Last week, Smiteworks, the developer of the virtual tabletop platform Fantasy Grounds, announced that it was acquiring the 3D character creator and STL printer Eldritch Foundry. EF not only provides players with the tools to create characters but also helps print them for their in-person games. It’s rare for two companies to combine like this in the TTRPG space, but it’s also the combining of two major software companies into one, with a lot of interesting implications down the line.

TTRPG Insider got to speak with Smiteworks president and owner Doug Davison about the merger, the company’s plans for the two companies, and more.

SmiteWorks announced last week that it had acquired Eldritch Foundry, a 3D miniature platform, with the aim of integrating its technologies more fully into the company, including future use of the 3D minis within Fantasy Grounds.

The deal arose after Eldritch Foundry founder Matan Gilat reached out to Smiteworks, Doug Davison told TTRPG Insider. The pair had a mutual contact through D&D Beyond creator Adam Bradford, who helped connect them. The pair shared an interest in expanding their offerings and decided to cooperate. Gilat decided to sell all of Eldritch Foundry’s assets to Fantasy Grounds while remaining as a separate legal entity. That will allow Eldritch Foundry’s team to continue operating on the 3D platform as consultants while also supporting future integrations of the two TTRPG software offerings. The two companies are now working to build the necessary API and models to enable the two software systems to interact appropriately.

“This is the ultimate multiclass for Eldritch Foundry,” Gilat said in a press statement. “Joining the SmiteWorks family is a major milestone, and I could not be more excited. I have immense faith in Doug and his team; they have set the standard for digital tabletop adventures for years. Bringing our character creator into the Fantasy Grounds ecosystem will give players and GMs new ways to bring their characters to the table. Eldritch Foundry brings significant creative and technical capabilities, and under SmiteWorks’ stewardship, the combination can deliver more for both communities.”

Combining the two companies will take time, but Davison assured users that most operations on both sides should not change in the short term. The sole change he mentioned is that SmiteWorks is re-evaluating what partners it will use to print the 3D miniatures that Eldritch Foundry offers and has paused that service for the time being. Davison hopes to move away from in-house direct printing and instead help customers work with local 3D printers to bring their figurines to life.

He also noted that he hopes to create an interface in Fantasy Grounds that will eventually allow players to import their character tokens from Eldritch Foundry and use them alongside 2.5D NPC tokens during play. The player figures themselves will be adjustable, allowing players to swap out stances, outfits, and even equipment during gameplay to better reflect their characters, similar to HeroForge’s customizability. While past Eldritch Foundry tokens only came in gray, Eldritch Foundry recently added the ability to color a character’s token in its character builder.

The new approach should not affect current pricing. Fantasy Grounds abandoned its subscription model last year, embracing a free-to-play model that relies on players purchasing content licenses for revenue. Davison says the company has about 500,000 active users. While Fantasy Grounds appears to have a smaller market share than Roll20 and Foundry, it remains one of the most active players and continues to add new content regularly.

Eldritch Foundry offers a subscription service that allows players to download unlimited STL files of 3D character models from its marketplace. Users can also purchase individual STLs from Eldritch Foundry’s marketplace. Eldritch Foundry has an estimated 200,000 users as of October, according to Davison.

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SmiteWorks’ 3-Phase Plan for Incorporating Eldritch Foundry

SmiteWorks outlined a three-phase plan to incorporate Eldritch Foundry into its business model.

Phase One: Full-Color Assets and Initial 3D Imports

First, SmiteWorks will add “default full-color views” to Eldritch Foundry’s 3D assets, allowing players to customize and create tokens that better reflect their imagination. It will also add improved options for character portraits, top-down tokens and 2.5D avatars. If a player buys an STL from Eldritch Foundry, they will also get a VTT-compatible version with fewer polygons that can be imported directly.

TTRPG Insider asked if the team was considering offering similar services for other STLs. Davison said they had not considered it, but that it would require tools to adapt traditional STLs to that VTT-compatible format, and that it would not be easy. He also hopes to offer imports for GLB formats, a simpler STL format that will better fit into VTTs.

Phase Two: Equipment, Poses, and Animation

A future update to Fantasy Grounds will allow character minis imported from Eldritch Foundry to come with multiple equipment options, multiple poses, rigging, and improved portrait support. Players will be able to import multiple versions of those tokens and swap between items or outfits.

Phase Three: Direct Application Connection

Finally, the teams hope to connect Eldritch Foundry and Fantasy Grounds so users can import EF minis directly and shift those character options more directly without having to export multiple VTT-compatible forms and import them manually into the website.

“Existing prepaid subscriptions and lifetime access entitlements will continue to be honored,” the company said. “SmiteWorks will share confirmed product plans, timelines, and any customer account or service updates as development progresses.”

Davison wasn’t able to say when the new options would become available, but noted that the offering would likely require a crowdfunding campaign to fund the necessary updates once he and the SmiteWorks team had a better understanding of what the next steps would cost. That campaign would likely be scheduled for the end of 2026 or early 2027, Davison estimated.

He also said that SmiteWorks would not make Eldritch Foundry’s exports system-exclusive, allowing users to download and use its portrait system and STLs in other VTTs. The main advantage of using Eldritch Foundry alongside Fantasy Grounds will be the previously mentioned Direct Application Connection, where PCs created in Eldritch Foundry can be directly imported into Fantasy Grounds (once that feature is finalized) and replaced.

At the end of the day, Davison emphasized that the company’s goal was to make things people would enjoy. “Let’s give you cool stuff, and if we make it cool enough you’ll want to buy it,” Davison explained.

Thank you to SmiteWorks for the interview.

For disclosure purposes, SmiteWorks provided TTRPG Insider with complementary subscriptions to test out its systems.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

The employees at Hasbro who design Dungeons and Dragons as well as Magic: The Gathering are forming their own union in partnership with the Communication Workers of America and are calling on the company to recognize them.

“As of this morning, both the Dungeons & Dragons team (which includes the workers behind Dungeons & Dragons and D&D Beyond) and Studio X (which includes the tabletop Magic: The Gathering and Duel Masters teams) informed Wizards of the Coast leadership of our intent to unionize, and called on the company to voluntarily recognize our union,” United Wizards of the Coast said in a statement posted on social media.

They have asked the public to sign a petition in support of them and for Hasbro leadership to recognize the union within a week of the announcement.

“The games we create are foundations of the gaming industry. Just as D&D has inspired countless TTRPGs and Magic sparked the TCG revolution, we hope to catalyze real change within our industry and build upon the groundwork laid by other gaming unions, creating a space where all workers are protected and treated fairly,” the press statement added. “The workers of Wizards of the Coast have shown time and time again that we change the game. This is one of those times, where we get to redefine what is possible and what can be created—and this time, we’re inviting you to join us! Sign our petition, share it with your communities, and ask Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro to voluntarily recognize our union. Let’s change the gaming world together!”

The team filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board and has asked WOTC leadership to recognize it by October 13. If it is voluntarily recognized, they will withdraw the petition. If not, both parties will face a lengthy confirmation process.

The union is calling for improved wages, job security, accessible healthcare, sustainable workloads, protections against AI, full ownership of their work, and other needs to be met.

One notable detail D&D’s team revealed in their letter to WOTC was a lack of control over their creative expression. “Currently, if an employee makes anything creative in their free time, with their own resources, Hasbro can claim ownership. What we do in our free time should not be dictated by the company, and what we make in our free time should belong to us,” the letter stated. The formation of the union would ideally allow them more control over future creations and outputs.

The unionization received a lot of support on social media, including from more politically oriented advocates like Brennan Lee Mulligan.

I am thrilled and proud beyond measure to support the amazing workers who create and design the games I and my loved ones have spent a lifetime playing. I implore everybody to sign the petition and signal boost the campaign as far and wide as we can!

— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@brennanleemulligan.bsky.social)
8:04 PM • Oct 6, 2026

United Wizards of the Coast was previously formed in April 2026 to represent game devs making Magic: The Gathering Arena. While the union was addressed at the time, it didn’t receive recognition in communications from WOTC leadership and may even have been discouraged. It was later successful after an NLRB vote in June 2026.

Many questions remain about the initiative's future, given Hasbro’s past resistance to unionization and work with anti-union Pinkertons.

D&D’s unionization arrives after Rowan Rook and Deckard and Paizo have both formed their own unions, and could lead to the formation of the largest union in the tabletop market.

The CWA has represented multiple game developers in the past, including staff at Blizzard Entertainment and Id Software.

TTRPG Insider will be keeping track of this story going into the coming weeks.

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In related news, the D&D team previewed the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion for the press, and TTRPG Insider got to cover it.

D&D: World of Warcraft Brings Azeroth's Legacy to Your Table

D&D's World of Warcraft expansion brings 30+ years of Azeroth lore to your tabletop. Learn how designers are translating the iconic MMORPG into a new campaign experience.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Today we’re talking more about the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion for Dungeons and Dragons. TTRPG Insider and other reporters were invited to a press debrief to talk about how the game is adapting Azeroth’s 30+ years of history into a single volume.

I got to speak with principal game designer James Wyatt back in August about the release during GenCon, but are now doing a deeper dive into what is expected in the book. It’s a particularly curious addition since it is the first volume in Universes Beyond, D&D’s new initiative to produce books in partnership with other IPs.

Wyatt, senior game designers Joey Haeck and Ben Petrusor and game designer Erin Roberts spoke with the press about the game.

Wizards of the Coast/Blizzard Entertainment

D&D World of Warcraft, the first entry in the Universes Beyond, offers a preview of how the team aims to adapt more than twenty years of video game lore and history into a format playable at the table.

The team confirmed that the book will be focusing on Azeroth. While past WoW expansions have traveled to other worlds in the setting (Outlands in Burning Crusade, Argus in WoW: Legion, elemental planes in Cataclysm etc), the book centers on the main world and the various regions, and centers its dungeon design on regions from World of Warcraft’s original release (lovingly described as Vanilla) and Wrath of the Lich King, the game’s second expansion that centered on the conflict with the iconic villain of the same name.

That said, it is a player’s setting. The book is written with the idea that it is your specific tables’ variant of the Azeroth timeline, allowing DMs to explore alternate stories. For example, what if the Lich King won? What if former Horde leader Garrosh Hellscream won the Pandaria conflict and was not killed in Warlords of Draenor? What if everything was murlocs? It offers fans of the game’s lore an opportunity to delve deep into the setting.

Haeck describes the book as a toolbox for DMs to tell stories in the setting, expand it, and offer distinct encounters and experiences centered on the eight dungeons in the game.

Those dungeons are appropriately leveled to match the leveling experience in WoW, with the Westfall-based Deadmines serving as a first option, while the endgame-focused Icecrown Citadel remains a high-level dungeon to experience.

The dungeons are also designed with D&D’s distinct flexibility in mind, Haeck emphasized. While most dungeon runs in WoW are straight combat runs, players can approach the experiences and problems in a number of ways. Perhaps they find an alternate route that helps them get straight to the end-boss. Maybe they talk or bribe their way to the end.

At the same time, players should not expect this experience to resemble the traditional MMORPG experience where players will raid a dungeon multiple times in hopes of getting loot, or grind out combat encounters to increase their level (assuming not on an XP -based table, that is)

“We want this to feel real to you,” Haeck emphasized. “We don’t want you to feel like you’re playing a video game.” That includes allowing players to exit dungeons and return without worries of bosses respawning.

Wizards of the Coast/Blizzard Entertainment

Collaborating with Warcraft Team on Capturing the Process

The book's production involved the Blizzard Entertainment team heavily, according to Wyatt. He hosted a “secret arcana” (as opposed to the traditional Unearthed Arcana), featuring playtests of Shadowfang Keep with Blizzard employees. Some of them were longtime D&D fans, while others were new, but it helped them get a feel for the dungeon.

It also meant ensuring that each species had a distinct feel of the setting. Dragons in WoW, for example, are organized into five different-colored variants based on the traditional D&D dragons. This meant they had to have special abilities. Blue dragons, for example, are masters of magic. So they gave the blue dragon a “spell freeze breath” that not only does cold damage but creates an anti-magic zone.

Iconic NPCs like the mage Jaina Proudmoore and the demon hunter Illidan Stormrage have also received statblocks. Traditional factions on both the Horde and Alliance will be available to players to help them explore, from the shamanic Earthen Ring to the Dragonflights. It was also confirmed that player parties will not be forced to create Horde-only or Alliance-only parties, as both factions will matter only as much as the DM determines. It’s a decision that reflects how WoW has slowly broken down its factional barriers in recent years, making cross-faction play far easier.

The game did incorporate professions; a traditional way that players are able to create and make their own gear in-game without raiding. Both gathering and crafting professions will be in the game. Players will have tools to skin monsters, build gear and enhance their gameplay in a very WoW-esque style while also incorporating the crafting rules mentioned in the 2024 DMG.

The team confirmed that content from World of Warcraft Forever, an alternate history of the setting announced at BlizzCon 2026, will not be included. The content will only be updated as far as the first path of Midnight and the introduction of the Haranir, (Retail WoW is currently on 12.1, Curse of Ulatek. A new expansion, titled The Last Titan, is expected to release in the next 1-2 years to close out the current trilogy of expansions the game is centered on.)

Wyatt joked about writing a second book if he were allowed, but nothing was confirmed.

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What World of Warcraft: Azeroth Provides

The book will offer tools to adapt nearly all of the character options (and even some NPC races) into playable options.

The book will offer sixty spells, twenty-five magic items, all of the game’s professions, and twenty factions. The game centers mechnaically on seven dungeons

Fifty monster stat blocks and thirty dungeon bosses will be made available, from Illidan to Arthas himself.

Blizzard Entertainment released a list of the six new subclasses featured in D&D Azeroth:

• Oath of the Ebon Blade Paladin (for Death Knight players)

• Oath of the Holy Paladin (for actual paladins)

• Demon Hunter Ranger (for Demon Hunter players)

• Shadow Domain clerics (for shadow priests)

• Discipline Domain clerics (for disc priests)

• Path of the Elements Barbarian (which leans into the fantasy of shaman)

Three traditional D&D subclasses will also be updated to better fit WoW’s aesthetic.

• Swashbuckler Rogue (for Outlaw Rogue players)

• Spiritual Guardian Barbarian (likely a play on a druid?)

• Warrior of Mystic Brews Monk (for brewmaster monk)

The remaining WoW classes will use reflavorings of already established D&D classes. The Dracthyr Evoker, for example, will use the sorcerer class.

You can preorder the digital or physical version on D&D Beyond now. The book releases in early access on November 3, with the full book going live on November 17.

I will admit my own bias around this book as I am a longtime World of Warcraft player. I joined during Mists of Pandaria and have engaged with its roleplaying community for over a decade. There are a lot of stories I’ve written with friends in that period, and a lot more to be said about the very distinct community that has formed there. But that’s a different newsletter.

Getting the chance to officially run WoW with official resources is something I am very excited about, and I’m already planning to run my own WoW D&D table.

At the same time, it’s an interesting look at what may become a more core part of the game. IP conversion via Universes Beyond may become more common in the coming months and years… how well it converts will tell us much about the hobby's appeal.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Welcome to TTRPG Insider!

Every week, we send you interviews, news and roundups straight to your inbox. Everything you need to know within the TTRPG hobby and industry without the hassle of social media, generative AI or Google search.

If you want to know more, check us out here! If you like what you’re reading, make sure you subscribe.

Good golly, there is a lot of news this week! The big reveal focuses on Renegade Game Studios, which lost one of its IPs while also solidifying its partnership with one of the world's biggest toy and RPG publishers.

Dungeons & Dragons continues to release major updates, including a tease for a new adventure and a spooky-themed Drop. There are new releases, staff changes, and all sorts of other things. Finally is a partnership between Goodman Games that will help it become a multimedia IP.

Two minor updates from my side! First, I got to appear on fellow TTRPG News outlet Rascal’s podcast. Keep an eye out for that release on Monday. Second, I have confirmed my press credentials for PAX Unplugged, so we will be heading there for a third consecutive year. Still a bit early to say much more, but I am very excited. In the meantime, let’s get to the news!

Renegade Game Studios Loses World of Darkness, Renews Hasbro License

Board game and TTRPG developer Renegade Game Studio announced a number of changes to its company line-up this week.

The standout revelation was the end to Renegade and World of Darkness publisher White Wolf’s partnership. RGS will no longer publish or sell Vampire: the Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Hunter: the Reckoning tabletop supplements through its website.

RGS published a detailed Q&A noting that it will no longer host VTM books on its website starting Jan. 1, 2026. It has made it unclear what will happen to outstanding books and whether they will be reprinted.

World of Darkness confirmed the breakup but offered little detail on its own plans for Fifth Edition books, making the ruleset’s future uncertain.

White Wolf posted another dev diary exploring what it is tweaking about the Alpha playtest for VTM Sixth Edition. A glimpse of some updates was teased, but little was offered about what might change beyond what stood out in player feedback. No timeline has been established for V6’s release yet, likely leaving a notable gap between new VTM releases in 2027.

V6 was notably controversial after its release at GenCon, receiving a large amount of feedback from players about how it incorporated new metacurrencies and removed the need for a storyteller to roll dice.

The partnership's end also coincides with Renegade’s plan to crowdfund Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe Roleplaying Game, a TTRPG adaptation of the popular Interview With a Vampire and Vampire Lestat television series from AMC. There’s no evidence that the two are clashing, as Renegade staff have told TTRPG Insider that discussions for Immortal Universe have been going on for a while.

The other notable news was confirmation by Renegade that it was renewing its licensing agreement with Hasbro, which will allow it to continue to publish games based on Hasbro IP like Transformers, G.I. JOE, Power Rangers, M.A.S.K., My Little Pony, JEM and the Holograms, and ROM the SpaceKnight, as well as classic tabletop games including Axis & Allies, Acquire, Diplomacy, Heroscape, Robo Rally, and Ikusa.

"We’re extremely pleased to extend and expand our relationship with Hasbro,” said Scott Gaeta, President of Renegade in a press statement. “From our beginnings with Power Rangers to our most recent projects on Dungeons & Dragons Lords of Waterdeep, working with the teams at Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast has been a pleasure. It’s an honor to be entrusted with bringing these iconic brands to tabletops worldwide.”

“Renegade Game Studios has been a valued partner in bringing Hasbro’s iconic brands to life through engaging tabletop games,” said Marianne James, Senior Vice President, Global Licensing at Hasbro. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration and creating new ways for fans to connect with the brands they love.”

The brand renewal is far from shocking considering Renegade is publishing Hasbro’s Exodus sci-fi TTRPG, as well as the upcoming updates to Essence20 system (which are used for its GI Joe, Transformers and My Little Pony TTRPGs).

Renegade confirmed during its RenegadeCon stream on Friday that it intended to launch second editions of Transformers and G.I. Joe with the new 5.5e RPG rulebooks, as well as the Energon Universe series of TTRPGs. These books are expected to crowdfund in February 2027.

D&D posted a horror trailer titled Project_Lamordia on September 29, which exudes a tone clearly different from what one might expect from D&D. Lamordia is a reference to a Domain of Dread from Ravenloft, suggesting it is expanding the lore… but details are vague.

“Project_Lamordia transforms the classic Frankenstein-inspired setting into a modern techno-horror nightmare centered around Mordenheim Kinetics, a sprawling research facility where technological ambition has gone horribly wrong,” an official description states. “Mechanized horrors, failed experiments, body modification, and survival horror collide as the setting explores contemporary fears around unchecked innovation, artificial intelligence, and the loss of control over the things we create.”

The project is expected to release on October 13.

At first glance, it appears to be a project embracing sci-fi horror, body horror, and Dead Space aesthetics.

Want to see more reporting in the TTRPG space? Heard a scoop or a story you want covered? Let us know! Subscribe to TTRPG Insider and get exclusive interviews, trend pieces, speculation and coverage of D&D, mainstream publishers and the indie scene.

Shadowfell and “Sorrow Knights” Central to D&D October Drops

Wizards of the Coast

D&D Beyond released its October Drop this week, featuring a wide range of new monsters and maps for players. Many darker-themed creatures, maps, and encounters were added to bring a bit more of a spooky feel to the game.

Arguably the more interesting element to drop includes the Sorrow Knight, a new fighter class that wields a player character’s despair to create magical attacks. It is the first subclass released for the Drops, implying that very little content appears off the table right now.

A new tool called the Tarokka Life Path was also added, allowing players to build characters using a distinct approach to storytelling introduced in the 2026 update to Tarokka.

Dungeon Crawl Classics Embraces Comics in New Publishing Partnership

Dungeon Crawl Classics (not to be mixed up with Dungeon Crawler Carl) is going to get its own comic adaptation.

DCC publisher Goodman Games is partnering with American Mythology Productions to produce original comic book material based in DCC’s old-school fantasy-inspired setting. The books will be written by James Kuhoric, who is best known for Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, Army of Darkness, Return of the Living Dead, Stargate SG-1, Battlestar Galactica, The Six Million Dollar Man, and numerous other titles.

“Comics and RPGs have been part of my DNA for as long as I can remember,” said James Kuhoric in a press statement. “I was running Dungeons & Dragons on the elementary school playground back in 1980. We didn’t have elaborate terrain or fancy miniatures, we had pencils, paper, dice, and a bunch of kids ready to see what happened when their characters opened the next door. That feeling of possibility has never left me.”

“I’ve spent my career writing horror and fantasy stories, and Dungeon Crawl Classics captures that same sense of discovery, danger, weirdness, and fun that made those early games so magical. Getting to tell original stories in that world through comics and then connect those stories to adventures people can actually play, is an absolute dream.”

Additional details about the project, such as the comic artists involved and release schedule, are to be announced in the future.

Thoughts? Comments?

Feel free to send us tips or emails at ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Patreon

The subscription-based membership platform Patreon recognized its TTRPG creators through a documentary short.

The company published The Big Roll on Tuesday, September 29, a five-minute short featuring ten individuals involved in some of the biggest TTRPG-focused memberships in the space as they roll what Patreon calls “one of the world's largest-known, fully functional 20-sided ‘D20’ die.” The dice in question were six feet by six feet in size and weighed 200 pounds.

“Creators in the tabletop role-playing game community have built a highly engaged fandom on Patreon,” said Mike McGarry, chief marketing officer at Patreon. “Every aspect of this documentary, from building a six-foot, fully functional D20 die that would actually roll down a hill, to bringing ten creators together in Los Angeles, was designed to bring joy to that community and celebrate human creativity. Patreon is passionate about giving creators’ work a life beyond the platform, which is why we love working on campaigns that bring their ideas and audiences IRL in fun, unexpected ways. It's not often that ten of the most loved creators within a subculture unite for one project, and we can't wait for fans to see what they brought to life.”

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Featured Creators

The creators featured in the video include members of the following:

• Worlds Beyond Number (85K+ Patreon members): an improvised storytelling podcast hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan, Erika Ishii, Aabria Iyengar, and Lou Wilson.

• Ginny Di (17K Patreon members): A full-time creator making D&D-inspired videos, music, costumes, and offering advice for players and game masters alongside character-building tools for creatives.

• Legends of Avantris (35K+ Patreon members): An actual play podcast with 2.8M followers on YouTube, and has run two of the more successful TTRPG crowdfunding campaigns.

• Tales from the Stinky Dragon: A bi-weekly, actual-play D&D comedy podcast known for its silly animation and puppet antics.

• PrintableHeroes (22K+ Patreon members): Creator of print-ready miniatures for tabletop roleplaying games

• Amy Vorpahl: Actress, singer, writer, and gamer who has written official D&D adventures, including 2021's Candlekeep Mysteries

The creators involved were asked to perform creative challenges prior to the documentary’s filming, including Ginny Di’s various personas taking over her Patreon page and the Stinky Dragon cast riding a roller coaster after eating theme park food.

“Rolling the giant D20 down a California hill was something I never thought I’d do, and yet somehow simultaneously what I’ve been preparing for my entire life,” Vorpahl said in a press statement. “The whole event acted as a huge chimera of value: a steroid shot of enthusiasm in my Patreon audience, a moment to ask ‘what DO I want to create next,’ and a high vibes break to talk shop with other creators! Five stars. Would roll again.”

"Rolling the giant D20 was one of the first times that we really got to collaborate with a lot of other indie creators,” added Chris Demarais and Ben Ernst, who help create Tales from the Stinky Dragon. “Immediately when showing up [to the shoot], everyone was saying things like, 'We're gonna do some cool stuff, it's so great to meet you, I've been following your work for a while, I love what you do.' It had that same vibe of playing D&D together with friends." 

Why This Matters

The video and Patreon’s promotional effort reflect how integral the creator-based economy is to TTRPGs as a whole.

The video was marked as a celebration of its TTRPG creators, who made $51 million in revenue in 2025 and have a total of 5.2 million free and paid subscribers.¹ The platform is also often used as a regular source of secondary income for creators in the space, or for those who want access to work by veterans of the space like Ed Greenwood, Keith Baker, or Mike Mearls.

On the one hand, 5.2 million subscribers and $51 million are outstanding figures and show that there are a lot of folks who care about this space. At the same time, it is a small part of the Patreon ecosystem. The company reported 80 million users and 165 million free memberships as of April 2026.

It’s also worth noting that the majority of creators featured are D&D-adjacent creators. Worlds Beyond Number is arguably the exception, although the fame of Mulligan, Ishii, and company is due in part to their playing D&D content alongside successful acting careers.

Note: The story was updated to include details about Patreon’s subscriptions and clarify how many paid and free subscribers are included.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Welcome to TTRPG Insider!

Every week, we send you interviews, news and roundups straight to your inbox. Everything you need to know within the TTRPG hobby and industry without the hassle of social media, generative AI or Google search.

If you want to know more, check us out here! If you like what you’re reading, make sure you subscribe.

Light week this week on the news front. Between new D&D hires, a Dragonlance World Guide’s confirmation and the start of the “Season of Champions”, it’s a chill day. In the meantime, go read the interview with Storykeepers about Good Society 2e from yesterday if you want to!

Tracy Hickman Previews a Dragonlance World Guide for D&D in 2029

Tracy Hickman on Facebook

Dragonlance author Tracy Hickman posted a preview of D&D’s plans for what appears to be one of the first entries in the Icons line.

“"Since Monday, Margaret Weis, Joe Manganiello and I have been meeting with Dan Ayoub and the incredible D&D team outlining the world book for Dragonlance as well as future product beginning in 2029,” Hickman said in a Facebook post. “The future is going to be filled with epic adventure!"

The post included a picture of a whiteboard containing a wide spectrum of ideas around Krynn and Dragonlance. Not much was said, although it appears to be a fairly elaborate scheme.

It’s also the first look at the Icons line. The project got a lot of hype at the D&D keynote at GenCon but very few details were released. Books written by Hickman and Weis as well as Luke Gygax and RA Salvatore are expected to release, but no additional details were revealed as of August 2026. Icons is a separate line from the main set of releases by D&D focused around its Seasons series as well as the third-party supplements building on established settings.

Kobold Press Designer Joins D&D Team In Latest Hire

Kobold Press

A new game designer who helped make Tales of the Valiant is joining the Dungeons and Dragons team.

Celeste Conowitch, who has served as a major part of Kobold Press’ team, announced that she was leaving the company and joining Wizards of the Coast as a senior game designer on Tuesday.

Hey cool kids, I'm excited to share that I've joined the Wizards of the Coast D&D Team as their new Senior Game Developer!

It has been a strange and wondrous journey here---but I'm raring to face all the new thrills & challenges that lie ahead ✨⚔️✨
#WotCStaff

— Celeste Conowitch (@cconowitch.bsky.social)
2:15 PM • Sep 22, 2026

“Celeste has been an integral part of Kobold Press for years, leaving her mark across some of the company’s most ambitious projects,” Kobold Press wrote in a blog post announcing Conowitch’s departure. “From the shadowy realms of Book of Ebon Tides to the creation of Tales of the Valiant, her work has helped shape the games and worlds we know and love.

“As the lead designer of Tales of the Valiant, Celeste helped guide the game from its earliest design work through its launch, working alongside the design team and community to build an extension of the 5th Edition Creative Commons D&D ruleset. Her passion for creating a game that balances compatibility and new ideas helped shape the ToV ruleset we know and love today.”

It’s the latest hire for WOTC, as it continues to expand its team and present a grander vision for the game.

Want to see more reporting in the TTRPG space? Heard a scoop or a story you want covered? Let us know! Subscribe to TTRPG Insider and get exclusive interviews, trend pieces, speculation and coverage of D&D, mainstream publishers and the indie scene.

Season 3 of Dungeon Masters Begins

Dungeon Masters, D&D’s ongoing AP for promoting its new ‘seasons’ content, is launching season three this week with a focus on Azeroth and the World of Warcraft setting.

It was accompanied by a short free adventure based on Dire Maul, one of the iconic dungeons from Azeroth and World of Warcraft, which offered first looks at how demons operate in the setting.

WoWhead also previewed the classes played by the cast. It’s a Horde run, I see.

Early previews of the dungeons featured in the book have also been released via influencers this week, offering a look at level spectrums for them. That coverage is likely going to expand in coming days.

Paizo Introduces Third Party Content To Organized Play

Paizo announced on September 21st that it is opening a special program for players to submit fan-created scenarios through its Infinite program to be considered for Pathfinder and Starfinder Society play.

"Our goal is to grow the number of Organized Play offerings available to the community by welcoming fan-created content,” Paizo associate publisher Thurston Hillman wrote in a blog post. “We'll be watching closely how this change affects the community, and we're looking forward to working with our Infinite creators, Venture-Officers, and campaign participants on how best to adjust in the months ahead.”

The scenarios will face similar scrutiny as Infinite submissions usually do, including whether the content is being published on a regular basis. It will also have to fit a particular design style, as detailed on the Pathfinder Infinite website.

Hillman also confirmed that the company is updating its release plans; something that had been previously mentioned after the company laid off multiple staff.

The full details are on Paizo’s blog.

. Feel free to send us tips or emails at ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Today’s a bit more regal, as we speak with Australian TTRPG writers Vee Hendro and Hayley Gordon, aka the married couple behind Good Society, a TTRPG adapting Jane Austen’s distinct approach to storytelling from the 19th century into a TTRPG about drama, scandal, and lots of fancy dresses. It’s a narrative game where you can meet your own Mr. Darcy and watch it all fail due to local drama.

The designers recently launched the second edition of GS, focusing on updating the rules. The campaign is one of the biggest original system TTRPGs coming out of Australia, according to the authors.

TTRPG Insider spoke with Hendro and Gordon about their inspirations, what makes the game stand out, and more.

1. What's the story behind Good Society? What inspired its first launch?

The spark of inspiration was a quiet little moment, just a midweek rewatch of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie, where we found ourselves imagining what we would do if we were a protagonist in an Austen novel. That led to us thinking, “oh, this would make a fun roleplaying game.”

After that, it became our passion project, where we would obsessively playtest, tinker, and eventually decide to crowdfund and work towards it. In many ways, the story of Good Society is also the story of how we fell in love with roleplaying game design and how we pursued our dream of starting a studio full-time together.

2. And what inspired you to update the game after so long? Was it a focus on mechanical updates or something else altogether? 

The initial trigger was us selling out of the first edition worldwide. Instead of just reprinting, we felt like we could do something better. After more than 8 years since release, we’ve played, observed, or heard about thousands of games of Good Society, and have come to a deeper understanding of how people play and interact with the game. 

We’ve grown as designers alongside a lovely community of Good Society players who are generous, kind, and encouraging; and ultimately, we wanted to make a version of the game that really reflects how the community plays and what they love about it. During development, we launched a large community survey about the game, which received over 300 detailed responses! That direct feedback was invaluable, allowing us to make changes that will have a huge impact on the game's quality. 

3. What about Austen and the stories told in that time appealed to you? 

Austen’s writing, for us, aligned well with what we love about TTRPGs; witty banter, deep characters, interpersonal stories, overflowing emotions. 

And scientifically, it is 100% gay¹ to love stories of repression and yearning. I think Good Society fits well within the queer historical romance subgenre, which is often where we end up when playing ourselves, but it also comfortably supports many other themes and stories beyond that. 

4. Why do you think people are drawn to the distinct drama and tensions of the 19th-century fictional worlds that Good Society is based on?

Luckily, we actually have a little bit of data about this! Last year we surveyed around 300 people about Good Society, and as one of the questions, we asked them what drew them to playing in this setting. Players were drawn by exploring complex relationships, deeply embodying a character, and engaging in banter and ridiculousness. The surprise for me was how much it wasn’t about the setting itself, but rather what the setting enabled in their roleplaying!

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Managing Drama and Romance in a Austenian Setting

5. The centrality of romance and drama at the core of the game seems like an area where "bleed" might be a problem. How did you think about balancing that with ensuring there's lots of opportunities for drama and tension?

A little bit of bleed isn’t always a bad thing, but every roleplaying system needs rules in place to prevent it getting out of hand. Good Society has a plethora of built-in rules for collaboration and safety. Most notable is the collaboration stage at the beginning of the game, where you decide together what kind of story you would like to tell and have the opportunity to rule out certain types of content as well. 

Good Society also has a currency called resolve tokens, which are used to create changes in the story. If these changes significantly impact another character, then you have to enter into a quick negotiation with that character’s player before you can use your token.

None of this can overcome the atmosphere at the table, which is why we encourage people to express themselves and listen to others as they play so everyone can look out for each other.

6. The game centers on reputation, rumor, and scandal; all aspects that seem like they would be more oriented toward RP-driven drama rather than mechanics. How do you strive to capture those and keep it interesting for the players?

I think it’s a mistake to see “RP-driven drama” as something untouchable by “mechanics”. In fact, many of our mechanics drive this drama forward. Our design goal is to create a system that unifies RP-driven drama and mechanics so that each reinforces and supports the other. That’s always been our game design philosophy, ever since our first game. 

What this looks like in play is that following the rules of the game and playing your character will feel like it naturally leads to juicy character drama moments. For example, your reputation can stack up and trigger reputation consequences such as “broke” or “swallowed by rumor”, that are in turn all geared towards creating further drama for your character.

7. Why should players from Good Society 1e update to 2e?

There is an incredible amount of new things in the second edition. Some of the core rules of the game have changed, but in my opinion this isn’t the big draw. In 2e, we’re actually including what we call “play styles”, which are sets of rules variants you can use to customize your experience. These are going to give you so many new options for playing the game that players coming from 1e will really enjoy. 

On top of that we also have new setting content, extra inspirational material for use in the game, new facilitator advice, and a huge upgrade on the production values of the game across layout and form factor.

8. Is Good Society intended for veteran roleplayers or players who may not have as much history in the game?

Both! Good Society’s rules are quite easy to pick up—the key skills you need to play the game aren’t actually roleplaying specific, but rather it’s just the general ability to listen to other people and work together. If you are a seasoned hand at narrative games however, you will really be able to get deep into the storytelling very quickly.

With the 2nd edition, we have put extra effort into making it as approachable as possible to first-time roleplayers. Over the years, we’ve definitely heard that Good Society served as folks’ first indie TTRPG, and we want to make that a really wonderful experience for the future, too.

Thanks to Storybrewers for the interview! You can back Good Society 2e on Kickstarter today.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Hello! Today, we’re taking a look at City of Espers, the new TTRPG project from UK designer Nathan Blades and Mappa Mundi publisher Three Sails Studios. We’ve previously talked to TSS about Gallow’s Corner, their game about peasant revolt. Now the studio is looking to the future, with a world full of psychics, urban warfare and ballroom-inspired style fights.

TTRPG Insider got to talk to Blades and TSS owner George Bickers about the game, its influence and more.

A new game combines psychic powers, urban warfare, and queer culture to create what it calls an urban-action experience at your local table.

City of Espers is a “psychic-powered urban action RPG” designed by UK game designer Nathan Blades and published by Mappa Mundi creator Three Sails Studios. The game imagines a city where psychics are developing special powers and duking it out for turf control against other groups in Zener City. Each gang brings its own distinct aesthetic to the table, whether they’re Western-inspired cowboys or senshin-inspired heroes. Players will seek to beat back guilds, build their own turf, and help their house of psychics rise to the top.

The book itself has a strong comic book vibe to it that jumps off the page. Zener City presents a world where players will likely have to use their powers to defend their turf, but where death isn’t always the end. Blades compared it to shonen media, where characters regularly clashed with each other but rarely ended in death. It’s a world where you may fight a rival house for a time, only to then partner with them against a larger threat to your turf at a later point.

The aesthetics were inspired by Jet Set Radio, Grand Theft Auto and The Warriors as well as superhero media like Teen Titans, Blades told TTRPG Insider.

However, one of the less expected influences for the game was ballroom culture, a reference to an underground LGBT subculture from New York where Black and Latino queer individuals would organize into houses and compete through stylistic expression. Those influences are best communicated through the use of “houses” as a gang framework. It creates a basis for the themes of found family that Blades hoped the game would reflect.

“So much of what ballroom is is having a group of your friends who are all dancers, who are all musicalities, who are all costume designers, really working together to go and design bomb outfits and work on choreography,” Blades explained. “And then step to a venue where there are other people doing the exact same thing and battling them, but without actually having to throw hands, without needing to know any martial arts, without bloodshed.”

That inspiration is part of what drew TSS’ George Bickers to publish the project. Bickers, who had studied ball culture in university, immediately recognized the inspiration while playtesting it at a local UK tabletop dev meetup. The subject became an immediate source of common interest between the pair, and eventually helped lead to the pair collaborating.

Three Sails Studios

Cards and Controlling Luck

Unlike most TTRPGs, City of Espers is built on a card-based system.

Players will hold cards in their hand and play them at appropriate moments to influence gameplay. It’s a similar mechanic to what other game designers have used, such as in IDW Games’ Godzilla roleplaying game.

While a deck offers a level of randomness in the right hands, it has a limit to what can appear based on what’s drawn. If there are only 52 cards in a standard deck, then that means there are only 4 out of 52 chances to draw a 2, or an ace. It also helps players to wield their powers, which can vary from fire to telekinesis to any other form of psychic ability imagined in fiction.

The use of cards offers players the ability to have more control over their luck than dice might offer. Blades told TTRPG Insider that they chose to use cards because “it means outcomes could be predicted,” since observant players could track which cards are still in play and which are not. “Depending on how long the play session goes, you will eventually see every card in the deck and get to make sensible guesses about what’s left,” they added. At the same time, it sometimes means players get stuck with bad cards and have to deal with what happens next.

However, the game also plays with a tactical approach, where cards are dealt across a grid.

Whether you’re a designer, content creator or just the biggest fan at your table, TTRPG Insider delivers in-depth reporting, original interviews and regular roundups of the news that you will not find anywhere else. Let us help you become the best designer, player or dungeon master at your table.

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Three Sails Studios and The Risk of Finished Projects Before Crowdfunding

One aspect of City of Espers’ launch that set it apart from other TTRPG crowdfunding campaigns was TSS’ decision to have the game fully developed before the crowdfunding campaign began. While most creators will only have a portion of a text ready by the Kickstarter campaign, TSS makes sure that all of its products are finished by the launch of the crowdfunding. This allows the company to fulfill faster than other campaigns and ensures backers get PDFs right after a campaign’s end.

It’s an approach that’s rare among publishers, since it places a risk of economic loss for TSS if the campaign struggles to hit its goals. If the campaign fails to hit all of its goals, then TSS could lose tens of thousands of dollars on a book that nobody wants.

It’s a risk that Bickers says he’s okay with. He prefers that to raising the money in a traditional campaign, only to realize they need more to finish the book due to unexpected expenses (such as tariffs or shifting shipping rates).

Bickers’ priority at the end of the campaign is creating a good game, paying the artists what they deserve and offering other creators a platform to help create the projects they’re excited.

City of Espers is now available to back on Backerkit. The campaign ends on September 29.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Welcome to TTRPG Insider!

Every week, we send you interviews, news and roundups straight to your inbox. Everything you need to know within the TTRPG hobby and industry without the hassle of social media, generative AI or Google search.

If you want to know more, check us out here! If you like what you’re reading, make sure you subscribe.

We had a surprise bit of news Friday when NECROMUNDA got its own in-house TTRPG. We also have remarks from Dan Ayoub on the OGL 2024 controversy, price changes for Paizo and a lot more!

Warhammer 40,000 Games Workshop to Release Necromunda TTRPG

Necromunda, a sci-fi urban-focused wargame set in the Warhammer 40,000 setting is getting its own TTRPG.

40k publisher Games Workshop announced on Friday hat it was releasing Warhammer Necromunda Roleplay, a new game built around the setting of the same name. Necromunda tells the story of a world where hive cities, where billions of humans live in desperate urban environments, host gang wars and games funded by the elites in hopes of finding power. The game was originally a skirmish-based wargame, but appears to also be adding a TTRPG as well.

“You play as a group of bounty-hunting Venators taking on jobs set by the Arbitrator, the equivalent of a games master, who presents the story to the other players, adjudicating on the rules of the game, and unfolding the narrative created by the actions of the players,” the announcement on GW’s website states. Venators are bounty hunters in the setting who collaborate on jobs as a squad.

The game will feature a number of miniatures, including four premade characters from the setting. It will also come with 18 miniatures in total, including new NPCS and enemies.

It will come in a starter set that will include minis of varying sizes and stat blocks as well as a core rulebook that expands on the setting’s lore and helps players create their own characters. The rules appear to use a d100 system akin to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. The system will feel “recognizable to Necromunda fans,” the company c laims.

Games Workshop and 40k are no strangers to TTRPGs. However, this game stands out since it is not being written or published by Cubicle 7; the UK-based publisher who makes Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40,000: Wrath and Glory and Imperium Maledictum. It’s unclear why this is so, although I’d speculate that C7’s plate is full considering it publishes multiple books for at least five different Warhammer RPGs every year alongside other UK properties like Doctor Who and The Laundry Files.

The new RPG is expected to be released alongside a journal containing character stats.

No release date is planned for the game.

“Necromunda is a world of mines, factories, refineries, and processing plants,” Games Workshop’s description of Necromunda states. “In the darkness of the underhive and the rad-choked planes of the ash wastes, fights between the rival clan houses over the limited resources are a way of life for its citizens. Choose your gang and fight thrilling, fast-paced tactical games or long-running narrative campaigns set in this dark and dangerous corner of the 41st Millennium.”

D&D Head Dan Ayoub on the 2024 OGL Controversy

D&D’s Dan Ayoub

TTRPG Insider friend of the newsletter Mollie Russell over at Wargamer got to sit down and chat with D&D’s brand head Dan Ayoub for an interview.

When asked about what he learned from the 2024 D&D OGL controversy, Ayoub stated the following:

You should read the full interview over at Wargamer.

Paizo to Increase Book Prices Amid Tariffs, Economic Uncertainty

Paizo

Pathfinder and Starfinder publisher Paizo announced on Wednesday that it will raise the price of its books by a substantial amount in October.

Why the price raise? “Making a book has grown more expensive in pretty much every way,” wrote Paizo chief growth officer Christian Moore in a blog post. “Tariffs and shifting global trade rules, paper and printing, freight, warehousing, and fulfillment all cost more than they did when many of our current prices were set. We’ve absorbed as much of it as we responsibly can, but much of it simply remains beyond our control.”

What we won’t do is cut corners on the books themselves,” Moore added. “Adjusting a handful of prices lets us keep making the games you love, at the quality you’ve come to expect from Paizo, hopefully for years to come.”

The prices are to remain this way going into 2027, although they may be subject to change depending on economic shifts.

The following releases are expected to be affected.

• Pathfinder Core books: Player Core, GM Core, Monster Core, and Player Core 2 (hardcover and Sketch Edition) go from $59.99 to $69.99.

• Rulebook Pocket Editions: Pathfinder and Starfinder Pocket Editions currently priced at $29.99 move to $34.99, the price the Pathfinder Player Core Pocket Edition already carries.

• Select Lost Omens hardcovers go up $5: Rival Academies to $49.99, Shining Kingdoms to $64.99, and Draconic Codex to $69.99.

• Starfinder Alien Core (including the retailer cover) goes from $64.99 to $69.99, in line with Starfinder Player Core and GM Core.

• Special Editions keep their usual $20 premium over the standard edition, so a few will move alongside their standard books..

The following releases will not be affected.

• Adventure Paths and standalone adventures

• Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society scenarios

• Fiction and accessories

• PDFs—we adjusted PDF prices earlier this year, and they aren’t changing again

• Lost Omens Divine Mysteries and Tian Xia World Guide, which stay at $79.99

Users can still buy these books at their current prices on Paizo’s store for the time being.

The price changes after a lot of economic shifts for Paizo, including possible relief in its ongoing case to acquire books from Diamond Comics, its recent layoffs, and other controversies.

Want to see more reporting in the TTRPG space? Heard a scoop or a story you want covered? Let us know! Subscribe to TTRPG Insider and get exclusive interviews, trend pieces, speculation and coverage of D&D, mainstream publishers and the indie scene.

I want to feature a new project from 12-Sided Studios (the team behind Force of Extinction and a new AP studio in the UK0. Rolladex is what hopes to be the “community-curated guide to every TTRPG show and podcast. Find your next obsession, follow the creators you love, and never miss a critical moment.” AP databases are nothing new, but having a company's backing does make this one seem slightly more interesting.

Stay tuned. We’ll see what comes of it.

Feel free to send us tips or emails at ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Today, we’re talking to line manager J Gray of R.Talsorian Games about their latest releases in 2026. The company premiered its newest IP, Fossilized Violence, at GenCon 2026, a prehistoric setting focused on more Conan-esque adventures in the times of dinosaurs than the company’s usual affairs. But the big release this year is Night City 2045, a sourcebook that explores the iconic city that defined R. Talsorian’s most popular game, Cyberpunk Red.

The team at R.Talsorian Games offered a substantial expansion of the lore of Night City, the iconic futuristic city at the center of Cyberpunk Red, with Night City 2045.

R.Talsorian Games

The book, released at Origins 2026 in May, is a “monster sourcebook” detailing a number of locations, factions, and gangs for the iconic city during the “time of the Red” aka the 2040s. It builds on the previous work detailed in Night City, which is part of the Cyberpunk 2020 line and offers a look at the world before it became the iconic city depicted in CDPR’s 2077 video game.

The original Night City supplement focused on a small section of the metropolis, fleshing out its stores and residents in immense detail. It was the gold standard of urban setting TTRPG books, line manager J. Gray argued. That placed a lot of pressure on R.Talsorian’s team to ensure the high quality of Night City 2045. So the team decided to try and capture every corner of Night City. The book contains 600 locations, several NPCs and factions and all sorts of possible plot tools for a storyteller to use in the setting.

R.Talsorian Games

The project brought on a wide spectrum of writers, from Steve Kenson of Green Ronin to Chris Spivey of Harlem Unbound, to flesh out the districts. Fernando Damas, a Venezuelan game designer best known for the cyberpunk-themed bartending game VA-11 Hall-A, was brought on to flesh out Santa Domingo, the Latin-themed neighborhood that the Valentinos were based out of in Cyberpunk 2077.

The book offers a sandbox for players who are interested in the minutiae of the world and who want to seriously nerd out about Night City. Longtime fans may find it particularly appealing since it allowed Gray, Pondsmith, and other Cyberpunk writers to “backtrack” and answer questions that the 50-year gap between Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk 2077 may have left unanswered.

A perfect example of this is the Hispanic-themed Valentinos gang. The Valentinos are mentioned in Night City 2020 and are a major faction in Cyberpunk 2077. They appear to be two entirely different groups in terms of aesthetics and operations. So what happened?

The 2020 version of Valentinos is gone by the time of 2045, Gray says, due to how organizations like the Valentinos are kind of a club, and “clubs die, live and die again based on membership.” However, a woman named Theresa liked the Valentinos so much that she took on their name and would play a major role in their taking over a district of Night City.

Night City 2045 allowed R.Talsorian and the other writers to “backdate” stories and fill in all the gaps where they could, Gray explained, creating a much more fleshed-out version of the iconic city.

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What’s Next?

Cyberpunk has a lot coming down the line in the coming weeks and months

R. Talsorian intends to publish a supplement to help RED players adapt the game to best match the 2077 version of the setting, according to Gray. It will also include a campaign set during 2077. He hopes it will help draw in video game fans to try out the TTRPG. That book is expected to release in 2027.

When it comes to non-TTRPG releases, there’s a lot coming down the line.

Board game maker Asmodee is releasing Cyberpunk Legends: Into the Night, a cooperative card game where players work as a crew on various jobs in Night City. It’s built on poker-based mechanics and appears fairly easy to learn. TTRPG Insider got to experience a short demo of the game during GenCon 2026. The game is expected to fully release in 2026. Sources have also mentioned possible crossovers between Into the Night and the TTRPG.

The Cyberpunk trading card game, which raised $28 million this year, is expected to fulfill this fall. The game broke records and is primarily based on the 2077 version of the IP

CDPR continues to develop a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 aka Project Orion, although details about the project remain scant.

Finally, there is Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, a sequel to the popular Netflix anime miniseries. The series is expected to release on October 20, 2026.

Gray confirmed that the creators behind all of these projects work fairly closely with R.Talsorian when it comes to the lore, but wasn’t able to say much more

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

This week is a really special week for me as a writer. One of the big things I always hope to do with this newsletter beyond write non-stop about D&D is also to look at the cool indie projects being created and the institutions that are helping empower new souls to get their passion projects turned into physical books. Gamefound is one of the bigger names as one of the larger crowdfunding platforms. While Gamefound is primarily known for supporting board games, it has slowly expanded into TTRPGs. The biggest internal initiative was RPG Party, a special event where the team would bring creators and publishers from big companies to help tutor indies on how to crowdfund and fulfill games. The first one was hosted last year, with 20+ projects successfully funding.

This year, the company is continuing this program but under new guidance. Gamefound New Business Manager Ella Carter has taken over the project from Cam Bradley and others to guide 21 creators from across the space in bringing their games to life.

TTRPG Insider got to speak with Carter about shifting into the role, what RPG Party is doing differently in 2026, and more.

Ella Carter on RPG Party 2026

The concept of RPG Party has been in development since 2023, Gamefound’s Tadeusz Nowopolski told TTRPG Insider in 2025. “It was important to us that the initiative serve real creator needs and that it be truly collaborative, rather than just a platform-led campaign,” he noted. The project came to life in April 2025 and helped bring 20+ projects to fruition. Now it’s going for round two.

The biggest change came with Cam Bradley’s departure. Bradley, who was the face of the operation and a regular contact for many of the original RPG Party creators, left the company on good terms in July to join Kickstarter as Account Director for games. The project then landed on the shoulders of Ella Carter, who previously acted as Bradley’s second-in-command on the project. That hands-on nature allowed her to keep the Party’s momentum going.

Gamefound’s Ella Carter

RPG Party 2026 offered similar support as 2025, including lectures and mentorship from Free League Publishing, Modiphius Entertainment, Darrington Press and Magpie Games as well as one-on-one feedback and communication from Gamefound’s team. The syllabus for RPG Party recipients was also more fleshed out this time around, Carter noted. It also doubled the number of lectures and ensured they were recorded, allowing creators to view them whenever they wanted. Peer mentor publishers, aka experienced companies, were brought on again in 2026 to ensure that veteran creators were available to provide appropriate feedback and advice to fledgling creators. Dragonmount Press’ Budapest 1899 and Plus One EXP’s partnership with Crimson Adder Press on Myco//Drift were the two mentor projects this time.

Gamefound also decided to offer creators a more flexible window for releasing their projects, Carter noted. The 2025 RPG Party launch was delayed at least once due to a need for more prep time, Bradley told TTRPG Insider in 2025. The decision to host a single-day launch also placed an immense burden on creators and Gamefound’s support team, Carter added. Now creators have from September 15 to October 15 to launch. While most projects were encouraged to launch on September 15 to take advantage of all the promotional work on Gamefound’s end, some have chosen to delay until later. Haunted, for example, has decided to launch on October 1.

At the end of the day, Carter said she was surprised and excited by how many of the creators collaborated and chatted throughout the process, and appears hopeful for their ability to get funded.

As of this article, the majority of projects have launched and are raising funds.

Whether you’re a designer, content creator or just the biggest fan at your table, TTRPG Insider delivers in-depth reporting, original interviews and regular roundups of the news that you will not find anywhere else. Let us help you become the best designer, player or dungeon master at your table.

Subscribe now to gain the advantage you need to excel in this exceptional hobby and industry.

Meet the RPG Party 2026 Prospects

TTRPG Insider spoke with the majority of creators involved with the project and have a preview of all the projects. From solo RPGs about digging through the mud to new Daggerheart campaign frames, there are some fascinating projects at play this time around. Check it out!

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Welcome to TTRPG Insider!

Every week, we send you interviews, news and roundups straight to your inbox. Everything you need to know within the TTRPG hobby and industry without the hassle of social media, generative AI or Google search.

If you want to know more, check us out here! If you like what you’re reading, make sure you subscribe.

We have a big issue here for you. Gamefound hosted its second RPG Party earlier this year, an event designed to help independent TTRPGs get their feet on the ground and create something cool. We covered the first one last year, interviewing 20+ game designers about what they’ve made. We did the same this week in hopes of giving a taste to the games and helping you support new creators!

We will note that not all creators are launching their projects this week. RPG Party expanded the launch window from September 15 to October 15, giving the team extra time and the ability to build hype for their projects as they see fit.

Below are interviews with the people involved and a short look as their projects. If interested, we honestly recommend looking at the campaigns themselves and their supplemental materials.

You can also check out our interview with Ella Carter, who helped organize the event

Bring Heroic Fantasy, Cyberpunk and Space Opera to your Daggerheart Games with Hope Dies Last

Hope Dies Last is a trio of Daggerheart campaign frames designed by game design collective Infinite Citadel in partnership with Mike Underwood, who helped to write and design the original Daggerheart Core Rulebook.

The collection contains options for running resistance stories, cyberpunk tales and a lot more.

The collection includes a physical print of Bastion of Hope, one of the earliest third-party frames to be reviewed, as well as two others written by Infinite Citadel’s team. It will also add a Mechanical Nexus of tools with new options to expand a player’s campaign frames and stories.

You can learn all about Hope Dies Last here.

Explore New Worlds in your Daggerheart Game With Tales and Twists

Tales and Twists is a set of Daggerheart campaign frames written by Jack of All Trades, a Brazil-based team of game designers.

It’s a collection of five campaign frames that add a twist to old ideas. Three of the frames - A Sweet Resistance, The Ruins of Elementia and Dies Tenebris - will offer twists on traditional ideas. For example, A Sweet Resistance is about fighting back in a candy land. Two additional frames will be released, but only after the backers select them.

The set of campaign frames is for “people looking to expand their Daggerheart tool sets and explore themes of hope for a better tomorrow, rising against all odds and finding community even when all seems lost,” Jack of All Trades’s Nadja Lirio told TTRPG Insider.

 You can learn more about the project here.

Hunt Welsh Ghosts in the Solo TTRPG Dewin 

Dewin is a solo TTRPG written by CJ Tucker, a game designer from Wales. He says the game was originally inspired by his own research into the ghost stories from Wales and its distinct approach to the supernatural.

Dewin has you playing as a Dewin [pronounced deh-win], a traveling spellcaster who travels the Welsh countryside and seeks ghosts and magic. Players will build a map, explore the region and help them to move on. It’s based on a system Tucker built called The Pilgrim’s Path, where you roll dice based on varying prompts and build a map. The game was previously used in Tucker’s last book A Witch’s Pilgrimage.

“The game is perfect for anyone interested in encountering ghosts and writing about their stories, as well as anyone interested in Welsh culture, mythology or the unique ghost stories that come from the country,” Tucker told TTRPG Insider.

You can check out the project here.

Explore a Horrific World in Winter’s Bone: An RPG for Doomed Mice

We Be Dangerous Publishing

Winter’s Bone is a new TTRPG from the UK-based We Be Dangerous Publishing aka Robert Webb, and is one of its first projects.

Webb has been a long-time fan of TTRPGs, but he eventually decided to give game design a shot for himself.

Winter’s Bone is a d20-based OSR game about “doomed mice” and is described as a folk-horror retelling of the sorts of stories one might see in Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, where anthropomorphic animals live in medieval times and fight off great evils. Players are mice, who are stuck in a world where winter brings the arrival of monsters, and they must survive against their onslaught. They’re also extremely fragile, which means death is often closer than one might be comfortable with. But cleverness and preparation can help you survive the encroaching darkness.

Why play? Because it’s not about survival, according to Web. “Winter’s Bones is unique in that the players are not out to ‘win’ or overcome the winter. Doom and decay are inevitable, its up to you to leave something meaningful behind,” Webb told TTRPG Insider.

You can check the project out here.

Fight for Laughs in Road Warriors: A Standup Comedy Odyssey

Road Warriors is a new TTRPG project from Da Green Boyz, a publisher run by David Piccolomini, Dan Metz and Miel Markus.

The game came to exist after Piccolomini, who has worked as a traveling stand-up comedian, noted how insane some of their past adventures had been, calling them as silly and bonkers as some D&D table adventures. So they decided to build a game reflecting that.

Road Warriors is a Blades In The Dark-based hack focused on building a career as a standup comedian traveling the roads to find gigs, build a career and empower your self-esteem. Players are “strange people with poor impulse control”, using playbooks like “The Weirdo” or “The Scumbag.” They will have to collaborate to make a living.

“If you've wondered what it would be like to play as up and coming comedians in the ‘Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ universe, this game is for you,” the pair told TTRPG Insider.

You can check out the project here.

Time to Go Mudlarking in the Solo Fantasy RPG Kraldum

Kraldum is a solo TTRPG written by tooth and shore, the TTRPG studio of UK game designer Tori Truslow.

Kraldum is inspired by the historical practice of “mudlarking”, where you would search the muddy banks of a river for treasures. The practice was best established on the Thames River in London and was often a means of survival or of finding unique treasures.

The game is a “a solo treasure-hunting RPG inspired by real history and old-fashioned dungeoneering,” Troslow told TTRPG Insider. It draws influence from OSR games as well as people who want to explore the history. You play as an adventurer who is digging through the mire and might find monsters, strange items and more.

“As a Londoner, I've been lucky enough to take part in this long tradition [of mudlarking], and somewhere down the line I started thinking about the ways it could be compared with dungeon-delving games,” Truslow explained. “Aka going into an under-explored and unpredictable environment, hunting for treasure, evading the dangers.”

You can learn more about the project here.

Want to see more reporting in the TTRPG space? Heard a scoop or a story you want covered? Let us know! Subscribe to TTRPG Insider and get exclusive interviews, trend pieces, speculation and coverage of D&D, mainstream publishers and the indie scene.

Fight as Superpowered Resistance Fighters in Gridshock Zero Edition

Gridshock Zero Edition is an updated version of VX2’s superhero/cyberpunk-inspired system, using Free League’s Year Zero Engine for mechanics.

While most people who explore superhero stories assume a traditional Marvel-esque world where villains and heroes clash regularly, Gridshock imagines one where the bad guys have won. Now players are the supheroes fighting as resistance fighters against that supervillain system holding them down.

Gridshock is “fundamentally a game about truck driving and superfights, but GRIDSHOCK doesn't wallow in dystopian misery - it's also about resistance and fighting against tyranny,” game designer Paul Vermeren told TTRPG Insider. “I think a lot of people feel like the state of things today is pretty awful.”

You can check out the game here.

Manage a Transdimensional Lighthouse in The Long Watch

The Long Watch is a solo TTRPG by Studio Squidink aka Andy-Lee "Nerius" Fry’s production studio.

Players will operate as “beaconers”, lighthouse keepers who must maintain their facilities and help transdimensional travelers reach their destination in a safe and timely manner….while also defending your space against unusual threats.

The game came about as an extension of Fry’s “fixation with being albe to tell weird stories in various different media.” While lighthouses are common properties for cozy or horror-oriented storytelling, Fry aimed to embrace a stranger angle that allows a players “oddball tendencies” to shine.

It’s both a journaling game and one built on sending letters to other players who are playing.

You can learn more about The Long Watch here.

Travel Deep Space and Face Dark Perils in an Odyssey-esque Journey with The Wine Dark Sea

The Wine Dark Sea is a science fiction TTRPG from Abyssal Raven Games, aka Joseph Jones-Vermillion. It uses a custom ruleset.

“Play as lost starfarers trapped in a place of dreaded legend outside the known universe,” the description reads. '“Here, you will need to use corrupting abilities bestowed upon you to survive and try to find a way home.”

The game’s origin dates back to The Odyssey and other science fiction properties, according to Jones-Vermillion. The game both empowers player characters but also challenges them with what those powers might cost over time. The game is designed for“people who like to play tragic characters faced with hard choices and enjoy shorter character arcs,” Vermillion-Jones emphasized.

Investigate the Supernatural in Haunted

Haunted is a TTRPG written by Geneva and Jeremy Kerr that adapts the board game Nixit’s mechanics into a tarot-centric method to tell spooky stories.

Haunted is a “supernatural noir game” where players have to hunt both ghosts and their past. It is card-based to inform the story but bring a very dark style to gameplay.

“Using tarot for resolution is niche in and of itself, but the true innovation comes in the way we use tarot to build stories and campaigns,” Geneva told TTRPG Insider.

The game is expected to begin crowdfunding on October 1.

Investigate the Occult Underground of Budapest 1899

Budapest 1899 is a TTRPG published by Dragonmount Press that uses its internally designed Clockwork Engine system.

The game focuses on Budapest in 1899, a city that its designers describe as “the most technologically and culturally upcoming city of the turn-of-the-century. Bohemian nightlife, artist cafés, magnates richer than kings, politics driven by the monarchy and a craze for occult spiritualism sets the scene.” And yet there’s also something darker at hand. Players join the Institute, a secret organization digging into the subject.

The game is based on extensive historical research into Budapest as well as the Dragonmount team’s Hungarian roots.

Dragonmount is one of what Gamefound describes as a “peer mentor publisher” aka a creator who has already produced and crowdfunded at least one successful game in the past.

Explore a Biopunk Science Fantasy Setting in Twisted Lands

Twisted Lands is a long-standing fictional setting that was developed by 9th Persona Games, a three-person team of designers from Germany. It uses a distinct ruleset designed by the 9th Persona team.

The game came about as a new IP that the writers (primarily Brandon Schooner) had been developing for a while. It is a mashup of science fiction and fantasy set in a strange, distinctly aestheticized world.

“Biology and technology have become almost inseparable,” Schooner said of Twisted Lands. “Cities are alive. People have been shaped into entirely new forms. Psionics are visceral and saturate all aspects of the world.  Ancient technologies still function, sometimes exactly as intended, even when the people living beside them may no longer understand their original purpose.”

The game is designed for “players who like exploration, creature hunting and strange science fantasy, but also want the world around those things to matter,” Schooner told TTRPG Insider.

Enter Your Own Fantasy Anime Tale in Heroes of a Thousand Tales

Heroes of a Thousand Tales is an action-based TTRPG developed by Hungary-bsed Adventure Horizon Publishing and Attila Mazán using a custom system designed internally.

The game plays off of the author’s deep love of anime; something that was taught to him early on with the introduction of shows like Dragonball. Mazán experimented with game design for a while, but decided to get into writing properties for Adventure Horizon Publishing in 2025.

“Heroes of a Thousand Tales is for people who love action-packed shonen anime and want more than a regular RPG with an anime skin,” Mazan told TTRPG Insider. “The system asks you to bring your “anime mindset” to the table and rewards you for using it. If you like dramatic monologues, flashbacks, over-the-top attacks, and characters who become stronger because of what happens in the story, that is exactly the kind of play the system is built around.”

That focus on shonen anime informs a significant amount of gameplay in hopes of empowering players to lean into the trops at hand.

You can learn more about the game here.

Act Now, Roll Later as Performers on a Set with Lights, Dice, Action

Lights, Dice Action is a self-described “TV and Production RPG” produced by Greece-based Regular Wizards Co and written by Dimitris Michailakis.

The game aims to emulate the creation of a film or television show, as players are “Actors” in dramatic scenes, working together to tell a compelling, active story. Players also have to ‘please’ the audience, ensuring they want to keep watching.

The core of the game is what its designer describes as “Action Now, Dice Later.”

“It essentially means that WHATEVER you describe, happens. (within reason of course) You never roll to find out if you can make it, you only roll to find out if what happens next benefits or hinders you,” Michailakis told TTRPG Insider. It’s a game where players are encouraged to improvise and help drive a story together, much like a film might.

You can learn more here.

Survive as Witches in a Post Apocalyptic World in Witches of Winter

Witches of Winter is a game about “witchcraft, community and collapse” using a custom ruleset by Violet Blitz.

The game came to exist because of a “lifelong interest in real-world witchcraft traditions, a Gen-Z anxiety about climate collapse, and equal doses of inspiration from The Wildsea RPG, Genesys, and Dream Askew,” Blitz told TTRPG Insider. It tells the story of witches in a world where society collapses and how they can build something together.

The game is inspired by Blades in the Dark, Genesys, and Daggerheart while offering a narrative-oriented playstyle.

You can learn more about the game here.

Save Your Flying City and Backstab your Friends in Ivory Tower

Ivory Tower is a game by RiftKid Games built on Rowan, Rook and Decard’s Sparked by the Resistance ruleset.

The game arose from creator Mason Allan’s desire to create their own TTRPG; they built it from scratch on itch.io and hope to use this as a chance to bring it into print.

The game is about a “council of archmage frenemies who use their world's impending apocalypse as cover while they each try to seize sole control of a flying city,” Allan told TTRPG Insider. It’s designed intentionally for backstabbing and plotting against one another while also offering a “gonzo fantasy.”

The game offers traditional mechanics but also incorporates a literal meeting mechanic where players host in-character city councils on various political aspects of the city.

You can learn more about the game here.

Crows Solve a Mystery in Murder of Crows

Murder of Crows is a game about crows….solving a murder. It’s fairly self-explanatory. The game uses a custom ruleset designed by Michael Endo Weil and Maya Weil.

The game came to exist after Weil and his IRL partner Maya learned that crows actually investigate who killed their dead. Players will act as part of the Crow Anti-crime Wing and investigate mysteries. The mysteries are established using distinct mechanics defining the killer.

It’s a game for “mystery lovers, enjoyers of cute animals, Zootopia fans, animal pun enthusiasts, and people who want to convince their board game groups to try a TTRPG for a night,” Weil told TTRPG Insider.

You can learn more about the game here.

Fight as Child Soldiers in Mushroom Mechs in Myco//Drift

Mycodrift is a biopunk-themed TTRPG by Crimson Adder Games and written by Josh Yoder.

Myco//Drift was “definitely inspired by the late-night anime of the early 2000s. It pulls from those melancholic moments and horror found in those more adult-themed shows,” designer Yoder told TTRPG. Players are acting as biologically enhanced child soldiers from a war of the past who must now drive mushroom mechs to fight off monstrosities.

It uses what Yoder calls the “Drift'“ system, one he’s defined for both solo and co-op play.

“Myco//Drift is for fans of action games who are looking for deep character development, existential horror, and, of course, giant fungal mechs!  You should try it because Myco//Drift allows you to dig deep into someone's faults, fears, and hopes. It's a game about finding hope in a hopeless world,” Yoder added.

You can learn more about the game here.

Reclaim What It Means to Be Human in Trashumanism

Trashumanism is a TTRPG by Le Destroy and an adaptation of the graphic novel by Kristina Olson.

The game describes itself as “exploring moral and social implications of genetic engineering” and utilizes the Resistance ruleset from Rowan Rook and Deckard’s Spire and Heart.

The author did not respond to requests for interviews.

You can learn more about the game here.

Discover the Destiny of a Tragic Hero Together in Everdoom

Everdoom is a four-player game inspired by Moorcock and tells the story of a mythic hero moving toward their inevitable doom. All four players will help to guide that hero, acting as voices of guidance and conscience. The game is available on Itch.io.

Everdoom “game gathers four players, each with a distinctly different role, carrying a dedicated, ongoing responsibility throughout. No one stands above the others; motion needs all four corners to engage,” the game’s description explains.

The game is designed by Tremor Pings.

The author did not respond to requests for an interview.

You can learn more about the game here.

Create Whatever Character You Want and Fight For Success in Unbounded

Unbounded is a game designed by Roger “Moishe” Main.

“Level up through the Ability Trees and learn to harness your Atzmah to create any character concept you can imagine. Unbounded possiblities await, what Sellsouls will you create?”, the project’s description states.

It claims to have limitless options for character creation.

The author did not respond to requests for an interview.

You can learn more here.

Feel free to send us tips or emails at ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Welcome to TTRPG Insider!

Every week, we send you interviews, news and roundups straight to your inbox. Everything you need to know within the TTRPG hobby and industry without the hassle of social media, generative AI or Google search.

If you want to know more, check us out here! If you like what you’re reading, make sure you subscribe.

First up, I must apologize for slow content this week. My other two jobs demanded my attention with additional shifts, so I did not have the time to write up all the content I had hoped to.

To make up for it, I’ve got a big story or two I’m eager to write up later this week. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, we had some big news this week. Steve Jackson stepped down from his position at Steve Jackson Games. New UAs. Plus a TTRPG designer who’s had some surprising success in recent years is partnering with an up-and-coming publisher. All that and more in this TTRPG Insider roundup!

Munchin Maker Streve Jackson Games Shuffles Leadership Team

Steve Jackson, a game design icon and the namesake of Steve Jackson Games, has stepped down as CEO after several years in the role, appointing two others to lead his company.

SJG announced on Friday that Jackson was stepping down as CEO to “focus on game design and development,” according to a blog post. In his stead, he has appointed Sabrina Gonzalez as CEO.

Sabrina Gonzalez

Gonzalez has worked at SJG since 2013, where she’s held roles as production artist and production manager. She has also served on the company’s board of directors since 2021.

“We have a ton of great people who are veterans in what they do best, and I'm eager to see what the future holds,” Gonzalez said in a press statement.

She promised a focus on continuing to grow the company, developing titles for future generations and creating more support for the company’s classic titles. “As a general goal, I'd like us to continue to grow. We weathered the pandemic and pivoted project plans to address continually changing tariffs,” Gonzalez wrote. “The goal is always to make great games that people love. I want to continue developing new titles for future generations of gamers and also support (and sometimes update) the classics that our fans continue to request."

Allison Page, a former managing editor at the company, is also stepping in to become chief operating officer at SJ Games. She previously worked as Executive Artistic Director of Killing My Lobster in San Francisco and as a Narrative Designer in video games.

“I'm a problem solver, and I'm passionate about setting clear expectations. I'm excited to untangle whatever comes my way and ensure the team has what they need,” Page emphasized.

The announcement arrives days after SJG announced that it was partnering with Lynnvander Studios to adapt the popular board game Munchkin into a 5.5e supplement. The game is expected to crowdfund in October.

Underdark Remains Focus in Latest D&D Unearthed Arcana

Wizards of the Coast

A second Underdark-themed Unearthed Arcana hit the D&D Beyond website this week, with a focus on expanding some of its well-established lore.

The pack added three new classes

• Freedom Domain Cleric

• Circle of Spores Druid

• Faerzress Sorcery (building on a dark form of magical radiation that has defined the Underdark in past editions.)

There are also character options for becoming a half-spider drider, a human-esque Deep Imaskeri, a tadpole-infected Illithidkin, a fish-like Kuo-Toa and even a mushroom-y Myconid.

The UA is available for testing now and opens its survey on September 17.

— Rise Up Comus (@riseupcomus.bsky.social)
12:47 AM • Sep 8, 2026

A play on XKCD that is surprisingly accurate.

Want to see more reporting in the TTRPG space? Heard a scoop or a story you want covered? Let us know! Subscribe to TTRPG Insider and get exclusive interviews, trend pieces, speculation and coverage of D&D, mainstream publishers and the indie scene.

Diablo TTRPG creators Glass Cannon Unplugged Partners With Nimble RPG Maker

Polish-based Glass Cannon Unplugged announced on Saturday that it is partnering with Evan Diaz, the author of the alternate D&D 5e ruleset Nimble to develop a series of games.

“We’re very happy to finally share that Glass Cannon Unplugged is teaming up with Evan Diaz, creator of NIMBLE RPG, on upcoming roleplaying game projects,” Jakub Wiśniewski, CEO & co-founder at Glass Cannon Unplugged, said in a statement. “We’ve been huge fans of Evan’s approach to RPG design, especially the fast, tactical, and character-driven play behind NIMBLE, and we’re incredibly excited to have him bring his experience and perspective to our projects. We’ve already been working together behind the scenes, and while we can’t talk about the details just yet, we can finally say this much: we’re working together.”

The team was unable to talk about what future projects might be. It did also offer an update on the Diablo TTRPG, which was previewed at GenCon in the past but has received few, if any, updates since. The game remains in development, according to GCU, and is expected to launch sometime in 2027. It’s unclear if Diaz will be involved in this project or not.

Nimble is one of the lesser-known fantasy alternatives in the space that gained some traction after the OGL controversy at D&D. It claims to provide faster, simpler gameplay for Fifth Edition D&D. The game successfully raised over $1 million in March this year with its Monsters & More reprint and expansion of the game’s mechanics.

That’s all for this week! Feel free to send us tips or emails at ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Welcome to TTRPG Insider!

Every week, we send you interviews, news and roundups straight to your inbox. Everything you need to know within the TTRPG hobby and industry without the hassle of social media, generative AI or Google search.

If you want to know more, check us out here! If you like what you’re reading, make sure you subscribe.

We’re going to keep this week’s intro short since it is Labor Day in the US and a lot of folks are traveling. Not me, unfortunately. Work forever demands my attention.

This week’s edition has a lot of interesting news bits. Strahd may be the next big D&D TV show. PAX Unplugged goes to Houston. Daggerheart goes to BlizzCon. And finally, we spoke with a new AP about making short shows for families.

Ravenloft, Forgotten Realms, Honor Among Thieves: An Update on D&D on the Big Screen

Wizards of the Coast

Count Strahd Von Zarovich may be coming to a television near you, according to new reporting.

A new Dungeons and Dragons television show focused on Ravenloft is in development at Netflix, according to Deadline. The show will be led by John August and produced by Alfonso Cuaron.

It will be a “prestige fantasy series where adventure collides with gothic horror and tragic romance; Ravenloft and its Domains of Dread redefine adventure through character-driven stories of dark magic and supernatural intrigue,” according to a press statement. “At the heart of the series, Ravenloft follows the making of the vampire Darklord Strahd von Zarovich, whose story of power, love, obsession, and undead transformation charts his origins from tragic antihero to one of Dungeons & Dragons’ most notorious villains.”

The reporting also confirmed that a show based on The Forgotten Realms, which was being developed by Shawn Levy, is no long in development. That project was announced in 2025.

There is also allegedly a Baldur’s Gate television show in the works at HBO, although no additional details have been revealed since the initial announcement.

Projects like this do often get announced but don’t get traction or full production until far down the line. While there is likely a strong fanbase who would like to see a Ravenloft television show, it has a significant path to follow before it will reach that mark.

In related news, writer/directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstien said in a podcast interview that a sequel script for Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has been finished, and that Hasbro would happily see it made if they can find a studio partner.

PAX Unplugged Expands Event to Texas

PAX Unplugged, one of the bigger events in the TTRPG convention cycle, is expanding beyond its Philadelphia borders and is hosting a second event in Houston.

Convention organizers ReedPop and Penny Arcade announced on Friday that they will begin hosting PAX Unplugged Houston starting next summer in 2027.

One Unplugged just isn’t enough. We’re launching a second PAX Unplugged in Houston: June 25-27, 2027! See y’all in Texas next summer 🤠🧡

— PAX (@officialpax.bsky.social)
8:35 PM • Sep 4, 2026

It will be the second tabletop-focused event for Penny Arcade and is scheduled for June 25-June 27 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX.

It will be a second event, on top of the November/December PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, PA.

It will also place the event in between GAMA’s Origins in May/June and GenCon in July/August. The decision will make it the fifth annual PAX event that the company hosts every year.

Why Houston?

“When we were investigating the feasibility of another PAX Unplugged, we considered a number of major cities that also have a significant tabletop audience,” Sean Gonzalez, ReedPop’s Event Manager for PAX, told Gamesbeat. “We also have strong demand from fans that miss PAX South, so returning to the region was always on our mind. After comparing multiple options, Houston not only was the best place to launch a second Unplugged, but it was a chance to bring PAX back to the community that missed us.”

The location drew some criticism due to Texas’ strong anti-trans and LGBT policies, which may make it hard for those members to attend.

Twitter tweet

Matthew Mercer and Blizzard announced “Overwatch’s first-ever TTRPG adventure”, which is scheduled to be announced at BlizzCon 2026 on September 13.

Mercer is best known for his past work as Cole Cassidy, a cowboy character from Overwatch. The image appears to imply that a pair of hope and fear dice from Daggerheart are going to be used in this adventure.

It’s an interesting addition for Blizzard, who just partnered with Dungeons and Dragons to adapt Azeroth from World of Warcraft into an upcoming game that releases later this fall.

It’s unclear if the World of Warcraft D&D book will feature at BlizzCon yet, although the presence of the D&D book alongside a Daggerheart one-shot would reflect growing interests in TTRPG content from Blizzard. The company previously released D&D-themed supplements in the early 2000s.

Want to see more reporting in the TTRPG space? Heard a scoop or a story you want covered? Let us know! Subscribe to TTRPG Insider and get exclusive interviews, trend pieces, speculation and coverage of D&D, mainstream publishers and the indie scene.

Telling AP Stories in a Short Period: Q&A With Legend Lunchbox

Actual Play is a space where there are hundreds of games you can listen to, each with their own spin and angle for what makes them stand out in the market. It’s often a bit too much for a fan to dig through or find the best content without some help. The vast majority of shows also don’t work well for families, which can make listening even harder for parents.

One show is trying to deal with both of these problems. Legend Lunchbox is an AP that aims to organize each episode so it’s only 30-40 minutes, and fairly friendly toward children. The game is set in the Skycrawl setting, authored by Aaron A. Reed and uses the Quest ruleset to keep gameplay simple and focused on storytelling instead of deliberation on dice results.

TTRPG Insider got to sit down with Legend Lunchbox’s Chris to talk about where the show came from.

---

What’s the story behind this show? What inspired you to create it?
Chris: I’ve been playing and running tabletop RPGs for most of my life. It has always been one of my favorite creative outlets.

I've also experimented with podcasting before. I ran an older actual play show, and while it was a lot of fun, I learned a lot about the challenges of making that kind of show.

As my kiddo was growing up, we spent a lot of time watching shows like The Owl House and Avatar: The Last Airbender, and even Pixar movies. One thing I love about those is that they are approachable for kids, but they do not feel like they are only for kids. They have humor, adventure, interesting characters, and stories that adults can enjoy too. They can be silly and goofy one moment, then turn around and tell a meaningful story the next.

That got me thinking about whether we could do something similar with tabletop roleplaying. Could we make a family-friendly actual-play adventure that families could listen to together, where kids could enjoy the adventure and adults could still care about the story?

Why a shorter format? How do you approach and think about telling stories in limited timeslots?
This was partly because I was thinking about how people would actually listen to a show like ours. I have listened to plenty of actual-play podcasts that run an hour, two hours, or even longer, and there is definitely a place for that. It can feel like you are hanging out at the table with the group.

But I kept thinking about how my family actually consumes entertainment. For years, I had a long commute to work and listened to a lot of podcasts during it. Those longer shows were great for a three-hour drive, but I wondered what worked better for shorter moments like driving a kid to school or running errands. A lot of those moments are only 15–20 minutes, which is a very different listening experience.

So then the challenge becomes figuring out which parts of a tabletop session are most interesting to someone listening.

How are you thinking about player choices, improvisation, dice results, and cast chemistry in the context of 30–40 minute shows without it turning into audio drama?
This is probably the biggest balancing act of the whole project. I enjoy audio dramas, but that is not what we are trying to make. The thing I love about RPGs is that nobody at the table knows exactly what is going to happen. As any DM will tell you, no plan survives contact with the players. :) The players make choices, the dice create unexpected results, and then everyone reacts.

The editing process is not about changing those things. It is mostly about removing the parts around them that slow the story down or are uninteresting. A character trying to jump over a pit, terrible dice rolls, or plans that immediately go wrong are often the things that make actual play interesting.

The cast chemistry is also a huge part of it. I was looking for people who would create interesting characters and bounce off each other naturally, not just people who knew the rules. The group ended up being a really fun mix. Jay (Lysander the Naturalist) and Tito (CAM the Doctor) are longtime friends of mine and longtime gamers. Phil (Rolo the Wizard) and Madeleine (Squawk the Fighter) both bring backgrounds in writing and performance, which has been a really fun addition to the group dynamic. More importantly, everyone brings a different personality to the table, and that is where a lot of the fun comes from.

Why Skycrawl? What inspired you to choose that setting?
What attracted me most to Skycrawl was the sense of exploration. Many fantasy settings have a well-established map. You know where everything is and how the world works. Skycrawl gave us almost the opposite feeling.

The world is called the Azure, and it is vast, strange, and ever-changing. There are drifting lands, strange skies, and places that nobody completely understands. This gives us a lot of freedom. One adventure might feel like a classic fantasy story, while another might be completely ridiculous, silly, or unexpected, yet still fit the world.

Our version is what we call 'Driftpunk Fantasy' and it takes inspiration from that idea of skyships, strange worlds, magic, and technology that does not always work perfectly. People in the Azure do not control everything around them, they just learn how to adapt.

You can learn more about Legend Lunchbox here.

That’s all for this week! Feel free to send us tips or emails at ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Hello hello! It is Mistborn release day. The second set of releases for the extremely successful Cosmere TTRPG is finally available to the public in digital format. Unlike the more fantasy-oriented Stormlight Archives, Mistborn presents a world through two distinct eras as its story evolves and the world grows in understanding of politics, magic, and technology. It’s a world where metal becomes key to power, and where your actions may resonate out to affect your ancestors.

TTRPG Insider got to speak with Mistborn lead designer Lydia Suen and project and adventure lead Lyla Fujiwara about adapting Brotherwise’s Cosmere RPG to a new and different world, the unique two-era storytelling that its prewritten adventure presents and more.

Brotherwise Games, Brandon Sanderson

Mistborn, the popular fantasy setting from Brandon Sanderson and the TTRPG ‘sequel’ to the Stormlight Archives, aims higher in gameplay by attempting to capture two separate eras of a world’s history in a single game.

Cosmere TTRPG publisher Brotherwise Games released the digital copies of Mistborn earlier this week. The game depicts the world of Scadrial, a land where metal is a form of magic and industrial and political ruin are driving significant societal changes. The first era of the books is set in a medieval world where class and economic status are the main dividing lines, and ash and fog overwhelm the cultures. The second era shifts the story 300 years later to a 19th-20th century version of the world where cars, guns and automation are central to society.

The biggest difference in designing the rules for Mistborn compared to its more traditional fantasy-esque was accommodating guns as well as the unique mechanics of Allomancy, lead designer Lydia Suen told TTRPG Insider.

There were also changes to capture the very distinct gameplay focuses that Scadrial presents players. The Heroic Paths (the game’s term for classes) received some minor modifications to accommodate this. While the six paths (Agent, Envoy, Scholar, Leader, Warrior, Hunter) are still the same, the subpath options have been changed. The Agent, for example, now has the option to become a Rebel rather than a Spy (a reference to Kelsier from the books). The Spy option is available (depending on what your GM decides), but it may not sync up with the playstyles that Mistborn focuses on.

Some elements may be restricted by lore. The Artifabarian, a Scholar Path, may not fit well into Mistborn due to that path having a basis in Roshar’s very distinct lore. Inventor, however, is still on the table.

At the core of Scadrial’s fantasy remains Allomancy, the metal-based magic form that many of its residents master. It’s a form of practice that anyone can use and is surprisingly versatile (aka you’re not just going to be Magneto from X-Men.) Each metal brings different components and values, and each person has to train on the magic.

IF a player wanted to use Surgebinding (aka the world’s magic form) in the world of Roshar, building a relationship with an elemental spirit known as a spren remained key as was a player’s relationship with the Knights Radiant. It offered a paladin-esque approach to character roleplay where your virtues informed what sorts of power a player might acquire.

Contrast that with Allomancy, which is a trait a character might inherit and requires training. That power will grow based on the player’s relationship with their mentors and on training it over time, Suen noted.

Brotherwise Games

Capturing the World of Scadrial

The other key element is through the worlds themselves.

Era 1 of Mistborn’s story is a very “Victorian, Les Misérables, and gaslight district inspired era,” project and adventure lead Lyla Fujiwara told TTRPG Insider, while Era 2 is very pulp-adventure-themed. But what differentiates Mistborn from Stormlight are the core themes. The Stormlight Archives are very oriented toward epic war fantasies between nations and against malevolent forces, argues Fujiwara, while Mistborn is oriented toward political intrigue, underground rebellions, and questioning who is truly your ally.

For example, players have to contend with Kandra, a shapeshifting species that can assume the appearance of others through observation and the absorbing of corpses. There are also the Koloss-blodded, a blue-gray-skinned people who seem more inclined toward physical labor due to their genetics. There are also broader themes of trust and betrayal, where players have to determine who among their allies they can truly trust

The game also balances out its content through a series of tags that help identify which items, settings or adversaries might be usable in one of the two Eras.

The Mistborn World Guide is also designed as a thorough exploration of Scadrial’s lore, elaborating on the politics, factions and magic of the setting outside of the novels themselves. Like Stormlight Archives, a player could use the World Guide to inform their roleplay without having to read all of the novels. It’s also intentionally designed so that TTRPG players could go from the game to the novels without too many spoilers about the specific plot beats of the main characters.

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Playing Across Eras in Mistborn Legacy

Brotherwise Games

One of the best ways to understand a game’s setting is through its prewritten adventures, and Mistborn is no different. Legacy is the prewritten adventure for levels 19- where players will lead two generations of heroes (one in Era 1, the other in Era 2) to pursue a mysterious artifact with horrific implications.

What makes the game stand out in comparison to traditional adventures is what the book calls legacies. These are distinct archetypes within the narrative. For example, a player might act as a “noble.” This is a different aspect than the character’s Heroic Path. That noble may come with particular connections and roles to play within Era 1 of the campaign. What becomes interesting is how the decisions of the Era 1 character impact the Era 2 character. For example, the Noble’s descendant will become the Heir, the Veteran’s descendant might become the Rookie.

The story is written so that your choice of legacy will impact your options. Of course, a player could easily choose to play as the same bloodline across 300 years. Other players could do the same, having their character’s actions influence the previous ones of their other player.

Timeskips are not a new concept in TTRPGS, but Mistborn Legacy does it in such an interesting way, using the actions of one character to affect others over centuries.

Digital copies should be available on sale soon. The physical copies of the game are slowly being fulfilled now.

Disclosure: Review copies of the Mistborn TTRPG were provided to TTRPG Insider.

edited slightly to remove spelling errors

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It’s a normal week for me. I’m very excited because (as of my writing this), I finally get to play Daggerheart. I’ve read the book but struggled to get a table going for a while.

But you want actual news, not just my own ramblings. In this week’s issue, we have two expansions for the popular mecha TTRPG Lancer. The OGs behind Dark Sun are making their own game “with blackjack and hooker.” D&D got two spotlights at Gamescom. And we also have an interview with a tour group that will act as both tour guide and DM.

Still a lot to come this week! I’ve got a particularly exciting interview coming out about a highly anticipated release later this week, so stay tuned!

Mech TTRPG Lancer to Get Two Hardcover Releases in 2027

Lancer, a mech-themed TTRPG that gained a notable amount of fans and support after its release by Massif Press in 2019, is expanding beyond its original book.

Massif Press, Dark Horse Comics

Two new books were announced this week. The first is Operation Fulcrum Dawn, a pair of “narrative modules” for players. It features mech pilots on a rescue mission into an urban war zone as well as direct combat against military forces. The hardcover version of the book will include battle maps and tips for running tactical combat within the game. It is expected to release on March 16, 2027.

Massif Press

The second release, Lancer: Setting Guide Vol 1, explores new regions within the Lancer universe, including the noble-inspired Karrakin Trade Barronies as well as the lawless Long Rim. It is expected to release on March 30, 2027.

Both books will be released in PDF and hardcover format by Dark Horse Publishing.

Lancer was originally crowdfunded by Massif Press in 2019. A second reprint was published in partnership with Dark Horse after the game gained a significant amount of notoriety among fans. The book has remained among the most popular TTRPG alternatives presented by online communities as alternatives to D&D and has been described as one of the few noteworthy ‘off-ramps’ that players use to encourage playing different TTRPGs.

The “Original Team” Behind Dark Sun Announce Spiritual Successor

Vala Marketing

The creative team who created the original version of Dark Sun for Dungeons and Dragons is releasing their “spiritual successor” to the game weeks after Wizards of the Coast announced the update to the game.

Dragon Kings was announced on Backerkit as a 5e adaptation for the 2014 systemless text that Timothy Brown published, detailing Khitus, his own take on the sword and sorcery genre without the Dark Sun IP attached.

“Dragon Kings is sword and sandal, blood and sand, dark sorcery and elusive, god-like rulers,” says Brown in a press statement. “Capturing the feel of that kind of pulp environment is tricky. I’ve brought together the original team that invented this RPG genre, the team that held the original vision, and as we’ve seen before, you can’t fake that.”

That team includes Troy Denning, Brom, Bill Slavicsek, Rich Baker and Shane Hensley. Many of these names would be known by older school fans as artists or writers who helped to create the 2e version of Dark Sun in the 1990s.

“I will always love Athas,” said Hensley. “Timothy Brown, Troy Denning, and Brom put together a setting that transcended the typical fantasy settings of the time to forge something new, exciting, and unapologetically savage. Dragon Kings takes those ideas to the next level, breaking the chains that held back the world of Athas for so long. Now we have the world of Khitus, the Age of Despots, incredible monsters, relentless gladiators, and terrifying magic!”

What that “next level” entails remains unclear based on the promotional material. The setting will provide a 5e-compatible version of the original book, ancestries and classes that match the Khitus aesthetic, rules for psionics and sorcery and a lot more.

The book arrives weeks after Dungeons & Dragons announced it was bringing Dark Sun back to life. It also arrives a week after TTRPG Insider’s story examining how D&D’s team was adapting the 2e setting to match modern sensibilities through sensitivity readers and by updating its portrayal of slavery went viral; causing a lot of the community to develop strong opinions about the update prior to release.

Strange Owl Games is best known for Space 1889, a steampunk adaptation of a 5e game inspired by Jules Verne. Dragon Kings could prove to be a notable challenge for its first major project.

Dragon Kings will crowdfund on September 22.

Magus, Warlords and Herbology: DnD Beyond Previews its Q4 2026 Release Plans

Two new classes and a wide spectrum of maps are coming to D&D Beyond in the final quarter of the year as the platform continues to expand its D&D content.

The D&D-focused platform unveiled its plans for Q4 2026.

• The Magus Class, designed by Sterling Vermin, offers a “warrior-mage” class with six subclasses and thirty spells. It releases on September 29, 2026

• Obojima: Tales from Yatamon expands on the Studio Ghibli-inspired setting and adds new character options and features

• The Warlord Player Pack is designed by Kibbles allows players to take on a forward-facing support role with eight subclasses.

• Crow and Crown are releasing Herbarium, a new set of tools to help players incorporate herbalism in a more detailed way into their fantasy games.

• Baldman Games has two Greyhawk releases; Herald of the Old Ones is a set of three adventures for players 5-10 dealing with the Land of Iuz and the Horned society. The Ruins of Castle Greyhawk offer four additional adventures focusing on the iconic location. Both are designed for organized play or simple one-shots.

• West Coast Adventurer’s Guild is adding Beasts of Johrase, a set of four adventures for levels 1-4 and is also for organized play.

Want to see more reporting in the TTRPG space? Heard a scoop or a story you want covered? Let us know! Subscribe to TTRPG Insider and get exclusive interviews, trend pieces, speculation and coverage of D&D, mainstream publishers and the indie scene.

Warlock, Cozy Taverns Central to D&D’s Presence at Gamescom 2026

A pair of new D&D video games made their visual debut at Gamescom, one of the many events where game developers tease and preview their upcoming releases.

The big one was gameplay footage for Warlock, the upcoming D&D third-person adventuring game.

Kaatri, the warlock (Tricia Helfer, Battlestar Galactica) has entered a pact with Tasha the Witch (Maggie Robertson, Resident Evil Village) as they enter the realm of Darkon (one of the better-established Domains of Dread from Ravenloft). The footage features adventuring, melee combat, and the works. It looks like it could be a fun D&D adventure exploring some of the less established lore. The game is developed by Invoke Studios, who previously made Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance.

The game is expected to release mid-2027.

The other premiere was Long Rest Tavern, a cozy simulation game that didn’t get much attention at the opening ceremonies. Players take over as a former adventurer-turned innkeeper running their own tavern in the Dalelands. It features iconic D&D characters like Minsc as well as what appears to be a mimic pet.

Long Rest Tavern is expected to release in early 2027 and is now available on Steam for wishlisting.

Ever wanted to travel the United Kingdom and play D&D at the same time? That’s the proposition presented by Natural 20 Tours, a new travel organization that mixes the two practices. Players will get to travel through iconic locations in Ireland, Scotland and other locales, then play D&D adventures built on the history and lore.

You can check our interview with the founder here.

Feel free to send us tips or emails at ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

D&D vacations are hardly a new idea. Whether you’re playing D&D in a Castle or Cthulhu in a Keep, vacations themed around spending literal days just playing TTRPGs are a regular part of the market. Hell, there are even programs for going to universities to learn how to be a better dungeon master.

The latest version of this is Natural 20 Tours, a new vacation option where players will tour Ireland and its history while also playing through distinct campaigns inspired by where they’re traveling. They also aim to incentivize partnerships with GMs by giving established tables financial benefits if one of the GMs they hire brings their own table along.

TTRPG spoke with Natural 20 Tours founder Gabrielle Bennett about the project, its origins, and its vision going forward.

Natural 20 Tours

1. What's the story of how Natural 20 Tours came to be? What inspired it?
Gabrielle Bennett: My partner and I actually founded a tourism company, Upbeat Tours, that takes our backgrounds as professional musicians into account. And with that adventure, we've spent the last 6 years or so researching and traveling Ireland and the UK with our performance tours, with work consulting on tours and event management for even longer. But in the background of all of that, I've been positively obsessed with D&D and all things gaming, storytelling, you name it. So, the natural next step was to put those hands together and create Natural 20 Tours!

2. What distinguishes what you're doing as a trip from other popular D&D vacation experiences like D&D in a Castle?
GB: D&D in a Castle and other events like it are absolutely fabulous, but what we offer is more than a retreat in one location. Our players will get to interact with the places and history that make up the story beats of their adventure! We take them to multiple destinations, and they'll play in really interesting venues that are all thematically tied to their campaign. 

3. What sorts of preparation or team are preparing the adventures being written? Are you leading the tours yourself, or is it done in partnership with other locals?
GB: When it comes to the nitty-gritty details – hotels, private coach transport, meals, etc. – that's where our experience as tour operators and guides presents a huge advantage. We will be on the ground, essentially working as lorekeepers and keeping the beats of the actual travel on track. 

When it comes to the creative side of the adventures that are written, I am the lead writer on them. I have a Master’s in Literature & Publishing, but what's way more important than that is my enormous appetite for storytelling and learning about each location's deeply rooted mythology. And so that I'm not drawn away from my blindspots, I also plan to work with a local writer! This partnership will likely change adventure to adventure. And, I also have a huge bonus asset with my partner studying to become a Seanchaí (a traditional Irish storyteller)

4. How do the adventures and tours lean into the specific themes and history of the areas you're touring? For example, you have a tour planned around Samhain. How would that work?
These tours have the advantage of being in the places where the events historically occurred! Samhain is the origin of many of our modern-day Halloween traditions, so when it comes to leaning into that theme in Ireland, it's quite easy. We spend time attending traditional Irish dance classes and workshops, and we'll take part in fire-lighting ceremonies held by cities throughout the country. But in more site-specific ways, we have a Bealtaine tour (another of the Celtic calendar's fire festivals) that highlights the opportunity to visit Ireland's sacred center at the Hill of Uisneach, where Celts have lit fires for literally millennia.

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Gabrielle Bennett

Touring With Your Own GM

One of the standout aspects is how you appear to still be recruiting GMs. How does the experience work for them?
GB: Yes! We're delighted with our Game Masters Wanted scheme! The way it works is that depending on how many seats they fill on the tour, they get their land package, up $1,000 toward their flights, $1,000 stipend, and commission on every extra seat sold. While they're on the ground with us, they get to explore these wonderful places and eat gorgeous food just like the players in between the 3-4 sessions of a few hours. Each table will be playing from the same module/setting with extra lore material that they can choose to weave into their adventure or not. This way, each table's experience is unique, but everyone on the tour has a reason to talk to one another. 

Who do you see this product/experience for? What is your main customer type? 
GB:Generally speaking, anyone over the age of 18 is who we're targeting. But even that isn't necessarily true because if we had a number of families that wanted to join, we would just make a youth table and have the GM tailor their narrative slightly. We're looking for people who love D&D and travel. And not just stopping at a place for 30 seconds to take a photo; we want people to feel they learned about the land and had a real adventure here.

What are the plans to get more eyes on this and interest people, especially as the economy tightens due to the current socio-economic climate?
GB: Our Game Master Scheme has been our most effective approach to getting more eyes on this so far, but thankfully, interest has never been an issue. Playing TTRPGs all over Ireland or the United Kingdom with amazing international and local Game Masters with a huge emphasis on story? I've not met a single TTRPGer who doesn't love the sound of that! 

When it comes to pricing, we also know we offer a competitive package price with all our inclusions. We have been in this industry through events like Covid-19 and various economic crashes, so we understand the ebbs and flows of travel demand and are committed to making these experiences rewarding and valuable for all who choose to participate. We always look for ways to make packages even more affordable, but we are a small team with finite resources and some seriously fab Game Masters to pay! 

If interested, you can visit Natural 20 Tours’ website. They are still recruiting GMs as well.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

Chaosium

Today, we’re talking to Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu creative director Mike Mason about Innsmouth, the latest expansion for the popular horror TTRPG. Based on the classic Lovecraft story, the book expands on the lore around a Pennsylvania town where its residents find their fates increasingly intertwined with eldritch fish-like entities from beneath the waves.

Originally published in 1931, The Shadow over Innsmouth is a serialized novella by H.P. Lovecraft about an investigation into Innsmouth, a town in Massachusetts that had developed a superstitious reputation. As the main character dives deeper, he finds that it’s a town where many residents join the Esoteric Order of Dagon and worship the Deep Ones, ancient eldritch creatures of the past. Some are even breeding with them, creating Hybrids. The practice has gone on so long that many of the residents have taken on fish-like traits, including scales and gills. Some of the residents even go on to become Deep Ones themselves. The main character soon has to fight to escape. The town is later investigated and quarantined by the U.S. government, while the protagonist slowly learns that he might have Deep One blood as well.

The original story has acted as a touchstone in Lovecraftian fiction, inspiring films, novels, video games, and more. It’s arguably among one of the best-known stories in Lovecraft’s collection.

It only makes sense, then, to want to explore Innsmouth in your own Call of Cthulhu game.

 Chaosium’s Innsmouth is a sandbox resource that offers tools for exploring every nook and cranny of the Massachusetts town, according to Chaosium creative director Mike Mason. It was written as a follow-up to Arkham, a 2024 volume designed to let players explore the region of Arkham and all the eldritch chaos the iconic town had attracted over the years. It’s part of an ongoing series of supplements designed to help tables explore the Miskatonic Valley (a fictitious region made up of Arkham, Innsmouth, Dunwich and other named locations in Lovecraft’s work)

The Innsmouth writers took a more “prescriptive” approach to storytelling with the sandbox setting, Mason told TTRPG Insider, a notable contrast from the more directed approach that Call of Cthulhu scenarios usually take. The story hooks in Innsmouth are “designed to be very flexible, with a number of ways to enter them, and a number of different ways you could reach a climax in the story,” Mason said. Each district of Innsmouth holds its own breadcrumbs and hooks for a well-trained Keeper to use. Those plot hooks are also designed to fit a variety of playstyles (detectives versus academics versus ‘ghostbusters’, etc.), so players have a number of reasons to get nosey about the town.

There is also a wide spectrum of story hooks available. While players might go into Innsmouth expecting to discover Deep Ones and Hybrids, Mason notes that the game has plenty of non-Deep One story hooks woven through the city. Lovecraft’s The Thing on the Doorstep, for example, features an antagonist from Innsmouth.

A Keeper could easily tell a longer story that’s only based in Innsmouth, Mason said, or they could also intertwine the tale with Arkham. There are a number of references between the books that could be used to have players interact with both settings.

Making Innsmouth Your Own Fishy Haven

Chaosium

One unique element of the Innsmouth resource is its flexibility regarding the facts of Lovecraft’s original Shadow over Innsmouth. How do you tell a story about Innsmouth without walking in and assuming you know the details of your table’s tale because you read the original author?

Assume the story is wrong, Mason said. “If you actually read the story closely, the narrator of Shadow over Innsmouth is potentially an unreliable narrator,” he said. “So none of it could have happened, or part of it could have happened, or he could have imagined it all up. That leaves it completely flexible for you to play the version of Innsmouth you want to play and the story that you want to tell.”

For example, the original novella assumes that the Deep Ones are inherently malicious. A CoC Keeper could run a story where this remains true. It’s also possible that the Deep Ones want to help humanity, or are pacifistic and just want to be left alone. Maybe they just want to protect the Earth from humanity’s history of stealing resources. The book outlines a number of ideas for how the setting's monsters could be run.

Changing up the facts of the story can help “reinvigorate the story with new ideas, and free up your table to retell a fiction story the way you want,” Mason added.

You can check out Call of Cthulhu: Innsmouth on DrivethruRPG or their store.

Disclosure: A review copy of Innsmouth was provided to TTRPG Insider.

Whether you’re a designer, content creator or just the biggest fan at your table, TTRPG Insider delivers in-depth reporting, original interviews and regular roundups of the news that you will not find anywhere else. Let us help you become the best designer, player or dungeon master at your table.

Subscribe now to gain the advantage you need to excel in this exceptional hobby and industry.

Preview: Exploring D&D's Universe of Magic with Arcana Unleashed and Deadfall

The latest Dungeons and Dragons expansion will expand the magical tools available at your table and explore the realm of Thay; a land that has not been visited by players in decades

While I’m sure you’re mostly here for Chaosium content, I also published a preview of the latest D&D release on Monday that might be of interest. Arcana Unleashed offers new depth to D&D’s magic, while the Deadfall adventure offers a high-level magical spy thriller set in the land of Thay.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

The company behind the sci-fi horror TTRPG Mothership is pivoting its annual crowdfunding event away from launching large projects toward supporting its creator community.

Mothership Month publisher Tuesday Knight Games announced its third annual Mothership Month on Tuesday. The event, which will occur from November 1 to November 30, has regularly been used to launch new Mothership products. The company decided to abandon the crowdfunding model instead and do something to support its creator community.

Three initiatives were announced.

The first is the Jump-9 Writers Grant. TKG says it will invest $9,000 each in three new Mothership writers to help them produce a new Mothership zine. The writers will work with TKG’s development team to create the product. The zines will then be produced as third-party products.

Submissions for the Grant will open in September. The finalists will be chosen in October, and the recipients will be announced during Mothership Month. Details will be announced at a later date.

The second announcement will be the launch of the Warden’s Club. This program will reward storytellers for running public games (such as at a convention or a local game store) with swag and starter adventures. It’s inspired by Goodman Games’ DCC Roadcrew.

The final addition will be Mothership Select, a new award that TKG will present to third-party publishers whose zines it believes have gone above and beyond. 10 of these will be selected by TKG’s team during Mothership Month. The selected zines will get special logos, a unique section in the TKG store and essays elaborating on what makes the

Tuesday Knight Games

What inspired the sudden pivot? TKG is “exhausted,” wrote Mothership creator Sean McCoy. The company hopes to use this time to catch up on fulfilling past crowdfunding campaigns and to ensure it is meeting its current obligations.

McCoy also says the collab funding space is too saturated and wants to offer its fans some economic relief. “There’s an RPG month every month or two; it’s difficult to keep up with, and it’s hard on your wallets,” McCoy argued. “The economy isn’t great for all but like six people right now. Additionally, you all have a huge stack of modules you’ve been putting off playing while you wait for old modules to ship! Let’s fix that.”

Mothership Month is scheduled to begin on November 1, 2026 and go until November 30, 2026.

Whether you’re a designer, content creator or just the biggest fan at your table, TTRPG Insider delivers in-depth reporting, original interviews and regular roundups of the news that you will not find anywhere else. Let us help you become the best designer, player or dungeon master at your table.

Subscribe now and get the advantage you require to excel in this exceptional hobby and industry.

The History of Collab Funding

The idea for collabfunding is something that Backerkit and other crowdfunding platforms have been experimenting with for the last few years.

Backerkit defines collabfunding as when creators collaborate on the platform to launch crowdfunding campaigns simultaneously. The campaigns often have something in common, whether it’s a format (books, pins, TTRPGs, etc), a theme (Halloween, fall, winter, academics,) or something else altogether.

The idea of RPG months began when Joe Goodman of Goodman Games asked to organize a TTRPG-centric version of Backerkit’s Topia events. That first event was organized around Goodman Games’ Adventures on the Purple Planet and Beyond, and asked third-party creators to create books built around those themes.

Mothership was the first version to attract significant attention for its Mothership Month in 2024. The event raised more than $1 million in funds for TKG and other creators by the end of November. The 2025 Mothership Month, which centered on the in-game space station Prospero’s Dream, launched 27 projects and raised over $850,000 that month.

Since then, multiple publishers have hosted their own RPG months. That includes Mausritter, Orbital Blues, Megadungeon Month, Old School Essentials Month and more. There are also several -Topia events organized throughout the year, from Zinetopia to Pintopia.

While most of the campaigns above did not reach the numbers Mothership first event did, the collaborative nature of the events helped the vast majority of campaigns to reach their funding goals in what some have described as a “rising tide raises all ships” scenario.

Other crowdfunding platforms have adopted similar approaches. RPG Party is Gamefound’s ongoing effort to help new RPG publishers launch their crowdfunding campaigns.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to ttrpg.insidernews@gmail.com.

TTRPG Insider got a preview of the two upcoming books from Dungeons and Dragons; Arcana Unleashed, an expansion adding an assortment of magical character options as well as Deadfall, a “magical spy thriller” built within the necromantic lands of Thay, where the Red Wizards linger.

Wizards of the Coast

Arcana Unleashed, the latest addition to D&D 5.5e, aims to make magic accessible for all classes in its approach to design.

The newest expansion for D&D 5.5e adds a variety of tools to the game for DMs and players to use at their table, lead designer Amanda Harmon said at a press briefing. She described the variety of spells, subclasses, and factions that have been added to the game in the book in hopes of offering a more fleshed-out set of tools to explore both the mechanics and culture of magic users across D&D’s multiverse.

The most notable tools are the feats, which offer new options for non-magic users to weave magical skills into their backgrounds, allowing them to gain certain features without multiclassing. For example, there are origin feats that relate to each of the eight schools of magic described in D&D. There are also options to allow players to take on a familiar for their origin feat, or to empower them so they can have combat-related features. Those could include elemental magic, healing magic, or other designs as the player levels up.

Wizards of the Coast

It also offers the options of magical patrons; beings of immense power who may sponsor adventurers to fulfill their goals and help them through lengthy adventures and journeys.

At the core of the book is an attempt to flesh out magic as a character, it appears. Magic is both a tool but also a force of reality that can be twisted for good or ill.

The book aims to explore those themes through the eyes of Alustriel Silverhand, Harmon noted, a legendary wizard and daughter of Mystra, the goddess of magic from the Forgotten Realms¹ . She offers a hopeful exploration of how power and magic can be used and misused in its worldbuilding.

The book features eight new subclasses

• Arcana Domain Cleric

• Arcane Archer Fighter

• Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk

• Vestige Patron Warlock

• Conjurer Wizard

• Enchanter Wizard

• Necromancer Wizard

• Transmuter Wizard

The book also holds

• 33 new spells

• 19 new creatures

• 9 additional factions to join or connect to

• 47 magical items to match all levels of play

• 10 backgrounds

• 20 feats

• a single level 1 themed adventure

And a lot of worldbuilding.

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Exploring The Dark Side of Magic in Thay

Wizards of the Coast

While Arcana Unleashed aims to explore the very nature of magic as presented through the eyes of the good-aligned Alustriel, Deadfall offers a look at the “dark mirror” of those same practices, according to Harmon. The long-term campaign is a “magical spy thriller” for levels 11-20, where they will operate in the region of Thay to try to stop the lich Szass Tamm from taking action to empower his undead forces and become a serious threat to the Forgotten Realms.

Deadfall was designed to offer DMs high-level play options, Harmon explained during a press briefing. Lower-level dungeons were already available through books like the previous Forgotten Realms expansions and Dragon Delves. The team wanted to offer additional high-level play options, since the last book to do so was Vecna: Eve of Ruin from 2024 (before the 5.5 update)

“It was also our opportunity to revisit a piece of canon and a story that we hadn't picked back up on in D&D for a very long time,” added Harmon. “We knew that the fans were really interested in Thay. It was fairly consistently mentioned as a place that fans were interested in.”

Harmon did confirm that the story threads described in Eve of Ruin (such as certain NPCs being imitated by others) are standalone and don’t inform other D&D books. She also noted that there are no tie-ins to D&D: Honor Among Thieves, which featured the Red Wizards of Thay and Tamm as a primary villain.

Arcana Unleashed and Deadfall will be available in retailers on September 15, 2026. Master tier subscribers will get access starting on September 1, and Hero tier on September 8.

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