The First Rule of Free RPG Day is...

plus Hot Rats! Eldritch Abominations! Psychedelic Metal RPGs!

Hey, 2 newsletters in less than a week, what is this a vaguely functional media operation? Of course not… Anyway, last week we showed off some of the art from the upcoming new issue by our Polish art wizard Łukasz Kowalczuk, and let’s just say that’s not all we’ve been cooking up with him, I hope you’re all ready for a #HotRatSummer.

More on that soon but first up the obligatory promo, Issue 6 is up for preorder -a huge thanks to everyone who’s already ordered- and we also still have our new bundle up where you can grab issues 3, 4 and 5 for just £20. Finally after a couple of requests we’ve also created PDF bundles on both Itch.io and DriveThruRPG where you can get issues 1-5 for under a fiver. Can’t say fairer that that really.

Right, serious question for you. Last Saturday was Free RPG Day, an event that continues to baffle me on multiple levels. Were you aware of it before the day itself? Did your local game store partake? Did you get involved?

Maybe it’s just a US thing, and that’s why it never seems to make any kind of a splash around our neck of the woods, but the entire thing strikes me as utterly bizarre and I’d love to know if maybe we’re missing something here.

Clearly it’s modelled on both Free Comic Book Day and Record Store Day, just without any of their sense of purpose, joined up thinking or presence of mind when it comes to self-promotion.

I figure the idea is, or at least should be to get people into stores to try and shift a load of product and maybe make some money and bring some fresh blood into the industry.

What we appear to get is a complete media blackout from nearly all involved, then a few printed up Quickstarts dropped off at various stores which get hoovered up by regulars, and then the rest of the industry -at least the indie side of it- frantically trying to catch up on the day by giving away PDFs (or pointing to already free PDFs) to their existing customers.

The idea of a big day to focus marketing efforts on is both sound and 100% needed, especially if it’s one that encourages people to go into actual stores and spend actual money. See the wildly (tbh if you work in the industry sometimes too) successful Record Store Day for what it could look like.

So as I said maybe I’m missing something and in the US it’s all anyone talks about for weeks and games stores make bank but from the outside it looks like a shit show and in need of a serious rethink. Please do let us know your thoughts.

Anyway, weird rant aside, we’ve got a couple of great games for you to check out and some interesting stuff that’s kept us diverted over the past week so I’ll let you get on with that and catch you next week when -whisper it- we should finally have a tasty giveaway for you…

till then,

John x

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Warpland

One of the more vexing things about our recent dive into a grief hole was not sending out the newsletter exhorting you to all back Gavriel Quiroga’s The Black Rainbow Society. Especially annoying as it both looked amazing and had given me a chance to quack on about good stuff like William Burroughs and Kenneth Anger.

Thankfully the universe has offered up a quick shot at redemption as hot on the heels of that comes a Kickstarter campaign to publish a new edition of Quiroga’s psychedelic-metal inspired RPG Warpland.

A primeval science-fantasy game, Warpland is set on a planet where technology has been lost, dark magics rediscovered, humanity toils under a yoke of fear and superstition and reality rending storms rip apart the sky. Think Jack Vance’s Dying Earth soundtracked by Kyuss.

As a setting Warpland will easily work with and accommodate the OSR-adjacent system of your choice but, as is the fashion with these things, also comes complete with Quiroga’s own rules-light, classless, 2d6 roll under a stat system as previously seen in games like Neurocity and Hell Night. So that’s nice.

Owners of the original release should be aware that this new ‘European’ edition is essentially more a revision, with just some minor corrections and additions, than anything like a 2nd edition. Still it’s been a bugger to get hold of for a while now, and has also been given a bit of a facelift -not least the addition of that Bruce Pennington cover- so well done to the All Rolled Up crew for getting it back into print

Finally, as ever when Warpland comes up it behooves us to point you in the direction of Walton Wood’s interview with Quiroga from our second issue which you can read online for free here (or indeed download the whole issue here).

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Forbidden Psalm: Endless Horrors From Between The Stars

Long suffering Wyrd Science readers will know we have a bit of a thing about Will Rahman’s Forbidden Psalm, a 28mm miniatures agnostic wargame spun off from & compatible with MÖRK BORG.

Since the original release Rahman’s released a few different iterations of the game and this latest sees you assembling a 5 man squad of evil cultists who want to summon one of the titular eldritch abominations and help immanetize the eschaton. Everyone needs a hobby I guess.

Anyway, it’s another great excuse to grab some of the stranger, less loved models off your shelves, take a punt on some of the amazing sculpts out there not made by Citadel or indeed get kit-bashing and properly go to town in creating a band of wholly unique horrible little weirdos.

As you’d expect from a game based on the MÖRK BORG rules, its a fairly fast brutish affair, with heads rolling almost often as much as dice. The book includes everything you need to play (well, sans miniatures) including a full narrative campaign, co-op and solo rules plus the stats for a whole range of horrible monsters that can be imported back into your regular MÖRK BORG games, should you wish.

With more and more games like this revitalising the fundamental link between RPGs and miniature wargames, whilst pushing new ways to play, there’s never been a better time to dip a horribly mutated toe into the scene and see what’s going on.

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Finally some things, both interesting and inspiring, gaming related and not, found down the back of the internet’s sofa…

• The Charles S Roberts Awards Gets A Facelift [Boardgamewire]
  Boardgamewire have all the latest from the venerable Charles S Roberts awards, which has given itself a refresh to reflect the changing face of (non miniature) wargames with games, like there excellent Votes For Women, making waves and adapting wargame mechanics to a more diverse range of subjects.
  

• A Confection of Tropes [Teeth RPG]

  So, last week we recommended you give False Kingdom, a FiTD derived game set in a 12th century upstart monarch’s court, a go. It’s still available for free so do check it out. Anyway in their own newsletter this week the guys behind the game break down some of the creative choices involved, especially as regards to the period the game is set in, and our popular notions of that time. Good stuff.
  

• D&Ds New Art Direction Isn’t AI Generated But Almost Worse—Boring [Rascal]
  A typically punchy piece from Chase over at Rascal looking at the recent D&D art reveals. Whilst I don’t particularly disagree with the main thrust of the argument, whilst clearly well executed it’s not an art style that I have much love for, my thoughts echo those I had when the core book covers were revealed. That is, it’s just not D&D’s job -or rather the job of those working there- to push boundaries, artistically or indeed when it comes to game design itself.
  
  For all the ridiculous talk that pops up now and then about this or that new game being a dragon killer, a new edition of D&D has exactly one (1) real rival, it’s previous edition. WotC or Hasbro can screw up as much as they like, and boy have they, and it barely makes a dent in the game’s popularity. At the same time no other publishers seem hugely bothered about doing what would be necessary to genuinely challenge them, so like I said the only other real competition in town right now is themselves.
  
  The game is bigger now than it’s ever been and we’ve seen what can happen when that transition between editions goes wrong, there is a lot of money on the line here. Their number one job right now is to make the switch from 5E to whatever we’re calling the next books as seamless as possible, whilst doing just enough to justify the switch, which from what I can see is exactly what they’re doing.

  
  Thankfully, if like us, you do want to see more interesting graphic and game design choices, well the great news is there’s hundreds if not thousands of games like that out there being made by people barely breaking even.
  

• Analog Game Studies Volume XI, Issue 2 [AGS]
  If you like genuinely smart people talking about tabletop games, rather than whatever it is I try to pass off as coherent then you’re in luck as there’s a new issue of Analog Game Studies out this week. Featuring such delights as a deep dive into how the d20 came about and what its existence owes to the Japanese Standard’s Association, it’s available to read for free online now.
  

• Fatoumata Diawara - London Ko
  A brief diversion into music for a second, and for once not some grizzly dungeon synth or doom metal. It’s been out for over a year now but Fatoumata Diawara’s London Ko has sneaked back onto heavy rotation the last week whilst I’ve been revising for two exams (passed by the way, thanks for asking) and its return has been perfectly timed with summer finally arriving in Belgium, a joyously exuberant album and well worth giving a spin.

• Free League Summer Sale
  Swedish publisher Free League are having their annual summer sale with to 50% off selected titles, many of which, such as the Blade Runner Starter Set, Dragonbane Core Set and Vaesen, comes with a big fat stamp of approval from us.
  

• Spectaculars Summer Sale [Scratchpad Publishing]
  I’ve wanted to try Spectaculars - a superhero RPG - for quite some time as I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. Till now though it’s price tag - $105 - combined with the shipping costs to Europe (this is a big, heavy, very well stuffed box) has meant I’ve had to admire from afar. Anyway for some reason it’s currently just $19.99, a steal worthy of any bizarre animal themed supervillain.
  

• Bosman’s Typology of Player Death [Skeleton Code Machine]
  Assuming we get to make any more issues after the next something I’ve wanted to do for a while is a whole issue devoted to DEATH in tabletop games and reading Exeunt Press’s musings on the subject has made me even more determined to do so.
  
  Anyway there’s some great stuff in here to consider when thinking about how to make player death anything other than just a fail state in games.
  

• Gabriele Cardosi
  I’m probably late to the party here but I just stumbled across illustrator and tattoo artist Gabrielle Cardoso’s Instagram page this week and I’m in love. His Warhammer orcs, goblins and the like are packed full of character and malicious, rambunctious, cartoonish energy, just the way they should be.
  

• Warhammer 40,000 Plushes
  Speaking of the grim dark future, taking time out from satirising totalitarian regimes (is that still a thing?) to sell cuddly toys, Games Workshop have partnered with Tomy for a new range of plushes.
  
  I’ll be honest much as I’d love to be all “fuck you guys, keep it real!” that would be utterly ridiculous in 2024, it could be (and has been) a lot, lot, lot worse and whisper it but that servo skull would look pretty good on our desk, ready to be thrown at an annoying colleague, should we have one.