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It's the beginning of one year and the end of the next here on Tavern Watch, and so we're both looking back with fond remembrance on the games we played this year (including the ones we played on Tavern Watch Plays, which you should check out!) and the ones due to come out next year. Liz was particularly pleased and surprised by Legend in the Mist, a statless rustic fantasy RPG. Matt played a lot of solo mythical create-your-own-god game Deify this year, but also is still thinking about that game of Masks we played (me too, Matt, me too). Joe had a great time with Rebel Scum, which is part of a lineage of games that really lower the barrier of entry on the rules and let you get straight into telling cool stories with your friends, and is hoping to get to play Cohors Cthulhu -- the Roman Empire meets cosmic horror, sounds good to me! And, a lot of games crossed Phil's table this year, including the phenomenally weird Triangle Agency and the tactical crunchy cinematic action of Draw Steel, but it's really Fabula Ultima that lives in his head rent-free.
But it's not all nostalgia. In current events, we discuss Wizards of the Coast's light 2026 schedule, James Ohlen leaving Archetype Entertainment to become a tabletop game consultant for WotC directly, Ed Greenwood's new independent Forgotten Realms project, a general sci-fi toolkit coming to 5th Edition in the form of Dark Matter, and we're wondering whether a video game about a single class (and from a studio with a shaky reputation) can be a satisfying experience. I guess we'll see! Kickstarters are still going strong into 2026, too; a whole passel of them funded around the end of the year (including Thundercats, which funded fully in one minute). MCDM has funded an entire year's worth of content with their Crack the Sun crowdfunding campaign, and we're all mesmerized by Fomoria, which is funding in the near future and really needs to be seen for its striking art style and dark fantasy story.
Last but definitely not least, we pay brief tribute to the passing of Tim Kask, TSR's first employee back in the 80s. Tim was not just part of this burgeoning industry we love in its infancy, but also a person who continued to be funny, opinionated, and inclusive right up until the end -- who could ask for anything more?
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:29
Well Bet traveler, welcome to the tavern. Did you know that this magical place is
0:35
where more than half of history's greatest adventures have begun?
0:40
Before those adventurers took their first steps, they watched and calculated who would join their party.
0:47
See that barbarian over there? He hails from the frozen lands. Strong, mighty,
0:52
and full of wisdom. I've closed many a nights with that one. They call
0:58
themselves Matt Rossy. To the right over there, that woman working on her tinkers and mechanical
1:04
devices, an artificer of great skill. She is cunning and quick, and I've seen
1:10
her bounce a fair share of narrative wells out of here before I could even step out from behind the bar. She's
1:15
known as Liz Harper. And that gentleman by the hearth with a pile of tomes. Rumor has it that he is a
1:23
powerful wizard full of arcane secrets. But around here, most just call him the professor. Me? I know them to be Phil
1:30
Orch. Oh, me. I'm Joe Perez. I'll be your
1:36
tavern keeper. Welcome to Tavern Watch.
1:41
Hello everyone and welcome to Tavern Watch, our round table free form discussion about tabletop and all
1:48
tabletop adjacent things. I am one of your hosts on this adventure, Joe Perez.
1:53
And joining me is uh as always, Matt Rossy. How you doing, Matt? I am I am always I am always here except
2:02
when I'm not. All right. And then also joined with us as always is Liz Harper. Howdy. And oh, and a permanent addition that I
2:11
am very happy about joining us is Phil Orch. How you doing, Phil? Yay. I'm finally not a guest star. Hi.
2:17
All right. Well, it's been 8,000 years. At least that's what it feels like in
2:22
this last year. Uh so I guess we're going to start with a couple a couple things. Well, first of all, normally I'd
2:28
ask what you're reading, what you're playing, or what you're looking forward to. Um but if there's anything you want
2:33
to plug in that range, go ahead. But really, I'm really curious over this past year, did you have something that
2:39
you think that was your favorite or your standout from 2025? I'll start with Liz. I mean, it's it's been such a very long
2:46
year. Um, you know, the game that really that came out and surprised me and I really
2:52
enjoyed was the uh Son of Oak Legend in Mist or Legends in Mist.
2:58
Okay. Legends in Mist. Yes. Um, just because it was it was such
3:03
an interesting take on character building and roleplaying because it's
3:09
you don't have like a character sheet that you're of the kind you're used to. you assign yourself different kinds of
3:16
traits like um I mean it could be something you have, it could be a personality trait, it could be a family
3:22
member or kind of connection and it's just you're just kind of going in there,
3:28
but it's all it all comes down to character and narrative. And I loved the
3:33
way it let you build your character just based on kind of tags that just say
3:39
different things about your character. And whenever you're doing something, you can call in any of these things to give
3:45
you, you know, a plus one or whatever if if you can convince your friendly GM
3:52
that they're actually relevant. And uh I thought it was just a such a fun, flexible system. And it was a fun system
3:59
to play. And I but the problem with having a fun flexible system is sometimes it has so few kind of
4:06
guidelines and guard rails that it's it can be a little hard to approach. So I did that was one of the ones that I had
4:12
a lot of trouble making a character for because I'm just like there were so many choices because the choices are
4:18
infinity. Uh but I did really enjoy it when I got into playing it. So I I'm
4:23
wondering if maybe we can fit another one of Son of Oak's games in this year because that was a that was a neat one.
4:29
Matt, did you guys pay attention to DFI this year? Nope. It was a solo RPG. It's kind of like a
4:36
creative writing exercise more than a straightforward uh RPG, but it's this
4:42
kind of weird cool straightup solo game where you can you create your own
4:48
character and then you explore a mythological world. Uh, I haven't gotten to play it exactly because I you know I
4:55
it's it's got right it's mostly like a lot of like you there's game mechanics for it, but there's it's based like on a
5:01
lot on writing prompts and it's sort of so much in my wheelhouse that I'm a little afraid to to do anything with it
5:09
just because I I you know I there's things I need to do like live. Um but yeah, no, it was really interesting and
5:15
not a kind of game I usually play. Um, in terms of games I ran this year,
5:22
uh, ran in. Um, we did a Masks game that I'm still I wish to God we I want to do
5:28
that game again. I I really loved that game. Um, so yeah, those are my thing.
5:34
And Phil, man, that masks game was good. I I do like that masks game. Um, I'd say
5:40
probably the I can't even remember if it was was it this year, was it 2025 that
5:45
we played Triangle Agency for the first time? I think it was early. This year was so long that I have
5:52
problems remembering what was actually this year. But yeah, like I've gotten to play so many good games this year and
5:58
it's made me very happy about the stuff that's popping up in the indie space. Things like Triangle Agency, things like
6:03
uh Liz talked about um uh Legend in the Mist, uh which is finally out now. Uh
6:08
the official book is done and in my hot little hands, not in physical form yet.
6:13
Um but now their campaign setting is starting to come out, Hearts of Ravenale. So very excited about some of that.
6:19
Um, got to play Draw Steel. Got to play it in real life. Um, think I may be
6:24
discovering the crunchy tactical RPGs aren't my favorite, but getting to try those. Um, but I think the one that's
6:30
really been my overall favorite now that I've gotten it to the table is uh, Fabula Ultima. I I can't It's the kind
6:38
of thing where I can't stop thinking about the game when I'm not playing the game. Um, which I figure is always a
6:44
good sign. [Laughter] Uh, as far as I was going to say as far as my part goes, um, honestly, I think
6:52
Rebel Scum, even though it didn't release this month or this year or this past year, is probably one of my favorites and most
7:00
standout ones, just because I really like the polymorph system. I like it more than I I think I thought I would.
7:06
Uh, I like it's in the same vein as Power by the Apocalypse for me where it's easy to to sort of wrap your head
7:13
around and just kind of like just play and do goofy things um and just have
7:18
fun. And I like games and and sort of reinforce what I already kind of knew I
7:25
was into, which is I like games that lower the barrier to entry for people.
7:30
Um, and then there's one that I didn't get to play this year that is on my list
7:36
that I read through the book because I thought it was an interesting idea. Uh,
7:41
which is Cohorse Cthulhu. And if anybody has I don't think we've talked about it here on the the the podcast or if we did
7:48
it was very brief. Um, it's what if Cthulhu, but instead of just being in the 30s, you were in the
7:54
the second age of the Roman Empire. Um, I remember this. Yeah. So, it's it's on my list because I
8:02
like Cthulhu. I like cosmic horror uh when it's done properly. And I like the
8:08
idea of taking away uh the the idea of like guns and 30s like sort of like hard
8:16
noir elements to it, which I I'm not opposed to, but again, cosmic horrors
8:22
have existed since the dawn of time, and this is like let's put it into another time and see what it goes with. Well,
8:28
plus I mean it's kind of funny that you're talking about that because you know what you made made me think of
8:34
Roberty Howard's Worms of the Earth, which is a Brian McMoran story. And the Worms of the Earth are a very
8:41
Lovecraftian I mean Lovecraft and and and Robert Howard knew each other, corresponded with each other, thought of
8:48
each other as friends, very different writers, but it it it's that's the thing you're making me think of when you say
8:54
this. You can do call the Cthulhu or a Cthulhu story with different periods of
9:00
time. Yes. Because they've always been here. So yeah, it reminds me of the uh the thing
9:06
it made me think of did uh was the uh the uh sing the singular Gamecube RPG
9:13
Eternal Darkness, which is a rec uh yes, the cosmic
9:18
cosmic horror all all over it. It's all over time. It's not just the 30s. like it starts in 200 AD, but the first
9:25
chapter specifically involves a Roman military commander uh sent to secure a
9:30
relic. Uh and there's cosmic horror stuff at play. Uh wonderful game. Uh so yeah, I like I I remember Cohor Cthulu
9:38
because it reminded me of that. So I'm Yep. I'm into it. If this shows up, Joe,
9:44
let's uh let's do this. If you want to run that, I'd definitely be interested in playing. I don't I I again I I I don't know if I'm ready to
9:50
run it, but it would definitely be something that uh it would definitely be on the docket of potential games that I would like to to to potent either play
9:56
or run it. We'll talk. We have a whole year and we're we're going to be talking about this later cuz we we have a lot of
10:02
games I think we'd want to play and or run. Um but I do want to kind of kick it on its side here and uh sort of look to
10:09
the future. And there's a lot coming out in 2026 or at least supposed to come out
10:15
in 2026. Uh at least that's on paper. Uh barring any push backs or or anything
10:21
like um one of which actually got moved up and got released already as opposed to uh waiting to be released. It was
10:28
wasn't supposed to be out until 2026, but Fantasy Star released in 2025. Go figure. Um so we'll see.
10:34
Yeah, I was I freaked out when I saw that. Uh straight up freaked out. I I did not know it released and I was very
10:40
surprised to to to see that. Uh which may I may may or may not have immediately purchased a copy of the PDF.
10:46
Um but what do you we'll start from the topical Liz first. Like is there something in particular that you're
10:52
looking forward to in 2026? Uh whether it's a game that's releasing or a game that you are eager to play?
10:59
Well, that's the thing I'm always eager to play. You know, the thing about
11:04
tabletop gaming is you're eager to hang out with your friends in some kind of weird fantasy world and just do fun
11:09
stuff that you can't do in real life. So, any game sounds good. I'm really looking forward to see more of Fall in
11:16
London, which Magpie is making. They did a successful Kickstarter early last year, but the game does not have a
11:23
release date. We saw uh quick uh quick start and uh sample adventure
11:29
uh quite a while back and haven't heard a whole lot recently. I'm I'm hoping we
11:35
hear more or perhaps have a game release in 2026. I'm I'm just keeping my fingers crossed
11:42
right now. All right, Matt. Oh god. Um, I first off, uh, I I really
11:49
at some point want to run Fallout like with I've got the Fallout rules. I've gone through them several times. I'd
11:56
like to run a Fallout game. Uh, I wouldn't mind playing a lot of fun. Yeah, I wouldn't mind playing one, but
12:01
I'd like to run one, especially since I've lived in places that almost feel like they should they should have a
12:07
Fallout game set in them. Uh, places that just are weird or, you know, can be
12:13
weird. uh between all the Lovecrafty and stuff and the fact that they did set a game in Boston, I wouldn't do one in
12:19
Rhode Island. Uh just because I mean it's right there. Um but like the fact
12:24
that there's never been a Fallout New York or the last time we saw Chicago was in Fallout Tactics. Lots of stuff you
12:31
could do. Uh I I did hope I'd mentioned out gun superheroes. Did I mention that? That was going to be the one I was going
12:37
to mention or at least one of them. So yeah, you can go ahead and go, you go and talk about it more, but
12:42
that's definitely one I we played a an Outgunned adventures one, didn't we? We did. Or was it?
12:47
No, that was this year. Yeah, it was this year. My the the the legally legally distinct
12:53
Uncharted Tomb Raider uh game that I ran for you guys. Um I I always I think of it as Raiders,
12:59
man. I'm I'm too old to think of it as new stuff. You're you're you're fine. Um, no. I I the It's funny you mentioned it because
13:05
it is one of the things that I'm really excited for because uh I think the last update was two weeks ago. If you backed
13:10
it on backer uh on backer kit, they released it where they fulfillment everything seems to be going as planned.
13:16
Physical uh production is going according to plan. They don't see any delays in it. So, it is going to be the
13:21
people that backed it are obviously getting it first. Um so, that should be heading out relatively soon. Uh, and
13:27
then we'll have a physical copy available for purchase likely before the end of the year for everybody else,
13:33
which is really, really cool. Um, because again, Outgun is this really it
13:38
is technically a agnostic system. Um, but it really is storytelling and and
13:46
movie action cinema play oriented. It's a really neat system. that's very
13:51
forgiving for the players, but like gives you some interesting consequences, like I don't know, having a weird Viking
13:57
ship that's been preserved in ice for absolute millennia. Uh just tumble over upside down. Uh but the the interesting
14:06
thing that I thought was the last update said that the action flick volume 3, which is uh action flicks are the sort
14:12
of like the uh they're like books of like miniature campaigns. like they give you sort of
14:19
like outlines on how to do like different movie types and stuff like that. Uh it will be available uh first
14:25
to backers on January 16th, which then means shortly after that it will likely be available for purchase. Uh which is
14:32
really really cool too. And that's going to have uh a very small or like slight
14:39
update that allows you to run uh outgun superheroes without having outgun
14:44
superheroes. So I'm looking forward to that as well. I mean, even the cover is literally a person walking down the
14:50
street ripping off their uh their shirt to reveal a, you know, superheroes crop
14:56
top shirt. So, they know their audience. But, yeah, I'm looking I'm looking forward to that quite a bit. Uh, the
15:02
other ones that I'm looking forward to that I I want to mention real quick, and we talked about them, I'm really excited
15:08
to see uh the Ghost in the Shell game release. It's on my list very very specifically.
15:13
um as well as the Godzilla game because I'm really curious how that game's going to play out and what it's going to be
15:20
like. Um I'm really watching those. Like
15:26
I would play either of these things. I I have a feeling you would play almost anything I invited you.
15:31
Uh yeah. Yeah, actually that's true. So that's just how much we like you as a GM, Joe.
15:36
Uh I don't know about that. But Phil, speaking of good GMs, what do you got? What do you got? What do you got? Well,
15:43
because it is so hard to hold all these things in your head sometimes, I have opened up Ean World's list of the most
15:48
anticipated TTRPGs of 2026, and I am all excited all over again for this year. Uh
15:54
2026, we have a new version of Apocalypse World coming. Apocalypse World Burned Over. I cannot wait.
16:01
Uh the third edition of Seventh Sea is due out this year. Um maybe more out of
16:06
uh the new version of the cipher system, which is another uh great one. Uh, maybe more out of morbid curiosity than
16:12
anything, the Diablo RPG is allegedly releasing this year. I will believe that when I see it.
16:17
It's funny, it's funny you say that because if you Google it, Glass Cannons,
16:23
uh, the studios making it Glass Cannon Unplugged, their website comes up first for Diablo Tabletop RPG. But it's funny
16:29
because the results listed are a post from 2023 that says, "The gates of hell open in 2024, Diablo Tabletop." followed
16:35
immediately by a post that says, "The gates of hell open in 2025, Diablo tabletop." So, I'm waiting for them to
16:41
add their the gates of hell opened in 2026, Diablo tabletop, and then maybe release the thing. Um, let's see.
16:49
Um, I know that there is also one that I was excited about that I think might not
16:54
actually make it out this year. Um, we've talked in previous episodes about Sword World finally getting an English
17:00
translation. um they have finally put their page up on on backer kit so you can follow it
17:05
and get ready for the crowdfunding campaign but unfortunately that is not starting until May which says we may not
17:11
see that in physical form until 2027. I'm hopeful it'll move a little faster
17:16
since it's a translation and not them designing a whole new game and maybe this delay is because they're uh working
17:22
with the original developers to like already have some of this ready to go. Um, but like yeah, I think those three
17:29
are probably some of my top things looking forward to uh looking forward to going into next year. But I know there's
17:35
going to be stuff that comes out that just completely surprises me this year and that's always fun too. So
17:41
yeah, and I it's going to be interesting to see like what comes out of left field, too, cuz like there were a bunch of games that we've talked about in the
17:48
past that we had no idea were coming out. there was a little fanfare, a little little promotion, and then we just glombmed on to it because it was so
17:54
I mean 2026 hopefully will give us more uh exciting games and games to be excited about. At least that's my hope.
18:01
Uh and as for those of you at home, we are going to be scheduling or at least working on several new games uh coming
18:08
out this year as far as live plays go. We have quite a a laundry list of of
18:13
options available. Uh, and we're going to see what we can do about uh getting them out at least
18:19
uh hopefully we we'll I think our cadence is targeted to be once a month for uh yeah, three episodes every month
18:27
of a live play. So, I'm working on one right now. Hopefully, by the time you're listening to this, the uh all finishing
18:33
touches have already been done and they've been fired off to uh to our our powers that be for upload and uh your
18:39
enjoyment. But yeah, there's there's a bunch we're looking forward to and we'll probably be adding to that list as we go along and buy more books because I know
18:46
at least Phil and I have a a impulse control problem when it comes to books, especially when they're they're tabletop
18:52
role playing manuals. Collecting RPGs is a separate hobby from playing RPGs and I will maintain that.
18:58
It is true and I engage in both of them. Uh but let's get into some of the news cuz I mean while we have one to look
19:05
forward to, stuff still happened in the LA since the last time we talked. Uh, first up on the list is, well, a big old
19:12
goose egg of a question for Tabletop Space of what's going on with Wizards of the Coast in 2026.
19:18
At least from the D&D imprint, we don't have an idea. Uh, every book that
19:23
they've promised so far has been released. I don't think we're really waiting on anything else aside from
19:29
I think there's supposed to be a Greyhawk gadget at some point that hasn't released yet. And I think
19:34
that'd be interesting. And I think that's the last thing that they had even tangentially mentioned that hasn't either had press, a runway, or a release
19:42
date or literally any news since they announced it. Um, because there was a whole thing about the Forgotten Realm
19:48
Sword Co. stuff. They released those books. Uh, very pretty covers, by the way. Um, and then I have to stop you. I
19:54
have to stop you because you're ignoring one very important book that's coming out in March of this year. Drunks and
20:01
Dragons Crochet, a book of many patterns.
20:06
I Okay, I actually I actually did I actually I actually was looking at that
20:12
book earlier and but it's not a role playing game book. It's just I kind of wanted Okay.
20:17
It's also not published by Wizards of the Coast. It's Random House or Penguin.
20:22
Mhm. There are there are a couple books we know about, but I don't know exactly what they're like. There's one like a a
20:30
book of world building I think like on the like in May. Yeah, there's actually the players
20:35
workbook of epic adventures and the dungeon master's world book of work workbook of world that's the same thing. Those are not
20:42
being published by Wizards of the Coast. Supposedly there's a dragon I mean well supposedly and this is from
20:48
third party news sources right? Uh there's also the Dragon Lance Legends collector's edition which is supposedly
20:54
releasing. It's a reprint of the original Legends trilogy which was published 1985. Uh you should listen to
21:01
uh the latest Lore Watch if you want to hear more about that stuff because Matt and I talked about stuff like that. Um and I I I reread those in the last
21:07
couple years. They were a lot of fun, but you spend most of the time yelling at Tanis half elvin for being awful.
21:13
100%. He's a terrible protagonist. But yeah, other than that, like they haven't they've been pretty tight lipped
21:20
as far as their their tabletop side goes. at least either they don't have anything on the docket, which would be
21:25
very surprising, or they're waiting for some event or something to announce
21:30
them. And I don't know if there's an event coming up soon or not that they would they would be keen to announce it.
21:37
I mean, it's just interesting because Wizards of the Coast, the tabletop side of things, is kind of in a state of
21:43
flux. They've lost a lot of staff in the last year. They've lost some really big names in the last year. And I feel like
21:50
there's a lot of questions. Okay, what's next? And I'm I'm not going to be a doom and gloomer who's going to be like, ah,
21:57
D and D is dying, cuz I don't think it is. I don't think it's going to die, but things have definitely changed at
22:02
Wizards of the Coast in the past year. I was going to say they they definitely have. And uh on that same vein, I did do
22:09
want to add in here and I added as a sort of a note here that I wanted to wanted to add in because there's are a
22:14
lot of our listeners that do play Magic the Gathering that we have a road map for, right? like they've they've released an
22:20
entire year's worth of what's coming out and when uh for Magic the Gathering, including starting in 2 weeks with the
22:28
release of Lurin Eclipse, which is an in universe uh version of or in Magic's
22:34
universe version of like Asop's Fables and like folklore stuff. Um which is
22:41
highly anticipated. Uh, it's also going to be the first time that in I want to say almost two decades, might be longer,
22:49
um, that they're releasing, no, slightly less than two decades that they're actually releasing a physical novel of
22:56
the story of the set and in the universe, which they have. They used to do every
23:01
when they used to release sets, you used to be able to buy a box that came with packs, uh, a dice uh, for tracking your
23:08
life and then a copy of one of the novels. uh they took those out a long time ago. I want to say like 2007
23:15
six, something like that and they just never did them since and this is the first time that they're doing it. I'm
23:21
excited for that because I love physical books. I don't like reading web series when it comes to my lore. Um but I'm
23:26
excited for that. We know that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be coming out in March uh for Magic the Gathering.
23:32
Secrets of Stricks Haven, which is a return to Stricks Haven in universe, which if you've played the D and D
23:37
tabletop, it started as a Magic the Gathering setting. um and is we're returning to it now in April. Uh there's
23:44
a Marvel Superheroes Universes Beyond releasing in June. Uh there is a The
23:49
Hobbit Universes Beyond releasing in August. Reality Fracture, which is an in universe, uh unspecified thing that we
23:57
don't know quite what it is yet. We're thinking it's something like Time Spiral or Timeshifted. um which is going to be part of the
24:04
metronome story arc capstone which is they they they give these weird names to story arcs um that's in October and then
24:12
November we get the uh Star Trek Universes Beyond release which I'm super excited for. They're all in on that it
24:18
seems but the D and D stuff seems to be falling to the wayside and I'm I'm I'm interested to see what we get if
24:25
anything from yeah the other side of the house. My fingers are crossed for some of those uh recent unearthed arcas to
24:32
pay off. Give me a dark sun. Give me a dark sun book blizzard. Blizzard weird because Joe just
24:38
mentioned it. Joe just mentioned the Lwin stuff and they put out uh D beyond
24:44
put out a a book for Lwin. Yeah, because it was it was supposed to be it was supposed to be a full campaign setting at one point. Yeah. Not not just
24:51
a not just a little primer because L like Lurwin is one of the most beloved universes. So
24:57
yeah, it's just it's it's a little weird. I'm really hoping that, you know, you're you're right about that, Phil,
25:02
that we get a Dark Sun, but I am it it just it really strikes me like apparently according to stuff I've been
25:08
looking at, DND's market share has not decreased. In fact, they made a ton of money last year.
25:13
Uh no, Wizards made a ton of money, but it wasn't D and D. Um all I know is that they're doing
25:19
okay, and you would not know it from their publication history. It's very sporadic. like they published a lot of
25:26
stuff near the end of 2025, but it's also they haven't had a big
25:31
promo campaign. I feel like their recent books have gone out very quietly without
25:36
a lot of promo or excitement. So, that's been kind of a bummer because they have released some interesting stuff this
25:42
year. Yeah, that's I mean kind of where we're at, right? Like it's it's I'm I don't know. I I know that the Magic Division
25:49
is floating Wizards pretty heavily right now and it's floating most of Hasbro. Wizards is the only profitable division
25:55
that they have. Um, but I'm hope Phil's right because there's a lot of Unear Arcana stuff that we were talking about
26:01
that we're excited for and I'm wondering how much of it is tied up in figuring out licensing because a lot of the old
26:08
campaign stuff, especially from like the second edition days, uh, and before
26:14
that, the licensing for it, it it can be all over the place and who owns what
26:19
rights and to to which portions of it. Um, and Matt and I have talked about this before in the past when we talked
26:25
about like TSR and we did a whole deep dive on that. Uh, sometimes individuals
26:30
owned portions of something as opposed to like the company itself. And so while
26:36
the company may own the name of the setting, they couldn't do anything or wouldn't do anything or didn't do anything because they didn't own the
26:42
rights to do the other stuff. So, it's it's really complicated for uh older D&D stuff be just because of how slap dash
26:50
the uh company was about what contracts they offered in what they got people to
26:55
sign to them. Uh, I think that's the one that really comes to mind is The Lost City by Tom Mulde, which he owned like
27:02
he he they published it. He owned it and they that's one of the reasons they don't get to see it hasn't gotten reprinted since like 1988 when they put
27:09
it inside one of their uh big module compendiums because Mul owned it. They
27:15
had to go to him and say, "Hey, can we do this?" So, some of that has kind of happened with Eberon too, isn't it? or like you
27:21
know they Watsi has their official releases but then like Keith Baker has continued doing stuff outside but like
27:27
he has to publish it through DM's Guild rather than through Watsi. So well that's weird because you should
27:32
mention this. I was literally just going to that was a perfect segue. Uh which is interesting because Ed Greenwood is going to be
27:38
doing the same thing and again listen to the previous lore watch if you didn't. Um, Ed Greenwood is working on something
27:44
called Realmsbound, a series of deep dives into specific regions, uh, with four Forgotten Realms books planned
27:50
through for 2026. However, these are not official releases from Watsi. These are
27:56
going to be released directly through the DM's Guild, uh, which is a a fork of
28:01
drive-thru RPG essentially. Uh, and they're doing it as a Patreon, uh,
28:07
fueled endeavor, it looks like. So, that's going to be really interesting because Ed Greenwood is a major portion
28:15
of why the Forgotten Realms exists as the Forgotten Realms as we know it. Um,
28:20
yeah, it started as his D and D campaign before he even sold it to that to TSR at the time.
28:25
Yeah. So him him doing a a really big deep dive uh you know on that stuff with
28:31
you know the note here says set in the D lands which we didn't even really get to
28:36
talk a whole lot about the Dands and when we got to do our our last episode of stuff we haven't we haven't really seen the
28:42
Dale Lance and said Greenwood was working with TSR like since Wizards of the Coast has been doing it their focus has kind of shifted to the Sword Coast
28:48
instead. Yeah, I remember I I still have the I have the box set downstairs on my bookcase, the second edition Forgotten
28:54
Realms and like the book you Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The gray box. You'd think the Dale Lance was the most important part of the
29:00
Forgotten Realms cuz it's the bulk of the material in there. Of course, it's because it's where Ed Greenwood's self-insert super wizard Elminster
29:07
operates primarily, which I'm sure is part of it. Yeah. Not only that, but it's also where like the Elven Court is stationed. And I
29:13
think that's where uh Cormanthor Forest is and like there's there's a whole bunch of like really important things
29:19
that are there that we haven't really talked about or seen in a long time. So
29:25
yeah, I don't you know what's funny? Oh, go ahead. Listen. I mean, I like this as a concept because
29:31
it doesn't sound like these are going to be adventures in in the Forgotten Realms. It's not an adventure book. It's
29:38
well though actually now that I have the page up in front of me it says the three new adventures in it but it's it's focused on the region and telling you
29:45
about this place and so the first book is a guide to the dands then ins of the
29:50
dands and delves of the dale lands and adventures in the dale lands. So, the
29:56
last one's an adventure book, but it's focused on world building and places you
30:02
can take your characters and set your campaigns. And I think that's interesting because that's it feels like
30:09
sometimes in a game as big as Dn D where there are so many possible settings and
30:14
so many places you could go and places to start. It's like where you are in a
30:19
world kind of feels like it gets a little lost. And I thought the recent Forgotten Realms book that's that
30:26
Wizards released in 2025 was a really interesting idea because it's really digging in to here are the different
30:32
areas uh in the Forgotten Realms. Here's an area and setting that would be good for
30:39
this type of campaign. Here's an area that's So they it presented like there
30:45
are all these potential story hooks in the setting and it presented parts of
30:50
the setting that would be good for different things. And I think that's a really good thing because you can say,
30:56
"Oh, we're going to play D and D." But that can mean almost anything. The setting and where you're building out
31:02
your campaign is so important. And this project feels just really like it's digging into setting and this is where
31:09
you're going to have adventures. Not just let's go have an adventure, but this is the place you're going to have
31:15
an adventure. And there these are all the little interesting things in it. Well, that's one thing I will say is
31:20
like in in Phil and I know Matt will will remember this like those were things that were included in some of
31:27
like the old red box book or boxes that you would get of the adventure stuff. Um, and then when like they were
31:33
releasing Dark Sun and they were all individual little adventure things, uh, those packets had like if you were in a
31:40
new region, it gave you like this big deep dive into the region so you understand understood the world setting
31:47
or that specific region you were putting those players into. And that's always really welcome. And they they did do
31:53
that during throughout third edition, fourth edition. Some of fifth edition did that, but a lot of fifth edition was
32:00
uh predicated on this belief that you already knew these regions. And so like I remember reading like Rhyme of the
32:07
Frost Maiden and like there's a whole bunch of stuff just missing that like would have been potentially incredibly
32:13
relevant again. See the previous uh lore watch for why. Um
32:19
pug bug pug pug pug. I'm sorry. We we we had a really good good discussion about the Icewindale
32:24
trilogy. Hello lore watch audience. I think he's talking to you.
32:29
Yeah, this was this was kind of like when I was, you know, first getting into
32:34
the playing second edition. Like this was the MMO for most of their big releases was not giving you a fully
32:40
fleshed out campaign or even an adventure. It was giving you a place with hooks and character options and
32:47
then you kind of went from there. whereas it's kind of shifted over time to giving you like a fully fleshed out
32:53
adventure or series of adventures you can run with just the bare minimum of the setting that you can fill in around it. So, it's always nice to see for for
33:01
me personally, it's always kind of nice to see them, you know, drift a little back the other way. Give me some more setting info. Give me some hooks. Give
33:06
me things I can build on without necessarily just, you know, buying what you've done and running it as is. Give
33:12
me give me things that give me give me a sandbox I can play in myself is what I would say. I find myself wondering, and
33:18
I don't mean to be cynical, but you know, I am, so I'm not going to be able to stop at this point. I find myself
33:24
wondering if we're looking at the future for Wizards of the Coast, though. If instead of having a bunch of people on
33:30
staff that write products for them and do adventures and do settings and all
33:35
that stuff, if they're going to outsource a lot of it to people that have, you know, used to work for them or
33:44
work for them occasionally as a freelancer and, you know, between Keith
33:49
Baker who's been doing this for every Eberon release since the original one, like he did it for fourth edition, he
33:56
did it when fifth edition first came out and that's in 2014 and he's been doing it again recently. If now we're going to
34:02
have every time there's a Forgotten Realms, you know, push, Ed Greenwood is going to end up coming out and doing a
34:08
bunch of stuff. If you know, I don't Gary Gyax is dead and I have no idea who currently would be the one to do it. And
34:15
I hope it's not Luke. Um, but you know, they could there could eventually be a Greyhawk book like you talked about.
34:20
They put a Greyhawk map in these books. So maybe there was going to be a Greyhawk setting book
34:25
and do a deep dive. That's what the gadget was supposed to be. Like they mentioned it like it might have been even a year before last year, right?
34:32
Like they they mentioned doing something and you might be on to something there because and this is not me not I'm not
34:38
tinfoil hating. It's just from a business standpoint. It seems that that's the way Hasbro is making most of
34:45
their business decisions. Because at the end of the day, it's not necessarily Wizard's decision. It's Hasbro, the
34:51
parent company. But the parent company has is wanting to operate more like an
34:57
IP holder and outsource as much as possible for everything else it does. So
35:04
like GI Joe stuff from Hasbro is not really done by Hasbro anymore. It's done
35:09
by high-end third parties or integrations. Yes, they do release stuff, but they really don't release stuff like they used to. Uh they
35:16
outsource comics and media and everything else for them. Same thing with Power Rangers. Same thing with uh
35:22
Transformers. They do make the toys, but most of the important stuff or the stuff that people want is, you know, licensed
35:30
out or, you know, working with a third party to bring to life. It would make
35:35
sense that they would try to make wizards do that too because again,
35:41
there's been so much staff reduction, so many people that have left that company that it is almost untenable. We talked
35:49
about this when before the uh the new players handbook released of I'm I'm going to call it 5.5. Like I'm just
35:56
going to call it that. Yeah. Um that's terrible. Like before that released, how many
36:01
people got let go before it was fully done? And we didn't think that book was going to hit the shelves. And it was
36:06
delayed an exceptionally long period of time from the initial promise date. I saw you there
36:12
four months. It was I think longer than that. Yeah. So, I mean, but I could see them looking
36:17
to go to like the well, so to speak, of well, we can get Ed Greenwood to do this stuff. Maybe potentially let's throw
36:24
money at him and then we don't have to pay health insurance or, you know, we or we don't have to lay people off.
36:31
So, I have a question. Does Wizards of the Coast get a cut out of things published on DMK?
36:37
Depending on what the licensing is, yes. Okay. So, they they could be getting a cut out of this project. I if it uses
36:43
something that is copyrighted, which in this case it kind of is, I guarantee you that there's probably some deal in the
36:49
background between Ed Green, some licensing arrangement. Yeah. So, cuz it just
36:55
it is it is a home group, but Yeah. Go ahead. It's I mean, it's interesting because I
37:00
feel like third party content has Wizards of the Coast has slowed down a little in the past couple of years. they
37:07
put out content, but they've been had a really big focus on getting this uh 2020
37:13
I want to call it the 2025 edition and it's not uh on that out and they've
37:18
published fewer source books and things of that nature. So, it's really on the community to come and produce things
37:25
that Wizards isn't working on. Um, and that's that's where you see all kinds of
37:31
interesting content. But, uh, yeah, I mean, if they're counting on that for
37:36
content creation, then it does feel like they're getting less of a piece of the pie than they would have if they were
37:43
hiring designers and doing this themselves. I don't I don't know if this is good. I don't know if this is bad.
37:48
I'm I'm just happy to see that we've got a a big marketplace of third-party
37:55
creators who are still out there doing cool stuff. Yeah. And speaking of cool stuff that I
38:02
mean we don't know that we're ever going to get to see it again, but like who wants to talk about James Olen here.
38:08
Oh boy. Talked about it before. Hey James, please send me a copy of Exodus. We'd love to play it on your on the show.
38:14
I I will say that James Olen um he is pretty important both in terms of
38:20
gaming. We should Yeah. specify who he is. Yeah, I I was about to do that. Um, first off, uh, he worked at Boware back
38:27
when Boware was still Boware and he, uh, create he worked on a lot of the games
38:32
that he did, uh, including the original, I think it was Balders's Gate, the actual original Boulders Gate, not one.
38:38
Yeah. Yeah. Then he moved on to working on their Knights of the Old Republic game, which you may or may not have heard of.
38:44
That's a Star Wars game. And then he worked on ma the original Mass Effect. After that, he left.
38:49
Don't he also worked he also worked on Dragon Age Origins. Yes, he did. He worked on Dragon Age Origins. He basically was there for the
38:55
beginning of a lot of their stuff and then they would usually move him on to the next thing that needed somebody to make sure it would actually happen.
39:01
You're good at building worlds. Go over here and build a world. Yeah. He um he he left I want to say
39:08
back in like 2014, maybe even earlier than that, but he started his own 2018. 2018 he retired.
39:14
Uh when he left, he he didn't do anything significant for a couple of years. Then he put out he started his
39:20
own company in his garage. Uh, I can never remember the name of it, but can Yeah, Worlds.
39:26
Uh, he created a a a game that we actually ran here uh on the site um
39:31
Odyssey of the Dragon Lords because at the same time that Wizards of the Coast was putting out their Theos book, which
39:37
was Greek influenced Magic the Gathering stuff translated to Dn D, he wrote his
39:42
own entire Greek influenced thing called OA Dragon Lords and it had a lot of really good content in it. So, I
39:48
unabashedly used it. Um he then released uh him and a bunch of other people. He
39:53
he hired Drew Carpishian who was one of the big writers for Boware who did a lot of work on Mass Effect and other other
39:59
projects. And he put out uh Raiders of the of the Serpent Sea, which was an amazing book if you wanted to run a a
40:06
Norse mythology inspired D and D campaign. It's really good. Go steal some stuff from that for your campaign. But by God, pay, you know, buy the book,
40:13
pay the man. Um, then he suddenly got hired at Wizards of the Coast and we
40:19
didn't know what he was hired at the Wizards of the Coast for for a little bit and then suddenly it came out that Wizards of the Coast was creating
40:25
Archetype Entertainment which was their big we're going to make our own games company. It's the game company that if
40:32
you've been watching Game Awards for years now, you've seen the Exodus trailers. Exodus is their big release
40:38
game. It's their flagship, their launch game. Uh, it's also Go ahead. It's also very much
40:43
Mass Effect. It is. It is Mass Effect only with with enlightened animals that
40:49
uh so you could be an awakened polar bear or something like that. I don't know if you can actually play them. I
40:55
hope you can play them. Yeah, I would love a shame to have like it it'd be a shame to add like
41:02
polar bears with humanoid intelligence and then not be able to play one. Yeah, but they did that in Mass Effect.
41:09
They didn't let us play any of the cool alien races. So, we'll see what happens. But regardless, and and there is there is more Mass
41:16
Effect talent on here. But yeah, uh the interesting thing is that James recently, as in I think just just before
41:23
the end of the year of the of 2025, basically said, "Oh, and by the way, guys, I'm leaving." And he did.
41:30
It's one of the interesting things here is um Exodus is coming out, but it's not
41:37
coming out tomorrow. It's expected to release in 2027. So, he's been working
41:42
on this, but he he kind of said he's, you know, it's I'm I'm done with my
41:48
work. It's in good hands. It's a little unusual to have someone running a game
41:54
to step down before the game releases, but here we are. Yeah. And the weird part is that he's
42:00
not leaving Wizards of the Coast. Exactly. He's going to be a consultant, which I know a lot of times people say
42:06
consultant and that just means he's gonna hang out for six months to make sure that things don't catch on fire and
42:12
then leave. But in this case, it honestly feels like he's he's straight up going to be a creative consultant for
42:18
TTRPGs. And yeah, that's interesting. Um, in a
42:23
time where Wizards of the Coast as a company is is shedding a lot of people, including a lot of people that are that
42:30
were very important. I mean, in some cases they left, in some cases they were laid off. But I mean, to to see James
42:37
Olen suddenly become a creative consultant for TTRPGs when he has his own company that makes TTRPGs. Go ahead.
42:44
Hi, Joe. I was going to say we should also mention that like the the interesting shift of it though, too, is that
42:50
this is happening around uh this happened less than a week after the big new trailer was released at the Game
42:56
Awards. Mhm. Um and he his only statement was that he felt that his work was complete on it
43:03
which is interesting. But then after that we also found out that uh Hasbro or at least maybe we already knew this. He
43:10
was the head of development of Archype Entertainment and now uh at the same time Paul uh Paul Delabida heads up
43:18
Wizard of the Coast digital ventures division. Uh Delabidup has been what 10 years across two cents at Blizzard as
43:24
well as a general manager at Riot Games in North America before uh he was a co-founder of Dream Haven uh with Mike
43:32
Morheim and now he's and now he's here. That one that one concerns me that he's
43:38
uh moved to Wizards the Coast from Dream Haven. I would agree. Dream Haven is uh Dream Haven uh
43:44
released a couple games that did not do as well as they hoped. Of course, that's that's a different topic for a different podcast, but I I am concerned.
43:52
Yeah. I mean, we'll see what the the the year brings, but it definitely is an interesting way to start if nothing
44:00
else. Well, isn't it too like um and the president of Coast and its
44:05
digital settings is John Height, right? He used to work at Blizzard as well. Yes.
44:11
So, I don't know. That's kind of odd that now that you've brought that up. I'm thinking about that. Yeah. Well, I
44:17
guess we'll see because I mean there's been definitely a over the last five,
44:23
six years, there really has been an attempt at at least Hasbro management to
44:29
make Wizards video gamify their IP stuff a lot more heavily.
44:35
um whether it was the uh now failed virtual tabletop system that was going
44:41
to be played like a video game uh or any of the other endeavors that they started. And part of that may be because
44:48
the people that they kept pulling in weren't video game developers. So they pivoted and started pulling in video
44:53
game developers. But yeah, also those video game developers were known for helping create new worlds, not
45:01
necessarily rehash old ones that already existed, right? So go ahead. Like one thing, this
45:10
is sort of a fork on our conversation that I do think we should bring up is that while he was working on Exodus,
45:16
James Olen also released a 5e compatible TTRPG supplement that told all sorts of
45:22
Exodus backstory and provided a whole science fiction game based on 5e. So
45:28
that you can't get that you can't get because it was only there was no digital edition. It was
45:34
only available in print and it is sold out. So, it's completely inaccessible and apparently contains a lot of the
45:40
lore of the game. So, I wonder if Olan is he's interested in world building. We were just talking about Ed Greenwood
45:47
building these vast worlds and settings. Maybe I mean, maybe this is what Olan
45:52
wants to do. He wants to build worlds. The world here is built. Now, he's shifting into doing something different,
46:00
building a new world or adventure or something. I mean, she even says that uh right now I am focusing on what I enjoy
46:07
most, story and world building. I am developing new worlds through my own company, Arcanum Worlds, and I also have
46:13
a couple of upcoming books funded by Hasbro that I am excited to share soon. And that's from January 2nd. So, yeah,
46:20
that's it feels like that to a certain degree, this feels a little industry speakish, but at the same time, it also feels like
46:28
maybe James Oland just never really wants to run a company. like it doesn't feel like a big computer game company
46:34
was working in the first place. He's also been with Wizards since 2019.
46:39
Mhm. Working on Exodus. That's that's a long run, especially if it's something that
46:44
you maybe aren't enthusiastic about or kind of fell into and didn't mean to. Uh but yeah, so it's
46:52
I it's an odd move for a video game, but maybe maybe this is just him doing what
46:59
he loves, which is great. Well, and we'll see. We'll see what this turns into.
47:04
You kind of read between the lines of some of what he said and some of what um people at Hasbro have said. Like he kind
47:10
of off-handedly mentions when he's talking about uh the six years he spent at Archetype and leading AAA project uh
47:17
that burnout is not unusual in this industry. Like he doesn't come out and say, "And I was burned out on it." But
47:22
you can kind of read between the lines there. um being in charge of people and and having to report to corporate kind
47:28
of that's a that's a whole separate kind of burnout too. Yeah. And Hasbro's VP of communications
47:33
has said straight up to Bloomberg that Olan asked outright asked to shift his creative focus to tabletop or to
47:40
tabletop games. So yeah, I think maybe he just didn't want to be running a video game company anymore, which uh how
47:47
did I end up blame him? Yeah. How did I get here? Also, I would really like to see a
47:54
digital version of this Exodus tabletop game. I would like to play this. If we
47:59
can get our hands on this, I telling you, we're going to run a game of it this year. I sent an email to James and be like,
48:05
"Hey, do you have some books?" Yeah. Right now, I want you guys to understand that right
48:10
now I'm standing behind Liz holding up a big sign saying, "Yes, release Exodus on digital, please."
48:17
I agree. Everything I've seen about it is I'm honestly just shocked that it never showed up on D and D Beyond. It
48:23
seems like such like such a slam dunk. I'm not, but for other reasons. But
48:29
speaking stay staying in the video game channel of things. Uh I think we also need to mention Warlock here. Not
48:36
necessarily spend a whole lot of time on it because we don't know a whole lot about it. Uh but it was a new D and D game that was announced at the uh game
48:43
awards. Uh, it's being made by Invoke Studios, which made the Dark Alliance games, which were very actionoriented
48:48
games. Yeah. The Dark Alliance game they made was the most recent one.
48:54
Mhm. Which was extremely bad. Yes, it was. Not just not just me saying it, it was
49:01
very bad. So, I'm not I'm not sure I'm super excited for Warlock, but I'm not
49:06
automatically against it. It's an interesting project, but we got a trailer for it, but it's very much a
49:12
Vibes trailer, if that makes sense. This gives us a vibe for the game and tells us very little about it.
49:18
Yeah. The the only thing that we know about it is that it it was like you said, vibes, but it it comes across in a
49:24
very I'm trying to think how to phrase this without being like a jerk.
49:29
Edgy 2000's like topic branded. I'm listening to Tulle.
49:35
Like, uh, if if this had shown up if this had shown up in the movie theater after the trailer for Underworld, they would have
49:41
fit right next to each other. 100%. Right. Like, am I am I the only one who am I the only one when I saw this thought of that
49:46
Dragon Age trailer where you are ready for the new player that you know what I
49:52
mean? That's what it reminded me of. But uh the thing I was going to say the thing
49:57
that we do know at least from what we're or what we're guessing at least from the trailer is that if this game actually
50:04
releases at least the character they showed us seems to be a hexblade war warlock of some type. That's about all
50:10
we know. The best kind of warlock. And it seems to be associated with the Raven Queen cuz that was also the theming that was there because of course
50:16
it was cuz 2000's edgy goth. Um,
50:21
so we don't Maybe this maybe this character just likes wearing feathers, but she just she just picked the feather
50:28
shoulder pads on her own. That's just a coincidence. Maybe. Hey, remember me? Remember me from the most recent uh Dante game? Well, now
50:35
here I am as my own game. I don't know. I I don't want to sound too cynical, but
50:41
I mean, don't forget the last uh what is it? Prince of Persia game that had the God smack song playing with it and it was like uh that hasn't been really
50:48
relevant in mainstream for a while there buddies. Uh similar similar vibes about thatim similar vibes when I heard
50:55
46 and two playing over this trailer but uh that said it we could all be wrong. I will say the main character is played
51:03
by Trisha Heler and yeah I'm I'm invested. That's that's enough that I'm
51:09
I'm paying attention. You have my attention Wizards of the Coast. that lifts it up from, you know, Devil May
51:15
Cry but with a D and D class to, okay, okay, I'll reserve judgment until the the sapient robot from Mass Effects 2
51:22
and three, you know, let's see how she works as a warlock. I I mean, yes, she was good. She was good as Edie.
51:28
She was fantastic. She is a very talented actress. So, the fact that this
51:35
was not in the trailer. I mean, they didn't make a thing of this in the trailer, but this is the part that seems
51:40
most interesting to me is that they have some real voice talent behind this. So,
51:46
a good voice actor can make an okay game really great. So, I I'm I'm willing to
51:52
give it a chance, but yeah, we don't know much about it. And can you make a video game just based on a single
51:58
character class? Maybe. Maybe. I think you probably can. You probably could if it's done well enough and if
52:05
it's because I mean we had a whole series of games revolving around being a bard at
52:11
one point and those were great. Sorry, God of War anything. It's a
52:16
barbarian. It's just a barbarian. He's extremely angry. He uses big weapons. He
52:23
stabs everything and he will pick a fight with a literal guy who is so huge
52:28
that one finger is bigger than a mountain and and win by pulling the
52:34
dude's. No, we won't talk about that. But we need to move along from that. So, uh,
52:40
moving on to the the next thing with also revolves around fifth edition a little bit. I do want to mention or at
52:45
least invite somebody to talk about dark matter. Okay, it's me. I'll talk about that. Um, basically the reason I got interested in
52:51
dark matter when I saw it that basically Instagram has realized who I am and so
52:56
they just throw continuous like crowdfunding ads for various, you know,
53:02
new games coming into another platform. This is one of those. It's much more
53:07
like Starfinder than it is like, say, you know, Spell Jammer, but it's it's a
53:15
kind of more horror oriented one. It's it's sort of like, you know, Joe was talking about Cohor Cthulhu. It's kind
53:21
of like if you did that, but you put it in a fantasy space future with with like, you know, lightsaber wielding
53:26
knights and then you also had old gods that were like eating planets or were planets. Um, it it's got a lot of stuff
53:33
that's just oriented straight up to get mind like the when I was looking through these books, uh, this thing still has
53:39
not finished coming out on Kickstarter. Uh, so there's not a lot of rules of stuff to look at, but looking at the
53:44
stuff that I could get I could get a look at, a lot of it seems aimed at this
53:49
is for you to use in whatever way you want. Do you want to run a campaign in this? There's enough to do that. If you
53:56
want to be doing something of your own, but let's you want to mine some ideas, you want to borrow some setting stuff,
54:03
that's there, too. Or do you just want to have a spaceship crash on your D&D world so your players can get phaser
54:09
guns? you could do that with it. So, it's in a weird sort of way. It feels very old school. Like, it feels very
54:16
much like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, if you all remember that one. Uh, but I just I liked it. I thought it was
54:21
interesting and I like the fact that it's Liz pointed out earlier seeing third party people do stuff with with
54:27
even just with 5e that's not going to ever come from Wizards. I don't think we would ever get anything like this from
54:33
Wizards. So, I am interested to see it to see what they do with it, especially since we still haven't got a copy of
54:39
Exodus and and they've had that for a year now. How long have they actually had that? Like, seriously, that was 2025, right?
54:45
I have I don't even remember. It was like 8,000 years. Yeah, it's it feels like I'm I'm like
54:51
spaghettifying and well, but yeah, I just I liked seeing it and I'm interested to see more of it. And yeah,
54:56
and I was going to say to to sort of piggyback off of that, this is just another example of the, you know, if
55:02
it's not going to be made, then somebody will do it themselves. Um, and Star
55:08
Spell Jammer and, uh, Plscape did release
55:14
and were kind of not really heralded with a whole lot of fanfare. Um, they
55:19
weren't awful, uh, but they weren't what people expected them to be. They were fine. they were they were okay products,
55:26
right? Um, and people have been clamoring for a good D&D space system.
55:33
And while we've been very much in in love with Starfinder because we like Pathfinder and Starfinder, seeing
55:40
something that uses a fifth edition rules, which is sometimes what a bridge people need or at least that lets you
55:46
use this stuff potentially in your D and D setting to bridge that gap and make it easier for players that maybe only know
55:53
Dungeons and Dragons and aren't ready to take a a stab at another system. having
55:59
uh something that adapts the current edition of D and D to a space fantasy flavor kind of fulfills that need. So
56:06
it's it's it's interesting to see again people step up in that space and make the thing that didn't get made in the
56:13
first place. So yeah, and I do think also there is something to be said for the idea of
56:19
getting to see what somebody else would do with the same basic idea. Like how would this other person do it? How is it
56:24
how does it work for this system? how would it work for that system? I just I am excited to see it. Uh it looks very
56:30
much like it's it's going to be 5e but with science fiction things and I am
56:36
totally okay with it. Yeah. Uh there's some more that I want to kind of get through here and and make sure we we talk on. Uh Feoria, an epic
56:43
folk horror RPG with a specific uh region vibe to it. Um
56:49
I'm going to say this thing to me when I when I saw this I thought this is something I should mention to Phil. So that's why it's here. It's very It's
56:56
very Phil and me coded. Yeah, it does. It feels very Phil and you. So, I saw this and thought, "Oh, I
57:02
gotta mention this." Uh, it it just it feels a little bit like um the the Appalachia horror game
57:09
that uh what is it? Old Gods of Appalachia. Yeah, it feels a little bit like that if
57:14
you said it in an indeterminate period of time and you never came up like it's all just happening underground amongst
57:20
the for the Forans and you don't come up. It's just you keep going down and
57:26
you keep exploring more and more horrible things until forever. Yeah. Let's let's the perfect
57:31
encapsulation of this is literally they have this little vignette set that they give with these little images on their their page. And I I just want to read it
57:38
off because this will give you the entire vibe of this. You carve your name into the stone knowing the next tremor will reduce it
57:44
to dust. You stand against horrors that should not be faced knowing they will change you, unmake you. And yet you
57:50
refuse to kneel to oblivion. You dare the darkness to swallow you whole and when it does the world will not remember
57:57
you like that is this vibe uh it is uh very much and it makes sense because the
58:06
people that are working on this made morborg yeah I was going to say Johan no is on
58:12
this isn't he? Yeah he is so so is so is Tanya Harrow
58:18
that explains it. Yeah. Uh, for people who don't follow industry news, Johan Noir was one of the co-creators of
58:24
Morborg and several games based on it. Tanya Herrera wrote the incredible Morborg adventure Crown of Salt and so
58:31
many other stuff. Like to give you to give you an idea, when they when they when they did an
58:36
Alien RPG uh remaster edition, they got Johan Noir to come and do the art for it
58:43
because he's the closest thing to an HRGE horror artist we currently have. Yeah. He's one of the reasons that the
58:49
Morborg uh rule book is as much something to look at as it is a game an actual game to play. So
58:55
yeah, and if you look at the art for these vignettes, it is 100% him, right? Like it's
59:00
this is really good. Yeah, there is a there's kind of a cool knight with like a like a raven helmet.
59:05
I love Yeah, I hear I hear Liz talking there. God, Liz, yeah, one of the things I certainly have to say is the art for this is
59:12
magnificent. It conveys some real serious vibes. that has a very limited color palette and it's using the color
59:19
to effect because it's usually kind of two core colors in each of these pieces of art and it just makes everything pop.
59:28
It's gorgeous. Liz should look at some of the Morgborg art and and then we'll probably never
59:33
talk to us again. Oh, and report back. Yeah, I need I need to get I need to get those a physical copy of Morborg because it's
59:38
one of you actually do need to see it in physical form because some of the pages have like different reflective material
59:44
that actually changes how the page looks. It's uh it's hell on wheels to use as a rules reference. Um and it doesn't look
59:51
like they're going that wild with Feoria. Um but yeah, some of them are
59:56
incredible. Foria feels more stable in terms of like an identity to every piece of art that
1:00:02
kind of collects. Just the fact that there's a the first one of the first images is a pengalin
1:00:09
man with a walking lantern on his arm and there's just like it has a very like
1:00:16
Halloween vibe to it because of all the orange and black that's being used. Yeah, it's really striking.
1:00:22
Yeah, this looks really slick. I've I've told I've clic I've clicked the follow me tell me when this is
1:00:27
As have I. Yeah, like I said, I saw that and thought I got to mention
1:00:34
this because it's basically villain Joe. Yep. Uh, and that's not the only new thing
1:00:39
that has released or is coming out. Uh, we missed this last year. Uh, and we the
1:00:47
Final H, sorry, Final Fantasy, the Final Fantasy did release last year actually.
1:00:52
um Fantasy Star RPG released on October of 2025, which was absolutely insane
1:00:58
because it wasn't supposed to release until 2026. So, yeah, that's what I heard, too. Yeah, like I was I was amazed to see this.
1:01:05
Uh even even in the uh so I mentioned earlier the Ian World thread about where people were nominating their most uh
1:01:11
their most anticipated games of 2026. There's at least one post where someone said they were anticipating this and got corrected and that's how they found out
1:01:18
that this came out. So like people who are lurking on TTRPG forums all day long enough to post or participate in the
1:01:24
community weren't aware that this game came out. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean and
1:01:30
it's it's a very odd and but I mean again like I mentioned at the beginning of the show like immediate purchase,
1:01:35
right? Like it I slammed the my my hand on that button, right? Um I I go through a couple of the the
1:01:42
quicker uh good news things here real quick. Uh there was a little bit of a game uh crowdfunding uh roundup that I
1:01:49
found that actually uh noted something that one I didn't know was already live.
1:01:56
I knew it was going to be happen, but I didn't know it was live. Uh and I didn't know that it had funded in a minute. Um
1:02:03
there uh at the time of this recording I if you're I don't know if you're listening to this when, but as of
1:02:10
January 16th, this will be done. But, uh, Dynamite Entertainment, uh, is had a
1:02:17
Kickstarter with, or I think it was Dynamite. Could be wrong. It's Dynamite. Yeah. Yeah, it says Dynamite right here.
1:02:23
Uh, the role playing game for Thundercats, uh, which is absolutely insane. It's
1:02:30
using the Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition rules, which is crazy. Uh, and
1:02:35
then I I I may or may not have to back this. Like, I love the Thundercats.
1:02:41
Like, this is this is crazy. was I was like, "No, don't need it. Don't want it." Then I saw that it they they
1:02:47
mentioned the reimagining in 2011. The reimagining of Thundercats in 2011 took what is a childhood like you know a
1:02:53
nostalgia kick for me and actually made it good. Yeah. It was very very good. It only got
1:02:59
it only got the what the one season I think. The one season. Yeah. And they left so many things. I'm like if you people put
1:03:06
that that stuff in and let me find out what's supposed to happen next, I'll buy
1:03:11
this thing eight times. It it it sounds like it's going to be following more of the from what I can see.
1:03:16
Yeah, it does. It absolutely does say the comic if anything else, which is fine. Um, which is more what you're
1:03:24
looking for. It's more that adultish like setting for it, not necessarily just this I'm going to sell toys to kids
1:03:31
cartoon. So, I think I'm really excited for this. Like really excited for this.
1:03:38
Plus, it's it is rare to see it go fifth edition like this. Yeah. I find myself wondering what what
1:03:43
reason that was, what why they decided to go through this. They have an existing deal with Hasbro on toy production.
1:03:49
Ah, that makes sense then. Yeah. So, I I have a feeling that's what brokered the deal, but there's there's
1:03:54
other ones that that are are are just real quick because we're running out of time here. Uh, Tune, which is a role
1:04:00
playing game that has been around forever where it's essentially Looney Tunes with the serial numbers filed off
1:04:06
or text Avery with the serial numbers filed off. second edition uh from Steve Jackson Games uh is up. It'll be ending
1:04:13
on January 15th. Uh there's a a bunch of other ones like uh Adventures in the
1:04:18
Mist for Old School Essentials uh will be ending on January 16th. Uh there
1:04:24
there's so many good ones. We we talk about what we're looking for forward to in 2026 and Phil mentioned more
1:04:31
independent games being made. We are we are definitely hitting the ground running in 2026, even in this first
1:04:37
month. And I expect to see many more go live before the end of the year. So,
1:04:43
check back here or check your favorite news sources to to keep track of them because I know we're definitely going to
1:04:48
be talking about them when we get them. And then Phil, I think, added this and I I'll put have him talk about this. Draw
1:04:54
Steel's first epic campaign. What is it, Phil? Yep. So, this was I dropped this in here
1:05:00
because it was another thing. It just finished crowdfunding. By the time you listen to this, it already finished coming in at 2.3 million. Uh it is a
1:05:08
epic, they call it the epic campaign, uh called Crack the Sun. Um this is basically the next year of products for
1:05:16
Draw Steel. Uh including a third cool rule book that's just a bunch of pre-made encounters. Uh so even if
1:05:23
you're not interested in the rest of the thing, you've got another core rule rule book here. Uh new ancestorries, a whole
1:05:28
new class, the beast heart. Uh, so you can be a hunter with a uh with a pet
1:05:33
buddy, including uh there is an ability I've seen a lot of discussion about on this one on Reddit that just makes it
1:05:39
seem like it is exactly as thematic and cool as the rest of Draw Steel's classes. uh four new adventures and then
1:05:45
the the the main event uh the the epic campaign Crack the Sun uh a fiveact uh
1:05:54
full like uh like every every act is one level like a full level's worth of
1:05:59
adventure um that just has like the whole like the metal herl heavy metal
1:06:04
like nonsense that Matt Kovville and the folks over at MCDM really love um jumping through the timecape they're
1:06:11
kind of multiverse setting around Orton. So, I saw someone describe uh draw steel as
1:06:18
like trying to play the art on the back of a van as it slams into another van
1:06:24
with art on the outside of that. I I fully believe that that is Yeah. Like right now, uh so I have mentioned a
1:06:32
few times that I've been running a uh draw steel campaign. I believe we'll be hitting level two at our next session in
1:06:38
the end of January. Um, even just at this low level, it feels like an amped up version of 4E. Like my of D and D
1:06:45
fourth edition. Like my players are like hurling enemies across the ground or it's like, "Oh, we can't deal with this guy. We'll make a 20 foot pit under him
1:06:52
with magic and just drop him in it." Um, like it really is it really like rewards
1:06:59
like tactical play and playing as a group. Um, but at the same time incorporates things from like the things
1:07:05
that like you see into the odd bring into the t into indie spaces where like there's no rolling to hit. It's seeing
1:07:12
how effective you are. You always hit. It's nothing. Oh, I rolled. I missed. My turn is over. Boring. Like it keeps
1:07:19
things moving. It keeps things uh keeps the action going, rewards tactical thinking, and is really good at having
1:07:27
heroes feel like heroes from the jump. Um, like if you think 5e is superpowered, you should see what some
1:07:33
of the characters in draw steel can do as early as level three. Um, actually level two. I know our we have a
1:07:40
spellcaster. Uh, forgot whether the elementalist, our elementalist is salivating at the ability to be able to
1:07:46
open portals across the battlefield to link locations. Um, like he can open one per turn and just have a portal network
1:07:53
uh for the other players to use to get around. So, like that's the kind of thing that it gives you like off the
1:07:58
jump. Um, and this is like that level of energy and excitement and like just
1:08:06
trying to play an Iron Maiden album cover in DRPG form. Um, and yeah, and
1:08:12
it's and it's not just that. It's literally like this Kickstarter is a whole year uh of content for uh for Draw
1:08:21
Steel. So, you know, a lot of this game came out and a lot of people were kind of wondering, you know, what's next for her because like the core Brooks came
1:08:27
out and they shipped and then there wasn't really a lot. And then Crack the Sun's uh backer uh it's a backer kit
1:08:34
came out and they're just like here's here's our next seven products for you. So, go.
1:08:41
All right. And then I think we uh I just want to mention this real quick for for a little bit of news. Uh, not to
1:08:48
necessarily end on a downer, but it thought it was worth noting. Uh, Tim Casque, who was officially TSR's first
1:08:55
full-time employee in the way olden days, uh, has just passed away. He was
1:09:01
actually one of the original play testers for original Dungeons and Dragons, uh, and was notably not exactly
1:09:08
a fan of, uh, second edition or No, no, no. AD and exc
1:09:15
second version. Tim Cass worked there so far back that he got mad and stopped
1:09:22
working there when Advance came out because he preferred the box set. Yeah. He didn't he didn't like he didn't
1:09:28
like heavier rule the heavier rules that were coming in with AD and D. His first job was actually um editing the
1:09:34
Blackmore booklet that was codifying um the setting that had just kind of been
1:09:39
uh used in the those early tabletop games when there wasn't officially a D and D product yet. Um is
1:09:46
he was also an editor for Dungeon magazine as well if I remember correctly. I think so. Uh Dragon
1:09:52
the other one. Yeah. He actually Yeah. He tried to do his own he actually one of the things he tried
1:09:59
to do in the early 80s was actually um make his own publishing company for his own uh tabletop RPG, but kind of got
1:10:05
lost in the uh the industry crash for a while. And I just want to he was just a
1:10:10
cool guy. He he ran a YouTube uh podcast for years, Kermagin in the Cellar. Um,
1:10:16
and Tim Cask is one of the rare and cool examples of an like someone who has been playing this game for years and is like
1:10:22
an old school, uh, Grognard, uh, to use that term affectionately, who still
1:10:28
possessed like progressive views and wanted to bring more people into the hobby and was just honestly like a
1:10:33
really cool person instead of being like a secret racist like one of Gyax's sons turned out to be. Yeah. And and Task actually had a sense
1:10:39
of humor. Yeah. So, um it's a real shame uh to, you know, to lose him, but it sounds
1:10:45
like he went peacefully uh surrounded by family and friends and contributed a lot to this hobby that we all love.
1:10:50
Well, we can uh we can only hope for as much. But that friends, I think we're going to call it good there. I do want
1:10:57
to thank you for joining us and remind you that Blizzard Watch and all of our uh wonderful products are made possible by you, our wonderful listeners, uh by
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feed our content to people and helps make sure that we don't get buried in the enormous sea of everything that's
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1:12:15
[Music]