing right on front of it. So
6:42
like I'm in for it. Uh, it's basically
6:45
Mor what if Morborg was was bunnies. Um,
6:48
you know, that type of of thing. So, you
6:51
know, you can't go wrong with that. And
6:53
then I'm trying to catch up a little bit
6:55
on the latest update from uh DC20. Uh so
7:00
DC20, we talked about it before, is a
7:02
passion project by essentially a solo
7:05
developer uh to make a better D&D with
7:08
D&D as sort of the framework, basically
7:11
making it even better. Um, there's been
7:14
a ton of uh updates on it and I know
7:18
some people are a little upset because
7:20
the uh Kickstarter for it was way back
7:23
in 2024
7:25
uh finished and everything else and the
7:27
game's still not out yet because turns
7:28
out it's a lot of work to develop a
7:31
game. Um, but updates are becoming more
7:34
frequent and they just released a whole
7:35
bunch of stuff with uh information on
7:38
new leveling and new character
7:39
development to try to make them feel uh
7:42
a little more robust and a little more
7:46
um basically give players more agency.
7:49
So, I'm excited to see that, you know,
7:51
he continues to move forward uh and
7:54
everything there. It should be good. Uh
7:56
and hopefully we'll get more uh releases
7:59
from it later on this year. Uh, I think
8:01
we're on release 10.5 or or beta 10.5.
8:06
So, it's been gone through a lot of
8:07
iterations. So, yeah, I don't know.
8:10
Hopefully. And then, of course, I am
8:12
looking forward to running uh CU Space
8:15
Cowboy, which for those of you at home
8:17
that may not know, it is essentially
8:19
Cowboy Bebop and but, you know, with the
8:21
serial numbers filed off because as much
8:23
as I like the Cowboy BBOP TTRPG book is
8:25
a beautiful, beautiful book, I have no
8:28
desire to run the official system. I
8:30
will run this all day long because it
8:31
makes way more sense because it's a lot
8:33
closer to polymorph than anything else.
8:36
Um, is there anything that you guys are
8:38
looking forward to or that you're
8:39
currently playing that you'd like to to
8:41
bring up?
8:42
>> Uh, I've been for the first time in 25
8:45
years learning how to play Magic the
8:46
Gathering again.
8:49
I uh I'd been so I've well so I played
8:55
back in seventh grade which for people
8:57
who want to put that timeline together
8:58
on your own was around like immediately
9:00
after fourth edition came out uh because
9:03
some of the uh some of my friends got me
9:05
a fourth edition starter for uh my
9:07
birthday that year and it kind of
9:09
consumed my friend group for about a
9:10
year and then we all just kind of
9:12
stopped playing all at once cuz we were
9:13
in seventh and eighth grade and had no
9:15
money. Um,
9:18
>> that's definitely a problem.
9:19
>> Yeah. And I've done like an occasional
9:21
draft since then, but then like in, you
9:24
know, more recent years when the
9:25
commander format has taken off, that
9:26
that format really interests me. And I
9:28
discovered that my friendly local game
9:30
store has a commander night uh on
9:32
Thursdays when I'm not usually doing
9:34
anything else. Uh, so I picked up a
9:37
couple of the precons that they had set
9:39
up there. And I've been uh me and my
9:42
wife have been learning how to play
9:44
Magic uh with with each other and the
9:47
official rules cuz I don't I think she
9:49
played in high school for a little bit
9:51
so we're both you know 20 plus years out
9:54
of date. Um but it's been fun. Um I'm
9:57
enjoying it quite a bit. I've already
9:59
started like looking sourcing cards from
10:02
my store for another deck that I kind of
10:03
want to that I net deck somewhere and I
10:05
kind of want to try. But it's been nice
10:07
to kind of feel that. Um, so I used to
10:09
be a fairly competitive Android
10:11
Netrunner player and unfortunately when
10:13
Fantasy Flight uh let you know stopped
10:16
producing the game and uh Null Signal
10:19
took it over. Um, unfortunately
10:21
simultaneously the networker scene in uh
10:23
Cincinnati kind of completely dried up
10:25
and blew away. Um, so I've been kind of
10:27
missing that um cardboard flopping uh
10:30
shaped hole in my life. And so I'm kind
10:32
of hoping that if I can get,
10:33
>> you know, get up to speed to where I'm
10:35
not completely embarrassing myself and
10:36
then just go make the casual Commander
10:39
Knights a thing, that'd be kind of cool.
10:40
>> Well, I'm going to give you the best
10:42
piece of advice I possibly can with this
10:43
endeavor, Phil. Bear in mind that unless
10:46
somebody has passed the judge uh test,
10:50
they likely were going to get a ton of
10:52
rules wrong and you're going to be fine,
10:54
no matter how right they think they are.
10:56
>> Yeah.
10:57
the the biggest change for me from uh
10:59
seventh grade is oh my god there's so
11:01
many more keywords. Uh
11:03
>> they've actually they've actually yeah
11:04
there's a lot of keywords but they've
11:06
actually gone through uh a good effort
11:08
of like standardizing a bunch of them
11:10
>> and like having effects that like group
11:12
them down so that there's
11:13
>> they are keyworded now instead of like
11:15
three paragraphs that describe what it
11:17
is to surveil. So like
11:19
>> yeah, it's also it's also nice to not
11:22
see like cards that effectively do the
11:24
same thing being phrased three different
11:25
ways because the idea of standard
11:26
phrasing didn't exist like it did in the
11:28
90s.
11:29
>> Yeah, they call it standard templating
11:31
now.
11:31
>> Definitely.
11:32
>> Yeah, it's been really nice. Um on the
11:35
RPG front, I am brushing up on Shadow
11:38
Run sixth edition. We are having a
11:39
session zero in about a week uh to make
11:41
characters. Uh currently looking at
11:43
playing a kind of a street shaman type
11:45
character. I guess we'll see when we get
11:47
there. uh what everybody else has
11:49
planned. Um and then I'm still running
11:52
Fabula Ultima on Fridays.
11:54
>> So
11:55
>> nice. What about you, Liz?
11:57
>> None of my none of my regular games have
11:59
kind of fallen apart. So I'm looking
12:01
forward to playing CU Space Cowboy soon.
12:03
And uh that's that's kind of it.
12:06
>> I mean, there's nothing wrong with that.
12:07
I mean, sometimes you just you had that
12:09
bright spot to work and hopefully I can
12:11
deliver something that's enjoyable for
12:13
everybody.
12:14
Um,
12:15
>> man, I would be I would be playing games
12:17
every week, but that's that's the
12:20
challenge is finding, you know, your
12:21
five friends who can all show up every
12:24
week and play a game. It's tough.
12:26
>> Well, that's why you just return to AI,
12:27
right? No, we're going to talk about
12:28
that later.
12:29
>> Oh, boy.
12:30
>> Oh, god. Well,
12:31
>> we also we also have to get past the
12:33
season where Liz is literally spending
12:34
five out of the seven days a week
12:35
shoveling snow.
12:37
>> Uh, yeah. I I think we may be past that,
12:40
but uh yeah,
12:42
>> knock on wood. I mean, that's but that's
12:44
why I've been looking at uh more solo
12:47
RPGs to check out because it's that's
12:49
the biggest challenge of playing an RPG
12:52
is finding a bunch of other people to
12:54
play it with. But of course, you don't
12:55
have like the chaos of other people to
12:58
play it with in a solo RPG. You got to
13:00
bring your own chaos.
13:02
>> Yeah. and and and people I know there's
13:05
this weird thing where folks in the
13:07
community tend to look down their nose
13:09
at single player RPGs, but there's some
13:12
really really good ones out there that
13:14
are very clever.
13:17
>> Uh like I mean Rangers of Shadow Deep is
13:20
another one that is just like it's great
13:23
and there is a version of it that you
13:25
can play with people but like it's got a
13:27
solo focused gameplay that is just
13:29
absolutely phenomenal.
13:31
um Scarlet Heroes, which is designed for
13:33
old school D and D modules off like just
13:35
off the top. Go ahead, Liz.
13:37
>> It I mean it seems like that's a growing
13:38
space. You're seeing more games, even
13:40
big mainstream games have solo play,
13:43
some kind of solo play rules are other
13:46
people, third parties adapting games for
13:48
solo play. So, I'm just kind of seeing a
13:53
lot of new things in that space. And you
13:56
know, I I kind of feel like it's cuz we
13:59
all love our nerdy hobbies, but we
14:01
can't. It's hard to find those five
14:02
friends to play with us.
14:04
>> Sometimes it's also hard just to
14:05
convince somebody to try something. And
14:07
I know we've we've all experienced that.
14:09
Like I'll be really gung-ho about a game
14:11
and like I really want to play it, but
14:13
nobody around me or nobody in the group
14:15
wants to try it.
14:16
>> And there's a I have a regular uh John
14:19
who comes into my shop who he's like me.
14:21
He he like collects RPG books like
14:25
Pokemon and like he's very excited to
14:29
like play them, but getting for a while
14:33
getting his normal play group to try
14:34
anything was very difficult. Uh, and we
14:36
talk about it all the time and now he's
14:38
he like seizes the opportunities. He's
14:40
slowly weeded them off of like D and D
14:43
only cuz they were like, "Oh, we only
14:45
know D and D. We're going to we're
14:47
comfortable here. We're not going to
14:48
move." and he's got them playing things
14:49
like the Transformer RPG and the G.I.
14:52
Joe RPG and like branching off into
14:54
these like D and D adjacent games and
14:56
then getting them to maybe want to try
14:58
weirder stuff and it's been really
15:00
really cool to see like they just picked
15:02
up the I want to say it was the Conan
15:04
RPG books that just came out, the new
15:06
ones. Um, absolutely gorgeous printing
15:09
and he's very excited to try to get
15:11
them. And also, Planet of the Apes just
15:13
released a uh a book or two books, I
15:17
believe, uh in the last few weeks, uh
15:20
that he was also really excited to try
15:22
to get people to play. And again, very
15:24
clever system, uh just, you know,
15:26
getting excited about stuff. One that I
15:29
personally am excited about, uh
15:31
potentially is is actually on the
15:33
horizon. Um and it was because of the
15:36
people involved in it. So, I am a huge
15:40
Godzilla fan. This is no surprise to
15:42
anybody who's listened to any of our
15:43
podcasts. In fact, we literally did a
15:46
Godzilla podcast on Lore Watch. Um,
15:50
there is a new TTRPG coming out for
15:52
Godzilla based off the IDW comics, which
15:56
are, you know, this really great
15:59
continuation of like what started with
16:00
the mythology set in Toho. And the
16:04
people involved with it are three rather
16:06
huge names in the industry of Gav Thorp,
16:10
Jervis Johnson, and Mark Laam. Uh Gav
16:14
Thorp is probably best known for his
16:16
time at Games Workshop in the early 90s,
16:19
1994, where he created the skirmish game
16:22
Inquisitor. He was involved in almost
16:25
every supplement book that came out,
16:27
including most of the uh stories that
16:30
were like put out for them. Uh he wrote
16:34
so many of the stories that like in the
16:38
books that became these like iconic tent
16:42
poles for what uh the universe of
16:45
Warhammer 40k actually became like
16:48
including things like 13th Legion Kill
16:50
Team Annihilation Squad. um even did
16:53
stuff like the original Space Hulk
16:55
novel. Like he established the lore of
16:58
this universe in a codified way that is
17:00
just unheard of and him being attached
17:02
to this project is super exciting uh to
17:06
me. Uh Jervis Johnson also worked at
17:08
Games Workshop mainly on Warhammer
17:11
Fantasy Battles uh but also on all the
17:13
other specialty games like Warhammer
17:14
40k, Bloodbull, Epic, uh Necrounda and
17:17
Age of Sigmar. Um and again he was part
17:20
of that that that creating a universe
17:23
that world that just has continued to
17:26
deliver uh amazing stories and in my
17:30
personal life uh a ton of phenomenal uh
17:34
just play experiences and and I've just
17:37
been really excited about it. And then
17:39
Mark Leam has been involved with
17:41
everything from uh Elder Scrolls uh the
17:46
RPG that Modifius put out uh to the
17:49
Walking Dead games uh to the Batman
17:53
miniature game to Star Trek tabletop
17:55
role playing games to historical stuff
17:58
like the Roman Empire Napoleonic Wars.
18:00
like insane amounts of like gaming
18:03
credits behind this man, including
18:05
Warhammer Fantasy Battles and uh if you
18:08
remember Star Wars Edge of the Empire
18:10
role playing game, he was involved in
18:11
that as well. Uh, so like it's got a
18:14
pedigree behind it of some amazing
18:16
individuals that know how to treat an IP
18:18
correctly and know how to tell a story
18:22
in a world that makes it feel vibrant
18:25
combined with the fact that you are
18:27
fighting kaijus as humans and different
18:29
like different classes or different uh
18:32
effects. Not just Godzilla. I mean,
18:34
we're talking they're going the full
18:37
Godzilla pantheon cuz I don't know what
18:39
else to call it. So, if you can think of
18:41
a Godzilla uh monster, it's going to be
18:44
there and you can get you can fight it.
18:47
And I think that's really um and I'm so
18:50
looking forward to this. Like this. I
18:51
saw this and it was instantaneous
18:54
backing. Like there was there was no
18:56
hesitation. So, I don't know if you guys
18:57
have any opinions on it. Uh if Matt was
19:00
here, Matt would probably be screaming,
19:01
"Give it to me now." I can hear it. I
19:04
can hear it echoing through the valleys.
19:05
>> Probably. Well, it's I mean April 2nd is
19:09
when it uh when are they are they going
19:11
to have anything available right away or
19:13
you going to have to wait to get your
19:14
hands on this when that Kickstarter ends
19:15
on April second?
19:16
>> My understanding is that they already
19:17
have digital assets ready to go.
19:19
>> Nice.
19:20
>> Including Kaiju Kaiju versus Kaiju
19:22
battles.
19:23
>> Yeah. What were you going to say?
19:25
>> So when do we get to play this Joe?
19:28
>> The minute it's in my hand a game for
19:30
it.
19:32
>> Yeah. the the the the only downside of
19:34
it is the the it it's not it's very much
19:38
not conducive to online play without a
19:41
virtual tabletop
19:43
>> because the mechanics of it is not dice,
19:46
it's decks of cards.
19:47
>> So players draw uh power from a chance
19:50
deck um which stays in their uh their
19:54
hands essentially. their hands become
19:56
destiny cards that you use to resolve
19:58
actions and trials based off of like a
20:00
normal deck of cards. Whereas the game
20:03
master or in this case the deck master
20:07
uh controls what's called the crisis
20:08
deck which fuels a crisis clock that you
20:11
have to play against. Whether this is
20:13
you know the monster's made landfall or
20:15
the monster has you know on its way to
20:18
the nuclear power plant. Um, now the
20:21
good news is is that some virtual
20:23
tabletop situ uh simulators and and
20:25
stuff like that already set up for this
20:28
um because of other games like uh Savage
20:32
Worlds and things like that that use
20:34
decks of cards. Uh the Malifox tabletop
20:36
role playing game also uses decks of
20:38
cards like this as well. It's already
20:40
kind of set up for it. Um and I think
20:42
there's already a mod being worked on in
20:44
tabletop simulator as well. So, we will
20:47
definitely I'm going to definitely try
20:49
to play this game with you. Uh it's just
20:51
going to be a matter of making sure we
20:53
have the uh assets available in order to
20:57
Well, I know that even if they don't get
20:58
a mod ready in time, uh Roll 20 uh for
21:01
is one that I know definitely supports
21:02
decks of cards because, and I'm
21:04
blanking,
21:06
uh there's one of those storytelling map
21:08
drawing games, like the big one uses
21:12
primarily decks of cards as it or
21:13
feature. And I know that that's I've
21:16
seen and also played it online using
21:18
that. So, um it would just be a matter
21:21
of uh putting two of them into the play
21:23
space and remembering which one was
21:24
which. So, yeah. Well, that was my
21:28
excitement thing and I got to talk about
21:29
it early. So, I'm pretty much content.
21:34
Uh I do want to move on to the next one
21:36
there and uh I'm going to turn to Phil.
21:39
Uh there's some Neopets drama and news
21:42
going on. What What is going on with
21:43
this Phil? Yeah, I think we talked about
21:45
this uh maybe an episode or two ago that
21:48
the Neopets uh TTRPG
21:52
uh it was on Kickstarter a while ago and
21:54
a play test finally came out or maybe
21:57
leaked. It's not 100% clear. Um but it
22:00
came out and Geekify is the company that
22:03
had been uh picked handpicked to create
22:05
this because they have been working with
22:06
the Neopets license for a long time.
22:08
They make merch for them etc. Um, and
22:12
for any of my 90s uh/otss folks who
22:15
remember Neopets, uh, you know what it's
22:17
like for those who don't, yeah, it's
22:19
essentially just a little site where you
22:20
can raise pets and make them play games
22:21
and interact with them and that kind of
22:23
thing. It's not a real uh, dark deadly
22:25
combat focused world. Um the play test
22:28
that came out despite their promise that
22:30
it was going to be a game that would
22:32
cater more towards the style of Neopets
22:34
and it would be there would be
22:35
non-violent solutions to things um was
22:39
barely a 5e hack. It was largely 5e
22:43
um and 5e and there was a sample
22:48
adventure that seemed to run very
22:50
strongly against the uh um kind of the
22:53
vein of what had been promised. Then on
22:55
top of that, there was also some
22:57
controversy on one part where the uh the
22:59
perks chapter what the basically feats
23:02
uh for D&D 5e players um was entirely
23:06
absent from the play test document with
23:07
just a note from the author who would
23:08
have written it that they had not been
23:10
paid for it yet. Uh so um after this
23:14
kind of came out and there was a lot of
23:16
uproar over it um Neopets has entirely
23:20
pulled their license from Geekify. So,
23:23
no more merch, no more tabletop RPG from
23:25
them, which means the entire concept of
23:28
a Neopets TTRPG is now in limbo, and
23:30
they basically said, "If you want a
23:31
refund in your Kickstarter, you have to
23:33
go to Geekify. You have to go to the
23:35
people we just fired to get a refund
23:37
now." Sorry. Uh uh Geekify has commented
23:41
on that and they've said, you know, a
23:42
lot of this money has already been spent
23:44
on, you know, three years of work on
23:46
this game or however many years of work
23:48
on this game because we've been
23:50
>> we've been producing this game. And um
23:54
like on the flip side, Geekify says we
23:57
couldn't we had trouble getting
23:59
approvals from Neopets. We couldn't we
24:02
weren't getting any communication from
24:04
them. And
24:06
so it's like who who do you believe how
24:10
did this play test document get out
24:12
there? Because the play test document
24:13
was 5e based and 5e I think 5 is a
24:16
really flexible system that you can hack
24:18
all sorts of things onto but it's not a
24:21
good system for games that are primarily
24:24
not based on combat.
24:26
But they were supposedly developing
24:28
their own uh uh systems just for Neopets
24:31
that was not 5e. So, where did this play
24:33
test document even come from that had
24:35
all of this old 5e stuff? And I don't
24:38
know, it's just it's a disaster. It's a
24:41
disaster. And they raised $400,000 on
24:43
Kickstarter. And you know, refunds
24:46
aren't probably are not going to happen.
24:48
And if you are refunded, it's not going
24:49
to be the full amount because they don't
24:50
have the money. They've been working on
24:52
the game and they don't have the money.
24:54
Obviously, we may never know the full
24:56
extent of what happened where, but I
24:57
will note that when the initial play
24:58
test document came out, their defense
25:00
was not, "Sorry, we don't know where
25:02
this came from. This was a leak. This
25:03
doesn't represent the current state of
25:05
the game." It was, "Yeah, this is the
25:07
game.
25:09
>> We know what we said.
25:10
>> It's so It's so confusing. Everything
25:13
about this is confusing."
25:14
>> Their their defense at the time and
25:16
their statements later don't quite match
25:18
up, if you get it. So, I this this may
25:20
be uh
25:21
>> I'd say this one's probably dead in the
25:23
water like the Diablo RPG.
25:26
>> Oh, well,
25:27
>> coming out any day now.
25:29
>> Supposedly, they're still working on
25:30
that.
25:31
>> I I noted at one point we were talking
25:32
about this on a prior tabletop that they
25:34
had updated their website literally
25:36
every year to state that it would be out
25:37
the following year. Um, but you can
25:39
actually see all the different
25:40
iterations online.
25:41
>> So, I'm curious if that'll happen again
25:43
this year.
25:45
>> Yeah, I got nothing. Sometimes sometimes
25:47
sometimes things just goes
25:49
>> I can't use the normal term I would use
25:51
here. We'll say sideways.
25:54
>> Arai
25:59
>> I I will say I will say the Diablo RPG
26:03
web page still says launching Q4 2025.
26:07
So it that does not look good. That does
26:10
not look good.
26:11
>> Someday our ship will come in and it'll
26:12
be Diablo RPG. Um uh yeah. No, I'm not
26:17
waiting for that one. My hair is already
26:18
gray enough. Um,
26:19
>> don't don't hold your breath because
26:22
that that would be fatal.
26:23
>> Indeed. Well, speaking of holding our
26:26
breath and actually having something
26:28
resolved from it, uh, apparently Wizards
26:31
finally decided to announce some D and D
26:33
products for 2026. That's that's wild
26:36
for me because they've been relatively
26:39
radio silent up until this point. So
26:41
again, Phil, you you posted this. if you
26:44
want to kind of kick us off here.
26:45
>> Yeah, I'm a little surprised it took
26:47
them until March, but they uh they
26:49
they've announced so they've announced a
26:51
few products and there is an unannounced
26:54
product at the end of the year. Oo,
26:55
spooky. Um, for some reason they've
26:58
decided that they are going to go uh
27:01
mentioning Diablo, they are going to go
27:03
with the season of noun uh strategy to
27:06
I'm guessing also kind of organize guide
27:08
their organized play but also kind of
27:11
indicates which books are coming out.
27:12
The very first season of the year is the
27:15
season of horror which is bringing with
27:16
it a new Ravenloft book. Uh we've had
27:19
Curse of Strod, Curse of Strod revamped,
27:21
Van Rictton, and now we are going to
27:23
have Ravenloft, the horrors within
27:26
uh which is I'll be interested to see
27:29
what happens with this. It sounds like
27:30
it's less of an adventure uh module like
27:34
Curse of Strod was and more of a uh more
27:38
of a a more player focused guide book
27:40
like uh like Van Richton's, but you
27:43
know, there's some DM things, too.
27:44
>> There's new subasses. There's new NPCs.
27:48
There's uh apparently info on additional
27:51
horror genres. So, if you want to run
27:52
something other than strictly Gothic
27:54
horror in your Raven Loft, like if you
27:56
want to run some cosmic horror, there's
27:57
allegedly going to be guidance on that.
28:00
So, that'll be interesting.
28:01
>> I'll let Liz go, but I have I have
28:02
umbrage here.
28:03
>> Well, that's something that I thought
28:05
was interesting about the Fyun book was
28:08
that, you know, it had information
28:11
about, okay, here we've got Fyun, here's
28:13
a setting that's good for telling these
28:15
kinds of stories. Here's a setting for
28:17
that's good for telling. And it like
28:19
didn't just say here's Fyun, here's what
28:20
it's about. It said here's Fyun and if
28:23
you want to tell a story like this, this
28:25
is a good part of Fyun to set it in and
28:27
this is why. And you know, it really
28:29
kind of expanded different sorts of
28:31
backgrounds. So you could tell different
28:33
sorts of stories. And I think that's
28:34
really interesting. It's a question of
28:37
how well will this follow through with
28:39
that.
28:39
>> I have a feeling on where you're going
28:40
with this, Joe, but go ahead. My my
28:42
problem is is that in and don't get me
28:45
wrong, I love horror in D and D. If
28:49
you've listened to any of our previous
28:51
oneshots and let's plays and stuff like
28:53
that, you know that you know that I love
28:55
having th those elements in it. It's
28:57
been a big influence. My problem with
28:59
this is not that they're doing this,
29:01
it's that it's carrying the name Raven
29:03
Loft while doing it. And I think that
29:07
that is a disservice to the brand and
29:11
not and and a disservice to possibly
29:14
what the quality of the contents of the
29:15
book will be. Because when you ask the
29:18
average person who has any inkling of
29:20
what Ravenloft is, Gothic horror is the
29:24
wheelhouse of Raven Loft. Like that's
29:27
that's what it is. Now, if you were to
29:29
have a completely separate book that was
29:31
just like, you know, the myriad horrors
29:34
of D and D or something like I can't
29:35
think of a a piffy name right now, but
29:38
if you called it literally anything else
29:40
and included those other types of horror
29:43
like genres in it, I think that would be
29:45
fine. But like that immediately makes me
29:47
concerned because it's like what content
29:50
is actually going to be in here and are
29:53
you literally just attaching the name
29:55
Ravenloft to it because the person
29:58
making this decision put it into the AI
30:00
bot and it said we have a horror
30:02
imprint. A horror imprints Ravenloft.
30:04
It's all horror and doesn't actually
30:05
know what it is. Right. Like that's
30:09
that's my thought on it.
30:10
>> Yeah. Oh, I thought maybe you were going
30:12
to be upset like I was because they say
30:14
they claim that it's going to be about
30:15
cosmic horror and all that and you know
30:17
and have that as an option, but then
30:18
they have a stat block for Cthulhu. If
30:20
you can fight Cthulhu, it's not cosmic
30:22
horror.
30:22
>> No, no, don't get me wrong. Like I there
30:24
there are there are entities in books
30:26
that have done stat blocks for Cthulhu
30:28
before and D and D is rife with putting
30:31
stat blocks on things that probably
30:32
shouldn't have stat blocks.
30:34
>> Um but it's up to DMs to make it
30:36
interesting. That is a separate problem.
30:39
um or I should say a separate challenge.
30:42
But yeah, it's it's really more more or
30:44
less like I just don't understand why
30:46
you have to shove the Ravenloft and it
30:48
just feels like
30:48
>> Yeah, I'm I'm really hoping that it's
30:50
just like a couple pages of guidance at
30:52
the end and that this mostly sticks in
30:53
its Gothicore wheelhouse. I guess we'll
30:56
find out.
30:56
>> Some of the other domains of dread do
30:58
kind of get away from that like god, I
31:00
don't remember. There's one that's
31:02
basically like a barren meteor ruled by
31:03
mind flares. Like that's not really
31:05
Gothic horror. That's
31:07
>> that's something else. Yeah, I was going
31:08
to say Domains of Dread is what it's uh
31:10
it's because it's in the Shadowfell,
31:12
too. And the Shadowfell, like if you
31:14
were going
31:14
>> It's in the Shadow Fell now. Okay.
31:16
>> Yeah. Uh if you were to go to like all
31:19
the different things in this all the
31:21
different demilanes attached to Shadow,
31:23
like if they would have called it that,
31:24
like you know, horrors in the realm of
31:26
Shadowfell
31:27
>> or or just call it domains of dread or
31:30
something literally anything of that.
31:32
Ravenloft butts up against that and
31:34
would make sense. And like you could do
31:36
the other things like the mind flare
31:38
which is more akin to the cosmic horror
31:40
stuff and it would make sense but yeah
31:43
like Ravenloft is so hyper specific like
31:46
well if you want to see what that's all
31:48
about then that's slated for June. Uh
31:52
the next I'm going to move on to the
31:53
next one here because we could harp on
31:55
Raven Loft for a while. Uh but this next
31:56
one actually addresses a problem I had
31:58
with the the Forgotten Realms ones which
32:00
was kind of nice. Uh, the second season
32:02
of the year in autumn, uh, cuz that's
32:04
how Watsy does yours now. Uh, brings us
32:07
two books, Arcana Unleashed and Arcana
32:09
Unleashed Deadfall. Arcana Unleashed is
32:11
a high magic source book. Uh, they
32:14
actually go so far as to name specific
32:15
returning spells that are in it. But
32:18
Arcana Unleashed Deadfall brings one of
32:20
my uh, favorite uh, antagonist from the
32:22
Forgotten Realms that I felt got
32:23
overlooked in the book, which is the Red
32:25
Wizards of Th. It is a companion
32:28
adventure about a wizard war presumably
32:30
between the red wizards who are
32:31
constantly backstabbing each other.
32:33
>> Yeah. I mean, honestly, this one is
32:36
definitely more exciting to me
32:38
potentially. Um,
32:40
>> and I it's it's definitely something
32:41
that would I would probably likely pick
32:43
up. Uh, so I'm super super into that.
32:46
>> Yeah. Now, if only they'd timed it to
32:47
coincide with the movie where the Red
32:49
Wizards kind of paid a, you know, played
32:50
a fairly pivotal role, but, you know,
32:52
only only three years too late.
32:55
And then
32:56
>> they're they're doing their best here.
32:58
>> They're get they're getting there. Um
32:59
and then the end of the year is the
33:01
season of champions. Uh and we have an
33:04
unannounced book to go with it. Um we
33:08
don't we know literally nothing about it
33:09
other it's literally on the road map as
33:12
to be announced. Um so there's at least
33:14
one product in whatever the season of
33:15
champions is. And I personally am hoping
33:19
champions gladiators arena dark sun
33:23
book. dark sun book.
33:25
>> Yeah, it's kind of
33:26
>> they have done they have done some play
33:29
test content that seems to feel a little
33:31
dark sunny. So
33:34
>> now listen,
33:35
>> so I guess we'll see around Octoberish,
33:37
I think, is when that kicks in. Yes,
33:39
October through the end of 2026.
33:41
>> Now don't get me wrong, I am a skeptical
33:44
human being, but if they give me a Dark
33:46
Sun book that's actually decent, I will
33:49
snap purchase it.
33:51
Oh, shame.
33:54
>> Uh, I I do want to note that they
33:56
announced all this in a with a uh not a
34:00
live stream, but they published a video
34:02
and one of the things they said in it is
34:04
that we want to do more videos where we
34:06
get on and talk about things, which is
34:09
something they used to do before they
34:11
fired all the people who did it. So, I
34:13
mean, if they are trying to go back to
34:16
the place where they have community
34:18
communication and they talk about what
34:19
they're working on and they talk about
34:21
the ideas behind it, I am all for that.
34:24
But we've had radio silence from Watsi.
34:27
And part of that is because the people
34:28
who did that kind of communication
34:30
aren't there anymore, which is a shame.
34:32
So, if we are heading back into a time
34:34
where they are more communicative, they
34:36
do reach out and we hear more about what
34:39
they're doing, that's great. But um like
34:43
one of the big problems is you know we
34:45
kind of had a big shakeup there and a
34:48
lot of talent left. Our was fired and we
34:51
don't know what things look like now.
34:54
>> It's a the whole thing's a big question
34:55
mark. Are they going to produce
34:58
>> not so great books or are they going to
35:00
make some great new things? because I
35:02
know everyone wants to be down on Watsi,
35:07
particularly because all of that talent
35:10
that is left and other plenty of other
35:13
controversies that the company has had
35:16
in recent years. But sometimes uh kind
35:20
of a changing of the guard, a changing
35:22
of leadership, bringing in new talent,
35:24
sometimes that can result in cool new
35:26
things. It's just we have no idea. We
35:30
don't know what the new Watsi looks
35:31
like. We don't know what their new books
35:33
are going to look like. So, it's just
35:35
until we see that that Ravenloft book.
35:38
It's just who knows what's going to come
35:40
out of this. I do also want to say that
35:42
they did push a what they call a
35:46
partnered content section as well,
35:48
>> which I thought was very very
35:50
interesting. Um, because it includes
35:53
things like the Griffin Saddle Bag,
35:55
which is a wonderful compendium of magic
35:59
items uh that were created by people not
36:02
at Wizard for use in uh D&D are is
36:05
getting a physical print book. book one
36:07
of it is is being released um in the
36:10
spring which I so soonish uh which I
36:13
think is absolutely phenomenal u there's
36:16
another book about dinosaurs uh which
36:18
I'm sure I can hear Matt also screaming
36:20
give it to me now um which also plays a
36:24
large part of it because Forgotten
36:25
Realms not surprisingly or maybe
36:28
surprisingly to some folks has an area a
36:30
jungalish uh area that is essentially a
36:33
primordial region that has tons of
36:35
dinosaurs in it. And there's tons of
36:38
adventures in in things that revolve
36:40
around societies based around
36:42
domesticating dinosaurs. Um, which
36:44
people completely forget about. Uh, and
36:48
then you're getting another like monster
36:50
hunting guide. Uh, which is the uh this
36:53
is a part two. So, it was the I forgot
36:55
what the part one was, but like they're
36:58
they're starting to promote third party
37:02
content again, which that's been quiet
37:05
for a while. Even when there was content
37:07
being produced, Wizards in Hasbro wasn't
37:11
like advertising it. Seems like they are
37:13
now.
37:13
>> I do wonder how much Go ahead.
37:17
>> DND Beyond has kind of been leading
37:19
there when they added partnered content.
37:23
Um, and they've continued to highlight
37:25
it and I think we're just seeing that
37:27
grow on a larger scale. Like I've I've
37:30
actually had conversations with Matt
37:32
where he messaged me about something
37:33
cool, something new in D and D and it's
37:35
like actually no, that's partnered
37:37
content, just D and D beyond sending it
37:39
out on their mailing list. Mhm.
37:41
>> I think this is a great idea because
37:43
another one of the great things about 5e
37:46
is how I was just saying this, how easy
37:48
it is to adapt to, how easy it is to
37:51
tack things on to, how easy it is to
37:53
write adventures for. Um, so leveraging
37:57
that third party content, promoting all
38:00
of those great creators out there, I
38:02
think that's a smart move, especially if
38:04
they aren't going to be doing as many of
38:06
their own books, which they don't seem
38:08
to be. This is I mean they've got three
38:10
books coming out this year it looks
38:11
like. That's great. Uh or four if you
38:14
count the the the Arcana Unleashed
38:17
adventure book. Um so I it's just great
38:22
to promote the community because all of
38:24
the community content is a big thing
38:26
about what makes D and D great, what has
38:29
made D and D the huge game that it is.
38:32
Speaking of being a huge game, and this
38:34
is something that I've I saw in the
38:36
notes, but like didn't see in the notes.
38:38
>> Um, we kind of won.
38:42
Uh, and what I mean by that is, so ever
38:45
since the new edition of D and D has
38:47
been coming out, everybody in the
38:48
community, us here in the podcast, we've
38:51
been referring to it as D and D 5.5. Um,
38:54
and the reason we're doing this because
38:55
the updates and the streamlining that
38:57
they did with the book. Again, the
38:59
players handbook and everything else
39:00
they released, quality books, like
39:02
they're they're they're fantastic, but
39:04
they didn't completely change the game
39:07
like we were originally led to believe
39:10
they would. And instead, we got
39:12
something much more akin to the
39:15
transition from third edition to 3.5,
39:18
which is third edition was a very
39:20
bloated game that needed to be
39:22
streamlined and have things sort of put
39:25
back on the same path. and they did that
39:27
and was a massive success for Dungeons
39:30
and Dragons at the time and a huge boon
39:32
to players. Well, they refused for a
39:36
very long time to call it D and D 5.5.
39:39
Well, they're starting to do it uh not
39:42
just on uh the D and Beyond, which is
39:45
the only place that we've seen it
39:46
officially uh located, but I've also
39:49
gotten stuff about it in mailers at the
39:52
shop about the products for this year.
39:56
So they are literally referring it to it
40:00
as that elsewhere. It's just slowgoing
40:03
on the rebranding for everywhere else.
40:06
So I think that's really fascinating and
40:08
I think it's a it's about dang time
40:10
honestly because it
40:13
>> it was such a stupid thing not to do it
40:16
because that's exactly what it is.
40:18
>> Yeah. I I liked their one D and D naming
40:21
when it looked like we were going to get
40:22
a revolutionary new game, but then when
40:24
we just got a sort of when we got a
40:26
backwards compatible sort of update and
40:29
uh you know book reshuffle. Yeah, it it
40:32
was 5.5 and I'm glad they finally came
40:34
around to the correct way of saying
40:36
things. So, good on you, Watsy. Yeah,
40:38
the books the the new source books from
40:40
2024 2025 which calling it D and D 2024
40:44
when half of the books were out in 2025
40:46
also pretty confusing.
40:49
>> They were really good books.
40:51
>> Mhm.
40:51
>> They were good books, but they weren't a
40:53
revolutionary step forward. It was
40:55
compiling a lot of changes they'd made
40:58
in other books that had been released
41:00
since 5e. You know, Tasha's Cauldron of
41:03
every of everything, uh, Xanithar's
41:05
Guide. It's just compiling those into
41:07
one book. So instead of having to buy
41:09
the players handbook and the DM's guide
41:10
and Zanithars and Tashas and you know,
41:13
instead of having to buy five books, you
41:15
can just grab the players handbook or
41:17
you can just grab the DM's guide and you
41:19
have everything you need. You have all
41:20
of the updated rules in one place,
41:23
streamlined, neatly packaged instead of
41:25
being all over the place. That's great.
41:29
I totally great. But Wizards of the
41:32
Coast sold this as some kind of
41:35
revolutionary next generation version of
41:37
D and D and it wasn't. It makes and I
41:40
think it got a kind of tepid response
41:42
because of that because they were saying
41:44
hey here's this big huge change. The
41:46
early play test documents were had more
41:49
significant changes and then they came
41:51
out with what was just it's 5e but
41:54
streamlined reformatted. You've got the
41:57
books are cleaner. you don't need to buy
41:59
as many books and supplements and that
42:01
was not what players expected. So the
42:04
5.5 branding is way smarter and I think
42:07
the books would have done better if they
42:10
branded them that way from day one and
42:12
players knew what they were buying.
42:14
>> Yeah. Market marketing would have been
42:15
so much easier for them, right? Like
42:17
they wouldn't have had the confusion and
42:19
like I saw a lot of this firsthand of
42:21
like people looking at the books on the
42:23
shelf and like well which ones do I
42:25
need? Why is this one labeled this? Why
42:26
doesn't this say this? And what do you
42:28
mean this is an upgraded version of it?
42:30
like like the the massacus whereas like
42:33
literally that 5.5 moniker with a
42:35
campaign even if they had gone back and
42:37
called the g campaign one D and D that's
42:39
the name of the campaign the marketing
42:41
campaign for it where the last D and D
42:44
you'll ever need but here is fifth five
42:47
5.5 is released taking all the rules and
42:50
accumulated knowledge of fifth edition
42:52
and streamlining it and cleaning it up
42:54
to make sure that everything makes
42:56
perfect sense suitable for all new
42:58
players to onboard onto the product and
43:00
making it easier for existing players to
43:02
use less books in order to play and run
43:05
their game. Advertise it like that as
43:08
opposed to whatever the hell they did
43:10
otherwise
43:14
would have been a better option. It's
43:16
Yeah, it's been messy. And I'll note
43:18
that this this does mark a change from
43:20
when they did third edition. when they
43:21
upgraded that when they put out that 3.5
43:24
edition, it straight up said on the
43:27
front version 3.5, like it was a balance
43:29
update, which in some senses it was.
43:32
>> And it's like I I thought that was a
43:35
fairly wellreceived effort at the time.
43:37
Uh, and I guess maybe they've gotten
43:39
away from that and they didn't want
43:40
people to go, you know, oh, what do I
43:42
need this new version? which is funny
43:44
because the confusion I think they were
43:46
trying to avoid with the not using a
43:48
version number moniker they ended up
43:50
creating accidentally with their
43:51
marketing phobos. So I think maybe this
43:55
is a kind of a step towards this.
43:57
Although somebody pointed out it's kind
43:58
of funny now the official now this is
44:00
actually a different version number than
44:01
the SRD where I think they labeled it
44:04
DND 5.2
44:07
like the SRD has a different versioning
44:09
number now. So I don't know. Uh, but I
44:14
do wonder if this is kind of Wizards of
44:17
the Coast taking steps in a positive
44:19
direction. They're acknowledging that
44:21
this is 5.5e.
44:24
They're trying to have more community
44:26
communication. I mean, this it's a good
44:29
direction if they follow through and
44:31
they bring us some quality books. And we
44:33
just I don't know the answer to either
44:35
of those questions. Well, speaking of
44:37
knowing the answer to questions, I'm
44:38
going to let Liz rant here for a little
44:39
bit because uh the next session also
44:42
involves uh certain people in Hasbro.
44:46
And well, Liz, why don't you just kind
44:48
of go ahead?
44:49
>> I I'm kind of tired of ranting about
44:51
this one because it seems like it keeps
44:53
coming up. Uh so Hasbro President Chris
44:56
Cox is a really big fan of using
44:59
artificial intelligence in everything.
45:02
And that's that's not a super popular
45:04
line with uh D and D fans, with a lot of
45:07
content creators. I was just talking
45:09
about how all of the third party
45:12
creators are what makes the game great
45:15
and AI not a popular thing because we
45:19
want stuff created by real people, not
45:21
stuff that's derivative and rehashed and
45:25
that we've seen before. So, and uh Chris
45:28
Cox has in the past talked about how oh,
45:31
we've got this great D and D has a great
45:34
amount of data to mine like it's some
45:37
gold mine to regurgitate
45:40
>> and it's gotten a really negative
45:42
reaction from the community,
45:44
>> including us, including me,
45:46
>> because that just sounds it sounds very
45:48
boring. Um, so he has a recently
45:54
commented that uh in an interview with
45:56
the Verge he said there are some brands
45:58
that the audience the creators just
46:00
don't want it. So we don't even have it
46:02
AI in our pipelines for video games,
46:06
Magic the Gathering or Dn D.
46:08
>> This is a lot
46:08
>> which I think is
46:12
>> I'll respond in a moment. I'm sorry. I I
46:14
I can't tell you how truthful that this
46:17
is, but it's a it's a good thing for him
46:19
to say. But of course, Wizards of the
46:21
Ghost has been caught using AI art in
46:24
the past, even after they said no AI.
46:28
And we've kind of gone back and forth on
46:29
this. Chris Cox has talked about using
46:32
AI for DMing, for playing games, and how
46:35
he plays tons of games, and uses AI for
46:38
all of them to help generate resources,
46:41
sounds, and art and all of those things.
46:43
Um, so this is something he said it on
46:47
the record publicly. I'm super glad he
46:49
said it that there are communities out
46:52
there that do not like AI, do not want
46:55
AI in their products. So Hasbro isn't
46:58
pushing AI in these products. Now, will
47:02
they follow through on that? Is this
47:03
what's actually happening or is this
47:06
something we're saying to, you know,
47:10
to make the listeners happy out there? I
47:13
don't know that. And man, it's just so
47:16
hard because Chris Cox constantly talks
47:19
about how great AI is and how much
47:21
Hasbro is using AI to make things. In
47:26
this same interview, he talked about how
47:28
in toy making they literally have an AI
47:31
version of Peppa Pig that they use to
47:34
advise them on how to make new Peppa Pig
47:37
products. I That sounds like something
47:40
made up. That is not something I am
47:42
making up. That is something he said in
47:44
this interview.
47:46
>> There is a reason why every department
47:49
of Hasbro is failing financially
47:53
except for Wizards of the Coast, which
47:56
is supporting the entirety of the
47:59
company on its back. They've done this
48:01
like they use AI to make the decision to
48:03
move out of making like Transformers
48:05
toys for kids in the volume that they
48:07
were before and focus more on
48:08
collectors. That's been working out gang
48:10
busters, hasn't it?
48:12
uh they've gotten caught, and I do mean
48:15
caught, using generative AI in Magic the
48:19
Gathering products as well as uh D&D
48:23
products, not the cards themselves that
48:25
I'm aware of, but like in Keystone Art
48:28
that they then were using to make like
48:29
playmats and stuff out of where the
48:31
original artist was like, I never went
48:33
beyond this border. This is nothing I
48:36
did. And they're like, oh yeah, we used
48:39
AI upscaling. and they're like, "Well,
48:41
that violates my contract. See you in
48:43
court." Like, AI does not work for what
48:46
they do. And they have not realized
48:49
this. And it is very frustrating because
48:52
they hold so many IPs that I love so
48:55
dearly.
48:57
>> Like the the some of the decisions make
49:00
no sense. And eventually the only things
49:04
that are going to be left are going to
49:05
be the products that people keep pushing
49:07
back on. Because again, a Peppa Pig AI
49:12
telling them how to make Peppa Pig toys.
49:14
I haven't seen Peppa Pig toys on the
49:16
shelf in any way, shape, or volume that
49:19
makes any sort of sense in years. So, I
49:22
have no clue what that thing is doing.
49:24
And I I'm sorry I could rant about this
49:26
all day long, but like it's stuff like
49:28
this when like you could literally just
49:31
print money by just doing the work
49:34
instead of cramming AI into everything.
49:37
Every financial institution
49:40
on the planet has said AI is not
49:44
profitable in any capacity.
49:48
Stop relying on it in stuff like this.
49:53
It doesn't make sense.
49:56
My god. I I swear to God, this person
50:00
like Chris Cox must have like remember
50:02
the remember the movie where uh the guy
50:06
had the AI assistant and fell in love
50:08
with her and it was voiced by Scarlett
50:10
Johansson.
50:12
>> Chris Cox saw that movie and thought,
50:13
"This is my life. This is great. I want
50:15
this now." Like that's what I get out of
50:17
this. My god, I'm sorry. I'm done.
50:20
Well, I I this is the right thing to
50:23
say. He's saying the right thing. If
50:25
they follow through on this, and I don't
50:28
know because Chris Cox does say a lot of
50:30
things. Um in Hasbro's latest earning
50:33
call, Cox, which is only a couple months
50:35
ago, I think maybe a month ago, uh
50:37
talked about how AI is being used to uh
50:42
to help with uh product ideas and just
50:46
and how successful it was. He did say at
50:48
the time that people make the decisions
50:51
and people own the creative outcomes,
50:55
>> but he was stressing how embedded AI was
50:59
in just operations and really pushed how
51:03
successful that was and how helpful that
51:05
was. Um, so it is good to hear him going
51:09
from saying that to saying, "But we
51:12
recognize that some audiences
51:15
don't like AI and we aren't using AI in
51:17
those products." I hope they follow
51:18
through on that because AI is just
51:22
terrible at creative content. This is
51:24
not There are some things you could use
51:26
this technology for that make a lot of
51:28
sense that it's good at. Creative
51:30
content is not one of those things. And
51:32
people keep trying to use it for
51:33
creative content. And what you wind up
51:35
for is art that's derivative. Writing
51:38
that's derivative. And
51:41
it's just not interesting. And companies
51:45
keep pushing for this cuz, you know,
51:46
it's cheaper to do than hiring artists
51:48
and writers, but the content it
51:49
generates is so subpar and mediocre. So,
51:53
I I really really hope they follow
51:57
through on this and keep telling
51:58
original stories, producing original
52:01
art.
52:02
>> Oh, man. All right. Well, we're going to
52:04
move on from that, I think.
52:07
Um, so, Phil, you found this one, which
52:09
I think is also interesting. Matt and I
52:10
have talked about this in the past on
52:12
Lore Watch, actually. Um, that there was
52:14
an official Magic the Gathering RPG
52:16
being developed by Watsi in the late
52:18
90s. Um, and Jonathan Tweet is
52:21
apparently auctioning off the draft
52:22
manuscripts uh to raise money for
52:25
Planned Parenthood
52:27
>> slash has auctioned it off. Yeah, the uh
52:29
there were actually quite a few posts
52:30
about it on his blue sky where he just
52:33
kind of ran it as a silent auction. But
52:35
>> yeah, um the list of designers here,
52:38
it's uh Tim Beachch, uh Tessman
52:41
Woodruff, Wolf Gang Bar, uh and Jonathan
52:45
Tweet, uh developed a unpublished,
52:47
unannounced 1996 Magic RPG called
52:50
Manatorm.
52:51
>> Yep.
52:51
>> Um and apparently Jonathan Tweet just
52:54
had it in a binder and auctioned it off
52:57
to raise money for Planned Parenthood.
53:00
and it raised $1,87272
53:04
for Planned Parenthood.
53:06
>> Uh so you can you can actually see on
53:09
his Blue Sky account, Jonathan tweet.
53:12
Sky.social,
53:14
there's lots of looks at it. It's very
53:17
much a draft game. These are like
53:18
printed out three hole punch things in
53:20
binders, but you can definitely get like
53:23
a cool look at a uh a game in progress.
53:26
Although it did have cover art, which I
53:27
think is kind of cool. Look, everything
53:29
is uh um the version 4.1 March 4, 1996.
53:34
So, they've been working on this thing
53:35
for a while. Um yeah, just a fun tidbit
53:38
that turned up this week.
53:40
>> I wish I would have seen this earlier
53:42
cuz I 1,000% would have bid probably two
53:46
and a half grand on this.
53:49
>> Yeah, he I I guess he only ran the
53:51
auction for a couple days. U but they um
53:55
>> yeah it's very it looks like some parts
53:57
of the rules actually looked like it was
53:59
also going to be deck based which makes
54:00
sense based on you know Magic the
54:02
Gathering um and apparent although I
54:04
will note he is selling a lot of his
54:06
other uh unpublished stuff uh to again
54:09
still raise more money for Planned
54:10
Parenthood and uh because I believe he
54:13
is moving into a newer newer smaller
54:15
home and trying to downsize his
54:17
collection. So
54:18
>> convenient.
54:19
>> I know
54:19
>> it's a win-win.
54:20
>> Yep. I I also think it's interesting to
54:23
see just because I remember back in late
54:27
90s uh I think there was I think it was
54:30
it was either Dungeons magazine or
54:31
Dragons magazine that had a whole series
54:33
of articles that released about like
54:37
doing ma like Magic the Gathering stuff
54:39
in terms of Dn D and it was really
54:42
fascinating and I'm wondering how much
54:44
of this like was an archetype or
54:46
prototype for those articles. So, I'm I
54:50
man, that's awesome. Makes me super
54:52
happy. And I want to move on to another
54:54
topic here that Phil found. And uh yeah,
54:57
Exodus Tabletop apparently is getting a
54:59
physical print. What's going on with
55:00
this one? Yeah, I guess I can finally
55:02
remove my watch on eBay for uh copies of
55:05
it to turn up for god knows how much. Um
55:08
Renegade Game Studios, not Watsi.
55:10
Renegade Game Studios announced at Gamma
55:14
that they will later this year be
55:16
publishing the Exodus Travelers Handbook
55:17
and the Exodus Creature Catalog for the
55:19
RPG in August. And then it sounds like
55:22
they're actually going to continue
55:24
publishing the Exodus line. Um, which
55:27
means that the Watsi owned Archetype
55:29
Entertainment uh is working with another
55:33
company to produce this role playing
55:35
game based on the upcoming sci-fi RPG uh
55:39
headed by James Olan. So,
55:43
>> it's interesting because
55:44
>> confusing.
55:45
Yeah, for people for people who missed
55:47
our pre for people who missed our
55:48
previous rants about this essentially
55:51
they kind Watsi I guess co-owns this
55:54
archetype entertainment company which
55:56
has been producing a sci-fi RPG think
55:59
like Mass Effect scale maybe bigger um
56:02
headed by James Olen who was previously
56:04
part of Mass Effect of designing that
56:06
game and they produced a physical RPG
56:11
and if you didn't buy it in that first
56:13
like release it has never been reprinted
56:15
and there's been no info on when it
56:17
would ever go back on sale. And it is
56:19
the first actual look at the universe
56:22
for the game in question. Um, and we've
56:24
been, you know, we've kind of banged the
56:26
drum of where is this game when we get
56:27
this game again. And I was not joking
56:30
when I said I had an eBay watch set up
56:32
for the books to show up. Um, and yeah,
56:36
it's just interesting to see a company
56:38
owned by Watsi go to a company that's
56:40
not Watsi to produce a game. I I want to
56:44
I want to throw I want to throw this out
56:45
there though because Renegade is is a
56:47
known name in the space. So Renegade
56:50
>> as a TTRPG
56:52
uh production company as well as they do
56:54
miniature games as well has partnered
56:56
with Hasbro games uh for a long time at
56:59
this point. Um they are the ones that
57:01
have produced things like My Little Pony
57:03
role playing game, G.I. Joe, Power
57:05
Rangers
57:06
um and the Transformers role playing
57:08
games using their systems. Yeah. Um, so
57:12
like they're used to partnering up with
57:14
it. And so this kind of makes a little
57:15
bit of sense uh because of them already
57:19
having that relationship with Hasbro and
57:21
Hasbro really kind of just wanting to be
57:23
an IP factory at this point. Um, they
57:26
also have an interesting pedigree with
57:27
them as well talking about the quality
57:28
of games cuz the Power Rangers and
57:30
Transformers games are absolutely
57:31
phenomenal. I have not played the G.I.
57:32
Joe game, but it's the same system so
57:34
I'm sure it's absolutely wonderful as
57:36
well. Uh but they also do the current
57:38
iterations of Vampire the Masquerade uh
57:40
as well as Werewolf the Apocalypse. They
57:43
also have one for Hunter the Reckoning I
57:46
think is also in production. Uh they do
57:47
the Welcome to Nightvale game. Uh so if
57:49
you're a fan of Welcome to Nightvale,
57:50
there's a game for it and they do it.
57:52
And they also do Kids on Bikes. So like
57:54
they have a solid role playing pedigree
57:58
um that is just really cool. And they
58:00
also have these series of books called
58:01
primers, uh, which we've talked about in
58:04
the past, which are like, uh, source
58:07
books for very specific niche things.
58:10
So, do you want to be a geologist in a
58:12
role playing game? Here's a primer on
58:14
how to be a geologist in a role playing
58:15
game. Uh, you want to be an herbalist
58:17
uh, in a role playing game, here's a
58:19
primer on how to do that. You want to be
58:21
a micologist, here you go. Uh, that
58:24
one's on pre-order, I think, right now.
58:26
But like they they make these incredibly
58:28
cool niche products that remind me a lot
58:30
of and I'm sure Phil will remember this
58:33
from back in the day. Uh when third
58:35
edition and 3.5 were out, you had a lot
58:37
of like third party companies doing
58:38
specifically these types of books. Like
58:40
the original Draco Nomicon was not done
58:43
by or sorry the original mass market
58:46
Draco Nomicon was not done by Watsi. Uh,
58:49
it was done by a third party who
58:51
produced a book about dragons and odd
58:53
color dragons and gem dragons that
58:55
wizards wouldn't do at the time. Um,
58:59
this is where the unofficial original
59:01
Diablo stuff came from and all these
59:02
other things. Like there was a plethora
59:04
of them, but they also had things like
59:06
recreations of first edition books that
59:09
Wizards and Hasbro just never wanted to
59:12
do. So like you used to have the Fighter
59:14
Handbook in first edition. Well, in 3.5
59:18
during that time frame, uh I think it
59:20
was Green Ronin at the time produced a
59:22
whole series of books that recreated
59:24
that with the kits and specializations
59:26
for 3.5. So like here's the monk one
59:29
where that's where the drunken master
59:31
came from and the elemental fist and all
59:33
this other stuff. So it's cool that
59:36
Renegades doing that now and that they
59:38
have that pre-existing relationship. see
59:40
this comes full circle to that uh third
59:42
party integration that that they they
59:44
should be doing with the role playing
59:45
stuff. Uh so I don't know, makes makes
59:48
perfect sense to me. I like it.
59:49
>> Yeah, I remember that one of the best uh
59:51
lines that I liked out of 3.5 was before
59:53
we got a Ravenloft adaptation for third
59:55
edition, uh Whitewolf had their dark
59:57
fantasy sword and sorcery line. Uh, I
1:00:00
think that may have actually literally
1:00:01
been called Sword and Sorcery, which was
1:00:04
just wildly cool, darker than anything
1:00:06
you would get in, you know, base D and D
1:00:07
at that time.
1:00:08
>> Oh, yeah.
1:00:09
>> Of course, the the base editions were
1:00:10
just kind of, you know, the,
1:00:12
>> you know, just the generic setting. It
1:00:14
wasn't it was it wasn't even fully
1:00:15
Greyhawk. It was just kind of extremely
1:00:17
generic. So, I just thought it was
1:00:19
interesting that they that they do that
1:00:21
the greater companies sometimes seem to
1:00:22
forget, oh yeah, we have this money
1:00:24
factory that already makes RPGs. But
1:00:26
maybe they asked the uh the Exodus AI
1:00:28
what where who should they should talk
1:00:29
to about publishing the Exodus RPG.
1:00:34
>> But
1:00:34
>> they could have asked Peppa Pig.
1:00:36
>> They could have asked Peppa Pig. But
1:00:37
regardless of how this gets out there,
1:00:39
I'm just glad that this RPG hasn't, you
1:00:42
know, been shot out into the world and
1:00:43
seen End of Life. Maybe we can, you
1:00:45
know, get a hold of it someday soon.
1:00:48
August, it sounds like. So,
1:00:50
>> well, it's going to be an instant
1:00:51
purchase for me. That's that's all I
1:00:53
know.
1:00:53
>> Yeah, I'm I'm not risking it. I'm not
1:00:55
I'm not missing it this time.
1:00:56
>> No, no, no, I am not. Uh, speaking of
1:00:59
some other books that are coming out
1:01:00
that people might be interested in, just
1:01:02
uh to quickly uh move it in, um,
1:01:05
Children of Time, which is a science
1:01:07
fiction novel from 2015 that you may
1:01:08
have read uh from AdrienChaikowski,
1:01:12
um, is getting a TTRPG book, uh, which
1:01:16
is really kind of cool. It's a the story
1:01:20
uh about it is essentially humans
1:01:22
escaping a dying earth coming collision
1:01:25
with uh another species essentially and
1:01:28
are trying to figure out what to do.
1:01:30
It's it's that old chestnut. Um but it
1:01:33
did win an Arthur C. Clark award for
1:01:35
best science fiction novel in 2016 and
1:01:38
it is a very interesting book and I
1:01:41
think it's really cool that it is
1:01:42
getting a game set in that universe of
1:01:46
where artificial intelligence is not
1:01:49
necessarily your friend and it seems
1:01:51
like this is appropriate timing for a
1:01:53
book like this. Just saying. Um I'm
1:01:57
super excited about that and I'm looking
1:01:58
forward to more information about that
1:02:00
as it gets closer. And then the last one
1:02:02
that I want to mention before we get to
1:02:03
the Kickstarter roundup uh is that you I
1:02:06
mean you want to punch Nazis, you wanna
1:02:08
you want to punch them in their
1:02:09
futuristic faces. Well, I got good news
1:02:11
for you, man.
1:02:13
>> Every day, man.
1:02:14
>> Uh Wolfenstein is getting an official
1:02:16
tabletop role playing game, which I
1:02:18
think is about time.
1:02:21
>> Um so it's
1:02:25
not much is known about it beyond that.
1:02:27
It's being produced by Modifius. Uh
1:02:29
Modifius is the uh the minds behind
1:02:32
Dune, Fallout, Star Trek Adventures, the
1:02:34
tabletop role playing games uh which
1:02:36
uses a 2D20 system uh which is very good
1:02:40
at doing cinematic combat sequences
1:02:44
which is perfect for a Wolfenstein role
1:02:46
playing. Uh I think that's really cool.
1:02:49
I think that's really neat. Uh and this
1:02:51
is also going to be probably an instant
1:02:53
purchase for me cuz man do I need this
1:02:56
in my life.
1:02:59
Oh, I don't know if you guys have
1:03:01
anything to add to that. Otherwise, I'm
1:03:02
going to kick it over to to Phil and
1:03:05
have him take it through the Kickstarter
1:03:06
roundup,
1:03:07
>> but we can actually throw Wolfenstein in
1:03:09
there because their crowdfunding
1:03:10
campaign launches in fall 2026, so look
1:03:14
forward to.
1:03:15
>> Yep. Just grabbed a few interesting
1:03:17
Kickstarters that I saw here. Uh we
1:03:20
already mentioned the Godzilla role
1:03:21
playing game from IDW. Uh that one ends
1:03:25
on April 2nd. uh fully funded already.
1:03:28
Uh we mentioned, well, Liz mentioned in
1:03:31
a prior episode the adaptation of Naomi
1:03:33
Novik's Terrare series about the uh what
1:03:36
if dragons were in the Napoleonic Wars.
1:03:39
So, uh that one is fully funded ends in
1:03:43
on March 26th. Uh, that one sounds
1:03:46
really cool, including rules for playing
1:03:47
as a dragon, not just for being the I
1:03:50
believe the I believe the central
1:03:52
characters in those, it's mentioned in a
1:03:53
few places, are the British, like the
1:03:54
British Air Force, except you know, they
1:03:56
have dragons this time. So, you can both
1:03:58
play as characters and as we're talking
1:04:00
dragons big enough to like like airship
1:04:03
carrierized dragons. Like, it it this is
1:04:05
what you're carrying your army around
1:04:07
on. So, that's going to be interesting
1:04:09
to see how they handle that. But, I
1:04:11
trust Magpie. Um, and also that also
1:04:14
means it's just going to be a lavishly
1:04:15
decorated affair. I'm all the extras
1:04:18
look really nice.
1:04:19
>> I want it.
1:04:20
>> Uh, yeah, I I also want it. I I've
1:04:23
actually picked up Terrar, the first
1:04:25
Terrar book. I haven't started reading
1:04:26
it yet, but I' I'm interested in this
1:04:28
series now because this is kind of a I
1:04:30
really like alternate history as a genre
1:04:34
conceptually, but so much of it is just
1:04:36
what if the Nazis won, and I don't
1:04:37
really need to read about that. Um, so
1:04:40
this is just, you know, what if dragons
1:04:42
were around in the Napoleonic Wars era
1:04:44
is actually something interesting to me.
1:04:46
But, uh, we'll move on to another one
1:04:48
here. Beyond the Woods, uh, which is
1:04:50
actually an Irish in Irish mythology
1:04:52
inspired campaign setting for the
1:04:54
recently fully released Legend in the
1:04:56
Mist. Uh, 600% funded. It ends on March
1:05:01
26th. Um, this has actually been getting
1:05:03
plugged by Son of Oak, who are not
1:05:05
producing this. This is a I believe this
1:05:07
is the second third party setting I've
1:05:09
seen for Legend in the Mist. Um a game
1:05:12
that is still waiting for the printers
1:05:13
to send to ship the books to the US. So,
1:05:17
uh lot of excitement around that. We've
1:05:18
we played it on uh Tavern Watch a while
1:05:21
back. Go back and find that. It was a
1:05:22
big success, I thought. Um I've been
1:05:24
kind of toying with running it again
1:05:26
because you know what I need is another
1:05:27
game to run.
1:05:29
>> Oh, yeah.
1:05:30
>> Yeah. Obviously, um the uh AGOT is
1:05:34
funding a third edition of 7th C, a
1:05:38
classic role playing game uh created by
1:05:39
John Wick, not that John Wick. Um this
1:05:42
one is also extremely funded and ends
1:05:44
April 10th. 7th Sea is kind of a uh
1:05:48
let's call it a cinematic swashbuckling
1:05:50
heroic TTRPG set on not quite Earth. Um
1:05:54
and it's
1:05:55
>> I believe
1:05:56
>> Yeah, Thea. Yes. And uh this one also
1:05:58
offers like a few different ways to play
1:06:00
which I thought was cool. There's one
1:06:01
which is kind of the you know the
1:06:03
standard way of playing 7C and there's
1:06:05
one that delves more to the magical side
1:06:07
of it and one that gets more into like
1:06:08
mad science and technological
1:06:10
advancement in tea. It's a really cool
1:06:13
uh idea to do it. Uh one of my favorite
1:06:15
gimmicks from the second edition is that
1:06:17
since you are a hero uh you cannot die
1:06:20
unless you choose to. And if you choose
1:06:21
to it will be for an interesting and
1:06:23
meaningful reason. kind of a cool way to
1:06:25
handle being a hero. Uh it's also worth
1:06:28
noting that the previous edition a
1:06:30
decade ago was the first million-dollar
1:06:32
TTRPG Kickstarter. So there's there's a
1:06:36
fun fact for you.
1:06:37
>> Uh Blade 68 uh just finished its run on
1:06:39
backer kit. Liz talked about that.
1:06:41
>> Uh advances the timeline in the Duskfall
1:06:45
setting of Blades in the Dark to the
1:06:46
year 968 and presents it as kind of a
1:06:48
retro futuristic 1960s style lens. So,
1:06:52
like you've still got, you know, your
1:06:53
weird technology in DOSS call. You've
1:06:55
still got ghosts wandering around, but
1:06:57
you've also got like, you know,
1:06:58
everything is mod and retro looking and
1:07:00
kind of cool. I know Liz is very excited
1:07:02
about this. I don't think there's any
1:07:04
way we'll get away from running that.
1:07:06
Uh,
1:07:07
>> well, I mean, the only way we'll get
1:07:09
away from running that is if it's just
1:07:12
difficult to run.
1:07:14
>> Well, I think like so I' I've stated
1:07:17
before for the record. I think the first
1:07:18
edition of Blades was really rough at
1:07:20
telling you how to run Blades as a game.
1:07:22
I think that every Bladesbased game that
1:07:24
has come out since then has improved on
1:07:25
that.
1:07:26
>> Yeah,
1:07:26
>> I I have no doubt that Blade 68 probably
1:07:28
incorporates some of those changes.
1:07:31
They're
1:07:32
>> Oh, definitely.
1:07:33
>> Uh Atron Games recently funded a game
1:07:35
called Pumpkin Spice based on an artist
1:07:38
Sims Simz. Uh 13,000% funded over €1
1:07:44
million.
1:07:46
A cozy magical RPG game with a Kiki's
1:07:49
Delivery Service vibe set in a modern
1:07:51
witch run c coffee shop where you were
1:07:53
running a coffee shop and also
1:07:54
protecting a fountain of magic from
1:07:56
those who would do it harm. Uh that this
1:08:00
one I I got non-stop advertisements for
1:08:02
this in my social media feeds. uh uh
1:08:06
campaign is over, but they're still
1:08:07
taking late pledges. And also, Idols of
1:08:11
the Neon Dark, which if uh you want to
1:08:14
play, uh K-pop Demon Hunters uh RPG,
1:08:17
here you go. That's that's pretty much
1:08:19
what this is.
1:08:20
>> Also, massively funded like uh I think
1:08:23
the goal was like 13,000 and we're
1:08:25
sitting at like 130,000. Like it it
1:08:28
Yeah,
1:08:30
>> I am not surprised at all. Yeah.
1:08:31
$129,000 out of a $13,000 goal. Uh and
1:08:36
it still goes to April 9th. Yeah. Uh pop
1:08:38
idols fighting monsters in a neon city
1:08:40
compatible with DND 5e.
1:08:43
Also, there is a uh very cool baby
1:08:46
dragon 3D printed model that you can get
1:08:48
if you uh back it early. So, and that is
1:08:51
just a small roundup of things that we
1:08:54
found on Kickstarter this week. Y'all
1:08:56
got anything that we didn't get in the
1:08:57
notes that you want to plug from there?
1:08:58
Uh, from Kickstarter, Backer Kit, or
1:09:00
anywhere else?
1:09:01
>> No, because I'm already out of I've
1:09:02
spent enough money this week. And, uh, I
1:09:05
don't need anymore. And like, so I mean,
1:09:08
I'm not going to lie, I I selfishly, and
1:09:11
maybe not so selfishly, but mostly
1:09:12
selfishly, use the store as a way to do
1:09:15
some of this stuff because a lot of
1:09:16
these have like retailer levels. And uh
1:09:20
Yeah. Yeah.
1:09:21
>> Look, it it just makes sense. You get
1:09:23
you get what you want. The store gets
1:09:24
product that they can sell. Everybody
1:09:26
wins.
1:09:27
>> It's a win-winwin.
1:09:28
>> I see no harm in that. Yeah. So, the
1:09:31
good news is a lot of these are either
1:09:33
ending within the next month or there's
1:09:35
and we know there's more coming next
1:09:37
year. So, I like to think of these as a
1:09:40
uh a gift to my future self. Uh unless
1:09:42
you back the Neopets RPG, in which case
1:09:44
I'm sorry.
1:09:47
>> Lots.
1:09:48
>> It sounded promising, but here we are.
1:09:51
And yet here we are. Well, I think
1:09:53
that's
1:09:55
>> sometimes that's how it goes. Sometimes
1:09:57
that's how it goes with Kickstarter.
1:09:58
>> Well, I think that's going to do it for
1:10:00
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