[Archive]: INTRODUCING: #TabletopThursdays!
Note: This article was originally posted to the sadly-now-defunct Inner-Strength Check website on November 28th, 2024.
Stay tuned for regular columns in future here via the new website, and/or via our various social media and other website platforms (refer to the Home page, Contact tab top-right for podcast links, or click socials links at the bottom of this article.
Peace, Love and Grindcore - Brady.
If you've following along with our little blog-venture here, you'll have noticed that earlier this week we announced two new weekly segments in Music Mondays and Tech Tuesdays.
As with Music Mondays and Tech Tuesdays, the intention of Tabletop Thursdays is three-fold:
UPDATES: Provide you, dear reader, with updates on the latest happenings, cool finds and discoveries in the realms of the broader tabletop hobby, as well as other hobby-related spaces we find ourselves in at present. Not only that, but also flag any planned or incoming ISC blog/podcast/other content in the tabletop/hobby space of course! Hint: there's heaps. There's always heaps.
US: What do I mean by that? Well, it's my intention to use these regular segments to also discuss our own experiences, successes, challenges, opinions etc where we're engaging in these spaces. After all, ISC is just as much (if not more) about sharing our lived experience as passionate fans than anything else!
PODCAST: Having material which you can refer to directly from this website. In future episodes, it's my intention to refer back to specific content on our website. Not for SEO or traffic but to help save you time but more importantly, allow you opportunities to also find new artists, products, tools and useful things to check out! We're all about spreading the word.
So, with all that in mind, let's kick off with our inaugural #TabletopThursdays right here on the blog!
For the first article we'll focus more on the latest news and general happenings in the realm of all things tabletop/hobbies.
In future, we'll be expanding on this to provide you updates about our own ventures into geekdom.
For instance, stay tuned for next week when I discuss my return to the fantastic solo TTRPG adventure that is Starforged. Stay tuned!
DICEY NEWS - NOVEMBER 28TH, 2024.
It's been a big week for the Kickstarter scene tabletop-wise, with multiple publishers absolutely smashing it goals-wise with their crowdfunding!
Take for instance, esteemed sci-fi/fantasy novelist Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG, which was so successful it broke records on Kickstarter! Brandon is best known for the Mistborn series, which previously has also been adapted into an (also successful) board game Kickstarter, as well as attempts to have published film and video game renditions as well.
With $4.78 million pledged in 24hrs, there's clearly a strong market and a ravenous appetite for folks wanting to explore the lore-heavy universe of both Mistborn and Stormlight in one convenient package.
In the scope of Kickstarter as a whole, that's not the highest overall figure. However, as a point of comparison I encourage you to breeze through the Tabletop section on the website and do some comparisons with random projects.
From my perspective at least, it's been a while since a tabletop roleplaying title alone would have such a massive groundswell in so short a time.
Don't take my word for it, though - go check out the Kickstarter page, where you can still pre-order copies of the RPG!
Sol'Kesh - Speculative Evolution, Bestiary, Journal and Minis (Terry Maranda)
And for those Fifth Edition stans wanting to find something noteworthy to punch through the veritable sea of DnD-centric supplements (seriously, Kickstarter has so. many. of. them, as this cursory search clearly shows)?
With 5e supplements as prevalent on KS as investment-property AirBnB's in your average tourist trap, it can feel difficult to discern what's most abuzz, outside of just using the site's native filters. I've been seeing the hype-train for this one across several subreddits, large TTRPG Discord servers and tabletop gaming sites alike, which isn't common in the indie publishing scene.
Like the luminary preceding him in this post, artist and publisher Terry Maranda's name is one worthy of instigating hype.
I mean... the art, man. His art. A cursory weave across his ArtStation profile demonstrates a wide breadth and scope of artistic merit - cartography? RPG journals? Armories? Sculpting? Dude's profile is a nerd wet-dream.
I'd say it's not just the visual aspect garnering massive attention on this one. I mean, damn, a whole system for speculative evolution, biomes, hunting and crafting? Another example from the above Kickstarter page:
This ain't your weird Uncle's 5e bestiary, as perusing the KS page will clearly show. There's a LOT of attention and care paid to the worldbuilding aspect for this supplement which, in addition to fantastic visual detail, carries Terry's hallmark love of weaving worldbuilding and additional lore into his artistic creations.
Very cool. I'm not even a 5e DM and I'm tempted! You've still got a week left from today to pledge, too. ;)
As usual, the exponential growth of the indie tabletop roleplaying scene shows no signs of slowing any time soon, with these being two of just so many high-calibre titles doing the rounds.
Oh, you want more examples?
The Magnus Archives RPG (Monte Cook Games)
Okay, how about Monte Cook Games' continued run of successes, following up the recent successfully-spooky launch of Old Gods of Appalachia with a tabletop roleplaying system based off.... a popular horror-fiction anthology podcast?
More? Okay!
The Lord of The Rings Roleplaying (5th Edition - DND Beyond)
Not content to sit pretty after the huge success of their recent Kickstart double-feature for the much-loved RPG Vaesen (see here for link to Mythic Carpathia/City of My Nightmares), nor the huge announcement of a second edition of the acclaimed Alien Roleplaying Game, Sweden's indie champions Free League Publishing (aka Fria Ligan in their native Svenska) have rolled for initiative alongside industry titans Wizards of the Coast.
Not content to stay in their lane, these emerging greats have published their 5e-friendly adaptation of the highly successful The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying title DnD Beyond.
Yeah! You get 'em, League!
Honestly? This article could go forever.
My socials algorithm has quickly cottoned on to metadata, and both my personal and podcast pages are *constantly* swarmed with a number of cool-looking projects.
All of which are so tempting to back/purchase but alas, something-something currency being a finite resource, etc.
Heading over to the board-gaming space, there's a number of key projects also generating much discussion.
BOARD GAMING NEWS:
If comic book adaptations are more your thing than fantasy or in horror, you're in luck. Indie Boards & Cards partnered with Skybound Entertainment to tie the perennially popular Invincible comic book series into board game format.
Late pledges are still available, so giddy on up over at this link, ya geeks! It also can be combined seamlessly with the existing game Astro Knights.
For board gamers who share a penchant for literature (outside voluminous board game rulebooks, of course!), today's also potentially an interesting opportunity - esteemed writer Kurt Vonnegut's long-lost board game, GHQ, which reportedly could have released in 1956. Honestly, even if you don't source a copy, this article (courtesy of Polygon) is an interesting read regarding the circumstances of what essentially is a reprinted historical/literary artifact! A real-life McGuffin... and it's yours to buy!
Yes, yes - solo/co-operative board games are, like 5e supplements, an oversaturated market. And folks like myself are suckers for the genre, even if we're tiring of the incessant production-line of Gloomhaven-likes. Well, how about an interesting spin on the ol' dungeon-crawler? What if, say, the dungeon was... Ancient Rome?! Yep, you heard right.
Insania seems a fitting title for a 1-4 player dungeon-crawler set in an alt-history setting filled with all sorts of mythological, Lovecraftian nasties. Sievert Gaming have already knocked it outta the park here, smashing their Kickstarter goal early on and there's still two weeks left! Intrigued? Have a peep here.
And that's going to do it for our first-ever Tabletop Thursdays segment!
Tune back in next week, as we'll be expanding upon sharing new releases to, as mentioned, also be providing thoughts and updates about our own experiences in various worlds, games, settings, and other geek-related experiences.
If you've had any particularly interesting tales from the tabletop realm, have a title you'd like to promote, or just want to give your two-bob on something in the hobby, don't be shy!
Check our links via the main website page, or email us at innerstrengthcheckmedia@gmail.com to get in touch and fill us in! We'd love to hear your anecdotes, thoughts and feedback.
We don't bite. In fact, we're just as nerdy as you are.